1.Giant octopus mothers - the most any mother can give. They give birth to 56000 baby octopi, protects them and dies as a result. The last part of the post answered the question that stayed in my head as I read on. Really amazing.
2. In North Korea, China tops the Happiness Index. For real.
3. Our beloved triceratops doesn't exist. It is actually a juvenile form of a Torosaurus (Say what?). This news was met with coarse language ("*** dickhead scientist, what do you mean Triceratops doesn't exist") and grief ("still recovering from the loss of the triceratops"). Totally reminds me of the time when Pluto was no longer scientifically regarded a planet.
6.“The mind is a strange machine which can combine the materials offered to it in the most astonishing ways, but without material from the external world it is powerless, and unlike the sausage machine it must seize its material for itself, since events only become experiences through the interest we take in them; if they do not interest us, we are making nothing of them.
The man, therefore, whose attention is turned within finds nothing worthy of his notice, whereas the man whose attention is turned outward can find within, in those rare moments when he examines his soul, the most varied and interesting assortment of ingredients being dissected and recombined into beautiful and instructive patterns.” - Bertrand Russell
1. Sleepy: I look like a madwoman now having just untied my french braids. I was making myself some caramel tea and over-steeped the teabag. Now my caramel tea looks like diluted gula melaka. The heat is seriously sucking my soul. Even a sugar and caffeine dose does little to lift the broiling lethargy. And the living room has been attacked by whiffs of badly charred chinese herbal medicine - or at least that is what it smelt like.
2. Infection: I am so glad I fully recovered from the dreadful herpes zoster ophthalmicus (Herpes, whether the genital one or not, is not HIV, my darling Nik & Chester -.- tccch! So hilarious when Nik excitedly announced to everyone who entered the ambs room that I had herpes!). Terribly painful and very unsightly at that. It has been 2 years since the last episode and I have been quite unfazed by its onset because it seemed it has been with me all my life, latently there ever since post-chickenpox. And today was the one day I could not afford my eyes to look like I got punched, so I'm real thankful it resolved in time!
4.Ayam Panggang Awesomeness: I used to dread eating in school. Most of the times I didn't have time to eat; I grab a sandwich, gobble it in less than 5 and get going. When I do have the time though, I never know what to eat. But alas... now that I've graduated, Munch just had to have the heavenly Ayam Panggang stall. The ayam panggang is so good, I cannot stop exclaiming it! It's so freaking good. It's the best food I've ever had in a campus (mind, I rarely express such superlatives!). For real! It's so good. Anyone who hasn't tried it should, immediately!
5. Film to watch - Kokuhaku (2010): Got my hands on Kokuhaku (confessions in Japanese, 2010) and shall watch it on a later date when I'm not so sleepy. The reviews were excellent, and easily 90% of the reviewers speak of their impression after the film as awestruck - now that's something. Just reading them, I already love the brutal social commentary that the film presents, particularly when directors very powerfully leverage on apt cinematographic techniques and excellent acting. Looking forward to watching this - and I foresee a long post shall ensue!
Meritocracy has always been a concept that strikes my interest. Here is another brief batch of what I've been reading.
Enraging: You have met the bare minimum academic requirements for your course of choice in Cambridge - unfortunately, by other metrics of merit, you have failed to make the cut (the cut-off grade was also more demanding than the minimum requirements) and have been denied a place. But that's alright. You've got money, and the government may be formulating a plan to encourage your entry into your dream school since you've got money. Screw merit, right? Money is the new merit. - Richest students to pay for extra places in Britain's best universities, The Guardian, 9th May 2011. This is ridiculous and disappointing. If education is to remain a key driver to social mobility, this policy shall be the epitome of this ideal's erosion.
Curious:Dr Ng Eng Hen's speech (7th March), while certainly PR and not sufficiently wholesome a representation of education & social mobility, presents some interesting figures that is worth further exploration. One figure in particular - that the top 5% PSLE scorers consistently do not come just from top schools - is at first comforting, but frankly not surprising. I can't agree much about having sufficient teachers across all subjects though (I don't see that particularly as a fault of the Ministry, given this issue is much more multi-faceted). The role of education, to me, is opening doors. Sam's brother, Nicholas excels in Literature but unfortunately cannot take the subject for O levels in his own school because they do not have Literature teachers for that level. As such, he has to take the subject as a private candidate. If you have taken pure literature, you will empathise; it is not an easy subject to grasp without guidance. Why should the lack of teachers close doors for students? Most of the autonomous and independent schools in Singapore have greater breadth of options because they have the resources to provide these opportunities. But alas, you do have to first make the cut for these schools. In Singapore, meritocracy is life-long; with few exceptions, "academic mobility" is challenging.
No film has ever shattered me or weighed me down quite the way this film did. Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father (2008) was so painful that I found myself grimacing in heartache every second of the film. After typing this post I am going to find myself some comedy to cure this heartache, for I suspect I may not be able to fall asleep otherwise. Yet as transient as this swell of emotions may be, the reality and pain of the persons involved do not fade.
I am now welled with anger with the scathing injustice the law was. Thankfully, a bill in Zachary's name has become law in Canada since December 2010. Dear Zachary was such a heartbreaking and paralyzing documentary - so raw, so real, so riling. At the end of the film, I knew in that manner that it gripped me, that I had to share it, because its message is important. The judicial system around the world, not just Canada, should straighten their backs and question themselves before moving forward: Who is the system protecting?
On Nov. 5, 2001, Dr. Andrew Bagby was murdered in a parking lot in western Pennsylvania; the prime suspect, his ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner, promptly fled the United States for St. John's, Canada, where she announced that she was pregnant with Andrew's child. She named the little boy Zachary. Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne, Andrew's oldest friend, began making a film for little Zachary as a way for him to get to know the father he'd never meet. But, when Shirley Turner was released on bail in Canada and was given custody of Zachary while awaiting extradition to the United States, the film's focus shifted to Zachary's grandparents, David and Kathleen Bagby, and their desperate efforts to win custody of the boy from the woman they knew had murdered their son. What happened next, no one could have foreseen. - Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes
