Interestin tech/engg gags & real life gaffes (or not)
The pics around the world, in relation to technology and engineering feats or freaks…
– TIME
Just before it all fell apart…
– IAHGames
Reminds me of some sci-fi horror-thriller where humans are so hooked on computers (was it HG Wells?) I can hear Mr Roboto playing in the background…KILLROY!!!
– Likecool
Say, I thought I came up with the phrase, “There’s a Kitty in everybody” first?
– Collegehumour
If only life could be that simple!
– msn
Seriously, MSN has been around for 15 years (they claim) and they can’t tell the difference between a 3210 and a 3310?
And finally, from the game that I’m currently hooked on, you have Nessie in the HOUSS!
– Gtpla
But this is certainly not a gag (well, none of the pictures here are really gags; they just make one think):
– TIME
Oh, you can actually turn it around!
And sometimes what is shown is politically correct–can you see what’s ‘wrong’ with this picture? (No monster will pop out…)
Well, better be safe than sorry, like these guys:
I thought it was a well-designed piece of clothing. Oh well.
Just watched Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me the second time in my fast-food-fuelled life (but I’m eating responsibly now, with less stress and sugar!) and I remember seeing him in the star-spangled banner trunks, but hey, the whole show’s rather insulting to the Americans if they believe what they’ve been doing to their life has been right (in relation to food-choice, of course, and the majority).
– 170869
Any one offended? No worries, Wonder Woman can do wonders!
Big Money Phenomenon
Finally, a credible take on this thing called Neuro-linguistic Programming and it appeared in the ST, written by Andy Ho (Of course, I wrote about it briefly once here at https://akbywerk2.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/fearful-phenomenon/):
WITH the end-of-year school holidays upon us, parents may be packing their children off to learning camps involving ‘neuro-linguistic programming’ (NLP). But some worried parents are asking if this is ‘brainwashing’ as NLP trainers say they analyse learning styles and reprogramme brains to improve learning.
Though popular among personal development circles, NLP remains taboo for health-care clinicians. This is because it has never been thoroughly subjected to scientific scrutiny.
The meagre scientific research on NLP involves mainly lab studies conducted in the 1980s and early 1990s. These did not find support for NLP.
However, the use of NLP in real clinical contexts has never been scientifically studied. Academics are leery of the fact that anyone can become a certified NLP practitioner after a 14-day course and then be certified to train others after a 21-day trainer course.
Conversely, there seems to be little reason for NLP practitioners to subject themselves to scientific studies as they perceive academe to be hostile.
Despite its name, NLP has nothing to do with neuroscience, linguistics or computer programming. Practitioners explain that ‘neuro’ in NLP refers to the neurons in the brain that send, receive and process signals that become information; ‘linguistic’ refers to the signals moving across the networks of neurons in our brains that are interpreted into thoughts; and ‘programming’ is about manipulating the content of those signals into useful thoughts. One’s internal experience (neuro), language (linguistic) and behavioural patterns (programming) are purportedly interconnected in systematic ways.
In traditional psychotherapy, building long-term individual relationships between therapist and client to unearth the roots of a psychological problem is stressed. By contrast, in NLP, dozens of trainees are together subjected to days of intense instruction on how to unearth their personal obstacles towards a fulfilling life.
Much is made about observing behaviour and learning how to read ‘body language’. Unlike psychotherapists, NLP practitioners do not look for the roots of a psychological problem. Instead, they focus on how to solve it by homing in on how one communicates. What they emphasise is one’s verbal language, body language and eye movements.
The basic premise in NLP is that how people express themselves outwardly reveals how they perceive and represent their problems internally. That internal representation may involve any of the five senses, which is supposedly mirrored in one’s choice of words, tone of voice, body posture, eye movements and so on.
For example, someone in a visual mode may say, ‘I see a way to…’, while a person who has auditory images could say, ‘That sounds right to me’. If I tweak my nose while talking to you, I think your idea stinks. And so on.
But the small body of scientific research available shows no correlation between word choice or eye movement and reported thoughts.
