Chronicles of my life

Of funny names

2011-07-25T01:44:00.004+08:00

Recently, I reconnected a lot of my friends from high school. I had a hard time recognizing most of them because most of them got themselves a Christian name. Not that I am against doing that, but most of the names are laughable. For example, a girl named herself "Feline" or "Fish" (presumably following a Chinese pop singer".

God bless Malaysia

2011-07-21T01:31:00.003+08:00

Heading back to Malaysia in August. How time flies. In a year, I rotated in four different labs, learned more things than my brain can possibly hold, made some new friends (not many, but still) and found out Malaysia has downgraded to a place where I grew up and where my parents live, nothing more than that. I am not planning to belabor the obvious but recent events in Malaysia makes me ashamed of being a Malaysian. How can one possibly tie the Jews into the whole supposedly peaceful rally? How can a person lie in the eyes when there were photographic proofs that the police fired tear gas canisters into a hospital (that by the way is blatant violation of Geneva Conventions)? How can a person of a certain political sect within UMNO cast inciteful words on the other race without being prosecuted under ISA? Well, I guess One Malaysia is nothing more than a political gimmick, similar to Wawasan 2020 or Islam Hadari.

JPA

2011-05-31T10:09:00.002+08:00

Not getting it is definitely not the end of the world.

Patriotism much?

2010-09-14T08:30:00.003+08:00

Hello there blogosphere,

Have not been writing here for quite a while (four months to be precise). Stumbled upon this article in Facebook and thought that it is nice to share it over here. I do not necessarily endorse or reject his points but I am sure those people (I am sure that you know who am I talking about) will make it a very big deal in the national television or media for days to come. Ironically, they held their tongues when someone over the Strait of Melaka burnt our flag.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — A near half century has passed, but Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew still strongly believes that Malaysians would be enjoying his city-state’s brand of nationalism and multi-racialism today, if both nations had not been split in 1965.
In an interview with the New York Times, the 86-year-old Minister Mentor reflectively expressed that the first regret he had of his colourful career was having been “turfed out” of Malaysia.

The published interview did not feature his remarks on Malaysia. They were contained in a transcript of the interview published on the official website of Singapore’s prime minister’s office.

In his conversation with the New York Times, Lee claimed that if Malaysia’s founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman had decided to keep both nations together 45 years ago, much of what Singapore had achieved today in terms of equality among the races would be likewise be achieved in Malaysia.

“I think if the Tunku had kept us together, what we did in Singapore, had Malaysia accepted a multiracial base for their society, much of what we’ve achieved in Singapore would be achieved in Malaysia,” he said, according to the transcript of the interview, conducted on September 1.

Lee, Singapore’s longest serving prime minister, claimed that if Singapore had not seceded from Malaysia, the country would have improved inter-racial relations and an improved holistic situation today.

“Now we have a very polarised Malaysia — Malays, Chinese and Indians in separate schools, living separate lives and not really getting on with one another. You read them. That’s bad for us as close neighbours,” he said.

He pressed on with his belief that all ethnic communities should free themselves from the shackles of racial segregation in order to promote fairness and equality among the races.

Lee says Malaysia was now very polarised, with Malays, Chinese and Indians in separate schools, living separate lives and not really getting on with each other.
This, he said, was his one greatest satisfaction in helming Singapore.
“We made quite sure whatever your race, language or religion, you are an equal citizen and we’ll drum that into the people and I think our Chinese understand and today we have an integrated society.

“We will not as a majority squeeze the minority because once we’re by ourselves, the Chinese become the majority,” he said.

Lee took a dig at the Malaysian scenario, pointing out that the Singaporean Malays were English-educated and were no longer like the Malaysian Malays.

“You can see there are some still wearing headscarves but (are) very modern looking,” he said.

Lee noted that using racial politics was the “easy way”, claiming that if he had used this method in Singapore to gain the majority vote, its society would eventually be destroyed.

“Because if you play it that way, if you have dissension, if you chose the easy way to Muslim votes and switch to racial politics, this society is finished.

“The easiest way to get majority vote is — vote for me, we’re Chinese, they’re Indians, they’re Malays.

“Our society will be ripped apart. If you do not have a cohesive society, you cannot make progress,” he said.

He explained that while he was satisfied with race relations in Singapore, it still remained his regret that this could not have been done on a larger scale together with Malaysia.

As such, Lee expressed fear that the next generation of Singaporeans would take his achievements for granted and allow them to eventually phase out.

“The regret is there’s such a narrow base to build this enormous edifice so I’ve got to tell the next generation, please do not take for granted what’s been built.

“If you forget that this is a small island which we are built upon, and reach a 100-storey high tower block and may go up to 150 (storeys) if you are wise.

“But if you believe that it’s permanent, it will come tumbling down and you will never get a second chance,” he predicted.

Lee also cautioned the youth of today that racial harmony was not something that could be placed on “auto-pilot”, reminding them that the social network connecting the different racial communities was a fragile web that could easily be destroyed.

“I believe they (the youth) have come to believe that this (racial harmony) is a natural state of affairs, and they can take liberties with it. I know this is never so.

“We (Singapore government) have crafted a set of very intricate rules — no housing blocks shall have more than a percentage of so many Chinese, Indians, Malays. All are thoroughly mixed.

“Your neighbours are Indians, Malays, you go to the same shopping malls, the same schools, same playing fields, you go up and down the same lifts — we cannot allow segregation,” he said.

Lee, known to be a strong-willed and strict leader during his tenure, insisted that such rules could not afford to be loosened as it could easily become issues if they were challenged.

“We’ve got here, we’ve become cohesive, keep it that way. We’ve not used Chinese as a majority language because it will split the population.

“If you want to keep your Malay, or your Chinese, or your Tamil, Urdu or whatever, do that as a second language, not equal to your first language. It is up to you, how high a standard you want to achieve,” he said.

Lee acknowledged that he had been a tough leader in his time but insisted that the job had to be done for the greater good of the nation.

“Malaysia took the different line; Malaysians saw it as a Malay country, all others are lodgers, ‘orang tumpangan’, and they the Bumiputeras, sons of the soil, run the show.

“So the Sultans, the Chief Justice and judges, generals, police commissioner, the whole hierarchy is Malay,” he said.

Lee added that in Malaysia, since the Malay language was used as the teaching medium in schools, the Chinese and Indians had to find their own independent schools to teach their respective languages.

This, he claimed, did not help them find jobs.

“It’s a most unhappy situation,” he said.

Hi again. Go download Microsoft Pivot

2010-03-10T04:54:00.000+08:00

Beautiful songs

2009-12-16T10:31:00.002+08:00

See the dynamics. This is how one should play a song or never play at all.

And finally it snows

2009-11-30T14:07:00.003+08:00

I have totally waited it for a month. Most probably is my last snow in Canada. Sob

Anyway, I have to keep my post as succinct as possible because I have three finals back to back next week, three 3000 word essays (completed) to be submitted this week, one research report (10 pages) and two grad school applications to be submitted tomorrow. Life have been very busy here . I am kinda lazy to post anything here because when I do have time, I would rather spend it on watching Amazing Race or Survivor.

To my family

2009-11-28T06:19:00.000+08:00

So my friends said

2009-11-22T23:21:00.002+08:00

I am an ass. Seriously, I have no qualms about giving pretentious comments on something that is mediocre.

New external hard drive

2009-11-22T14:11:00.002+08:00

I made up my mind to buy one after all.

Chung Ling Butterworth Graduation Song.

2009-11-16T02:57:00.006+08:00

2007

2008

2009

I am happy that there are so many talented composers from CLB.

P/S. Sometimes, I just wonder why a certain group of people can be so contented with what they have achieved because I think the last one is way better than any of the songs in my year.

Thought provoking

2009-09-02T13:06:00.002+08:00

Sometime in 1980, when I was a final year student in London, I had a very short tele-conversation with my father. In those days, there were no call cards, Skype or the like and calls were expensive. He had a very simple message - 'Son, don’t come home'.
MCPX

Now almost 30 years on, I see where he was coming from.

He advised me to stay on in the UK or if I found the weather not to my liking, told me to go to Australia - even if it meant that I may eventually marry a ‘white girl’ as he put it. I was 23 and marriage was certainly not on my mind.

