Rain vs Haze
The really bad haze has finally (somewhat) been cleared, thanks to the rain.
But the rain now prevents us from going outdoors. Damn.
But the rain now prevents us from going outdoors. Damn.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Miniature Earth
Yuan Qing sent me a link to this site for The Miniature Earth project. Quoting from the site itself...
The magnitude of the world's population is so great that whenever we are told of how much of the population is affected by something in particular, we fail to grasp the actual number of people affected. The numbers can be overwhelming most of the times. And for that reason, what this project does is to show you a world where only a hundred people live and then show the magnitude of those living on less than one US dollar a day, those malnourished, those living in poverty, those affected by HIV AIDS, those who have the riches and so on...
The result is a video that brings out the picture clearly and impacts the viewer directly. Personally, I was very moved by this video and decided to create awareness by posting it here (wait a minute, does anyone even read this blog?).
I have also decided to post a video response to this project. More can be found at this YouTube page or the actual site itself.
The world does have a new God now. Money and the economy are driving the lives of individuals today. The world has become so money-oriented that parents tell their children to study hard in order to get a good, respectable job and earn enough to lead a luxurious life. Whatever happened to following your own interests and pursuing a profession that you have great interest in rather than one that gives you a good paycheck? Okay enough digression here... Back to what I was initially addressing.
No matter how clichéd it might sound, we all have a part to play in making this world a better place. It's up to those with the facilities and the fortunes to help those who are not fortunate enough. I hope this inspires most of you reading this to make a difference - it doesn't necessarily mean donating money or anything. You could help in humanitarian efforts in your own personal way.
If the world's population were reduced to 100, it would look something like this...
The magnitude of the world's population is so great that whenever we are told of how much of the population is affected by something in particular, we fail to grasp the actual number of people affected. The numbers can be overwhelming most of the times. And for that reason, what this project does is to show you a world where only a hundred people live and then show the magnitude of those living on less than one US dollar a day, those malnourished, those living in poverty, those affected by HIV AIDS, those who have the riches and so on...
The result is a video that brings out the picture clearly and impacts the viewer directly. Personally, I was very moved by this video and decided to create awareness by posting it here (wait a minute, does anyone even read this blog?).
I have also decided to post a video response to this project. More can be found at this YouTube page or the actual site itself.
The world does have a new God now. Money and the economy are driving the lives of individuals today. The world has become so money-oriented that parents tell their children to study hard in order to get a good, respectable job and earn enough to lead a luxurious life. Whatever happened to following your own interests and pursuing a profession that you have great interest in rather than one that gives you a good paycheck? Okay enough digression here... Back to what I was initially addressing.
No matter how clichéd it might sound, we all have a part to play in making this world a better place. It's up to those with the facilities and the fortunes to help those who are not fortunate enough. I hope this inspires most of you reading this to make a difference - it doesn't necessarily mean donating money or anything. You could help in humanitarian efforts in your own personal way.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
A Hazy Perspective
Today, on Saturday, the PSI index has been generally low throughout the day, ranging in the 60-ish range. So I thought I might post something related to the haze here. Below is a blog post from eyetoeye :: neogenesis :: blog, a blog managed by a guy named Kelvin.
Indonesia: Singapore Should Be Thankful For Haze (A Parody
The Haze hit unhealthy levels for the second time this year on Saturday, prompting public outcry against the lack of significant action from the Indonesian government to stop the occurrence of haze by taking effective measures against illegal clearing of forest land by burning. The Indonesian government responded by criticizing Singapore, saying that Singapore should be thankful for the haze.
"Singaporeans are always picking on us because they're so rich and think they're so powerful," said Indonesian minister Bibi Osman, putting on a military-style gas mask, "As a matter in fact, Singaporeans should be appreciative of what we're doing for them! It brings some excitement to their otherwise mundane lives, and also gives them something to care about, which they are clearly lacking in." Mr Osman also pointed out that the increase in occurance of respiratory illnesses also represented a significant boost in revenue for the medical industry. Speaking to No News Network, he said, "Singaporeans always complain about us but they never appreciate all the good things we do for them! It's outrageous!"
