america's next vp????
sigh... if u ever wonder why some americans are so stupid, just look at this vice-president candidate, ie running mate of mccain. at first, i thought she made a blunder when she said "russia's proximity to alaska make me experienced" (note: she's the governor of alaska). from this clip, she does certainly thinks so...
below is the transcript, from the above link,
COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--
COURIC: Mock?
PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--
COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
another post after a long while
hmmm... just to share something which i dunno if mika notice.. most of her blog entries are usually posted when i'm sleeping over at her place..and she writes them when i'm asleep (which is q early lah..) and guess wat... she's taking a super super long afternoon nap (2hrs and counting) now while i'm posting an entry.
many thanks to crystal, kangliang n ivy (previous classmates from VJC) and xiaoyun n zhenhao (somehow they wished me almost at the same time at 1300h... hmmmm.....) for the birthday wishes. n of cos big thank you to mika who brought me to LAWRY'S PRIME RIBS to celebrate my birthday yesterday... now... we're not rich ok... it just happened that mika got a one-for-one voucher from dbs. anyway, think mika will blog about the food and ambience and service, so i shan't talk much about it. but i must mention about this pleasant surprise we had.
at the entrance of the restaurant, where ppl usually queue, there were many certs put on displayed. most are for best food, restaurant, etc etc. but one cert was placed at one side isolated from the rest. the cert was not-so-nice, not-so-professional, and was in this ugly blue... mika noticed it and guess wat? it had the CSC logo and it was a Certificate of Appreciation from Signature Love Project 2004, with bryan lee seng long's signature and his stamp. kinda surprised that such a classy restaurant actually bothered to display our cert. haha.
mika is still sleeping...
anyway, i was surfing and come upon this video on youtube. it on this song called "New Math" performed by Tom Lehrer, a American song-writer cum mathematician. He's NOT the guy in the video. Basically, the song is about how math is taught nowadays and it really reminds me of the math homework mika gives to her students.
Monday, September 08, 2008
a post after a long while
Actually i had no intention of posting until i visited the website which monitors the traffic on this blog (haha... bet u didnt know i was monitoring...)
Anyway, to my surprise, despite the long lull, there were actually visitors to this blog!!! ok... not many people la... only 13 last week (which is super pathetic compared to xiaxue, mrbrown, blah blah blah)
But it's not ZERO!!!!
Ok la.. some came by accident... like someone actually googled "mao of bali" (???) and so came to my entry on my trip to bali. others googled "csc spa bukit batok", "white rose memorial munich", blah blah. And someone was probably looking for a solution to a puzzle, cos he/she googled "has 10 boxes each containing 10 marbles. One marble weighs 10 grams. But there is one box out of those 10 boxes which has the marbles weighing 9 grams each". (??????)
Ok... This is really a boh-liao entry and the next entry will be..... dunno when. super busy with sailings, duties, blah blah blah. Dun ask why, cos it's sensitive. But i explained to my guys with a chinese saying and it goes "虎落平阳被犬欺"... Heh
Monday, May 05, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Service in Singapore
Finally i'm back on course at SAFTI MI. ie no more sailing, duties and unreasonable deadlines... haha. so got time to blog liao... had eaten out on three occasions at different restaurants and witnessed the dismal standard of service nowadays.
1. Lerk's Thai Restaurant, Marina Square Second Storey
was eating with mika after visiting it show. e waiters + waitresses were super inattentive even though it was off peak and there were virtually no customers. but it was within tolerable limits.
e incident: basically, the first waitress who took our order for drinks forgot to relay e info to e drinks counter or whoever. ok... so we asked for e same drinks again. so the drinks come lah. ok. so after the meal, we paid e bill and left. dunno why. i decide to check the bill again and i realised that they charged e drinks twice. ok. nvm... go back and checked e waitress.
wah. e waitress who took our order was simply indifferent. she signalled to the cashier to "settle us" and went on to do her job. e cashier just changed e bill and charged me accordingly with no apology and was not even apologetic about it.
2. Central Restaurant, Vivocity Basement One
was eating with colleagues this time around. two incidents..
incident 1: again, inattentive waitress took the wrong order. instead of 831, she recorded 813 and hence the wrong order was delivered. when we told the waiter who delivered it that the order was wrong, he returned to the kitchen with the dish. amazingly (this is really amazing) the waitress who took the wrong order returned with the wrong dish and confronted us. huh? is it necessary to confront us? luckily (for her) she didnt kick up a storm and just returned back to the kitchen. again, no apology and simply not apologetic.
incident 2: this is simply amazing. the waiter was clearing up the table and he had difficulties reaching a plate in the center. he asked for assistance but my friend wasnt paying attention. then he said "allo?" in a sarcastic manner and reached for the plate. i was simply amazed.
