i think, therefore i is.

Peter’s Laws, by Peter Diamandis

faii — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:21:41 +0000

If anything can go wrong, Fix It!!! (To hell with Murphy!)
When given a choice – Take Both!!
Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
Start at the top then work your way up.
Do it by the book…but be the author!
When forced to compromise, ask for more.
If you can’t beat them, join them, then beat them.
If it’s worth doing, it’s got to be done right now.
If you can’t win, change the rules.
If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
Perfection is not optional
When faced without a challenge, make one.
“No” simply means begin again at one level higher.
Don’t walk when you can run.
Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary.
When in doubt: THINK!
Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!

Peter's Laws, The Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Compulsive (by Peter Diamandis)

Arc Attack

faii — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:08:25 +0000

Posted from Lambeth, England, United Kingdom.

Arc Attack Performing Dr Who

Came across Arc Attack several years back, and thought their music completely exciting despite it simply being an electric arc hooked to a midi table.

But then found that they had a show featuring ADAM SAVAGE from the mythbusters.

Now, considering that the Mythbusters is one of my favourit-est shows, therefore A Mythbuster Dancing + 1 Million Volts + Arc Attack + Music + Dr. Who is too geek not to post in the middle of exams.

It’s almost nerdy…

(evil laughter)

*For the second video, the suit’s homemade (always wondered if the slightest bit of resistance at 1 X 10^6 Volts would cause enough heat to injure…)

via YouTube – Maker Faire 2011 – Arc Attack – Adam Savage – Dr. Who.

via YouTube – Tesla Coils – Arc Attack – Doctor Who Theme Song – Makers Faire 2010 – San Mateo – No. 1.

The Real Pikachu

faii — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:14:10 +0000

Posted from Lambeth, England, United Kingdom.

The Real Pikachu.

The Real Pikachu

YouTube – neurowear vol.1 “necomimi” ?????????

faii — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:27:56 +0000

Posted from Lambeth, England, United Kingdom.

Now we know why the Japanese aren’t rulers of the world. It requires far more subtlety…

YouTube – neurowear vol.1 “necomimi” ?????????.

Pa. teacher strikes nerve with lazy whiners blog – Yahoo! News

faii — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:00:07 +0000

Posted from Lambeth, England, United Kingdom.

Pa. teacher strikes nerve with lazy whiners blog – Yahoo! News.

A teacher everyone's had.

Oh yeah. Tough love is not just good. It’s necessary.

Honestly, i don’t see how her comments are out of place. There are a shocking number of students like that. It’s an honest blog and not borne of acrimony. The honest, concerned frustration is palpable.

It is completely unreasonable for a school to expect a teacher (or any other superhuman) to deal with say, 4 classes with 30 difficult students each. Even if you could motivate these ‘lazy whiners’, splitting a 6 hour day into 120 parts of one-on-one time is simply impossible. Even in world leading China, Taiwan and Singapore, educators are becoming aware that it is mathematically unfeasible for teachers to provide the quality time that parents are increasingly shirking, and then expecting teachers to deliver.

And bloody hell. Parents, be parents, not just friends. Bringing yourself down to the child’s maturity to connect is fine, but doing that all the time and giving in constantly is a recipe for a blind-leading-the-blind relationship. Everyone loses.

Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.com – Clinton denounces Iranian hypocrisy

faii — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:19:11 +0000

Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.com – Clinton denounces Iranian hypocrisy.

Despite being pro-American more often than not, the irony here is in the hypocrisy of the American government. They carefully delayed their response to Egypt’s protests, given how Egypt is central to America’s ME policy and placation of Israel. Furthermore, the message delivered by President Obama was initially very neutral, believing early-on in the ‘stability of the Egyptian government’, before switching to a more guarded ‘orderly and non-violent transition’.

However, this preemptive video by the Secretary of State, no less, when the Iranian protests have yet to gain any steam, just demonstrates how badly America wants Iran off their backs.

It’s true as Clinton says that they’re ‘message is consistent’, but the timing means so much more.

But yes, I too do wish to see this series of protests be third-time lucky.

