Saturday, November 06, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Monday, August 09, 2010
wow.. so this blog has been around for 7 years.. talk about long.. watched quite a number of movies lately.. iron man 2 was lousy, red cliff 2 was a little incomprehensible at times (because of the chinese phrases), a beautiful mind was not bad, vanilla sky was ok, inception was interesting, toy story 3 was a typical pixar movie with a more than a tinge of human touch to it, despicable me was a cute/just-for-laughs kinda movie, pride and prejudice was excellent.. did i miss out anything? hmmm..
loved the way pride and prejudice was directed and filmed.. from the lighting to the plot to the acting to the intricate scenes.. everything was just nicely done.. i also like the old english that they speak.. the scene at the end of the movie, where elizabeth was walking on the moor at dawn and turned around to see darcy approaching from across the moor.. that scene was just classic.. definitely a movie worth watching, alongside the movies life is beautiful and be with me..
out of the movies above, i wanna talk a bit more about vanilla sky and inception, both of which touched upon the concept of lucid dreaming.. the directing for both films were good.. i thought that for vanilla sky, the director kinda left much of the explanation for the happenings in the film towards the end.. which kind of leave the viewer in a limbo of ??? for a large part of the movie..
for inception, i guess there are a couple of reasons why people are so fascinated about it.. primarily, i believe, would be because the idea was original and refreshing.. focusing on something that happens every night to everybody, but is just so taken for granted.. dreams.. when i went to watch this movie, it was more of trying to see what ideas i could take away from the movie and use in my dreams instead of just being in the cinema and watching it like any other movies..
i thought i would like to touch on a few concepts/points mentioned in inception.. as someone who can control his dreams, i thought the idea of an architect, forger and chemist was interesting.. although i wonder how practical the different roles are.. for one, the role of the chemist is perhaps similar to that of a sleeping pill.. or a lucid dream-inducing device.. something which isn't really necessary unless you're looking beyond level 1 of dreaming.. as for the forger, i'm not quite sure what his role is.. because as a practitioner (of sorts), i would think that the lucid dreamer is in essence the architect, but perhaps one with greater powers.. for one part, it would seem kind of illogical that if the architect can freely modify the dreamscape of another person, he should be equally able to fend off the dream constucts (or projections of one's subconsciousness, as the film puts it) by simply creating some kind of immovable, unapproachable barrier around himself.. well if you ask me, i'll probably just blast those dream constructs away or in a less violent manner, hypnotise everyone to sleep..
talk about dreaming big.. the scene where eames uttered "don't be afraid to dream a little bigger" and drew out a slightly bigger gun to shoot at the cylinders and make them explode.. i thought that was a little disappointing.. after all if you can flip a whole city on itself, the absurdity of the slightly bigger gun just didn't seem to be there.. eames could probably just point his finger at the cylinders and using his psychic powers, say "blast" and send them bursting into nothingness.. that will be more effecient.. haha..
the movie also mentioned about how fast/slow time passes in the dream.. and if i never remember wrongly, there was a research done which showed that dream time approximate real time ie. the clocks in your dreams tick as fast as the clocks in reality..
well, not trying to shoot down the movie, but just trying to give my own two cents on some things.. after all a movie is not meant to be perfectly logical/factually correct, except maybe if it's a autobiographical or documentary kind of movie..
after talking so much, i think it's kinda weird not to say something.. especially when it's aug 9.. haha.. happy birthday singapore!!! yay!!!
loved the way pride and prejudice was directed and filmed.. from the lighting to the plot to the acting to the intricate scenes.. everything was just nicely done.. i also like the old english that they speak.. the scene at the end of the movie, where elizabeth was walking on the moor at dawn and turned around to see darcy approaching from across the moor.. that scene was just classic.. definitely a movie worth watching, alongside the movies life is beautiful and be with me..
out of the movies above, i wanna talk a bit more about vanilla sky and inception, both of which touched upon the concept of lucid dreaming.. the directing for both films were good.. i thought that for vanilla sky, the director kinda left much of the explanation for the happenings in the film towards the end.. which kind of leave the viewer in a limbo of ??? for a large part of the movie..
for inception, i guess there are a couple of reasons why people are so fascinated about it.. primarily, i believe, would be because the idea was original and refreshing.. focusing on something that happens every night to everybody, but is just so taken for granted.. dreams.. when i went to watch this movie, it was more of trying to see what ideas i could take away from the movie and use in my dreams instead of just being in the cinema and watching it like any other movies..