3. Muthu Curry, Suntec Basement 1
was eating with group 4 (actually, only got four of us...haha) ok. after the previous encounters, the service was not that horrible. just that, when i asked for water, they served me beer. i said no, and asked for water, but never come. asked for water again, but never come. asked for water again, but never come. last time, a bit smarter. saw a guy carrying glasses of water and i asked for water. basically, most of the time was spent repeating orders to different waiters for things to happen.
think i havent been dining out much. nv realised that service can be so horrible.
1. Lerk's Thai Restaurant, Marina Square Second Storey
was eating with mika after visiting it show. e waiters + waitresses were super inattentive even though it was off peak and there were virtually no customers. but it was within tolerable limits.
e incident: basically, the first waitress who took our order for drinks forgot to relay e info to e drinks counter or whoever. ok... so we asked for e same drinks again. so the drinks come lah. ok. so after the meal, we paid e bill and left. dunno why. i decide to check the bill again and i realised that they charged e drinks twice. ok. nvm... go back and checked e waitress.
wah. e waitress who took our order was simply indifferent. she signalled to the cashier to "settle us" and went on to do her job. e cashier just changed e bill and charged me accordingly with no apology and was not even apologetic about it.
2. Central Restaurant, Vivocity Basement One
was eating with colleagues this time around. two incidents..
incident 1: again, inattentive waitress took the wrong order. instead of 831, she recorded 813 and hence the wrong order was delivered. when we told the waiter who delivered it that the order was wrong, he returned to the kitchen with the dish. amazingly (this is really amazing) the waitress who took the wrong order returned with the wrong dish and confronted us. huh? is it necessary to confront us? luckily (for her) she didnt kick up a storm and just returned back to the kitchen. again, no apology and simply not apologetic.
incident 2: this is simply amazing. the waiter was clearing up the table and he had difficulties reaching a plate in the center. he asked for assistance but my friend wasnt paying attention. then he said "allo?" in a sarcastic manner and reached for the plate. i was simply amazed.
3. Muthu Curry, Suntec Basement 1
was eating with group 4 (actually, only got four of us...haha) ok. after the previous encounters, the service was not that horrible. just that, when i asked for water, they served me beer. i said no, and asked for water, but never come. asked for water again, but never come. asked for water again, but never come. last time, a bit smarter. saw a guy carrying glasses of water and i asked for water. basically, most of the time was spent repeating orders to different waiters for things to happen.
think i havent been dining out much. nv realised that service can be so horrible.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
how to get a million dollars
realised that i havent blogged for over a month! was getting bit lazy until...
i found out the easiest way to get one million dollars!
drumroll....
act stupid and enter the gameshow "are you smarter than a fifth grader?" maybe the gameshow may sound unfamiliar, but it's the gameshow THE dumb blonde was in.
geez. basically, it's like "who wants to be a millionaire" the elementary/ pri sch version with adults. was watching it on channel 5. there's this chap who was answering his 300,000 USD question. Yes. 300,000 USD. And the question is... drumroll...
What do plants lose during the process of transpiration?
A. Seeds. B. Water Vapour. C. Roots...
Mika, her sister and I were like... What?! So simple?
And... this American chap just gave up and said that the question was too difficult.
???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worse, he walked away with 175,000 USD!
?????!!!!! I worked so hard to get a good degree to get a well-paying job and sloughed for the past two years and yet i dun get such good money.
There's really something fundamentally wrong with this world.
But maybe life's not so bad after all. after two years, my paper submission to a math journal is finally accepted! actually, not v excited, cos of the long delay in the refereeing process. haha. anyway, mika asked me how much i may get for publishing a paper.
i said, "i dunno. but definitely much less than 175,000 USD."
realised that i havent blogged for over a month! was getting bit lazy until...
i found out the easiest way to get one million dollars!
drumroll....
act stupid and enter the gameshow "are you smarter than a fifth grader?" maybe the gameshow may sound unfamiliar, but it's the gameshow THE dumb blonde was in.
geez. basically, it's like "who wants to be a millionaire" the elementary/ pri sch version with adults. was watching it on channel 5. there's this chap who was answering his 300,000 USD question. Yes. 300,000 USD. And the question is... drumroll...
What do plants lose during the process of transpiration?
A. Seeds. B. Water Vapour. C. Roots...
Mika, her sister and I were like... What?! So simple?
And... this American chap just gave up and said that the question was too difficult.
???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worse, he walked away with 175,000 USD!
?????!!!!! I worked so hard to get a good degree to get a well-paying job and sloughed for the past two years and yet i dun get such good money.
There's really something fundamentally wrong with this world.
But maybe life's not so bad after all. after two years, my paper submission to a math journal is finally accepted! actually, not v excited, cos of the long delay in the refereeing process. haha. anyway, mika asked me how much i may get for publishing a paper.
i said, "i dunno. but definitely much less than 175,000 USD."