A Facebook Comment of Mine 280111 – On RI GEP

faii — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:18:41 +0000

Raffles Institution

Source: http://www.facebook.com/mcpeanuts/posts/184581534908068?notif_t=share_reply

Heyy. Quick scan and quick reply before i head off for fencing training.

Well, the fact that a large number of our old teachers left because they did not get to teach GEP classes exclusively (let’s not quote names) suggests a noticeable difference in the teacher-student interaction. I doubt there will ever be a conceivable metric of demonstrating this intellectual buzz to the ministry, but having been in it for seven years, it was huge pain to be removed from such an environment and thrown into RJ.

Post RJ, i spent time teaching a decent number of students (typically 15/year). Among the RI boys, i can usually tell within the first hour which boys are the GEPers. Even outside the raffles family, there is something different and tastefully weird about the GEPer. Quite often it’s typified by a relentless question and inquisitivity and a quicker ability to parse knowledge from disparate parcels of information in an academic setting. I often end up teaching GEPers in a very different way. Less rote (drilling is still important), but both teacher and student end up very much more satisfied when we are, say, able to relate post-transcriptional modification with molecular structure and its extracirricular implications in Polio.

Same thing with locum teaching. The boys in the GEP classes demanded more of me intellectually. And i do mean demand.

As for myself, i remember a debate in lit we had on the significance of the Hobbesian social contract (that in turn from philo) in Shakespearean society. And the fact that Boon Huat tried to shove erasers and quantum physics down our throats, with ourselves gladly choking on that.

Just because we cannot put our finger on it means it doesn’t exist. That fact GEPers often talk about the GEP in experiential terms would suggest its positive effects are much wider than we would dare suggest. This is a system that possibly does not exist anywhere else in the world, and us lucky 150 have a responsibility to cultivate that elsewhere even if it might not produce any of the stereotypical tangible results such as results. And thank god raffles understands that the IB will always be a poor copy of the quality of its GEP programme.

Here at Imperial and beyond, i doubt i will ever see that buzz of intellect ever again. I sorely regret that.

RA – nah i doubt RA will ever be a substitute for a daily atmosphere of learning and flying erasers and Rosie Smith. You simply cannot replace a culture with discrete science projects.

Logorama on Vimeo

faii — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 23:49:52 +0000

Really interesting short animated film from Cannes 2009. It uses the famous logos from around the world in stitching together a plot.

Favourite bit – Republic Party Elephant rams into the Green Giant’s tender parts.

Logorama on Vimeo on Vimeo

via Logorama on Vimeo.

White Kid, Yellow Kid (Amy Chua Is a Wimp – NYTimes.com)

faii — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:55:04 +0000

Posted from London, England, United Kingdom.

White kid, yellow kid.

I am a product of that culture. A culture where 2,000 math questions a night is a manageable endeavour. Ask an Asian parent, and she’ll say ‘Thank God it’s only math’. Propagating that oft-true stereotype, I’ll add that US arithmetic questions as a simple as it gets. But admittedly, i hated that tearing and hard work, but I am immensely grateful for it.

What i don’t understand is that why can’t we have both asian precision with western creativity?

I use the word ‘precision’ only because it does not evoke an emotive response – it is but an outcome. Possibly an outcome of labour and ‘focused attention’ as Mr Brooks will have it. No matter, let’s head off on a tangent…

Currently, I see the Rafflesians I grew up with in school as the best ‘outcome’. Not perfect, but I still haven’t found a credible alternative. These are people who will top their course at MIT and Stanford, yet will be equally great as buddies, national sportsmen and dedicated as social givers. Why haven’t i seen these in London? Three classmates are deemed to end up, possibly, as heads of the respective branches of the Singaporean army. Nearly all of us are still actively engaged in giving back to society. Others are on the path to fulfilling their ambitions. I don’t quite know if that comparison between a Junior College, deemed as the gateway to the Ivy League by Forbes, and a Global Top 10 University is fair, but as I grow older, it’s odd how much I’m left craving a simple, intellectual conversation.