i thought i would like to touch on a few concepts/points mentioned in inception.. as someone who can control his dreams, i thought the idea of an architect, forger and chemist was interesting.. although i wonder how practical the different roles are.. for one, the role of the chemist is perhaps similar to that of a sleeping pill.. or a lucid dream-inducing device.. something which isn't really necessary unless you're looking beyond level 1 of dreaming.. as for the forger, i'm not quite sure what his role is.. because as a practitioner (of sorts), i would think that the lucid dreamer is in essence the architect, but perhaps one with greater powers.. for one part, it would seem kind of illogical that if the architect can freely modify the dreamscape of another person, he should be equally able to fend off the dream constucts (or projections of one's subconsciousness, as the film puts it) by simply creating some kind of immovable, unapproachable barrier around himself.. well if you ask me, i'll probably just blast those dream constructs away or in a less violent manner, hypnotise everyone to sleep..
talk about dreaming big.. the scene where eames uttered "don't be afraid to dream a little bigger" and drew out a slightly bigger gun to shoot at the cylinders and make them explode.. i thought that was a little disappointing.. after all if you can flip a whole city on itself, the absurdity of the slightly bigger gun just didn't seem to be there.. eames could probably just point his finger at the cylinders and using his psychic powers, say "blast" and send them bursting into nothingness.. that will be more effecient.. haha..
the movie also mentioned about how fast/slow time passes in the dream.. and if i never remember wrongly, there was a research done which showed that dream time approximate real time ie. the clocks in your dreams tick as fast as the clocks in reality..
well, not trying to shoot down the movie, but just trying to give my own two cents on some things.. after all a movie is not meant to be perfectly logical/factually correct, except maybe if it's a autobiographical or documentary kind of movie..
after talking so much, i think it's kinda weird not to say something.. especially when it's aug 9.. haha.. happy birthday singapore!!! yay!!!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
met up with my financial planner yesterday (wei chang, yes the one from 16/02..) to go through the proposals that he came up with after the annual review of the policies.. dawned on me that insurance policies are quite essentially like a wager (albeit one which has quite unusual terms, particularly if you're looking at a life policy).. the following might not be something new, but nevertheless looks kind of ridiculous on first sight..
so i was thinking.. if a life policy is a wager, then what's the bet on? quite simply.. that would have to be the policy holder's life.. and the parties to this wager would be the insurance company/financial institution and the policy holder..
so who's betting on what? looking from the viewpoint of the insurance compnay, they would be betting that the policy holder won't die before the end of the life policy.. what then would be their bounty if they are correct? this would have to be the annual premiums that the policy holder pays..
so then someone must be betting otherwise ie. the policy holder would die before the end of the life policy.. and who can this be but the policy holder?! sounds kind of crazy if you ask me.. the policy holder betting against his own life.. and what would be the bounty if he indeed die before the end of the life policy? this would have to be the sum insured.. another interesting thing about this wager is that the policy holder don't actually win the wager.. because even if he is correct in saying that he would kick the bucket before the policy ends, he won't be one who would get to enjoy the spills! the bounty, or the sum insured, is divided equally between the policy holder's parents (if he is not married), solely his spouse (if he is married), half to his spouse and the remaining divided equally among his childen (if he is married with kids)..
so i was thinking.. if a life policy is a wager, then what's the bet on? quite simply.. that would have to be the policy holder's life.. and the parties to this wager would be the insurance company/financial institution and the policy holder..
so who's betting on what? looking from the viewpoint of the insurance compnay, they would be betting that the policy holder won't die before the end of the life policy.. what then would be their bounty if they are correct? this would have to be the annual premiums that the policy holder pays..
so then someone must be betting otherwise ie. the policy holder would die before the end of the life policy.. and who can this be but the policy holder?! sounds kind of crazy if you ask me.. the policy holder betting against his own life.. and what would be the bounty if he indeed die before the end of the life policy? this would have to be the sum insured.. another interesting thing about this wager is that the policy holder don't actually win the wager.. because even if he is correct in saying that he would kick the bucket before the policy ends, he won't be one who would get to enjoy the spills! the bounty, or the sum insured, is divided equally between the policy holder's parents (if he is not married), solely his spouse (if he is married), half to his spouse and the remaining divided equally among his childen (if he is married with kids)..
