Next Stop Wonderland

Now on Amazon: Diary of a Taxi Driver

2010-03-07T20:59:00.002-06:00

Dr. Cai's book Diary of a Taxi Driver is now available on Amazon if anyone is interested. I've ordered my copy.

ST Forum: Letting athletes train in lieu of NS not feasible

2009-12-03T00:05:00.003-06:00

From the Straits Times Forum on 3 Dec 2009 [link]:Letting athletes train in lieu of NS not feasibleI REFER to Mr Lee Seck Kay's letter last Thursday, 'Let top male athletes train in lieu of NS'.The Ministry of Defence, in consultation with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, considers top male athletes' requests to defer their national service (NS) on a case-by-case

Please donate blood

2009-11-28T01:36:00.003-06:00

Singapore has a relatively low voluntary blood donation rate because many people are apathetic, afraid of blood, ineligible for various health reasons, etc. Blood stocks tend to be low at the end of the year and there will probably be a public call for more blood donors soon.I've been a regular blood donor since my undergraduate days in NUS and will encourage you to be one. If you are an NUS

Myth of the 5000 year-old civilization

2009-10-24T17:14:00.004-05:00

"No -- 5,000 years, and don’t forget, we invented all these things, and we’re going to go ahead in the next 5,000 years. It’s the only country where a language has survived 5,000 years, the only country by the present generation shares the same basic thinking as the past. And they’re very proud of it. You read Hu Jintao’s speech on the 60th anniversary, translated on the web -- what is it? We

A taxi driver in Singapore with a Stanford PhD

2009-08-14T10:05:00.003-05:00

This is an extremely but sad (from my perspective) blog. Ageism can hit anyone in Singapore. Even a Stanford PhD is not spared. It's another number 1 for Singapore - we have the most educated taxi driver in the world.It's probably only in Singapore where we have a Stanford PhD driving a taxi. What's next? NUS graduates picking up cardboard boxes for a living? Tsinghua graduates working in KTV

Yahoo News: China is rich abroad because of worker bulge

2009-08-02T21:42:00.000-05:00

From Yahoo News on 2 Aug 2009: GENEVA (AFP) - – China can finance the US economy because its workforce is large relative to children and old people, a new analysis suggests, trying to solve a mystery why Beijing is a major net creditor rather than a borrower as emerging economies usually are. And this strong ratio of workers to dependants is set to last for at least 15 years although the

Uncontroversial issues

2009-07-18T23:12:00.006-05:00

Over the years, starting from the old Sintercom forum, which was shut down in 2001, and soc.culture.singapore, I've been involved in numerous online arguments with people. While I find some of the issues to be thought-provoking and interesting, many of them should have been decisively settled by sheer weight of logic and evidence. I am tired of arguing over the same things again and again, so I

Bottled water or not?

2009-07-14T18:24:00.003-05:00

I don't know what this guy is complaining about. If bottled water were banned, then can't he bring his own water bottle or go into a kopitiam and order a cup of water? No one is asking him to drink from the tap in toilets. His post becomes even more ludicrous when he says that bottled water is a 'basic right'. Excuse me but I can't seem to find the right to bottled water anywhere in the Universal

S'pore aligning tax code with OECD's

2009-07-13T07:28:00.008-05:00

This was published on Asiaone's website [link] on 2 Jul 2009.S'pore aligning tax code with OECD'sDRAFT amendments have been made to the local tax regime to align Singapore with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's standard for the effective exchange of information on tax matters.One proposed change will lift the domestic interest requirement for information exchanged under

Of Migrant and Stayers

2009-07-12T14:06:00.009-05:00

The Kent Ridge Commons (KRC) has a new article Migrants and Stayers. Well, it is not exactly new because the article was written more than two years ago after Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (GCT) had said that Singapore was 'leaking talent'. Around the same time, I also offered my own perspective [link] on why Singapore was 'leaking talent'. There is a subtle but important difference between what

Come together?

2009-07-05T17:02:00.005-05:00

This is the logo of NDP 2009. No kidding. I'm not bluffing you.Come together? Five fingers of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality? Reaching up? Five fingers reaching up? Was there no one in the committee that designed this who foresaw the potential for sexual innuendos and schoolboy snickers?They told us that we had to stand up for Singapore but this is ridiculous!

