Lazy is the word

aish..just came back from Cambodia yesterday..ok..2 days ago technically..heh..but haven had the time nor the will to go blog about it..got alot of things to say about cambodia actually..haha..but the thought of typing long is abit sian..keke..and im so busy!!! bahh..uni orientation camp starts on mon..saddd =X ends on fri..and the following week and sch starts!! OMG! it’s like the initial acceleration of a roller coaster!! *Poof* and your off flying! sigh sigh shall blog again soon..tadaa~

Cambodia-Day 0 (Pre-tour)

bahhh..minid’s in a mess..SOOOOOO many things to do..stupid uni stuff also..bahh..the giro application form couldnt get through and this person called to ask me to download the form agen and go down to the bank AGEN..=___________= but no choice oso..dun do dun go uni..haha..but yahh..settled..only have to send it to them now in the nice little white envelope..it better work this time! grrrr still got some registration of uni stuff also..Freshman orientation camp for my hall..done this morning..yet to get a confirmation reply. Freshman opening day registration..done..waiting for a confirmation once agen. Then during the time in Cambodia got to find an internet cafe as well..to check my hall application status..sigh sigh.

well..now im trying to wrap up packing..let’s see..

tops checked, bottoms checked, undergarment checked, medication checked, toiletries checked, small bag checked, sneakers checked. Is that all? for 10 days? like not much..but my bag’s full..and i hope i din missed out anything..oh! money and pouch checked! Spectacles checked.

Camera, Sunglasses, money, passport checked and put aside

things to do: extra sets of batteries for camera..important! oh..and thumbdrive.

Think it’s surprising? think again

came across this in a book..heh..gave a detailed example of something that happened to him when he was young that made him felt surprised at the coincidence..hee.

so as the story goes, he went to Orlando to visit Disney World with his family. They had been there for 2 days walking around and taking rides before he saw his Dad’s cousin and his family who lived in Connecticut. Both families did not have any idea that the other family was in Orlando. They were all stunned by the coincidence.

so how surprised should they have been? there were about 230million people in the US at that time. So probability that any one person chosen at random at Disney World would be his dad’s cousin was something like 1 in 230million, unimaginably low. However, over the course of 2 days there, they had passed many different strangers waiting in line for many different rides and treats. In total there must have been at least 2000people(a conservative measure) that they saw close enough to recognize, any one of whom could have been his dad’s cousin. This increases the probability by a factor of 2000, to 1 in 115000

but he wasnt the only person they might have run into. it could have been other relatives, friends or work colleagues, classmates or neighbours. there must have been at least 500people whom they could have run into who would have surprised them as much as his dad’s cousin did. this increases the probability by another factor of 500, to 1 in 230.

Of course, 1 in 230 is still less than half of 1 percent. Therefore, on most trips to Disney World, you probably wont run into anyone that you know. But still, over a lifetime of travelling and visting and exploring, you are bound to run into people unexpectedly, now and then. It really isnt so surprising after all.

Taken from :struck by lightning-Jeffrey S. Rosenthal

wow..no wonder i meet people i know so often. the example used was US with a population of 230million. Now, as compared to Singapore’s 4 million population..chances are so much higher here in this small little island country that i live in..hehe

Tired…

yay..finally back home..such a long day today..and dun really feel like typing alot..haha.

went to my sis house in the morn with my mum..went to get the backpack i need for my cambodia trip. Just nice she has one that she got a few years back when she went nepal..heh..lucky lucky..and tok to me abit about cambodia lahh..and after that i was rather afraid of eating there already..=___= say till like the food there really poisonous like that..HAHA!

Met my pri sch frens after that to watch a movie..was choosing between alot of movies..cos i really haven been going to the cinemas lately..haha..and in e end we settled on Red Cliff! it was a 2 and a half hour show..bahhh..very draggy!!! but not bad lahh..the graphics..and the story plot itself is nice although like yah..as i mentioned..abit draggy in certain parts..heh..but it’s not a waste of money to watch it defintely..heh

and after all that i met my JC classmates for ah hock’s birthday party at downtown east..HAHAHA..we got our present so last min!!! just went to body shop and grabbed a gift pack..keke..but it’s really nice lah! i have this feeling to keep it for myself..=X but yea..it was nicely done and they wrapped up the giftbox..heh..so yea off we went in weiyan’s car to downtown east..joined in the bbq and had some food and drinks and chit-chat..then normal procedure..cut cake..take pictures..eat cake..chit-chat..then go home..HAHAHAH! and thanks weiyan for sending us back home to our doorstep!!! heh heh heh