He was a pendatang. A pendatang, however, who secured a scholarship to study in Raffles College (the precursor to the University of Malaya) and served some 30-odd years in various senior teaching positions culminating with the last few years in the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

Amongst his students were past and present ministers and opposition figures. I didn’t heed his advice till last year and spent the last 28 years in Malaysia. However, it became increasingly untenable to work here without compromising my values, integrity and conscience.

Why did he advise me such? With hindsight, I saw his foresight. As an educationist, he saw we were heading to be another Ceylon (from where he was sent here when orphaned), Burma, Philippines and in today's scenario, Zimbabwe.

He saw what the outcome would be when we mix education with politics. He saw that religion would be a divisive factor in years to come (he even encouraged me to learn Jawi as a nine-year-old).

He believed that in a country like this, mixed marriages would help cement society. He saw in some of our leaders of yesterday that even in their youth, they had unbridled cunning and only needed an opening to exploit that trait.

He saw in some of his students a potential to be PM but said that would never be because they were ‘too smart for Umno's liking’. He saw that given our racial demographics, religion would be used as a means to ensure the survival of a particular group.

He believed that eventually, the Malays would have a class war amongst themselves. He said that even amongst the Malays, many of the English-educated would opt to live away from Malaysia.

He told me promotions won’t necessarily be given for competence. These are usually won in the ‘clubs’ (read: the political parties today) and over a few drinks. Being a bit of an introvert myself, he encouraged me to join clubs, associations and play sports and travel.

He said honesty doesn't necessarily pay in this world but it is still better to be honest and live with dignity.

Our home was (at different times) home to three delinquent Chinese boys - sent by the juvenile court. He volunteered to take them in. Add to that, a few other Indian boys as well.

Though not my mother tongue, I spoke to my parents in Malay till I was about 10. We took in a Chinese lady injured during the war and she lived with us for about 40 years till she died. My father referred to her as his mother-in-law. I thought she was my grandmother even though my mother was not Chinese!

By the late 70s and early 80s, he saw that this scenario would not likely repeat in the years to come. When he died in 1982, we were pleasantly surprised to see some of his students (by then in their 50s) came from the different states for his funeral.

One told me that it was my father that made sure he spoke flawless English and another told me how my father would bring the Sixth Formers home from the hostel and used our home for dinner to teach them social graces - including dancing (taught by my mother). Partners were arranged from the Convent school with the blessings of the headmistress!

Twenty-nine years on, I view his foresight through the same prism and now agonise as to whether I should tell my children the same. For now, I am allowing my eldest to pursue his tertiary education overseas.

Maybe when he finishes, he may not be as shortsighted as I was. I pray to God to grant him the wisdom and vision.

Last year, I resigned from my job, returned the company car and driver, said goodbye to my executive package and moved to Australia where I now live with no maid, no driver, no Audi 2.8, no golf, no teh tarik sessions, no bonus, etc.

But I am rediscovering humanity running a humble ice-cream shop. Sometimes we learn very late

I stumbled upon this article in a forum and I think it is pretty much the reality (at least most of my friends have no intentions on staying in Malaysia at all).

Opinionated or Rude

2009-09-01T17:02:00.003+08:00

I don't go the forum very frequent but when I do go I will try to give some advices to people. It never fails to amaze me how opinionated people can be. I understand people tend to think that the path they are taking right now is the best. And of course, I am okay with that. After all, it is alright to feel good about the decision that you made. What pisses me off is when he/she bashed others' opinions along the way and after that when I try to justify that what he/she said was not appropriate, he/she started throwing phrases like "you think you are very smart", etc.

I was not really impressed. I guess I should not have corrected him/her in the beginning.

By the way, college starts tomorrow and I am really excited about the courses that I am going to take.

CHEM 396 Independent Research Project
PHGY 518 Articical Cells/BMDE 502 Biomedical Signal and System
BMDE 518 Introduction to Micro and Nanobioengineering
CHEM 381 Inorganic Chemistry 2
CHEM 392 Integrated Lab D1
CHEM 445 Advanced Material

LOL

2009-08-03T22:10:00.002+08:00

I hate when people place a series of overtly hateful or potentially offensive comments on my blog and put a "LOL" at the end of every sentence hoping that I will treat them as jokes. The video below pretty much sums up what I have in mind.

Funny Video

2009-08-03T13:06:00.000+08:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Two sided blade

2009-07-09T13:59:00.007+08:00

Religion is a two sided blade. On one side it preaches tolerance and peaceful coexistence; but on the other side it segregates people into cliques.

I quoted the paragraph below verbatim from the comment section of a Youtube video.

The story of Eden, Adam, God, and Eve is actually an allegory. It talks about Atoms, Energy, and Neutrons, etc. Obviously you wouldn't understand because orthodoxy and literalism is ignorance. Learn the deeper meaning of the stories. Esoteric Christianity is the way to go. Do research instead of just pciking Bible verses.

I was like seriously. How can a sane person (or should I say a person who learns science) say that? It is the same as saying Yin and Yang in Taoism predicted the Standard model of elementary particle (electron and positron, muon and anti muon, tau and anti tau). I know very well that everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs. But sometimes, I started to think how it is possible for a person like the one above to say that a text that was written by a group of people (and have been rewritten several times since then) can have a more subtle meaning to it. Just a thought.

P/S: BM as a medium of instruction for S&T subjects again. How brilliant is that?

To whoever who forced me into doing this

2009-07-08T12:06:00.007+08:00

I hate taking pictures of myself in front of camera. It is so awkward. But, Lay Min here you go.

I hate people saying

2009-06-28T14:39:00.001+08:00

Seniors, do you mind sharing your experience? I mean seriously. How in the world my experience would help. In fact, you will know once you get there, then why bother asking those open ended questions.

I just bought a 16GB SD card

2009-06-21T09:00:00.001+08:00

More photos to come. Sorry for such a short post.

Updates

2009-06-19T00:19:00.008+08:00

For a while now, I have been trying to confine all the bad things that happened to me to only myself. I seldom talk to people around me not because I am very bad at expressing myself . And in fact, people who know me well enough should know that I am a very talkative person. But, for about two years ago when I first arrived at Canada, I changed from an uber talkative person to an introvert (not extrovert, sorry) guy. I know that I should not have to care about what people think about me after all do all the comments matter? But now, when I walk down the street, I always feel a sense of insecurity. The looks that people cast on you when they walk by, sudden laughers that burst behind when you walk past a crowd of teenagers or even the occasional frown that people make when I am doing something wrong affect my feeling like never before. I think that I am no longer the person you know me.

Finding a person who I can trust is very difficult. In fact, the fantastic five (you know who you are) who used to my best friends are having a minor altercation (not with me though) among themselves. I guess people change. Friendship is transient. But sometimes, it is that fleeting moment of happiness that makes me think it is worth trying at least to appreciate and nurture the friendship that I have.

Anyway, I am facing a bigger problem right now which may affect my whole life.

He ran test on my blood

2009-06-16T22:21:00.005+08:00

So, I cut myself yesterday and I thought it would be safe to just discard those blood tainted facial napkins into the garbage can. To my shock, one of my lab members approached and asked me today whether I cut myself because he ran a DNA test on my blood and confirmed that it was mine. Creepy. Just because I am working in a DNA synthesis lab, he did not have to put the machine into practical uses.

I know I am posting a lot of videos

2009-05-31T09:47:00.003+08:00

I use most of the words all the time (lorry, roundabout). No wonder my friends sometimes have hard time understanding what I was saying.

Sweet video

2009-05-27T12:25:00.000+08:00

Go watch it.

