Food, Film & Fotography.
窗外的麻雀
在電線桿上多嘴
妳說這一句
很有夏天的感覺
手中的鉛筆
在紙上來來回回
我用幾行字形容妳是我的誰
秋刀魚 的滋味
貓跟妳都想了解
初戀的香味就這樣被我們尋回
那溫暖 的陽光
像剛摘的鮮豔草莓
你說妳捨不得吃掉這一種感覺
雨下整夜
我的愛溢出就像雨水
院子落葉
跟我的思念厚厚一疊
幾句是非
也無法將我的熱情冷卻
妳出現在我詩的每一頁
雨下整夜
我的愛溢出就像雨水
窗台蝴蝶
像詩裡紛飛的美麗章節
我接著寫
把永遠愛妳寫進詩的結尾
妳是我唯一想要的了解
那飽滿 的稻穗
幸福了這個季節
而妳的臉頰像田裡熟透的蕃茄
妳突然 對我說
七里香的名字很美
我此刻卻只想親吻妳倔強的嘴
when someone hangs up the phone on you when she sees your number on caller-id.
Was just reading a ST commentary a moment ago and had this sudden burst of thought. Are misperceptions and stereotypes so ingrained in all of us?
The article was about how the British PM claimed that: 'We know that these people act in the name of Islam' right after the London bombings. This implied that the culprit for the horrendous attacks were Muslims, even before any investigations were carried out. Let's stop short for a moment now. Let me say the prerequisite disclaimer first. This is not meant to bash anybody, but just a honest view of the current state of the world. How many of you all after hearing about the bombings, straightaway think about Muslim/Arab/Al Qaeda terrorists? Raise your hands please.
It sadens me to say this but the world is really dividing into two. Us and the terrorists. The image of a terrorist has been ingrained in all of us now. We have a stereotypical view of the world. But surely you can't blame us for thinking that way when they are the ones who do all these high profile attacks on innocent civilians. Seriously, the liberal Muslims have not done much to discourage the extremists! It's always the good guys who are more quiet and the baddies are more vocal. I am a follower of Thomas Friedman. I believe to end this war of us against them requires some of 'us', mainly liberal Muslims, to condemn the terrorists. A simple analogy would be when someone you dunno criticizes us, surely you would feel more pissed off compared to when a closer friend or family criticizes you.
Of coz we also have a role to play to. We can stop relying so much on Arab oil. This will stop them from having leverage on us. When they can't sell as much oil to us, they will finally be forced to listen to us and take the terrorism problem seriously. End poverty by giving appropriate aid is also important. Of course what I say so far is pretty much trivialized. But it's the gist of what we should do now to save the world.
Feeling kinda demoralised now after seeing the statistics for Columbia University. The acceptance rate for 2004 is 9 out of 255 applicants for the Finance PhD program. This is a measly rate of 3.5%.
Other than electrodynamics, another field in physics which I find interesting is Statistical Mechanics (SM). I must admit that initally I was attracted to this field was because of its connection to econophysics, an interdisciplinary field which mainly involved statistical mechanics to model financial markets. Nowadays quantum field theory is used too. But anyway, SM is undeniably one of the fundamental foundations of physics. In short, every physicist should at least have an intermediate knowledge in it, I feel.
So, as before, I will start right from the beginning of my analysis of NUS statistical mechanics. The inital brush with SM is purely on the thermodynamical aspects of it. In fact it is merely half a module. This part is relatively trivial and just a simple extension of A-levels thermody.
The second year SM starts to take the beef. The first half is thermody and the relation to physical chem becomes apparent. The second half is the real statistical part where permutations and combinations become crucial. Frankly speaking I must say that this module is one of the least mathematical of all. It is very abstract I must say. To fully understand and comprehend the concepts require quite a bit of time. I am not shy to admit I was quite lost initially. I wouldn't be surprised if people got through it but never understand it at all. Luckily there was someone around to spur me into thorough understanding.
The next time you approach SM will be in the fourth year. Erm... unfortunately I must say that I am quite clueless about the stuff in this module. Wish me all the best in tackling it!
I can't say that there is any definitive book for SM as this field has many approaches to it. Even in the 2nd year SM, I had to go through at least 5 different books to finally gain enlightenment. So mainly it depends on the style and inclination of the course.
Because today is a relatively unlucky day for me, I shall blog on something which I enjoy. Hopefully the boss doesn't come back before I finish this.
I am gonna discuss one of my favourite topics in physics. Electrodynamics or more popularly known as electromagnetism (EM). Before I start, I must say that this topic seems to be an either love it or hate it subject. There are several people I know, i.e. WH, CWCJ, SY, SH, etc. who hates it. Then of course there are people like me who loves it.
Let us start from the very beginning. The first module in NUS which touches on EM is PC1143. The syllabus is pretty much similar to A-levels, the only main big difference is the use of calculus to solve many of the problems. When previously you only need to plug in values into equations to get the answer, this time round you not only need to differentiate, but integrate multiple times. I am sure this amount of calculus is enough to put off many non-maths inclined people.
The second EM module is yet another compulsory module for physics majors. This time round you will need some basic knowledge of vector calculus. But frankly speaking you don't need to have pre-knowledge of it to attempt this course. All the math needed are covered in it, so, seriously I dunno y ppl are complainin. Anyway this course shifts away from A-level type of EM into more theoretical stuff. Circuits and electronics are no longer included. Most problems have become more like mathematical problems and if you are not comfortable with integration, you will suffer through it.
After that will be the third year EM module, this time round optional. By this time, EM has morphed into its true colours. Waves. Another scary part of physics for many. So by this time if you still can endure it, means you are a true lover of EM.
Finally if you feel strong after taking all those EM modules, you can finally advance to ED in the final year. By this time relativity would have come into the picture and tensors would be your good friend. Charges are now starting to accelerate and radiate. The link to quantum mechanics is startin to bridge and you are now prepared to graduate from the classical world into quantum electrodynamics.
Two books are enough to cover your entire classical ED journey. Griffith's Intro to Electrodynamics and Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics. Master the first one and you will be strong in both vector calc and electrody. Master the 2nd and you will be god.
Here's a coupla links useful for an intermediate visitor/shopper to Japan:
- Japan Today (esp their Metropolis & Tokyo Guide section)
- Japan Times
- Cool boutiques in Tokyo
- Peter Payne's Blog (an English translated point of view of Japan)
- Trends in Japan
- Ringisei (Singaporean blog with several posts of extremely useful Tokyo food review)