I confess frustration, because I know i’m not of sufficient intellectual calibre (not stuffing humility into this), but somehow, as I feel the years go by, I’m just left wanting that inquisitive spark we had back in secondary school. We could never leave the social contract between Jane Austen and Hobbes alone, yet completely forget the relativity between 15 years of age and quantum physics. It’s a hunger, made painful by the army, that I’m just only contemplating feeding.

I can go and on about this, and prolly will, because it matters to me, my students and my future children. I will love them, but I know I won’t spoil them. As of now, I want them to be wrought and tempered in Singapore, but ornamented by the a fascinating wider world.

To conclude, we never had the adolescent, whinging phase. Whether that be good or bad, I cannot say. I am just the man I am today.

Amy Chua Is a Wimp – NYTimes.com.

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Amy Chua Is a Wimp

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: January 17, 2011

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Sometime early last week, a large slice of educated America decided that Amy Chua is a menace to society. Chua, as you probably know, is the Yale professor who has written a bracing critique of what she considers the weak, cuddling American parenting style.

Josh Haner/The New York Times

David Brooks

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Chua didn’t let her own girls go out on play dates or sleepovers. She didn’t let them watch TV or play video games or take part in garbage activities like crafts. Once, one of her daughters came in second to a Korean kid in a math competition, so Chua made the girl do 2,000 math problems a night until she regained her supremacy. Once, her daughters gave her birthday cards of insufficient quality. Chua rejected them and demanded new cards. Once, she threatened to burn all of one of her daughter’s stuffed animals unless she played a piece of music perfectly.

As a result, Chua’s daughters get straight As and have won a series of musical competitions.

In her book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” Chua delivers a broadside against American parenting even as she mocks herself for her own extreme “Chinese” style. She says American parents lack authority and produce entitled children who aren’t forced to live up to their abilities.

The furious denunciations began flooding my in-box a week ago. Chua plays into America’s fear of national decline. Here’s a Chinese parent working really hard (and, by the way, there are a billion more of her) and her kids are going to crush ours. Furthermore (and this Chua doesn’t appreciate), she is not really rebelling against American-style parenting; she is the logical extension of the prevailing elite practices. She does everything over-pressuring upper-middle-class parents are doing. She’s just hard core.

Her critics echoed the familiar themes. Her kids can’t possibly be happy or truly creative. They’ll grow up skilled and compliant but without the audacity to be great. She’s destroying their love for music. There’s a reason Asian-American women between the ages of 15 and 24 have such high suicide rates.

I have the opposite problem with Chua. I believe she’s coddling her children. She’s protecting them from the most intellectually demanding activities because she doesn’t understand what’s cognitively difficult and what isn’t.

Practicing a piece of music for four hours requires focused attention, but it is nowhere near as cognitively demanding as a sleepover with 14-year-old girls. Managing status rivalries, negotiating group dynamics, understanding social norms, navigating the distinction between self and group — these and other social tests impose cognitive demands that blow away any intense tutoring session or a class at Yale.

Yet mastering these arduous skills is at the very essence of achievement. Most people work in groups. We do this because groups are much more efficient at solving problems than individuals (swimmers are often motivated to have their best times as part of relay teams, not in individual events). Moreover, the performance of a group does not correlate well with the average I.Q. of the group or even with the I.Q.’s of the smartest members.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon have found that groups have a high collective intelligence when members of a group are good at reading each others’ emotions — when they take turns speaking, when the inputs from each member are managed fluidly, when they detect each others’ inclinations and strengths.

Participating in a well-functioning group is really hard. It requires the ability to trust people outside your kinship circle, read intonations and moods, understand how the psychological pieces each person brings to the room can and cannot fit together.

This skill set is not taught formally, but it is imparted through arduous experiences. These are exactly the kinds of difficult experiences Chua shelters her children from by making them rush home to hit the homework table.

Chua would do better to see the classroom as a cognitive break from the truly arduous tests of childhood. Where do they learn how to manage people? Where do they learn to construct and manipulate metaphors? Where do they learn to perceive details of a scene the way a hunter reads a landscape? Where do they learn how to detect their own shortcomings? Where do they learn how to put themselves in others’ minds and anticipate others’ reactions?

