Engs and Longs and Walts

F = MA

2007-02-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

Consider these two scenarios.
Scenario 1 - drop ball on hand from 1 metre.
Scenario 2 - drop ball on hand from 10 metres.

Since F = MA, Mass of ball always the same, Acceleration of ball always the same (9.81), why force felt by hand not the same?

LOL

Valentines day

2007-02-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

I hope i get something on valentines day. (: Like a bag of chocolate or a rose or even the IB THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE TEXTBOOK i saw in Popular today which was selling for 37.50. (:

Surprise Test Paradox.

2007-02-05T04:40:00.000-08:00

A teacher announced to his pupils that on exactly one of the days of the following school week (Monday through Friday) he would give them a test. But it would be a surprise test; on the evening before the test they would not know that the test would
take place the next day.
One of the brighter students in the class then argued that the teacher could never give them the test. "It can't be Friday," she said, "since in that case we'll expect it on Thurday evening. But then it can't be Thursday, since having already eliminated Friday we'll know Wednesday evening that it has to be Thursday. And by similar reasoning we can also eliminate Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday.
So there can't be a test!"

This is a paradox that we got for KI in a worksheet... any comment?

Valentines Day

2007-02-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

I am so excited about valentines day. Yay. Lol Zhaos i am not really that interested in ur challenge to counter the classifications. *dun really see them as theories* GASP.

Anyway for the Correspondence theory u can say that seeing might not be beliving. For example u see all those magic, doesnt mean that the illusionists can really perform magic...they are just illusions.

Coherence theory - ...i dno la...maybe u just do not know enough to have something that is inconsistent with the rest of the beliefs?

Pragmatic theory - Not sure what it means. But issit sth like for example "u drink some talisman water and u recover from ur illness...so u conclude that talisman water can cure your illness" since its successful in practice so you conclude that its true. A counter is perhaps corelation is not causation? Things just happen to be coincidental.

SHRUGS. Engs wan a rose for valentines day (:

Intellectual Discourse

2007-02-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

Finally I am blogging again.. Just got owned big time during the Raffles Renaissance Test... I realised i am not really inclined to political philosophy and i was rather lost during the test.. sigh.. ended up writing stuff that i feel are quite redundant... Well, today had dramafeste rehearsals which we didnt really spend much time doing anything productive too... Worked on the script a lil here and there...

Now i shall post KI stuff... I think KI lessons are really interesting and fun, esp. when we have nice discussions like we did today... but now we are still examining arguments, distinguishing between inductive and deductive arguments, their form and soundness...

Okay.. i read up on knowledge... a book claimed that there are 3 theories on what truth is... Correspondence theory basically states that something will be true if the alleged truth/statement corresponds with an observable fact.. Coherence theory argues that it will be truth as long as none of the beliefs are inconsistent and each belief adds strength and possibility of a certain event or truth.. Pragmatic theory says that those propositions or beliefs that are successful in practice is the truth..

I already thought of the counter arguments for all these theories.. but eng how, just type out your set of counters for these theories, shldnt be too difficult actually... see whether it tallies.. Also, blog on some interesting topic that we can discuss.. currently, KI isnt doing too much.. we havent even started our readings yet.. so just post some interesting gp stuff also can... :)

=]

2007-01-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

OMG I CAN LIKE POST AGAIN!

today i had such a fun day! i think longzhao will agree!

ombg i can postttt!

Memories

2007-01-25T05:36:00.000-08:00

This post is the 70th post. While looking for my physics wheels, i found this cd containing all our photos. Class 2E at junior block...X-country...jamming at serangoon....=) Yaayness!

RJC is a place for us to build more memories. "Life is about making memories together." Quote from Mr Ang. HAHA ALL THE PHOTOS GOT ENGS ALRIGHT!

I still rmb playing soccer at the beach with Mr Ang as keeper.

I still rmb us dumping Ms Tan into the sea.

I still rmb us writing porn and trash and putting it into a bottle and throwing it down into the sea.

(:ness!

RJC

2007-01-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

RJC is a scandalous place. People are either bitching or flirting lol.

Motivated Independent Learning Kids (MILK)

2007-01-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

Below is an extract (ok maybe not extract its like the whole mail) which Siang Huat forwarded to the OG. We are like planning to do some OG CIP thingy. I have to admit i was quite cynical and doubtful about this whole CIP thing until i saw this email.

(Thanks again for volunteering the service learning in Life Spring Before >and After School Care.>> The demographics have changed slightly this year, and we have about 23 >students in the afternoons, comprising P1s to P6s, but mostly P3 to P6s.>> I am hoping to run a program in parallel to the main theme, Motivated >Independent Learning Kids (Milk).

In Betterment of Self: One Constructive Step Forward. In a crisis, the >person has only three choices, forward, status quo in limbo or backwards. >Forward is into problem solving, backwards into despair and desperation.

I am suggesting that in groups of 6 to 8 per session, some can bring the >upper primarys for a short run. As they are trained in 1.6 km, the exercise >is to push their limit to 3km. The exercise is not based on speed, but the >ability to push beyond oneself and to perservere.
After at least 5 practices, when they can achieve it, use the same >example and throw into academics. It is not how fast you can run, but when >you start and complete the race.
My limit in school as a youth was 5 km. The army pushed me to 20km runs, >5 days jungle exercises with minimal food, rest and exposed to harsh >elements in Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Brunei. Most of us are not self >motivated, but motivated by superiors, incentives or punishments. But once >our limits are pushed, we find that the sky is not the limit, nor even >space. We can push ourselves.

Thus, if the children can push themselves physically, they can be >conditioned to push themselves mentally. One Constructive Step forward.>> Let me know if you want to take up the suggestion. If not, let me know >what you have in mind.>> Thanks and have a great week ahead. Cheers.

We are all inbred with a certain amount of resiliency. It is not until it >is tested, that we recognise inner strength ~ Kweise Mfume
A man does what he must-in spite of personal consequences, in spite of >obstacles, and dangers and pressures- and that is the basis of all human >morality ~ John F. Kennedy)

This email might look simple but I felt that it is quite motivational. It kinda rekindled the CIP boy in me! I've always believed that the formula to success is TIME X INTELLIGENCE X MOTIVATION. I believe we all, almost all of us have got time and intelligence. Its motivation which determines whether you can succeed in a certain area. When you are passionate about something, you are motivated, and you will become good at it.

The captain is the person to motivate the rest of the team to carry on even though hes the most tired of them all. (6)

I would like to believe that if you try hard at something, you will eventually succeed.
I would like to think that if you love someone alot, you will eventually get him/her.

RJC!

2007-01-16T04:37:00.000-08:00

Wow.. it's been a long time since i blogged.. so much that this blog has almost become defunct.. Walter said that he was going to blog, but then it turns out that he is the ONLY one that hasnt blogged since.. =P
Where do i begin? Life in RJC has been interesting to say the very least.. it does take a little while to get used to the lecture and tutorial format of learning and i havent really got used to it actually.. but thankfully i have good tutors for all the subjects.. my class is the type that is really mugger.. so i guess slackers like myself will be inspired and pushed to do my tutorials etc. weeks and weeks in advance.. hahaha... but seriously. i think i will probably benefit loads from them..
Today i just had my first proper KI lesson and it was really good.. like i totally enjoyed it.. wonderful! today we were doing slightly on the aquisition of knowledge and there were lots of interesting points and discussion.. i have a feeling that i will really enjoy the year ahead.. just that i hope to be able to do well too.. very soon i will be able to rekindle the flame with interesting questions from KI.. that stupid eng how dont wanna take KI.. sianz.. it would have been more fun haha...
today i had my first china studies lesson too.. had it for 2 hours lah.. lecture then tutorial.. madness lol.. but it turns out that it was not that boring and its a good way to meet up with fellow hotmales from 4A.. most guys taking china studies are ex-classmates so thats really cool!
Talking about fellow hotmales.. its quite strange cos we havent met up for quite a long time and i hope that our friendships would not end here at rjc just like that.. it would be so wasted lah... seriously speaking.. i havent had lots of time to talk to ppl in rjc.. life is so busy lah.. and my timetable is so lousy... *smiles*
Okay.. thats about it.. just to type something into the blog for fun.. :) seriously hope that this blog wont die off...

RJC

2007-01-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

1 week. 1 million things. LoL. Enghow wans to take KI. Woohoo. Welink had been out for sup long yo, but now we are here to stay! I haven done my maths tutorial. =( I guess QUITE SOME ppl will read this blog, considering the reputations of Zhaos and Walts. So...I shall not talk abt sensitive issues here. *wanted to caps the "not" but realised its quite irritating and drama if u caps stuff"
So anyway so many things happened. Everyone's checking everyone out. Everyone's busy making top 10 hottest guys/girls lists. Everyone's busy making new friends. Everyone's busy bitching. Enghow shall stop bitching cos it will get him into trouble. =) Uh and gossiping too. :P I wanted to type a long philosophical post but i forgot already. =(

I think Daniel Yip looks like Sam in THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW *watching now*
I think Zhang Rui got a very nice voice quality.
I think Deborah Cheong is blur.
I think Christiano Ronaldo is playing with flair and confidence.
I think Frisbee is hot.
I think cybergaming is dumb cos of Keefe.
I wan to be as pro or more pro than YiRui by Season. Play an important part. (Y)
I am happy that trackers cannot take part in track and field meet.
I am going to study hard and train hard.
I am going to sleep b4 12 everyday.
I am going to stay away from MSN.
I got a feeling she blocked me.
I like this font.

What have the three of us been up to?

2006-12-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't know too!

2006-11-28T06:44:00.000-08:00

FUTURESEX / LOVESOUNDS

IF I WROTE YOU A SYMPHONY, JUST TO SAY HOW MUCH YOU MEAN TO ME

IF I TOLD YOU YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL, WOULD YOU DATE ME ON THE REGULAR!

All I Want For Christmas.. =P

2006-11-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

Grad Night was a blast.. Pity not all my classmates were at the hotel room.. if i am not wrong, i took amost 150 pictures.. but i havent put it in this com yet...
people keep bugging me to blog leh.. but i have no idea absolutely what to blog.. all i know is that i am quite busy doing a lot of things for the cambodia trip.. which i really hope will be a successful one and that we will be able to touch a few lives when we are there.. over at cambodia i have to do a chinese testimony.. argh... help me.. and i have to tell Bible stories to some cute little kids.. and teach maths to sec 3s... wow.. sounds like a lot of stuff... and besides that.. i have to teach music, ie guitar and keyboard...
talking about music.. i am starting to really like playing the organ cos its really challenging and fun to play.. today was like the first time ever i played the organ and its quite hard to coordinate your feet when you press the bass with your hands.. only thing i really didnt like was that organ is not touch sensitive.. meaning that no matter how soft or hard you press the key its the same sound.. so its hard to play songs that require varying dynamics etc.. the only thing fun will be learning the basics of how to play it.. but that alone might be quite tricky.. even so.. i think maybe the way i am playing is slightly wrong.. the bass is somehow being overlapped by the lower keyboard.. and maybe the top hand shldnt play chords and just melody... next time i shall experiment.. but its really gratifying when i can pull of some nice bass combo which i managed to after a little practice..
I am really looking forward to the cambodia trip.. from next monday to wednesday.. haha.. cyaz.. signing off.. i shall talk about the trip when i come back.. =P

Some interesting things that everyone should know.

