I didn't even know this until Grace told me today. I probably should add The New Paper and Today to my daily reads... I don't do that because it gets boring seeing the same news again and again (after Zaobao and Google News), but it seems like Zaobao NEVER publishes this kind of thing.
Probably STOMP too - just for entertainment. I used to read it in the UK whenever I was waiting for something to finish incubating.
BUT the freaking problem is -
WHY ISN'T A*STAR TELLING US?
AND WE HAVE TO FIND IT OUT OURSELVES? Through FRIENDS?
If this guy is a Hopkins student, WE WOULD HAVE KNOWN IN LESS THAN 12 HOURS, IN AN EMAIL SENT BY PRESIDENT BRODY.
A*STAR doesn't tell us (at least me) much. In order to find out what is going on with Singapore's biomedical industry I either go find the press releases myself, or yc who is from EDB will tell me. He knows these things better than me. Or Zaobao might tell me (not often).
A*STAR people reading this - what do you think about this? How well do you know A*STAR or the BMS in Singapore in general? If someone asks me to give them information, honestly, there is very little that I can tell them.
Shouldn't we care? I will start caring. Let me see how much I can find out.
The following passages are my attempts to write an essay under 30 minutes. If you can, try to comment on whether things make sense, writing style etc... Thanks!
Scientific inquiry is rooted in the desire to discover, but there is no discovery so important that in its pursuit a threat to human life is tolerable.
The spirit of scientific inquiry is our desire to know and discover. In modern society science is held in high regard not only because of the practical applications and technological advances that it can bring about; the fact that science can unveil more mysteries and solve more problems presented to us by nature is believed to be able to improve the human condition and make humans more powerful contributed to such an understanding as well.
Although scientific discovery is important to us as humans, there are certain limitations to what can be done and what cannot be. For example, when the process of scientific discovery constitutes a threat to human life, it might not be acceptable under most circumstances, especially if we limit our definition of 'human life' to adults who are unquestionably alive. For example, as people discovered that the special forces of Japan conducted experiments on their prisoners-of-war in China during the Second World War, they were widely criticised and the officer-in-charge was convicted of war crimes by the Allied tribunal after the war. In this example, the Japanese scientists who took part in the experiments wanted to know the effects of certain pathogenic agents on human beings, and one can argue that they were partly driven by the 'desire to discover' as well; however, the fact that they deliberately put human beings in danger and in actual fact killed some of them through their scientific process rendered their actions unacceptable.
However, under very limited and tightly controlled circumstances, a threat to human life can be tolerated in the process of scientific discovery. In cases where the effects of novel drugs need to be identified, the clinical trials designed would always place a certain level of threat to the life of the patient. In some instances, the threat can be very real. A few years ago, a young man died of an overblown systemic immune response when he received a dose of transgenic adenoviruses directly injected to his liver in a trial which aimed to correct a genetic metabolic disorder that he suffered from. Despite such problems, clinical trials involving novel therapeutic strategies are still continuing and are still widely accepted as an important means for advancement in medicine. That is because, other than actually trying these novel measures on actual patients, there is no other reliable alternative to test their effectiveness and safety before they can be widely used by patients generally. If such trials are not allowed, we will never have new strategies available to tackle the increasing amount of illnesses that people suffer from and will post a significant obstacle in the advancement of medicine and the standard of living of our sick.
Thus, it would be fair to conclude that in cases where an outright disregard of human life is involved in the scientific process, that scientific process should never be allowed, just like the case of the Japanese during the Second World War. Unnecessary threats to human life in a scientific process, such as in cases where there are alternatives other than the process proposed, should not be allowed either. Only in cases where there is no other alternative other than direct trials on humans that a certain level of threat to human life during that process can be tolerated. Even in those cases, carefully evaluated protocols regarding what can and what cannot be done has to be strictly enforced to minimise the health risks that the patients serving as test subjects has to bear.
Education comes not from books but from practical experience.
Mainstream education in most developed countries all over the world emphasises heavily on knowledge from books. The way assessments are structured and teachings are conducted nowadays requires books and textbooks to form a large proportion of a student's learning experience. For example, in universities in the United States, instructors often recommended students to acquire textbooks, either as optional reference texts or as an integral part of the course, and instructors often structure their course around the information presented in the text. Even in classes where textbooks are not required, reading passages and articles acquired from various books, magazines and journals often form an important part of the work that a student is required to do.
However, when we launch into a discussion about education, we cannot limit the definition of education only to what a student receives in classrooms. Education has a much broader meaning than that. For a person to be considered 'educated', other than knowledge from books, he ought also to learn how to live a life as a person, make morally sound decisions, be able to earn a living through acquiring skills that would be valuable, etc. Education is a multi-faceted entity, and certainly, classroom teaching in schools is only a part of it.