These and a million other skills are imparted by the informal maturity process and are not developed if formal learning monopolizes a child’s time.

So I’m not against the way Chua pushes her daughters. And I loved her book as a courageous and thought-provoking read. It’s also more supple than her critics let on. I just wish she wasn’t so soft and indulgent. I wish she recognized that in some important ways the school cafeteria is more intellectually demanding than the library. And I hope her daughters grow up to write their own books, and maybe learn the skills to better anticipate how theirs will be received.

YouTube – My Blackberry Is Not Working! – The One Ronnie, Preview – BBC One

faii — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:26:45 +0000

Posted from London, England, United Kingdom.

Best punchline ever: Eggsbox, 3.60.

YouTube – My Blackberry Is Not Working! – The One Ronnie, Preview – BBC One.

The One Ronnie Blackberry Sketch

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Britain’s 1000mph car revealed – Autocar.co.uk

faii — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:14:00 +0000

Britains 1000mph car revealed – Autocar.co.uk.

By the way, 1000 mph = 1609.30 kmh = 44.70 m/s. And that Eurofighter engine in concert with a rocket!

Britain's Bloodhound SSC

Britain’s 1000mph car has been unveiled in Bristol, as its bid to break the world land speed record gathers momentum.

Bloodhound SSC has gone through 10 design evolutions since October 2008 and the final design has now been agreed. The car’s first attempts at the record, which currently stands at 763mph, will take place on the Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape Province of South Africa in 2011.

The car is powered by an EJ200 Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine and a 400kg rocket sitting below it. Bloodhound SSC produces the equivalent of 133,150bhp, the power of around 180 Formula One cars.

In the original plan, the 200kg rocket sat above the jet engine, but not enough thrust could be created to overcome the aerodynamic drag. This led to a 400kg rocket being used, but this caused the car to pitch nose-down, destabilising the vehicle. Engineers found the best compromise to be positioning the rocket below the jet engine.

The car’s 90cm-diameter wheels have been made from forged aerospace-grade aluminium to withstand the g-forces required of supporting a 6.5-tonne car travelling at 1050mph. The car will be driven by fighter pilot Andy Green and he has designed the cockpit himself.

One of the project’s greatest challenges has been finding a place suitable for the car to make its record attempt. The site needs to be 10 miles long and must have one mile of clear run-off at each end and be firm enough to support the weight of the car. Several locations, including the Bonneville Salt Flats in the US, were sounded out using Google Earth.

Hakskeen Pan was eventually found to be the best site; it is a 12-mile track across a perfectly flat dried-up lake. The record attempt is being supported by the Northern Cape Government.

So far, 166 sponsors have signed up to support the project. Public donations have also totalled more than £137,000, while 2410 schools have joined the project as part of its education programme.

Apple’s Insane Antenna Design and Test Labs

faii — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:49:00 +0000

Source: Apple - Antenna Design and Test Labs

Oh my goodness – this raises my respect for apple a thousand-fold, despite all that antenna talk. Thank goodness i’m on the right bandwagon, at least for the time being.

Yes, we could dismiss all this as pointless PR spin, given how the testing process still produced a faulty product, but still…

I’m sure other handphone manufacturers might have the very same facilities, but when you’re producing tons of different designs a year, i wonder whether each can be tested to such a degree. Besides, companies with many models can spread their risk rather evenly.

More crucially, i’d reckon that Apple’s corporate culture means it doesn’t do what it says, in a good way – it cracks its skull in delivering industry leading products, yet keeps absolutely mum on developments. Above all else, i respect their Apple’s corporate pride, which i doubt every gets close to the arrogance that naysayers seem to enjoy accusing it of. It’s amazing how an entire organisation thinks like one, behaves like one, in a most coherent manner, yet still remains organically creative. That’s some miracle.

If you notice the Stargate-esque ring in the bottom-most photo, i think i’ve seen it before from a company named Satimo.