Monday, December 10, 2007
the alchemist
it's been some time since i read a fictional novel. well, mika said it was nice and i should read it. yeah. so i read it. quite nice... so i put some excerpts here.
*****************************************************
"What's the world's greatest lie?".....
"It's this: that a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."
**************************************************
(Basically, the main character is a boy, who became a shepherd. Here he met an old man in a town.)
"Why do you tend to a flock of sheep?"
"Because I like to travel."
The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza. "When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he's an old man, he's going to spend a month in Africa. He never realised that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."
"He should have decided to become a shepherd, " the boy said.
"Well, he thought about that," the old man said. "But bakers are more important people than shepherds. Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open. Parents would rather see their children marry bakers than shepherds.
...
"In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own Personal Legends."
************************************************
Hmmm. As you might guess, the book goes onto describe the boy's adventure to fulfill his Personal Legend. Like what mika pointed out, the book expounds that when one tries hard to realise his/her dream, the "whole universe conspires" to help him/her. There'll be numerous signs/omens along the way.
When I was reading it, I was wondering, "Is this book an omen?"
2 years 21 days.
it's been some time since i read a fictional novel. well, mika said it was nice and i should read it. yeah. so i read it. quite nice... so i put some excerpts here.
*****************************************************
"What's the world's greatest lie?".....
"It's this: that a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."
**************************************************
(Basically, the main character is a boy, who became a shepherd. Here he met an old man in a town.)
"Why do you tend to a flock of sheep?"
"Because I like to travel."
The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza. "When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he's an old man, he's going to spend a month in Africa. He never realised that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."
"He should have decided to become a shepherd, " the boy said.
"Well, he thought about that," the old man said. "But bakers are more important people than shepherds. Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open. Parents would rather see their children marry bakers than shepherds.
...
"In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own Personal Legends."
************************************************
Hmmm. As you might guess, the book goes onto describe the boy's adventure to fulfill his Personal Legend. Like what mika pointed out, the book expounds that when one tries hard to realise his/her dream, the "whole universe conspires" to help him/her. There'll be numerous signs/omens along the way.
When I was reading it, I was wondering, "Is this book an omen?"
2 years 21 days.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
run your own race
42.195km is really no joke. i tot after being able to complete 21km in an ok fashion, 42km shouldnt be too unsurmountable. wah... it was really tough. and many others were like struggling to complete. i think for the last 10km, almost everyone around me were walking/strolling. even when the volunteers were cheering us on, we were all super bochup. haha.
anyway some lessons learnt:
1. must at least run 30 km before the marathon... 21km is really not enuff
2. must put petroleum jelly or something to prevent abrasion. this time, my nipples kenna quite a bit. and some point of time, i was like pulling the singlet away from my chest and running.
3. must drink lotsa lotsa water... hmmm. had some gruesome encounter which i will not describe
anyway, i still manage to complete the race!! thanks to my wonderful, adorable, lovely, inspirational, sweet, awesome, exceptional girlfriend who came down to support with this beautiful placard!! really helped a lot in motivating me to get to the marina cove, kallang stadium (though i missed her) and the finishing point. hee. mika's the best!
Saturday, December 01, 2007
innumeracy
yesterday, i was helping my boss do some analysis with some data (have to be vague here). anyway, i realise some disturbing (but not-so-surprising) misconceptions.
1. ppl who get good scores in a-level maths or engineering maths do not necessarily know wat they studied. i'm not saying ALL who get good scores do not know wat's happening. but rather a majority of them are able to solve exam questions using standard methods without any idea why the methods work. so when they go to work in the real world, they try these standard methods, hoping (and sometimes succeeding) to impress other ppl (who also dunno wat's happening). i wonder how many people really know wat all the t-tests, z-tests mean...
2. ppl think math majors study engineering maths/a-level maths and statistics. the logic is simple. for those who are not engineers only come to contact with maths via statistics. so maths = statistics + a-level maths. for those who are engineers come to contact with maths via engineering maths + stats. so maths = engineering maths (which is advanced a-level maths) + stats. somehow, this logic applies only to math and does not seem to extend to other discipline... anyway, i did only one module on statistics, and it was not even close to statistics. it was on probability theory. so i'm one of those who dunno wat t-tests, z-tests, really mean...
3. ppl think that math majors can solve any problem which has numbers in them. this is like the most irritating thing. ppl like to ask me if i can help to analyse a set of data. huh??? i think a social science major who did two courses on statistical methods can do a better job (assuming that he/she knew wat he/she was reading). then when i say 'i didnt learn this in uni,' they'll respond 'then wat do you learn?' sometimes, i just feel like saying 'things that u'll never comprehend in this lifetime...'
haha. but at the end of the day, somehow, and with some help from google and microsoft, i can do some decent work on the problems... haha. this brings to mind a somewhat arrogant quote from euler (when he solved the 'bridges of konigsberg' problem):
'i do not know why even questions which bear so little relationship to mathematics are solved more quickly by mathematicians than by others.'
heh
yesterday, i was helping my boss do some analysis with some data (have to be vague here). anyway, i realise some disturbing (but not-so-surprising) misconceptions.
