第一个 This past week for two nights in a row I dreamt about my 1st gf. The details are fuzzy, but it is awful to wake up and to start the day in a lousy mood. A quick check on this blog told me why. I am amazed by the ability of my subconscious mind to remember dates anniversaries. Two years later, I still stand by the title of this entry. * Olandario, who has since deleted his blog, wrote this in Talk about school pride... A labmate wore this T-shirt with the following printed in front to the office. The engineers in my group: "What the heck is mjT???" The 9 common types of PIs J.W.Yewdell, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 413-416 (May 2008) * Writing a research statement/proposal is taking far longer (and more difficult) than I had anticipated. How would you know/guesstimate how much you can accomplish in the next 3 - 5 years? It's like writing fiction. * NTU is on an aggressive hiring spree for my discipline. The department concerned wants to expand by Diet Coke and Mentos: Soda-Candy Explosions Tonya Coffey and her students reported "an experimental study of the Diet Coke and Mentos reaction (made famous in a 2006 Mythbusters episode), and consider(ed) many aspects of the reaction, including the ingredients in the candy and soda, the roughness of the candy, the temperature of the soda, and the duration of the reaction." (Am. J. Phys., 2008, 76(6), 551 - 557) Basically, 1. The Monty Hall Problem This was shown in the movie 21. I got the answer wrong, and had a vigorous debate with a friend who was watching the show with me. It turned out she had taken a Math class on this in her undergrad. Bugger. She kept repeating - "conditional probability!". Suppose you're on a game show and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. The car and the F-king word play (on a friday) From the MSN conversation with A, who prefers to call herself HG: HG: sigh, and I kinda like this other guy... but since I've graduated, probably won't see him much anymore. Lately been wondering if I should ask him out tk says: fuck him lah HG says: er tk says: yupz HG says: not so fast bah hahaha tk says: haha HG says: I don't even know if he has a gf or not... he never talks about his Hiring Illegals; School branding again A friend was moving house today. He and his wife had boxes of stuffs and many were heavy, although the honor (of being the heaviest) went to the living room's sofa. We needed additional manpower, so we drove out to this strip mall area where there were many amigos (or 老墨) available for hire. We spoke to two guys and did one of these 'chicken-and-duck-talk' bargaining before agreeing on a price I am attracted to articulate Sg bitches women I went to the movies last evening with two ladies from Singapore (and three other friends whose presence I we largely ignored). While heading home after the show: tk: Why are we walking so slowly? girl A: We are strolling. girl B: We are ambulating. Sometime later, and still on the way home we ended up talking about this head at one of A*star's institutes: girl B: She's a micro-manager who 'Allo Wolfpack! And some random walks... Greetings from the Tar Heel State! One of the most pressing issues facing mankind now. Also aptly the background theme of many presentations. * Nagging questions on my mind: Is there any difference between chemical physics and physical chemistry? What do you call someone dabbling simultaneously in research in physics, chemistry and biology? Physical chemical biologist? Chemical Building trust and relationships in business in E Asia I am surprised this was only reported on WSJ recently. I thought it is an open secret. ...Karaoke in East Asia is serious, and its practitioners are far more earnest in their art than a group of giggling Americans belting out "Sloop John B" might seem. For the unseasoned American doing business in East Asia, there is occasionally a darker and somewhat confusing side to a night of karaoke. The Science Comedian - Brian Malow This guy rocks! Three of his classic jokes: a. Some helium gas drifts into a bar. The bartender says, 'We don't serve noble gases here.' Pause. The helium doesn't react. b. Says the bartender to a superconductor that walks in: 'We don't serve superconductors here.' The superconductor then leaves the bar, putting up no resistance. c. Women have passed through my life like exotic particles My Intelligences The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligencescreated with QuizFarm.com You scored as Logical/MathematicalYou like to work with numbers and ask questions. You learn best by classifying information, engaging in abstract thinking and looking for common basic principles. People like you include mathematicians, biologists, medical technicians, geologists, engineers, physicists, researchers On (potential) bondbreaker from China An email to the graduate student body was sent out last week, giving us the names of the incoming class of 2008 and the previous institutions they attended (similar to this). There is this person from one of the Singapore universities. She is obviously PRC (I don't think Singaporean Chinese have names spelled like hers, but I could be wrong), and a google-search of her name + university showed Happy Vesak Day It has not been a good year for many Buddhists, with the events in Tibet and Burma. And in the world of materials science, the Lotus Effect has been a hot area of research since Barthlott's publication in 1997. The two images below show the connection between surface roughness and