Had actually wanted to blog about an article in Life yesterday..but the site was down and i couldn't log in..
In any case, someone read my mind(correctly) tat i will blog on it..hmm..am i getting so predictable?
And in case u're wondering, it's the article by Sumiko Tan..about how females are obsessed with their weight..maybe i'm one of those 'privileaged' ones who are deemed 'unqualified' to talk about this topic..but hey, i do have my 'xiao pang' moments(or days, in fact)..and i'm proud to say i managed to lost 3kg and 4% fat, all by controlling my diet and upping my workouts..
Yes, i'm all for healthy lifestyle and by default, tat includes a healthy weight..which should be achieved by healthy means..not thru aneroxic means like inducing vomiting and all..juicing is fine(once in a while, if done correctly..or if ur wedding is 2 weeks away) Watever it is, i definitely do not admire posh-like figures..matchstick legs and all..fairy godmother or not..
So if u're healthy..even if u're 52-25..i think tat's perfectly fine :)
Monday, 9 October 2006
Friday, 6 October 2006
Love is in the air..
True Love: Let's calculate the odds (ST, 6 Oct 2006)
True love is like a kick in the head. No, really. It's not just that it comes out of nowhere, knocks you sideways and changes your lifeforever. It is statistically like a kick in the head.
Most statistics are about things that usually happen or that most people share: prices, salaries, IQs, political opinions. These qualities are called 'normal distributed'. If you chart them, the graph they produce is that old favourite, the bell curve.
But love is different. True love is rare; we can only hope to find it once in a lifetime, and maybe not even then.
The curve that charts love is very narrow - more like a steeple than a bell. It is called a Poisson curve, and its classic exemplar was the chance of being kicked to death by a horse while serving in the Prussian cavalry.
The normal distribution was discovered during the 18th century when confident Age of Enlightenment tyoes assumed that all people, places and times were pretty much alike. Statistics that produce a bell curve(like, say, the heights os everyone on your street) show a clear average, with plenty of readings within a predictable range around that averagem called a 'standard deviation'. Common qualities, such as height, are easy to forecast.
Simeon-Denis Poisson lived in the more unpredictable 19th century. He was more interested in rare events. He wanted to discover how well you can predict the chances of one such event occuring during a given time(improbable); two events(very improbable); three(like totally improbable); or four(so improbable you can forget about it).
While the bell curve describes things we can expect, Poisson's formula predicts things we fear or hope for - things that, though rare, could happen at any time. In World War II, the British used it to predict the likelihood of any particular neighbourhood in London being hit by a V-2 rocket. Telephone companies use it to predict the likelihood that any particular numbre is going to ring at a particular moment(it's low, although it somehow higher when you're in the bath)
The chance that the store will run out of your cat's favourite food, that you'll have a fender bender on the way home, the chance that a war will break out somewhere today: If there's an average occurence of any event over time, Poisson's formula can predict a likelihood for the here and now.
True love is such an event. It could be today; it could be never.
All we know is that it happens to some people, sometimes. This makes me believe that the hope of meeting the love of your life is also governed by the Poisson curve. If so, it suggests some interesting conclusions. Film director Woody Allen pointed out that being bisexual doubles your chance of a date on Saturday night - but sadly, Poisson shows little change in response even to this drastic rise in probability.
His curve, applied to finding true love, charts two things: the chance this rare event will happen once, twice, thrice in a lifetime, but also how likely it is to happen at all in progressively more unlikely circumstances. When you move away from the back of the horse, the chance of being to death falls precipitously. Similarly, edging away from the kind of people who are the current focus of your affections(in the hope that say, a Florentine millionaire-poet-ski champion will come knocking at your door) makes the chance of success drop away much more quickly that it would for normally distributed phenomena.
This implies that your best chances come from seeking out and sustaining friendships with the people you already like most, rather than devoting too much time to the exotic alternatives. Rare things become near-impossible once you compound their rarity - say, by buying a lottery ticket only on your birthday.
In probability, we have only two ways to control fate: through standards and through opportunities. If you want to avoid a bad Poisson event(like the fender bender), you maintain high standards by driving as defensively as you can. You steer clear of certain routes at certain times to avoid giving the other idiots too many chances to hit you. Finding love, too, demands high standards(this is, afterall, the person who'll share your existence) but you need lots of opportunities.
Go speed dating, by all means - remembering that it only selects for a good date, not necessarily a good mate. Skew your social life towards those events where you can find out more about potential partners than whether they are just great dancers. Use every experience, good and bad, to refine your vision of that unknown ideal so that when one chance comes, you won't let it slip away. Every step will take you closer to the centre of that Poisson curve.
So..wat're ur odds?
True love is like a kick in the head. No, really. It's not just that it comes out of nowhere, knocks you sideways and changes your lifeforever. It is statistically like a kick in the head.