In NLP, your words are analysed, your facial expressions scrutinised and your body language monitored. In this way, your internal state is elucidated and any negative mental associations therein identified. Next, your thoughts are remodelled to overcome these associations. The way to do this depends on learning about and imitating the patterns of thinking successful people supposedly have. Thus recognising successful patterns of thinking is key to modelling human excellence in NLP.
Practitioners have supposedly studied the thinking, language patterns, internal imagery and behaviour patterns of individuals who are masters of a particular capability.
They have extracted models of how these individuals – say, Walt Disney – work, which lesser mortals may then adopt.
Writing with co-author Carmen Bostic St Clair, in the book Whispering In the Wind, NLP co-founder John Grinder says people can be trained to model these patterns and assimilate the exemplar’s capability.
NLP promotes the idea that ‘reality’ is something one defines and constructs individually. Such constructions are maps of the world to guide action even if they are not truly the same as the real world.
Trainers agree that NLP seeks to manipulate behaviour by installing new beliefs or ‘reprogramming’ the brain. They often exhort trainees to test NLP for themselves.
But such ‘testing’ is subject to peer pressure and the fear of a backlash (imagined or real) if a trainee expresses scepticism. Remember, trainee participants are closeted away from the real world in a small group where there is likely to be intense peer pressure to conform. Moreover, one is probably loath to express disbelief in something for which one has paid a tidy sum.
But glowing testimonials are no substitutes for real data from rigorous scientific studies conducted under controlled conditions to ensure people are not deceiving themselves.
If you have the money to put your child through some motivational programme, NLP may do little harm. But your child may not get straight As next year as a result. Take these claims with more than a pinch of salt.
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A lot of things are unproven in life but people still would believe in them, and the power of belief is strong (eg: placebo effect) and it may ultimately work. The trick/trigger is confidence.
Coincidentally where I’m working at now there is currently consideration about engaging a team of trainers to ‘impart’ some skills to some of the teachers/lecturers here, and strangely I ended up on this team by no design of mine. And coincidentally this team of trainers were the ones who were engaged by my previous employer to train us. There’s also no surprise if I am to tell you that we (at my previous employment) didn’t have many good things to say about takeaways of the training as we have already been either well-trained by Moe’s or seasoned by the brutality of time and tide at AMK. To be fair, they probably are useful, but we were the wrong crowd to be trained. I think I know who were those smarty pants who believed we needed those skills, who assumed we didn’t have those skills (I think there were indeed a few really clueless ones who needed the help, but nobody consulted us on the supposed needs where it was apparently not obvious that our needs were time time time.) That’s a lot of money wasted.
So anyway, after the initial meeting with the boss of the team (I think he was slightly harrowed when he was reminded that I was from that college), the impression I got was that it’s going to be the same old thing over again (I mean, who would want to invest so much time and effort recreating things when you can reuse, reduce and recycle? Only us folks at that college do! Well, most of us, and I’m proud of it.) But thankfully now I have a bigger say here in charting the direction of this workshop for my fellow colleagues, and so I proposed a few things just so that history doesn’t repeat itself (since we cannot do away with that training). I mean, I think some people will benefit, so I think the smartest thing to do is to check with would-be participants what they like to get out of it and we’ll try to ‘force’ the trainers into complying. wahaha… (I think I was really curt with my reply when my colleague, weeks ago when she heard that I had attended the workshop before, asked what I thought of it. There’s just so much animosity in me with regard to those not-so-useful workshops. The scars are deep. I didn’t know I was that traumatised!)
But it was doubly cathartic (when I scared the hell out of my colleague and the boss of the agency). But I shouldn’t be that mean to these ‘enrichment programmes’ since I may just want to dabble in that in future–that’s where the money is.
If today was a fairy-tale…
From http://www.teenink.com/opinion/discrimination/article/181533/Sexism-in-Fantasyland/
Sexism in Fantasyland
These sappy, wistful endings seem to be the uniform finish of fairy tales. Back in the days of Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, fairy tales were the wish fulfillment of medieval-day peasant girls.