1. ppl who get good scores in a-level maths or engineering maths do not necessarily know wat they studied. i'm not saying ALL who get good scores do not know wat's happening. but rather a majority of them are able to solve exam questions using standard methods without any idea why the methods work. so when they go to work in the real world, they try these standard methods, hoping (and sometimes succeeding) to impress other ppl (who also dunno wat's happening). i wonder how many people really know wat all the t-tests, z-tests mean...
2. ppl think math majors study engineering maths/a-level maths and statistics. the logic is simple. for those who are not engineers only come to contact with maths via statistics. so maths = statistics + a-level maths. for those who are engineers come to contact with maths via engineering maths + stats. so maths = engineering maths (which is advanced a-level maths) + stats. somehow, this logic applies only to math and does not seem to extend to other discipline... anyway, i did only one module on statistics, and it was not even close to statistics. it was on probability theory. so i'm one of those who dunno wat t-tests, z-tests, really mean...
3. ppl think that math majors can solve any problem which has numbers in them. this is like the most irritating thing. ppl like to ask me if i can help to analyse a set of data. huh??? i think a social science major who did two courses on statistical methods can do a better job (assuming that he/she knew wat he/she was reading). then when i say 'i didnt learn this in uni,' they'll respond 'then wat do you learn?' sometimes, i just feel like saying 'things that u'll never comprehend in this lifetime...'
haha. but at the end of the day, somehow, and with some help from google and microsoft, i can do some decent work on the problems... haha. this brings to mind a somewhat arrogant quote from euler (when he solved the 'bridges of konigsberg' problem):
'i do not know why even questions which bear so little relationship to mathematics are solved more quickly by mathematicians than by others.'
heh
Thursday, November 08, 2007
super cruncher
ooops. just realised the last time i posted something on this blog was more than one month ago. had a good month slacking as my boss was away on some duties and some course. was so slack that i pretty did nothing much...
but i did read a book called super crunchers: why thinking by numbers is the new way to be smart. it's not about maths, but more about using statistical analysis to approach to problems / issues nowadays. the author, ian ayres, no mathematician, but a lawyer with a wonderful understanding of statistics (what's the probability??), and coincidentally, a friend of steven levitt, the co-author of freakonomics (a book where the authors "uncovers" interesting facts thru some smart statistical analysis).
anyway, the book's about why pple should rely on statistical analysis to make predictions / give advice / blah blah than to rely on "expert opinion" or intuition. yah. like most modern authors, he support with numerous anecdotes and reports.
one area he discussed on was the medical field, where he noted that most doctors are adverse not only to numbers, but also to doing research on the problems of their patients. ie. many choose to rely on their experience to do the diagnosis, rather than "looking up studies" to "confirm" their diagnosis. and he picked the example of ignaz semmelweis. apparently, in the 19th century, hand washing is not a common practice for operations. semmelweis observed that handwashing reduced mortalities due to childbed fever and did a statistical study to verify his observation. but despite his studies, the medical community then rejected the practice of handwashing. cos the studies lack a "theory" and handwashing was troublesome. hmmmmm... lucky for us, the medical community is a bit smarter now.
but really, doctors do make stupid mistakes occasionally. i went to a gp once as my hand developed some allergic reaction. basically, during the diagnosis, the gp said something weird. he claimed that our human skin is naturally acidic and had a pH level of 3.5 and recommended a soap which has a pH level of 3.5. when he said that, i was kinda shocked and he asked "why u looked so shocked?" ok... so my chemistry is only at o-level. maybe i'm wrong... so let's not argue with him. after the consulation, i looked at the soap he prescribed. it wrote pH 5.5. i checked the internet. he's right, our skin is naturally acidic but the pH is 5.5. pH 3.5 corresponds to orange juice...hmmmm.
ooops. just realised the last time i posted something on this blog was more than one month ago. had a good month slacking as my boss was away on some duties and some course. was so slack that i pretty did nothing much...
but i did read a book called super crunchers: why thinking by numbers is the new way to be smart. it's not about maths, but more about using statistical analysis to approach to problems / issues nowadays. the author, ian ayres, no mathematician, but a lawyer with a wonderful understanding of statistics (what's the probability??), and coincidentally, a friend of steven levitt, the co-author of freakonomics (a book where the authors "uncovers" interesting facts thru some smart statistical analysis).
anyway, the book's about why pple should rely on statistical analysis to make predictions / give advice / blah blah than to rely on "expert opinion" or intuition. yah. like most modern authors, he support with numerous anecdotes and reports.