You can have a look at their products here: Satimo – Fast Antenna Measurement, Radome Test and Scanners Systems

According to Apple:

Advanced facilities.
Apple never releases a product without thoroughly testing it first. To do this, we built our multimillion-dollar antenna design and test labs. These labs feature 17 different antenna characterization chambers (or anechoic chambers) designed to accurately measure antenna and wireless performance.

Testing performance in the lab.
Our anechoic chambers are connected to sophisticated equipment that simulates cellular base stations, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices — even GPS satellites. These chambers measure performance in free space, in the presence of materials simulating human tissue (“phantom” heads and hands, for example), and in use by human subjects. Over a one- to two-year development cycle, Apple engineers spend thousands of hours performing antenna and wireless testing in the lab.

Testing performance in the field.
Apple engineers tested iPhone 4 in a variety of scenarios, environments, and conditions in order to gauge performance. They spent thousands of hours in cities in the U.S. and throughout the world testing iPhone 4 call quality, dropped-call performance, call origination and termination, and in-service time. They tested iPhone 4 while stationary, at high and low speeds, and in urban, dense urban, and highway environments. In low-coverage areas and good-coverage areas, during peak and off-peak hours — iPhone 4 was field-tested in nearly every possible coverage scenario across different vendor and carrier equipment all over the world.

Apple Antenna Design and Test Labs - Tapered Chamber

Apple Antenna Design and Test Labs - Large Anechoic Chamber

Apple Antenna Design and Test Labs - 'Stargate'

[Youtube] How It’s Made – AKG K702 Audiophile Headphones

faii — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:04:13 +0000

AKG K702 Audiophile Circumaural Headphones

Recently i’ve been doing my best to search for a pair of audiophile headphones hopefully in time for university. However, do bear in mind that the label ‘audiophile’ is very, very subjective.

Came across this video by the Discovery Channel outlining how the AKG 702 headphones are made. The process and construction seems rather simple actually, as compared with speakers. For example, the Bowers and Wilkins diamond tweeters utilise chemical vapour deposition of carbon. That just makes any of the diaphragms in any headphone look positively neanderthal. >< I’m sorry, i’m just an equipment-whore at heart…

Moreover, every time i go back to listen to increasing numbers of headphones, i’m just reminded of how limited they are in terms of sound as compared to speakers…

How am i ever going to find a pair of headphones? :(

Audiophile Headphone Testing – Second Day of Testing at Jaben Audio

faii — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:01:31 +0000

Went down for the second time to Jaben Audio at the Adelphi.

Basically I’m looking to purchase a nice pair of headphones and a suitable amplifier for my university tenure.

Having come from a very decent speaker set up (Bowers and Wilkins 803S), i do not, and probably cannot expect to be able to replicate that familiar musicality and enjoyment in a pair of headphones.

For me, i enjoy having a wide soundstage and neutral presentation, but with a balanced, accurate reproduction, hence my choice of the Bowers and Wilkins. I cannot for the love of God place myself in the shoes of an MRT basshead or a casual listener, knowing full well what i am missing out on.

Anyways, here’s a list of the circumaural headphones i’ve tried out in the first two days i’ve been to Jaben. Included are prices that i have hopefully remembered correctly. However, Jaben offers wonderful bundles that shave a significant portion off the sticker price than if the components were purchased separately. By the way, the staff at Jaben Audio are very friendly, and very accomodating – which headphone shop allows customers to try on in-ear earphones?

Denon AH-D7000 (approximately $1450)
Denon AH-D5000 (approximately $900)
Denon AH-D2000 (approximately $450)
Alessandro Music Series Pro (approximately $1200)
Beyerdynamic DT 880 (approximately $430, including EDGE X1 amplifier)
Sennehiser HD 600 (didn’t enquire about the price)
Audio Technica Something – can’t recall the model

I didn’t try the Grados as the Alessadros were their less forward sounding sisters and designed with classical music in mind.

And pity Jaben did not have a Sennheiser HD 800 on demo! Had to make do with the intimate yet full-bodied Denon AH-D7000. The latter gave a good performance on everything from Bryan Adam’s Summer of ’69 to Yo-Yo Ma’s Cellist of Sarajevo.

