Just to let people know...

Its yet another year from my last post. Nothing happens in the beautiful life in green. Well, Its 3 more months and im getting the hell out of there anyway.

My new hobby since June last year.... Please go visit:

http://blackwhitefoodhunters.blogspot.com

Enjoy the pictures! Dont drip your saliva too much.

Einsamer Wanderer.

So, its been nearly 6 months since I last blog, its definitely a sign the amount of "free" time we are given. Being forced to do things that you do not like to do is certainly a good way to dull the mind.

Soon it will be 9 months into my endeavours. I have to say, its getting hectic and rather fustrating. My headaches are back with renewed vengence(ran out of medication) and I have no idea when I will see my specialist again. My knee is dead, my foot has gone numb too. All these in less than a year. What can I say, im just not suited for this at all. Maybe its time I really do something about this and not to silently endure it.

Recently many other unpleasant events have also happened to me. I wont be discussing it here of course but some might know I was "missing" for a while. It isn't really a bad thing, I got the time to sit and think about solitude alot and being alone most of the time.

I must say I do enjoy being alone most of the time, the silence, the environment, the sounds of nature. If only one day, all the world's people dissapeared except me, I wish to see the world without people, all the silence, all the peace and quiet. Maybe its my headaches and the aversion to loud noises, but I find that im really me when im alone where nobody knows where I am, and all my thoughts are clear.

For some reason I like this picture alot..



Reminds me of the time I stood ontop of Montserrat, in Barcelona looking down at the town below in the valley with the white wisps of low clouds(it was drizzling). I wish I can do something like that again...

Why I have dissapeared.

There isn't any posts recently because of the very apparent fact that I have enlisted into the army. Time really does fly and 3 months of Basic Military Training on Tekong came and gone with so much learnt. Now im already in a unit and another phase of my army life. Its really taxing on me and my life is never the same again.

I discovered I could run 2.4 without stopping although with crappy timing. I discovered I can do 1 pull up, which is crap anyway. Then comes my headaches, which isn't stopping anytime soon. Pop a few panadol tablets and it goes away for a few measly hours and comes back to haunt me again. At least im still alright and sustained no permanent injuries, which is a good thing. But im uncertain of the road ahead.

Looking back, what happened to the Shaun I knew? The one that knows everything and is somewhat livelier? The one that could hold a sophisticated conversation?

Maybe he doesn't know that what he thought was "him" is really himself or just a bunch of made believe. Maybe he doesn't know he typed this post. Maybe maybe?

Gankutsuou French

1.5 book review and 1 more book for the shelf.

This week, I borrowed 3 books from the library. 3 books because its my habit, 2 is too little, 4 is too much, 3 is just right. Now lets not get started on my eccentricities and on to the books. The 3 borrowed books were:

1) Call of the Mall by Parco Underhill
2) The Man Who Changed Everything by Basil Mahon
3) Hand book to life in Ancient Rome by Lesly and Roy Adkins.

I read only the first one so I shall do a review on that. Call of the Mall is a book about american malls and how humans interact inside the mall and also to the exterior of the mall (facade and parking lots etc.). This book is centered around American suburban malls that is difficult for a large number Singaporeans to envision due to the fact that there is no such similar thing that can exist in our island city. I like the first few chapters which is about the distance to such suburban malls and the facade and parking lots. I also liked the information on the how the stores are grouped together in an effort to attract more people. I often spend time at the malls and I can relate to several points regarding mall architecture. However, somewhere near the middle of the book, the style of writing changes from descriptive writing to dialogues. Its not 2 or 3 pages of dialogues but entire chapters of it. I did not understand pages 84 and 123, I did try my best to read the entire chapter back and forth and pages before and after but to no avil. I guess its a cultural thing that separates us from the Americans. There were also some redundant chapters like one on Aqua Massage that is only 1.5 pages long (considering a standard Times New Roman Font 12 with 0.65 spacing width). Overall, it was an OK book, does not use profound langauge but may be hard for people of other cultures to visualise what the author is trying to put across.