2006-11-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

Longzhao is totally metrosexual. Which is a cool thing. He went SHOPPING! Like, a shopping date, with his guyfriends. That's totally metrosexual.
Eng How is the luckiest vexed guy on Earth now.
Longzhao probably comes close.
Sentosa is meant for people to spend 70 bucks! =O
The three of us spent the entire of las night/this morning together! =O Don't worry it was good, clean fun.
Poker and Longzhao don't go together.

Ok when I think of more things then I'll post again.

Grad Night

2006-11-24T02:36:00.000-08:00

Whee Grad night was fun! First we cam whore then we cam whore then we cam whore and andrew L became angry =( HAHHA. Release mee!!! Anyway i took like 101 pictures and lz took 101 pics and walter took 101 pics lol. Posting some welink pics here =))
We went TCC to eat. Then we went pool to play. Then we went streets to walk. Then we went hotel to bridge. Then we went bed to sleep. Then we went home to mummy. =) FUN! PLEASE POST STH WELINK ISH DYING WORXX.

2006-11-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

Hello? our blog died. Longzhao's too lazy to post. Walter got his own blog to take care of and he everytime only post 1 liners. *not like his own blog eh post damn lot"...

Haven been talking to both of them. So blog died. I am feeling the damien rice kind of sad. Bye

Great afternoon out!

2006-11-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Eng How's grand plans may be scuppered, because someone might not be too interested!

Here's something to invoke some thought: Good friendships are based on selflessness.

2006-11-11T23:10:00.000-08:00

Kindness

Kindness is most important in a boyfriend/girlfriend. You want someone who will go through everything with you - the best moments and the worst, and all of those other moments in between. You love to be able to say anything to your partner, and have them say anything to you. You are able to be extremely close with your partner for that reason.

=)) perfect quiz

2006-11-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

我真可怜 in rabbitongue

2006-11-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

ytd, i had got a weird dream. I dreamt that a rabbit, with its fur coloured until its like a TOTAL 90 football boots, ran into my house. It was crying and it mumbled sth indistinguishable. I thot it was speaking some rabbit language so i din care, then it continued it realise it was saying "我真可怜！" . Thats all i can rmb from my dream. lol. So cool right. I din made that up its real kae. Maybe i can understand the rabbit cos i can speak rabbitongue. =))

The world is so big, there are so many people, anything can happen.

Limerence

2006-10-28T05:32:00.001-07:00

Okay.. first correction... Religious artefacts are perceived to be objective truths in themselves.. sorry... i still dont really understand why eng how is so angry anyway... the post seems easy enough to understand...

hmm... history isnt considered as objective truth because? external reality? okay then... there probably isnt a way to prove objective truth that way;.. in hindsight, i realised that i didnt think of external reality when posting the previous post... argh..

i agree with the part about objective truth being unable to be found because of the lack of any objective truth, but i feel that this is because of certain main problems, ie. the theory of external reality... this was previously stated in one of my posts already so i shall not repeat this point... for the benefit of readers, the external reality thing basically is "how do you know that we arent existing as part of a dream / illusion". there are many variations but the point is that is all the same question on living an illusion...
i dont really understand the definition of virtue ethics.. definition of Characteristics -- a feature that belongs to a person, place or thing that serves to identify it.. so what is meant by moderation of characteristics? seems to be as a contradiction in itself... kindly post properly with regards to what is meant..
moderation in life is not the best way to lead your life... kindly define moderation... is it taking the best perceived option or is it taking the middle in any range of choices? if it is the best perceived option, best perceived with regards to what?
also, when we like to say relative morality.. what is really meant? is it that it is dependent on the circumstances and then decided on whether it is moral or what? or is it that morality has declined throughout the ages and that eg. it is more accepted to be like promiscuous or lie to get certain benefits?

just a short post of clarify some points... sianz..

walter seems to be out of place.

2006-10-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

could u try to stay away from my drink. ur smile is totally melting the ice in my drink
can u give me a photo of urself? cos i wanna tell santa what i want exactly for christmas *fav*
do you have a name or can i call u mine?
i think we should be lab partners, cos we have chemistry
cupid called. he says to tell you that he needs my heart back
I hope you know CPR, cuz you take my breath away!
Are you tired? Cos you are running through my mind
Whats tat on your face? *touches her face* Oh its your smile!
courtesy of Jerlyn and her *picture below*

sorry lz i got so frustrated by your previous post. i still am. lol.
Firstly, I would like to rebutt your point on "Religious artefacts are objective truths in themselves... Which is why there are so many religions which contradict each other as they are all "objective truths" and thus they dont agree..." i dun think things need to be objective before they can contradict each other. On the other hand, objective things should complement each other while subjective things are the ones which contradicts each other. Also, religious artefacts are not objective truths in themselves. Why did you say so? As I said, objective truths are things that are absolute truth. Things that contradicts each other are definitely not absolute truths, at least 1 of them isnt. Besides, on what basis did you classify religious artefacts as objective truths. I can easily fake a religious artefact? What you see as a religious artefact might just be a illusion.

And then the rest of your post becomes super messy and dunct know wad the hell you talking... things like "Getting 26 for my English essay is an objective truth..." it is not what. It can be just an illusion. An illusion that you got 26.

I think that the only thing why we cannot get objective truth is because we dun even have 1 piece of objective absolute truth to start with. You need truths to build more truths, just as you need knowledge to build more knowledge. The fact that we cannot be sure that anything we know is the absolute truth, we are unable to construct more absolute truths. The best we can do is to construct knowledge and more knowledge and hope that they fit and hope that they are absolute truth. Geex.

On the point about virtue ethics. you mentioned "furthermore, it is only applicable to situations in whcih there are a range of options, like how much money to donate but is ineffective in situations with only 2 options... thus, it is not a very holistic theory actually.. in fact, it is something really common sense, just saying that being moderate is the best method in life... which is not really the case in life all the time right?" I din say you should have a moderation between of options. Rather, you should have a moderation of characteristics, which is optimum, and use the characteristics to guide your actions. If you wan to continue to attack this point, give an example of how you cant use virtue ethics. *I DUN REALLY AGREE WITH VIRTUE ETHICS BUT I AM NOT ALLOWING LZ TO BRING IT DOWN WITH A SILLY SWEEPING STATEMENT"

on your statement "if people always live with this concept that being moderate is always best, then there wont really be extremists right? without extremists there probably wont be revolutions... because revolutions are extreme... revolutions have been really important in our quest for knowledge and our improvement in our mindsets as people.. "
I honestly dun getit. I agree with the first line. "If people always live with moderation. there wouldnt be extremists. Without extremists there wont be revolutions." HOWEVER, if everyone always live with moderation, there would not need to be a revolution to change things. Because moderation is optimum. It is only because of extreme enviroment which produces extremists.
Take a look at all those revolutions we've learnt. Its always because of bad govenence which forced people to revolt. It takes 1 extreme to produce an opposite extreme. The world is always trying to achieve equilibrium. If there's no extreme in the first place, there would not be opposite extreme produced and there wouldnt be revolutions.

Lastly, you raised a paradox on GOD. its similar to "God made a rock too heavy that it can never be raised. God can raise everything." I dun really get what you are trying to say there. But its like you are making premises to condradict yourself then say "eh why do these things contradict themselves" >< Confused lol.

I like moderation. Teachers should have virtue ethics. Enghow will get his GPA 4 for maths. =)) His maths overall stands at 78.6.

The philosophy of graduation

2006-10-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Is that we'll all be heartbroken at the end.

Anyway, *giggles*.

GRWAR

2006-10-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

wow so much activity for welink16. LZ ur posts frustrate me. Really. I feel like slapping you. Please speak in simpler language and sentences. I know your essay got SENTENCE STRUCTURE VARIES thats why so high. But please use simpler language or shorter sentences. Its about trying to put your point across in the best way possible. Use cheemology for precision, not to impress. *for my benefit i only got 24 =(* I need to read your post three times before i can understand la. I am not sure if its the same for mine :P Summerise if possible.
Er damn i got lots to say but my bro just woke up. bye

Objectivity and Subjectivity

2006-10-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

Knowledge is Subjective and Truth is Objective.. Go read up in Nihilism or something like that... it basically is the theory that we will never be able to reach the truth and thus there is no point in searching for objective truth.. i was thinking about objective truth and i realised that it seems impossible to find objective truth if we dont use religious literature like the Bible or etc... Religious artefacts are objective truths in themselves... Which is why there are so many religions which contradict each other as they are all "objective truths" and thus they dont agree... What are the certain hinderances to our quest for objective truth? the chief aim of science is to find objective truth... the theory of external reality is definitely hindering out quest for objective truth.. another argument would be the one on determinism... basically i think any argument or theory that cannot be falsified or rebutted would be a hinderance to our quest for objective truth... thus we can conclude that although objective truth might be present, but we will never be able to achieve it so what is the point of pursuing anything that is objective? However, i was thinking.. Getting 26 for my English essay is an objective truth.. so what is the missing link here? is it that we just cannot attain all the objective truths? if that is the case, then science is truly a very unreliable method.. or is it just that there are so many factors intertwined in our natural world that our scientific theories are unable to encompass them? Why are some objective truths that are already objective eg. any test marks and some others like scientific theories of gravity are not objective yet?
OH... i realised... shit... i dont wanna delete the above.. but i realised what is wrong... dumbass... hahaa... i shall not put the reason here.. just tag it or sth if u realised... its quite obvious actually.. but i realise that objective truth is unattainable...

Another thing is i dont see how moral values are applied to certain moral situtations and that is is very hard to dictate what should be considered as the middle point.. furthermore, it is only applicable to situations in whcih there are a range of options, like how much money to donate but is ineffective in situations with only 2 options... thus, it is not a very holistic theory actually.. in fact, it is something really common sense, just saying that being moderate is the best method in life... which is not really the case in life all the time right? if people always live with this concept that being moderate is always best, then there wont really be extremists right? without extremists there probably wont be revolutions... because revolutions are extreme... revolutions have been really important in our quest for knowledge and our improvement in our mindsets as people..