ST: Spore's population is 4.84 million

2009-06-23T00:03:00.005-05:00

From the Straits Times on 17 June 2009:SINGAPORE'S population grew 5.5 per cent last year to reach 4.84 million, due largely to the influx of foreigners. The number of residents, that is, Singapore citizens and permanent residents (PR), rose 1.7 per cent to 3.64 million in June last year, said a report released by the National Population Secretariat (NPS) on Wednesday. There were 79,167 new PRs

The MSG scare

2009-03-30T19:39:00.004-05:00

I am pissed.The blogger at the boy who knew too much claims that, in his own words, that he has a heightened sensitivity to Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and that many westerners experience the 'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' when eating MSG-laden food. In particular, based on absolutely no rigorous medical research, he believes that Chinese people have some special ability to clear MSG from their

The Kent Ridge Common

2009-02-14T13:56:00.005-06:00

I must say that I am impressed by this new independent student daily from the National University of Singapore. I wish I had something like this to read during my time in NUS. As an undergraduate in NUS many years ago, I found the student publication like The Ridge to be feeble and boring. Instead of addressing pertinent issues like scholarships for foreigners, ways to improve undergraduate

Why I don't use plastic bags

2009-01-03T05:20:00.005-06:00

Ever since I bought my car and begin grocery shopping on my own, I've tried to avoid using plastic bags. Instead, I use regular reusable shopping bags like these or a cardboard box (I have a few of these at home). The former cost 1 USD each and don't break or tear as easily as disposable plastic bags.One practical reason why I do not use plastic bags is because they tear easily. Some people use

Public transport in Singapore

2009-01-01T10:03:00.003-06:00

A thought has occurred to me:There are two primary modes of public transport in Singapore - the Rapid Transit System (RTS), a.k.a. trains, and buses. Buses run on diesel, the cost of which is sensitive to the fluctuating price of oil, and trains run on electricity. Given the scarcity of petroleum and the volatility of its price, isn't it wiser to expand the train network and reduce the employment

Abs Exerciser for George Bush

2008-12-23T17:52:00.003-06:00

Taken from CNN:President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush also were remembered by their Arab friends. The Saudi king gave the first lady an $85,000 sapphire and diamond jewelry set and a $10,000 piece of artwork made of gold, depicting a desert scene of Bedouins, camels and a tent.... The gifts range from the extravagant -- like the jewelry -- to the modest -- a $6 assortment of nuts and

ST: Putting the oomph into physics

2008-11-28T14:28:00.005-06:00

From the Straits Times on 28 Nov 2008:Putting the oomph into physicsSTUDENTS have been going for engineering, the life sciences and mathematics, and bypassing physics. But physicists are needed in industries here, said Senior Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew yesterday. Singapore's having top-notch physicists was a key factor behind the world's

This blog endorses Tan Kin Lian for president

2008-11-27T10:17:00.004-06:00

Singapore need someone to stand up to the powers that be for the little guy and unsurprisingly, I personally don't think that anyone in the establishment does that although some of them do actually believe that they are working for the little guy (but their actions are nearly always diametrically against the little guy's interests).If you believe that Mr. Tan Kin Lian, the former CEO of NTUC

ST: Accept sacrifices, cutbacks

2008-11-09T08:59:00.003-06:00

From the Straits Times on 8 Nov 2008:Accept sacrifices, cutbacksTHE Government will ensure no Singaporean falls below the poverty line as a result of the financial crisis but it cannot restore people's living standards to what they were pre-crisis.Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave this assurance today, as he promised measures in next year's Budget to buffer lower-income earners and those without

ST: Expect high leakage of engineers

2008-07-24T00:49:00.002-05:00

From the Straits Times on 24 July 2008: Expect 'high leakage' of engineersTRAIN more engineers and expect a 'high leakage' of these desirable talent into other industries, said Mr Philip Yeo.It's inevitable because 'their skills of logical thinking and analysis can be applied to any field', he added.Mr Yeo should know. An engineering graduate from the University of Toronto, he has held

ST: Still adamant that scholarship holders serve their bonds

2008-07-23T22:59:00.004-05:00

From the Straits Times on 24 July 2008:Still adamant that scholarship holders serve their bondsBy Zakir HussainMR HECTOR Yee, one of three public-sector scholarship holders who were named and shamed for breaking their bonds 10 years ago, now works at Google's headquarters in California.So does Mr Philip Yeo consider him a loss to Singapore?Clearly not, suggests his answer to the question. In fact

ST: Learning Chinese - where there's a will, there's a way

2008-06-18T22:48:00.002-05:00

From the Straits Times on 18 June 2008:Learning Chinese - where there's a will, there's a wayI THANK readers who wrote in to discuss my article, 'Who says it's hard to learn Chinese?' (June 4). By so doing, you have provided the authorities feedback on the views, concerns and issues about the bilingual education policy. Hopefully, the Ministry of Education will take note and take appropriate

ST: Who says it's hard to learn Chinese?