Don’t quite have the time to review each one, but i’m doing my best to like the Beyerdynamic DT 880. Unlike the high-end speaker market, each audiophile headphone is significantly different from the other. For speakers, their clarity and neutrality converge as price goes up, whereas for headphones, it seems each has a unique character. For almost all headphones i tried, each character was flawed in some way, for example, the Sennheiser HD 600 and Denon AH-D2000 and AH-D5000 were inaccurately, if no messily, bass-y. None of them could elicit the love i have for a proper speaker set up, but for twenty to thirty times less the price, why not?

Anyways, i think the Beyers have the best value for money and are more than a competent challenger for headphones twice or thrice as dear. I just hope to be able to have those hair standing moments in complete isolation that i am familiar with in floorstanders.

Without going into my opinions of each, here are the photos i managed to snap that day. :)

Beyerdynamic DT 880, Alessandro Music Series Pro, Denon AH-D5000, Hifiman EF2A Amplifier, Edge X1 Amplifier @ Jaben Audio

Beyerdynamic DT 880, Alessandro Music Series Pro, Beyerdynamic A1 Amplifier, Hifiman EF2A Second @ Jaben Audio

Hifiman EF2A Tube Amplifier with DAC @ Jaben AudioAlessandro Music Series Pro @ Jaben Audio

Alessandro Music Series Pro @ Jaben Audio

Riding with the King: Clapton wants a Ferrari 458 Italia… with a V12 — Autoblog

faii — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:22:27 +0000

The Ferrari 458 is already a pretty zippy car, yet Ferrari has agreed to shovel the much larger Enzo-derived V12 from the 599 into its engine bay.

Apparently, one can’t just be any megastar, in order to have a bespoke Ferrari. Your career has to be game-changing and soulful, thereby eliminating Beavers, Britneys and Cyruses. And as in the article below, Ferrari interviewed Clapton, which emphasised their enthusiasm in accommodating him…

I’m guessing that a car like the 458 was not designed to with any room for a bigger engine, so i wonder how difficult it would be to fit the heavier V12. Aston had a bit of trouble when they swapped the 4.3L V8 in the Vantage V8 for the 6L V12 in the DBS to produce the V12 Vantage. I too am guessing that a front-engined supercar has more space in the bonnet for the engine to ride further back and lower as the Aston, than a midengined vehicle as with the Ferrari.

Moreover, i’m sure the V12 would alter the balance and handling of the 458 significantly, and would it really be faster given the different weight-to power ratio?

But a what a noise it is sure to make, especially if they remove the exhaust baffles! It’s conceivable from the article below.

Maybe i should try to become a pop star instead of a surgeon…

Ferrari 458 Italia in White

Riding with the King: Clapton wants a Ferrari 458 Italia… with a V12 — Autoblog.

Hey brother, can you spare a chin? Clapton in the Ferrari paddock with Michael Schumacher

When you’ve recorded as many platinum records, collaborated with as many big names and topped as many best-guitarists-of-all-time lists as Eric Clapton, you can get pretty much anything you want. And the ironically nicknamed Slowhand is known to have a taste for Ferraris. So much so that when he stopped by the factory in Maranello, even Ferrari couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview him.

Neither could Quattroruote, for that matter. While speaking with the Italian car-mag, Clapton reportedly professed his love for the new 458 Italia… with just one caveat: He’s not such a fan of eight cylinders. Could he get it with V12?

According to Quattroruote, apparently he can, as Ferrari has reportedly agreed to build it for him, with the 6.0-liter V12 from the 599 GTB Fiorano. We’ll believe it when we see it, which is pretty much exactly what we said the first time we heard the guitar riff on Layla.

Opportunity versus Karma

faii — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:34:03 +0000

Posted from Lambeth, England, United Kingdom.

Just had a random thought:

Opportunity knocks.

Karma hunts you down.

(Therefore girlfriends are opportunities and wives, karma)

GTD – Garrulous Writing

faii — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:41:26 +0000

For The Love of God...