Another point is morally right and morally justified... is there any difference between these? in religious morality, what is said by the supreme being is what counts... eg.. if God said that killing is wrong, and yet He commands someone to wage a war or something, is it considered as a contradiction or is it considered as a overriding command.. but if another premise states that God is never changing, is it possible for overriding commands because this states that His moral value has effectively been changed / modified...

Eng How pls respond with particular regards to last point made.. is it a contradiction? simple response would be to say that when God says not to kill, it connotates that killing is wrong without reason... kindly elaborate or sth...

YOU HAVE GOT NO MORALS YOU LONGZHAO/ WALTER

2006-10-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

hello. hehe. gee.
OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY
I realised that the last time we spent 1 plus hr in the seminar room talking about knowledge and truth. Now i realise maybe knowledge is subjective and truth is objective. Anything that changes or differ for different people are subjective. Anything that is standardised throughout forever for everyone is objective. *Hope my definition's ok*
So...knowledge is NOT truth. Because knowledge is relative! It changes as time goes by. You see last time people use shaman to heal illness, now we use real medicine. People last time believe that evil spirits are harming them causing illnesses. Now we believe that bacteria and germs are causing illnesses. Both which may not be true! Perhaps next time we might realise that illnesses are really caused by Gods and bacteria and germs are just a tool to conseal the fact that there are Gods. Knowledge changes over time, differs for different communities.
Truth is objective. Truth may or may not be within the reach of humanbeings. You never know, the truth might be that we are all just part of a computer game designed by some GODS community out there. And they are playing us at the moment. You never know if the matrix really exists. You never know that all the scientific knowledge that we know are real or just an illusion. Use ur imagination.
So back to morality. Since we say morality of a action depends on our conscience. I believe that our conscience is relative. Differs for everyone. Some people thinks that killing 1 to save 100 is morally correct. Some people thinks that its not unjustified, maybe killing 1 to save 10000 then would it be morally justified. IF morality is relative, it means that you cannot have a clearcut definition to identify wads morally right or wrong. Because what you feel is morally right might not be moral to him. It depends on our background, our education, our enviroment. There is no clearcut way to define a certain action is morally right.

Secular theories - Secular theories say that morality is defined by the genes and enviroment of a person, and since everyone has got different genes and different enviroment, everyone got different level of morality. Thus, morality is relative.

Philosophical theories - Philosophical theories are those consequentialism, deontology and aristole's moral virtues. If you dunct understand any of them u can go to wiki and check. I read up on all those shit before i posted the previous post. Briefly, for moral virtues, it means to seek the centre of everything. Its bad to be too kind but its bad to be too selfish also. The best is to find a centre between two extremes. For example, someone asks u to donate marnie. Its morally wrong NOT to donate if you can, but its wrong also to be extreme and donate all your money such that you got none for urself. So we shld always find a compromise between two extreme. Thats moral virtues if i am not wrong.

Religious theories - Religious theories are wadeva rules or regulations which your religion preaches. For example, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. For Christians, the act of sacrificing his son is morally right. But for me, i think its damn stupid. If you wan to die you should just die, why infringe upon your son's rights to live.

I dno wads the zombie thingy. Anyway, I believe that before we start a discussion, we should always have knowledge of the certain subject. Thats why philosophy classes fail. Philo teachers shouldnt just give a topic and throw it at the students. Its equivalent to saying "to make cotton, lets start inventing some steam engines and spinning jennies". I mean to say how are students supposed to formulate all the complicated philosophy theories in just 1 hour, when all the genius philosophers took like years to come up with those theories. Therefore, the students should be exposed to all the theories and knowledge of the topic beforehand and then discuss the topic. A discussion should also be guided by a teacher with lots of information and knowledge. Only with information and knowledge can a discussion go well.

I wish i have got the power to save the world.

2006-10-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

RADUATE

What is the missing letter?

Anyway, dude and dudettes, we have official FOUR remaining school days till the end of our RI lives, discounting Monday's washout.

Morality

2006-10-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

Nice Post... Makes a lot of sense.. unfortunately it wasnt thought by Eng How but dennis au... and i was expecting slightly more than this given Eng How's lengthy discussion with Au.. Personally.. i think eng how is going crazy and turning not straight judging from the *giggles*... All someones fault because he is obcessed with that certain person...
Btw.. i am having a lot of trouble understanding what is written,..... after looking at the summary... i am rather lost... pls re-explain the part about relative and objective one again... pls clearly define secular theories and philosophical theories... thx..

I dont really understand why morality is man-made... i believe that probably the concept of morality is man-made but there seems to be this innate nature within us, our conscience that pricks us whenever we do something "wrong". so what happens to be this "wrong"? why do we feel that it is wrong? i still believe that it is an innate and intrinsic thingy... i agree that it is shaped by our nature and environment, but within the genes itself there happens to be conscience i think... which makes be think of something else... Philo: Mind is it Matter? Lets discuss this next... very interesting... i seriously cant stand that stupid zombie argument that Alvin dunno what gave when he was relieving Au...
I dont really get what Aristotle's Morality theory is.. pls explain clearly... Which would be the best way to judge morality using philosophical theories... I would tend towards the consequentialist one because i believe the only thing that really affects reality is the consequences and that no matter what your purpose is, it is still beneficial / harmful to the person... Deontology probably looks at the action and the purpose / motive behind the action, which in actual fact i think is merely to rebutt the consequentialists because it can be a very harsh theory... as a result, they come up with a theory to protect all the goodwill ppl... quite sad lah... in this harsh world, reality and consequences are what count.. =P
Eng how, pls explain further some of the queries above.. thx..

Re: morality

2006-10-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Its 1.08 now and i just pop in to welink16 and saw lz's post. Geex Sarah's fast haha. I bet she comes to this blog everyday *giggles*.

Anyway, personally i think that morality is more like a human invention rather than sth thats always there. *finding it difficult to express my ideas with my limited language skills, thats why i not KIing giggles* Anyway i mean er, its sth more like knowledge rather than truth. Truth is something that is always there for you to discover, knowledge is human constructed which we believe to be the truth or close to the truth...ERRRRRR.

In other words, morality is relative. Knowledge is relative. Truth is objective.

I think there is no way we can clearly define MORALITY. I mean morality is something created by humans to prevent evil deeds bahbahbah. something created due to the conscience and guilt inside us. So if we really want to define morality, we have to look at conscience. I believe its conscience which guides us about morality.

When we do not obey our conscience, we feel guilt. When we feel guilt, we go against our moral values. Different people have got different conscience level. Thus, we all got different level of moral values. THIS IS WHEN YOU BELIEVE THAT MORALITY IS RELATIVE AND IT IS DETERMINED BY GENES AND ENVIROMENT.

Genetically speaking *giggles*, a person's morality can be predetermined by his/her DNA. Its possible hahaha.
It can also be determined by education/ nurture. Which is why we got moral education bah bah.
As for religion, I dno abt other religions but i guess for most, the morally right thing to do is to follow the scripture or the highest authority.
Philosophically, philosophers like Longzhao has tried to/ is trying to clearly define morality and find a definite cut for morality. There are 3 types of philosophical theories *generally*
1. if u are a consequentialist, then u look at the consequences. Utilitarian in other words. You try your best to see which decision gives you the best consequence and you choose it.
2. deontology, u r centered on the principles and actions and not the consequences, then u look at the action itself only. For example, lying is wrong no matter wad. White lies are wrong.
3. aristotle's theory which is generally.. do wat the prudent man will does, virtue ethics. It goes sth like er, there are many virtues and there will always be sth in between which is the best. For example, the virtue of courage is a mean between cowardice and foolhardiness. Sth lidat. *giggles*

Haha this post is quite messy i shall summerise it.
- Morality is either relative or objective
- Relative morality = secular theories
= depends on genes + enviroment(education, background)
- Objective morality = philosophical or religious theories
= the 3 mentioned theories + more or that the morality of an action can
be found in scriptures bahbah
- Enghow believes that morality is relative. *giggles*
- Enghow believes that longzhao and walter has got no conscience. *giggles more*

hahah yah i think thats it. Maybe got alot of mistakes *blush* do read and comment hahahah. I like reading comments =))

Who is Eng How Saving Money For??

2006-10-25T08:48:00.001-07:00

CTs are over liaoz... BUT.. there still happens to be O Levels Chinese... Sianz... Right now i am struggling with what course to take... sigh... so stressfull... should i pursue my interests or go for the safe option?
upon the request of certain people... i am here to blog again...
Topic : What is Moral Righteousness?

after thinking for a while, i realise that i dont really understand what is meant when people say that something is morally correct or wrong... there seems to be many different views on what is morally correct and an intrinsic understanding of what is morally right and wrong... however, when philosophers try to quantify this understanding, it results in many theories, one of which being the Utilitarian one, saying that whatever is morally correct is what brings about most happiness to the most number of people... the problem with this theory is that it does not give leeway for personal rights...
Eg. there is this army fighting a war and the general decides to sacrifice one member of the army for to ensure that they win... so is it morally correct? after all it does save lives what and needless battle.. but the poor one person has to sacrifice, and its not as if he is guilty. he is just unlucky...
other efforts to quantify morality has proven to be equally unsuccessful... i think Kant has tried as well with his theory, basically saying sth about treating others as an end not as a means and how you would like to be treated... So is this then moral?
What exactly is meant when we say taht a particular action is morally right / wrong.. i believe all our intrinsic values of morality is twisted and inaccurate... if it it were really accurate, then would there actually be disagreements between morality? would there also be moral paradoxes?

Another thing i was thinking about was Travelling back into time... what happens when u time travel and under what theories of destination is it possible... i think eng how has some insight in this topic so he shall elaborate further.. Lets say a man goes back in time and impregnates his grand mother, therefore, is it also true that he must travel back in time so that he can exist... its really complicated and fun to think about... i think predestination and etc etc... determinism are all very interesting topics that are interesting and their implication to time travel..

Longzhao

2006-10-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

I've got reasons to believe i just accidentally deleted a long piece of my previous post on the worth of a person's life. F***. DUN U HATE IT WHEN U TYPE ONE BIG ASSLOAD OF JUNK THEN U ACCIDENTALLY DELETE THEM ALL. lol. And guess why i know i accidentally deleted it? Cos i din type in the weird shit thing at the bottom of the page. the "PLEASE VERIFY THAT YOU ARE HUMAN" shit. DONG.

Blogging

2006-10-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the CTs are coming and i am trying to hardcore mug, but little avail... i wonder why...
I like the idea of lookism and the word itself, i suddenly feel like walter, i think i finally understand what goes through his mind when he starts on his gibberish and senseless ramblings... its like an ultra effective stress reliever, helps u to talk rubbish such that although your thinking doesnt get any clearer, it just gets more muddled... a numbing effect...
Moving on, the year has came and gone and it is time for CTs already, a while more and its time for packing our bags for the final time in Raffles Institution, the best and most prestigious institution in Singapore... Its all too fast, i dont want it that way...

