Life Science

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=closest-whale-cousin

People will rather believe in bizarre science than to consider that Jesus Christ is God. What is the world coming to?

Conference

I hope my boss can nominate me to go to the conference in US. Will skip school to go.

How did this happen?

killing me!

God. Please. Show me a way.

U

Do you have any idea how ironic and irresponsible of you to drop that 'Gambete' Note while i was listening to November Rain...

MDA - Made in Singapore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLw28UVWEU&feature=related

There must be a reason why we pay professional Entertainers...

J33-3-> "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and hidden things which you have not known."

All that You can't leave behind

Pain Function

dPain/dt = (-k1*Pain + X)*(1/(1 + e^(-(t-k2)/d)), i hope tt k1 is positive & k2 is large

Where do we go, my love ...

Okay, ppl, ranking isn't everything. But it's an indication that we need to reconsider some of our decisions.

THES - QS World University Rankings 2007 - Top 100

Rank	Name	Country
1	HARVARD University	United States
2	University of CAMBRIDGE	United Kingdom
2	YALE University	United States
2	University of OXFORD	United Kingdom
5	Imperial College LONDON	United Kingdom
6	PRINCETON University	United States
7	CALIFORNIA Institute of Technology (Caltech)	United States
7	University of CHICAGO	United States
9	UCL (University College LONDON)	United Kingdom
10	MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
11	COLUMBIA University	United States
12	MCGILL University	Canada
13	DUKE University	United States
14	University of PENNSYLVANIA	United States
15	JOHNS HOPKINS University	United States
16	AUSTRALIAN National University	Australia
17	University of TOKYO	Japan
18	University of HONG KONG	Hong Kong
19	STANFORD University	United States
20	CORNELL University	United States
20	CARNEGIE MELLON University	United States
22	University of California, BERKELEY	United States
23	University of EDINBURGH	United Kingdom
24	King’s College LONDON	United Kingdom
25	KYOTO University	Japan
26	Ecole Normale Supérieure, PARIS	France
27	University of MELBOURNE	Australia
28	ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE	France
29	NORTHWESTERN University	United States
30	University of MANCHESTER	United Kingdom
31	The University of SYDNEY	Australia
32	BROWN University	United States
33	University of BRITISH COLUMBIA	Canada
33	National University of SINGAPORE	Singapore
33	University of QUEENSLAND	Australia
36	PEKING University	China
37	University of BRISTOL	United Kingdom
38=	The CHINESE University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
38=	University of MICHIGAN	United States
40	TSINGHUA University	China
41	University of CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles	United States
42	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
43	MONASH University	Australia
44	University of NEW SOUTH WALES	Australia
45	University of TORONTO	Canada
46	OSAKA University	Japan
47	BOSTON University	United States
48	University of AMSTERDAM	Netherlands
49	NEW YORK University (NYU)	United States
50	The University of AUCKLAND	New Zealand
51	SEOUL National University	Korea, South
51	University of TEXAS at Austin	United States
53	HONG KONG University of Science & Techno…	Hong Kong
53	TRINITY College Dublin	Ireland
55	University of WASHINGTON	United States
55	University of WISCONSIN-Madison	United States
57	University of WARWICK	United Kingdom
58	University of CALIFORNIA, San Diego	United States
59	LONDON School of Economics and Political…	United Kingdom
60	HEIDELBERG University	Germany
61	Katholieke Universiteit LEUVEN	Belgium
62	University of ADELAIDE	Australia
63	DELFT University of Technology	Netherlands
64	University of WESTERN AUSTRALIA	Australia
65	University of BIRMINGHAM	United Kingdom
65	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany
67	Technische Universität MÜNCHEN	Germany
68	University of SHEFFIELD	United Kingdom
69	NANYANG Technological University	Singapore
70	University of NOTTINGHAM	United Kingdom
71	DARTMOUTH College	United States
71	UPPSALA University	Sweden
73	University of ILLINOIS	United States
74	EMORY University	United States
74	University of YORK	United Kingdom
76	University of ST ANDREWS	United Kingdom
77	University of PITTSBURGH	United States
77	PURDUE University	United States
79	University of MARYLAND	United States
80	University of SOUTHAMPTON	United Kingdom
80	University of LEEDS	United Kingdom
82	VANDERBILT University	United States
83	University of GLASGOW	United Kingdom
84	LEIDEN University	Netherlands
85	University of VIENNA	Austria
85	CASE WESTERN RESERVE University	United States
85	FUDAN University	China
88	QUEEN’S University	Canada
89	UTRECHT University	Netherlands
90	PENNSYLVANIA STATE University	United States
90	TOKYO Institute of Technology	Japan
92	RICE University	United States
93	University of MONTREAL	Canada
93	University of COPENHAGEN	Denmark
95	University of ROCHESTER	United States
96	University of CALIFORNIA, Davis	United States
97	University of ALBERTA	Canada
97	GEORGIA Institute of Technology	United States
99	CARDIFF University	United Kingdom
100	University of HELSINKI	Finlan

Change

It is not about the inability to change. But about exercising wisdom in change. People do not usually change. Therefore, assuming there is a quota for amount of change. Let's make trivia changes and short-change ourselves the opportunity to implement the critical one.

