An Update on My Withdrawal from Another Blog

After a direct confrontation (initiated by me), I have finally been removed completely from Mr Tay's blog. He claims that his MSN nick was in reference to a virus, and that he did not know that I had removed my posts from his blog.

~~Gilby~~(",)...how do u fight an enemy which has no form? no body to break, no will to bend, no spirit to crush? says:

i didnt know what you were talking about until i went to my blog and saw that you had deleted all your posts

very well, you shall get your wish

and i assume this... misunderstanding arose because of my extended nick

in that case, let me assure you that it is certainly not so

it is for a virus that i thought i had removed

oh, why do i bother explaining myself

in any case

you shall have your wish

have a nice day

I seriously have no idea how someone can change the admin access of a person from his/her blog without logging into blogger, looking at their dashboard, and noticing that some of the posts are missing.

So maybe the nick did have nothing to do with the change in admin access. I never put much stock into his (or anyone else's) MSN nicks anyway. Malcolm said that Gilbert's nicks are extremely attention seeking, but I've never really found them so. So his MSN nick may not have sent a wrong message to me, but it sure may have misled others.

But as to why Gilbert would possibly want to 'bother explaining himself'? Could it be because the 'misunderstanding' actually arose due to the change in admin access, not because of anything he wrote or will write on his MSN nick?

Gilbert, in his usual way of attempting to retain the upper hand in an argument, completely ignored the point in question, and instead focused on something rather unimportant.

At least that clears up the fact that he is not, and has not accused me of tampering with his posts. So rest assured, other bloggers whom I share blogs with, I do not edit or delete your posts without your consent =P.

As to my response to Gilbert's follow up post, well, needless to say, no assumptions have really been made on my part (perhaps with the exception of the MSN nick, the nick having being brought to my attention by someone else). The removal of admin access speaks for itself. As to why my posts were deleted, they have actually long been put up on http://meyanze.blogspot.com, so this was merely a shift in address, not a deletion.

Gilbert used to keep copies of all posts on his blog on his computer, so you don't really need to feel THAT sorry for him now that they are gone from his blog =P. Oh well, but if the computer virus ate the posts, awwwwwww. He can just go to http://meyanze.blogspot.com to read them, like the rest of the world. As for the drafts, he can go try ask Malcolm for access if they really mean so much to him.

Hee hee does that mean that Malcolm now has 3 lungs and 3 kidneys?

Rules for Psyching

1) You are non vul
2) Opponents are vul
3) Your side has a fantastic fit

Bid like you own 13 cards in all 4 suits

For What It's Worth

Some time back, I did some IQ test on theSpark.com and came across an interesting question. I don't normally do IQ tests, but I did the gender test on theSpark, and couldn't stop doing quizzes after that =P.

The question went something like this:

Which is worth more?

1. A boot full of nickels.
2. Half a boot full of dimes.

A)1. B)2. C)They are both the same.

At first glance, I thought to myself 'Ahah! Trick question! They want people to think that the question wants to trick them by thinking 1. is more because there will be more nickels in a full boot as compared to 1/2 a boot. But since a nickel is worth 1/2 of what a dime is worth, these people will all choose C. However, the real trick is that a dime and a nickel are not of the same size, so the smaller one will be the one that is worth more!'

Of course, I am not from the USA, and I've never been there. While that is no excuse for not knowing which is larger, the nickel or the dime, I quite believe that IQ tests were supposed to have certain biases removed (e.g. biases against nationality), and I sincerely couldn't be bothered to find out what the sizes of the coins were just to answer an online IQ test, so I just went along with the fact that the 10c coin in Singapore is larger than the 5c coin, and picked A) as the answer.

I have no idea if my answer was marked as correct. Now that I've checked with Gideon, the answer is appears to be B), because the dime is actually smaller than the nickel. But that still doesn't mean that the people who set that certain question reasoned out the answer in the same way, so I asked a couple more people what they thought the answer was.

Both the people I asked answered C immediately.

One of them is very proud of his 160 IQ (he actually tested as having an IQ of 180, but has chosen to reduce this number because of what he claims was mental deterioration over the years, e.g. through lack of sleep). When I explained to him why I thought the answer was A) (I had yet to talk to Gideon at this time), he simply stated, no, he believed the answer would still be C. No explanation, not even on why he thought my answer to be wrong.

The other person immediately accepted my explanation, and even said that was a smart way of thinking.

While it is always rather disconcerting to have people disagree with you, and possibly rather hard to accept at times, I sincerely do not understand how it is possible that when some people have a different point of view from you, they can still fail to explain (to you) how they came up with their opinion of what is right. Or even attempt to tell you why your explanation of your opinion is wrong.

Granted that some people may not think you are worth their time, and hence would not bother with any explanations. But this particular question was not about a touchy topic like religion or some social views. It was just a question from an IQ test. And yes, there can always be questions like "Is the 'worth' they are talking about the monetary worth, or the worth in terms of amount of metal present?" But no other questions were brought up, the conversation just ended with 'I'm right, you're wrong.'

I rather wonder if the 3 people to whom I've asked this question reacted in a way similar to one that they play bridge in. I've actually partnered all 3 at some time or another.

I'm probably never going to partner the one with an IQ of 160 again, because his behaviour during bridge is extremely similar to that described above. He definitely thinks that he is much better than me in bridge, and had no qualms reminding me of that (past tense because I've had no contact with him for some time). Thus, I guess that is the reason why, on the bridge table, unless he admits he is wrong first (before you can point it out to him - hence he still appears to be better than you), he is always right. Doesn't matter if the score is bad, doesn't matter if everyone else managed to do it some other way, doesn't matter if everyone else at the table is in support of you. I suspect the reason why he only removed my admin access from his blog instead of totally removing me from it (as per my request) was because he would like to *finally* have some way to dominate over me =P. May not really work that way, but everyone's entitled to live in their own fantasy world.