So I cooked laksa myself

2009-05-26T08:37:00.001+08:00

Except that I replaced cucumber with zucchini. :(

Fairweather friends (Ranting. Reader discretion is advised)

2009-05-18T21:24:00.007+08:00

fair-weather friend

A friend who is only a friend when circumstances are pleasant or profitable. At the first sign of trouble, these capricious, disloyal friends will drop their relationship with you.

quoted from urbandictionary.com

Facebook etiquette

2009-05-17T05:28:00.003+08:00

1. Stop taking quizzes. Nobody (added by hhhcce: including me) cares what literary time period you are.
2. If you sync your Twitter account to Facebook so that you fill others' news feeds with a constant stream of mundane updates and references to people with little @ symbols before their names, be prepared for people to de-friend you. Maybe even in real life. (Read "25 More Things I Didn't Want to Learn About You On Facebook.")
3. Don't friend someone you don't actually know (added by hhhcce: or haven't talked to for quite a while)
4. If you must friend someone you don't know, include a message explaining why you are doing so. For example, "Hi, I'm your cousin's roommate!" would suffice.
5. Actually, no. Why would your cousin's roommate want to be your friend? That's still weird.
6. Don't invite people to events if they don't live in your city. I'm glad you still live in our old college town, but guess what? I don't. Even if I did, I still wouldn't waste my Friday night listening to you play music at that vegan coffee shop I frequented when I was 19 because I couldn't get into bars.
7. I'm sorry your grandfather died of emphysema, but I will not join your "cause."
8. Make sure all your photos are rotated in the proper direction. How will people know how fun your Fourth of July barbecue was if every picture looks like you fell over?
9. If you create a group called "Lost my cell phone; need your numbers!," I will join, but I won't give you my number.
10. Cryptic status updates about your mental state — "Rachel is trying so hard," "Rachel wishes things were different," "Rachel is starting her life over" — don't make you sound intriguing, just lonely and pathetic.

quoted from timesonline.co.uk

Password protected post

2009-05-13T03:20:00.004+08:00

Testing the new feature

Password = Butterworth

Show encrypted text

Susan Boyle

2009-05-10T15:25:00.005+08:00

No. It is not about Susan Boyle. I purposely put catchy title.

Evolution of dance (with over 110 millions views)

Charlie bit my finger (Over 90 millions views and their parents are Youtube partner (Kinda like Google Adsense))

Nucleation sites

2009-05-09T23:17:00.002+08:00

Lacks of nucleation sites on the surface of a container prevent freezing and boiling. Watch the two videos below that I found interesting.

Superheated water

Supercooled water

I lost

2009-05-06T01:50:00.005+08:00

I lost. T.T

I have been working towards that goal so hard that I sacrificed all the time I could have used to socialize with my friends and replaced it with studying with the only hope that I will get the rewards commensurate with the effort I put into. In fact, my friends have been asking to post photos of me traveling around. Pathetically, I did not even go around the town and therefore traveling around Canada is simply impossible given the schedule I forced myself into.

I was wrong.

Life does not always go like that, unfortunately. The vicissitudes of life can be annoying sometimes, resembling the predator prey curve I learned in high school and pulling me down to the bottom of a deep chasm when I feel even slightest comfortable with the things that I achieved. I know that I have tried my best but I don't think that is enough. I would not even use the famous quote uttered by William Hung so that I can feel better because I think life is tough, either you sink or swim. There is nothing in between and in fact you are considered sinking, by my standard, if you are sandwiched in between sinking or floating.

Anyway, I have to get back to work. Don't think that I am suicidal because I am not. I just feel a little bit disappointed.

So it is over Part 1

2009-05-01T10:10:00.005+08:00

A long semester actually. I have just too many things to be completed in a very short time and at the end of the day, I really find myself way too exhausted. Taking six subjects and two of them are graduate level courses are way too much stress to handle though I thought they can be easy judging from the course descriptions. Course descriptions can sometimes be very deceiving.

First of all, I want to wrap up what I have been doing for the past two semesters. I took cell and tissue engineering and it is really eye opening experience. Having been taught by one of the scientists who invented dynamic cardiomyoplasty and several other scientists who are now involved in heavy research on cell encapsulation and stem cell engineering, I learned a lot. In fact, it is more fascinating to know where sciences are heading right now. Just for fun. Do you know scientists are now able to print organs in the lab? Do you know that scientists can reprogram any cells to stem cells via piggy-back transposition? I bet you don't or if you do, you will most probably be as elated as I am right now being able to reprogram stem cells in the lab can really solve some of the ethical issues that are involved in harvesting embryonic stem cells.

Biomaterial and bioperformance is another time demanding course. Basically, the whole course is about engineering a material that is suitable to be implanted into human body. A graduate student and I wrote a research proposal which I think is very cool to share it with you all. But, please bear in mind that once I posted this pdf in the web, it will be in Google search engine database permanently, so those of you who are planning to copy even a phrase in the document. You must give some credits to the authors to prevent being accused of plagiarism.

To be continued.....

Another post

2009-04-15T21:21:00.002+08:00

Hi, this is another post from me in such a short time. I found one video that I think it is very interesting - Youtube Symphony Collaborative Video. Have a look. Personally, I don't like the melody, but anyhow I think it is worth listening to (definitely worth 5 minutes of your life).

Updates

2009-04-15T11:32:00.001+08:00

As requested by Chuan Shing. Told you. I am busy.

My tentative schedule for next year if you want. A lot of graduate level courses, woot!

Fall 2009

CHEM 344	Advanced Materials	Fall 2009
BMDE 519	Biomedical Signals & Systems	Fall 2009
CHEM 381	Inorganic Chemistry 2	Fall 2009
CHEM 392D1	Integrated Inorg/Org Lab	Fall 2009
PHGY 509	Artificial Cells	Fall 2009
CHEM 534	Nanoscience and Nanotechnology	Fall 2009

Winter 2010 (Final semester, yay!)

CHEM 514	Biophysical Chemistry	Winter 2010
CHEM 392D2	Integrated Inorg/Org Lab	Winter 2010
CHEM 393	Physical Chem Lab 2	Winter 2010
CHEM 571	Polymer Synthesis	Winter 2010
CHEM 365	Statistical Thermodynamics	Winter 2010

I think this worth a post

2009-03-24T23:12:00.001+08:00

I got another summer scholarship.

I did not flung my Physiology midterm.

230th post

2009-03-12T16:45:00.009+08:00

I just got back from a very horrible midterm. Physiology midterm. Surprise surprise!

So, this Saturday marks the second year after I got a rejection letter from the university I have always wanted to go. Time dilutes a lot of things but definitely not this. I don't know but I must have been too carried away by the fact I did not get accepted and I know that it was definitely not academic since I got a 31 in ACT and perfect scores for other three subject tests. (I don't think I am bragging or do I because it would totally defy the purpose of me writing this in the middle of the night).

And, this Saturday marks the second year. The second year that the reality woke me up that I was not even close to be the best in the things I did. And, it is too bad that that midterm (which I know that it went pretty awry) will drive me even further away from my dream. The dream which not too long ago used to be the source of my motivation in my life. I still have the rejection letter hid underneath my drawer back at home and I think it would most probably the most valuable memory keepsake that the reality had given me.

P/S Just to let you know that I may not be blogging as frequently these days because of my hectic schedule right now. But, I will try my best to chat with you if you have any questions or simply you just need a nice and relaxed conversation with somebody in the midst of all the frenziness you are most probably having right now. Please stop using opening sentences like " You there night or day", "when do you come back". I am incensed when I see questions like these pop out.

Of research

2009-03-09T15:33:00.002+08:00

3/3/09

2009-03-04T17:06:00.000+08:00

Happy square root day.

Okay. I am seriously exhausted.

Spring

2009-02-27T05:54:00.009+08:00

It is almost there.

It is the time in a year again when I have to turn off one of the radiators in my house (No thermostat in my apartment). Spring is almost here.

Look at this, they print organs (literally) using common household inkjets. And, the guy has three degrees (MD, PhD and Vet).

Spring break

2009-02-21T05:24:00.002+08:00

Okay, it is not even a break.

-Three midterms right after the break (Mammalian Physiology, Cell and Molecular biology, Spectroscopy)

-One research proposal (25 pages, cancer targeting using nanobubble encapsulation of folic acid decorated dendrimers, fancy huh?) and one literature review(20 pages, cell microencapsulation in the treatment of Huntington's disease)

-Two lab reports (Fluororescence, Monochromater)

-Three research presentations (drug delivery, molecular self assembly and its application to neural cell regeneration, lab presentation)

So, what I have been up to lately

2009-02-11T14:44:00.005+08:00

Just want to be real quick

Got accepted into one lab in the summer. Gonna do really cool stuffs, like building DNA box. Just for your information, the grey wiggly lines are DNAs. Pretty cool huh?

Can't solve the stupid MATlab assignment. I am suppose to filter peaks from a graph that look pretty much like this. (Not the first one)
Finished about 8/20 of one of my research proposals. Another proposal 0/20.
Have not prepared for my oral presentations this Friday
One midterm next week

I shouldn't be writing this. Oh well, here you go.