NUS ranking dropped

1 year when i'm away, the ranking dropped.

is it caused by political factors, or the quality of research work?

Or is it caused by some other factors?

I know not...

Missing You

You have no idea, how much i am missing you, your company and just being to enjoy a conversation with you...

Singaporeans

Like the looks of the HDB blocks build in different times, the desires of the old and new generation singaporean differs a lot.

The question to ask ourselves, is it necessary?

Was it because we were brought up in a way, that promotes 'to be successful'?

The Potato Story

Borrowing something from Wikipedia's.

Historically, there are people suffering from hunger and lack of social welfare. We fare no better today. But yet, how is it that we, are still bickering amongst ourselves over trivial things?

Article on "English Rule" on 7 March, Mitchel wrote:

“

The Irish People are expecting famine day by day... and they ascribe it unanimously, not so much to the rule of heaven as to the greedy and cruel policy of England. Be that right or wrong, that is their feeling. They believe that the season as they roll are but ministers of England’s rapacity; that their starving children cannot sit down to their scanty meal but they see the harpy claw of England in their dish. They behold their own wretched food melting in rottenness off the face of the earth, and they see heavy-laden ships, freighted with the yellow corn their own hands have sown and reaped, spreading all sail for England; they see it and with every grain of that corn goes a heavy curse. Again the people believe—no matter whether truly or falsely—that if they should escape the hunger and the fever their lives are not safe from judges and juries. They do not look upon the law of the land as a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to those who do well; they scowl on it as an engine of foreign rule, ill-omened harbinger of doom."

The Blower's Daughter

The irony...

Part 2:
This has got to die
This has got to stop
This has got to lie down
Someone else on top

You can keep me pinned
It's easier to tease
But you can't paint an elephant
Quite as good as she

And she may cry like a baby
And she may drive me Crazy
Cause I'm lately lonely

So why d'you have to lie?
I take it I'm your crutch
The pillow in your pillow case
It's easier to touch

And then you think you're safe
As you fall upon your knees
Living in your picture
Still forget the breeze

And she may rise
If I sing you down
And she may wisely
Cling to the ground
Cause I'm lately lonely

So why would she take me only...(?)

This has got to die
This has got to stop
This has got to lie down
Someone else on top

Gloating

I know that part time Grad Students dun study so hard, but it feels good when you ownz them...

Because We Can, We Must

Commencement Address by Bono, co-founder of DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa), and lead singer of U2, May 17, 2004.

Because We Can, We Must

My name is Bono and I am a rock star. Don't get me too excited because I use four letter words when I get excited. I'd just like to say to the parents, your children are safe, your country is safe, the FCC has taught me a lesson and the only four letter word I'm going to use today is P-E-N-N. Come to think of it 'Bono' is a four-letter word. The whole business of obscenity--I don't think there's anything certainly more unseemly than the sight of a rock star in academic robes. It's a bit like when people put their King Charles spaniels in little tartan sweats and hats. It's not natural, and it doesn't make the dog any smarter.

It's true we were here before with U2 and I would like to thank them for giving me a great life, as well as you. I've got a great rock and roll band that normally stand in the back when I'm talking to thousands of people in a football stadium and they were here with me, I think it was seven years ago. Actually then I was with some other sartorial problems. I was wearing a mirror-ball suit at the time and I emerged from a forty-foot high revolving lemon. It was sort of a cross between a space ship, a disco and a plastic fruit.

I guess it was at that point when your Trustees decided to give me their highest honor. Doctor of Laws, wow! I know it's an honor, and it really is an honor, but are you sure? Doctor of Law, all I can think about is the laws I've broken. Laws of nature, laws of physics, laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and on a memorable night in the late seventies, I think it was Newton's law of motion...sickness. No, it's true, my resume reads like a rap sheet. I have to come clean; I've broken a lot of laws, and the ones I haven't I've certainly thought about. I have sinned in thought, word, and deed. God forgive me. Actually God forgave me, but why would you? I'm here getting a doctorate, getting respectable, getting in the good graces of the powers that be, I hope it sends you students a powerful message: Crime does pay.

