Saturday, August 25, 2007
Perfumes -vww

Until recently, many perfumes use animal products such as musk from the musk deer, castoreum from the beaver, civet from civet cats, etc. as fixatives to stabilize the scent and make it last longer. Most of these are secretions from some glands near the animals' genitals or anus. So if you think about it, in an attempt to make themselves attractive, women have been applying on themselves pretty much what the musk deer puts on its penis, haha.

Musk deer are endangered animals because they've been hunted through the years for musk. And since they can run so fast (I've seen footage of one jumping 2 metres up a wall and then run horizontally on it matrix-style), people just kill them instead of attempting live capture. So if a perfume manufacturer claims that they do not test their products on animals, does it necessarily imply that no animals were harmed in the process of making the product?

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Yiheng made 10:51 AM

2 Comments:

It's the same with canned TUNA. No dolphins were harmed during the fishing process, but what about the poor tunas that get eaten by the humans?
By  Soqcrates, at 5:25 PM  

Theres a recent report that the catch for tuna is dwindling. For all you know, tuna might be an endangered species tomorrow.
By  Anonymous, at 11:42 PM  

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Primary School Math -vwv

Primary 5 Mathematics

This is the type of math question our primary school children need - questions that require thinking rather than just applying formulas. By the way, it's quite amusing to see that when people are armed with advanced mathematical tools, they forget how to use simple ones. Kinda like knowing how to use GPS but not a compass.

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Yiheng made 10:16 PM

4 Comments:

That's quite difficult for a Primary 5 student. I thought at this stage they should be reinforcing their fundamentals in additions,and multiplications. Remember the video I showed you the last time?

But this can probably be a bonus question of sorts. Not all kids will appreciate this kind of math. Heck some can't even add properly.
By  Soqcrates, at 11:40 PM  

I disagree. Primary school kids should be about 2 years ahead of us when we were that age. Even average students should be at least 1 year ahead.

That means by Primary 5, they should know how to identify multiples of 2,3,5,6,9 and 10. Nerdy kids should know that of 4,8 and 11 too. Reinforcing fundamentals of additions and multiplications was what I did in kindergarten. If you are still doing that in Primary 5, you are in serious trouble.
By  Anonymous, at 10:34 PM  

nobody does additions and multiplications in kindergarten, that's so hardcore. Not everyone's a genius; some don't even go to kindergarten. You must know that not everyone likes or is good at math. Primary school math should be at a level that the bulk of students can catch and of course there is a minimum standard which is to being better than the American junior school.

That next thing you know, they start teaching calculus at primary school
By  Soqcrates, at 1:35 AM  

You're seriously underestimating Singapore children. Not only do they attend kindergarten, they also attend pre-nursery, abacus class, mental calculations, etc. Singapore kids definitely have no problems computing with speed and accuracy. The issue is whether they really understand what they are doing and why the numbers can be manipulated in such and such manner.
By  Anonymous, at 10:58 PM  

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Friday, August 17, 2007
Upcoming Performances -vvz vwv

I recently came across brochures of some interesting classical music performances. One of them is "First Movements - Prague Sinfonia Orchestra". The elegantly designed glossy black brochure attracted my attention initially, followed by the word Prague and the picture of Min Lee, a.k.a Lee Huei Min. I have seen Min Lee once at an MRT station but never had the opportunity to attend a performance by Singapore's poster girl of classical music, so naturally this concert piqued my interest.

The other concert is "Clouds of Glory". Choo Hoey conducts. The draw for this concert is its program of popular works. The catchy melody of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major and Stravinsky's famous The Firebird Suite are both pieces I rather enjoy.

Unfortunately, the early bird discounts are over and there is always the problem of finding company to attend a classical concert. So I decided to subscribe to the SSO's event emails so that I will be in time for future concerts. That's when I found out I had to provide a phone number, which was ridiculous. Why the heck do they need my phone number for?!

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Yiheng made 11:23 PM

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Da:ns Festival is back -vvz vwv

Da:ns Festival 2007 is coming soon. Anyone interested in attending any of the events?

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Yiheng made 10:29 PM

1 Comments:

OH cool, I still remember last year went to the dance marathon with a friend and her hiphop kakis....sweet...
By  Soqcrates, at 8:55 AM  

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