self-cleaning ability. Readers might also be interested to know about the petal effect. Surfaces are On how to win a scientific argument against your co-worker Two professors, one an organic chemist (A) and the other a physical chemist (B), were debating the merits (or workability) of a certain synthesis pathway. Students from both groups were also present in the meeting room. Temperatures started rising when the former accused B of not being an expert in A's area and was attempting to just bullshit his way through. B shot back: "Have you published in On technical competency and literacy I had a good laugh when a fellow grad student in the department sent out the following (in pdf) asking for help in translating Russian. He wanted to know the chemicals listed. There aren't any native Russian speakers in my department, although I know a few in physics. As it turns out, universities (and by extension, colleges) are one of the best places to source for competent technical Alpha Chi Sigma This boingboing post brings back memories. My dad gave me my first chemistry set as a Christmas present when I was in Primary 5. There were 6 chemicals in it, stored in opaque plastic bottles that had child-proof anti-tampering caps, along with two test tubes, a test-tube holder, a pair of tongs for handling the test-tubes and an alcohol lamp. (The alcohol was not provided, and I had no idea how Of different subconscious attitudes towards representations of our sexual organs A friend and I were discussing about the similar attitudes (across cultures) towards humankind representation of our sexual organs. In particular, I find this paragraph illuminating: ...We project our archetypal terrors onto the widow. It is black; it avoids the light; it is a voracious carnivore. Its red markings suggest blood. Its name, its sleek, rounded form invite a strangely sexual The Central Science...to me God made solids, but surfaces were the work of the devil! -Wolfgang Pauli This quote reflects the immense difficulties faced by experimentalists (ahem...) when characterizing surfaces (Rohl and Gale 2006). And the 2007 Chemistry Nobel went to a surface chemist. So, think positively. It is a wonderful place to be in---getting paid to play with a diverse range of materials and really, there is no Internet vigilantism over the Tibetan protests A mainland Chinese student at Duke found herself the target of her compatriots' anger after appearing to be on the side of a pro-Tibet independence protest. If you think the Wee Shumin incident was bad, this is worse. Her name, phone number, Chinese identity number and even her parents' home address and occupations were posted on the web. Wang Qianyuan comes out at 5:16, and she's clearly Stopping a physics experiment via... a lawsuit. Possibly the most silly one I have seen so far. Even CERN is compelled to have a webpage dedicated to addressing this *safety* concern. Another geeky moment Over the weekend, we were in a car driving towards our St. Patrick's Day destination. A fellow passenger (AP) was describing her recipe for baking chocolate muffins. I asked her about the type of chocolate that she used. AP: No, it's not chocolate powder. It's like those you see coated on donuts in Singapore. tk: Oh, you meant like nano-rods. AP: OMG, you are so geeky! It's called chocolate rice Happy π day! Time to go draw circles and eat pies... Last Public Lecture by Randy Pausch - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" For those of us still middling along in life and wanting to find our niche. I hope Randy's speech will be an inspiration for you as well. You can watch his speech on google video. Audi Car Ad - "Break the cycle" This TV ad grabbed my attention last week. I had a really good laugh, and the first half of the commercial reminded me a lot of my family's values. Maybe I should get one. After all, she is already driving an A4. Brain Drain; It's personal Long time readers of this blog would know that this is an issue that is very close to my heart. I have lost count of the number of arguments I had with my folks over it. (These two entries are the more memorable ones.) In recent months, I have started filtering out (what my cousin describes as) such *noise* from home. "We are all grownups and have the rights to make our own decisions. You know What's Your Story? I found this while web surfing randomly earlier. How many of you know your family history? My great-great-grandparents (at least 8 of the 16 I inherited my genes from) immigrated to Singapore from Malaysia and Indonesia. This makes me a 5th generation Singaporean. On my dad's side, his ancestors were wealthy landlords who once owned multiple pig farms in Java, and whose grandfather was a Images from the World of Research In science, images are meant to convey information. Aesthetics are secondary. But sometimes an image is so striking that it transcends its role as data and transforms into art. My personal favorite from MRS and BASF: Nano-Armageddon Poster for *safe* wiring practices If you can't figure out what is wrong with this picture, then you are in trouble. Consulting Career Expo 2008 I was at a career fair today with some of the biggest names in Management Consulting (McKinsey was absent as they start their annual recruitment cycle in Sept). 1. One company had this to say about my university (on powerpoint): - Prestigious School - Strong historical yield - Track record of top performance by graduates already in the firm - Academic direction in line with firm's strategy And