So I humbly accept the honor, keeping in mind the words of a British playwright, John Mortimer it was, "No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense and relatively clean fingernails." Well at best I've got one of the two of those.

But no, I never went to college, I've slept in some strange places, but the library wasn't one of them. I studied rock and roll and I grew up in Dublin in the '70s, music was an alarm bell for me, it woke me up to the world. I was 17 when I first saw The Clash, and it just sounded like revolution. The Clash were like, "This is a public service announcement--with guitars." I was the kid in the crowd who took it at face value. Later I learned that a lot of the rebels were in it for the T-shirt. They'd wear the boots but they wouldn't march. They'd smash bottles on their heads but they wouldn't go to something more painful like a town hall meeting. By the way I felt like that myself until recently.

I didn't expect change to come so slow, so agonizingly slow. I didn't realize that the biggest obstacle to political and social progress wasn't the Free Masons, or the Establishment, or the boot heal of whatever you consider 'the Man' to be, it was something much more subtle. As the Provost just referred to, a combination of our own indifference and the Kafkaesque labyrinth of 'no's you encounter as people vanish down the corridors of bureaucracy.

So for better or worse that was my education. I came away with a clear sense of the difference music could make in my own life, in other peoples' lives if I did my job right. Which if you're a singer in a rock band means avoiding the obvious pitfalls like, say, a mullet hairdo. If anyone here doesn't know what a mullet is by the way your education's certainly not complete, I'd ask for your money back. For a lead singer like me, a mullet is, I would suggest, arguably more dangerous than a drug problem. Yes, I had a mullet in the '80s.

Now this is the point where the members of the faculty start smiling uncomfortably and thinking maybe they should have offered me the honorary bachelors degree instead of the full blown doctorate, (he should have been the bachelor's one, he's talking about mullets and stuff). If they're asking what on earth I'm doing here, I think it's a fair question. What am I doing here? More to the point: what are you doing here? Because if you don't mind me saying so this is a strange ending to an Ivy League education. Four years in these historic halls thinking great thoughts and now you're sitting in a stadium better suited for football listening to an Irish rock star give a speech that is so far mostly about himself. What are you doing here?

Actually I saw something in the paper last week about Kermit the Frog giving a commencement address somewhere. One of the students was complaining, "I worked my ass off for four years to be addressed by a sock?" You have worked your ass off for this. For four years you've been buying, trading, and selling, everything you've got in this marketplace of ideas. The intellectual hustle. Your pockets are full, even if your parents' are empty, and now you've got to figure out what to spend it on.

Well, the going rate for change is not cheap. Big ideas are expensive. The University has had its share of big ideas. Benjamin Franklin had a few, so did Justice Brennen and in my opinion so does Judith Rodin. What a gorgeous girl. They all knew that if you're gonna be good at your word if you're gonna live up to your ideals and your education, its' gonna cost you.

So my question I suppose is: What's the big idea? What's your big idea? What are you willing to spend your moral capital, your intellectual capital, your cash, your sweat equity in pursuing outside of the walls of the University of Pennsylvania?

There's a truly great Irish poet his name is Brendan Kennelly, and he has this epic poem called the Book of Judas, and there's a line in that poem that never leaves my mind, it says: "If you want to serve the age, betray it." What does that mean to betray the age?

Well to me betraying the age means exposing its conceits, it's foibles; it's phony moral certitudes. It means telling the secrets of the age and facing harsher truths.

Every age has its massive moral blind spots. We might not see them, but our children will. Slavery was one of them and the people who best served that age were the ones who called it as it was--which was ungodly and inhuman. Ben Franklin called it what it was when he became president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.

Segregation. There was another one. America sees this now but it took a civil rights movement to betray their age. And 50 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court betrayed the age May 17, 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education came down and put the lie to the idea that separate can ever really be equal. Amen to that.

Fast forward 50 years. May 17, 2004. What are the ideas right now worth betraying? What are the lies we tell ourselves now? What are the blind spots of our age? What's worth spending your post-Penn lives trying to do or undo? It might be something simple.

It might be something as simple as our deep down refusal to believe that every human life has equal worth. Could that be it? Could that be it? Each of you will probably have your own answer, but for me that is it. And for me the proving ground has been Africa.

Africa makes a mockery of what we say, at least what I say, about equality and questions our pieties and our commitments because there's no way to look at what's happening over there and it's effect on all of us and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equals before God. There is no chance.