2009-01-27T03:11:00.006+08:00

So, I spent my last weekend wandering around Montreal. Yes, I used the right word. Wandering. I seldom go out and hang out with my friends and hence my typical schedule during the semester is to just stay at home. After all, it is nothing you can't do at home as long as you are connected to the internet. Unfortunately last Friday, my internet connection was disconnected not because I did not pay the bill, but according to the person I talked to in the store, it is because I have my phone line canceled two months ago. As absurb as it may sound to you, I was dumbfounded. This means that I was hooked up to the internet via some phantom lines. In addition, when I tried to connect my laptop directly to the phone jack and used the traditional dial-up connection this morning, I did not get the annoying series of random noises as in the video below.

Bizzare, huh?

Then, I decided to go to the library to look for some journals for my research thesis on Huntington's disease. This was when my suppose-to-be-a-pleasant-CNY-year weekend turned into a catastrophic disaster. Due to some random power surges in the library, my laptop adapter was short circuited and severely damaged. After that, you can imagine how my life was last weekend. I sat in front of my study table the whole without any sort of entertainment. To add to that misery, I could only hear voices of my parents and siblings while they were eating reunion dinner over the phone.

Worst weekend ever I would say.

Happy "belated*" Chinese New Year to those who read my blog.

*due to some unforeseen circumstances. blah!

Winter semester 2009

2009-01-23T09:20:00.006+08:00

It has been a tradition for me to post course descriptions in my blog. So, here you go.

CHEM 367 Instrumental Analysis 2
Spectroscopic methods of analysis will be studied with respect to fundamentals, operational aspects and instrument design. Topics will range from UV-visible to x-ray spectrometry. Methodologies will be evaluated with respect to their application in spectrometric systems. Laboratory automation and data analysis will be studed and applied in the laboratory.

CHEM 365 Molecular Structures and Properties
A survey of the principles of electronic, vibrational and rotational spectroscopy. Magnetic resonance methods.

BMDE 506 Biomaterials and their bioperformances
Biomedical Engineering: Biological and synthetic biomaterials, medical devices, and the issues related to their bioperformance. The physicochemical characteristics of biomaterials in relation to their biocompatibility and sterilization.

BMDE 505 Cell and Tissue Engineering
Biomedical Engineering: Application of the principles of engineering, physical, and biological sciences to modify and create cells and tissues for therapeutic applications will be discussed, as well as the industrial perspective and related ethical issues.

BIOL 201 Cell and Molecular biology
Biology (Sci): This course introduces the student to our modern understanding of cells and how they work. Major topics to be covered include: photosynthesis energy metabolism and metabolic integration; plasma membrane including secretion, endocytosis and contact mediated interactions between cells; cytoskeleton including cell and organelle movement; the nervous sytem; hormone signalling; the cell cycle.

PHGY 210 Mammalian Physiology 2
Physiology: Physiology of cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, endocrine and renal systems.

That is so cool

2009-01-17T14:52:00.001+08:00

Winter is not fun

2009-01-15T03:54:00.002+08:00

-23 right now, -25 tomorrow, -27 friday, -25 saturday, -25 sunday.

A blessing and a wake up call

2009-01-13T13:03:00.006+08:00

And yes, I deleted some of the grades.

Epic Fail

2009-01-07T08:32:00.001+08:00

Horrible Canadian Public Service Announcement

2008-12-27T22:40:00.001+08:00

Viewer discretion is advised.

Ridiculous

2008-12-25T17:34:00.004+08:00

I found this article on my friend's blog and I think it is so ridiculous that it deserves reposting.

M’sia willing to help where Malays are minority, says Najib

MELAKA, Dec 23 — Malaysia is willing to offer help towards the advancement of Malays in countries where they are a minority, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak.

He said Malaysia could be a gateway for this through the Dunia Melayu Dunia Islam (DMDI, Malay World Musim World) Forum to help Malays in countries like in the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Cambodia, South Africa and southern Thailand.

“Of course the Malays in these countries must be realistic. They cannot expect us to support them in taking up arms for a revolution to establish Malay governments in them,” he said when opening the DMDI's 9th convention at a hotel in Bandar Hilir here today.

Also present were Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

According to Najib, the DMDI could play constructive role in bringing about peace in southern Philippines and southern Thailand.

He said Malaysia had played an active role in southern Philippines towards ending the Moro conflict though the peace process there had encountered some obstacles lately.

He added that the DMDI should do all it could to portray Islam as an ideal religion which strived for the advancement of all peoples.

At the function, Mohd Ali, who is also DMDI president, presented Najib DMDI’s Mansyur Shah award which is a special recognition in honour of the Melaka empire during the reign of Sultan Mansyur Shah.

Over 500 participants from among others Malaysia, South Africa, the Philippines and Indonesia are participating the convention which ends tomorrow. — Bernama

And the storm subsides finally

2008-12-20T06:23:00.004+08:00

Source: http://www.monster-munch.com/images/HangManLamp.jpg

I can't think of something to blog right now as I have just finished my exams and seriously I hate physiology. In fact, I am not even sure whether I can get an A because I have only 13 marks to lose before getting an A-. Judging by the fact that I slept only two hours last night and have only three days to study for the final, I don't even sure I can get an A-. Seriously, there are like a zillion of things to remember and I am so angry thinking about what my professor said in class. She said something like to do well in the exam you have to understand the materials. But apparently, for a subject like Physiology, you have to memorise all the facts at the end of the day. You just can't expect you can do well by assuming that you understand the fact that there are 31 pairs of spinal segments controlling different parts of the body without memorising their locations and functions. You can't expect you can do well by assuming that the autonomic system consists of a lot of nerves with different innervation sites without even incorporating them in the long term potentiation sites in your brain (Long term potentiation - a form of synaptic plasticity which involves the strengthening of synaptic potentials in the brain; and it is assisted by the NMDA receptors. It is believed to be a way we memorise things by the neuroscientists. I don't mean to brag but this only one of a thousand things I have to know for the exam which is very bad)

I hate physiology and I am lucky that I didn't choose to be a doctor.

And, just for fun, see how much junk I read for the last thirty days.

And this pushes geekiness to the extreme.

And the snow

2008-12-10T16:08:00.003+08:00

I love snow but not several inches at one go. And the day before, the temperature dipped down to about -20 degree Celsius excluding wind chill factor and the worst thing is that it wasn't even snowing.

The storm

2008-12-01T14:41:00.002+08:00

I have a very bad schedule this semester. I just had my last midterm last Tuesday and I have been taking exams every single week starting from the middle of October which explains why I did not really want to chat via MSN. Trust me, I love to chat but when it comes to choosing between chatting in MSN and preparing for the exams, the choice becomes very clear (at least to me). So, if you are reading this, please don't nudge me or anything during this period.

I read something about Ernest Hemingway's famous six-word novel and was thinking of starting a new tagging game. So, the rules are if you are reading this, please write a six-word novel describing your life now and create a link to your post in my blog so that I can read it and you are free to tag anyone you want.

Ernest Hemingway's version: "For sale: baby shoes, never used."
My version: "Exams, stress, story of my life"

My new gmail theme

2008-11-21T10:00:00.003+08:00

My mind right now

2008-11-17T14:29:00.007+08:00

"Contralateral. Major Histocompatibility Complex. Schrodinger Equation. TATA box. Retention time. Broca's region. Harmonic Oscillator. Replication Factor C. High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Ipsilateral. Rigid rotor. Autonomous Replicating Sequence. Time reversal. Telomeric Region. Law of definite nerve energy. Third rank tensor, Parity, AMPA Receptor, Cephalexin, Operational Amplifier, G-Protein Cascade, Suprachiasmatic nucleus, Hamiltonian Operator, Ubiquitination, Angular Momentum, Chaperon, Hermite Equation"

which explain why I did not blog for quite a while now. Final in about two weeks.:(

And I still have two midterms.:(((

While you are waiting for me to blog again, here you go, a nice A cappella from a guy from Canada. Truly Amazing!

Mediocrity

2008-10-31T09:29:00.010+08:00

The word mediocrity has always been a bugaboo to me. It always never fails to motivate to strive better and to avoid being entangled and sucked into it. But, sometimes, life does not always work that way. No matter how well you think you are prepared for the exams, there will be always some possibilities that you may not be able to answer all the questions. I, particularly, hate people say something like : " When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." because I think that people should avoid being awarded those "lemons" in the first place and to make lemonade out of them is simply self-mortifying and lame. Something like "Failure is the catalyst to success" (quoted verbatim from a Chinese Proverb) can be potentially soothing but holding the trophy in your hands feels way better than a gently tap on shoulder by your teammate.