Thursday, June 03, 2010
nope.. this blog hasn't died out.. just in case you were wondering.. been more than half a year since any decent post appeared here.. not that i didn't try posting anything during this period.. just that the post was halfway in the making when my fingers stopped their dancing on the keyboard.. partly because the post was in chinese and i found some difficulty in getting the concise message across.. prolonged non-usage of a language, or just a component of it, such as the writing component, can really have a detrimental effect of one's proficiency levels.. but i guess the other reason was that the post was a little extreme.. quite a couple of things happened at the turn of the year and i wasn't really happy during that period..
anyway i'm currently on leave for the whole of this week, which explains why i have the time to write things here.. work has pretty much taken up my life since i started this job.. ... i think i'll leave the discussion here as it is for the moment.. i really dun quite know how to continue the post on this topic.. probably that's why some of my friends turned to locking up their blogs, just so that they can be more free to type whatever they want and be more assured that the chance of any unwanted guests stumbling upon their posts are kept at a minimum..
had lunch with the e2i team on tuesday.. like finally.. haha.. quite a couple of changes since i left.. sumei went back to MOM, meiling joined the team and the present temp is the 2nd temp after me.. anyway i was wondering during the lunch why the team decided to revert back to using a female temp.. haha.. and i thought they wanted a male temp to "somehow" balance the ying-yang in the team.. haha.. lunch was at HANS, somewhere near the office.. reminds me of the team lunches that we often had back then.. i probably mentioned this in some earlier post, but i kinda like the inclusive atmosphere and dynamics of the team.. and probably of the company too.. the team was like a small closely knit family.. probably would be some time before i meet up with the team again, with ming going on maternity leave soon and jessie joining her a couple of months later..
so what else did i do during this week? nothing really worth mentioning, but i'll just write down anyway.. just letting my fingers jump around the keyboard along with my thoughts.. played texas on fb and finally got past the cursed 500k mark.. hah! and yup.. reached the 20m mark.. only to reach the peak of 33m and go down back to 0 with a series of bad bets and reckless play towards the end.. had RT as usual on mon, wed and sat.. my right ankle's still aching from over exertion from 2 consec days of RT.. crappy.. cos i'm still not sure if it'll heal in time for the next session on sat.. went back to playing pangya.. probably like 2 years after i stopped playing it? let's see.. yup.. a check with wikipedia puts the time at around there.. still pretty much the same gameplay.. but i must say that the new players have it way much easier than when i used to play during seasons 1 and 2.. ok.. maybe not that exaggerated.. but definitely easier..
have been thinking about how i can post more often here.. haha.. or well, at least have something appear here on a more frequent basis.. and i thought the tweeter style of blogging might work.. short, simple messages.. of course not that short as to have only 1 sentence.. not that kind.. what's the mentality behind a tweet anyway? from what i've seen thus far, seems to me that tweeters seem to be attention seekers.. or at least that's the impression that i'm getting.. and from my small unrepresentive samples..
i guess the thing that i've been doing the most during my free time these days is really to listen to songs and trying to enjoy the piece from the different perspectives.. from that of the melody, the lyrics, the music arrangement, the vocal techniques, the music video.. fresh points of view do make a song that much more enjoyable and for a longer period of time..
unknowingly i've blogged past midnight and now is the last weekday left of this long 11 day leave.. time really flies.. even when you feel a little bored and are doing nothing much.. this sux.. was thinking i'll return to working on the current set of incomplete lyrics and see how it goes along.. after all, it'll surely be ages before i have the time to lay my hands again on those pieces of paper..
some nice songs to listen to.. just close your eyes and listen..
简单的歌，意境却唱得淋漓尽致：
費玉清 - 小小羊兒要回家
用心去唱的歌，别有一份感动：
陈伟联 - 大海
我个人觉得这是她唱得最好听的英文歌之一：
鄧麗君 + 林子祥 - Endless Love
on a sidenote, i discovered that teresa did covers for a substantial number of songs that were popular during her period.. on yet another sidenote, found this song from a fb newsfeed..
多首歌于一首:
古巨基 - 情歌王
anyway i'm currently on leave for the whole of this week, which explains why i have the time to write things here.. work has pretty much taken up my life since i started this job.. ... i think i'll leave the discussion here as it is for the moment.. i really dun quite know how to continue the post on this topic.. probably that's why some of my friends turned to locking up their blogs, just so that they can be more free to type whatever they want and be more assured that the chance of any unwanted guests stumbling upon their posts are kept at a minimum..
had lunch with the e2i team on tuesday.. like finally.. haha.. quite a couple of changes since i left.. sumei went back to MOM, meiling joined the team and the present temp is the 2nd temp after me.. anyway i was wondering during the lunch why the team decided to revert back to using a female temp.. haha.. and i thought they wanted a male temp to "somehow" balance the ying-yang in the team.. haha.. lunch was at HANS, somewhere near the office.. reminds me of the team lunches that we often had back then.. i probably mentioned this in some earlier post, but i kinda like the inclusive atmosphere and dynamics of the team.. and probably of the company too.. the team was like a small closely knit family.. probably would be some time before i meet up with the team again, with ming going on maternity leave soon and jessie joining her a couple of months later..