one area he discussed on was the medical field, where he noted that most doctors are adverse not only to numbers, but also to doing research on the problems of their patients. ie. many choose to rely on their experience to do the diagnosis, rather than "looking up studies" to "confirm" their diagnosis. and he picked the example of ignaz semmelweis. apparently, in the 19th century, hand washing is not a common practice for operations. semmelweis observed that handwashing reduced mortalities due to childbed fever and did a statistical study to verify his observation. but despite his studies, the medical community then rejected the practice of handwashing. cos the studies lack a "theory" and handwashing was troublesome. hmmmmm... lucky for us, the medical community is a bit smarter now.
but really, doctors do make stupid mistakes occasionally. i went to a gp once as my hand developed some allergic reaction. basically, during the diagnosis, the gp said something weird. he claimed that our human skin is naturally acidic and had a pH level of 3.5 and recommended a soap which has a pH level of 3.5. when he said that, i was kinda shocked and he asked "why u looked so shocked?" ok... so my chemistry is only at o-level. maybe i'm wrong... so let's not argue with him. after the consulation, i looked at the soap he prescribed. it wrote pH 5.5. i checked the internet. he's right, our skin is naturally acidic but the pH is 5.5. pH 3.5 corresponds to orange juice...hmmmm.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
a weekend to slack
1. army half marathon
completed my second ahm last sun. this time round, i took 2hr 14 min. approx 10 min faster than my first attempt. hopefully, next year will be faster.
this year the running route was much better. more lanes were open and there were less traffic lights. but the organisation at the ending point was a fiasco. the choice of using the "area beneath the steps at the floating platform" was horrible. the area was so cramped and stuffy. plus all the heat sweat and smell from the runners. the worst part was the collection of bags... the queue was so long and the organisation was so horrible that it took me 2 hours to collect my bag. yeah, 2 hours! i can almost run another half marathon in that time!
hope next year the end point is back at padang.
2. prison break season 2
couldnt resist the temptation to buy the vcd, although i've watched almost half of the episodes. there's no need for me to add that the series is exciting clever blah blah blah.
some interesting trivia for those who watch the series:
in some scenes, depicting president reynolds re-election campaigns, the placards/posters/banners show a website reynolds-again.com fox actually created the website...
another one is the famous europeangoldfinch.net which michael told sucre about, so that they can communicate with each other. the site was used in the show indeed and if u go to the website now, you can see the messages that they posted to each other.
1. army half marathon
completed my second ahm last sun. this time round, i took 2hr 14 min. approx 10 min faster than my first attempt. hopefully, next year will be faster.
this year the running route was much better. more lanes were open and there were less traffic lights. but the organisation at the ending point was a fiasco. the choice of using the "area beneath the steps at the floating platform" was horrible. the area was so cramped and stuffy. plus all the heat sweat and smell from the runners. the worst part was the collection of bags... the queue was so long and the organisation was so horrible that it took me 2 hours to collect my bag. yeah, 2 hours! i can almost run another half marathon in that time!
hope next year the end point is back at padang.
2. prison break season 2
couldnt resist the temptation to buy the vcd, although i've watched almost half of the episodes. there's no need for me to add that the series is exciting clever blah blah blah.
some interesting trivia for those who watch the series:
in some scenes, depicting president reynolds re-election campaigns, the placards/posters/banners show a website reynolds-again.com fox actually created the website...
another one is the famous europeangoldfinch.net which michael told sucre about, so that they can communicate with each other. the site was used in the show indeed and if u go to the website now, you can see the messages that they posted to each other.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
numb3rs
it's been a long time since i last blogged. been busy at work, preparing for a big exercise. also, has been watching a series called numb3rs online. it's those csi type, crime series. but the highlight of the show is that one of the fbi agent's brother is a mathematician. and the math brother uses math to help the fbi brother solves crime.
the math in the show is real math and not some magical math that makes math look almighty and awesome. and coincidentally, today (18 aug) in the science section of straits times, they wrote an article about applying math to the real world.
the focus of the article is this guy called stanley osher, who coinvented the level set method for image processing. basically, the method is quite hot in the movie industry and more recently in the bioscience industry.
wat link is there between numb3rs and stanley osher? well, the latter also helped to solve a crime in LA. basically, there was a riot then in 1993 and lots of beatings. there was a video clip of a guy throwing a brick at a truck driver. the clip showed a speck on the arm of the guy. stanley osher with his methods enhanced the video image and the speck turned out to be a rose tattoo and this led to the eventual arrest of the brick-thrower.
yeah. we all use math everyday.
it's been a long time since i last blogged. been busy at work, preparing for a big exercise. also, has been watching a series called numb3rs online. it's those csi type, crime series. but the highlight of the show is that one of the fbi agent's brother is a mathematician. and the math brother uses math to help the fbi brother solves crime.