Most statistics are about things that usually happen or that most people share: prices, salaries, IQs, political opinions. These qualities are called 'normal distributed'. If you chart them, the graph they produce is that old favourite, the bell curve.
But love is different. True love is rare; we can only hope to find it once in a lifetime, and maybe not even then.
The curve that charts love is very narrow - more like a steeple than a bell. It is called a Poisson curve, and its classic exemplar was the chance of being kicked to death by a horse while serving in the Prussian cavalry.
The normal distribution was discovered during the 18th century when confident Age of Enlightenment tyoes assumed that all people, places and times were pretty much alike. Statistics that produce a bell curve(like, say, the heights os everyone on your street) show a clear average, with plenty of readings within a predictable range around that averagem called a 'standard deviation'. Common qualities, such as height, are easy to forecast.
Simeon-Denis Poisson lived in the more unpredictable 19th century. He was more interested in rare events. He wanted to discover how well you can predict the chances of one such event occuring during a given time(improbable); two events(very improbable); three(like totally improbable); or four(so improbable you can forget about it).
While the bell curve describes things we can expect, Poisson's formula predicts things we fear or hope for - things that, though rare, could happen at any time. In World War II, the British used it to predict the likelihood of any particular neighbourhood in London being hit by a V-2 rocket. Telephone companies use it to predict the likelihood that any particular numbre is going to ring at a particular moment(it's low, although it somehow higher when you're in the bath)
The chance that the store will run out of your cat's favourite food, that you'll have a fender bender on the way home, the chance that a war will break out somewhere today: If there's an average occurence of any event over time, Poisson's formula can predict a likelihood for the here and now.
True love is such an event. It could be today; it could be never.
All we know is that it happens to some people, sometimes. This makes me believe that the hope of meeting the love of your life is also governed by the Poisson curve. If so, it suggests some interesting conclusions. Film director Woody Allen pointed out that being bisexual doubles your chance of a date on Saturday night - but sadly, Poisson shows little change in response even to this drastic rise in probability.
His curve, applied to finding true love, charts two things: the chance this rare event will happen once, twice, thrice in a lifetime, but also how likely it is to happen at all in progressively more unlikely circumstances. When you move away from the back of the horse, the chance of being to death falls precipitously. Similarly, edging away from the kind of people who are the current focus of your affections(in the hope that say, a Florentine millionaire-poet-ski champion will come knocking at your door) makes the chance of success drop away much more quickly that it would for normally distributed phenomena.
This implies that your best chances come from seeking out and sustaining friendships with the people you already like most, rather than devoting too much time to the exotic alternatives. Rare things become near-impossible once you compound their rarity - say, by buying a lottery ticket only on your birthday.
In probability, we have only two ways to control fate: through standards and through opportunities. If you want to avoid a bad Poisson event(like the fender bender), you maintain high standards by driving as defensively as you can. You steer clear of certain routes at certain times to avoid giving the other idiots too many chances to hit you. Finding love, too, demands high standards(this is, afterall, the person who'll share your existence) but you need lots of opportunities.
Go speed dating, by all means - remembering that it only selects for a good date, not necessarily a good mate. Skew your social life towards those events where you can find out more about potential partners than whether they are just great dancers. Use every experience, good and bad, to refine your vision of that unknown ideal so that when one chance comes, you won't let it slip away. Every step will take you closer to the centre of that Poisson curve.
So..wat're ur odds?
Sunday, 1 October 2006
Hi-part to hi-pop
Unless u're one of my ex-colleagues reading this..i doubt the subject line makes any sense to u..
I meant to blog this yesterday..when i was staring at 2 computer screens for almost 5 hrs straight..but my blog wasn't too cooperative and refused to load properly..perhaps it's angry with me for neglecting it for so long..
Anyway, the reason why i was staring at 2 screens yesterday was cos i was doing work..unbelieveable but it's true..i was holed up at home on a Saturday cos i needed to rush some work..even more unbelievable was the fact tat at one time, i had 1 desktop and 2 laptops on at the same time..(far from being the IT expert..it was precisely i couldn't get the work done on 1 single platform, i had to split them up to be done separately..and due to a 'technical problem, i had to watch the same video clip lasting 40mins, for 7times..IT..blah!)
Ok..enuf of kaobei-ing..back to the subject line..
Once upon a time..i was in 'Hi-Part'..these days(some of u might have not realise it yet), i'm back in Stadium.., not as a 'Hi-parter' but a 'Hi-Popper'..
I didn't realise about this Hipart-Hipop thingy until i was chatting with one of my ex-coach on friday..She was aware of my hipart involvement in the past and was curious about my re-apperarances in her office lately...and she casually remarked 'Oh so u went from hipart to hipop..' and i was like 'oh yeah hor..'
Yes..tat's right..i've gone from one end of the spectrum to the other end..from servicing 4000pax down to 4 pax..it's a bit difficult to explain the work i do..but it's a lot of video analysis and match statistics..definitely 'Hipop'..