A survey of Singaporeans on the street found that Singaporeans hold differing opinions on Mr Osman's statements.
"I think he is right in what he said," said student Woo Ming Ta, "Before the haze, i didn't even know where Indonesia is. I thought it was the place in Middle Earth where Hobbits live. Now, thanks to all the news coverage, i finally know that actually, Bintan and Batam are part of Indonesia! My parents will be so thrilled to find out! Maybe the government should hold more hazes like this so that we can learn more about the world around us."
Other Singaporeans were not so sure. "I don't understand what so difficult about putting out a few fires," said university student Matthias Chua, who majors in Bio-engineering, "Can't they, like, just call in more firemen? Or maybe they should erect some giant fans that will blow the smoke somewhere else, like Australia."
[read on...]
-- Kelvin at eyetoeye :: neogenesis :: blog
Just in case some of you may start critisizing the article, make sure you understand the title first. It's a parody guys, take it lightly and with an informed viewpoint - satires and parodies offer much insight too.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
The Much Wanted Update
In view of the recent comments posted on the tagboard *points to right* in a manner (or rather the language, in some cases) that was almost impossible to avoid, finally, here's the post.
So the EOY exams have finally come to a conclusion and life is supposed to be stress-free and back to normal, the keyword being supposed. Why? Well simply because right now, I'm living in constant fear of the coming Wednesday, the day when we get our papers back. And get to find out the stupid, silly, unexplained and sometimes, downright dumb mistakes we made. But then again, mistakes are a part of life and in the case of the exam papers, I would rather view them as learning points rather than mistakes. Obviously, no one wants to repeat that silly mistake of taking Volume of a sphere as four-third pi dee cube (yes, that's diameter and not radius) or writing RNA as DNA. But, I digress...
Anyway, as I was talking about life after exams, it really isn't as heavenly as I presumed it might be. During the onslaught of memorizing for exams, daydreaming of a life when I could anything I wanted and not be forced to study was normal but now that the time has actually come, I realize that it's actually quite boring.
I can't help but nod away while reading Jonathan's post. Exams are over but I don't really have much planned for what I want to do during the coming weeks. Yea sure I have plans to go out and enjoy, read books that I wanted to but didn't get the time to, pursue hobbies that somehow just got left behind during the course of school and just enjoy the simple pleasures of life with family and friends. Don't get me wrong when I say I'm bored, I mean it in the sense that there seems to be no direction in life anymore. Maybe it's true that life is much easier to live when you're told what to do rather than given the independence to develop yourself individually but that's just a thought...
Okay enough ranting about that. Now, for what I have been doing in the fast few days, it basically revolves around staying idle and thinking. A lot. I've been thinking about the future and at the same time, having a sense of nostalgia and thinking about how my life has turned out to be what it currently is right now. It's hard to forget the events in life that have shaped you to be the individual your are today and it's even harder not to ponder on what the future holds for you. For now, I'll not dwell on this in this post. Maybe sometime in the future, because the entire collection of thoughts grant a post on their own.
On another note, Google Reader is a fantastic RSS and feeds aggregator. For those of you who are clueless about feeds, let me take this opportunity to enlighten you on the next-big-thing in the virtual community. Feeds are like little packets of information that a site may create and then send to anyone who has suscribed to that particular site. So for those of you like me who follow many blogs online, this new technology is extremely useful because every time there is an update on any particular blog among those that you have syndicated or suscribed to, the updated post would be sent automatically to you and you can view all of these updates collectively in a feeds aggregator. For more information, this article would be pretty useful.
Google Reader is one such online application that syndicates all your feeds together neatly for you to categorize and view them as you please. Now, some of you may ask what sets google reader apart from other feed aggregators? Well, shouldn't the fact that this is a Google be enough to convince you? And being one of the Google Family, it's pretty certain that the user interface would be seamlessly designed and intuitive to use.