An amazing event happened here in Philadelphia in 1985--Live Aid--that whole We Are The World phenomenon the concert that happened here. Well after that concert I went to Ethiopia with my wife, Ali. We were there for a month and an extraordinary thing happened to me. We used to wake up in the morning and the mist would be lifting we'd see thousands and thousands of people who'd been walking all night to our food station were we were working. One man--I was standing outside talking to the translator--had this beautiful boy and he was saying to me in Amharic, I think it was, I said I can't understand what he's saying, and this nurse who spoke English and Amharic said to me, he's saying will you take his son. He's saying please take his son, he would be a great son for you. I was looking puzzled and he said, "You must take my son because if you don't take my son, my son will surely die. If you take him he will go back to Ireland and get an education." Probably like the ones we're talking about today. I had to say no, that was the rules there and I walked away from that man, I've never really walked away from it. But I think about that boy and that man and that's when I started this journey that's brought me here into this stadium.

Because at that moment I became the worst scourge on God's green earth, a rock star with a cause. Christ! Except it isn't the cause. Seven thousand Africans dying every day of preventable, treatable disease like AIDS? That's not a cause, that's an emergency. And when the disease gets out of control because most of the population live on less than one dollar a day? That's not a cause, that's an emergency. And when resentment builds because of unfair trade rules and the burden of unfair debt, that are debts by the way that keep Africans poor? That's not a cause, that's an emergency. So--We Are The World, Live Aid, start me off it was an extraordinary thing and really that event was about charity. But 20 years on I'm not that interested in charity. I'm interested in justice. There's a difference. Africa needs justice as much as it needs charity.

Equality for Africa is a big idea. It's a big expensive idea. I see the Wharton graduates now getting out the math on the back of their programs, numbers are intimidating aren't they, but not to you! But the scale of the suffering and the scope of the commitment they often numb us into a kind of indifference. Wishing for the end to AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa is like wishing that gravity didn't make things so damn heavy. We can wish it, but what the hell can we do about it?

Well, more than we think. We can't fix every problem--corruption, natural calamities are part of the picture here--but the ones we can we must. The debt burden, as I say, unfair trade, as I say, sharing our knowledge, the intellectual copyright for lifesaving drugs in a crisis, we can do that. And because we can, we must. Because we can, we must. Amen.

This is the straight truth, the righteous truth. It's not a theory, it's a fact. The fact is that this generation--yours, my generation--that can look at the poverty, we're the first generation that can look at poverty and disease, look across the ocean to Africa and say with a straight face, we can be the first to end this sort of stupid extreme poverty, where in the world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in it's belly. We can be the first generation. It might take a while, but we can be that generation that says no to stupid poverty. It's a fact, the economists confirm it. It's an expensive fact but, cheaper than say the Marshall Plan that saved Europe from communism and fascism. And cheaper I would argue than fighting wave after wave of terrorism's new recruits. That's the economics department over there, very good.

It's a fact. So why aren't we pumping our fists in the air and cheering about it? Well probably because when we admit we can do something about it, we've got to do something about it. For the first time in history we have the know how, we have the cash, we have the lifesaving drugs, but do we have the will?

Yesterday, here in Philadelphia, at the Liberty Bell, I met a lot of Americans who do have the will. From arch-religious conservatives to young secular radicals, I just felt an incredible overpowering sense that this was possible. We're calling it the ONE campaign, to put an end to AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. They believe we can do it, so do I.

I really, really do believe it. I just want you to know, I think this is obvious, but I'm not really going in for the warm fuzzy feeling thing, I'm not a hippy, I do not have flowers in my hair, I come from punk rock, The Clash wore army boots not Birkenstocks. I believe America can do this! I believe that this generation can do this. In fact I want to hear an argument about why we shouldn't.

I know idealism is not playing on the radio right now, you don't see it on TV, irony is on heavy rotation, the knowingness, the smirk, the tired joke. I've tried them all out but I'll tell you this, outside this campus--and even inside it--idealism is under siege beset by materialism, narcissism and all the other isms of indifference. Baggism, Shaggism. Raggism. Notism, graduationism, chismism, I don't know. Where's John Lennon when you need him.

But I don't want to make you cop to idealism, not in front of your parents, or your younger siblings. But what about Americanism? Will you cop to that at least? It's not everywhere in fashion these days, Americanism. Not very big in Europe, truth be told. No less on Ivy League college campuses. But it all depends on your definition of Americanism.

Me, I'm in love with this country called America. I'm a huge fan of America, I'm one of those annoying fans, you know the ones that read the CD notes and follow you into bathrooms and ask you all kinds of annoying questions about why you didn't live up to thatŠ.

I'm that kind of fan. I read the Declaration of Independence and I've read the Constitution of the United States, and they are some liner notes, dude. As I said yesterday I made my pilgrimage to Independence Hall, and I love America because America is not just a country, it's an idea. You see my country, Ireland, is a great country, but it's not an idea. America is an idea, but it's an idea that brings with it some baggage, like power brings responsibility. It's an idea that brings with it equality, but equality even though it's the highest calling, is the hardest to reach. The idea that anything is possible, that's one of the reasons why I'm a fan of America. It's like hey, look there's the moon up there, lets take a walk on it, bring back a piece of it. That's the kind of America that I'm a fan of.