How probabilities can help you

just started on this book after i finished my previous one..heh..about probabilities..seems interesting..heh..but i never knew probabilities could do this much in ur daily life..haha..but well..i dun think most people will go to the length of counting probabilities in their daily life cos some things are just too trivia or taken for granted..but nonetheless..some examples stated in the book are:

• you are planning a trip to a foreign country, but you are put off by reports of terrorst activities there. Should you go anyway? A simple understanding of probabilities will allow you to assess the risk of terrorism on your trip, and to decide whether the probabilities are high enough to affect your plans.
• You need a secret code to conduct a secure financial transaction over the Internet. If you just make up a code, an enemy agent might anticipate your psychology, guess the code, and obtain secret information. On the other hand, if u use randomness to generate your code, you can virtually guarantee security against even the cleverest enemy. modern computers use randomness in this way all the time.
• You are involved in a battle of wits with a clever opponent and want to avoid being outsmarted. You can use randomness to create a Nash equilibrium strategy in which your opponent can do no better than guess.
• The local police chief and politicians all insist that crime is out of control and that more money is needed for law enforcement. you can use linear regression to decide for yourself whether or not crime is really increasing.
• You are considering asking out that cute accountant in the business office, but you are worried that she will reject your advance or perhaps even complain about it. Utility theory allows you to quantify your feelings about your wants and fears, and to compute whether or not they justify making that phone call.
• you doctor informs you that you must take a certain drug, which is shown to be effective by the latest medicinal study. By considering the study’s biases and p-value, you can determine for yourself whether or not to accept its conclusions.
• A rival scoffs that you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to succeed in your business venture. A simple check of the numbers will reveal just how unlikely lightning deaths really are and put your rival’s comments into context.
• You are annoyed by all the spam e-mail you receive, and you wish to find a way to block it. Probability theory helps computers to separate spam from genuine messages, sparing you the burden of a jammed mailbox.
• In one day, you see three different people who have all dyed their hair green. Is this a new and popular fashion trend? Random events tend to occur in bunches due to Poisson clumping; many apparently striking coincidences or trends are the result of pure chances, and are of no meaning or consequence.
• A friend tries to stump you with “Monty Hall problem”: which of three doors is most likely to have a car behind it, if you already know that Door #3 is empty? the theory of conditional probability allows you to compute all the odds and make the right choice.
• you write a fantastic song, but you worry that perhaps someone else may have already written the exact same song. Probability theory provides a useful perspective on uniqueness and practically guarantees that your song is brand new.
• You wonder how scientists and engineers compute all the complicated quantities required to build bridges, conduct medical studies, and design nuclear reactors. Monte Carlo sampling uses randomness on high-speed computers to compute many such quantities.
• you  need to decide whether to call a poker bet or how many houses to buy in monopoly. Probability theory provides many insights into strategies fro games of chance, and using it allows you to win more often in the long run.

From [Struck by lightning-Jeffrey S. Rosenthal]

late night posting-once again

aish..323am now..ahah..gota wake up at 745 tmr to go down to drive..and after that make my way down to the high commission of malaysia in singapore..lol..tiring day man..oh..and while going through the net to find some useful info for renunciation i found this from a blogger :

<!–[if !mso]> <! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } –> [Renunciation was a pain in the ass. Jessie spent an entire day travelling to and fro from the Embassy, had to endure my constant grumblings, watch me throw my documents aside and scream.

My experience at the Consulate section of the Embassy :

F U C K E D        U P

The people there don't take you seriously. They give vague one-liner replies. They don't even look at you in the eye when they talk to you.  Must be because I'm renuncing my citizenship, thats why they don't take me seriously.

I stepped into the little office with no-clue as to where to go. There were four counters, but the queue-number dispensing machine was out of order. No instructions or whatsoever. So I blindly queued up for the forms section.

A grumpy guy checked my documents, and asked me for my Borang W. I said I didn't have it. "Without Borang W, cannot process you know. It's a blue certificate. You go call your parents to see if they have it. You give me your birth cert now, go sit down, then I call you."

I sat there for half an hour. Mum and Dad didn't even have the slightest idea that this form existed.  He called me again.

Guy : "Find the Borang W?"

Me : "No. I don't even have it in the first place. Are you sure I'm required to have it?"

Guy : "Your birthcert write THIS CHILD IS NOT A CITIZEN OF SINGAPORE AT BIRTH, so you must give me the cert."

Me : "But I don't have it. Then how?"