2008-06-03T21:24:00.009-05:00

From the Straits Times on 4 Jun 2008:Who says it's hard to learn Chinese?By Lee Seng Giap, For The Straits TimesSOME English-educated Chinese Singaporeans think and say that Chinese is difficult to learn. That is why their children find it hard to pick up Chinese, they say.Is this really the case? I have found the answer is an emphatic 'No!'Vili Maunula, a theoretical linguist, writes: 'All

ST: English test for foreign front-line staff? Bosses say 'no'

2008-06-01T22:38:00.003-05:00

From the ST on 25 May 2008:English test for foreign front-line staff? Bosses say 'no'Many not keen on imposing test, citing current labour crunch in service industryBy Jamie Ee Wen Wei and Dhany OsmanShould there be an English entry test for foreign workers in front-line service jobs?Judging from the response of employers and human resources experts contacted by The Sunday Times, the answer seems

ST Forum: Engineers' body will work to draw top brains into industry

2008-06-01T22:04:00.003-05:00

From the ST Forum on 2 June 2008: Engineers' body will work to draw top brains into industryI REFER to the article, 'His worry: Is Singapore becoming high cost, low tech?' (May 22). In it, Mr Ngiam Tong Dow, a former top civil servant, highlighted the importance of Singapore ensuring that the best and brightest students become engineers. He was quoted as saying: 'How do you become a

Bond breakers

2008-05-26T10:38:00.004-05:00

A couple of months ago, I was asked by a professor J in the office building to review the credentials of a graduate school applicant X from my alma mater, the National University of Singapore. X is a 4th year Electrical and Computer Engineering student and should have completed his studies by now. Prof. J handed me the dossier file containing X's application materials - his transcript, resume,

Sunday Times: Making S'pore a 'brain gain' city

2008-05-18T10:23:00.003-05:00

From the Sunday Times on 18 May 2008:Making S'pore a 'brain gain' cityTo stay ahead globally, Singapore - like many other countries - is trying to attract talent, but efforts will be hampered if locals don't welcome themBy Warren Fernandez, Deputy EditorImagine if you could read the minds of people around the world to fathom what they were thinking about most.What do you think it would it be?

ST Forum: Speak English the way it should be spoken

2008-05-11T08:50:00.007-05:00

From the Straits Times Forum (10 May 2008):Speak English the way it should be spokenI FIND that our spoken English and Mandarin in Singapore are appalling. However, what amazes me is that our Malay and Indian friends are speaking at least their mother tongue efficiently. Some are even competent in handling both English and Malay/Indian languages.So are the Chinese learning languages the wrong way

You cannot kill people by chanting Sanskrit

2008-04-07T20:55:00.005-05:00

The president of the Indian Rationalist Association, Sanal Edamaruku, challenges a tantric, on India Television to use the arcane arts to kill him. Hundreds of millions of Indians tuned into India Television to watch the televised performance of the dark arts by the tantric.The performance are on Youtube.Sanal Edamaruku Challenges Tantra Part 1Sanal Edamaruku Challenges Tantra Part 2Sanal

ST: Appoint a woman to Cabinet? Base it 'on ability'

2008-04-03T00:24:00.004-05:00

Got this from the Straits Times (3 Apr 2008) Appoint a woman to Cabinet? Base it 'on ability'MS GRACE Fu would very much like to see a woman appointed a full Cabinet minister, but not 'just to satisfy some gender or race requirement'. Ms Fu, the Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, is the first woman office holder to comment on the Cabinet changes announced last

ST: Staff crunch spells last orders for tze char stalls

2008-04-02T23:50:00.006-05:00

Got this from the Straits Times (2 Apr 2008)Staff crunch spells last orders for tze char stalls By April ChongMR HUANG Hui Liang, 40, served up his last plate of braised noodles at his tze char stall in Tampines in February.Four months earlier, his brother had also called it quits at his Bedok stall.Such

ST Forum: Help grads who do as well as foreign talent

2008-02-19T22:29:00.005-06:00

From the Straits Times on 20 Feb 2008:Help grads who do as well as foreign talentRECENTLY, I befriended a group of scholars from China studying at my alma mater, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). They were in their late teens and were attending foundation courses in English and maths before starting their undergraduate studies. In their five-year sojourn at NTU, they will be given free

What is your religion?