Think of the fairy tales you know – the popular gooey ones with princes and kisses. Now think of the boring, vapid girls who star in them. Their grand role is to sit pretty and mope around until a handsome hero comes to their salvation. It’s a popular case of the classic someday-my-prince-will-come syndrome.
In Hans Christian Andersen’s famous “Cinderella,” Cindy’s simple jobs consist of cooking, cleaning, crying until a fairy godmother shows up, wearing a pretty dress, being home on time, and ultimately being rescued from slavery to her step-family by none other than … Prince Charming.
Now ponder Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” who lives “under the sea, under the sea.” Clad in just a skimpy seashell bra that would shame a Victoria’s Secret model, Ariel starts out as a spunky, happy-go-lucky redhead who rebels against her stern father’s rules. But as soon as her sky blue eyes glimpse her prince, she becomes meek and shy. And since trading her beautiful voice for a pair of nice legs was her pact with the sea witch, Ariel must capture his heart with just her looks and bashful smiles. Not exactly a good message to send to children, Hans. The story ends just as the star-struck mermaid wants. The evil sea witch is defeated, Ariel’s voice is restored, and the prince is hers. Of course, in the process she gives up her family, underwater friends, her home, her royal title, and everything she knows and loves – all for a man. But hey, whatever makes you happy, Princess.
Think of the Grimm Brothers’ “Snow White.” Snow White herself is described as a translucent beauty with raven hair and blood-red lips. She also happens to be meek, sweet, and a great cook and housewife. The fairy tale depicts women as beauty-crazed fanatics in desperate need of male protection. When Snowy’s evil queen stepmother declares that she wants her stepdaughter’s heart cut out of her chest so she can eat it, Snow White runs away to the forest. At first, it seems this darling femme might actually have an adventure for herself, but alas, no. As soon as she enters the forest, the silly nit joins up with seven dwarves and washes, cooks and cleans for them in return for protection. Apparently, male protection is what Snowy needs, even if they are only two-and-a-half feet tall.
And you can add “vulnerable” and “idiotic” to the list of negative traits fairy tales attribute to women. After all, only an idiot would open the door to a gnarly, creepy old woman in a black cape and actually buy apples from her. Especially if she gives you a hint they’re enchanted. And when she falls into a death-like coma, who wakes Snowy up? You got it … another predictable, face-sucking prince.
And now a different fairy-tale star: Rapunzel. Trapped in a tower by an evil witch who kidnapped her at birth, Rapunzel somehow manages to keep her 100-foot-long tresses shiny and clean with no running water or Herbal Essence shampoo. Her fabulous escapade is to “let down her hair” out of a window. It’s the prince’s job to climb up the side of the tower using her locks. Anyone who’s ever tried to climb a rope, even with knots in it, knows how hard that must have been. Vain ‘Punzel refuses to chop off her lid to get herself out of the tower, so instead she slowly knits a ladder, which adds weeks to her escape date. Then she’s stupid enough to tip off her witchy captor. Even after thorns blind her darling hero, he still commandeers the final escape and provides transportation to his castle.
Think of Mulan. This Chinese girl probably is the best fairy-tale subject out there. She fights, saves the man she loves, kills the Huns, and gets to shoot cannons. Of course, her story is set back in sexist Imperial China, where, as a woman, she is expected to serve her husband. The only way Mulan gets ahead in life and makes friends is by disguising herself as a man. When the truth finally comes out, Mulan’s friends shun her. This fairy tale clearly supports the idea that being born female is a bad thing.
Who remembers the story of Rumpelstiltskin? Oddly enough, the girl we must call our heroine doesn’t even get a name. The creepy, baby-stealing stalker is the villain who snags the title. The lovely miller’s daughter responds to the news that she must spin straw into gold or die, by crying and sniveling. Then when she realizes she must give up her baby, she cries and snivels some more. Throughout the tale, she does almost nothing for herself besides producing enough tears to water a cotton field. The only reason Mr. Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t triumph in the end is dumb luck, happenstance, and a faithful male messenger who informs his queen what he heard the little man sing at the campfire.