For the guy who answered C), but accepted my explanation on why I thought the answer was A), I still play bridge with him regularly. I guess that asking him that question and actually reflecting on his (and others') answer brought me to the conclusion that I should be more accepting when discussing bridge things with this partner. He's not always in the position of the person answering C); I guess I am sometimes too, and there are always times we both are. But if we both react like the person mentioned above, we can never improve as a pair. He obviously is willing to listen to me, and accept my explanation when it makes sense; I should try to listen to his explanations more (even though I sometimes think he takes off on flights of fantasy).

As for Gideon, I expected him to come up with the right answer the first time around, given his mental capabilities, and he did not let me down. Although we came up with different answers, it was due to a technical error (fine I was lazy and didn't check. But you're not supposed to during a test =P). The reasoning was the same. I wonder if that would apply to us on the bridge table. I haven't played with him enough to know if that is true. Maybe we'll find out someday =D.

But after all that, maybe it's actually landing up at the same (correct?) answer, no matter what the reasoning, that matters at the bridge table. I remember this rather amusing hand with another partner (not one of the 3) where we, after a takeout double from the opponent and a penalty double of that take out from me, managed to run from a contract where we only had a 4-2 fit to a contract where we had a 5-3 fit. o.O. Am going to ask him that question when I next see him online =P.

Edit: The answer given by the last person was B), the reason being that there is a limit to the no. of coins that can be used in 1 transaction, and since the smaller no. of coins is more likely to be below that limit, B) is more likely to be worth more. Nice new perspective on a very normal looking question =).

Why I Think Singapore Will Never Legalise Cannabis

This post was inspired by the post on Mr Wang's site.

I have known about the lack of harmful effects of Marijuana for over a year now, thanks to Firefox's 'stumble' addon, and my choice of drugs in the interest category (with me for obscure reasons assuming they were referring to medicine). Yes, I have to admit, I was mildly surprised to find out that weed is actually less harmful and addictive than cigarettes and alcohol.

A lot of the sites I stumbled upon were arguing for the legalization of Cannabis in the USA, and I rather understood why those US citizens were puzzled as to why their country wouldn't legalize the drug, US being rather big on the 'freedom' issues.

But Singapore is a lot different from the USA. I suspect Singapore will never legalise Cannabis, and the reason is simple - the Singapore government cannot find a way to earn money off the sale of this drug.

Sales of alcohol and tobacco bring in large revenues for the Singapore government through taxes. The price of cigarettes since I turned 18 has nearly doubled, and this is definitely not due to inflation. In an apparent bid to make smoking prohibitive, the Singapore government has stopped the sale of small packets of cigarettes (those containing 10 sticks instead of 20), so that casual smokers would stop smoking when they realise they have to buy 20 sticks each time instead of 10, and finish the pack in the same time they'd normally finish the smaller one (or the cigarettes will become 'stale'). On my part, I quite believed that what the Singapore government was trying to do was to earn more money by inducing 'casual' smokers to start smoking larger packs because they did not want to kick the habit, and hence doubling their revenue from this group of people.

But at least when the Singapore government increases taxes on tobacco, it has a very good reason to - smoking harms, smoking kills, this has been scientifically proven, and so they can say that the high prices they set are actually for the good of the Singapore citizens.

However, for the Singapore government to even legalize Cannabis, it has to first recognise the fact that weed isn't a killer drug. This would bring up the issues that not only isn't Cannabis harmful, it is less addictive than tobacco, alcohol, and even caffeine. Apparently, you can't even die of an overdose of weed.

Let's take a look at what is considered 'expensive' in Singapore, apart from the cigarettes and alcohol that the government has put high prices on to protect the citizens. Housing and cars are expensive here too. But there are good reasons for this. Singapore is a small nation. Land is scarce. It would make sense for the prices of land to be high then, and with that goes the prices of housing units. Also, to stop overcrowding on the limited no. of roads this small island can have, cars are also expensive.

But what of Cannabis if this drug is ever legalized? I can't really offhand think of a reason why it should be highly taxed. Sure, the drug may be hard to get, and may be expensive already when it reaches Singapore, but it being not particularly harmful, and not posing much problems to the society as large, can't possibly induce that high a tax from the government for any clear reason.

Before Cannabis can even be legalized, the Singapore government would also have to do some research to ensure that the studies done on this drug are legit, and many meetings and votes etc have to be called before anything can even be decided. All this costs money.

Would the Singapore government ever spend such a sum of money for low almost nil returns? I sincerely doubt it.

But really, although I believe that if the Singapore government actually legalized this drug, it may be viewed as a positive step in giving its citizens more autonomy over their lives, I find myself wondering if the cost to do so is worth it. Sure, those having high ranking jobs in the Singapore government are rich, extremely rich for that matter, and perhaps that indicates that the Singapore government itself isn't broke. But what I suspect is that in the end, if the government ever decided to start the process of legalizing Marijuana, the normal taxpayers like you and me will be suffering the brunt of the costs. Possibly through another rise in the GST rate.

Withdrawal From Another Blog

Update to this post can be found here.

This post was made in reference to this blog: http://seraph-time-traveller.blogspot.com/

I am posting this up here as a backup, in case the owner of the other blog decides to pretend the situation was otherwise after he has finally removed me as a contributor. It appears that he is already trying to send the wrong message to the world with using his MSN nick, which someone has kindly informed me reads, "Stop fking interfering. In life you cause problems in death you cause more problems. GO AWAY AND STOP DOING THINGS YOU SHOULDNT". Since this change happened around the time when my admin access was taken away from his blog, I would suppose that at least part of the statement refers to me.