the math in the show is real math and not some magical math that makes math look almighty and awesome. and coincidentally, today (18 aug) in the science section of straits times, they wrote an article about applying math to the real world.
the focus of the article is this guy called stanley osher, who coinvented the level set method for image processing. basically, the method is quite hot in the movie industry and more recently in the bioscience industry.
wat link is there between numb3rs and stanley osher? well, the latter also helped to solve a crime in LA. basically, there was a riot then in 1993 and lots of beatings. there was a video clip of a guy throwing a brick at a truck driver. the clip showed a speck on the arm of the guy. stanley osher with his methods enhanced the video image and the speck turned out to be a rose tattoo and this led to the eventual arrest of the brick-thrower.
yeah. we all use math everyday.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
google saves the day
had a scare last tue. v bad scare. my laptop at work for some reason lost its administrator account. that is, i could no longer log in as the administrator and worse, i lost all access to the files which i was working on. total nightmare. i was super super distraught..
my friends.. those computer gurus tried helping me. do sys restore lah. accessing sys progs which i nv knew of... but alas to no avail.
hopelessly, i went home and googled "lost administrator account", "administrator account disappeared" and "administrator account deleted". and lo and behold... the solution appeared! and not just dat, i also found out the cause of the disappearance... all in some computer forum.
the power of google.
and guess who are the brains behind google? (haha. if this question comes from me, there are only a few possibilities.) mathematicians. k lah... maybe some computer scientists with a strong mathematical ability. more specifically, they are called search engine optimizers.
they are the ppl who make sure crap dun turn up when u do a search on google. k... crap do turn up... but they are not horrible crap or "contrived crap". examples of "contrived crap": sites which include many popular (but irrelavant) keywords, or sites which are "made popular" (i've heard of naive pple starting a company to employ ppl to click on certain websites to make them popular). so, when u search for things on google, the companies that do turn up are usually credible and are really THE companies you are looking for.
dun ask me wat's the secret formula google has. cos no one outside google knows. but google does have an interesting way of recruiting these search engine optimizers. google labs have an unconventional aptitude test called the GLAT. and here's one of my favourite question (with a bit of modification).
Fill in the gap in the sequence: 10, 9, 60, __,70, 66,...
Hint: Google is a play on what word? highlight for the answer: 10100... ten is the biggest number/word with 3 letters. nine is the biggest number/word with 4 letters and so on and so forth. GOOGOL is quite a big number/word with 6 letters.
In additional to recruiting creative ppl, the company has a simple mantra: DUN BE EVIL.
Haha. So next time, dun ask me, besides lecturing, wat can a math PHD do..
had a scare last tue. v bad scare. my laptop at work for some reason lost its administrator account. that is, i could no longer log in as the administrator and worse, i lost all access to the files which i was working on. total nightmare. i was super super distraught..
my friends.. those computer gurus tried helping me. do sys restore lah. accessing sys progs which i nv knew of... but alas to no avail.
hopelessly, i went home and googled "lost administrator account", "administrator account disappeared" and "administrator account deleted". and lo and behold... the solution appeared! and not just dat, i also found out the cause of the disappearance... all in some computer forum.
the power of google.
and guess who are the brains behind google? (haha. if this question comes from me, there are only a few possibilities.) mathematicians. k lah... maybe some computer scientists with a strong mathematical ability. more specifically, they are called search engine optimizers.
they are the ppl who make sure crap dun turn up when u do a search on google. k... crap do turn up... but they are not horrible crap or "contrived crap". examples of "contrived crap": sites which include many popular (but irrelavant) keywords, or sites which are "made popular" (i've heard of naive pple starting a company to employ ppl to click on certain websites to make them popular). so, when u search for things on google, the companies that do turn up are usually credible and are really THE companies you are looking for.
dun ask me wat's the secret formula google has. cos no one outside google knows. but google does have an interesting way of recruiting these search engine optimizers. google labs have an unconventional aptitude test called the GLAT. and here's one of my favourite question (with a bit of modification).
Fill in the gap in the sequence: 10, 9, 60, __,70, 66,...
Hint: Google is a play on what word? highlight for the answer: 10100... ten is the biggest number/word with 3 letters. nine is the biggest number/word with 4 letters and so on and so forth. GOOGOL is quite a big number/word with 6 letters.
In additional to recruiting creative ppl, the company has a simple mantra: DUN BE EVIL.
Haha. So next time, dun ask me, besides lecturing, wat can a math PHD do..