In 1771 your founder Mr. Franklin spent three months in Ireland and Scotland to look at the relationship they had with England to see if this could be a model for America, whether America should follow their example and remain a part of the British Empire.

Franklin was deeply, deeply distressed by what he saw. In Ireland he saw how England had put a stranglehold on Irish trade, how absentee English landlords exploited Irish tenant farmers and how those farmers in Franklin's words "lived in retched hovels of mud and straw, were clothed in rags and subsisted chiefly on potatoes." Not exactly the American dream...

So instead of Ireland becoming a model for America, America became a model for Ireland in our own struggle for independence.

When the potatoes ran out, millions of Irish men, women and children packed their bags got on a boat and showed up right here. And we're still doing it. We're not even starving anymore, loads of potatoes. In fact if there's any Irish out there, I've breaking news from Dublin, the potato famine is over you can come home now. But why are we still showing up? Because we love the idea of America.

We love the crackle and the hustle, we love the spirit that gives the finger to fate, the spirit that says there's no hurdle we can't clear and no problem we can't fix. (sound of helicopter) Oh, here comes the Brits, only joking. No problem we can't fix. So what's the problem that we want to apply all this energy and intellect to?

Every era has its defining struggle and the fate of Africa is one of ours. It's not the only one, but in the history books it's easily going to make the top five, what we did or what we did not do. It's a proving ground, as I said earlier, for the idea of equality. But whether it's this or something else, I hope you'll pick a fight and get in it. Get your boots dirty, get rough, steel your courage with a final drink there at Smoky Joe's, one last primal scream and go.

Sing the melody line you hear in your own head, remember, you don't owe anybody any explanations, you don't owe your parents any explanations, you don't owe your professors any explanations. You know I used to think the future was solid or fixed, something you inherited like an old building that you move into when the previous generation moves out or gets chased out.

But it's not. The future is not fixed, it's fluid. You can build your own building, or hut or condo, whatever; this is the metaphor part of the speech by the way.

But my point is that the world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape. Now if I were a folksinger I'd immediately launch into "If I Had a Hammer" right now get you all singing and swaying. But as I say I come from punk rock, so I'd rather have the bloody hammer right here in my fist.

That's what this degree of yours is, a blunt instrument. So go forth and build something with it. Remember what John Adams said about Ben Franklin, "He does not hesitate at our boldest Measures but rather seems to think us too irresolute."

Well this is the time for bold measures. This is the country, and you are the generation. Thank you.

With or Without You

The Plan and 3 Years it took to manifest

Me and my beloved student organization. Anticipated a few scenarios before my absence from SG. After some significant amount of time. Situation that i least desired, happened. However, i'm feeling very good and proud that all this is happening within my calculated possibilities.

I just want to commit all things in the Lord Almighty. Thank you.

My Prison Cell

"When the solution is simple, God is answering."

As the heading, quoted from Einstein...

Price

Price of Freedom is eternal vigilance,
and leadership, loneliness...?

Lord, I pray that you take this cup away from me.

Is this it?

Out of sight and out of mind.

I guess i'm still a fool for you somewhere in the corner of my being.

:) Smile and live free...

Life of a TA, Sad But so True!

A Prayer for You

Most probably, as usual, you are trying your best at this hour, to do your job well. It can be tiresome, lonely, discouraging and stressful.

I'm sorry that i can bring you no comfort in your time of distress.

I pray to God that may He Forever be your guiding lamp on your darker days. Your source of strength. That He, forever be, your foundation of Hope.

For I am weak, but He is Strong, so you, be made strong. Stronger still...

May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You, till we meet again...

IHL,
Neng Giin

like a Recursive Function, elegant yet likely to overrun the Stack

He who Runs the Fastest, Runs alone

Is that really true? What if He chooses not to run alone?

While others are envious of His speed, He is scoffing on His solitude...

God Knows.

My New Email Alias

neng.dot.giin.at.sun.dot.com

The Nodame Effect

There is always some meaningful MSN nick that i placed which i think is meaningful. If I was to change it and forget about it, that can be sad.

Rhapsody In Blue

My sister flew back to UK to continue her second year of studies there. She got me started (and finished in the same week) on Code Geass and Nodame Cantabile.

Code Geass is 'heavy' in the theme and plot development to me. I enjoyed Nodame better.

Now i got various symphonies stuck in my head.

I dug out many of my all soundtracks and dl into my handphone to listen.

Back to work.