I said 1.5 book review because I have not finish reading the next book but I feel that a review can be done. Handbook of life in Ancient Rome is a fantastic reference book for anyone interested in all things roman. Its a reference book so its not meant to be read like a normal book (hence the 0.5 book review). Im suprised it really covers a wide variety of subjects in sufficient depth. The information presented is also accurate, I know because I read roman history since I was 10 and totally fell in love with it.

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I went to kino with my mother today to buy a book called This is your Brain on Music - The Science of Human Obession. I haven't read half of it yet but its very interesting, will do a review when I eventually finish it. Of course I will have to finish reading the last of my 3 library books, The Man who Changed Everything before the dateline.

I only admire people worthy of my admiration.

Some of the people I hold in high esteemed are mostly dead, obscure or either misunderstood in their times. Like youths of today, I too have my own idols. However, they do not sing, most of them can't dance (I suppose the waltz was a social norm) and they are not endowed with incredibly good looks either. The two following persons have always been admired by me...

1) Nikola Tesla
2) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Whenever we flick the light switch, nobody thinks about Nikola Tesla. The name doesn't even ring a bell to most people, sure everyone has heard of Edison and his light bulb but not Tesla. Im not sure why this great man has gone into obscurity after all his great achievements. Tesla was a key player in the War of Currents where both he and Edison were fighting to electrify the world. Edison advocated the use of DC (direct current) while Tesla insisted on the AC (alternating current). Obviously, we knew who won because all our electricty is transmitted using AC and yet, Nikola Tesla is not a household name. The 20th centuary was due to Tesla... Tesla died alone and without recognition. I particularly like this quote: "Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs, The future, for which I have really worked, is mine."

Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey is another great man. He modernised turkey into a secular democratic state from the religious absolute monarchy of the Ottoman empire. As an Atheist, secularism is very important to me... and amidst the rising tension between different religious group everywhere in the world, we see the importance secular government. The US over the years have increasingly been more religious, perhaps due to the charismatic movement. Even here in the island, I see a rise in religiousity amongst the population. Being an Atheist and out to the public now although is more acceptable, is still looked down on. People simply can't see why other people can have no god to worship. Some of us can't just understand why people get killed over each other's imaginary comfort giving deity either. I guess people need to feel "protected" and "guided" by someone greater than themselves. Or simply because people need to be comforted in their times of sadness and despair, prefer to shut themselves from reality and prefer to believe its their deity's will that their lives are the way they are or when someone dies. Thinking deeper, if its the deity's will that life is like it is, then praying does not help at all since it wont change anything.

Well thats lots of things to think about and I like to keep my post short. The religious part was triggered by someone giving me the Pascal's Wager (better to believe than not to believe). Mathematically and using statistics, it can be made the other way round too (better no to believe than to believe) so its a double edged sword.

What are you doing?

10E-6 different messages were directed at me from various parties centering around the following "What are you doing right now?" thought. My reply is always reading, and so here are my reviews.

I have been reading up on Nanotechnology the last week, and finished two of them. 1) Nanotechnology: A gentle introduction to the next big idea and 2) Nanoconvergence.

The first book was a great introduction, touched on many nano structures, some equipment used for manufacturing and checking these structures as well as applications. There were also mentions about businesses and information for venture capitalists. Discovered something interesting known as DNA computing and neuron interfaces. I liked the addition of the glossary at the end as it gives all the meanings (in summary) of certain abbreviations and acronyms found in the book. Alas, it was a tad short for my liking, it would be better if it went more in depth especially into mechanisms. However, keeping in mind this was an introductury book, it served its purpose well.

The second book did not fare better though. I felt that the content was all over the place and would be something I pulled out from the internet and pieced it together and then submited for my lab report(something which I am not exactly innocent of either). At certain points, I thought we were going to get in depth into one subject and the next moment im lost as im directed into another topic. Lots of references and again lots of websites(credibility?). I checked this guy's credentials and realised that he is a Sociology phD. I suppose thats where the problem lie, especially on the biotechnology chapter, there was more $ signs than there were technical information, where there was technical information, it was only shallow. I didn't get any idea of Nanoconvergence, but my eyelids did converge after reading the book.

Going to return them soon to the library, which I rarely frequent (Oxymoron?) except for such books which are too expensive to purchase. I did see a nanotechnology book at Kino for like 100$+ and its not very thick but hardback.