Sometimes, I whine a lot. I have taken so many exams in my life to know that I may not do well in this one(This is me saying before getting the results). I tend to equate myself to a drug addict as sometimes I intoxicate myself with too much caffeine just to keep my brain functioning and guess what sometimes when you are so tired that caffeine will not even do the magic and you have to succumb to the message that your brain sent to you several hours ago (that is to go to sleep). Caffeine, I would say, is no different from morphine though the effect is less profound and is less addictive.

Braving into the wee hours is not enough sometimes I guess.

Oh well, I should get going pretty soon. That's it for now.

Unwind

2008-10-19T02:04:00.003+08:00

I know that many of you are having your midterms or most probably you will be sitting for your finals in about a month time. Your hand may now be moving frantically across the papers, trying very hard to get things done. So, I purposely post a few music videos just to unwind you a little bit.

It's midterm season

2008-10-14T11:57:00.005+08:00

Donald Duck : "It's wabbit season."
Bugs Bunny : "Duck season."
......
Me : "Both of you are wrong. It's midterm season."

Enough said. I don't even know why I am posting this. My neurons are not working very well as I have been studying like hell these days and the worst thing is that I don't even know whether I grasp the concepts well as I have an industrial report due tomorrow.

Three particle physicists won the 2008 Nobel Prize of Physics

2008-10-08T12:11:00.001+08:00

Look at this.

Misnomers

2008-10-06T12:40:00.003+08:00

McGill is very good at making everything sounds so elementary and simple. Introductory to Organic Chemistry 3. Why they don't put it as Intermediate Organic Chemistry or even Advanced Organic Chemistry (as MIT puts it) to reflex its difficulty. Another good one would be Molecular Structure and Properties which is of course not a typical chemical-bonding class you used to take when you were in high school. It should be renamed as Quantum Chemistry.

Anyway, I should not be here when I have Organic Chemistry midterm tomorrow. And yay, I will be officially working with spindle fibers (observing them) starting this Thursday, I can't wait!

Image Credit : http://www.labodia.com/en/ana/Atlas/centromere2.jpg

Read this before asking me questions

2008-09-27T02:30:00.009+08:00

I have been receiving quite a lot of emails a few months ago regarding how to apply for JPA though I am not a JPA scholar (Yes, I am not. You may have to disregard my advices and try to look for somebody who knows the application procedures better than I). There were a lot of questions that I think are so immature and self-explainatory and if they could really just spend an afternoon and go through all those important posts in RECOM.

The most frequently asked (aka the most irritating) questions are as below:

-I want to be an engineer but my parents want me to apply for medicine, how? (That is your problem, not mine. I will not put myself in a position where I have to tell you to go against your parents' advices.
-Can I apply for medicine if I get 9A2 and 1A1? (Of course you can. Don't put me in a position where I can't tell you the truth as it will hurt you to the bottom of your heart)
-How many A1 did you get? (This is ridiculous, why I have to tell you this? Does it make you feel better if I get 9C5 and 1F?)
-Which career will be the most profitable? (As you may have known it somewhere, I am doing Chemistry, yes Pure Chemistry. )

Sadly enough, there are quite a lot of students in Malaysia still thinking JPA is their only way to go oversea if their parents are not wealthy enough to support them. I mean, come on, opportunities do not just come right in front of you. You have to look for them and that is why most people will tell you to spend time googling for those informations because believe it or not, most of the information are readily available in the internet (of course if you are in the second year of your undergraduate study (like me), then most probably you will know that Google has its limitations, but anyway, that is not the point I want to convey over here).

I know that I am in my third year of my undergraduate study but I am still learning stuffs (currently learning Legendre Transformation) and it is highly possible that I can't answer your questions very well. So, don't email me or message me (which I did receive some emails on that) to solve your mathematics or physics problems and please don't expect too high on me that I would be able to solve your questions.

With that being said, don't email or nudge me in MSN before you have in mind what you are doing!

And, I am not being rude.

Learning new languages

2008-09-20T09:08:00.010+08:00

First of all, a lookback to the fishing party organised by my PI last summer. Click to enlarge. Working in that lab for four months was really a very good experience. I learned more than I could possibly learn from the textbooks and I know very well now that I am heading to the right direction. But, how the road will eventually lead me and where will it lead me to? Oh well, I am still in the process of discovering myself. As you may know, I am a particle physics fanatic but I am kind of stuck in chemistry or to be exact, I consider myself to be at the crossroad between biology and physics.

College started two weeks ago and I have been busy since then. Rushing from a lecture hall to another lecture hall, cramming for problem sets and revising the notes for before going to lectures have slowly come back to my life and hence I may not be able to update my blog as often as I wish. But, anyway, life has been treating me well so far. Orgo midterm is in two weeks time though. :(

My quantum mechanics lecturer started his lecture by saying that learning something new is like learning a new language and I am totally agree with that. It is so weird that sometimes my classmates and I start to talk to each other in a language that is completely foreign to the other.
e.g. Molecular biology
"In vitro, TBP binds to the TATA box followed by TFIIB. After that, Pol II will bind the adjacent base pairs in DNA. A tetramer, TFIIF will bind to Pol II immediately followed by TFIIE. Finally, TFIIH, which made up of helicase and kinase, will bind to the length of DNA"

P/S Did I mention that I was accepted into a nanobioengineering lab as a research assistant. So, my project (okay, our project) is to design a microfluidic system that can be used to separate different types of cells (those treated with fluorescence label from those without fluorescence label). Again, I can't tell you all the details.

It is funny.

2008-09-15T12:14:00.000+08:00

Look at this.

I was wondering why Kung Fu, Taekwando and Karate are not in the list.

See Bill Gates in his own promotional video

2008-09-14T13:17:00.002+08:00

Video: New Family

And, Jerry Seinfeld.

Kinda boring video. But, nice slogan though. PC - Perpetual Connecting.

My quip

2008-09-11T01:15:00.008+08:00

Large Hadron Collider starts working today. Yay!

And, Google is celebrating this important event as well. Luckily, I am not the only who is aware of that.

P/S It is always amusing to see how people bumped into my blog. One guy from Montreal got into my blog through googling "I hate Analytical Chemistry". Too bad for him.

P/S And ya, another thing please have a look at this.

The Solvay Congress of 1927

2008-09-06T08:51:00.010+08:00

If you don’t know the existence of this photo, you would have been living in the cave for quite a while (or at least you are not majoring in physical sciences).

Front Row:
I. Langmuir, M. Planck, Mme. Curie, H.A. Lorentz, A. Einstein, P. Langevin, Ch. E. Guye, C.T.R. Wilson, O.W. Richardson
Middle Row:
P. Debye, M. Knudsen, W.L. Bragg, H.A. Kramers, P.A.M. Dirac, A.H. Compton, L. de Broglie, M. Born, N. Bohr
Back Row:
A. Piccard, E. Henriot, P. Ehrenfest, Ed. Herzen, Th. De Donder, E. Schrödinger, E. Verschaffelt, W. Pauli, W. Heisenberg, R.H. Fowler, L. Brillouin

I guess from those people in the photo, two names sound strikingly familiar to most of you. Let me guess, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie.

Just to test you on your general knowledge. Which theory gave Albert Einstein a Nobel Prize in Physics?

Before you say anything, I would like to tell you that no, it is not the mass-energy equivalence equation (E=mc2). In fact, Einstein got his Nobel prize because he was able to explain the black body radiation (discovered by Max Planck, look through the list for Max Planck!) by his very own Einstein Photoelectric Effect. Lorentz formulated Lorentz force which is a very important concept in Classical Electromagnetic Theory. Debye's contribution would be to explain the distribution of electrons in a molecule (polar molecules) and the famous Debye-Huckel Theory. de Broglie postulated wave nature of a particle as given by lambda=h/p. Schrodinger and Heisenberg are the most important figures in Quantum Chemistry (Schrodinger's equation and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle).

P/S To strangers, not to be rude but if you wish to comment on my post, please kindly write down your name. That would make things much easier. Thank you very much.

