Update

Havent blogged for a week... been rather busy - did 2 formals, and a ball within the span of 7 days!

Here's the highlight of the past two weeks:

Thursday: Snow! And Hughes Hall formal with Shawn, Daniel and Huiyi.

Friday: Fondue event jointly organised by ciccu and cccf. Mmmm... melted asda dark chocolate...

Saturday: Went cny shopping, and went to Aloysius's for Tang yuan!

Sunday: Overslept, til 1300! Cumsa Ball! CG and Natsci photos! :)

Monday: The second of my 6 Crazy Mondays. Four hours of lectures from 9am to 1pm, an hour lunch break, four hours of practicals from 2pm to 6pm, and a ciccu talk in the evening til 9pm!

Tuesday: Simon's sending away to Bedford Formal at Christs.

Oh yes, and was also dissappointed that the quantum computing company turned out to be a fraud, or a very lousy business proposal, at best. Read shawn's blog, heh.


Wednessday: An almost equally hectic as monday day. four hours of lectures, a supervision, a two hour example class, then went to the maths faculty and took a break at the History of Maths lectures, then printed out song sheets for cg, and completed my maths computational project!!!in the words of Daniel the cat, HOORAH!

Today: Planning for cg cny celebrations. as well as trying to keep up with loads and loads of work!

The end of the world is near...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6349177.stm

A working Quantum Computer? Cool! My physics degree might get me somewhere afterall!

Now this is seriously life changing... Just read about it on Shawn's blog... I might be graduating into a market with a giant demand for physicists afterall, if this turns out real.

I'm really excited after reading it... I stand with the same awe at this news as when I held the bursary offer letter from the commonwealth trust fund, a pivoting moment in my decision to come to Cambridge.

What a privilege!

Snow! Yay!

Gauge Theory

Was introduced to Gauge Theory today at Electromagnetism Lecture.

Cool! =)

Crazy day

Survived the first of 6 crazy mondays today. 8 hours of pure work, topped off with cf in the night. But it felt fulfilling...

9am-1pm
Started with the maths lecture given for physicists at 9, then went for IB Maths electromagnetism lecture, which is refreshing, to get to see electromagnetism done with a more mathematical perspective, then another hour of nst math lecture, and the last hour of physics.

One hour break for lunch thereafter, back at college, and it's off to the cavendish for 4 hours of practical.

and cf from 6 to 10 pm in the evening, which was a good way to end the day :P

Tommorrow will be quite a contrast - a one hour lecture, and i'm done for the day!

Need to make full use of tomorrow, to do some revision, further applications for MIT exchange, and MAS internship, and perhaps try for a google internship; do some tidying up, vacuuming the room, and top up my card... Focus in the evening.

Falling a little sick... hope I wont succumb to it, and I need to keep up with work!

MIT Exchange?

Pics from home =)

MIT Exchange?

Thinking of whether to apply for the program.

The succinct exposure to the american system would be very valuable, but it'll come at the price of foregoing the comfortable life in Cambridge which I have taken so long to establish.

More importantly, I'd need to find out exactly what courses are available, which courses I would want to, and should pursue, in order to minimise the toll this year away would have on my fourth year.

List of physics courses available at MIT.

There's still about two weeks to making the declaration of interest, and submitting the application forms.

iCrap

a 15 minute essay for the chance to fly to space

It is remarkable how we often take reading, writing and arithmetic for granted.

The ability to encode the most profound of our thought, and to communicate them with such ease, has enabled our civilisation to advance to what it is today - with our ubiquitous and almost magical modern electronic devices, the systems that bring the produce and resources from all over the globe to our doorstep, along with the ability to hand down the very knowledge that sustains this phenomena. These have been made possible with the humble ability to read, write and sustain logical processes.

"Geeks may inherit the earth, but they have no desire to rule it"

Those kids we outcast in school as 'Geeks' are the only ones that can help us out at the time of a technology related emergency. Steve Kroft with a host of 'Geeks' to see what they are all about.