Thus, it would not be appropriate to say that education entails only the acquiring of knowledge from books. When we consider the other aspects of education, clearly books are not sufficient - it seems more likely that practical experience is also a major way for a person to be educated in those aspects. For example, in order for a person to know how to have a successful marriage, reading books on that topic is clearly not sufficient. He needs to talk to people who are experienced in that aspect, do some reflection on his own regarding his character and his behavioural patterns, speak to counsellors if necessary, and really live with his wife before he can be considered 'educated' in that aspect. If that person possesses extensive knowledge from books regarding how to have a successful marriage, but in real life he has had three divorces or he is not even married at all, generally he would not be considered to 'know' how to lead a happy married life.
However, it would be overly simplistic to claim that 'education comes not from books but from practical experience'. Although practical experience constitutes a major part of a person's education experience, knowledge from books cannot be discounted. As we have seen, knowledge from books is the main thing that educators in schools focus on, and in many instances, such knowledge provides the background for people to move on to acquire skills that will be important for them when they enter the job market. There is no way an electrical engineer can be trained if he does not know the basics of the physics of electricity; neither can a doctor in modern days be trained if he does not possess basic knowledge of biology and chemistry. Such knowledge can only come from books; although one might argue that what makes an engineer an engineer is still the practical experience he gathers while he is doing the job, the engineer cannot even start his practical training if he does not possess basic knowledge from the books.
To conclude, in order for a person to be considered 'educated', he has to acquire both knowledge from books and practical experience. Education does not only consist of one or the other. In some cases, a person needs to possess basic knowledge from books before he can undergo further training to become a professional. However, he cannot only rely on books for his education either; practical experience is extremely important to provide aspects of education that books can never offer. In the example of the married man, there is no way he will know how to lead a happy married life just from books; for the engineer, he can never be considered an actual engineer until he has done the job and knows exactly what is expected of him.
This is a pretty interesting observation about myself -
When I was reading the budget after it was mailed to me, I figured that I am actually consciously looking for things that will benefit me. Sadly, other than the $400m to the NRF and the extra 20% tax credit there is nothing else that has any relevance to me (I do not receive GST credits).
The budget is no longer something that is only of intellectual interest. It is something of practical interest - I am expecting it to impact my life.
As usual, it is hard to pick problems out of Singapore's budget, and it is as usual, unique. When Taiwan is handing out vouchures directly for people to go shopping, when the US is talking about reducing the tax burden of the middle class, Singapore gives money to employers who keep their Singaporean workers, gives a bit of money to the people directly, helps banks share some of their risks, and returns more taxes to people who lost jobs and started losing money in their businesses - something HKG is still rather unwilling to do.
I don't know what the mentality is - I tend to think that, Singapore knows what is not going to work, but Singapore might not know exactly what is going to work. We know that Taiwan's measure is not going to help the economy in the long run, we know that we need a population armed with consuming power - and here Singapore comes out with something and tries, and then other countries follow suit when it works. The IRs, F1, Youth Olympics, biomedical sciences, Newater - they are all results of the same thing.
Whether these things work out - it is all a game. We make our best guess, place our bets, and the rest are all God's. It is the same thing for investments - general public comments are always bashing GIC and Temasek for their bad investment decisions - but well Singapore has to do something to the savings that we have to prevent them from depreciating, and once you go into investments there are definitely risks, and this round not even the best economists envisioned the severity of the crisis. The main problem with them is, they are managing public funds, yet they are not transparent and are not publicly accountable (i.e. no one knows what is happening, and no one can ask or touch them). That is the ridiculous part, not the bad investment decisions.
(Isn't our life like that too - how do you know something will definitely work out for you? Sometimes, other than trusting God what else can you do?)
Back to my initial point - I find that this is a very middle-class thing. To look for little incentives that you can get here and there to supplement your income is a very middle-class thing.
I have been making interesting observations - about how some of us are working hard for career advancement, trying to earn some money all the time, make noise when chicken becomes $1.19/lb (used to be $0.99/lb - this has to be me LOL) - while some others not only do not have to do that - okay, even things they complain about are hmms different.
Haha if you value hard work, do not want to be a burden to your parents (i.e. don't want to ask them for money (extra money - in case of non-scholars) unless you are almost dying), shows an active interest in seeking out free stuff and incentives and money that will help, read the budget first for yourself specifically then more generally, and wonder when you eventually get married whether you can qualify for subsidised HDB - you are quite typically my kind.