2008-02-16T12:54:00.004-06:00

One of the things that strikes me as somewhat odd in America is the almost Talibanish national obsession with religion. Well, not really religion in general but just one particular persuasion, Christianity. The majority of Americans are religious to the extent that an ordinary Singaporean who does not share their beliefs would find it almost fanatical and irrational. I've had one who've tried to

ST: It's S'pore's gain even if 30-40% of immigrants settle here: MM Lee

2008-01-25T01:37:00.002-06:00

This recent Straits Times article caught my eye. The MM said that it is Singapore's gain even if 30 to 40 percent of immigrants settle here. He also acknowledged that many PRC and India students use Singapore as a stepping stone to the West. Well, it certainly took him some time to catch on to what most ordinary Singaporeans have known for a long time.I was back in Singapore a couple of weeks ago

Commonly mispronounced English words in Singapore

2007-12-29T06:31:00.001-06:00

One of my pet peeves is the way many common words are mispronounced in Singapore, even by teachers of the English language. By mispronunciation, I mean the way the Singaporean pronunciation of a particular word diverges from that as prescribed in dictionaries. While learned opinion may remain divided as to how a particular word is to be pronounced (e.g. 'schedule' or 'often'), it is fairly safe

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T02:02:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to all readers of this blog. More than 2000 years, the greatest story ever told began on this very night.Oops. I meant the greatest action story ever told. ;)

Religion cannot be divorced from politics, society or culture

2007-11-09T18:39:00.000-06:00

I find this letter to be rather amusing. The religious persuasion to which the write subscribes is self-evident. I never knew that the Chinese character for boat (chuan2) is related to the story of Noah's ark, which any sensible person knows is, at best, allegorical.The religious nutjobs you find in Singapore...<

ST: $6.3b solar plant to be set up in S'pore by 2010

2007-10-28T18:23:00.000-05:00

I had earlier mentioned that Singapore would do well to prepare itself for the silicon solar panel industry since it shares a lot of basic technological similarities with the microelectronic industry. Turns out that Singapore has jumped on the bandwagon with a $6.3 billion solar power plant to be built in Tuas. With the price of crude hitting nearly 90USD per barrel, using alternative sources of

Are you for or against keeping 377a?

2007-10-19T01:25:00.000-05:00

Check out this facebook group - Keep s377a! - which was created by a certain Mr. Dharmendra Yadav. Mr Yadav also wrote this blog post where he claimed to support the repeal of section 377a of the penal code.I'm confused. Can someone explain to me what's going on?

Paying people to be their stepping stone

2007-10-11T18:49:00.000-05:00

In one of my earlier post, I discussed the use of scholarships to attract Chinese immigrants from the PRC and how it does not seem to be working very well as a population policy with most of the recipients having little propensity to settle in Singapore. Of course, that required no great insight on my part but nevertheless, it was something I felt I had to articulate.Well, it turns out that great

Currus meus fractus est...

2007-06-18T16:56:00.000-05:00

Today, I found out what rear wheel bearings are and how much it costs to replace them. Ouch.

ST Forum: Time to reconsider satellite TV for homes

2007-06-15T23:25:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago, on June 14, 2007, this letter appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times.Time to reconsider satellite TV for homesI AM curious to know if the Media Development Authority would be re-evaluating the policy on satellite TV for homes.While undesirable contents that are at odds with Singapore's multiracial and multi-religious society may be a key concern, with proper

Self-radicalisation through the internet and cable TV subscription fee hikes

2007-06-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

As most Singaporeans might have read in the news, a certain Mr. Abdul Basheer s/o Abdul Kader was arrested under the infamous Internal Security Act last week for making plans to pursue militant jihad in Afghanistan. The man has been described as a 'self-radicalised' individual who 'began to develop militant jihad ideas in late 2004, after being affected by the radical discourse he read on the

On UNSW Asia's low enrollment figures

2007-05-24T22:47:00.000-05:00

This blog has been getting quite a few hits recently, thanks to my previous post on the UNSW Asia fiasco. As everyone knows, this is no small thing with tens of millions of taxpayers' money down the drain. For everyone involved, it is a spectacular failure.Well, enough of the nay-saying. Rather than indulge in conspiracy theories as to why the UNSW hastily withdrew from this venture, I think the

Another one bites the dust

2007-05-23T23:57:00.000-05:00

I guess this isn't really hot off the press but by now, most people ought to have known that the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is going to shut down its campus in Singapore because of the low enrollment barely three months after starting operations. You can find reports of the closure of its Singapore campus here, here, here and here.Originally, an enrollment of 300 in the first semester

Singapore's real carbon emission level.