Just found a new source of news online. The 60 Minutes Podcast.

I miss those TV programs

And here's what bush has to say about Iraq, saddam, americans killed, etc. He seems to be decending into a state of denial.

Accomplishments

- Booked Formal Hall Tickets
- Did Laundry
- Bought files, and sorted out notes
- Oiled Bike

All accomplished by 3pm :)

Hong Kong Affairs

Just sat through a talk given by the "Penultimate Governer of Hong Kong", Lord Wilson Tillyourn today, at a debate + talk organised by the Hong Kong society.

He's became the Master of Peterhouse, after handing over the governership to Chris Patten. It's so remarkably incredible how such distinguished people retire in Cambridge, and resume quite humble duties like thoes requiring them to mingle with the students.

Cambridge never fails to inspire such awe ever so often.

Interesting Coincidence

The square root of the gravitational acceleration on the surface of the earth roughly equals to pi:

3.14^2 ~ 9.8

The End Of The World

Gale, Internet breakdown, Snow, Cancelled lecture

Seems like my life's been hit by that series of calamities plus other peripheral problems, like receiving my lab report on Monday, which was badddd....

Described my mood to a bio-medicalish student during cf as a "general feeling of discomfort", brought about that day from the cold, tiredness, aching stomach, extended period of inaccess to the internet, and lousy lab report; and I was subsequently diagnosed to be experiencing a condition known as "malaise".

And it's only a week into term!

It didn't really help today, with lectures being cancelled, and the feeling like I havent accomplished anything the entire day.

Was just listing down the stuff that I need to do... It filled an entire half an A4 sheet...

Work to Accomplish by the end of term
Computational Project
Lab Report

Topics to concern myself with
Maths:
Sturm-Liouville + Green's Function
Optimisation, Geodesics

Physics:
Thermodynamics
Langrange Mechanics
Electromagnetism

Upcoming Events
Dinner with peter on Sat (get ingredients - spghetti)
Weishen's Birthday on Sat (make jelly)
Natsci Formal on Sun
Cell Cooking on Monday

Material to Read
Thermodynamics
Lab Notes, before the Experiment
Electromagnetism

Towards the Future
Easter trip to france? Looks like it aint going to happen :(
Running for Temesek Society?
Summer Activity - find out about MAS internship, most likely going for isec.

Immidiate things to do
Draw money to top up college card, pay cell fund
buy ingredients...

~BLEUGH~

Filler

A joke lifted off a friend's blog...

A worldwide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”

The survey was a huge failure.

The reason:
In Africa they didn’t know what ‘food’ meant
In India they didn’t know what ‘honest’ meant
In Europe they didn’t know what ’shortage’ meant
In China they didn’t know what ‘opinion’ meant
In the Middle East they didn’t know what ’solution’ meant
In South America they didn’t know what ‘please’ meant
And in the USA they didn’t know what ‘the rest of the world’ meant!

This is literally OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Mumble mumble... contradiction!

Ah, a random title for a random post.... A random update, feeling very random today, you may say.

First off, cant sleep! And it's 630 am in the morning! Got up at 1.30am, from an 11 pm bed time to boil barley. Watch some news on ABC, as well as the third episode of the Commanding Heights. And finished the whole pot of barley!

While tossing in bed, was thinking of possible summer activities... These include:
1) Relief Teaching,
2) Missions trip to China,
3) Internship at GIC.

I'm lately acquiring an interest in the stuff of investment banking - financial instruments and stuff, having interacted with people in the field over a few meals, and especially after watching the Commanding Heights tonight. I haven't regarded as something worth pursuing before, cos I didn't like the idea of making a profit directly off other people's losses, in this zero sum game, but this time, I'm finding it important to understand the mechanisms that govern the very potent movement of capital in the world.

Also thinking that it may not be a bad idea to consider furthering my studies in the US. This thought comes after meeting a Part III mathmo who did his undergrad there, over dinner tonight at Sam's. It feels like things are done on a bigger scale in the US - they have larger endowment for one, and it is the land of opportunity for many.