P/P/S Can you please stop casting vicious verbal attacks on the already murky and nebulous political situation? Seriously, you should enjoy your retirement and stop acting like you are the salvager of the whole situation because, trust me, rather than ameliorating the whole situation, you are actually making it cresendoes into a more chaotic one. [For more information, please look at his personal blog.]

What I dislike about Chrome

2008-09-03T09:03:00.004+08:00

I downloaded Chrome and have it installed in my laptop a few hours ago. But, it is not secure enough compared to Firefox or Flock and that is a must-have feature for all browser. Firstly, I have my password saved in Chrome. After that, when I opened the option menu and clicked on "Show my Password", my password appeared right in front of me. That is the last thing you want a browser to do and I was totally disappointed with that.

Although Google Chrome development group tried to combine the address bar and the search bar into one 'OmniBar', I don't really find that appealing as I use several search machines to find my research journals and it would be troublesome if I have to open the option menu and change the default search machine every time I want to switch my search machine.

I hate websites with advertisements spreading all over. Adblock (an extension for both Flock and Firefox) does an excellent job in screening and blocking those unsightly advertisements from appearing in front of my monitor. On the other hand, Google Chrome lacks that feature. Perhaps I draw my conclusion too early as Google Chrome is also an open source web browser and may be somebody can develop some extensions in the near future to block those ugly and potential malicious advertisements from appearing.

After Using Google Chrome

2008-09-02T12:04:00.003+08:00

Chrome is a new browser developed by Google. I am not sure whether it is better or safer than Firefox, but it looks clean and simple from the photos posted in this website. So, if you are interested, Google Chrome will be available to be downloaded tomorrow (2/9/08).

I would say there aren't any novel features other than multiple tabs opening (Opera and Firefox), Speed Dial (Opera) and InPrivate (Internet Explorer).

Just a very random post.

P/S You can download Google Chrome now at this website

P/P/S Though simple and slick, I will not use it in the near future unless it has a certain kind of AdBlocker which I think it is impossible because Google itself owns an advertising company (Google Adsense). So, if you are not so care about flash or text advertisements floating all over the monitor, Google Chrome is not bad a browser.

Interesting particle physics

2008-09-01T13:04:00.006+08:00

And, by the way, if you don't know what Higgs particles are, try to read this.

If you are motivated enough, you can read about those articles listed below as well.
Magnetic monopole
Supersymmertry
Hawking Radiation

Don't you think particle physics is the most exciting thing in the world?

Updated: 30 August 11:00AM (GST -5.00) Thank you everyone

2008-08-30T01:04:00.010+08:00

To Lay Min,

Things just can't get better when I received birthday wishes from old friends from my home town. It is so great to a bunch of friends like you all and especially you Lay Min, considering you all, I suppose, are working hard on your impending midterms. I am so touched especially when I saw those video. I used to think that my birthday is nothing but special. But when you wrote a post especially for me, I am touched because those are just tiny little things that only best friends will bother spending their precious time doing and because of those tiny little things our friendship is anything but ordinary. It is not easy to write a post, to run through a stack of photos and to compile a collection of videos for me. Seriously, it is nothing I can say here to express how thankful am I to have a bunch of friends like you, Kok Ann, Chuan Shing, Zu Huang and Phooi Shan. You all paint my dull and monotonous life with iridescent colours and I really don't know what to say except to express my sincere thanks from the deepest part of my heart.

I sat in front of my computer reminiscing the past. I just can't help myself thinking about how much of precious time we spent together.

The trip to Genting, though it was not as fun as usual (because Chuan Shing was sick and could not to go out to play), is so memorable. I still remember how Maclean and I were trying to disturb Kok Ann by playing some weird noises from our handphones. I still remember how I chickened out in front of Cyclone. I still remember how disappointed Chuan Shing was when Spaceshot was closed for maintainence.

Numerous karaoke sessions in Gurney Drive and a night out with you, Chuan Shing and Kok Ann were simply fun and exciting. I still remember when how we sang "rong2 shu4 xia4" so perfectly when it was suppose to be a song that we would not know how to sing. I still remember that you would definitely choose " chua4 bing1" every time you go or at least the very few sections I went with you all. I still remember how you Kok Ann, Chuan Shing ang Kok Ann went to my house very late at night, okay it might not be late by your standard, and fetched me to Megamall to watch a movie.

We had a wonderful time and I am grateful because my life will never be boring because of you all. All the boisterous laughters we had in the class, the random jokes you told me, the crazy acts during our vacations and the random acts that we committed will always be in my mind. Despite all the memories I share with you all, I feel so depressed because I can't go back because I have to continue my study here.

Thank you all very much. Thank you for making me feel that I am still very important. Thank you for making me feel that I am just a phone call or an email away though I am about half a globe away. Thank you for making my life an interesting one. Thank you for all your birthday wishes. Thank you for writing a post on me. Thank for everything you made to celebrate my birthday.

To Phooi Shan,
You sat behind me and Kok Ann in form two and I think we have been friends together since then. Thank you for posting those photos of my favourite foods in your blog though I just mentioned to you briefly how I miss them. Thank you so much for you r effort.

I hope that you all will be successful in your future endeavours.

Looking forwards to meeting you.

Links to the posts I was talking about
Link1Link2

P/SThank to dad and mom, Lay min, Phooi Shan, Maclean, Zu Huang, Chin Liang and all those people who sent a birthday wishes in Friendster(ec seng, Kok Ann, Lay Min, Kok Ann, Maclean, Suki, Jia Hui, DaShu, Kho Ko Seng, Choon Mua) and Facebook(Alicia, Kenward, Vivian, Jing Kai and Marina)

Random stuff

2008-08-28T06:39:00.003+08:00

This is why humans are smarter than computers.

from Diggs

Magnificient ending

2008-08-25T11:51:00.007+08:00

It is the most breathtaking closing ceremony ever in the history of Olympics.

Scintillating fireworks, delicate and perfect choreography, powerful and wonderful songs by artists from all the world, about ninety thousand spectators in the stadium, countless athletes from over two hundreds countries and another millions of people in front of their televisions or their computers celebrated the spirit of the Olympics. Watching the live telecast though the internet, I was blown away by the scale of Beijing Olympics.

Olympic overachievers like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt put me into thinking. The awards and the medals that I won so far in my life seem so insignificant compared to theirs. Until recently, I used to have an unwholesome thinking that sports are just something mundane and are not really significant enough to contribute to the mankind. In fact, I, too, used to look down those people who spend their entire life studying trivial things like medieval art history, Renaissance musics and philosophy.

But, my way of thinking started to change gradually when Michael Phelps swam like Usain Bolt running on a track field or Usain Bolt ran like a car careering on the road. They put me in awe and they put me into thinking. How mundane can those achievements be when, for me, I am still in the way to achieve all that, or at least close to that, though I am also in the early twenty. They achieved something impossible. They took the road not taken and painted a new panorama in the history of sports.

Kudos to all the olympians!

My fall schedule

2008-08-21T12:54:00.006+08:00

CHEM 302 Organic Chemistry 3 (aka Sugar and Peptide Chemistry)
Topics covered may include the following: aromatics and heterocyclics, carbanions, rearrangements, molecular orbital considerations, polymers and biomolecules.

CHEM 345 Molecular Structure and Properties (aka Quantum Mechanics)
An introduction to quantum chemistry covering the historical development, wave theory, methods of quantum mechanics, and applications of quantum chemistry.

CHEM 376 Instrumental Analysis 1 (aka Chemistry of separation I guess?)
An introduction to modern instrumental analysis emphasizing separations, mass spectrometry and electro-analysis methods. Analytical methods to be covered in detail in include gas/liquid chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, hyphenated techniques (LC-MS and GC-MS), voltammetry/polarography and related electrochemical techniques. Theories of calibration, analytical methodologies and statistical data analysis will also be presented.

CHEM 455 Introduction to Polymer Chemistry (My lovely intro to polymer)
An introductory survey course on the structure of natural and synthetic polymers, methods for their preparation and characterization, and many current applications. Physical properties such as the mechanical strength, glass transition, and rubber elasticity will be discussed and related to the structure of the polymers. Current uses in optics and electronics, nano-technology, self-assembly, advanced composites, and as bio-materials will be introduced.