so what else did i do during this week? nothing really worth mentioning, but i'll just write down anyway.. just letting my fingers jump around the keyboard along with my thoughts.. played texas on fb and finally got past the cursed 500k mark.. hah! and yup.. reached the 20m mark.. only to reach the peak of 33m and go down back to 0 with a series of bad bets and reckless play towards the end.. had RT as usual on mon, wed and sat.. my right ankle's still aching from over exertion from 2 consec days of RT.. crappy.. cos i'm still not sure if it'll heal in time for the next session on sat.. went back to playing pangya.. probably like 2 years after i stopped playing it? let's see.. yup.. a check with wikipedia puts the time at around there.. still pretty much the same gameplay.. but i must say that the new players have it way much easier than when i used to play during seasons 1 and 2.. ok.. maybe not that exaggerated.. but definitely easier..
have been thinking about how i can post more often here.. haha.. or well, at least have something appear here on a more frequent basis.. and i thought the tweeter style of blogging might work.. short, simple messages.. of course not that short as to have only 1 sentence.. not that kind.. what's the mentality behind a tweet anyway? from what i've seen thus far, seems to me that tweeters seem to be attention seekers.. or at least that's the impression that i'm getting.. and from my small unrepresentive samples..
i guess the thing that i've been doing the most during my free time these days is really to listen to songs and trying to enjoy the piece from the different perspectives.. from that of the melody, the lyrics, the music arrangement, the vocal techniques, the music video.. fresh points of view do make a song that much more enjoyable and for a longer period of time..
unknowingly i've blogged past midnight and now is the last weekday left of this long 11 day leave.. time really flies.. even when you feel a little bored and are doing nothing much.. this sux.. was thinking i'll return to working on the current set of incomplete lyrics and see how it goes along.. after all, it'll surely be ages before i have the time to lay my hands again on those pieces of paper..
some nice songs to listen to.. just close your eyes and listen..
简单的歌，意境却唱得淋漓尽致：
費玉清 - 小小羊兒要回家
用心去唱的歌，别有一份感动：
陈伟联 - 大海
我个人觉得这是她唱得最好听的英文歌之一：
鄧麗君 + 林子祥 - Endless Love
on a sidenote, i discovered that teresa did covers for a substantial number of songs that were popular during her period.. on yet another sidenote, found this song from a fb newsfeed..
多首歌于一首:
古巨基 - 情歌王
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
saw this following post by meiju on fb (pardon the blatant copying of text.. haha..):
What is the smallest positive prime factor of the integer: 2005^2007 + 2007^2005? - Singapore Maths Olympiad question for high school students. (the answer is 2, btw)
i couldn't help but try to prove that e answer was 2.. guess i'm still quite attracted to SMO questions.. anyway tt aside, e question does look quite intimidating.. but SMO questions, given their nature, are most of e time relatively simple, tt is if u noe wat concepts to apply.. in proving/solving this question, u need to make use of 3 simple concepts..
1. odd number * odd number = odd number
when u realise tt this is e case, u would see tt 2005^2007 is just multiplying a chain of odd numbers.. at e add of all e calculation, u would end up with an odd number.. same goes for 2007^2005..
2. odd number + odd number = even number
so e result of 2005^2007 (which is an odd number) + e result of 2007^2005 (also an odd number) gives u an even number..
3. even numbers are divisible by 2.
so ultimately, 2005^2007 + 2007^2005 would give u an even number and 2 would be one of it's factors.. coincidentally, 2 is e smallest positive prime factor possible for any given number..
without doing any real calculations, e question has been solved..
What is the smallest positive prime factor of the integer: 2005^2007 + 2007^2005? - Singapore Maths Olympiad question for high school students. (the answer is 2, btw)
i couldn't help but try to prove that e answer was 2.. guess i'm still quite attracted to SMO questions.. anyway tt aside, e question does look quite intimidating.. but SMO questions, given their nature, are most of e time relatively simple, tt is if u noe wat concepts to apply.. in proving/solving this question, u need to make use of 3 simple concepts..
1. odd number * odd number = odd number
when u realise tt this is e case, u would see tt 2005^2007 is just multiplying a chain of odd numbers.. at e add of all e calculation, u would end up with an odd number.. same goes for 2007^2005..