Also resolved to participate in more Investment Club and Temasek Society activities next term; to acquire know-how in this field.

Just a log of some of the thoughts humouring this cerebral through my futile attempts at pursuing a state of suspended conciousness.

Happy New Year!!!

Two-oh-oh-seven feels like it's going to be a very good year!

A little late for new year's greeting's, but have been exchanging updates with friends online, and they all seem very happy and optimistic. Guess it might be because we've all been comfortably weaned off the depressing army mentality, finally graduating from the Civillian Conversion Course after a year and a half. And those that havent been to army are beginning a fresh page of life, like in starting JC and stuff. Or maybe it's just 'cause i'm feeling more settled in since mummy and daddy came over, bringing with them all the goodies, and equipment, as well as endorsing what I was doing...

The year's begun quite well... Accomplished quite a bit, just a week into it... Some revision, archims stuff, and its great to have proper dinner every night!

Have also been duly entertained - dotaing and guitaring :P

All I hope for now is for the items on my to-do list and my to-revise list get steadily checked off before the start of the term...

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Mugging Routine

Have been trying to establish a "Mugging Routine" with Aloysius upon returning from London. It's been rather successful so far, managed to get at least some work done, and made really good use of the new inventory items in my kitchen.

The mugging routine is designed to help maximise the amount of time in the day spent mugging, and yet fulfill such mortal demands as food, sleep and entertainment. So far, we've managed to clock in around 4 hours of good work, and one good dinner a day. Hope this is sustainable.

Some of the stuff on my mind now:
Archims - as always, the mailing list and the membership cards.

Mailing list:
Need to figure out a database program, before i'm in business. In the process of exploring openbase... see how it goes.

Membership cards:
Need a printer, a cutter, and one or two guys to help cut and laminate, otherwise it's quite done.

Maths - I've always been very stuck at many places when it comes to academic work in university, but this time think i can identify the places I'm stuck, hopefully the first step to getting it sorted out. I NEED HELP!!!

Partial Differential Equations:
You always use the method of seperation of variables, but how do you determine the solutions after that from the boundary conditions???

Ordinary Differential Equations
Fourier Transform
and do more papers!


Also thinking of a trip in easter. Will have to tie down the details soon.

Bleugh, just scribbling down the things that are on my mind at the moment.

LONDON!!!

Anyway, back from London! (finally) Concluding my series of holidays.

Met many interesting people - all Simon's friends - Lip Ho, a malaysian maths major at NUS, Lim Kwan Yew, an AMAZING cook! And Victor, funny guy.

An incredibly fun filled 7 days, from 22 to 29th, and now I'm back!

Ah, visited too many places, and did too many things to blog about everything, guess I'll just let the pictures tell the story...

Greenwich, and Dinner at Simon's place,
staring Lim Kwan Yew, the Master Chef!

Introduction to the vices of London at Lim Kwan Yew's

Simon's

Me and Baden Powel!

Geese at Hyde Park, all grown up!

Snapshots of London

Dozing off at the British Museum

=)

A world without Saddam?

Wow, can't imagine a world without Saddam.

He's been like the world's nemesis since I could remember, and now they are really going to murder him!

Kinda sympathize with him... wonder how it feels to be hated by everyone, then again, he probably wasnt one who would sympathize much with others, guess what goes around, comes around.

Now, has anyone paused to consider who's going to fill his shoes after he's gone???

In Search of the Truth - The Initial Proposition

There is one's consiousness, and there is the truth.

One's consiousness conceives an action into the truth,

and the action is returned to one's consiousness as an emotion.

...

Power is the set of actions one is able to conceive into the truth.

...

Every instance of emotion corresponding to an action is an experience.

A theory is an attempt at modeling the truth,

and can only be based on one's limited collection of experience.

The outcome of one's action on his emotion
is independent of theory and dependent on the truth.