I will qualify here that I made NO changes to his blog's template, his posts, or the other contributor's posts. As I wrote in his blog, the only thing I did was to delete every single one of my posts from his blog. The post is as follows:

As you all know, this blog is a rather dead one. No updating, and even the posts that appear aren't very interesting. I had thus decided to withdraw from this blog, and had started by removing all the posts belonging to me.

This has resulted in my admin access being removed, hence I cannot remove myself from being a contributor to this blog.

Even as a normal contributor, one still has the capability to manage one's own posts. Deleting my own posts is thus well within my own jurisdiction.

I already have admin access on 4 other blogs, and post regularly on at least 2 of them. None of these blogs are my own. I find it more fulfilling to be a member of these other blogs, and hence have decided to devote my time to managing them.

More than a month ago, I had already announced my decision to withdraw from this blog. I removed the blog from view from my member profile, a move made long after the last post from me was made on this blog.

Here's a thank you to all the readers of my posts on this blog. I will still be posting on http://serapuff.blogspot.com and http://meyanze.blogspot.com.

I suspect this post will be pulled down relatively soon, and I sincerely hope my membership to this blog goes with the post.

And just as another backup in case he should edit my post, here's a screenshot of the site.

Life's a Gamble

I guess I must really read the Straits Times because I am bored. The Straits Times has just published an extremely badly written letter by Angela Lee Soon Lee (Mdm).

ST Forum Nov 24, 2006
Play poker as a career? Fat chance

THE media attention given to the recent poker tournament held here and glamorising of poker playing as a profession are total unnecessary.

It gave many, especially the young, the false impression and hope that they could make money by playing poker well.

To say that playing poker is a skill and not a gamble is definitely not the whole truth. As the players have no control over what cards they get, it is still a game of chance. Skill, if any, comes with practice and, not surprisingly, at a heavy price.

Let it be said that for every 'successful' poker player, there are thousands of unsuccessful ones, adding to our social burden of broken families and bankruptcies. The media should have pointed out the fallacy of poker playing as a career - for most people.

Angela Lee Soon Lee (Mdm)

At the risk of sounding elitist, I will say that Mdm Lee's grammar leaves alot to be desired. It is probably just my (very) personal point of view that when one decides to write a formal letter to a newspaper, one should write in proper English. It makes me wonder if she even thought about what she wanted to say thoroughly before sending the letter; seems much like a first draft or random rantings to me.

"THE media attention given to the recent poker tournament held here and glamorising of poker playing as a profession are total unnecessary." If it is truly 'unnecessary', would that not mean that Mdm Lee actually agrees that a profession in poker playing is glamorous, and that people already know that? "It gave many, especially the young, the false impression and hope that they could make money by playing poker well." Well. Obviously she doesn't. I guess the word she was looking for was 'unwarranted', not 'unnecessary'.

Enough about her English. The reason why I was spurred on to write this post was because of this: "To say that playing poker is a skill and not a gamble is definitely not the whole truth. As the players have no control over what cards they get, it is still a game of chance." This caught my eye because I play (contract) bridge. As long as dice or cards are used in a game, it will always be a game of chance. Would Mdm Lee then consider playing Monopoly gambling? Cluedo? I wonder what she has to say about JC students playing bridge for a CCA.

As for the rest of her letter?
- "Skill, if any, comes with practice"
- "Let it be said that for every 'successful' poker player, there are thousands of unsuccessful ones"

Tell us something we don't already know. >.<

Thanksgiving dinner

This thanksgiving dinner marks the first social event which Puffy really enjoyed.
Not that I was invited there or something, I just happened to be there when they were having the dinner.
Still, I found it really fun and I enjoyed talking with other people. Maybe it's just the company.
And I got to know this Korean girl whom I will be working with in the forseeable future.

Anyway, some conversations at the dinner made me realise how lucky the Singaporeans who are here on scholarships are. It's not just the fact that someone is paying for you to study; but also, the security of a job when you graduate; even though it is a low paying job. A lot of the foreign students who are here on their parent's money have a lot of pressure to find a job after they graduate, so that they can 1) Live up to their parents' hopes for them and 2) Repay their parents financially. This pressure is on top of everything else that a normal college experience has. I guess this explains how someone who took Bio, Hum and Soc at the same time went to commit suicide[ i heard the suicide rate at University of Chicago is pretty high - if you thought RJC was bad... ] . It also explains how foreign students are so much more motivated than Americans. I mean, even if you are here on a scholarship, you still would have a 3.8 score to aim towards. Which is really really high.

Thank you, Calvin and Tong Kai

If You are Really THAT Bored...

Well (Ruixian), if you are really that bored, go read this site. It's probably total utter crap, but it will give you a good laugh nevertheless. If Robert Ho really exists, and he really believes all the stuff he says in his blog, I think he should seriously go for counselling. No, make that psychiatric treatment. Probably no need to lock him up in a strait jacket coz he looks like he would be only a danger to LKY, and well, we all know he doesn't walk around unprotected. We pay for him not to be.

And while I don't actually think our lovely government isn't above pulling numerous strings, I think this comment of Robert Ho on Mr Wang's blog has in effect removed (almost) any doubts I had over the PAP's actions in the elections.

Robert HO said...

http://i-came-i-saw-i-solved-it.blogspot.com/

Just because my blog has been viewed 312 times in the last fortnight or so, LKY got his ISD agents living and operating in the flat above mine to vandalise my fridge spoiling all the food in the freezer, about $100 worth or so. By now, my aircon, electric typewriter, fax machine, computer hard drives, DVD players, etc, etc, have been vandalised costing me more than $2,000 in repairs/replacements.