Seems like things have gone a full circle..hmm...is tat good or bad?
I meant to blog this yesterday..when i was staring at 2 computer screens for almost 5 hrs straight..but my blog wasn't too cooperative and refused to load properly..perhaps it's angry with me for neglecting it for so long..
Anyway, the reason why i was staring at 2 screens yesterday was cos i was doing work..unbelieveable but it's true..i was holed up at home on a Saturday cos i needed to rush some work..even more unbelievable was the fact tat at one time, i had 1 desktop and 2 laptops on at the same time..(far from being the IT expert..it was precisely i couldn't get the work done on 1 single platform, i had to split them up to be done separately..and due to a 'technical problem, i had to watch the same video clip lasting 40mins, for 7times..IT..blah!)
Ok..enuf of kaobei-ing..back to the subject line..
Once upon a time..i was in 'Hi-Part'..these days(some of u might have not realise it yet), i'm back in Stadium.., not as a 'Hi-parter' but a 'Hi-Popper'..
I didn't realise about this Hipart-Hipop thingy until i was chatting with one of my ex-coach on friday..She was aware of my hipart involvement in the past and was curious about my re-apperarances in her office lately...and she casually remarked 'Oh so u went from hipart to hipop..' and i was like 'oh yeah hor..'
Yes..tat's right..i've gone from one end of the spectrum to the other end..from servicing 4000pax down to 4 pax..it's a bit difficult to explain the work i do..but it's a lot of video analysis and match statistics..definitely 'Hipop'..
Seems like things have gone a full circle..hmm...is tat good or bad?
Thursday, 28 September 2006
Announcement
This announcment may be a couple of days late..but nonetheless..
My ex-colleague, aka Ms Organics-makes-my-hair-oily..who later became Ms P..is now officially known Mrs Lui..
My ex-colleague, aka Ms Organics-makes-my-hair-oily..who later became Ms P..is now officially known Mrs Lui..
Saturday, 16 September 2006
Japanese..Korean..
Tat's right..the subject line's referring to TV drama serials..
At the risk of incurring the wrath of many Changjin and KSS fans out there..here's a line tat i came across recently..
'Television is a medium cos anything well done is rare'
At the risk of incurring the wrath of many Changjin and KSS fans out there..here's a line tat i came across recently..
'Television is a medium cos anything well done is rare'
Friday, 15 September 2006
Time Flies
Didn't realise it has been almost 2 weeks since i last blogged..
Yes, it has been quite busy for me lately..this was how i spent my time:
70% work
20% socialising(in any case, due to the nature of my work, work time & socialising time sometimes get confused and overlaps..like how i can interact with meiren amidst goats and frogs during a farm ride)
10% simply to nuah(yep, i MUST have my nuah time..if not i'll feel grouchy..ha)
It's kinda strange too..how i end up with so little free time..if u look into my diary, it's not exactly tat full..but somehow each day managed to get filled up..and a lot of things planned for 'this week' gets pushed to the 'next week' & next & next..
As saying goes, time passes a lot more quickly when one's happy..so i guess i'm a happy person :)
Yes, it has been quite busy for me lately..this was how i spent my time:
70% work
20% socialising(in any case, due to the nature of my work, work time & socialising time sometimes get confused and overlaps..like how i can interact with meiren amidst goats and frogs during a farm ride)
10% simply to nuah(yep, i MUST have my nuah time..if not i'll feel grouchy..ha)
It's kinda strange too..how i end up with so little free time..if u look into my diary, it's not exactly tat full..but somehow each day managed to get filled up..and a lot of things planned for 'this week' gets pushed to the 'next week' & next & next..
As saying goes, time passes a lot more quickly when one's happy..so i guess i'm a happy person :)
Sunday, 3 September 2006
Congratulations!
Congrats to Team NI who came in first for the Waterfest Urban Race!
Finally we got a first after joining sooo many competitions(& complaining about them being kelong..no complaints about this..except maybe about the 300ml, 400ml, 500ml water challenge..haha..)
The day started off with quite a dramatic start..from Ms Chan's attempt to drive my Vito to 0.5 puncturing a tyre..Nevertheless, Team NI(No Income) managed to overcome all odds to complete all the tasks in the fastest time..
Gong xi gong xi!
More photos at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=tthjh81.78indinp&x=0&y=mtvqyt
Finally we got a first after joining sooo many competitions(& complaining about them being kelong..no complaints about this..except maybe about the 300ml, 400ml, 500ml water challenge..haha..)
The day started off with quite a dramatic start..from Ms Chan's attempt to drive my Vito to 0.5 puncturing a tyre..Nevertheless, Team NI(No Income) managed to overcome all odds to complete all the tasks in the fastest time..
Gong xi gong xi!
More photos at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=tthjh81.78indinp&x=0&y=mtvqyt
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