...

Jammin'

Hey Sam!

Check out the song's I've picked up over the term!!!

My Redeemer Lives


Now That You're Near



Yes they are my own recordings, and yes, my strumming's very boring, but we've gotta jam when i get back!!!

Also thinking of making a library of my favourite songs, just for the record :p

I came, I saw, I ticked it off the map

Summer 05 -
UK: London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Gloasgow, Belfast, Dublin

Christmas 05 -
Germany: Frankfurt

Easter 06 -
Sweden: Stockholm & Kiruna

Summer 06 -
Italy: Rome & Venice

Christmas 06 -
Spain: Madrid, Toledo, Malaga, Gibraltar & Sevilla

Big big update.

Back from a really busy sequence of events -

End of term, christmas party, aloysius's birthday, church and punting on sunday, houseparty, london, spain trip, and now i'm back!

A Roman bridge in Toledo,
still standing after 2 millenniums

Spain!
A country incredibly rich in history and architecture, many many magnificent and historically significant buildings and monuments. Got to learn a little more about spainish history, from the roman days dating 2000 years back, to the arab rule from 711 to 1492, catholic rule, other significant events like war with napoleon, the spanish civil war 1936-1939, dictatorship, followed by the current democratic government.

Visited many interesting cities,

Gibraltar:
- a British colony
- where the mediterranean meets the atlantic,
- which marks the edge of the Roman known world, gate of hercules,
- the gates through which the arabs conquered spain
- huge rock, huge cave, intelligent apes.

Seville:
- center for commerce between the americas and europe,
- city from which Magellan begun his quest to find an alternative route to the spice islands through the americas. He found the pacific ocean, and the Phillipines.

150m high cross marking the civil war dead
on valley of the fallen

Picasso's birthplace, and the valley of the fallen are two other remarkable places.

Not only did i learn spanish history, i also understand a little better the jewish perception of things, from a jew who was on the trip, as well as my own family history :p Kinda puts my current pursuits and struggles in perspective.


Houseparty! '06
Was a nice time... guess there's not very much to say (or maybe there's just too much, that i dont know how to start), except that it just adds to the experiences in Cambridge that I'll cherish when i leave...

Also have been pondering on the spain trip what I should do in summer, more specifically, whether I should go on a mission trip to china with the cf people. Guess I've kinda decided in its favour; on the grounds that it's an event that will certainly happen, and that promises to be really enriching, and the opportunity to work with the people I'm beginning to grow quite close to.


Christmas Party, Aloysius Birthday, Punting
Were the events immidiately following the end of term. Christmas party went really really well, unfortunately i was too busy with work to play a bigger part in it. Aloysius celebrated his 21st birthday that day too! his first overseas. As birthday present, we did his comsci maths example sheet questions til 3 am, reminising our maths society days at the same time. Slept over, went to church the day after, and punted with Simon and a few other malaysians.


K, think i've decently recorded the past week in the annals of my days. Coming up - a few days in cambridge, with parents, london for christmas, and back to cambridge to catch up with many many work.

Dark Chocolate Count

Two packets of 200g Asda Dark Chocolate, and
a packet of 100 g Sainsbury Basics Dark Chocolate dissappeared from my fridge today...

Did I put on 500g of dark chocolate in one day?

Big Question

Just watching Beautiful Mind...

Have been thinking of some questions for a while...

What is reality? How can we trust what we believe is true? What is truth?
How can we determine truth?

One more week to go!

Battleplan-

Tomorrow, Monday:
Get Capo, lectures, lunch, lab report, hand in computational project, meet with Dr Franklin, cccf.

Tuesday:
Lectures, work on Experimental Methods Example sheets, lab report, sort out the physics notes, Focus.

Wednessday:
Supervision, Lectures, lunch, lab report, sort out physics notes, make dinner for yiannis.

Thursday:
Meeting with Dr John Durrel, Physics Supervision, Experimental Methods Supervision, lab report, New Hall formal!