2007-05-16T19:57:00.000-05:00

May 12, 2007For S'pore, it pays to go greenWith the environment making headlines all round the world, Singapore too is investing as never before in clean energy and sustainable development. But does this reflect a real shift in mindset towards global environmental concerns? Aaron Low reports...Singapore Environmental Council executive director Howard Shaw suggests doing more to push industry

A log and a speck of dust

2007-05-15T23:34:00.000-05:00

Some time ago, I gave the reasons on why I don't disgree with the ministerial pay rise. Of course, this doesn't mean that I agree with it. It just means that the issue is very complex, coloured very much by emotions and impossible to decide on a purely rational basis. I don't want to go into the merits and demerits of the issue but I think I have learned a few things about people in general over

A thoughtful article on the homosexual debate

2007-05-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

Three cheers for Associate Professor Victor V. Ramraj for writing this thoughtful article in the Straits Times today (9 May 2007). I guess someone had to step in to show that the law faculty in NUS isn't entirely staffed by intellectual pygmies. In this article in the review section of tehe ST, Prof. Ramraj takes neither a pro-gay or anti-gay point of view but instead gives a brief and balanced

Preserving the Chinese language

2007-05-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

There was a slew of letters in the ST Forum yesterday (7 May 2007) on how the standard in the Chinese language has declined among young Chinese Singaporeans, which is something I don't deny. Given the growing dominance of English in Singapore as a lingua franca, it is hardly surprising that fluency and literacy in other languages have waned.One writer correctly diagnosed the cause of this decline

Some thoughts on high civil service/ministerial salaries

2007-05-06T19:18:00.000-05:00

I promised earlier to blog on arguments for and against the pay hike. After thinking it throught, I realised that the issue is actually very complicated and a thorough discussion would require more substantive investment of time and brainpower on my part than what I actually have. Hence, I will merely reproduce an email post of mine in which I talked about the issue.XXX:Sorry, I don't think I

ST Forum: MM's comments have me and family worried

2007-05-02T01:06:00.000-05:00

This letter actually appeared in the ST Forum section of the print edition of the ST on 1 May 2007.MM's comments have me and family worriedI AM writing about the review of the criminal code. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's recent comments about liberalising laws regarding homosexuality have got my family and me very concerned.My expatriate friends find Singapore a conducive place in terms of its

No special day

2007-04-29T00:15:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday, my dear. It has been nearly 7 years and you would have been 28 today.

ST Forum: Speak better English - let's get it right

2007-04-27T12:51:00.000-05:00

This letter appeared in the online letters section of the ST Forum on 26 April 2007.April 27, 2007Speak better English - let's get it rightAPRIL is the speak-better-English month. On www.goodenglish.org.sg, the latest slogan is: 'Be understood. Not just in Singapore, Malaysia and Batam' and the focus is on students, teachers, parents and frontline workers.Miss Singapore-Universe 2007 aspirant

Arguments for and against the pay hikes

2007-04-25T20:18:00.000-05:00

This is work in progress and not even a beta version. The issue is complex and there are many arguments to examine. I have put up the outline/incomplete draft so that the readers can know what to expect (roughly) of the final version.IntroductionThe government recently announced its decision to increase the pay of civil servants after conducting a major review of its wage system for the entire

A $4 trillion economy

2007-04-22T18:34:00.000-05:00

From today's ST (23 April 2007):Extraordinary govt, talent keep S'pore ahead, says MMBy Peh Shing Huei...While he understood the emotions associated with the increases - which raised ministers' annual pay from $1.2 million to $1.6 million - he urged Singaporeans to think of the larger picture.'You want to quarrel about $20 million over a $4 trillion economy? I say, rubbish. Let's say the PAP

ST Forum: Have more passion for Chinese language and cultural roots

2007-04-16T18:55:00.000-05:00

This letter to the ST Forum was published yesterday (16 April 2007).Have more passion for Chinese language and cultural rootsI CAME across a TV programme on the promotion of Tamil language on Vasantham Central on April 9.Among one of the participants was a mother of three children who shared her experiences in providing a Tamil-speaking environment at home.Right from the start, she insisted that

The New Scientist: Do coffee and cigarettes protect against Parkinson's?

2007-04-12T11:07:00.000-05:00

From the online version of The New Scientist: Do coffee and cigarettes protect against Parkinson's?People with Parkinson's disease are less likely to be smokers and coffee drinkers than their healthy siblings, according to a study of family members. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that some substance in tobacco might protect the brain against this devastating neurological disorder

ST: Drawing talented Chinese nationals

2007-04-08T22:29:00.000-05:00

For those who have read today's edition (April 9, 2007) of the Straits Times, the independent bastion of journalistic integrity staffed by Singapore's finest, you may have noticed the slew of articles on Chinese and Malaysian Chinese immigrants in the review section. There was one that caught my attention.Drawing talented Chinese nationalsSINCE diplomatic ties were established in 1990, Singapore

From the ST Forum: 'It's very hard to find good talent in Singapore nowadays,' said HR professional

2007-04-07T16:13:00.000-05:00

From the online ST Forum (7 April 2007):'It's very hard to find good talent in Singapore nowadays,' said HR professionalI ATTENDED a career talk organised by Contact Singapore in Sydney two weeks ago. This event boasted many respectable companies from the banking and financial sector, aiming to give new graduates job opportunities. Overall, the event was informative and encouraging. However, it