Darth Vader - Too Many Words

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A Family’s MBA Stay in Singapore (Last Stop: Singapore – BusinessWeek)

faii — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:27:33 +0000

Insead Asia Campus Singapore

Here’s an interesting article that popped up on my rss reader.

Have been looking through articles on the Master of Business Administration (MBA) as i come across them. After having been involved in management consulting, i believe that field shares so much potential for synergy when paired with my future medical career.

Even the small potential matters – if i could efficiently convey the essence of my diagnosis and considerations to my patients and family, and provide them with effective insights (not just knowledge and facts), i could make their live just so much better.

And it’s always been amazing how we have a world class B-school (business school) here in Singapore. It’s ranked around 5th if i remember correctly. But then i believe a university to be only as good as its people, so i will have to look into that should i take that little degree detour.

Learn and live learning!

Last Stop: Singapore – BusinessWeek.

Last Stop: Singapore

“Our family traded in fresh baguettes and delectable French pastries for the whole gamut of Asian culinary delights”

By Bonni Bohn

Paris to Dubai. Dubai to Singapore. Twenty-one long hours with three tired, little Bohns. Successes: The children only screamed a total of 20 minutes during landing, and we all gorged on unhealthy amounts of free movies and Emirates Airline food. Casualties: a bloody nose on the plane and a gashed (eventually glued) head upon arrival. (That doorframe seemed so much higher when the Singaporeans walked under it.)

At last we arrived at our final home for our year at INSEAD (INSEAD Full-Time MBA Profile). Mark and I exhaled in relief as we rode the elevator up 11 stories and proceeded to unload five suitcases, seven carry-ons, three car seats, a portable crib, and our behemoth double stroller into our new, air-conditioned Singaporean abode. From the condominium’s expansive windows, we absorbed our new surroundings, observing the country’s dense, urban society functioning in the middle of the rainforest. We smiled at each other when we spotted INSEAD’s Asia campus and imagined Mark graduating there in the summer. Thankful for our safety and the onset of another family adventure, we began to fully appreciate the fruits of our masochistic labors.

Our family traded in fresh baguettes and delectable French pastries for the whole gamut of Asian culinary delights. We also enjoy many conveniences that do not exist in France. Pharmacies and supermarkets close at around 7 p.m. in Fontainebleau, and in contrast the Singaporean business model (more customer-focused than employee-focused) provides the grounds for companies to offer everything from online grocery shopping to McDonald’s (MCD) home delivery, and many stores remain open 24/7. In addition, fluently speaking the country’s official language eases transitional challenges enormously. However, I admittedly experience difficulty interpreting the morass of colloquial phrases I hear at grocery stores, shopping centers, and in taxis. Occasionally, when I feel daring, I refer to older women as “Auntie” and throw in a “lah” at the end of a sentence for emphasis—to demonstrate my “Singlish” prowess. This year I realize more than ever that the intricacies of a country’s culture, from language to food to child-rearing, reflect personal and collective values and mindsets, and that we all must respect them.

SPARSELY POPULATED CAMPUS

INSEAD encourages students to attend all campuses (in France, Singapore, and the alliance program at Wharton in the U.S.), and Mark’s classmates migrate between all three. However, because most INSEAD students prefer to attend the Fontainebleau campus for Period Five and graduation, Singapore’s campus currently assumes a quiet, ghost-town disposition with approximately 300 out of 1,000 students attending. As a result, the partners-with-children base is small but wonderfully friendly. We look out for each other and enjoy playdates at the playground or pool.

The IT and administrative staff in “Singy” respond to issues quickly and effectively, and the students seem to approach school more casually than in “Fonty,” as reflected by their flip-flops and cargo shorts. Mark’s classmates repeatedly astonish me with their ability to manage weekly pool parties and excursions all over Asia while attending one of the best business schools in the world.