That day we were talking about how can we integrate worship, work, service, the arts, and ministry into one thing in our lives (apparently the Hebrew word for all 5 items is the same). It seems to me that in my life - there is probably some overlap but not entirely so. It is certainly possible to do all 5 as one - I can imagine how that would be like, but it seems obvious to me that, considering the stuff that I just discussed, I am definitely not there yet :P
Remember that I have commented that the CHL is 'evil'?
My assessment doesn't change. Especially if you are a freshman with an interesting idea that 'thou ought to study because NS has corroded thy brain'.
In practice, the CHL might not be the thing to blame, but the idea itself can be rather detrimental.
But, if you are a junior with a dwindling bank account, any monetary input is considered awesome. Especially - I think I am only one sem away from a free holiday to Sabah and Mt. Kinabalu.
Haha. Tricks like senior option, S/U, dropping classes, etc. will all be used when necessary. They do no harm to people, they do no harm to me - it is just that, I will do all that is ethically allowed within the system to get my 4.0 next semester.
I was watching Obama the whole morning until the end of the official ceremony. Then I went back to engage in MCAT until I again forgot to send all the emails that I should send. One of which I have dragged for 6 days already. I ought to kill myself.
Obama's inaugural address wasn't as epic as it should be. We are kind of used to him already I guess. However, the important thing is not whether he can talk, but - he can eventually deliver his promises, lead America out of this self-created hellhole, bring jobs and health care back to the people, and concrete support for R&D aimed at improving the human condition and delaying (again self-created) doomsday. He addressed all these in his inaugural address.
Whether he can actually bring about the change he promised - well, what kind of change are we actually expecting? I mean, as long as we do not have the Bush people around, there will be change - because any American administration is likely to be smarter than Bush's. What the government do will start to make sense. But - Obama pledges a larger and more fundamental change, a change that is supposed to make America a more responsible nation and Americans more responsible people - I am not quite sure an administration can actually do that.
Obama might inspire the college student to be more aware of people around them and be less self-important. If this is something that can be sustained and be carried forth, it is definitely a positive societal force. However, do you genuinely believe that Obama can actually change Wall Street? Alter business practices? Fundamentally change the attitude of Americans who are stakeholders? Get the Jews who are Democrats to stop supporting a Zionist right-wing Israeli government?
We won't see America fundamentally change. All we might see is, America will join the Kyoto protocol, stop labelling people as the 'Axis of Evil', stop raging wars that are unnecessary, have more regulatory presence in the financial market, reduce the prominence of ideology in all practical fields, etc. - things that make intellectual sense. To fundamentally change America, it will take more than one generation and a fundamental change in the global power structure.
My prediction is - Obama's era would be a time where America would start to actively re-establish their reputation and leadership in the world, people will have less reasons to hate America, and they would begin to start actually doing something to solve the internal problems that have been bugging them but are being conveniently (or might even be actively) ignored.
Obama's era will be a satisfying era for people like us who are left-wing moderates. There will be significantly less idiotic things coming out of Washington DC (the NPR has been lamenting - they have NO MORE BUSH to make fun of!!). However, if you are expecting fundamental change - I am sorry, that is something you won't see. Probably you might have more hope looking at China change. ______________________________________________________ MCAT writing sample - done it in around 30 minutes. Please comment!
An understanding of the past is necessary for solving the problems of the present.
There are significant problems that the world faces now that require politicians around the world to put forth immediate and decisive action. A current example of such a scale would be the economic crisis that started in America as the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequently affected every country around the globe. As we look back into history, this is not the first time that the world is being confronted with such a significant economic crisis. The Great Depression in the 1930s is one which can arguably surpass this current crisis in terms of scale and impact. More recently, the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997 are also examples which had significant impacts on global economy.
In this sense, when there are precedents to the current problems that we are facing, understanding the past will definitely help in solving the problems of the present. There have been a lot of parallels drawn in the media between the current crisis and the Great Depression in the 1930s, and economists have also spoken to draw on the similarities and differences between the two crises to see if we can learn anything from the way Franklin Roosevelt brought the country out of the previous crisis. Banks and governments around the world have also done the same, tapping into their experiences in dealing with previous crises to devise strategies to bring their countries out of the problems they are facing now. There have also been reports suggesting that the experience gathered and the reforms that had been in place in the Asian economies have prepared them a lot better compared to the crises they faced in 1997.
However, a lot of the problems that we face in modern times do not have parallels in the past. Issues such as global warming and the controversies surrounding stem cell research, for example, do not have precedents in the past. In this case, we are faced with a problem - even though understanding the past would be useful in helping us solve present problems, there is no direct 'past' for us to look into when we deal with these issues. This will thus form a situation in which it is impossible for us to look to the past for solutions even if we want to.