With regards to Eng How's intellectual queries regarding lookism. i agree that subconsciously, we all do judge people on the external appearances.. Eng How even said that it seems impossible to like someone that isn't pretty... sigh... when u talk about absolute fairness, it definitely isnt fair to judge somone based on something they cannot change.. i believe that if u are unfortunately like me and u are not very good looking right, there isnt much you can do unless u go for plastic surgery or something... sad case right? eng how proposes that by smiling you can look better and you can choose to be ugly or pretty.. definitely i dont quite agree... there probably is a little u can do to improve, but then dont forget, when you talk about laughther and smiling, you have to ensure that you are not judging that the person has a bubbly character... personal grooming and smiling does not TREMENDOUSLY affect... =P its gonna be quite difficult to prove this though...
this is what transpired from my philo dialogue session.. i believe that there is a certain objective beauty before it becomes subjective... means for eg. you need to have eyes nose and mouth in nice (not perfect) proportions and etc which is objective beauty and subsequently the rest is subjective.. if you dont meet objective beauty, too bad cos i believe whoever looks at you will think u are seriously not good looking... of course pls come up with examples to refute my statement / hypothesis.
Basically, what is wrong with lookism is that it promotes a materialistic and superfical world... and btw.. i dont think we shldnt judge by external, i feel that judgement shld include the personal character as well...
i shld be mugging, so just attack these points first, its quite difficult to type my whole argument out in 10 minutes...

Shes my favourite distraction.

2006-10-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

You are my favourite distraction. Talking to you makes me nervous, talking about you takes away all my troubles. =)
Ytd was talking to Longzhao about the Philosophy of Art and Morality? Yes its a "?" We were discussing the morality of judging a person by his or her looks. Lookism is the word. I said that its okay to judge a person by his/her looks. Maybe not totally, but it would at least influence your impression of that person. And its perfectly okay wad.
Longzhao says that since people cannot determine their looks, we should not judge people by their looks because they have no say over their looks so its quite unfair. I disagree, with two parts of the statement.
Firstly, we do have some influence and control over our looks.
Secondly, just because we dun have/dun have much influence over some particular trait, doesnt mean that it cannot be used to judge us.
On my first point, I feel that we do have influence and control over our looks. Smiling more and personal grooming improves the way we look tremendously. People who smiles all day definitely look better than someone who sulks all day.
On my second point, even when a particular trait is largely determined by genes, doesnt mean that we cannot judge people base on that. Simply because all our traits are partially determined by our genes.
Bah. Stupid Longchaos hahaha. =))

Philosophical excuses for not posting on this blog for a long, long time

2006-10-07T04:05:00.000-07:00

The haze was so bad that my computer refused to switch on
A farmer in Sumatra or Kelantan burnt my computer by accident
When moving to the new block, my LAN connection got interrupted
I was preparing for a Lit play
I was celebrating the mooncake festival by trying to spot the moon through the haze
I have been busy studying for the CTs. (Perfectly true)
I have been busy falling asleep while studying for the CTs
I was so disgusted at seeing a group of MPs dance stiffly that I passed out
I was chreographing the MP dance but going under the false name of Peter so as not to disgrace myself
I was pissed at Eng How being kicked out of Rafflesian Spotlight. What kind of school do we live in?! Who has Eng How out of the competition?!
I was planning my future
I was taking part in a Philosophy Dialogue Review
I was busy angsting about graduation
I was busy listening to Mr. Andrew Lim beatbox (This one added in for good measure. Didn't want to end the post on unlucky 13!)

Reopening of Enghow.blogspot.com

2006-10-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

I am reopening enghow.blogspot.com cos stupid longs and walts dunct blogct. XP

Separated at birth. Enghow and Wenjun

2006-10-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

2006-10-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

Did a presentation the PREM style today. wahahha. Prem's real cool =) Did my 2 minutes oral defence speech with 4 quotes in them. =)) Feels quite good, you have people laughing after every quote you say lol. Coolzios! Vote for Enghow, Vote for Boyahs! Anyway, Longzhao pls blog about the industrial revolution =) So i dun have to mug my 3 inches thick of notes.
I think people have got this misconception of pretty people are ugly at heart or sth. Somehow, whenever we see someone really pretty, we will sort of have a 'guard' against them to prevent ourselves from being misled by their looks. We cannot bring ourselves to believe that there are pretty people who are kind and nice and =))). The best part is that it happens so subconsciously, its difficult to realise that. Goodbye.

2006-10-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hello. http://europe.nokia.com/A4174152 Bye. Now i dun feel sad about not getting white chocolate lol. I hope 7373 would be affordable for poor enghow =)

Look what we did today.

2006-09-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

We received our certificates, said our goodbyes and left to be forgotten for the forseeable future. Man, how great life is.

On a side note, are there standards in beauty? (The philo bit just to keep the blog true to its aims =] )

Back in Action

2006-09-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

Haha... its been a long time since the last post, well, i have been trying (to no avail) to assimilate back into school life... not exactly working well as i found out from my maths marks... sigh... nvm....
i cant exactly refute eng how's previous post on animals being able to think, because its true that there might be this possibility.. however, what i am saying is that this possibility is really small because animals so far seem not to have shown any levels of intelligence, either they are really good at hiding it or they simply dont have it...
i was thinking of behaviours generally, how are behaviors determined? nature and nuture right? if that is the case, and animals have no learning capability, why is it that some animals have really interesting ways of doing things... eg. there is this fish that spits water or something to catch prey isn't it? i think animals should have no nature, because they cant think and therefore no learning right? true? are there examples of animals being able to learn, besides primates?
so unless evolutionists really believe that genes completely determine your actions, then how did this fish acquire this ability.. it couldnt have learnt from its parents, firstly because it doesnt have thinking capacity and secondly because there probably has to be some fish taht invented this technique (but they arent supposed to be able to think)... so therefore, it must seem that genes, through evolution seem to programme this interesting action...
of course, there are many implications if it is to be assumed that genes affect your actions to a great extent... firstly, u cant really arrest people for acting because they are programmed to do so right? this also stands for linear time lines when the person has no free will...
i dont really like to make of people's english, but it just happened that i hit a raw spot.. right? =P
let me talk about my experience in china... wuhan was a very meaningful experience for all of us who went there.. it was better than i could ever have imagined and we managed to bond with the students there so well... although we were there as teachers, we managed to become good friends and still keep in contact with them via email and QQ messenger...everyone in china uses QQ... btw... QQ only works for windows, so lousy right? it was very interesting to see their learning style in China.. its much more rigid and examination based than in singapore and there are 50 students in a class... its quite difficult to carry out discussions (as we found out) and also very difficult to manage the class unless the teacher is really strict. (like those in China).. there were times when we couldnt control the class and etc but it was all a great learning experience... they only start learning english at about 12 or 13, so the students taht we were teaching didnt really have a good grasp of the language yet... when we went there, we got owned big time in chinese... the students complained about our handwriting, saying that it is illegible, and often corrected us as we spoke in mandarin... but they were really nice about it... their handwriting there is Perfect with a captial p.... its as if they do penmenship everyday because its really really nice, even their english words are written so clearly and neatly... they were quite astonished after seeing our handwriting (although i always regarded mine to be averagely good).. when conducting lessons, we also got owned in chinese lol... we kept writing wrong words and they had to correct us... but well, its a 2 way learning process la.. also you can see that most students there are very hungry for success and really study a lot... at the gao zhong, they study day and night, ending their self study at 9.30 before retiring to bed at 10. as the gao zhong students usually are boarders, they have a very regimental life, at one point in time, everyone will be doing the same thing.. no joke... they usually have a super thick pile of textbooks, simply because they do not use the internet often, and definitely not for research.. they probably dont have the projects that we have, like magship and stuff... all their learning info comes from the textbooks... cool right...
sigh this is really long... i shall continue some other time... cheers

2006-09-27T05:50:00.000-07:00

Rawr. Philosophize dudes. Lol i challenged Longzhao with this idea of Animals being able to think like humans, at least in some point of time in their lives. When i say think, its only like normal thinking...its like abstract thinking, until the highest level of welink, that they are able to process information and predict things, do very intelligent things bah bah. However, in this human dominated world, they are just unable to "portray" this intelligence because
1. They have a different set of thinking. So they are unable to fit into this world. Just like how stupid a guy from RACE A would look if he goes to TOWN B. Er sth lidat la.
2. For humans, they are unable to "think" at a young age, like 0 to 3. So maybe for animals it just takes longer for them to become intelligent, say the last few days of their lives, so veh hard to observe this intelligence in them.
Aiya i go solitaire ill leave this lidat. And i hate LONGZHAO he likes to make fun of ppl english. RAWR.

More than words

2006-09-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Enghow to Sarah: lol i reveal the answers later, not too soon.
I was thinking, debating with myself inside my head using English, whether you need language to think. Then I came to the conclusion that YES U NEED LANGUAGE TO THINK. which means to say that if u dun have a language, you cant think. Babies dun have languages, they cant think! Before I continue I shall define thinking as controlling your consciousness to make logical conclusions...or sth lidat la dun care. We shall leave the subconscious part out. Anyway, perhaps thats the reason why animals cant think...or can they? And why babies cant think. Cos they dun have a language to facilitate the thinking in their mind.
Lets do an exercise. Think abt the problems from the previous post. Arent u like sort of talking to urself silently inside your mind using ENGLISH? Try to think without words. Can you?

Jane has 2 apples. John has 13 apples. How many apples must John give Jane such that Jane have 2 times as many apples as John.

Philosophy of Beauty.

2006-09-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

Rrwar. I dno about the philosophy of beauty. But before I go to that, I shall give all of u two veh interesting quizzes.
There are two doors and there are two guards. 1 door is the good door and 1 door is the bad door. You are supposed to go into the good door but its not marked, u got to ask the guards. In front of each door theres a guard. 1 guard tells the truth one guard doesnt. You can only ask one question to figure how which door is the good door. So the question is wad is the question to ask?
*i asked weehao and kern and nicky and sean tan(flirt one) and they dno lol, i solved it in 20 mins...claps*
The 2nd question is there are 10 sacks of potatos with 10 potatos inside. 9 sack of potatos contain 10g potatos. The remaining sack contains 9g potatos. How do you determine the sack with 9g potatos when u can only weigh the potatos once. *u can weigh the potatos in any way possible.
*i took 20 secs to solve this CLAPS*
Ok now for philosophy of beauty which i am not veh interested in...i THINK its sth abt whether beauty is objective or subjective, or whether beauty is in the eye of the beholder or when u say sth is beautiful, it really is. I am pretty =)
Bye bye

What's been going on lately?