World Bank webpage on Rewards & Incentives

2007-04-03T13:48:00.000-05:00

To be kept in view...http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPUBLICSECTORANDGOVERNANCE/EXTADMINISTRATIVEANDCIVILSERVICEREFORM/0,,contentMDK:20132995~menuPK:1918900~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:286367,00.html

Philip Yeo clarifies remark about present generation

2007-03-30T18:47:00.000-05:00

From the ST forum today (31-Mar-2007):"My comments were made in the context of the value of honouring obligations. It truly saddens me that bond breaking is taken lightly by some Singaporeans.My point is this: If we cannot find enough qualified Singaporeans who are willing to serve their country upon the completion of their fully-funded studies, then we have little choice but to offer

Is the press a govt mouthpiece?

2007-03-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

'We have no interest in having the press as a mouthpiece of the Government. I don't need The Straits Times to be a mouthpiece of the Government. We have officers who can do that for us. What we need is a credible, respected, accurate press that ensures that Singaporeans remain among the most well-informed people in the world...Simply because we're so small and in order for Singapore to survive,

Leaking talent

2007-03-17T01:06:00.000-05:00

There has been a couple of posts in the blogosphere, here, here and here, on SM Goh's statement that Singapore is leaking talent. During his visit to Iran, he said:"The issue which we are most concerned with is the loss of our own people at the very top. These are bright young people, children of very well educated Singaporeans."He went on to say that Singapore is losing the top 0.5 percent of

Science in Singapore by Essential Science Indicators

2007-03-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

About three weeks ago, there was an update on 'Science in Singapore' by in-cites. The previous update was in 2005. As the university where I am does not provide the full package of services by ESI, I am unable to study the details of the ranking exercise. I have summarised the results in a table.The new ranking shows a broad general trend of improvement. In the previous ranking, nearly all of the

Foreign students in Singapore

2007-02-23T00:50:00.000-06:00

A few days ago, the post Thoughts on Foreign Talent appeared on Mr Wang's blog. In the post, he questions the necessity of bringing in large numbers of foreign students from China/India/Vietnam/Malaysia, at taxpayers' expense, into Singapore and some guy in the comment section replies that it is part of the wooing of talent.Let's pause for a moment, put on our thinking caps and think.Finished?

Solar power in Singapore

2007-02-22T23:09:00.000-06:00

It seems rather strange to me that given the plenty of sunshine (12 hours of it everyday, 365 days a year) that Singapore receives that solar power use is so sparse. Of course, we have to bear in mind that land space in Singapore is rather limited, so it is impossible to have tracts of photovoltaic cell-covered solar farms in Singapore. Still, I do think that Singapore ought to take advantage of

Good Engrish

2007-02-19T20:46:00.000-06:00

For the duration of the Chinese New Year festivities, I shall take this opportunity to be an English pronunciation pedant.The word 'abalone' is pronounced 'ae-buh-loh-nee', not 'ae-buh-lone' as many Singaporeans would pronounce it. The word 'lychee' is pronounced 'lee-chee', not 'lai-chee'. And that's the memo.

Compassionately Logical: Part II

2007-02-13T15:43:00.000-06:00

This is the second part to Compassionately Logical: Part I.Regulated kidney trade in IranIn all developed countries, most living kidney donors are family members or spouses of the recipient. Commercial transactions involving the trade of human kidneys are strictly illegal and there is no compensation of any kind to the donor. Hence, it is extremely rare to find altruistic unrelated kidney donors

Compassionately Logical: Part I

2007-02-12T21:08:00.000-06:00

There are a couple of lively debates over organ trading, as suggested by an Assoc. Prof. Lee Wei Ling from the National Neuroscience Institute in a letter to the Straits Times forum, at the Kway Teow Man and nofearSingapore, where the majority of opinions have been against the sale of human organs. There seems to be some sort of instinctive revulsion towards the idea of trading human organs. The

Playing with the big boys

2007-01-05T09:09:00.000-06:00

My family just had dinner with my uncle and his family and I had a nice chat with him. It has been a good year for him. My uncle work for a GLC that builds oil rigs in Singapore. Given the spike in oil prices over the last year, the shipbuilding sector has been extremely busy. According to him, the orders for oil rigs are filled all the way to 2010 and labour is extremely tight with overtime

Tethering Students to Their States

2007-01-04T11:10:00.000-06:00

Taken from Tethering Students to Their States:New state scholarship programs proposed in Indiana and Wisconsin would offer funds to students attending in-state institutions, with strings attached — or, as the man behind the Wisconsin proposal puts it, “tethers.”“If we can’t lure them here, let’s tether them here,” said Mark O’Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, a