Guy : "Other people also have! You must go find it, then come back. Ok?"

THEN YOU ASK ME WAIT 30 MINUTES FOR WHAT?! TO TELL ME TO GO HOME AND FIND IT?

Guy : "Later 3pm, my staff will call you. Then you come back."

I went home, tore the whole place upside down and I was certain I didn't have it. It was 3 p.m, nobody called, so I took my initiative to pick mum up from work and go down (hopefully she could smoke her way through) This time, a female officer was at the counter.  We explained the situation to her and she was damn reluctant to even do anything.

Female : "Need the Borang W. You will receive it together with your passport la. How can don't have?"

*time to pull rank*

Mum : "A consulate officer friend of ours made the passport for us! You can check the signature and name on the passport. He did not pass the Borang W to us."

*she looked a bit convinced*

Female : "Ok, I will explain to the staff. We normally tell people to go home to find the document."

Mum : "Can we submit the documents now?"

Female : "No, submission time is 8:00am to 11:30am. You have to come back tomorrow"

Mum : "Ok then. Can you CHECK if we have the correct documents"

*She pulled a bloody long face before she went through our documents*

And on our way out from that place, we found out that the security guard was even more helpful than the bloody buggers inside.]

OMG!!! i hope i dun have the same encounter..haha. and i cant seem to find my documents too! i found my Borang W photocopy but then i cant find my original copy..and i cant find my msian passport too..LOL..good game..seems like im going to have a hard time man..haha..see how it goes!

and i went to the bank this morning..for the tuition loan thing..haha..90% of school fee will be loaned..haha..and of cos..gotta pay them back after graduation..sigh sigh..money will b a problem for the next 4 years..got to run on a shoe string budget man..haha..mebe shud do some tution bahh..haha..if not no pocket money!!! =X yawnnzzz..off to bed for 4 hours..bahhh =__________________=

Baby names

haha..came across this article about the most common name in the US..lol..quite interesting..heh..it’s no wonder that “Mary” and “John” always appears in textbooks and stories since when we were young..ahaha..such popular names..ahaha..but yeah..alot of weird weird name starts popping up now..=X heard of people naming their daughters “Milky Way” and “Galaxy”. OMG! :O wonder if they are really happy with their names..ahaha..but well..i guess the parents just have this intention of making thier kids’ name unique..heh..i mean..how many “Milky Way” can there be in a single class? or the whole school as a matter of fact..=x but i guess the most important thing about giving name to ur kid is whether it can be properly pronounced by most Tom, Dick and Harry in at least ur own cultural/racial community. Think about what your kid are going to face in school..LOL~

but yeah..this is the list for the most popular names since 1950s

Most popular boy/girl baby names in 1950:

1. James / Linda
2. Robert / Mary
3. John / Patricia
4. Michael / Barbara
5. David / Susan
6. William / Nancy
7. Richard / Deborah
8. Thomas / Sandra
9. Charles / Carol
10. Gary / Kathleen

Here’s the list from last year:

1. Jacob / Emily
2. Michael / Isabella
3. Ethan / Emma
4. Joshua / Ava
5. Daniel / Madison
6. Christopher / Sophia
7. Anthony / Olivia
8. William / Abigail
9. Matthew / Hannah
10. Andrew / Elizabeth

Late night post

yay..it’s night time once agen! late night. im really getting kinda nocturnal. im busiest during the night time at the moment..and im enjoying the night quiet moment..lol..but yea..late night sleeping isnt good i know..especially when u wake up the next morning..or rather afternoon..feeling groggy and all..bahh..but well..tmr will be a long day~ meeting a fren at 8 at the polyclinic to have my vaccination for the Cambodia trip. No choice man..got to go at 8am..else have to wait for like a few hours..why arent anyone one doing anything to alleviate this problem i wonder..ok..maybe someone’s doing something..but it’s definitely not working..haha..ok..quit whining..should feel fortunate for the fact that singapore government provided this subsidized health service for us..yepp..treasure what’s around you people say..and the world will look like a better place! (cliche i know but it’s true!) ok..forgotten about wad happens after that..haha..yea..so wad happens after getting vaccinated will be to Bugis Street! yea..hopefully it wont be so crowded like the last time..and hopefully got more stuff now. All the best tmr! =)

Cheerz~

How to Shower: Women vs Men

haha..amusing~

Bad prediction on the day

Bad prediction on the day-

“Beams of atomic radiation, instead of saws, cut lumber [in 1999]“
- Victor Cohn, 1999 Our Hopeful Future, 1954.