There are some nice advertisements I'd like to comment on.

The Sony one with all the robots very nice. Especially after I watched Animatrix, can't help feeling a sense of wonder and amazement about what makes us human. The music played a key role.

The Finnair one with the panda is very touching. I can't describe what makes it touching. But man... the last part when it appeared at the shelf totally owns.

The Fedex one I wouldn't say its good, but it sure is interesting. Take a look at what you get when you take away the pictures and you're just left with the conversation.

"Okay here comes the big boys!"
"They may be big, but have they got the technique?"
"Oh yes, oh yes, what a great maneuver!"

K nvm. Just thought it was interesting.

Random stuff.

Sometimes nouns are used as verbs. The verb generally means doing something with the noun. As such, such nouns have a thing in common: the object has one common use.

E.g, nuke, Google, Wikipedia, knife, axe, Photoshop, spoon, Ziploc, Jif, Deep Heat.

The interesting thing is that sometimes proper nouns are used, and it has quite a powerful effect on how people act. For example, when told to Google something, one will only use google and not yahoo or ask.com., even though they perform similar functions. Perhaps, "Yahooing yourself" or "Asking yourself" doesn't sound quite the same as "Googling yourself".

It seems like an aspect of natural evolution of a language.

Perhaps, the advertisement "Hang on, I'm bueno-ing!" is trying to achieve that. But if it succeeds it's going to be really absurd. I mean, Kinder Bueno is food. After Bueno-ing, what next? I'm graping? Or I'm fishin' and chippin' away? To keep myself awake, I shall go coffeeing?

Man, what an abuse of the continuous tense. But just think about it. Perhaps you can even put an -ing at the end of shops, to advertisers' delight. Like, instead of hiking with a pair of Nike shoes you go Niking. Or you go Burger-King.

Or onto console games: Let's go Wiiing!

Perhaps a 2% increase in GST would not lead to just a 2% increase in prices.

I would take a very simple analogy.

The cost price of a certain good is $1, which was sold from the wholesaler to the retailer at $1.50. The retailer then sold the good to the consumer at $2. Thus, the wholesaler and retailer each makes a profit of $0.50. (Pardon my loose use of the word profit)

Suppose a sales tax of 10% is imposed. The cost price of the good would still be $1. However, to make a profit of $0.50, the wholesaler would have to sell the good at $1.65 to the retailer. To make a profit of $0.50, the retailer would have to sell the good at $2.37. The price increase for the consumer has risen by 18.5%, which is significantly higher than the 10% sales tax imposed.

A 2% rise of GST is in fact a 107*100/105% or 1.9% rise of prices from a first hand exhange. It is not hard to see, with some mathematics, that a rise of GST by 2% would not simply lead to a 2% increase in prices, as most consumers would go through at least one middleman when they buy a good.

Thus, for a family that spends $500 a month, $120 of annual aid would not be enough to cover the increase in additional expenses incurred due to the rise in GST. The additional amount incurred would depend on how much profit middlemen at each level would want to earn, and the number of middlemen exchanges. It is however, definitely more than 2% of the expenditure.

ja.

Hohoho SPhO prac over! Nice and fun prac :P

For SPhO rite, you need to get a certain score in the theory round, which everyone would take, before you can enter the practical round. And, only 35 people are doing the practical.

Out of the 35 people, 20 from RJ, 11 from HCI, 2 from ACSI, 1 from ACJC, 1 from TJC. Bahaha the clear and distinct idea here is: OWNAGE.

However, only 10 from RJ are Singaporeans. Then again, how many Singaporeans would you expect from HCI? :P

w00t!

"This train is terminating at Jurong East. Passengers travelling towards City hall and Ang Mo Kio, please alight at the next stop and transfer to another train."

Three Little Wolves and a Big Bad Pig.

I thought of one little thing. If you could have one of the five rings of Captain planet, which one would you want?

I want Fire. To make it stronger, I want Wind. Just in case it gets out of control, I want Water. In case water flood too much, I want Earth. Then in case I hurt someone I don't want to hurt, I want Heart. Oh wait... one...

Nah I still want Fire if I can only have one. Energy! w00t.

Chem O selection test results are out, and I'm in!

To give you an idea of what the chem O selection test is like, allow me to quote some figures.

Menglin and Mengfei got 6th and 7th. Chin Heng got 1st. Chin Heng got 32.5 marks, and I got 11th placing, with 18.5 marks.

And the paper is out of 100 marks.

Anyone would like to see the paper?

Mirror neurons and Warm Fuzzies

Actually I don't really know much about mirror neurons, but under my impression, they allow a person to feel a bit of what another person is feeling by watching him do something.

So perhaps, when people help others, while they are feeling what they themselves are feeling, they also "feel for" the person who gets helped. The response of the person who has been helped would affect what the helper would "feel for" the helped. For example, when a person who has been helped scowls at the helper, the helper would "empathise" for his frustration and thus wouldn't feel good about it. Whereas, when a person who has been helped smiles at the helper, the helper feels good too because he feels as though he has been helped.

Sometimes when you see someone smile, you feel good too, perhaps because you empathise when the people who appear to be in a good mood.

My sister once asked me this question: There are 2 rich people. One of them donates large sums to charities, but it's for reputation and networking, and he never visits them. The other does not donate, but he goes to a charity organisation to do voluntary work regularly out of compassion. Who do you think is a better person?

Now of course if you ask me I can't give an answer because good and bad, right and wrong make no sense to me anymore. However, we might want to take note that it is highly likely that the guy who donated made a greater positive difference to the needy. In addition, the philantrophist would not get any happiness from empathy, because he don't see the people whom he have helped and thus cannot feel for them. The volunteer did not contribute as much as the philantrophist, but at the same time, he enjoyed the happiness from empathy.

It is also to be noted that the philantrophist gains from the prospect of gaining reputation and networking. However, do we not instinctively feel that the volunteer is a better person? It is not really beyond the means of the volunteer to donate. So now we care about intentions more than anything?

In my opinion, judging a person's actions inevitably involves empathy. One would try to put himself in the person's shoes and try to sense what his "conscience" tells him. For example, Heinz' dilemma is a dilemma because if we put ourselves into his shoes, we'll find ourselves in a dilemma too. We think that murder is wrong because if we put ourselves in the person's shoes, we wouldn't be able to bring ourselves to kill. Relativistic moral judgements thus arise, as we are unable to accurately put ourselves in the other person's shoes.

The above are merely speculations.

3 blogs that I regularly visit are now laden with signs of problems of the heart.

I think I'm really fortunate. But maybe next time it can be worse. Especially if money or third party comes into the picture. Ohohoho the pain... I simply can't imagine.

EXP gain without loss of HP. Lucky little me.