As expensive as resort living proves to be, particularly here, I rely heavily on its perks daily. The pools, playgrounds, karaoke lounge, and gym provide ample entertainment for the children and me on my ambition-less days (for example, when Mark is at school or interviewing and I don’t feel like touring the country by myself with my many appendages). Our kids report that they love Singapore, especially the opportunity to swim every afternoon. When we do feel like navigating the new terrain, between the meltdowns by the 2- and 4-year-olds and the newborn’s midnight snacks, we hail one of the ubiquitous cabs and explore the island and its environs.

Relishing in family time during Mark’s school break, we hand-fed giraffes, petted kangaroos, and rode an elephant at the zoo. We shopped at Holland Village and Chinatown, examined ancient artifacts at the Asian Civilizations Museum, devoured a sunset Vietnamese dinner on Boat Quay, opened a bank account downtown, danced with our children at a costume party at the local chapter of our church, relaxed with expat family members at a club in Sentosa, and sunbathed on a beach in Bintan, Indonesia.

JOB-SEARCH DECISION

Months of deliberation, new experiences, and paradigm shifts finally led us to make that anxiety-laden, fork-in-the-road decision regarding Mark’s future employment. With the whole world literally at our fingertips, we jointly discussed, rediscussed, and decided that focusing job-search efforts in the U.S., rather than alternative geographic regions, makes the most sense for Mark’s career at this point. He will be able to utilize his skills and knowledge of American culture and business structure, and therefore best launch his post-MBA career at a multinational company with offices in the U.S.

Fortunately, Mark’s current schedule of elective courses (Global Strategy & Management, Blue Ocean Strategy Study Group, Customer Insights, and Environmental Management in a Global Economy) allow some wiggle room for negotiating the 12-hour difference in time zones. Companies generally conduct their interviews with Mark via telephone or teleconference anywhere between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Singapore Standard Time, although one has leveraged its office in China for a quick in-person interview. Mark is in the middle of second- and third-round interviews with four companies. In the meantime, I search Craigslist for housing options and Google elementary schools in New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan, crossing my fingers that the hiring process ends before commencement ceremonies begin in July.

Bonni Bohn’s husband, Mark, is attending INSEAD in France. A full-time mom to 1- and 3-year-old children, Bohn is originally from a small oil refinery town in Texas. Before pausing her career to raise her children, Bohn worked at the San Francisco Center for Economic Development, a small nonprofit organization dedicated to attracting and retaining business in the city .

iPhone 4 Unboxing Photos

faii — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:51:22 +0000

One of my students has just gotten an iPhone 4 from London and thought i’d share pictures i snapped earlier this afternoon.

It feels quite solid, slightly narrower, with crisp, metallic edges. However i prefer the curved backplate on the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

The screen’s brilliant, and am looking forward to that when i do get to upgrade mine.

Tip – Evernote Hierarchical Folders Workaround

faii — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:23:49 +0000

Evernote’s abject lack of hierarchical folders and the inability to order them other than alphabetically has been the biggest sticking point in my usage of its software and service thus far.

I’ve tonnes of tags and have given up manually tagging every single article – OCD me hates leaving out tags, considering that Evernote is a quasi-archival system. I prefer to simply fire and forget.

Furthermore, sports car reviews and internships ideas at automotive companies might share the tag ‘automotive’. I simply don’t have the time and memory to remember every single permutation as I quickly sort through my note inbox, even with the usage of hierarchical tags.

How should i then decide to tag an article on carbon tax and its resulting effect on the price of vehicles from The Economist that has a crucial socio-economic argument in it, where the underlined words are tags that i already have. It severely hampers skimming through the news where I’ve minimal time to categorise my bits and bytes.

And what if the tags overlap? For example, my programming booklist (a ‘to buy’) and programming article database (well, a database) share the tag ‘programming’. Once again my OCD tendencies resent both categories displayed with this tag.

Why not just file things properly, where they should be, where they were meant to, in the way that you would like them?

Hence this awfully clumsy method as show in the screenshot above. :/

Add a numerical prefix to folders you wish to organise.

Then, add a second, third, forth numeral, so on and so forth for each nested layer.

Biggest drawback – if a new folder needs to be inserted in the front, woe befall you and the necessary relabeling of every subsequent folder.

And one more big wish Evernote: Wiki style links please.