These vandalism attacks are not new and have been ongoing for 15 years. I have long documented these in soc.culture.singapore. To know more, if you are interested, do a search there using the search term... RH: LKY crimes... Or visit my blog above, which details proofs that LKY rigged the Cheng San GRC election in 1997. I have 2 eyewitnesses to this sordid deed. That is why Cheng San disappeared from the electoral map after 1997. LKY lost there and could not afford to contest it ever again.

Robert HO
S0197974D

P.S. Apparently, LKY cannot take the brutal truths about himself. He 'cannot handle the truth'. So he gets his ISD agents to do KID's STUFF like vandalising my fridge, when he could so easily have deleted me and my family from the human race with just a tap of a button on his American-bought devices. Kids stuff really.

Friday, November 17, 2006 10:05:57 PM

I would take a screen shot of it because Mr Wang would probably remove this comment when he notices it (he did with the last one, which was the one that directed me to Robert's blog), but the print screen button on my keyboard for some reason doesn't work =(.

In Our Defence?

Disclaimer: This post was not written with the intention of flaming anyone. If you feel that it is flammatory against you, please comment, tag, or contact me directly and I will try to do something about it.

Sweet. Is that the current term used with the same connotations as 'nice'?

Example of how 'sweet' could replace 'nice':

You are a nice guy. -> You are a sweet guy.

This is usually followed up by 'But...' and then the guy gets rejected by the girl.

Perhaps that is what was meant when someone described Gideon's paragraph about me as sweet. (See post, am referred to as Paw1). Have no idea whether Gideon was being suaned (i.e. sweet was being used in way described above), or whether that person really found the paragraph sweet. I have to admit that it's only because that someone is male that a 3rd possibility was ruled out by me. If that person was female, all I'd have to say would be "Gideon, you kuku, she is upset you didn't write anything about her!"

And yes, I find the paragraph sweet, not really because of the words used, or the effort put into writing it, but because it was actually written. See no. 8 of the post.

8. You must post this on yours.

(*Ahem*MalcolmRuijiaRuichen*Ahem*)

Apparently the gripe about that post might have been my tag on the tagboard. I said that 'And btw, Marvin is prob the largest prob with 2.'. Why did I say that? There are a couple of reasons why (not just conjured up, btw, I have shared these views with many others in my 'complaint' about Gideon's challenge, which I will talk about later).

1. XX and Gilbert are already partners (well, they have been playing with each other recently, though perhaps not exclusively, I've heard). So either Gideon was challenging me to partner Marvin, or indicating that I'd have to get a partner for myself, and one for Marvin.

One of the hard parts about forming a bridge team is getting partners for the members, or making sure they can rotate and play with each other. I don't particularly think Marvin would want to partner me, so if such a team were to be formed, I'd have to get 2 more players. Hence the difficulty.

2. Marvin doesn't like Gilbert, and Gilbert doesn't like Marvin.

This has not been a secret ever since one of them flammed the other on his blog. Ask them to form a team with each other? Errr?

The other reaons why this team would be really hard to form include the fact that these people would not usually be seen in a team with each other, and that none of them are really consider me (and possibly each other) a friend. But these are general reasons, and hence when I said Marvin was the main problem, I meant it because reasons 1 and 2 exist.

However, the main reason why I even bothered to tag that line was because I didn't even feel like Gideon had posted me a proper challenge. Take a look at the challenges listed in my post. Or Ruixian's post. They are specific challenges made out to specific people. I simply felt that Gideon's challenge to me wasn't very personal - most others would find it a challenge forming that bridge team, including Gideon.

But Gideon was indeed being nice when he wrote the paragraph, so maybe he should screw me for tagging such a thing after I read his sweet paragraph.

Ehhh... how can... I already made a sweet post in our defence without him egging me on.

Because Ruixian Said I was an Adult

From Ruixian's site.

[ ] I know how to make a pot of coffee (pour powder and hot water right)
[x] I can do my own laundry (wash new underwear)
[x] I can cook for myself
[ ] I do my chores after being told once
[ ] I always do my homework/work
[x] I actually enjoy intellectual conversations
[ ] I think politics are exciting
[ ] My parents & grandparents have better things to say than my peers

total: 3

[ ] I show up for school/work every day unless I'm sick
[x] I always carry a pen/pencil in my pocket/purse
[ ] I've never gotten a ticket
[x] I watch talk shows and point out the incredibility of it all (who does??)
[x] I know what incredibility means without looking it up
[ ] I drink black coffee

total: 3

[x] I know how to run the dish washer and/or do the dishes
[x] I can count in more than one language
[x] When I say I'm going to do something, I do it.
[ ] I mow the lawn
[ ] I wash my car
[x] I can make adults laugh..without being stupid
[ ] I remember to water my plants
[x] I study when I have to
[x] I pay attention at school/work
[ ] I remember to feed my pets.
[x] I'm generally organized
[x]I know the meaning of capital punishment

total: 6

[x] I can spell experience without looking it up
[x] I clean up my own messes
[ ] The first thing I do when I wake up is get coffee
[x] I can go to the store with out getting something I don't need
[x] I understand jokes the first time they are said (usually)
[ ] I listen to my elders
[x] I understand the fact that the world always screws someone over
[x] I can type fast, because I type every day

total: 4

[ ] My choice in clothing is acceptable in an office or something like that
[x] I can watch politics and laugh
[x]I have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour
[ ]I have realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job
[x] I can read a book and actually finish it
[ ] People have said that I act older than I am
[ ] I can be sent on an errand and not get sidetracked

total: 3

Aha. 19 also. See Ruixian, you are I are supposed to behave as if we were the same age. However, I guess some of the questions are unfair. Why should a person whose New Year Resolution for 2000 never to drink coffee because it's bad for health actually 1. drink black coffee, or 2. know how to make coffee? (Ok I cheat every now and then and drink a little coffee, but it's even rarer than me eating beef.) I have no car to wash, no lawn to mow. I guess in Singapore you'd have to be really rich to have either/both, and I'm certainly not there yet.