Friday:
Lab report due! Need to find out how to hand in the report, and arrange for something to do that night! Perhaps an informal cg meeting :P

Saturday:
"A Christmas Party" in the night, kinda free in the day... think I'd settle all the holiday arrangements then =)

Sunday:
Church, and prob engage in an extended chill out session with people... Prepare for holidays - do laundry and stuff.

Monday:
Houseparty!!!

An Informal Supervision Session.

Term's quickly coming to a close again... This has been another intense term, but unlike last year, I've been able to handle this term much better.

An Informal Supervision
I'm really glad to be under the mentor of my supervisor this year. Hope to learn lots from him... He's a really nice guy, but he leads a somewhat sad life, cos he's so nice that he's bullied by people, and allows the system to get the better of him...

Well, true to his very kind nature, he offered to meet me yesterday at the train station for an 'Informal Supervision' session where I could clearify the numerous things we didn't have time to go through in detail during supervisions, while he waited for his train to london.

I took up the offer, living relatively close to the train station. But as the time approached, i realised that I havent really prepared the stuff I wanted to ask, and there was actually simply too much to cover in such an informal session. Hence, I thought that the time might be better spent learning about his life. Afterall, it's not everyday that you get to meet a genuine theoretical physicist.

We met at a cafe in the station, and chatted. Two astonishing things occured in our conversation The first was shocking, and the second literally caused my jaw to drop.

The shocking bit occured when he answered that he was going to london to "meet his boyfriend". I was shocked for a while, and felt a little saddened, wondering what might cause a person turn to another of the same gender...

The second, jaw dropping incident happened as he explained some thermodynamics he'd been working on to me. He'd been pondering the laws of thermodynamics in a non-inertial frame, pointing out that the laws were rather empherical, and had not very compelling reasons for them to be so. And beginning from the plausibility that the zeroth law may not hold in a non-inertial frame, i.e. a gravational field, he should that the second law would also be wrong. My jaw droped as it's implications hit me - that we could extract energy directly from the heat in our surroundings, and that the future of the universe might not be so bleak afterall.

I still do not know how credible the theory is, but coming from someone whom i'm learning the subject from, I believe there should be at least some reason to give it some thought, and i might have some opportunity to do so the next term when we'll be doing thermodynamics :p

*Inhale* Breathe, *Exhale* Breathe, *Deep Breath* Breathe

K, just completed the computational project. *Phew*

Now time to concentrate on the lab report, due in a week,

try to sort out the work for the term,

As well as all the other arrangements for the holidays!


Nice and easy does it...

The most Fundemental Question -

What Compels?

What compels the value of a Cambridge degree?
What compels the value of money?
What compels people to submit to authority?
What compels attention to the laws of nature?
What compels one to consider the existance of God?

This is so Ryan

Just received my gift exchange clue for the houseparty...

Quite a neat composition, i must say...

I shorten a string
but I am not a seamstress
I neither cut nor spin.

I can change a key
without a locksmith's clangour
to unseat the music.

A prince of gangsters,
with a discerning ear
my victims sing higher, sweeter,
the tighter I grip their throat.

What am I? ---------------

Knew that Ryan was looking for a karpoh (how is it spelt anyway), and comfronted him with this evidence... But he blatently denied that he was the one i was getting the gift for, just like he blatently denied that he was my shephard. Heh, try harder, Ryan! I aint so gullible this time :P

Alright, need the list of things to do for the holidays:
1) get the houseparty gift, as well as write the cheque,
2) book national express tickets to london,
3) book accomodation in cambridge, and
4) sort out the stuff i need to revise for the holidays.

Now Playing - My Redeemer Lives

Heh, Ryan taught me to play that song on monday, and i'm now addicted to it...

Hm... just felt a cloud of stress creeping upon me these few days - think it must be the sheer amount of things to do before the end of term... Ok, I'll pace myself, and *breathe* breathe, *breathe* breathe, *breathe* breathe...

Final lap!