PHGY 209 Mammalian Physiology 1 (Human Anatomy to be exact)
The course covers the physiology of body fluids, blood, body defense mechanisms, peripheral and central nervous system, muscle.

BIOL 200 Molecular Biology (Will learn things like IPTG induces Lac gene in the plasmid)
The aim of this course is to understand the molecular basis of biological phenomena with emphasis on the fundamental processes common to all organisms (enzymatic catalysis, DNA, RNA and protein synthesis; genome structure; mechanisms of gene expression; mechanisms of regulating gene activity)

I can just think of those sleepless nights. :(

I embedded a new widget in my blog

2008-08-20T06:15:00.004+08:00

So, this widget works like Twitter, except a little bit fancier. Sometimes, I just want to shout something out without having to write something very long on something insignificant like what I ate just now. I will still blog when I find something very interesting; but sometimes, this is not enough for loyal readers who check my blog everyday (I have to admit that I have yet to find somebody who is as loyal as myself because I check those blogs I subscripted to three times a day in Google reader). That is for now I guess.

And, by the way, if you guys have something to say about my post, please don't post your comment in the shout box (That thing is strictly for chatting).

A trip to Laval

2008-08-17T12:20:00.004+08:00

The summer is almost coming to an end.

I just came back from the house party organised by my PI. It has been a wonderful day. Just want to post some pictures because I don't really feel like blogging these days.

We went 'fishing' at an artificial pond outside of my PI's house. And, drinking beer is like a subculture over here in Canada, especially here in Montreal because the legal age for drinking is 18. I did not drink as I am kinda allergic to alcoholic drinks.

Time for some games.

Well. Not that bad actually

2008-08-16T13:31:00.005+08:00

Look at my slides (Click on the picture to enlarge).

I should have brought my digital camera to take pictures while I was presenting. So basically, I stood in the hallway for two hours waiting for people to stop by and have a look at my slides. There were a couple of funny incidents happened in between which I am too lazy now to type them out. It was a indeed wonderful experience.

Awful presentation

2008-08-14T01:58:00.004+08:00

As mentioned in my previous post, I am going to present results of my project in front of a group of professors this Friday. My Personal Investigator(PI) suggested me to present my case in front of the group members just now. And I think you may deduce from the title of my post how horrible my presentation was just now. I slept late yesterday night and as a result I could not even gather coherent thoughts. I was talking and talking to myself without having eye contacts with the audience and it was like having verbal diarrhea in front of the group members. Could you imagine that?

And, if you think that it is horrible enough, my poster is so badly designed until I could not even grasp the flow between the slides that I designed. Okay, my poster is not that bad actually, it is just that I put so many things in one slide until the person who was looking at it couldn't abstract something from it.

Despite all the bad words I said about myself, I just feel lucky to have this opportunity to get know of the fact that I desperately need to improve my communication and interpersonal skills.

Okay, I have to go back to improve my slides now, I can't allow myself to fall into the deep chasm of mediocrity.

Image credit : Some random website

School is going to start in about two weeks

2008-08-12T12:47:00.005+08:00

The four-month summer holiday is about to come to an end.

I have a poster presentation on the project I have been working on for the whole summer this Friday and most probably I will be spending most of my time updating my log book and extracting data from it.

I felt nostalgic just now. Looking at those scribbles I made on my log book about three months ago, I think I have learned a lot of things I could not have possibly learned in the classroom. And last week, I prepared my very last batch of protein in the lab. It is sad to leave all wonderful moments I have, the precious knowledge I obtained and the people I know in the lab aside and go back to lecture halls again this coming fall.

P/S Totally irrelevant to this post but I found one video about String Theory and would like to share it over here. Okay, somehow I just could not embed it here, just give the link.

It's in Firefox News Feed now

2008-08-08T02:33:00.001+08:00

Jing Kai, you should have a look at this.

2008-08-01T13:20:00.000+08:00

I am addicted to online video streaming

2008-07-27T23:59:00.004+08:00

That is why.

And, just when you will think it will stop.

Be rational

2008-07-25T04:09:00.008+08:00

And hence we have a schedule. When somebody wants to use the machine, he/she has to write down his/her name to book it. I planned my experiment about one week ago and wanted to use the machine to purify my protein. A guy said to me that he was going to use the machine from Thursday to Saturday. I was like... The point of having a schedule is to follow it.

It is so unfair.

It is definitely better than Jay Chou's stupid songs

2008-07-22T10:26:00.002+08:00

Hilarious A Cappella

2008-07-07T09:16:00.005+08:00

About Facebook

Nintendo Medley (1. Super Mario 2.Unknown 3.Tetris 4.Mortal Combat 5.Unknown)

Justin Timberlake Medley

Chicken Curry

2008-07-06T12:41:00.004+08:00

Inspired by Lay Min's kaya and Phooi Shan's Oreo Cheese Cake, I am going to post something I cook here in Canada. You both might say: "Cheh. Chicken Curry only mar. I also know how to cook la". I guess the point is that I cook my curry in Canada where curry powder is not even available in those metros (I don't know why they call supermarket as metro).

Enjoy!

Strangelet

2008-07-03T13:29:00.005+08:00

A particle physics class during Advanced level flared up my interest on fundamental particles. In that class alone, I learned quite a lot of fundamental knowledge on those particles: quarks (up, down, top, bottom, charm, strange), mesons(made up of two quarks with opposite charges), baryons(made up of three quarks)and leptons(electron, positron,...). But, all those particles I mentioned are not captivating enough compared to strangelets.

As a physics website puts it:

Strangelets are theorized cosmological objects composed of an exotic form of matter known as strange matter or quark matter. This form of matter is created in the cores of particularly massively neutron stars. In neutron stars, the remnants of collapsed stars with masses between 4 and 8 times that of our sun, pressure and temperature is so intense that the protons and electrons in atomic nuclei fuse to become neutrons. The resultant matter is sometimes referred to as neutronium, a sea of neutrons packed far more densely than conventional matter.

Sometimes the pressure and gravity in the centres of neutron stars is so massive that the neutronium collapses into its constituent particles, quarks. This results in agglomerations of so-called strange quarks bound to each other directly much in the same manner that the transition from conventional star to neutron star results in seas of neutrons bound directly together. The names physicists have given this type of matter are "quark matter" or "strange matter". This may be regarded as a phase change, like changing from a liquid to a solid, only at densities many orders of magnitude greater than those occuring in this solar system.

It has been hypothesized that strangelets (sub-stellar agglomerations of strange matter) may be able to exist independently from the quark stars which created them. If so, there may be many strangelets in this universe, a possible explanation for the dark matter problem. Since strangelets maintain such deep gravity wells for objects of their size, calculations show that strangelets coming in contact with ordinary matter would overwhelm this matter with their gravitational fields, breaking down the ordinary matter into strange matter. If strangelets exist and keep coming into contact with ordinary matter indefinitely, it may be only a matter of time (albeit a cosmologically long duration of time) before strangelets swallow all the conventional matter in the universe.

Though the existence of strangelets has not yet been proven conclusively, there exist observed stars too dense to be conventional neutron stars yet too sparse to be black holes (i.e., they possess volume). Also, strangelets have been blamed for unexplained seismic events. If a small strangelet penetrated the Earth at relativistic speeds, it would indeed perturb ordinary matter, though to exactly what degree has not yet been established in a consensus among the physics community. Similar to the neutrino before its detection in 1956, the strangelet remains a theoretical construct until we develop instruments fine enough to either verify or disprove their existence

Quoted from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-strangelet.html

It was classified by a Discovery Channel documentary as one of many reasons that leads to the destruction of humanity due to its ability to generate a massive black hole. Though it is only a prediction made by a small group of scientists; sometimes, it is horrifying because thousands of particle reactions are carried out in cyclotrons around the world;and, it only takes one strangelet to destroy the world and perhaps the whole universe.

In the same documentary, it was shown that there is a fundamental reaction (matter-antimatter annihilation) may destroy the whole civilization that humankind takes several thousands to build. It is relatively well known that the annihilation of a matter and an antimatter creates bursts of energy and the energy generated is higher than that generated by any fission and fusion reactions. This is, of course, consistent with the famous mass-energy equation by Albert Einstein. When two fundamental particles (anti to each other) collide, the masses of both particles turn into only energy(fusion and fission reactions do produce side products). It was estimated that an antimatter of the size of a paper clip is enough to destroy whole New York City. But, luckily, it is very hard to make antimatters (antiproton, antihydrogen,....) and it is even harder to store them (they store antimatter using a container with strong magnetic fields).