Monday, July 16, 2007
ebay order #76640450001
recently bought a book over ebay. actually second time i bought an item. the first time was this maths text from china. (nope..not in chinese. e text is the same as the original. basically, it's like some china uni co-op thing that somehow went onto ebay)
anyway, this time the item is from america. and it was reasonable 16 usd / 26 sgd... quite cheap for a hardcover book in singapore... somemore deliver to doorstep somemore... anyway...
to my surprise, when the package came and i opened it, the book looks like it's from a library. refer to the typical label (with the watever reference code) at the bottom of the spine of the book. then i notice the sticker above... it writes "New York Public Library". Haha. Then i found the following note:
recently bought a book over ebay. actually second time i bought an item. the first time was this maths text from china. (nope..not in chinese. e text is the same as the original. basically, it's like some china uni co-op thing that somehow went onto ebay)
anyway, this time the item is from america. and it was reasonable 16 usd / 26 sgd... quite cheap for a hardcover book in singapore... somemore deliver to doorstep somemore... anyway...
to my surprise, when the package came and i opened it, the book looks like it's from a library. refer to the typical label (with the watever reference code) at the bottom of the spine of the book. then i notice the sticker above... it writes "New York Public Library". Haha. Then i found the following note:
oh. so, there are ppl actually sell books from libraries online. the world is getting v it-savy indeed.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
dim sum dollies: history of singapore
just came back from the show and tot it was not bad. very hilarious (but v singaporean jokes) and refreshing. unlike most musicals which have a simple plot, the show has no plot at all. it's just local jokes intertwined with history.
in fact, it's v local and twds the end, quite ndp-ish... n (no offence to anyone) the show makes one feel more singaporean than ndp itself. perhaps one should learn to be more open and laugh at oneself, so that one can learn to be open to others.
anyway, i think the show's worth catching.
seriousLY.
just came back from the show and tot it was not bad. very hilarious (but v singaporean jokes) and refreshing. unlike most musicals which have a simple plot, the show has no plot at all. it's just local jokes intertwined with history.
in fact, it's v local and twds the end, quite ndp-ish... n (no offence to anyone) the show makes one feel more singaporean than ndp itself. perhaps one should learn to be more open and laugh at oneself, so that one can learn to be open to others.
anyway, i think the show's worth catching.
seriousLY.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
egoistic post
haha. was looking at vjc maths dept website for some other purposes... and to my pleasant surprise. i found a paper that was written by yours truly seven years ago...
it's about non-transitive dice. basically, it's about a set of dice, call them A, B and C, with numbers which are not the usual ones. we have A being more likely to win B, B more likely to win C and (here's the weird thing) C more likely to win A. through some stroke of luck, i managed to find a way to create a set of non-transitive dice, of any size and each dice having any number of faces (strictly speaking, a dice should have 6 faces). with some fanciful presentation, the team managed to get some gold award in some science festival. haha.
oh... i also remembered getting pm lee's (then dpm lee) autograph on a report for e project. e amazing thing was that he knew about our topic by just looking at the title. (not many maths pple know wat are non-transitive dice) i knew he knew cos he asked, "so how many triplets did u come up with?" when the title of the project did not give any hint of the set being a triplet. n u can guess my answer...
haha. this post is so bhb...
haha. was looking at vjc maths dept website for some other purposes... and to my pleasant surprise. i found a paper that was written by yours truly seven years ago...
it's about non-transitive dice. basically, it's about a set of dice, call them A, B and C, with numbers which are not the usual ones. we have A being more likely to win B, B more likely to win C and (here's the weird thing) C more likely to win A. through some stroke of luck, i managed to find a way to create a set of non-transitive dice, of any size and each dice having any number of faces (strictly speaking, a dice should have 6 faces). with some fanciful presentation, the team managed to get some gold award in some science festival. haha.
oh... i also remembered getting pm lee's (then dpm lee) autograph on a report for e project. e amazing thing was that he knew about our topic by just looking at the title. (not many maths pple know wat are non-transitive dice) i knew he knew cos he asked, "so how many triplets did u come up with?" when the title of the project did not give any hint of the set being a triplet. n u can guess my answer...
haha. this post is so bhb...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
guide to solving bohliao puzzles
stayed onboard on monday and my boss was feeling boh liao and got all the officers together for supper. now is uni vacation, so got a lot of young officers who are attached to ship to entertain my boss. somehow, they started asking each other stupid puzzles which seem to make my boss relive his younger days. dunno if it's "i'm a maths guy" or it's "i got a super memory for puzzles". i seem to have heard most of the puzzles and recall the solutions readily.
anyway, while it seems the puzzle require some great ingenuity or wat pple call "think out of the box", it's not difficult if one attempt to use some method. (maybe different pple got different sizes of boxes to think out of) here's a simple tip to solving most maths-related problems.
reduce to a simpler/smaller case.