2006-09-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

Nothing much, if you count everything as nothing much. Life is a lot simpler if you look at it from this angle. Anyway, here's my super long post with a ridiculous script that I decided to abandon. For lit, but it's so useless I decided to abandon it.

"Somewhere In Between"
A short played written by Walter Wong.

This is not a play about life. This is a play about where you should be after life. Do you think about that?

Who decides what goes on above us? When we have no recourse for the commitments we undertake down here, we look beyond the finish line for conviction.

Dramatis Personae:

George
Sam
Terrorist
Butler at St. Peters
Ensemble one
Ensemble two
Ensemble three
Ensemble four

Act 1

In a lift with three people jostling.

Ensemble one: Tenth floor.

Ensemble one: Alright! That’s been enough floors stuck in a lift together!

George: I need my space.

Ensemble one: I need some room.

Ensemble one: You’re hovering on my toes.

George: You’re tugging on my shirt.

Ensemble one: I thought that was my shirt. Your hand is in my bag.

Ensemble one: Alright, someone has to go.

Ensemble one: You there. You have to leave.

George: It’s not my floor yet!

Ensemble one: No room for argument.

George: Hey hey hey-

George pushed out.

George: Hey! I need to go up! I’m not there yet! It’s not the gates-

Sam: Hello.

George: You don’t say-

Sam: Hello.

George: Hello?

Sam: Hello. Welcome.

Pause

George: Welcome? That’s it? No ‘welcome to the magic kingdom’ or something? No garlands? Where is the champagne? Welcome? What’s that supposed to mean?

Sam: Turn around and you’ll know who you’re talking to.

George: Ok…… great. I really am so glad to see a stranger. Look, I’ve no time to hang around and chat with you. Whoever you are, you look great and splendid, I love that goatee of yours, but I really need to be getting up to the gates now. There isn’t time.

Sam: The bag. Hand it over.

George: No! I need it.

Sam: Doesn’t mean it’s important. Hand it over.

George: No!

Conjures action and bag flies to hand.

Sam: Why do I even ask? Sometimes I wonder too.

George: I need that bag! I can’t move on if I don’t have it!

Sam: You’re going nowhere far. Now let’s redo this properly. Welcome.

George: Well, thank you…? And really grateful for taking my bag too. Really eases the burden. Now, I’ve got to go through another layer of security checks.

Sam: Such appreciate people. No tips?

George: Tips? What am I supposed to pay in?! Goodwill?! Or sins?!

Sam: Well, payment is not compulsory but highly mandated. Tips?

George: Excuse me? I’m in a hurry here. Is there even an elevator coming again?!

Sam: Elevators stop at every even level. I’m so sorry, but you’re on the eleventh floor now.

George: What? But this is the tenth floor! I was pushed out on the tenth floor! How did we-

Sam: Things are special here, my friend. Besides, I get lifted when I’m around you.

George: I’m in a hurry. Honestly. Please. I need to get to the good side of-

Sam: Good or bad, that’s not for you to decide. What makes you think you’re good enough for the good, anyway?

People enter.

George: Who are these people?

Sam: I was going to say Americans, but only because they were so noisy.

George: So they’re-

Sam: But look at the wallets they carry. Definitely British. They print the queen on their money.

Talk.

Ensemble one: Did you hear about Becks?

Ensemble one: Becks? What about him?

Ensemble one: He’s got a new hairstyle! I wonder what Joan River’s is going to say about it!

Ensemble one: I don’t know. My son got killed in Afghanistan. I was listening to news about it.

Ensemble one: Oh who cares about Afghanistan, Jimmy? When Becks is on The Sun, nothing else beats it!

Ensemble one: Well, that’s right! So what happened to Becks?!

Leave

George: What has that got to do with anything?!

Sam: Watch.

Dubbed.

Abu din kaleh sih hesha bo-

Your people have been terribly selfish.

Blabber

With your bombing of Lebanon and killing of innocent civilians.

Blabber

But more importantly, I come on air today to address a very startling issue.

Blabber

This is in regard to your terrible, obnoxious culture. And what the hell are you thinking with your new pop songs?!

Blabber

It is un-Islamic to see Fergie shake those things, but even worse to hear her romanticize the London Bridge. Such sacrilege. We never wanted to attack the London Bridge, but now, God willing, we have decided that we must destroy the London Bridge, so that such a terrible song can never be played again.

Blabber

We are determined to wipe out Western civilization. Beware, you lousy Parisians-

Blabber to someone in the background.

Sorry. I have to correct myself, God willing. I am wrong to say Parisians. In fact, Paris Hilton is American.

Blabber

God willing, I will now tell you why Paris Hilton deserves to be eliminated. Her rhythmic wheezing is terrible for the ears. Also, her singing reminds me of the purpose of my Jihad.

Blabber

God willing, we will destroy all Western civilization and your incorrigible pop stars. Oh, before I forget, Bush is an idiot.

Back to the future

George: So that’s a terrorist. And that’s Paris Hilton-

Sam: I really think Paris Hilton should just have stuck to porn. Even up here, she looks better than she sounds.

George: Why do I need to know all these? Look, I’m in a rush. I need to catch the next elevator, I need-

Sam: You need to slow down. You can’t rush time. Time is not on your side. Time is for me to control.

George: Time is running out! I need to get up soon!

Sam: Do you know why these happen? You might have had a say in it all, you don’t agree?

George: I can’t-

Sam: You can’t remember? Memory, it seems, comes with an expiration date.

George: I guess I could have……

New scene

Ensemble one: Do you plead guilty?

George: George never pleads guilty.

Ensemble one: I object!

Ensemble one: Order!

George: George maintains that he never did hurt the prosecution. This is backed up, in unison, by the witness’ testimony. There is no way he is guilty. George will go on a hunger strike, as George sees this trial as a farce!

Ensemble one: Your honour, my client maintains that he was beat up by the defendant. There is no way my client would lie about this.

Ensemble one: Your honour! There is-

Ensemble one: Order! Order! The decision lies with me. I ask, George, that do you align yourself with the Sam?

George: George never aligns himself with Sam. George thinks Sam is a bully, driven only by selfish needs. George sees this trial as a farce, carried out by Sam.

Ensemble one: I ask. You are a brutal man who beat up the defendant. Do you agree?

George: George is compassionate and has always treated the defendant with respect.

Ensemble one: Not the right answer! Answer me again. You are a brutal man who beat up the defendant. Do you agree?

George: George is a compassionate man! George thinks that this trial is rubbish. George will go on a hunger strike of one sausage. Please do not feed me the sausage, guards, for George is angered by the illegitimacy of this court! Oh, the hunger!

Ensemble one: Not the right answer again! I summon Sam to take to the witness stand.

Ensemble one: Sam, is this the man you witnessed bullying the defendant.

Ensemble one: Yes, your honour.

Ensemble one: With that convincing claim, the court sentences George to the death sentence. Appeals are allowed.

George: George files for appeal against the ruling on basis of unfairness!

Ensemble one: Appeals are hereby disallowed. Court adjourned.

Scene change. Death chair.

Ensemble one: George!

George: Why’re my back here again!

Ensemble one: George! You’re not supposed to go! You will always be the one I trust. Power to George power to George!

Sam: Because Sam was not done. Even paradise is controlled by Sam.

George: This is not fair! Where’s my bag! I need my bag. I need to rush to the gates.

Sam: You don’t carry the same bag as Sam. You’re not supposed to enter the gates. Yours is the Friday afternoon bag. His is the Sunday morning bag.

George: This is not fair! Whichever bag I carry does not matter.

Sam: To Sam it does.

George: Why should it matter? I believe in the things he does. I agree with him everyday. So what if I carry a different bag?!

Sam: For one, your credit cards in the bag are different. Different credit, different system, so Sam objects. What Sam likes, Sam does.

George: Nononononono.

Presses button, lights out.

Good evening, sir. Welcome to the gates of St. Peters. We have been expecting you. You’re a few hours late, sir. Shall I take your bag?

George: My bag. (Realises bag is with him) My bag!

Is there a problem, sir? There’s a twenty percent discount if you check in with a Sunday morning special credit card, otherwise all other cards are at full fare.

George: But I am allowed to enter if I have no card at all? Or with a different card?

Why wouldn’t we allow you to enter without a card? It’s not like we aren’t humane. We have our own rules here. Must be very different from what Sam says. Sam controls the mid levels.

George: Why should he?

We have been trying to evict Sam for years. He stays put, though. Even we don’t really like Sam anymore. In the past, he protected us. But now, he’s useless.

George: So, down there, it isn’t all a test?

The only legitimate marker is the rule that all markers are the same. Everyone ends up here anyway. Enjoy your stay, sir.

Scene change

You hear about it? It was on the frontpage of The Sun! George refuses to die! Needs eight minutes of 200amperes of electricity before heart finally stops!

I wonder what kept him alive.

Incredible! What happened in those eight minutes?

He must have been in pain, deep pain.

Maybe he wasn’t.

Well, The Sun says he was, so he must have been!

I wonder what’s up with Becks, these days. Doesn’t make it on this front page anymore, does he?

Yeah. I want Becks back. Who cares about Sam or George?

2006-09-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Effects of China

2006-09-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Lol. China can make ur ZHONG HE TIAN KONG SCORE FULL MARKS, as shown in LZ's zhong he today. Or rather, the first 4 qn =) 4/4. PRO. I think I b4 O lvl i also go China for a while =) Btw, I've been reading up PHILO stuff. OH YEAH 4C, PHILO ESSAY ON FRIDAY THANKS. Back to philo stuff. Ah sth abt plato and the IDEAL WORLD. It goes back to the story abt some people chained in a cave by a monster and they were made to face the wall and see only shadows. So they think that the world is just 2D shadows. Bascially the moral of the story = there might be a world out there thats veh difficult or impossible for us to imagine. >< SCARY!

