Learning

Would people still bother learn if there were no exams to work toward?

When you motivate a person with monetary or material rewards, what usually happens is that the intrinsic motivation would soon be lost. Artists who are paid to paint all the time might lose their natural inclinations in producing art pieces over time. Psychologists know this well, and suggest using non-material rewards such as praises to avoid corroding a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a task.

And exams, if you ask me, totally kill our intrinsic motivation to learn.

Okaylah, that's me being overdramatic again, but looking at all the other students nerding in college today staring blankly at their notes (like me) trying to memorise some facts to prove that they know something (like me) kinda gives me the feeling that the real true value of learning is lost in the education system.

I count our ability to learn as the one of the most profound skills we have, mediated by a dazzling array of neurons and countless electro-chemical reactions within the little organ that we call the brain. But to spend all our neural computing power on memorising pseudo-facts (things scientists aren't even sure themselves) seem a little....illogical, to me. Learning is an amazing process. But I feel that learning in our real-world context falls a wee bit short of that ideal.

Yeap, we're not perfect all right.

Peace Where We Are

Standing next to my car sipping while sipping on a can of soya after filling in some gas at slightly past midnight, the quiet 'suasana malam' made a for a great opportunity to just stand back and enjoy the peace and quiet. Made for a great opportunity to be robbed too I'm sure, standing there at the petrol station in the middle of the night, haha. But I wasn't, thankfully.

Amidst the stillness, it is quite hard to imagine what life would be a little bit farther from home. I looked at the buildings around, thinking if they would suddenly be bombed. I glanced across the streets, worried if armed bandits would ride past and shoot me.

I continued drinking, and thoroughly soaked in the night scene. The peace we have that we don't realize...

And the picture? It's Peace, Where We Are :)

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

The less you know, the better :)

If you're thinking of something to watch at the cinema sometime soon, or not-so-soon, then here's a suggestion:

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs!

There, no unnecessary expectation build-ups, haha.

Hope you enjoy it.

How Little We Know

Every year brings with it new discoveries in our knowledge of the world.

A physicist figures out how to split new particles from presently split particles. A chemist concocts a brand new chemical with the most dazzling of effects. A biologist uncovers new swathes of genes responsible for causing obesity.

For the most part I feel that we're living in pretty modern times. Modern in the sense that we are in control of the world, we're grasping it bit by bit and we're bound to unravel all there is unravel. I mean, we have planes, rockets, cars and boats to traverse the landscape in all three dimensions. That's modern right? We have the Internet, Facebook. That's gotta be modern right? We're advancing so much that the polar ice caps are melting. Please tell me that's us being modern, not the polar bears.

But really, at the end of the day I can't help but to realize that everything we know about science and technology is only what we think we know. Our knowledge are no more than careful assumptions about how things work, tested through experiments and proven by logic. Which means we'll never be 100% sure of ourselves. At least these were some of the things that ran through my mind as I read Newsweek's recent article on cancer.

As much as we have progressed in the last few thousands of years, the living bodies in which we inhabit still prove to be the most challenging mystery yet to solve. Being alive is something that I believe we will never be able to fully comprehend. Words cannot explain it, pictures cannot illustrate it. Alive. Almost like magic, but far greater. How much do we really know then?


I am a living person. Can someone please tell me who designed me?

September

Ask me which month of the year is my favourite, and...well, you probably wouldn't ask me such a question in the first place because there's only really one answer :)

If you've ever wondered about the famous historical figures who were born in September, then here's a quick list of them: Justina Lee, Kee Ken Fong, Simon Sim, Kee Ken's Mum, Kat Tan and...the names just keep rolling.

Okay, so maybe I'm not that great a person yet to be considered famous and historical. But the rest of them would definitely be somebody in the future, trust me.

Sometimes I wonder if birthdays were just another convenient excuse for us to celebrate and buy something for one another. If you ask me, my birthday wasn't any different from the other days of the year. The moon came up as usual, the sun was still yellow, 24-hours still weren't enough for me....same ol' same ol'. But beyond that conventional consumerist thinking, I appreciate being that little bit more special for a day. I appreciate every gesture and present, every wall post and personal wish.

Alas, it is always harder to show genuine appreciation than to buy an expensive present for someone. So in case you're wondering, then yes, I appreciate it very much, thank you :)

What more could I ask for? It's Cyclops! Glowing eyes would've been uber-cool, but I guess I don't need a hole in my roof just yet.

An empty Baskin-Robbins cup! Well, it wasn't empty when I got it of course, but that 'problem' was easily rectified in 2 minutes ;)

And the picture at the top of this post? By their powers combined, THIS is what they materialize into, tada~. I didn't use the mug yet though, so I'll try again sometime. Thanks for all the presents and meals and wishes people! (^.^)v

For Simon

Don't know if they've released it in NZ yet, Mr. Sim, but here's a shot of the game that I just happily squandered two whole hours on xD

1:07

Amidst all the brouhaha of the blogs (the three blogs that I read) suddenly firing up again after an unexpected burst-forth-from-the-ground moment from Sim's Xanga page, I found myself in the middle of the blogging scene again. Funny how I literally 'think the world' of just these three people :)

Which is why it's 1 a.m. now, and I'm not asleep yet but instead in this blogspot post editor.

A lot of things that didn't make it to the posting page such as the travel-cations I had a month back probably never would I guess. Langkawi and Perhentian was great though, I certainly found the vacations to be a wonderful experience.

But I'm hoping that I would have more time to sit down and write some meatier stuff in the future. Not that I was any good a writer to begin with, but I think I can still come up with the occasional good post or two. Or at least I hope so :)

Bloom, ye dead blogs, bloom!