Singaporean come first (or so they say)

2006-12-03T20:54:00.000-06:00

Taken from the CNA article Health and education ministries reviewing fees for PRs and foreigners.SINGAPORE: Singapore citizens will always come first, before Permanent Residents and non-citizens, says Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.That is why the health and education ministries are now working on changes to reduce fee subsidies for non-citizens, so that foreigners do not enjoy the same benefits

Harry's Island on Harry's Island

2006-10-31T18:33:00.000-06:00

Taken from: Eighth Wonder submits $5.5b bid for Sentosa Integrated Resort Eighth Wonder submits $5.5b bid for Sentosa Integrated Resort SINGAPORE: The final bidder for Sentosa's Integrated Resort project, Las Vegas-based Eighth Wonder, revealed its S$5.5 billion plans to develop what it calls "Harry's Island" on Tuesday. Eighth Wonder's Chairman Mark Advent intends for Harry's

Education in the old days

2006-10-25T17:38:00.000-05:00

I remember doing a compulsory social science module as an undergraduate and I had to write a paper on education and economic development in Singapore in the 1960s and 70s. As part of the research, I went to a dark musty corner the Central Library where they stored Singapore related materials and went over the educational statistics. When I looked the educational statistics of ASEAN countries, one

NUS - 19th in the THES ranking

2006-10-14T23:01:00.000-05:00

I wanted to comment on this but got sidetracked by some work. Anyway, the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) world ranking of universities came out a couple of weeks ago. As many would know, Singapore's NUS got into the top 20 again and thereby, proving that it is better than inferiors like Johns Hopkins University, ETH Zurich, Ecole Polytechnique and the Hong Kong University of Science and

Work and more work

2006-10-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

I foresee a busy time with work this weekend... like any other weekend in grad school so far. The things to do list looks like:Do limiting cases for the thermodynamics in the new formalism. More number crunching.Read, no, study a couple of review papers. See if there are any possible thesis topics.Homework.I have been working through the field theory notes and find the whole business of Dirac

Finding Jobs in the Life Science

2006-10-09T23:35:00.000-05:00

There is a piece in Today on the difficulties recent Life Science graduates from NUS encountered in finding Life Science jobs. Frankly, I'm not surprised. During my time in NUS, the enrollment in the LS programme probably doubled with all the hype. A great number of people wanted to study LS because of the better job prospects, with the seemingly intimate relationship between LS and biotech, not

Welcome, children of the corn...

2006-10-05T17:09:00.000-05:00

The department is cutting down its intake of students primarily because people here take far too much time to finish their degrees (I heard one guy took 14 years) and the graduate population has bloated substantially over the years to nearly 300 although you probably couldn't have known by just poking around in the department. A great number of grad students don't work in physics proper but in

What was I doing at 22?

2006-10-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

It was the 22nd birthday of K, one of the undergrads, a couple of days ago on Sunday. So, happy birthday to her.A Singaporean grad student asked me what was I doing when I was 22. I remember spending quite a bit of time in the games room in Yusof Ishak on video games and pool and, of course, when I was not working, studying my balls off so that I would have a shot at a decent graduate school

Give that man a Tiger

2006-09-26T20:08:00.000-05:00

I was chatting with my boss the other day during lunch. His route to academia is rather unusual.As an undergraduate, he went to a lesser-known public university because it was near home and his working-class family was poor. The 70s was a difficult time for many working-class families especially when factories were closing down in the US and blue-collar jobs were outsourced, ironically, to places

GEP is no more

2006-09-21T19:36:00.000-05:00

MOE has decided to close down the GEP in secondary schools although the programme will still be run in at the primary school level.Although it has been more than a decade since I left the programme which was conducted in a premier secondary school in the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio area, I still remember my days in the GEP with some fondness. Back then, the GEP was a highly exclusive (i.e. elitist)

Invitation to meet PSC officials

2006-09-16T18:17:00.000-05:00

Another great benefit to studying overseas, as opposed to studying locally, is that PSC officials from Singapore will go over to your university to let the Singaporean students, in their own words, 'learn more about new initiatives and opportunities available in the Singapore Civil Service'. They will even throw in a free lunch. Thus, I have conspired with a fellow Singaporean grad student to go

Lest we forget

2006-09-11T18:06:00.000-05:00

Something does not add up

2006-09-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

Taken from the CNA article More jobs go to Singaporeans during good and bad times: MM Lee.Max Lim, General Secretary, Singapore Bank Employees' Union, said: "Some of them are concerned, that they have to compete with more foreign workers, what if the day comes when there are not enough jobs to go around for everybody?"MM Lee replied that in many retrenchments, the largest numbers affected were

The graphs

2006-09-06T19:50:00.000-05:00

"Do you ever sleep?" - Crazy postdoc in office.The culmination of one summer - two graphs showing the covariance of the site probabilities of a 3-component ABC lattice gas. Will put in the error bars later.I believe that I am the first to generalize the formalism successfully. Not bad for a summer's work.