Musing of A Year 5

at Graduate level classes, the students are more interested in proving the lecturer Wrong

If you are to write a story...

If you are to write a story, would you write "Return of the King" or "The Diamond Throne"?

Seasons of the Shape Shifters

Looking forward to Transformers. Not sure to catch in Shanghai, or to watch it in SG when i get back.

Ever Wonder how do Cloud pack his swords into one? Check this Out:


I'm reminded of

Kaoru Koganei 小金井薰 in Flame of Recca with his multiform weapon.

Hehez.

,

Busy-ness, Hope and Wait

I'm super busy (a little more busy than usual).

I saw a friend's MSN comment which is 'hopeful'... - which i can do with some hope in my life.

I waited as the stipulated... but ... ... wasn't there...

Not a Natural People Type

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”- 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Musings of a distracted Mind

Having tendencies to be easily distracted. Supposed to be doing school work at a friend's place. But dunno why i am blogging off at this moment with a boliao entry.

In an O R D - like mood.

"Well theres nothing I can do
I only wanna be with you
You can call me your fool
Only wanna be with you"

Working on a Sunday

Being the lazy person that I am, my friends would know that I would conveniently declare off on Sundays for the sake of observing Sabbath.

Right now I am supposed to be doing my NVC assignment at Jeryl's place, but ended up playing with the functionalities of the Microsoft Office OneNote 2007.

And this is the 'Blog This' function.

After some meddling and trying about, I realized and is pleasantly surprised that MS actually collaborating with the sites like Blogger to facilitate the blogging over their applications. Kudos to MS for this!

Okie, here's a picture of Nerdish Jeryl trying hard to do work last night! Enjoy!

Okie, needed to edit the post to get Jeryl's picture up on the net. Guess there's still room for improvement for MS Office Blog This function.

All I want is you

You say you want
Diamonds on a ring of gold
You say you want
Your story to remain untold

But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you

You say youll give me
A highway with no one on it
Treasure just to look upon it
All the riches in the night

You say youll give me
Eyes in a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you

You say you want
Your love to work out right
To last with me through the night

You say you want
Diamonds on a ring of gold
Your story to remain untold
Your love not to grow cold

All the promises we break
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you

You...all I want is...
You...all I want is...
You...all I want is...
You...

(Taken from U2 - All I want is you)

A Letter to Memories

Kite Lyrics
Artist(Band):U2

Something is about to give
I can feel it coming
I think I know what it is
I'm not afraid to die
I'm not afraid to live
And when I'm flat on my back
I hope to feel like I did

And hardness, it sets in
You need some protection
The thinner the skin

I want you to know
That you don't need me anymore
I want you to know
You don't need anyone
Or anything at all

Who's to say where the wind will take you?
Who's to say what it is will break you?
I don't know, which way the wind will blow

Who's to know when the time has come around?
Don't want to see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

It's summer, I can taste the salt of the sea
There's a kite blowing out of control on the breeze
I wonder what's gonna happen to you
You wonder what has happened to me...

I'm a man, I'm not a child...
A man who sees
The shadow behind your eyes

Who's to say where the wind will take you?
Who's to say what it is will break you?
I don't know, where the wind will blow

Who's to know when the time has come around?
I don't want to see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

Did I waste it?
Not so much I couldn't taste it
Life should be fragrant
Rooftop to the basement

The last of the rocks stars
When hip hop drove the big cars
In the time when new media
Was the big idea

Sin City

Looks like amongst the J's that I like, only Johnny and Jose were with me in Shanghai.

Nope, I am not a chain smoker. But some business associates in Shanghai still believes in “研究” aka “烟酒”. I won't know what to do with it.

One Night in Beijing

不想再问你你到底在何方
不想再思量你能否归来么
想着你的心想着你的脸
想捧在胸口能不放就不放

one night in beijing 我留下许多情
不管你爱与不爱都是历史的尘埃
one night in beijing 我留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路怕走到了百花深处

人说百花的深处住着老情人缝着绣花鞋
面容安详的老人依旧等着那出征的归人

one night in beijing 你可别喝太多酒
不管你爱与不爱都是历史的尘埃
one night in beijing 我留下许多情
把酒高歌的男儿是北方的狼族

人说北方的狼族会在寒风起站在城门外
穿着腐锈的铁衣呼唤城门开眼中含着泪

呜………………我已等待千年为何城门还不开
呜………………我已等待了千年为何良人不回来

one night in beijing 我留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路怕触动了伤心的魂
one night in beijing 我留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路怕走到了地安门

人说地安门里面有位老妇人犹在痴痴等
面容安详的老人依旧等着那出征的归人

one night in beijing 你可别喝太多酒
走在地安门外没有人不动真情
one night in beijing 你会留下许多情
不要在午夜问路怕触动了伤心的魂(人)

one night in beijing one night in beijing
不想再问你你到底在何方
不想再思量你能否归来么
想着你的心想着你的脸
想捧在胸口能不放就不放

one night in beijing 你会留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路怕触动了伤心的魂

スタアの恋

It's one of those starry starry night (season). Quoting from the same friend from the previous:

"Stars should not be seen alone. That's why there are so many. Two people should stand together and look at them. One person alone will surely miss the good ones."--Dry (Augusten Burroughs)

Hubble turns 17, and gave us a beautiful picture.