But this one. 'I have realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job.' Ahhh... Some people take me seriously although I am above the age of 25 and don't have a job (student not really = job is it?). Maybe you have to be old enough to realise that if you act confidently enough, people tend to take you seriously anyway.

And this is the ultimately impossible one. 'People have said that I act older than I am'. People usually think I am younger than I am. Heehee. Thank goodness for the lack of wrinkles >.<.

For Lee Ruijia

Don't say I left you out hor. And of all things do not go and induce Ruixin to ask for a post too.

Why didn't I write a post for you at first? Because you didn't need that morale booster, and because you didn't ask me to write one. Even though you feel that Ruixian is more intelligent than you, it either doesn't show, or it doesn't affect you that much. You have the confidence to pursue your music, even till the extent of wanting to go to that arts school in lieu of secondary school. You are a prefect in school, in the top class, and are in band, a CCA that you enjoy. You play the piano, play tennis, and go for dance classes. And it's not like your parents forced you to do those things. You wanted to yourself. And you're always so quiet. I thought maybe you wouldn't want attention to be drawn to yourself. But I should have remembered that people like to be remembered =P.

Ruixian may have the brains, and all the material comforts of being the eldest sibling. She presents herself as a very confident person who knows what she wants. Ruijia is definitely not stupid. She is intelligent too. As I said before, this intelligence gene probably runs in their family. Ruijia doesn't exude confidence like her older sister does. But when you talk to her, and when you see her do her work, you get the sense that she does know what she is doing. She has this aura of quiet confidence about her, and she clearly knows what paths she wants to take in life. Music is very important to her, and she is unafraid of pursuing that path in this country where the arts are not very well established as yet.

Amazingly, she like Chinese. Or is good at it. Or both. She's the only 1 out of the 3 I give tuition to that is taking Higher Chinese. Maybe this simply shows her willingness to study (unlike SOME people =D), Chinese being mainly memory work at this stage. And yes, she does know how to read her Science textbook, unlike SOMEONE. Weirdly enough, this flair for Chinese actually benefits her due to Singapore's bizarre system on placing emphasis on the Mother Tongue. Hmmm... but she doesn't talk to me in Chinese. I think she wants to save me the embarassment of having to reply in Chinese >.<.

Ruijia has her own blog (link on side), and is the only one out of the 3 who hasn't linked me on her blog (hint? hahaha). She changes blog addresses with alarming frequency, and always has a new template for each blog shift. Hmmm... Come to think of it, I still don't know if she does the templates by herself. Should have challenged her to learn HTML and make her very own template in the post below heehee.

I have to say that Ruijia was probably the easiest to give tuition to, because she was the most cooperative (*ahem*Ruichen*ahem*) and didn't look like she called me to go down for tuition because she wanted me to do her homework for her help her with her homework (*koff*Ruixian*koff*). Giving tuition to someone who actually has proper questions to ask, and is willing to learn, is extremely rare, and it is even less seldom that you find someone who is only in primary school who makes you feel accomplished everytime you go for a lesson.

All in all, although Ruijia appears to be a very private person, she is what you would call an all rounder, and does have a group of close friends. She doesn't dare to dream; what you may think are her dreams are very tangible to her, and she is not afraid to work towards reaching her goal.

Intelligence isn't everything. Having some may give you that headstart in life, and you do need to have some to reach a certain level of education, but hard work always wins in the end. Ruijia, remember the SMS I sent you the day before your PSLE Maths paper? If you work hard, and you get something, you will treasure it more than if it just fell into your lap. And you know you truly deserve what you get.

Surprise Surprise?

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a colour that I associate with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory about you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. You must post this on yours.

Ruixian

1. 10 1/2 years younger than me. (Please stop saying I am 40 >.<)
2. Learn how to play contract bridge =P
3. Brown. Ernie say one.
4. That you have your own views and opinions and are not afraid to share/express them.
5. That first tuition, same as you. Except that I also vaguely remember telling you that to do primary school science you should try to physically imagine things, and you actually gestured out something to help yourself answer a question.
6. Rabbit. Must be the 吃菜 thing heehee.
7. How come you still no boyfriend one? >.<

Ruijia
1. Quiet. In comparison to 2 other people, that is.
2. Hmm. Play an MMORPG?
3. Blue. One of the lighter shades.
4. That you seem to know what you want, and are willing to work for it. Also that you are not afraid to go down a lesser-taken path in pursuit of your dreams.
5. Errr. As Ruixian's younger sister?
6. Dog. Something to do with the always faithfully there thing. (Not in reference to me >.<)
7. Why do you keep changing your blog address?

Ruichen
1. Noisy. Even worse than the eldest and the youngest.
2. You? Sit down throughout the entire tution session and actually do work? Properly?
3. Pink. =P
4. That it doesn't take alot to make you happy.
5. Also as Ruixian's younger sister. All living in her shadow =X.
6. Cat. It's the screeching and the damage.
7. That 'hold my hand as tight as you want'. Who are you referring to?

Gideon
1. Very broad shoulders. You work out issit. Sure looks like it.
2. Take up something artistic. Like learn how to play the flute. Or ballroom dancing.
3. Orange.
4. That you are able to devote all your attention and time to something you are interested in. Unfortunately, this can be freaky at times.
5. At some bridge session. But I probably met you online first. Also while playing bridge. Catherine?
6. Lizard. Hahaha. Don't know why also.
7. Do you seriously think you can remain a virgin until you get married? Especially now that you are in the USA?