2. odd number + odd number = even number
so e result of 2005^2007 (which is an odd number) + e result of 2007^2005 (also an odd number) gives u an even number..
3. even numbers are divisible by 2.
so ultimately, 2005^2007 + 2007^2005 would give u an even number and 2 would be one of it's factors.. coincidentally, 2 is e smallest positive prime factor possible for any given number..
without doing any real calculations, e question has been solved..
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
i wonder if an absence of posting on my blog is a good thing.. not tt i'm really busy with anything else though.. certainly, i'm working now.. but it could just be tt i'm just lazy nowadays.. quite a few of my friends' blogs are literally dead as i see it.. but maybe tt's cos they're busy.. anyway, pls pardon me if u find this post incoherent.. cos i'm really just typing out watever's going through my brain without much thought..
was put out of action for e majority of last month due to a major feeling of unwellness.. definitely not something tt i want to go through anytime soon.. anyway, e main cause of my sickness seemed to be due to stomach bloatedness.. as simple as it may have seemed, it caused quite a hell of a time for me then.. lethargic, lack of appetite, headache.. not very clear symptoms of the underlying problem, as i had thought.. and apparently wat e western docs had wanted me to think too.. was perhaps e first time where i was quite disappointed in e approach tt western medicine take in tacking a sickness.. or maybe my disappointment is directed at e healthcare system as a whole..
lots of patients, short consultation time.. basically getting a sense tt e doc is trying to clear e patients as fast as possible.. probably more so in e setting of a polyclinic.. come on.. i'm feeling sick.. v sick to be exact (although i may not look like it).. e last thing i wanna feel is tt u dun really give a damn abt my sickness..
sincerity sincerity.. smth tt was ingrained in me by emu.. i think sincerity is something which quite a few of us lack..
maybe i'll just talk a bit abt my temp job here.. i quite like it to say e least.. and tt's not because i'm e only guy in my team.. i think being part of a team tt's strongly bonded and fun to be with really makes a difference in whether e job is enjoyable.. and i would say tt i dun really see wat i am doing now as a job, because i quite enjoy wat i am doing.. hearing stories from those who have started work in e big 4 then made me wonder if i would find e same sense of enjoyment.. e enjoyment in doing something cos u sincerely wanted to do it.. cos u liked doing it.. and not because it was yr job.. not just because u were paid to do it..
haiz.. suddenly felt a flash of emo-ness flowing through me.. blogging at night time and in a state of mind tt's half shut down can make one emo.. and a little grumpy..
was put out of action for e majority of last month due to a major feeling of unwellness.. definitely not something tt i want to go through anytime soon.. anyway, e main cause of my sickness seemed to be due to stomach bloatedness.. as simple as it may have seemed, it caused quite a hell of a time for me then.. lethargic, lack of appetite, headache.. not very clear symptoms of the underlying problem, as i had thought.. and apparently wat e western docs had wanted me to think too.. was perhaps e first time where i was quite disappointed in e approach tt western medicine take in tacking a sickness.. or maybe my disappointment is directed at e healthcare system as a whole..
lots of patients, short consultation time.. basically getting a sense tt e doc is trying to clear e patients as fast as possible.. probably more so in e setting of a polyclinic.. come on.. i'm feeling sick.. v sick to be exact (although i may not look like it).. e last thing i wanna feel is tt u dun really give a damn abt my sickness..
sincerity sincerity.. smth tt was ingrained in me by emu.. i think sincerity is something which quite a few of us lack..
maybe i'll just talk a bit abt my temp job here.. i quite like it to say e least.. and tt's not because i'm e only guy in my team.. i think being part of a team tt's strongly bonded and fun to be with really makes a difference in whether e job is enjoyable.. and i would say tt i dun really see wat i am doing now as a job, because i quite enjoy wat i am doing.. hearing stories from those who have started work in e big 4 then made me wonder if i would find e same sense of enjoyment.. e enjoyment in doing something cos u sincerely wanted to do it.. cos u liked doing it.. and not because it was yr job.. not just because u were paid to do it..
haiz.. suddenly felt a flash of emo-ness flowing through me.. blogging at night time and in a state of mind tt's half shut down can make one emo.. and a little grumpy..
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A recent P6 PSLE maths question:
Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim's sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken's sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?
Try solving the question without using algebra before you take a look at this article: Parents up in arms again over PSLE Mathematics paper
Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim's sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken's sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?
Try solving the question without using algebra before you take a look at this article: Parents up in arms again over PSLE Mathematics paper
Saturday, September 26, 2009
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