Does that mean that we will not be able to solve these problems satisfactorily? The answer is no. Other than looking directly to seek an understanding of the past, we are also capable of coming with novel solutions with no precedents in history. To avoid the ethical controversies surrounding stem cell research, scientists in Japan and Wisconsin have devised a new way of obtaining those controversial embryonic stem cells - they manipulated the genes of some normal body cells from an adult animal and turned them into cells which closely resembles embryonic stem cells. With their research, we can potentially obtain stem cells without having to 'murder' embryos - which have always been the point of contention surrounding stem cell research. In this case, scientists have solved an unprecedented problem using innovation which did not involve an understanding of history.
In short, it is not always necessary to have an understanding of the past before one can solve problems of the present. In the example of the financial crisis, knowing how we have dealt with similar problems in the past would definitely help to solve the problem, and people are indeed doing that now. However, in situations where there is no precedent for the current problem, that might not even be possible and thus an understanding of the past would definitely not be necessary. In fact, in situations like this, innovation and creativity might even be more important compared to an understanding of the past. The stem cell research example clearly illustrates that.
If you find this cute, that's normal. But if you think that this is something 'useful', you are most probably a vet or are destined to spend the rest of your life in a lab...
I have got better, but there is still this irritating cough that doesn't want to go away. It is not very bad, and I am still trying to rest and self-medicate. Hopefully it will go away soon.
Nothing much is getting across my mind these days... Though, if you want me to tell you about my research, and various other things that I am doing / have yet to do, I can probably talk for half an hour. However I am pretty sure you won't want to get me started on prostates of mice that have not even been born yet.
However for men out there this might be interesting information. My boss talking about nestin - and I am currently helping him to collect some related samples from Carnegie which are pretty interesting...
This is probably the worst time to fall sick, and here I am, sick.
Started yesterday - extreme runny nose, weak and feverish, and got a cough too this morning. I know most probably what it is - some viral infection which doctors are useless at, but I went to the wellness centre anyway. As I expected, not very helpful.
So have been eating vitamin C and drinking herbal tea and honey with lemon and warm soy milk and sleeping a lot - but still have to go to work though. Other than that I minimised all other human contact, and substituted MCAT with sleep. And I tried to go home as early as I can.
Making matters worse, this is probably the coldest winter I have ever got over here. It is -3 degC now, not too bad still - tomorrow low is at -11 degC, Friday it is projected to have a wind chill of -18 degC. Wisconsin is at -16 degC now I think.
I don't like wearing a lot; usually 3 layers (with big jacket) is enough for me at 0 degC. For tomorrow and Friday, I guess I wouldn't have a choice but to wear more + beanie and scarf and gloves...
Us and guide at Ipsaycocha Pass, 4600m Ollantaytambo - Rio Urubamba valley
I am getting lazier and lazier in terms of replying to emails and writing this blog...
Anyway, I am back from Peru - photos to follow on Facebook and Picasa. To summarise: the country feels much like Malaysia, the hike was pretty tiring (and freezing cold), the drivers there are crazy, and I probably have learnt more about the Incas in that one week compared to the whole of my life. Which I suppose is a good thing.
And I got this tan on me now because of the high altitude sun and the brisk + crisp mountain breeze (or gust?). Needless to say, nature has always been as amazing as ever.
(How can someone not like nature? That is something that God made first-hand, the ultimate piece of art - mountains, rivers and streams, the sea, the sun, the night sky, beautiful flowers always make me feel happy. Things in the art gallery are basically just reproductions of those, and nature is something that no skilled artist can reproduce - you have to see it for yourself to believe its beauty!)
So now I am back, doing work in lab and studying for MCAT. Not exactly something that is very fun. I am planning to use this blog to practise writing, so expect to see some half-an-hour essays of bad quality (hopefully will improve in due course) here for the next 3 weeks...
I am supposed to have thought about 2008 during Christmas and I should be thinking about 2009 now. Obviously I have not done so.
I have been spending all my time playing since Christmas eve. KH and Chenli arrived in Baltimore on that day, and I have been bringing them around since. We flew to Peru on Monday and of course we have been touring. And of course I will not forget the eating lol!
We will be setting off to the mountains tomorrow and we will start our hike the day after. It has been raining a lot but well, if I want the scenery and the expeience, that is something that we have to put up with! The group that we joined are mostly going to do the traditional Inca Trail, but the three of us will be doing Lares. It is supposed to be more pristine and more cultural, and of course we also get to see Macchu Picchu (i.e. the main thing the people on the Inca Trail is going to see).
Okay - I will go reflect when I come back from Peru. But one thing for certain - 2008 has been great, and 2009 will be greater. Also, no more no more procrastination...!