Carina Nebula, off Carina, Argo Navis


"If I may, fly you to the stars... "

They found an earth like planet 20.5 light years away at Gliese 581. Who knows, if God willing, may one day, Man to walk amongst the stars.

Friendship

Became a Facebook Whore for a while. Trying to add all my friends and acquaintance to my network. Found some friends from the states whom i met at some conferences. Borrowing a quotation from this friend o'mine.

----------

"It's the kind of friendship that's easy to make in elementary school when you're six or seven. You let a kid have your swing and suddenly, he's your best friend... You never question it. You never say to yourself, 'Am I spending too much time with him?' 'Am I sending the wrong signal?' Then you get pubic hair and everything changes."-- Dry (Augusten Burroughs)

A Story to Share

Hi there,

The following story is dedicated to a dear friend of mine whose cheerful disposure brings Sunshine and Warmth to bleak city of Shanghai on the colder days.

----------------------

Once upon a time, there was a little Princess who was very unhappy
because she was not as pretty to look at as she thought a little
Princess should be. She sat in the garden and was sorrowful and cried a
great deal, because she felt sure that no one would ever make her a
queen.

One day, she sat by the wall of the garden with her hands in her lap,
and was looking very sad. An old woman, very bent and gray, and carrying
a bundle, passed along the road outside and looked over the wall.

'Why do you cry, little Princess?" she asked.

'Because I am not beautiful,' the little Princess replied, 'and so I
shall never be made a queen.'

"Why do you not go out into the world and find someone who can make you
beautiful?" asked the old woman as she started again on her way. And
this seemed like such a new adventure that the Princess went out through
the garden gate and started down the road.

Before the Princess had gone very far, she overtook a boy. He was
stumbling along the road as if it were hard for him to find his way. He
put out his hand and touched the Princess' silken sleeve.

'Where are you going?' he asked.

'I am going to find someone who will help me be beautiful. I am not
pretty enough to be a queen,' the Princess said.

'Wait a while and and help me,' said the little boy. 'I am blind, and I
cannot find my way home.'

So the Princess took the blind boy's hand in hers and walked along with
him, leading him very gently, until they came to the cottage by the side
of the road where he lived.

Then the Princess went on, hurrying, for she felt that she had lost a
lot of time. But before she had gone very far, she saw a little girl
standing by the edge of the woods and crying. When the little girl saw
the Princess, she looked up and asked, 'Where are you going?'

'I am going to find someone who will help me be beautiful. I am not
pretty enough to be a queen,' the Princess said.

'Wait a while and help me,' said the little girl. 'My mother is ill, and
I went to the dairy to fetch her some milk and eggs, but I have no
money, and they say that I must pay.'

The Princess pulled from her silk bag a bright gold piece. She had but
two of them to buy herself food on her journey, but she gave one to the
child. 'This is to pay for the milk and eggs,' she said. Then the little
girl laughed with happiness, her smile as bright as sunshine.

'Now I must make great haste.' thought the Princess. 'It is getting on
in the day and I am no more beautiful than when I started.' But she had
gone only a little way when she saw the old woman, who had spoken to her
in the morning.

'Did you do as I said?' asked the old woman.

Sadly, the princess replied, 'Yes, but I am still ugly to look at.' And
she dropped her head.

'Oh no, you are not,' the old woman said. 'Look!' And she held a mirror
before the Princess' face.

A strange thing had happened. The Princess' eyes had grown bright as
stars, her hair as shining as the gold piece she had given away. She had
grown beautiful as a queen.

----------------------------

I guess there's nothing mentioned about our dear little princess being skinny in the story.
The moral of the story is more readily used as a reminder to myself I guess, but so goes for you my friend. :P

All the Best! You'll be the Queen of the World someday!