Meow

2006-09-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

=( I am veh sad. Firstly was cos Longz's been away for veh long, and i miss a chatting partner. And this blog is getting less and less philosophical. Longz pls come back soon..to do our RE poster =) hahahahaa.
The second reason, or the primary reason, is that CURRENTLY I've got no crushes to crush. I am not in love with anyone. I'm not like obssessed with anyone at the moment. My crushes have faded. Crushes come and go. They seem like they are so strong and so power and so overwhelming, but 1 or 2 years later, they'll go. I've never experienced girlboy love and I dno what they are like. Its not really sth to be proud of or to tell everyone...but i am okay with it =)
But right now its pretty sad...its like theres nobody to look forward to, nobody to think about when you are down, to motivation to push you on. Sad sad sad.
Well well well. I wanna meet a pretty girl and crush her hahahahaha. But i've never seen a girl prettier than my previous crush. :P Till i find someone new... :O

Quotable Quotes

2006-09-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

Prem asked me to blog. "tonight u better blog ah boy"
Ngee Ann canteen has got inexpensive and high quality food. Might consider poly over RJ.
Prem did an OMG SUPER POWER presentation today. OWNED everyone. A little too many quotes maybe. But there's a style and everyone was listening to him. Learnt alot from his presentation. 2nd most pro presenter was like Eugene Neo. er longest presenter too lol. Started off every well then after that dno wad he talking lol. I like Tingalings! I can use 2 Tingalings to buy an apple.
Happy Birthday Ms Grace Chong! =)
Bad English sounds funny. lol. The bad part is I use lots of bad english also. Harhar.
U are King. Good bye! Sleep.
Oh wait. Relativity.
Holding pretty's hand for an hour feels like minute. Having hand on hot stove for second feels like minute. Reminds me of the David Blaine trick. I think he is super coolio. lol
I am going to train self discipline by standing on a spot for half an hour. Or more or less. Just stand on a spot and dun move at all. It sounds like a stupid exercise but its not. Its veh cool. The difficulty lies in its simplicity. Quotable quotes.
Messy messy messy. Goodbye.

All bananas

2006-09-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

For one moment, I wondered, "Are the new Argentinians that West Ham signed really Argentinian?" Then I realised that they were, because their names were way too hard to be pronounced.

Schumacher's retiring. Damn. Where's the philo in that.

Sec1 Soccer Carn ;P

2006-09-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hello. Firstly LZ i thot of that b4 the rebutt is actually to just use a condom so u wun have any consequences. Unless you are talking abt emotional stuff, but i dun really see how its different from adults. Sounds funny lol i dun feel comfortable discussing sex online.

Anyway. Wahaha. The PSLegrp is damn lame and damn gay. It's actually pretty fun to argue and stuff but for the benefit of everyone, I had to firmly ask for a stop *whoa* and other people had to ask for a stop by saying "let this be the last email, blah blah blah" and went on to say things to flame up more arguments. STUPID PEOPLE. why cant they just resist the TEMPTATIONS to post the last post. :P lol. Its quite silly when you dno anything just suddenly just post a 1500 word mail to give your opinion. wow. I wonder why the philo forums are so quiet.

As I am always saying. The carnival's primary objective is to have fun and laughter and joy and bond together and yay and woot and =). Its stated on the proposal... I cannot understand whats so difficult to understand. Why waffles people are so concern about winning and losing and winning and winning and winning. Longzhao, thats sth sarky abt waffles. Waffles doesnt preach "The outcome is secondary, the process is the key." Waffles teaches "Cmon man! Only the champions matter. If you are a loser, you dun belong to waffles. Waffles is all about being first and pwning everyone else."
The 2nd thing is. Things dun just work base on reasoning alone. At least not for this soccer carn. I dun try to make everything look so perfect, while compromising on the happiness of the majority. This is not a competition, it is a carnival! We should all learn how to be happy and make others happy and not restrict ourselves to the competitive paradigm of Waffles. =)

Wahaha. YaY Walter now many people are gonna tag :P HAHAHHA.

Heya

2006-09-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

Hahaha.. In Wuhan now and just managed to get some internet going... Its really quite fun down here and we are going to start teaching them English tmr... The weather is super super hot, just like Singapore but our hostel has air conditioning.. =P The sch is like Raffles man, just that its a Hebei Province one.. Basically all the smart ppl aspire to come to this sch and their displays for Science etc are completely fantastic... The ppl here are probably all genii or sth.. We just met the principal of the sch who i think is super big shot but she probably regards us as super big shots too... ^-^
Anyway.. i shouldnt talk too much rubbish.. Eng How had a question.. Why is teenage sex morally wrong? First response, teenagers are not sufficiently responsible to have sex... Consequences etc etc... This is thought up in 10 secs so if pls destroy it if u can..

For now, there's just two of us.

2006-09-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

Longzhao's off to get some girl from Wuhan right now, so it'll just be Eng How and I flaunting our intelligence up here. It's going to be two long and yet pretty quick weeks, so we wish Longzhao the best and hope that China Southern Airlines totally rocks!

Indeterminism

2006-08-30T04:21:00.000-07:00

Ok er let me clarify. Indeterminism is the possibility that things might just happen randomly, for NO reasons at all. So if you punch a person, it might be because you are angry with him or sth. But if you explain with indeterminism, it means that you did it out of random, there is no reason to explain your behaviour, which means actually you have no free will over whatever you are doing...yeah I know it sounds stupid, and its difficult to accept because its hard to imagine someone punching another person and saying that he had no control over his actions at that particular moment.
I know its very difficult to imagine that you've got no free will over whatever you are thinking or doing. I shall use determinism to argue having no free will. Determinism means everything is due to cause and effect. The world is actually 1 linear timeline, which means that action A will lead to action B and so on. There will not be the possibility of action A leading to action C. In other words, determinism is means history is preset and is merely unfolding itself. Whatever you e are doing or thinking is predetermined since the start of time. You think you have a choice, its only an illusion. Yeap sth lidat.

Sec1 soccer carn! Woot

2006-08-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

Hola! Wow the sec 1 soccer carn was a blast! Too bad it had to rain. =( rain rain go away come again another day. Yay 1G is the first class to make it to the Semis! WOOT. Many learning points for Enghow. Flaws and mistakes made in the carnival...shall not mention them so that you will get the impression that its well organised :P Anyway thanks to all the PSLs who came down not only to help but to make this carn a woot. Thanks! =) If it wasnt because of you guys to cover up my ass i would have died =) Kudos to Longzhao who deliberately made the PSL team lose their matches so that the sec1s got the impression that they go through to next round with their skills. Thanks to Walter and Junyang's pro commentary which hyped up the carnival! And others as well haha. Thanks to Zhiwen Yelinz Prem Ali and random people who helped out at the drinks booth. Yay phew so glad i got my marnie back. :P Thanks Junhan for the sexy trophies and medals they are damn nice! Everyone thinks so! Thank you Junhan again and Siang and Zm for helping out with the soccer carn. THANKS THANKS THANKS to the sec1s Delwyn and Teng for doing so much and helping so much with the soccer carn! Sorrie my 1G had to kick ur class out of the tournament :P:P:P Thanks Mr Law for helping out with the admin matters! Thanks liao to all the PSLs and sec1s! wahahha...who's left out ;P WAH DAMN TIRED I GO SLEEP LOL BYE hahahaha. Philo stuff tonight...cya!

Definitions

2006-08-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

Pls do all readers a favour and redefine all the 4 theories.. for easier discussion with particular emphasis on timeline and cause and effect... and any other distinguishing factors... sorry for the misconception lol... =P its all becos u didnt define it properly...

SLVR L7

2006-08-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

Wad lah! Stoopid. Btw Agency = determinism outside the boundary of the human mind and fatalism = Indeterminism with a linear timeline. Indeterminism = nono-linear timeline, since anything random can pop out suddenly.
Longzhao u got the misconception that indeterminism is linear timeline. Cos the implication of linear timeline = cannot be held morally responsible. However, indeterminism is determinism allowing room for random things to pop out.
For indeterminism, the person should not be held responsible not because it is predetermined (since indeter is non linear), but because there is this possibility that his actions were random. I only argued that there is this possibility. Wahahah Enghow > Longzhao i dun care =)

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies

2006-08-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

I bet Eng How didnt even think before posting lor... I think when he reads through that again he will probably be astounded... okay... let me talk about determinism and indeterminism... But actually what i really want to do is attack Kuhn and his idea on paradigms becos there are parts where i really disagree and have strong reasons for thinking so...

Before i start on philo.. let me first agree wholeheartedly with Walter in his previous post... except for the part i was stuck in my ACS shell... =P btw walter, Why dont u start posting nice pictures... and for your information, gravity isnt a constant.. wahahaha...

Now talking about determinism and indeterminisim... besides these 2 which Eng How has talked about, there is actually agency and fatalism... im too lazy to find out what they are.. so i shall attack Eng How's examples and points on the previous post and let this discussion continue... Sidetracking a while, i think if u read carefully, i nvr said that love MUSt be mutual but i said there is a difference... i agree cos i dont really think it must involve similar affections from both parties... Moving on, i think the part about responsiblity can be summarised into choices.. meaning that if the individual has the ability to make choices, then he can be held responsible.. in this case, i think these 2 theories are linear time lines right? as in they both dont allow choices for an individual, meaning that every single thing has been predetermined since the start of time.. so the implications of these 2 theories is that an individual cannot be held responsible for his actions and thus should not be persecuted... in other words, every "choice" is just a perceived illusion... whether u read this post or not was not by choice but has already been predestined.. it doesnt have any link between cause and effect actually... btw.. the reason why Eng How's second argument is wrong is because indeterminism does not say that everything has no cause and effect... so if someone does something wrong, he cannot argue that it was random given that its not a linear time line...

Lastly, i was thinking about where religion ties into all these theories... i believe that most religions actually lie in agency... where its cause and effect and that the individual has choices.. i mean if not then it cant be a religion already what... imagine buddism without asking someone to do good... if its determinism then theoratically it cannnot fault one for not doing good.. meaning that poor humans are pawns for some deity... so where does Christianity lie in all these theories... it should be safe to think that humans have been given the ability to choose by God... however, we are also told in the Bible that all who will go to Heaven has been elected since the start of time... note that this does not negate all human responsiblities of sharing the gospel etc... so where does Christianity lie?? i know Eng How will attack this and say that it is probably a contradiction or sth... feel free to do so... and post any other attacks if u want...

Longzhao

My heart, once broken, considered sold.