Malcolm
1. Unique way of walking. Can know it's you from damn far away.
2. Get a job (Haha what kind of challenge would that be.) Make your blog more personalised.
3. Grey.
4. That you really know how to listen to people (i.e. me).
5. In NUS in Science canteen, we played floating bridge.
6. Dog. The bouncy lively type.
7. What are you really looking for in your future partner?

Xialanxue, Harroalive and Plagiarism

Was bored, went to search for fun. This looks like the site: http://harroalive.blogspot.com/. Hmmm.... Seems like they not only plagiarize from Xialanxue, they also plagiarise from other people, like Mr Wang! Well, those silly people went and slipped up when copying from XLX's site, and actually copied the disclaimer o.O. In the same colour too.

So am I going to retract my previous post? Obviously not. Perhaps at the point of time when XLX visited Harroalive's site, all the posts on that site were taken from her blog, and that is why she neglected to mention plagiarism from other blogs. But I still stand by my point of view that the posts taken from her blog were mainly quotes. Or videos. Other than the Technorati search list posts, I guess. But is such a post that original an idea? I'm sure others have posted Technorati search results on their sites. Oh Lookie. Xiaxue has at least 1 post as such. And with that red disclaimer standing out brightly, 1 screenshot with the URL of the site frosted over would do as evidence, without aiding in the promotion of that blog's publicity.

You take out 1 Coincidence from the equation and you still can get:

Coincidence + coincidence + coincidence = no coincidence after all?

No need to retract post lah.

Looking at the way Harroalive's blog is like, it is rather evident that they are the ones who are doing the plagiarizing. In all reality, as I look at that site, I actually feel like those 4 people (or rather 2, since 2 of the others don't actually seem to post anything) appear to be doing homework, and paraphrasing what is being said on other blogs. Hmm... Minimal paraphrasing I have to say. Mostly cut and paste. Bizarre site, really. Harro Alive appears to have plenty of blogs with no posts (reserving the names for later?), 1 blog with 1 post, and the blog where all the posts are not original. And he is the only one out of the 4 contributors whose profile you can access. And what I really cannot comprehend is why they would link up only posts taken from the same site. The post from Mr Wang's site, although about Wee Shu Min, has no direct links to the other Wee Shu Min posts. Did they intend for this to be a private site for the 4 of them to share interesting posts they stumble across on the internet?

And why, seriously, is XLX angry with her work being plagiarized here? Because of the theft of her ideas, which are mainly quotes? I don't see Mr Wang complaining. Maybe he doesn't know. Hmmmm... Perhaps it's the plagiarism of the disclaimer that XLX is really peeved about.....

Plagiarism? Hmmmmm....

I was thinking about Xialanxue's post on people plagiarizing her site, and suddenly it struck me - there is vaguely nothing to plagiarize on her site. If you take a look at it, most of her posts are 'reports', where she quotes others, puts up links, or displays photos/screenshots. Her opinions/views in these posts are mainly limited to the title, scattered sentences over the post, or maybe a provocative ending statement (perhaps in the style of a rhetorical question, or a general open ended 'What do you think?' style question). And of course, as the title of her blog suggests, she does flame people from time to time on her blog (mainly of course that person whose name appears in the title). But it appears to me that her opinions about things she blogs about appears mainly in her 'flames', and that she seldom, if ever, makes long comments about issues she 'reports', unless she personally wants to flame the person.

So basically her accusation of other bloggers plagiarizing her over the Wee Shu Min incident was baffling. Up till the point of time where she put up that post, all her posts on Wee Shu Min were basically reports, on what Shu Min said (which incidentally did appear word for word on many many other websites) I guess Shu Min would be the one yelling plagiarism, not XLX? But ohhhh they are all in quote form. And since XLX quoted Shu Min, and others quoted Shu Min too, is that plagiarism? Hmmmm.... Yes, many other webpages I've surfed to do quote Shu Min in a similar fashion to XLX, but then again, it would be normal to put her original post up, and then her 'apology'. And none of them quote Derek Wee simply because his post is still where it was when the saga started. Perhaps the sites she refers to also puts up Shu Min's photos in the same style, but hey, as she herself knows, a blog isn't a private affair (at least not on blogspot), and who's to say they didn't manage to stumble across the pictures themselves?

What also puzzled me was her lack of evidence of actual plagiarism. The reason I actually read her blog to start with was because when she flammed Xiaxue, she actually put up proof. It was intriguing to see someone actually provide some hard facts as to why Xiaxue isn't all that great, as compared to people who just simply commented on her blog, on their blogs and on forums. And usually when she complains about someone/something, she'd put up tons of evidence supporting her claim. However, she has neglected to do so in her post on plagiarism. The obvious answer to the why she didn't do that was that she didn't want to help publicise these blogs. But wouldn't screen shots with the webpage censored (by photoshop or whatever) serve well as proof? Yes, she can always say she can't be bothered. Hmmm... But is that really the case here?

Let me try something amusing. Here's a screenshot of XLX's post put up after her plagiarism post.

And here's a link to my post. I will not be putting up screenshots of my post because it will definitely still be there for you to see, unless someone else (not one of the contributors to this blog that is) hacks into the site and yanks it down for me. As you can see from the last 2 paragraphs of my post, what I have circled in XLX's post is indeed, very similar to what I have written.

The Comparison

1. Her post:

With regards to the term "private blog", blogspot, unlike livejournal, does not have a feature to restrict access to "friends only". It is widely understood that postings on blogspot can be read and seen by anyone on the internet.

My post:

In response to his daughter's comments on her 'private' blog (I didn't know blogspot blogs had a private function)... (1st paragraph)

From one of Shu Min's posts on her class website (link not going to be provided because people will always find something to say about RJC students and I don't feel like adding to this by providing fodder), she obviously knows of Live Journal, which allows for locked posts that only selected people can view. (2nd last paragraph)

My comments:

I have read some forums (definitely not the majority of forums I have to admit), and while most people keep harping on the point that blogs are not private, they usually do not mention that blogspot does not have a private post function. I mentioned only Live Journal as a blog that allows for private posts simply because I know from Shu Min's class page that she knows of the existence of such a blog host. Xanga also allows for this. But XLX also chooses to use Live Journal as an example. Coincidence? I don't see why not.