I'll be there for you - Bon Jovi

For the Bros, who knows the STBNZ, here's the lyrics for one of my favourites.
Sing it as you mean it.
Remembering the crazy days singing on the bridge. We are short of going to the rooftop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzcOqv_P-4

I'll be there for you - Bon Jovi

I guess this time you're really leaving
I heard your suitcase say goodbye
Well as my broken heart lies bleeding
You say true love, it's suicide

You say you've cried a thousand rivers
And now you're swimming for the shore
You left me drowning in my tears
And you won't save me anymore

I pray to God you'll give me one more chance, girl

I'll be there for you
These five words I swear to you
When you breathe I want to be the air for you
I'll be there for you
I'd live and I'd die for you
Steal the sun from the sky for you
Words can't say what a love can do
I'll be there for you

I know you know we're had some good times
Now they have their own hiding place
I can't promise you tomorrow
But I can't buy back yesterday

And Baby you know my hands are dirty
But I wanted to be your valentine
I'll be the water when you get thirsty, baby
When you get drunk, I'll be the wine

I'll be there for you
These five words I swear to you
When you breathe I want to be the air for you
I'll be there for you
I'd live and I'd die for you
Steal the sun from the sky for you
Words can't say what a love can do
I'll be there for you

Solo

And I wasn't there when you were happy
I wasn't there when you were down
I didn't mean to miss your birthday, baby
I wish I'd seen you blow those candles out

I'll be there for you
These five words I swear to you
When you breathe I want to be the air for you
I'll be there for you
I'd live and I'd die for you
Steal the sun from the sky for you
Words can't say what a love can do
I'll be there for you

Outlooked 2003 - 2007

Hand very itchy. Install Office 2007 in my office computer.
Met with some problems with the POP connections.
Spent more time rectifying the problem than attending to some very very urgent matters in the office.

Decided to share my findings with the online community. See below link and try to find my pseudonym. :P

http://www.roundtripsolutions.com/blog/2007/02/19/208/problem-with-outlook-2007-email-receive-is-broken/#comment-916

If you jump I'll break your fall

...When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
To tame your wild wild heart

Let me be the one you call
If you jump Ill break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone...

(Crash and Burn - Savage Garden)

The Origin of the Heart Shape

Saw this picture online and saw some trivial stuff.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Cor 13:8

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13

I'm very off the context with the above quotations, but i hope i get to illustrate my point.

So Love on...

Love,
Giin

Season of Lent

The Season of Lent started last week on the Ash Wednesday. I was not able to drop by the service, because I was still in Beijing.

Anyway, it's 40 Days to Good Friday. Let see if I can make a dedication to the covenant with these 40 days. Please pray for me that God will grant me a vision. More importantly, I found areas in my life that i can do with more discipline. I hope i can make a change in a small area within this 40 days.

Here is some information on Lent i found on the net. For your viewing pleasure.

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles.

Lent began in the apostolic era and was universal in the ancient church. For this reason, Lent is observed by the various Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations, by Roman Catholics, and by Eastern Orthodox Churches.

It is much easier to explain who stopped observing it and why.

In the 16th century, many Anabaptists discarded all Christian holy days, on the theory that they were Roman innovations. That was their best information at the time, but today we know that they were wrong. In the late nineteenth century, ancient Christian documents came to light. The Didache from the first century, the Apostolic Constitutions from the third century, and the diaries of Egeria of the fourth century; all which give evidence of the Christian calendar and holy days. The Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions were written in the east, which denies it ever recognized the institution of the papacy. Egeria was a Spanish nun, but her writings also describe practices in the east. All of these documents came to light 300 years after it was too late for the groups who had already discarded Christian holy days.

In many cases, however, Rome was the last place to observe the holy days. For example, the idea of moving All Saints Day to November 1 did not reach Rome until 700 years after it originated in England, and the idea of celebrating Holy Week as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, was quite elaborate in Jerusalem before the early fourth century but did not spread to Rome until the 11th century. Advent began in medieval Gaul and spread to Rome from there. Lent, on the other hand, appears to have originated in the apostolic age. The Apostolic Constitutions attribute the observance of Lent to an apostolic commandment. We can’t verify that, but we also can’t disprove it.

The Anabaptists gave rise to or influenced the Amish, the Mennonites, the Baptists, the Puritans, and the Plymouth Brethren, and this is why the Puritans made Christmas illegal in Massachusetts at one time. In the 19th century, the established denominations were slow to spread west of the Appalachians, so people who did not observe Christian holy days took up the slack. This means that most of the religious groups that were formed in the United States in the 19th century do not have a custom of observing Lent. This environment has had some influence on individual congregations in denominations that have historically observed the Christian holy days—so you will occasionally find a Methodist church that does not observe Lent.

Gradually, the holy days have returned to the churches that had lost them. The restoration quickly began with Easter. Christmas followed in the 19th century, and Advent and Holy Week became widespread among them in the 20th century. Lent is mounting a come-back in the 21st century.

(from www.kencollins.com)