National Day Celebration and Tiong Bahru Bakery

It has been some time since I blog. Have been really busy. Anyway, here are some pic of my school's National Day celebration. The entire school in red and white.

And balloons!

After the school celebration, a number of colleagues went to this Tiong Bahru Bakery. The pastries there are fantastic!

Here is the directory to this awesome cafe:

Postmodernism Generator and Fashionable Nonsense

My first reaction to this is LOL ...  ROFL

You should try this. Go to this page:
http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/

Every time you go in, it generates a new seemingly intelligent article full of bombastic jargons. But, it is actually mere collection of incoherent nonsense. ROFL!!!

I just got this book from the library. Not sure I have time to read it. Haa Haa.

A bit of history. A physicists wrote a piece of incoherent , yet intelligent sounding, nonsense and got in published in a journal Social Text. LOL.

What follows is a full force attack on non-science practitioners trying to use ( and end up misusing and abusing) intelligent sounding scientific terms to appear sophisticated.

At times when I failed to understand some talks/lectures where the speaker carried on blah blah blah, I thought I was an idiot. But now I realize , maybe, I am not that stupid after all. It is the Emperor's New Cloth syndrome. It is time to stand up and ask, ' Sire, have you realized your lecture is as substantial as what is clothing the naked emperor?'

Emperor of All Maladies: A biography of cancer

This is one of the most depressing bookings I have read. I am still struggling the finish it's last few chapters.

Quite some time ago, I vague remember reading gothic fiction like Dracula, Frankenstein and Notre Dame of Paris. That was almost suicidal. 

But this book is notch more painful -  because it is real!

It gives a history of cancer and illustrates the struggle by the patients, doctors and scientists. It personifies the diseases as a person. As we find out more about it, as it evolves and grow. It's use of metaphors is immaculate. Hugely informative: it contains blend of anecdotes of struggles and histories of scientific discoveries and innovation.

The result is an awesome pulitzer prizing winning book (in 2011 for general non-fiction).

As you read this book, you will understand more about the nature of this disease. You will feel jolts of pain as well as hope intertwining in you. You will face life together with its suffering; you will cherish life even more.

The review and preview by Google is given below:

http://books.google.com.sg/books/about/The_Emperor_of_All_Maladies.html?id=5rF_31RVTnMC&redir_esc=y

International standard paper sizes

Wow. This is really geeky stuff.

Do you know this?

For more information, go to: 

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html

Smart Animals

Some animals are really smart. Watch the video:


If you think the above animals are smart, you should see the video below!


The video shows some of the really interesting findings about animals.

• Animals are able to communicate with one another using language (sort of) or some forms of communication rather incomprehensible to humans.
• They cooperate. Monkeys living in a social group have certain 'ritual' that proof loyalty to their tribe. Hmm ...
• The first video shows the bird that can plan ahead! If you think this is smart, wait till you see , in the 2nd video, monkeys and birds that display 2nd-order theory of mind! How deceptive. 
• Animals learn. They also educate their young. The meerkets featured actually scaffold the learning for their young!
• Animals has memory. You should look at the crow. And ...scanning the crow's brain reveals that it also shows fear.
• A vain elephant has self-consciousness. It looked at itself on a mirror. 
• Bonobos like to have fun!

May Day - Food for Thought

To increase productivity, we can:

1. Reduce paperwork to the minimum.
2. Have some space & time to breathe and reflect on what we do. I think this is the most important ingredient for innovation and creativity.
3. Love what you do, and be proud of it

Practical Ethics by Peter Singer

One of the most thought-provoking I have ever read. Very intelligent!

Makes me look at the meat I eat in a very different way. And many more ...


Preview below:

Practical Ethics Peter Singer pdf

Found at ebookbrowse.com

This one is the 2nd edition. The google book review page is here.

In the 3rd edition, I believe, there is an additional chapter on climate change.