2006-08-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

OMG SUPER COOL HEADING.
Yeah so busy with stuff lately... Anyway i "cannot disagree more" when longzhao said that love is mutual. HOW ABOUT NO? XP I mean like if your love is not reciprocated means its not love? Clarify if i am wrong. I mean like crushing a person is just a teenage slang for liking someone. Loving someone is a higher degree of liking someone. But i wouldnt say love is defintely mutual.
Anyway was reading up on determinism and indeterminism. For those who are sstill confused over what the two terms mean.
Determinism basically means that every single thing in this world happens due to cause and effect. Eg. "I am sad cos i got rejected" "i got rejected cos she dun like me" "she dun like me cos i am ugly" "i am ugly cos i got bad genes" "i got bad genes cos my parents got bad genes" "my parents got bad genes cos my grandparents got bad genes" and u can trace back to genesis. Which basically means that everything happens due to something else. The world we are living in is just something that is predetermined unfolding itself.
Indeterminism means there are possiblities of random actions. Things do not have to happen for a reason. Say how a group of pigeons walk around in your backyard randomly. There arent any set of laws to govern that randomness. Another example would be quantum mechanics that a single particular uranium atom will amit an alpha particle in a random probability.
Which brings us to this implication. If Seng molest a girl, he can trace my actions back to history and find reasons for it. Argue that its all predetermined and he couldnt do anything about it because life is simply history unfolding. On indeterminism side, he can argue that there is even less room for moral responsibility on my part, because there wasnt any reason for what he had just done. It was random. It was nature at work. Not his fault =(
Rawr the argument sounds weak i will leave LONGZHAO to counter it. Or even walter =) Wahaha i've learnt to make examples to support my arguement and break other people's argument by breaking their examples. =) Discussion is fun!
Determinism : Tag the board =)
you see the line above asking u to tag the board thats why you are going to tag now.
you see the line above asking u to tag but u think you veh smart dun wan to tag but actually its also determinism i am controlling you with reverse psychology =)
Why are we always arguing about the same things so boring. waahhaha.
3 more days to Secondary 1 soccer carnival!

I agree with you both!

2006-08-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

Longzhao and Eng How, as our days in RI draw to an end, I guess I'm beginning to get a little more sentimental about, you know, the whole thing about our friendship.

It's been a good three/three plus years, no? I don't think we started sec one as that close friends, with Longzhao still very much stuck in his ACS shell and Eng How, I don't know, pretty quiet. But, heh, things worked out well and it's been great ever since the later end of 2003.

There's been the happy times, that is needless to say. All the stuff with toying with a band, laughing at others, spending most lunches in 2004 eating together and laughing our heads off. There've been too many good times to really reminisce on one post.

The bad times? Sure as hell, we've had them. Doing RE really stretched our friendship to the limit. Especially doing music last year, I guess we all had different musical directions. So, it's a good thing that the three of us are not stuck together in the same RE group this year, no? Well, whatever it is, from street theatre in sec two, down to playing soccer or whatever, we've disagreed in one form or another. Even in terms of religion, we disagree; Longzhao you're totally in touch with God, Eng How you're searching for God like a prospector searches for gold, while I'm unfazed in the face of such convictions. We're a diverse bunch; I like it!

Sometimes I still marvel at how the three of us are this close. I mean, yeah, like Longzhao said, how many times have we sat down, with no real purpose at all and literally talked without keeping track of time. It's as though there's always something for us to occupy our conversations with. That's just not common at all. It's amazing and makes RI way easier to live in. That day at the dining hall, it suddenly dawned upon me that three years just flipped by like... well... like that. But I guess within the three of us, things haven't changed all that much. Sure, we may spend as much time with one another as we did in our lower sec years. But even after we graduate from RI and RJC, we're bound to still be the closest of friends, right? That's the most amazing thing of it all.

I won't bother to dissect what keeps us together. All I know is, like gravity, this should be a constant. We'll find a way to always keep in touch and live the next twelve years as though its 2003to2006 x 3 = 12!

Rafflesian Spotlight

2006-08-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Wow rafflesian spotlight looks cool this time round. It seems like everyone else is taking part, which leaves no one to be the audience. Hehe... Rafflesian Spotlight does bring about some jokes =) The oldest one concerning Keefe. It went sth like...
One fine day during training while everyone is fielding on the field, and some noob batter got up, so the outfielders got bored. The outfielders include Enghow, keefe, yr, posef.... So keefe went up to Enghow and said this, "Hey Enghow, you know what? Yesterday my mum said that shes getting me an Ipod, but i said NO. You know why?" Enghow replied this, "huh er i dno?" "Cos i am going to get one from Rafflesian Spotlight!" So enghow just smiled and ignored Keefe =) After a while when Coach called everyone to steps and started talking about batting...then i burst into uncontrollable laughter cos i suddenly thought of what Keefe said on the field...then I started luffing at Keefe and stuff and he whacked me real hard. Then ended up Coach pull both of us out to scold us :P
And recently i got Mark*J Wong's son* telling me that I singing at a octave higher than Jay Chou and WangLeeHom lololol. He said sth like "Dun act seh la Enghow I am sure they sing so high la." lol. I am sure he was only joking...lol.
and the last joke is so lame can. AND THE WINNER GOES TO JACK TAN! AND THE WINNER GOES TO JACK TAN! AND THE WINNER GOES TO JACK TAN! AND THE WINNER GOES TO JACK TAN! kae insider joke hahaha.

Continuation on Love.. and More

2006-08-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

Well.. i guess it was the meeting on monday that really sparked off this crazy thing about love... Its quite interesting so let me touch a bit on what transpired after that interesting discussion before i talk about what we have learnt after almost 1 and a half hours of discussion with Dennis on just random philo... very interesting...
A model on the social development of adolescents describes guys, at stage 6, from about 14 - 16 to be the time when we start to take serious notice of girls wheras girls start to do likewise from the age of 12-14, stage 5.. but either way, it results in crushes here, there and everywhere..
I agree with eng how that crushes aren't the same as loving.... its one thing to dream of her every night before sleeping and another to know that she is thinking of you as well... but i dont really agree that pride > love if you dont confess your crush... i think getting to know someone is very important before even saynig that you like that person... therefore, it is quite impractical to confess a crush unless u can really say that u know her well... of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion... moreover there are many other reasons that prevent someone from confession, one of them being pride...
anyway i think the thing about teenage dating is that it happens to be really temporary... after a while, u get bored, etc etc.. and it results in a break up... =( i mean there really isnt anyone who is perfect, just that love somehow makes you oblivious to her character flaws and perhaps even allows you to accept all that... all the things about "i nvr want to date someone who is like that", i think is all rubbish lol...

moving away from this topic... i am beginning to think this blog is quite cool... i mean not only the blog but the friendship that the 3 of us share or have shared since sec 1 and will continue to share... sitting down in an empty dining hall during RE just talking about random topics was seriously rather meaningful... So amidst all the talk of crushes and everything... look and sth more tangible like friendships forged around you and treasure them instead of dreaming daily... =P

lastly, let me end off with the discussion is pornography art? me and eng how crashed Dennis' class and so all 3 of us were there.. cool.. brings back sec 2 memories... my instincts are telling me that there is definitely a difference, but i cant seem to find that crucial point... firstly, lets distinguish erotic art and pornography... i would say that pornography is something more crude, just 2 random ppl doing funny things... wheras erotic art is meant to exemplify probably the beauty of the human body or something like that... other than this, i dont really have much to add... i think pornography is definitely not art... haha.. will be back later to talk about paradigms and re emphasize why i dont believe that Kuhn is correct and basically what we talked about after philo today... =)

Love says

2006-08-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

I still rmb in sec2, Mr Fong said "You guys dono wad is love, you are all confusing love with lust." Normally kiddos of our age, guys or girls, will have all the awww so sweet crushes. Then we will all think its like some kind of "heaven shocking earth shaking love"(JING TIAN DONG DI). But the sad fact is that it is not. =( Everyone has got his or her fair share of crushes which makes you cry at night or veh happy or sth... Phrases like "omg hes/shes so cute", "i wan him to be my bf/gf leh" or worse still "i wan him/her as my laopo/laogong!" :P hahaahahahaha! but they do sound familiar! Some people choose to keep things to themselves and feel sad and zibei. They cry and night and always think about the person and feel sad cos they dun get the person...

The sad fact is, these are just too veh the many usual and normal crushes which everyone has, not LOVE. Everyone wans to be cool and tell everyone that they know what is LOVE but the fact remains that it is not LOVE. LOVE is more than that.

You probably say "No lor i really do love this person, i am willing to do XYZ for him/her" Oh really? So have you done anything yet? How can you be able to sacrifice your precious bah bah bah or even your life for the person if you do not even dare to confess. Confession is sarcrificing your pride for the person. If you do not dare to confess, means PRIDE > CRUSH.

Ah you will probably say that you do not want to risk screwing up your friendship with the person, and things will go very awkward. That is so not an excuse please? Just put yourself in your crush's shoes... think of a veh good friend suddenly confessing his/her love to you. You will probably feel too honoured or feel your ego bursting to think about anyother things. :P Besides, are you going to unfriend the person just because he/she just confessed? I think not lor. Because you have nothing to lose if someone confess his/her feelings to you.

Confession is a sacrifice, it is the sacrifice of your ego and pride to express your feelings to someone else. Confession, is the first step to love.

I think today was very stimulating

2006-08-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

Question: Longzhao and Eng How went to Philo for the discussion about porn only.

Argument 1: They turned up for this lesson and this lesson only.

Counter-argument 1: Longzhao and Eng How are nice saints

Defense 1: Point noted, but Longzhao told me so, so your above points are all wrong.

Thoughts on Paradigm

2006-08-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

Okay.. I shall rebutt Eng how's post on Christianity later.. the clock on my laptop (Apple Rox!) reads 1.22 am and is telling me to sleep... sigh.. but let me talk slightly bout some thoughts that i have on paradigms...
IF you are lost, blame EH cos he was the one who went for philo DMP and shld have blogged on what paradigms are.. Anyway, i disagree that everyone is affected by the paradigm... I mean this is really obvious, if not no one would have ever broken out of it.. In fact, we think that the reason why Einstein was so smart was because he was able to detach himself from that paradigm... But thats not really true cos after studying the development of E=mc2 , i kinda realised that there was actually a build up to Einstein's paper... So i actually would suggest that instead of a paradigm shift, ie. a sudden change of thought, there is actually gradual evolution of scientific thought and it just happens that this culminates into a theory that debunks a previous theory... Ahhh....
Subsequently, i believe that paradigms should only applied to scientific principles, mainly because science requires results to prove another result.. for example, mgh =1/2 mv2 etc etc... basically it is becase science is like a building and falsification process where results are only true for that point in time and never will be proven empirically true... the best that can happen is repeated results for similar procedures... moving on... therefore we can see the importance of basic science to act as a building block for greater theories.. with regards to einstein yet again, it is unlikely that e=mc2 would have been discovered if not for the fact that KE = 1/2 mv2 was discovered before him... however, with things like philosophy etc.. all that is really required is the concept of logic and reasoning... certain new theories can be talked about just by thinking on the spot without other basis... therefore there really isnt a paradigm because it is unable to influence your thoughts in one direction..
=P i know eng how will try to counter this point... therefore, if u cant use it for philo.. i say that you can't use it for religion.. i definitely dont agree tat just because i believe, i am unable to think objectively.. waahahahaha.... go ahead eng how.. start firing.. and walter too...

