More Opposition MPs: How Will This Change Voting Patterns?

A writeup on a particular angle of thought on the latest political change in Singapore.

Advanced Cat Yodelling

Okay, for some reason, this good-humoured video of annoying cats amused me terrifically:



Love the yodelling "orchestra" at the end.

A Scientifically Correct Game

One of the recent games I've played is Mass Effect, the infamous one that got banned in Singapore for a rather short while due to its sex scene between a human and an alien (which is one of the stupidest ban I've ever seen). But that aside, the game is quite awesome, with a solid storyline and creative gameplay. Different types of characters are quite amazingly balanced, but above all, it's one of those scientifically correct sci-fi game.

It is a game set in the future and it's very much set in an interstellar world. Of course, that being said, some leeway in terms of "creative technology" must be granted. But I think it can be considered one of those hard science fiction, where, other than a couple of technological and scientific assumptions, the science is quite justified.

The main scientific assumption of ME is, well, the phenomenon of mass effect, which is the ability to accelerate objects up to superluminal speeds. They managed to link it to dark energy, and it is apparent that the writers have at least some ideas of what they're talking about. And it's quite a surprise to see terms like L2 (Lagrange points) used... kind of like an easter egg for people who know what it means.

But then again, they made the usual error of hearing sound in space. Ah well, drama rules over science, I suppose.

After Graduation

Phew! It's been a rather tiring day for me. I spent the entire morning and afternoon attending the second Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium that is held at NUS. It is a very inspirational event for me, watching a gathering of animal lovers in Singapore debating passionately on several issues. Even if I do not agree with some of their stands, their dedication for animal welfare and animal rights were arrestingly exceptional. And they are not the stereotyped highbrow activists who are unyielding to compromise: the presence of and civil discussions with representatives from AVA shows that their methods of activism lean towards cooperation and compromise.

It was also a major leap for the lazy me as I signed up to be a volunteer for a number of the groups including ACRES and Sea Shepherd. It was something I've been wanting to do for years, but just can't really get myself to commit to it. Typically, I'm held back with the concern that I cannot give that much time to the effort, and there is some strain of truth in this. But with my studies over, I think time is plentiful now.

And true enough, I have quite a lot of it in the next few months. My plan for the future, changed now due to the poor economic situation, is to apply for graduate studies (in fact, I'm in the process of doing so) overseas for the Feb/Mar intake. In the meantime, it's gonna be volunteer work and part-time job for me, hopefully more of the former.

Of course, there's always the worry that I cannot perform up to task for the expectation of the volunteer. But we'll see... we'll see.

And also, I don't want to restrict myself to volunteer work for animal welfare only. I'm also quite into environmentalism, and, to a small extent, social activism. So if you are in an organisation that needs volunteers, I'm up for grabs!

The Aftermath of the AWARE War

Yet another post on the AWARE issue.