All of the classic fairy-tale females end up being saved by masculine heroes. The only women in the tales with any cunning, wit, cleverness, boldness, or strength are hideous hags, murderous witches, and beauty-obsessed stepmothers. The young, lovely heroines are meek, good, obedient, submissive, and naturally weaker and inferior to their heroes. We need more heroines with independent traits.
We need a Rapunzel with the brains to have cut off her hair and climbed down it years ago. We need a Gretel who saves her beloved brother. We need a Beauty to rescue her Beast. We need a Bella to fight alongside her Edward, and a Maid Marian to spring her beloved Robin Hood out of prison. We need a Cinderella who stands up to her stepmother. At least can we have a Snow White who won’t open the door to strange, wizened women?
We need a gal with guts, derring-do, moxie, gumption, and agency. We need female characters who can fight for themselves, and maybe pick up true love along the way. We, along with the rest of America, need a good dose of fresh, unadulterated girl-power.
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I am just reminded of the one and only romance novel I’ve ever read in my life and that’s The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks. I finished it in half a day, and it was surprisingly engaging. I had difficulty putting the book down, I remember. The gender roles are not as stereotypical as those of the fairy-tales, but nonetheless you can’t help but wonder if Noah and Allie could switch roles. It probably would not work, considering the target audience, and in many societies there are still the prescribed roles for men and women–what constitutes gentlemanly behaviour, what a woman should not do…Like what MissMaegan said about her article, “Fairytales can be just as sexist to men. After all, in Fantasyland, a man isn’t worth his salt unless he can kill a dragon.”
<Insert Plato’s printouts here, about family & society & gender & education & everything else…>
Never Let Me Go
This post is in dedication to Kazuo Ishiguro’s hauntingly sentimental novel which I have not yet read but will one day soon (and so any adjectives that preceded it here should not be trusted without doubt!) But Corliss gave a reflective look at the story from print to screen, from fiction to reality. Read it here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2015774,00.html
“Any story about what it is to be a clone implicitly asks what it is to be human,” echoes Corliss. “Whether we live to be 30 or 90, we all have a death sentence hanging over us. Live and love well, so that long before our time is up, we will truly have reached completion. That way, we can live forever.”
The story reminds me immediately of Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail, but this is well-contextualised in contemporary time where science pushes boundaries while romantic love remains evergreen like a musk over the hard edges science cuts.
What remains debatable is–once again–the way the East and the West view heroism. As Ishiguro commented, “It’s antithethical to the American creed of how you should face setbacks.” Submit to your fate.
The option has always been there: to submit or to retaliate, to do something about it.
This story somehow reminds me of the issue of adoption, the life after: when the adopted cant adapt
I never go down without a fight, so I will find the story disturbing, as with a ‘prescribed’ life. I personally don’t quite like Sparta. Plato and Confucius can say all they like about self and the State, but I am probably selfish.
This Sep 16, 2010 comment by Prof Koh Tai Ann should make sense: “These days, people talk about tolerance as a virtue. But tolerance is a kind of sloth because it’s passive: you’re not doing bad, but neither are you doing good. So we have to ask: ‘What good can we all do?'” (Read the full interview here; check out her take on the 3Cs of Singapore–witty.)
AP Ian Macduff was also stressing the importance of thinking and the role of philosophy in an earlier interview (May 26, 2010).
Because we are always short of time, because we are forever fighting to stay ahead, because we want to survive in an environment that doesn’t endow us with the treasures of nature, sacrifices have to be made. The arts are the next best alternative forgone in the cold world of economics. Now, there seems to be a kind of restlessness about the soulless (or mindless) people here.
I think when science and the arts flow as one, great things can be achieved. Here are more examples of what, together, we can achieve:
Shun blood diamonds go for cultured
And here is a sketch done by my favourite doctor, Tan Cheng Bock, when I last consulted him for my throat problem about a year or so ago. A pity he retired from politics and I’m not sure if there are many more hearty and compassionate political leaders like him nowadays.