Lies, Lies and more Lies

2008-06-27T04:54:00.003+08:00

Penang's monorail, Porr projects shelved
Jun 25, 08 8:36pm
In a stunning move which is likely to anger Penang, the government has put off two major projects in the state - the RM2 billion monorail and RM1.5 billion Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr).
Funds 'relocated' to 'other areas'

from Malaysia Kini

Does it even surprise me? No.

Immature politicians and a bunch of inane people (who wanted the government to cancel all those megaprojects in Penang).

I guess that is what I can say.

Do you think that you are a genius? Now, think again

2008-06-23T13:11:00.003+08:00

The Impossible Quiz

P/S URL updated

Summer comes to McGill

2008-06-21T11:25:00.003+08:00

McGill Art Library.

Schulich Science and Engineering library

Nerdy post. hehe

A song from window sounds (There are transposes of keys)

2008-06-18T03:54:00.000+08:00

When 513 and 153 are just numbers

2008-06-12T05:55:00.003+08:00

513, a number that caused something to be added to already-unfair 153.

It happened just two days ago and now 513 and 153 are just pure numbers and 45 triumphs both of them (and 10).

You should know what I am talking about.

Hint: this this and this

A quarter (1/4). Beware boring post ahead

2008-06-11T00:18:00.024+08:00

A quarter is just a fraction, a fraction of some numbers, a fraction of something grandiose or something minuscule. Or simply a fraction of life.

A quarter may mean nothing to you. But, it really means a lot to me. Time just flies past. I am sitting in the lab now concentrating protein. I just can't stop looking back.

The trodden paths, the memories, the surmounted hills and a newly found dream.

Trodden paths
My ultimate dream in my life is to save people and to do something that is beneficial to the humankind. This may sound a little bit over-altruistic to you; but, that is my dream, seriously. I still remember after I knew that I failed to secure any of the local scholarships, I was depressed. Of course, I was so naive to think that the only way to ameliorate the life of the poor is to become a doctor. As absurd as it may sound, I quited Matriculation and with dreams in my hands, I tried to look for alternatives (Get my point? I gave up an opportunity to look for other ways to study medicine when the most feasible and affordable way to read medicine is to matriculate in a local university). I am glad that I have a very supportive father guiding me through the process. But sometimes, it was indeed a blessing in disguise. It was an eye-opening experience to study in a private college. I was lucky enough to a very good chemistry lecturer who has been so helpful in my university applications. And, here I am today writing a post about my life. In fact, thinking about it, I could have ended up in a local university if I were to stay in the matriculation.

Memories
Human forget. Therefore, I am writing this to write the bits and pieces of my life and it is always very nice to look at those nostalgic moments and to reminisce the vicissitudes of life. Some happy moments are worth to be told; and in fact I am going to tell them to my children. Some are just commonplace and suffused with a tinge of sorrow. Being a pianist myself, I tend to relate my memories with certain songs:

This is the song my friends and I loved the most.

My brother and I used to sing this song when we lived together in a hostel.

A Christmas without this song would be very miserable. (I am alone in the hostel)

Surmounted hills
Metaphorically, the hurdles I have overcome in my life. When I was Chinese Orchestra, I took part in a charity night performing a concerto which depicts the difficulty of climbing a mountain.
I was told that getting good results in the examinations are just like climbing the first part of the mountain. Elated and energetic. The troughs, between the foot to the top of the hill, that make you fall are series of unfortunate events that hit upon you and make you grow, mature and tough enough to face those challenges in front you. I cannot agree more.

I am in verge of twenty now. About one quarter to eighty or may be one third to sixty. A quarter is nothing more but just a fraction. A fraction that reminds me about how far have I been through in my life and to which direction should I go in the future.

P/S A boring post indeed

Oldies

2008-05-31T03:55:00.002+08:00

Green green grass of home

Rhythm of the falling rain

Life

2008-05-28T09:03:00.011+08:00

I think of writing something after reading Youngyew's blog.

First of all, my belated condolences to those victims of Nargis Typhoon and the earthquake in China.

Life is fragile and short, but is meaningful.

Sometimes, I am not being superstitious. But, so many things have happened and are way beyond my control. And therefore, I have to believe that there are something greater, like heaven and hell, which govern the fate of all the people around the world. Because if I don't, that powerlessness will slowly digest my soul and eat me alive. (And no, I am not trying to promulgate any religions here, I am trying to gloss over there are ways that you can help the victims. But the most tangible way is to donate money.)

A poem by Bertrand Russell describes my feeling now.

Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

P/S Two more aftershocks destroyed 420000 more houses. Click here

Here I come.....Summer research part 2

2008-05-27T00:40:00.009+08:00

Continue from my last post.

The aim of my research is to study the mechanisms of enzyme foldings at different temperatures. I really can't disclose which enzyme is it. I am sorry, guys. I will be purifying the enzyme start from scratch. First of all, I have to culture a batch of genetically modified E. coli and start to grow the bacteria in certain broth. After the running the cell solution through a few columns, I will be testing the activity of the enzyme using kinetic assay .

Image credit GE HealthCare Life Sciences
Three types of columns in total.

Then, I will use 2D NMR to elucidate the structures of the enzyme at different temperatures.

Image credit: Wikipedia
I will be using this gadget. This is 18.8 Tesla. Earth's magnetic field is just 30 microtesla in the tropics
Image credit: Wikipedia
Not this!!! This is only 3 Tesla.

It has been a very exciting summer project and I want to learn other techniques as well. In the meantime, I am planning to apply for a position in cancer research next fall and I really hope that I can get it. I know that I sound very secretive because I am not allowed to divulge any details of my research to anybody(due to certain stupid legal issues).

P/S Some blog readers will hate me even more but I am getting more and more technical these days. I will try to post some photos once I have my camera phone fixed and for the time being, Tera!!

The research group that I belong to

2008-05-26T11:56:00.006+08:00

I am just right in the middle (white shirt with green collar). This is the research group I was talking about. Basically, what I am doing now is research on antibiotic resistance. More to come..........

I love this song. Comparable to "We are the world"

2008-05-24T08:49:00.002+08:00

And the best thing is that it is made in Malaysia.

Flock is way better than Mozilla Firefox

2008-05-11T00:17:00.002+08:00

I just downloaded Flock (an Internet Browser created out of Mozilla Open Source Code). It has a way cooler interface than Firefox and better still you can post your blog without even log into your blogger account (kind of like a combination of Window Live Writer and Firefox). There are several interesting functions which I think the web site explains them better than I . Better still, most of the extensions for Firefox work well in Flock as both are created out of the same source code.

For more information, go to this web site

http://www.flock.com/

Not funny dude, not funny

2008-05-08T04:34:00.001+08:00

新加坡‧參加新傳媒節目後生意大好‧燒烤魚老闆忙到中風（新加坡）生意原本差強人意，燒烤魚老闆參加新傳媒節目《搶攤大行動》後，生意激增10倍，讓他忙到中風！李老板說，節目在今年1月間錄製，製作單位在2月錄製完畢後，就頒發了一個《搶攤大行動》的招牌，讓他的生意量激增10倍。 read more

新加坡‧吐瀉抽搐至腦死‧自閉女狂飲醬油不治（新加坡）20歲女郎狂飲兩瓶醬油後上吐下瀉，全身抽搐至腦死，16天後逝世。死者是吳淑敏，為一名自閉癥患者。她的父親吳金貴今日（週三，5月7日）早上在辦理認領屍體的手續時表示，女兒4月20日傍晚出事，週二早上9時許過世。 read more

I found these articles on SinChew website. When does Sin Chew become a tabloid?

First day in the lab

2008-05-06T01:13:00.001+08:00

I am supposed read articles about Thin Layer Chromatography, High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Column Chromatography. Why am I blogging? I don't know.

That is what a very boring guy would do

2008-05-01T23:36:00.001+08:00

<center><a href="http://www.geocities.com/stiller_7/bijakkkkk.html"><font size="5">DON'T CLICK HERE!</a></center>

Moving out

2008-04-30T23:40:00.002+08:00

I am moving out today. Ironically, I did not feel anything. I did not make any friend in the dorm and most of my friends are in my class.

Life moves on. I guess.