XP

2006-08-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

OMG MC square KE 1/2 MV square room for squares... DO YOU UNDERSTAND LONG ZHAO"S POST? NOPE! too bad longzhao haha i am not gonna rebutt XP too bad hahah cos i dun understand. =) YaY

Raffles Institution

2006-08-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Haha...I've got to admit that I do not love RI as much as walter, or even as much as an average RI guy. There is something about this school which is uncharacteristic of a top school. RI might be a top school if your definition of a top school is overall excellence in academic and sports. But I dun see it that way, because I believe in character education. I dun think that character can be moulded in a classroom, because it is not something like Mathematics and Science. Instead, I feel that its a discipline which can only be "taught" by an enviroment. *Dear me i am having trouble articulating my thoughts* Anyway, it is something which is learnt through experiences and the enviroment.
For example, you are less likely to litter in Fullerton than a hawker centre, even though there are more dustbins to be found in the latter. Thus, to prevent people from littering, you have got to make the place really clean to start with instead of telling people again and again not to litter.
Another example is the Rafflesian Spirit. Everyone is saying that the Rafflesian Spirit is not as strong anymore. I would say that it is because of the enviroment - the construction works going on. It is because we've got our dear canteen, our dear hall, our stadium steps, our gryphon's lair, all these places, where people sit together to chat, where berry bonds and friendship bonds are built. There is no use in just appealing to people to relight the rafflesian spirit, because the enviroment is just not right.
To relight the rafflesian spirit, which is very difficult to achieve, especially at a time like this, would be to create a (Y) enviroment. To create the (Y) enviroment, see Paul's WORLD CUP screening. Actually i thot it was a great idea to screen the world cup, but the thing is it lacks publicity because it was quite last minute. Another reason was because staying overnight in school sucks cos there really isnt a nice place to sleep in, and there's no food to eat. Budden then again, you need sth lidat to create the (Y) enviroment. For another example, think RAFFLES SHOEBAGGIE!
Ok yeah I shall stop here cos I think this post is damn suck but if you read and really think about it you should be able to get what i am trying to say. All i want to say is "If you are able to manipulate the enviroment, you are able to manipulate the people" and I will leave out the "Manipulating the enviroment takes lots and lots of $$$" Bye bye people.

Tonight is not a very good night.

2006-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

I really am not in the mood for a philosophical post, but I get this sneaky feeling that if I do not post something 'deep', Cheow and Zhao are going to kick me out of this blog. So I'd better say something wise.

As my inspiritational English Language teacher likes to say, "brevity is the essence of wit". Hence, I will keep this as brief as possible, so as to not apply pressure onto the eyes of all readers.

What is it about school that keeps me loving it? People around here can be really mean or really superficial or really whimsy sometimes, but why is it that I still love this place?

I will leave it at that, for an intellectual discourse to take place. School is almost like a drug; it is easy to get hooked onto it. I know I am going to miss this place. I cannot bear to leave it. Not right now.

2006-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

I was sitting down somewhere thinking every hard about something. And I was thinking about something really cool. But now i cant really rmb wad i was thinking of just now... Nvm I will make something up now.
Talk about the purpose of life, then you are able to live life the "correct" way. Every decision you make in life is strongly influenced by your purpose in life. By purpose in life, i really do mean WHAT you would wan to achieve out of this life, and not what you believe is cool to believe.
Some people say you should live life to the fullest. For example, becoming the greatest rockstar ever, earn more marnie than Gill Bates. Some people say you should live for happiness, everything you do generates the most happiness. Some people live for others, dedicating their lives to serving others, putting others in front of themselves. Ah back to my favourite topic, Christianity. Christian believe that you should live your life for God, to let God take control of your life.
To let God take control of your life? How can you ever be able to get an answer from God unless he really appear in front of you and tell you what to do. Of course, Christians will say that Jesus lives in their hearts and they can feel God guiding their lifes...but maybe it is just the work of the mind making themselves think that way? I shall not say more in case i get blasted on my way to school or sth...Ill just leave this though open for Long Zhao to defend.
So back to the topic. What really is the purpose of life? Many people are unable to answer that question. Suddenly they find no meaning in their lives, but they continue living it anyway.

OMG i suddenly rmb what i was thinking of today...so now i shall blog about it. WAHAHHAA.
I was thinking, why must children come out from parents? Why cant people just grow from the ground? Why cant living things just grow out from Mother Earth. You might think its very stupid and silly. I appeal to you to get out of thatmited naive paradigm of yours and start using your imagination.
Implication 1: People will be truly unique, in the sense that they dun have to follow their parent's genetic makeup.
Implication 2: There will be population control. Or rather, X population of earth all the time.
Implication 3: The world will be a fairer place, cos everyone will start from scratch. No more born with silver spoon.
Implcation 4: You wouldnt have parents to care for you. Dun worry if you think its veh cruel, cos it wouldnt be. You will get more love from friends and guardians. Besides, it will be the norm for the society.
Implication 5: Everyone is part of ur family!
Implication 6: Everyone will care for mother earth! =)
Actually these 5 implications are the more seriously ones...ok maybe the first 4. However, the world will truly be 1 big family and the world will be a more fairer place thats for sure.
U know, I seriously have no idea what i am blogging about. I am sorry, just some interesting stuff to read about =) HAHAHAH!

Human Pheromones

2006-08-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well... Today during Chemistry DMP my teacher was talking a lot of rubbish towards the end of the lesson and one of this included this topic of pheromones... Basically what they are specific chemical signals that trigger mating responses and is very much seen in animal life.. There is some debate on whether humans actually have this because scientists cannot agree ( as usual ) whether we actually have the receptor sites... Its really interesting, so i went back and read a bit on this... But i was so tired i ended up sleeping lol...
Looking at the implications, I kinda find it quite scary... It somehow detaches us from loving people because they are smart, artisically or musically inclined, or even good looking... What this is saying is that we fall in love with people because of some chemical that is produced and given off... Although this chemical is odourless, it is being sensed by the vomeronasal organ in the nasal passage.. For simplicity's sake, let us all consider this to be a "smell".
What this also says is that the only reason why we fall in love is because your mate smells good and you smell good to her... Sounds quite sad case for human beings who are supposedly able to think, rationalise and etc... So all the things about her being smart and good looking theoratically are all hogwash if this human pheromones are true.. As i said earlier, it is highly possible that this might not even exist..
There are a few reasons why scientists believe that it exists and i shall just type a few here... Supposedly, when females stay together for a long time, their menstrual cycles begin to be in tune with each other... This synchonisation of cycles is based on unconscious odour cues...
In a study in Switzerland, it was shown that ladies liked the guys that were most different in Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) profiles and identified them just by smelling their used t-shirt (sick!). Meaning that these ladies smelled t-shirts of guys and managed to find their best potential mate. Having a different MHC profile gives the offspring a survival advantage to resist more forms of diseases. So all the stupid "attract the females" (and males i guess) pheromones are also rubbish.. You will need the genetic makeup of that special someone before you can come up with a specific pheromone... Instead of doing that, maybe try sth called sincerity... Humans (like mice) select our potential mate based on this difference in MHC profiles... So if i like someone, probably it is because that person has a very different MHC profile and this is best for our offspring...
It is also linked to heterosexuals and homosexuals as they both respond differently to pheromones. Supposedly, homosexuals respond to pheromones of the same sex, making them interested in people of the same sex.
An 8-week double blind placebo study was done on pheromones. Using 40 men, none of them knowing what was being tested. I.E use this toothpaste, use this coffee, use this perfume etc.. The men who had used the perfume with the actual pheromones reported under baseline questioning that there was more sexual contact with there wife's and girlfriends. Single men reported more dates, romantic affection, eye contact and sex with women.
Looking at all these, i dont like the implications of this stupid "fact". So i was thinking.... What happens when people supposedly fall in love online, through MSN or some dating website... They are unable to smell each other but seem to have fallen in love... So is it possible to fall in love without this pheromone? Of course some might argue that it really isnt true love if you havent met.. I think this adds strength to the argument that people like each other because of certain common hobbies or interests, so when they talk they learn more about each other... but well it doesnt equate to love...
After all the above stuff mentioned, i still would like to think that i like that someone because she is special... not because of some pheromone... that way, life will be quite sad and our "love" is like mating practices in animals... But is this the way we are forced to explain such an inexplicable phenomenon like love?
Well, it does give a new meaning to the phrase Love is Blind.

This is my first post.

2006-08-17T09:15:00.001-07:00

I am on this blog and hence I am damn smart.

My first post will be about how intellectual Longzhao is.

Sorry Eng How.

2006-08-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Judging

2006-08-17T03:26:00.000-07:00

When we get to know someone new, say a new friend, we will ask the person for their name, then their occupation, then their hobbies, then their this and that, and then we judge them.
Even without them doing anything or really knowing them, we judge them.
Say you just got to know this babe....
Boy "Hey wad cha name?"
Girl "London Hilton"
Boy "WOW WAD A COOL NAME! So...whats your school?"
Girl "MGS"
Boy "woah wad a cool school, what are your hobbies?"
Girl "I like to play tennis and netball and surfing"
Boy "can i have your number?"
Girl "Yeah sure!"
By then you prolly think that the girl is your dream girl and you wan to date her liaoxor.

Budden wad if..
Boy "Hey wad cha name?"
Girl "Tan swee muay"
Boy "Oh swee muay so wad school are you from?"
Girl "uhh XYZ school"
Boy "oh haha never heard of it before, so what are your hobbies?"
Girl "Er i like to read books and watch meteor gardens over and over again cos got my F4"
Boy *hesitating whether to know this girl but asked anyway*"can i have your number?"
Girl "uhh i dun have a handphone"
You will probably think that shes some damn noob average can find anywhere in the streets type of girl...and put off the chance to know her better. Then actually the first type is those type of slutty girls who's in a girls school but only know guys while second type is a sweet and nice and caring and loving and sweet and sweet type of girl. Moral of the story: Do not judge a book by its cover, do not judge a book by its author, do not judge a book by its size, judge a book by its content.

Sorry LZ i just wrote superficial thrash. =( Just trying to fill up the spaces. We need walter to fill the blog with nice quotable quotes and pictures and LZ to fill it up with Pro Philosophical Parguments and Phoughts. Bye

Engs and Longs and Walts

2006-08-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

OK EXPLAIN THE URL SO THAT U WILL RMB. WELINK16 = WalterEnghowLongINK(link) 16 years old! Thanks lz for this great idea of a url. Thanks liaozor.

Welcome to our blog

2006-08-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Heya to all that visit this magnificent and fantabulous blog...
Jointly brought to you by Walter, Eng How and Longzhao...
We discuss birth and death and everything in between but would be talking about philo.. smilez.. first topic will be paradigms.. being so caught into something that you perceive everything in a particular way.. Sit back and enjoy...

HAHA PARADIGMS

2006-08-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

I love paradigms cos paradigms make me judge people and things with a bias attitude. =)