2. Her post:

Another point to note is that if Ms Wee's blog was only read by her "friends", that also means that the entry was "made public" by her "friends" as well.

My post:

And while it is understandable that previously, only her friends knew of the website, all it takes is for one person to share it with an outsider who doesn't agree with her opinions and the whole of Singapore (well, at least those with an internet connection...) will be invited to view the post of an uncaring elitist who is incapable of feeling sympathy for someone less fortunate than herself. (2nd last paragraph)

o.O. Doesn't that mean that it is highly likely that a fellow Rafflesian actually leaked out Shu Min's post? (last paragraph)

My comments:

Wow, amazing! Someone actually came to the same conclusion as me. I am not that weird after all >.<. There looks like there is a slight difference in viewpoint though. XLX may actually be implying that Shu Min's 'friends' may not be true friends after all, leaking out her post on purpose in order to bring in bad publicity to Shu Min. I wouldn't know, I'm not XLX. All I can say is that it's very easy for anyone to understand how I came to believe that one of Shu Min's friends was actually responsible for the leak. I'm a Rafflesian, and I don't agree with Shu Min's viewpoint, or her post. In RJC, it's highly likely that you'd be connected to any of your schoolmates by at most 3 degrees. With blogs becoming ever so popular, you'd probably be able to find almost any other schoolmate's blog just by clicking on links. Hence, if you're a Rafflesian who doesn't agree with Shu Min's post, you randomly chance on it by blog surfing, and you decide to share your opinions with others - Viola! a Rafflesian has 'made public' Shu Min's private blog.

As to how XLX could come to this conclusion too, well, why not? You definitely don't need to come from Raffles to think of something like that.

But let's say I want to accuse Xialanxue of plagiarizing my post. Do I have hard evidence? Obviously not. She probably hasn't even heard of this blog. But I have more screenshots to support my 'claim'.

Same date as my post.

o.O. Approximately 1 hour later than my post. And this 1 hour difference doesn't take into account the fact that Puffy set this blog to Chicago time, so basically after my post went up, XLX actually had 1/2 a day to go read it and plagiarize it *gigglez*. Thank you, Ruixian, for pointing out the similarities in the date and time of the posts.

Mere coincidences? Let me list a couple more.

1. Xialanxue says that she is angry that a blog operated by 4 people plagiarized her blog; and these 4 people have been doing it since September.

Wow. This IS a blog with 4 contributors. Yes, it's been pointed out to me that there are many many blogs out there with 4 contributors. Not very sure what the September thing means. Plagiarizing her since September? Or operating since September. But if it's the latter, there are still plenty of blogs with 4 contributors that started in September this year. However, if you take into account the fact that these bloggers are very likely to come from Singapore (unless the whole world is actually interested in Ms Wee and her dad), the field is narrowed down alot. Thank you, Licai, for pointing this out to me. But this still doesn't mean that it's this blog XLX is referring to. After all, I have already pointed out in my previous post why my post can't be the post XLX is referring to.

2. XLX suddenly comes up with 2 paragraphs worth of opinions just after her post on plagiarism, when she usually comments in one-liners on issues she is 'reporting'. As shown above, the opinions in those 2 paragraphs are strikingly similar to those in my post.

Coincidence + coincidence + coincidence + coincidence = Not coincidence after all?

Seriously, I really can't be bothered to even ask XLX if this blog is the one she was referring to. (Read: so stop asking me to!) If it isn't, she'd obviously tell me no. And if it is, her reply would probably be something along the lines of 'why should I be bothered to read your blog, who are you compared to me, you are not worth my time.' Actually, come to think of it, even if it wasn't she could still answer in that manner. Of course there is the idea that she did plagiarize me, then covered up first by saying that I plagiarized her, which would be the reason for the lack of any plagiarizing evidence on her site. After all, who would ever find out she's the one who did the plagiarizing. This blog has like a readership of 20-30/day, nothing compared to hers.

But the real reason I'm not even going to bother to ask if this is the site she's accusing of plagiarism is that this IS the internet, and this blog, like hers, and like so many others, is not private. Who's to say who came up with the idea first? And even if you can claim you came up with the idea before someone else did, he/she may have copied that idea from someone who came up with it before you, not from you. Believe me, if I truly wanted to plagiarize XLX's blog, she'd find it really hard to prove; come to think of it, she probably wouldn't even notice.

However, given her style of posting, I seriously have no idea what XLX is so pissed about in her plagiarism post.

Lookie! We are not Alone!

Apparently there is another blog with 4 contributors that has been up since September too! Found out from Xialanxue's blog!

One blog in particular made my blood boil - I discovered this group blog operated by 4 bloggers (not 1 but 4 freaking bloggers!) lifting material wholesale from http://xialanxue.blogspot.com with very subtle changes to links/text in my original articles so that unfortunate readers who stumbled upon those posts would think that they were the original authors of those postings (and they have been doing it since September!)

My GOD! If the blog were operated by just one person, I can still understand. But no. it's manned by 4 bloggers!! 4 humans with brains which I presume they would use - I was wrong.

(Quoted from Xialanxue's post.)

Heehee. No, we are not the plagiarizers. My post doesn't remotely quote stuff from her blog that was posted before the plagiarism post. There are, however, some similarities between her later post and my post, but I don't think she can accuse me of plagiarism before what was plagiarized actually appeared on her site.

But apparently linking up her blog here may actually get more traffic to this site?