On a side note, those of you using Firefox would notice that there is a orange icon in either your status bar or your toolbar indicating that this site provides feeds for you to bookmark. The new Internet Explorer offers the option of syndicating feeds too. Just look out for the little orange icon...
So the EOY exams have finally come to a conclusion and life is supposed to be stress-free and back to normal, the keyword being supposed. Why? Well simply because right now, I'm living in constant fear of the coming Wednesday, the day when we get our papers back. And get to find out the stupid, silly, unexplained and sometimes, downright dumb mistakes we made. But then again, mistakes are a part of life and in the case of the exam papers, I would rather view them as learning points rather than mistakes. Obviously, no one wants to repeat that silly mistake of taking Volume of a sphere as four-third pi dee cube (yes, that's diameter and not radius) or writing RNA as DNA. But, I digress...
Anyway, as I was talking about life after exams, it really isn't as heavenly as I presumed it might be. During the onslaught of memorizing for exams, daydreaming of a life when I could anything I wanted and not be forced to study was normal but now that the time has actually come, I realize that it's actually quite boring.
Exams officially ended for me today... maybe because it was my miserable attitude towards history, or maybe because I'm just tuckered out from the exam period, but I just don't feel all "woohoo"-ish today. In fact, I felt kinda empty, like "now what?".-- Now What? by Jonathan
...
You know how sometimes there is this hype over what I am going to do after the exams. Well funnily enough, no one asked me what I was going to do. or if they did i gave them some half-baked answer. why? because i have no clue whatsoever what i am going to do. I even bet it is going to be like one of those holidays where i am going to spend a whole day wasting my life on youtube or watching TV till my brain rots.
I can't help but nod away while reading Jonathan's post. Exams are over but I don't really have much planned for what I want to do during the coming weeks. Yea sure I have plans to go out and enjoy, read books that I wanted to but didn't get the time to, pursue hobbies that somehow just got left behind during the course of school and just enjoy the simple pleasures of life with family and friends. Don't get me wrong when I say I'm bored, I mean it in the sense that there seems to be no direction in life anymore. Maybe it's true that life is much easier to live when you're told what to do rather than given the independence to develop yourself individually but that's just a thought...
Okay enough ranting about that. Now, for what I have been doing in the fast few days, it basically revolves around staying idle and thinking. A lot. I've been thinking about the future and at the same time, having a sense of nostalgia and thinking about how my life has turned out to be what it currently is right now. It's hard to forget the events in life that have shaped you to be the individual your are today and it's even harder not to ponder on what the future holds for you. For now, I'll not dwell on this in this post. Maybe sometime in the future, because the entire collection of thoughts grant a post on their own.
---------------------
On another note, Google Reader is a fantastic RSS and feeds aggregator. For those of you who are clueless about feeds, let me take this opportunity to enlighten you on the next-big-thing in the virtual community. Feeds are like little packets of information that a site may create and then send to anyone who has suscribed to that particular site. So for those of you like me who follow many blogs online, this new technology is extremely useful because every time there is an update on any particular blog among those that you have syndicated or suscribed to, the updated post would be sent automatically to you and you can view all of these updates collectively in a feeds aggregator. For more information, this article would be pretty useful.
Google Reader is one such online application that syndicates all your feeds together neatly for you to categorize and view them as you please. Now, some of you may ask what sets google reader apart from other feed aggregators? Well, shouldn't the fact that this is a Google be enough to convince you? And being one of the Google Family, it's pretty certain that the user interface would be seamlessly designed and intuitive to use.
On a side note, those of you using Firefox would notice that there is a orange icon in either your status bar or your toolbar indicating that this site provides feeds for you to bookmark. The new Internet Explorer offers the option of syndicating feeds too. Just look out for the little orange icon...