===================================================
example 1. there are 10 boxes, each containing 10 marbles. in 9 boxes, the marble each weighed 1 gram and in one box, the marble each weighed 1.1 gram. we have an electronic weighing machine which can give the exact weight.
aim: in one weighing, find the box with the heavier marbles.
some analysis: obviously weighing everything together will not help and ppl get stuck here. Let's reduce to 2 boxes with 2 marbles each. One has marbles weighing 1 gram each and one has marbles weighing 1.1 grams each.
how many marbles from each box should i choose to weigh? if i take 2 marbles from each box, i'll definitely get the reading 4.2 gram. similarly, if i take 1 marble from each box, the reading will always be 2.1 gram. ie. no conclusion.
now, let's name the boxes B1 and B2. if i take 1 marble from B1 and 2 marble from B2.
if B1 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.1 gram. if B2 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.2 gram. there's a different reading for each possibility. that is, we are able to conclude from the reading which box contains the heavier marbles.
hmmm... not v difficult to guess the solution for 10 boxes and 10 marbles right?
==============================================
example 2. there are 8 marbles with 1 lighter than the rest. there's a balancing weigh (ie those see-saw type which can tell which marble is heavier).
aim: in two weighing, find the lighter marble.
let's reduce the problem. in one weighing, how can i find a lighter marble?
let's call the scales, left and right. in one weighing, how many possible outcomes can there be? three. (A) the left being heavier, (B) the right being heavier, (C) both just as heavy. hmmmm. so, if i got three marbles with one lighter, i just weigh any one against another. (A) would imply that the right is lighter. (B) imply the left is lighter. (C) would imply the one not weighed is lighter.
it's also clear with only 3 possible outcomes, there's no possible way to find a ligher marble from a pile of 4 marbles with just one weighing.
so, returning to the question, let's say we completed the first weighing. we must conclude that the lighter marble is one in a pile of 3 marbles. So, that means, in our first weighing, we must weigh a pile of 3 against another pile of 3. the rest of the details can be worked out easily.
as a maths guy, i like to generalise the problem. so, in N weighings, it's possible to find a lighter marble from a pile of at most 3N marbles. So, if some guy ask you to find the lighter marble from a pile of 30 with just 3 weighings, you can tell him, mighty mao say impossible.
=========================================================
hmmm. so where's the box to think out from?
stayed onboard on monday and my boss was feeling boh liao and got all the officers together for supper. now is uni vacation, so got a lot of young officers who are attached to ship to entertain my boss. somehow, they started asking each other stupid puzzles which seem to make my boss relive his younger days. dunno if it's "i'm a maths guy" or it's "i got a super memory for puzzles". i seem to have heard most of the puzzles and recall the solutions readily.
anyway, while it seems the puzzle require some great ingenuity or wat pple call "think out of the box", it's not difficult if one attempt to use some method. (maybe different pple got different sizes of boxes to think out of) here's a simple tip to solving most maths-related problems.
reduce to a simpler/smaller case.
===================================================
example 1. there are 10 boxes, each containing 10 marbles. in 9 boxes, the marble each weighed 1 gram and in one box, the marble each weighed 1.1 gram. we have an electronic weighing machine which can give the exact weight.
aim: in one weighing, find the box with the heavier marbles.
some analysis: obviously weighing everything together will not help and ppl get stuck here. Let's reduce to 2 boxes with 2 marbles each. One has marbles weighing 1 gram each and one has marbles weighing 1.1 grams each.
how many marbles from each box should i choose to weigh? if i take 2 marbles from each box, i'll definitely get the reading 4.2 gram. similarly, if i take 1 marble from each box, the reading will always be 2.1 gram. ie. no conclusion.
now, let's name the boxes B1 and B2. if i take 1 marble from B1 and 2 marble from B2.
if B1 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.1 gram. if B2 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.2 gram. there's a different reading for each possibility. that is, we are able to conclude from the reading which box contains the heavier marbles.
hmmm... not v difficult to guess the solution for 10 boxes and 10 marbles right?
==============================================
example 2. there are 8 marbles with 1 lighter than the rest. there's a balancing weigh (ie those see-saw type which can tell which marble is heavier).
aim: in two weighing, find the lighter marble.
let's reduce the problem. in one weighing, how can i find a lighter marble?
let's call the scales, left and right. in one weighing, how many possible outcomes can there be? three. (A) the left being heavier, (B) the right being heavier, (C) both just as heavy. hmmmm. so, if i got three marbles with one lighter, i just weigh any one against another. (A) would imply that the right is lighter. (B) imply the left is lighter. (C) would imply the one not weighed is lighter.
it's also clear with only 3 possible outcomes, there's no possible way to find a ligher marble from a pile of 4 marbles with just one weighing.
so, returning to the question, let's say we completed the first weighing. we must conclude that the lighter marble is one in a pile of 3 marbles. So, that means, in our first weighing, we must weigh a pile of 3 against another pile of 3. the rest of the details can be worked out easily.
as a maths guy, i like to generalise the problem. so, in N weighings, it's possible to find a lighter marble from a pile of at most 3N marbles. So, if some guy ask you to find the lighter marble from a pile of 30 with just 3 weighings, you can tell him, mighty mao say impossible.
=========================================================
hmmm. so where's the box to think out from?
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