(Non Sequitur, Oct 4, 10)
Never let me go insane, never let me go away alone. A little love and critical thinking can go a long way.
The Collector of Things
People collect things as a form of recollection later on, especially if they are things that are unlikely to be easily attained in future, and I think I’ve just been attracted by the bibs used in runs or walks. Have just proudly stuck the two bibs I’ve ever received in my life on wall of my bookshelf. One more to come at the end of the year…
A few days ago, I also received a specially designed class tee from an ex-student, and that was a real surprise too. Such commemorative t-shirts are to be worn with pride, and once I get a wardrobe for my office, I will be hanging it there with the other special t-shirts from students. But this one is special; it’s got a poem on the back. The gusto of the message reminds me of Yue Fei’s mother. *haha*
I haven’t really quite finished decorating my workspace, but I will be moving to the section by the window soon, once my room-mate leaves in December. So I think I will ‘renovate’ the place after that. Currently I have a special shelf with some of the nice paraphernalia from my good friends and ex-students displayed there.
I do wonder why people quit this place (maybe I haven’t been here long enough to know why, and the ‘outside world’ is not as open as the small enclave of teachers in most MOE schools); perhaps I have been through a more gruesome pace and I can take the heat better than most. I think this is the quality of most people who have survived at least two years there in Ang Mo Kio. But I just realised–having been idealistic all these years–that money is number one on the survival kit list in Singapore, and if somewhere-out-there offers me a bigger pay, I will go for it. Hell, I’ve almost maxed out all my savings on a new home in Yishun and my wedding and all. This money misery business could be averted, but I simply couldn’t wait till the end of the month for my supposedly big bonus, and so I forfeited it when I left; I couldn’t wait till the end of next year for my supposedly big monetary reward called the “Connect Plan”, and so I forfeited that too when I left. But it wasn’t a mistake; it’s just opportunity cost–money or sanity.
I’m beginning to love the principle of Cristiano Ronaldo, as Giggs slowly belongs to the past. Rooney has just caused Man U to suffer from a sort of identity crisis where Loyalty, Giggs, Scholes and Neville will all retire at the same time. Old Trafford is no longer the Theatre of Dreams it used to be, but a Theatre of Dreams of the Rich and Mercenary. They might as well merge with Manchester City in future–Great City of Manchester Re-united. Wow. But I am more worried about the rich Indian woman who now owns my favourite club, Blackburn Rovers. She even talked about renaming the club ground to raise funds–I hope Ewood Park will not become Bollywood Park, but if her millions could bring in Messi and Kaka, I don’t mind.
Some collect football clubs as if they were horses because they are a mark of prestige and affluence. Some collect sweaty handshakes from footballers as if sweat was blood because it shows they are one of them at the ground, touching base: some are likely to be genuine while others have been accused of some hidden agenda. I remember about 20 years ago, one PAP member, while doing her rounds at a hawker centre, had to wash her hands at the wrong moment and that cost her the Gombak constituency. I’m not sure if Merkel’s washed her hands after visiting the German national team dressing room–maybe she’s some fetish over sweaty bodies–but she’s received some dressing down from some purists:
(crying foul over merkel’s dressing room visit)
I would guess that she had to do something like that after saying something like this…germany wakes up
On the topic of naked bodies and integration (we’re not talking about sex, although some people do believe the world will become a better place if we have more inter-racial marriages), Ground Zero is (was) really hot. (See one hot, sexy article here.) In the name of political correctness, I wonder if some rednecks would actually want to come to the primary schools in Singapore and beat up the kids playing Zero Point during recess or after school–or is Zero Point history?
As people and things slowly become history, the green ones hope to make the problem of the environment a problem of the past too. And technology will expand as far as the human will and imagination can stretch to do good for the world…
The human race can one day collect the badges of honour and the purple heart in the fights against evils and recollect the past in the present which would not have a future if there were no dreams of a better tomorrow.
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