Sunday, January 22, 2006
recently, there have been quite a bit of news..
well, there was the report on how analyzing your 10 fingerprints can tell you about your learning style, abilities, strong points, weaknesses etc. the basis of it all is that the way your brain is structured and developed is imprinted in the whirl of grooves and twirls on the surface of your fingers. the reason why no 2 people have the same fingerprints is because everyone's brain develops differently. and even if you burnt off some part of the skin on your finger, the fingerprint you subsequently develop will be similar to the previous one you had, because your brain development is already final. apparently, the appearance of fingerprints and the development of the brain take place during the same period.. hmmm i think i'll have to ask the embrylogy teachers.
i guess this thing is somewhat like the "genetic fingerprinting" issue eh? fingerprinting can tell your prospective employers whether you have the ability or intrinsic talent for doing a certain job.. will that cause you a job that you really want, but do not have "talent" for? and if your fingerprint shows that you are not a smart person, you have to be hardworking to succeed.. will that cause you your confidence then? i guess the reason behind this development was a good one. the researchers wanted to use this to cater education according to different individuals' different needs, but didn't all the genetic research start off with noble purposes too? somehow, it is in human's nature to exploit. we have a knack for turning good things into bad things against us. bah.
then there is osama proposing a ceasefire to the US. and mind you, it is a conditional ceasefire. i wonder who was the one who started all these tragedies in the first place. he told bush something that went like this. : you don't have to be ashamed of agreeing to a ceasefire. it is not a matter of national pride. it is not because we do not have the ability to penetrate your national defences that we have not launched further attacks, our race is not one who forgives easily, if you do not agree to the ceasefire, wait and see ".. i forgot what were the exact words, but according to what i remembered, it went something like that. you will be a fool to believe osama. that guy who looks harmless on the outside, but is oozing deadly venom from all his orifices.
and then there was the fireman who died on duty. because of an accident at a cross junction. the fire engine was speeding across the junction when it crashed head-on with an oncoming car and overturned, killing 1 fireman and injuring a few others. the newspaper did not report explicitly whether the fire engine was speeding across the junction when the traffic light was red, or that the oncoming car was "at fault".. but i suspect the earlier was the case. sigh. traffic is unpredictable isn't it? observing traffic rules could get you into an accident too. i'm sure the victims of fire would rather the fire engine arrive later, than never arrive at all. who could have known where the fire engine was heading towards, which way it was going to go next? of course, we civilians should give way when we can, but what draws the line that differentiates dangerous driving and heeding the call of duty?
yesterday i was really pissed with my sister's maths teacher. please. imagine asking your students to attempt doing something before it is even taught. fancy asking them to express their answers using set notation when they do not have the sightest inkling as to what a "set" is. Add maths is a vey conceptual subject. grasp the concept and it will be easy. if not, happy new year to you then. i wonder what the teacher has been teaching the class. my sister comes back not knowing anything that has been taught. so does the rest of her class. and i wonder what her prevous teachers have been teaching her too. i do not know how she has gotten through sec 2's algebraic equations without knowing what the "root" of an equation means. or even what a "quadratic equation" means. goodness. what is the world coming to? how do you expect to nurture a future generation of elites when the standard of teachers leaves much to be desired?
i think that a certain agency has been giving out scholarships too easily. nowadays, many of the people who are supposed to be moulding the future generation are not doing so because they want to, but because they have no other way to go. they need the scholarship. of course, you can say that many of us are not really doing what we really want to, but well, at least we make sure we try to do our best. i wonder what these heck of a teacher are doing in school. i might as well take my sister out of school and hire a private tutor if she learns nothing in school. i have a good mind to sit in during lesson and observe how the teacher "teaches", if you can even call what he is doing in class "teaching". or perhaps write a letter to complain. oh, but i'm afraid that given his standard, he'll have problems understanding what i'm writing about in the letter. hmph.
enough about teachers. hmph. well today's chinese papers have this interesting article on the experiences of a well-to-do pampered guy who landed himself in prison for 5 weeks because he drove though his license was revoked. it was really intriguing. how the first day of prison was meant to make you submit yourself to all the regimentation within prison, no matter how impudent and rebellious you had been outside. how prison can change you to become a law-abiding citizen due to fear.. food for thought.
well, the smu tournament has come to an end at last. poof. been a tiring week. ivp, then this tournament, then inter hall and inter faculty coming up. *snores* haha..
take care peeps and tata for now! :)