The smart bloggers, seeing that my traffic was far exceeding 20,000+++ unique visitors a day quickly linked to the report on my blog which was published before mainstream journalists even heard about the news. Traffic quickly spilled over to those blogs because of the automated blogspot trackback mechanism which shows the links of those who linked to my original posting so that my visitors could actually explore them if they wished.

(Quoted from Xialanxue's post.)

Puffy! Tell me if this works! *gigglez*

On Ruixian's Request

Well, fine, since I promised you a post, I will write one. I do not understand why you require a post for yourself, especially since you have already been mentioned in things I have written a number of times. The times that I can recall offhand are listed here.

1. My article entitled "You Know you're in Microbiology when..." in Microvue 2002, an official publication of the Microbiology Students' Society (NUS). In it, I called you a child prodigy, the reason given being that you in primary 4 defined electricity during an examination as 'electrons flowing in a circuit'. It was meant to be a humorous article, so if it happens to have stretched the truth abit, well, don't complain, I made you look good =D.

2. On this website yourself, you inspired a post because of your decision to switch to becoming a Vegan. Too bad you're not sticking with it hehehe.

3. On another blog I contribute to, I complimented you on your style of blog writing in this post. Ok, fine, all I said was that you don't write like most people who are born in or after 1984 do - type merely about your day. You actually post VIEWS and OPINIONS on your blog.

Oh heehee. Did I include no. 3 just to link up your blog here? *gigglez*

Well, what can I say about Ruixian? She's very intelligent, there is no denying that. When I commented to Ruijia and Ruichen that when Ruixian was having her PSLE, her mother didn't make much noise when I skipped tuition every now and then but didn't like it when I didn't go for their tuition. They plainly replied that it was because Ruixian is smart! (= don't really need tuition? hahaha... I still think she calls me for tuition sometimes because she wants me to do her homework for her... which is a smart move nevertheless =X). Well, so Ruixian also has at least 2 younger sisters who look up to her (well at least they feel she is more intelligent than them). She also got a new camera for her birthday because when she requested one, Ruijia supported the idea so Ruijia could get Ruixian's old camera. I think this intelligent gene runs in their family. Ruixian also went on the first season of Singapore's Braniest Kid, making it into the finals. She looked very cute when she chose the Geography topic and couldn't answer most of the questions =P.

Ruixian is a very confident person who knows what she wants in life. Maybe that comes from being the eldest of 4 sisters. She already knows she wants to do Medicine in University. Aren't you glad you actually took triple science >.<. I guess her love for Biology doesn't stem from me, even though I would like to say it did *gigglez*, but I am quite certain that my efforts to make her take all 3 sciences played a role in this discovery (lalalala - self praise! Whee!). Don't listen to Malcolm ok. If you want to do Medicine, and still want to by the end of J2, you should. (Malcolm lousy de. He keeps thinking my results are worse than they actually are. Grrrrr.) But if you don't want to, you can always take whatever you want because as I said before the triple science combi gives you the most options =D.

I actually don't have alot to say about Ruixian as a person. She's intelligent, has many close friends, has a good CCA, is in a good school, benefits from being the oldest sibling, comes from an above average income family - basically, she has everything going for her. What she manages to do, however, is make me think about stuff with her actions and words, like her decision to become a vegan. Just for fun, I shall mention something that Ruixian did that I still cannot get over. She threw her retainers into a bin in McDonalds, left them in there for several hours (was it 4?) and then fished them out with the help of her friend and some nice McDonald's staff member. The Microbiology thingy in me kicked in and I was like, well, think of this huge string of E's and U's and you'd get the picture. I wouldn't touch that bin without gloves on (double negative but I think you get the picture). It's just me for that part I guess, retainers ARE expensive. Then I remembered where retainers go, and I was horrified all over again. Ya la she washed the retainers, but all the bacteria from the bin.... Ok I shall stop thinking about that.

Another thing Ruixian has made me think about was the 90 degree turn she'd like people to make for her so that she can get out of the bus seat, that people just don't seem to like to do for her. I thought that was a reasonable complaint, but was wondering why I never really felt any gripes over this. Then I realised that it was because people usually turn to let me out. That is why I try to press the bell as late as possible, because as soon as I press the bell, people tend to turn to let me out, and even though I would like to remain seated for that minute or so longer, I don't think it's nice to let that person sit in that position just so I can be lazy, so I will get out and stand and be peeved. And I always turn to let people out of the seat, unless I happen to be asleep, in which case when I find out that the person sitting inside is trying to squeeze out, I will still turn and let him/her out. But because of Ruixian's posts, I now make an effort to thank the person sitting outside who graciously let me out.

Thank you very much, Ruixian, for making my life that much more interesting, and being such an inspiration. It's not many people who can provoke thought in me constantly.

Ruijia, I will write a post for you soon. =)

Looks, ladders

I will start of with the ladder theory. According to one of my friends, when a guy sees a girl for the first time, he basically places her on one ladder. This is in contrast with when a girl sees a guy, she will place him on two different ladders- the friend's ladder and the dateable ladder. Basically, if a guy is placed on the friend's ladder, he will remain there forever and ever and ever. Furthermore, if someone on the friend's ladder tries to cross over to the dateable ladder, well, he will fall off both ladders and suffer a lingering, horrible death.

How does looks come into the picture? Well, since from the ladder theory, from the first impression, the girl would already place the guy on a certain ladder, a collary would be that looks are extremely important since these give the first impression. As my friend puts it, only ugly people think looks are not important.

I have always thought that looks are not important. But now that I think about it, that could because everyone has a minimum standard of looks required and my standard, is probably really low. Long hair, acceptable shape, don't look like Frankenstein (too bad, Ernie, you don't have long hair. You only have fur and paws.) would do.