Education and life

2006-09-05T20:52:00.000-05:00

"You know, graduate school is like kindergarten for people who refuse to get a regular job." - Crazy postdoc in office.I have been hacking away at the computer on my program for the last 12 hours, tweaking the parameters and debugging the code. Oh God, when will this end? Was talking to a fellow Singaporean (FS) a couple of days ago. It went something like this.FS: I'll be going back to

Research note 1

2006-09-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

Adding a constant shift term to the k-space components of a Fourier-transformed correlation matrix element only alters the zeroth component of the real space correlation matrix elements.To recalculate Fourier components of correlation matrix.

Citizenship, Loyalty and National Service

2006-09-02T12:33:00.000-05:00

The Kwayteowman has an article on 'Citizenship, Loyalty and National Service'. Here's a brief summary:He says that "citizenship and loyalty are orthogonal issues, though they are likely to be correlated". In other words, if you're a citizen, it doesn't mean that you're more likely to be loyal.He succintly defines loyalty in concrete terms: to "put Singapore's interests ahead of other nations",

Feeling poor

2006-09-02T01:15:00.000-05:00

Fox is feeling very poor this month. You see, in the underfunded public midwestern university that Fox attends, graduate students are paid only 11 months per year for tax purposes and August is the month that he does not get paid. And the stipend here isn't exactly fantastic to start with, compared to what he could have received as a graduate student in a private university in upstate New York.

Overseas Singaporeans

2006-09-02T00:26:00.000-05:00

SQ, a fellow student in my lowly ranked underfunded midwestern university in rural American, has written an article for Singapore Angle on why the Singapore government should reach out more to overseas Singaporeans or something along those lines. Some of the things he talks about sound rather querulous and I can't quite understand what his point is, other than he hopes that the Singapore

Priceless

2006-08-31T20:34:00.000-05:00

Hilarious. Who needs TV when you have http://southparkvideos.blogspot.com/?

Of talents and talent

2006-08-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

PM Lee:I went to Sydney, visited the University of New South Wales, because they are setting their university here. They asked me to give away some awards. So I went, I gave away the awards, I said: "What are these awards?'' They said: "These are awards given to the top poly students from Singapore who go to study at the University of New South Wales [laughter], donated by alumni from Singapore."

Welcome newcomers with a big handout heart

2006-08-22T22:05:00.000-05:00

From the ever trusted 140th:Aug 21, 2006 Welcome newcomers with a big heart By Krist BooSOME Singaporeans are uneasy about foreign immigrants but Prime Minister Lee

Holiday Stints

2006-08-20T21:47:00.000-05:00

Holiday stint helps students understand civil service better By Liaw Wy-CinMR KURT Ma had always heard stories about how civil servants are stuffy, unfriendly people.But after having interned for a month at the Public Service Division, he found this to be untrue.'Everybody is really

This is just a simulation...

2006-08-19T22:39:00.000-05:00

Cool. A breath of fresh secular air in bible-thumping America.

Some remarks on spoken Singaporean English

2006-08-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

For those who interact extensively with native English speakers (e.g. Americans, Australians and Britons) and may have noticed, Singaporean English has a very distinct character in terms of phonology. Singaporeans speak English in a manner dissimilar to that of Americans or Australians. Of course, Australians don't speak English like Americans but if one compares the speech of Singaporeans

Stepping Stones

2006-08-05T13:06:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago, during a lecture, I met Y who is a postdoc in E's research group. At first, Y looked very familiar and when he mentioned that he had completed his Bachelors and Masters in NUS before getting his PhD in theoretical chemistry from Berkeley, it struck me that he had been one of my TA's in NUS. It is a small world after all...From what I see, Y seems to have a pretty promising

Meeting with the D-man today

2006-08-03T23:03:00.000-05:00

Today was the last day to see my advisor D. I have been trying to meet D for the past few days but he was busy with all sorts of administrative matters since he is the top honcho of our centre and the man responsible for keeping our group alive, financially at least. Being the procrastinator that I am, I had put off talking to him about Fall support until today when I finally managed to grab hold

Reply from MOE

2006-08-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

Fox got the reply he asked but not quite hoped for. He has been too busy to publish this online until now. It is a standard reply but, nevertheless, it is better than nothing.Dear Fox,Thank you for your email dated XX XX 2006 to MCYS Feedback Unit.As a government agency, MOE strives to share as much relevant information as possible that would be useful to the general public whom we serve. However