If term were a 2.4 km run round a 400 m track, i'd now be on my final lap.

A few assignments to accomplish before that - the Lab report due next friday, on the 1st of December; and the maths computational project due on the 19th of December...

Also need to consolidate the stuff i've been learning this term... Maths feels ok generally, but many many things i need to learn in detail...

Physics has been a little difficult to catch up with. Still getting used to the stuff they did in the first year, and tuning myself to handling the physics problems - how things are related precisely... Guess I'd have the holidays to catch up on, and slowly digest the concepts...

Supervisions have been great though, it's great to be the protégé of a theoretical physicist. But i always have the feeling that i'm not making the most of it - not preparing enough before the supervision, and frequently not handing work in :S

Lab's also been fun, and a great exposure to many thing's i've been quite curious about, like building circuits, and sending + retrieving information electronically, as well as over an optical fibre, and interfacing data with a computer program. The exposure's been really good. But still learning how to properly take lab notes and write reports...

Quantum mechanics lectures are leisurely to attend, guess it's because of the absence of the stress to fully comprehend the topic. It's also really nice to hang out among the mathmos. Maybe I shall do my part 3 in maths or something, get to be with them again... Well, that's a decision for another time.

For now, need to make arrangements for the holidays -
1) pay up for houseparty,
2) book the tickets to london on 7 Dec,
3) arrange to go to london for christmas, prob meeting some friends,
4) sorting out the work that needs revision.

Geometric Algebra

A paper recommended by my supervisor today...

Imaginary Numbers are not Real - the Geometric Algebra of Spacetime

Abstract:

This paper contains a tutorial introduction to the ideas of geometric algebra, concentrating on its physical applications. We show how the definition of a `geometric product' of vectors in 2- and 3-dimensional space provides precise geometrical interpretations of the imaginary numbers often used in conventional methods. Reflections and rotations are analysed in terms of bilinear spinor transformations, and are then related to the theory of analytic functions and their natural extension in more than two dimensions (monogenics). Physics is greatly facilitated by the use of Hestenes' spacetime algebra, which automatically incorporates the geometric structure of spacetime. This is demonstrated by examples from electromagnetism. In the course of this purely classical exposition many surprising results are obtained - results which are usually thought to belong to the preserve of quantum theory. We conclude that geometric algebra is the most powerful and general language available for the development of mathematical physics.

Feelin' Shreky

I've been in a shreky mood lately, as apparent from my msn & facebook pics & quotes. Think I've kinda figured out why...

I feel like I'm living out a monotonous fairytale life, just like the characters in shrek.

The life of a fairytale character must seem normal to them, even though it appears to be magical to the people watching...

That's the situation I feel I'm in now...

A Formal, An Idea, and an Incredible Find!

A Formal
Just came back from a Magdalene formal hosted by Shawn...

Reasonable food - 9 on the Magdalene scale (according to shawn) which is equivallent to about 5 on the Hughes Hall scale. Not complaining for it's price;
Reasonably priced - 5.60 pounds;
Interesting Setting - 100% candle lit dinner, a hall with a secret door; and
Good Company - Shawn, and a person I've never met before, Zen.

An Idea
An idea took root, on my 20 minute stroll from Hughes Hall to Magdalene in a suit - I thought of creating a little applet which allowed people to tick off the college they've been to, and those whose formals they've attended, and display it in a nice format that can be placed in a blog or webpage. It was to be called the "Been There, Done That" list.

Shared that idea with Shawn, upon arrival at his place, and he suggested that May Balls be included on that list.

After several moments of thought, I was inspired with the words "I Came, I Saw, I Conquered".

May this idea blossom someday.

An Incredible Find
Over dinner conversation, learnt that a friend Zen got to know over the internet, was the daughter of a really cool maths professor who taught us last year! I doubt many mathmos know this - that Dr Korner has a daughter doing maths at Oxford! And I know a friend of hers! Heh, interesting connections exist in the academic circles here :P