books and music

These are just a few comments on some of the books I've been reading recently. I wanted to call it a review, but I'm not really in the book review mood.

Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
This book is about the gift of intuition that everyone is supposed to have. The idea of "thinking without thinking" and making the best decision has immediate appeal. But while the book is full of lovely anecdotes and pscyhological experiments, it doesn't really prescribe how one might achieve this. It also gets a little weak towards the end when the author seems to be finding stuff just to make up volume. Overall, Gladwell is a talented writer and it is a fascinating book but don't expect it to change your life.




How Would You Move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers
If you want to feel stupid, this is the book for you. This book examines the ethics and efficacy of the puzzle-solving approach used in modern interviews. It also includes a whole bunch of examples from "Why are manhole covers round?" to many others that don't really have answers.



Hard Sayings of Paul
I first picked up this book because an enigma raised the question of whether women should be allowed to teach men (1 Tim 2:12), a question that was raised again in church. The short answer is that yes, it is ok, and Paul's remonition to Timothy was targetted at some specific women at that time. Overall this is quite an interesting book addressing commonly debated issues. Most of the interpretations are quite liberal - i.e. they give more freedom, and don't pose any earthshaking theological positions.



The Sexual Life of Catherine M.
This is definitely the book for all fans of SarongPartyGirl. Catherine M. is the original bohemian artist - a celebrated art critic, not an aspiring art student. And she has simultaneous sex partners up to 2 digits and orgies up to three. Like SPG, it gets a little tiring after a while and I began to feel every page was more of the same, but it is certainly an interesting window into an alternative lifestyle.





The Crisis of Islam : Holy War and Unholy Terror
This is one of those "Why do they hate us?" books. I haven't read others so I can't make a comparison, but it gives a pretty concise overview of the history of Islam and the factors contributing to the mindset of current Islamic fundamentalists. Most importantly, it's quite a short little book, which is good for people who just want a quick overview.




On a lighter note, here are some of the CDs I've been checking out recently.

the funny frenchman

One of my most memorable recent moments was a day spent hanging out with this French guy. He is really quite an amazing character; he is a father, he runs marathons, and as a history buff he actually gives tours of this castle near his home in the Loire Valley. More importantly, he has been working in and around Singapore for more than 10 years, and he knows food places even I haven't heard of. Here are just a few of the more interesting snippets:

On the weather
He related his conversations with the head of our own meteorological service. Apparently, after all these years of studying Singapore weather patterns, they have come up with only one conclusion: that weather in Singapore occurs in 5 day cycles. That means that if it rains in the East but not the West today, it will probably do so for the next 5 days. I'm going to test this one out!

On South Africa
He was working on a project to install CCTVs in the trains in South Africa. Apparently they have a problem with people getting murdered on the trains there. When more people take the trains, the taxi drivers don't get enough business. But when people are murdered on the trains, the passengers will switch to taxis. And apparently the taxi drivers are desperate enough for business to resort to murder.

French Food in Singapore
This started because I was eating a chicken liver pate and he asked if I had it before. Yes, I said, at the French stall. He went on to rave about how good and authentic the food there is. It's not fine dining, but it is certainly authentic French food. After raving about Tiong Bahru Market and some seafood place on Upper East Coast Road, he also went on to list his top French restaurants in Singapore:
1. l'Aigle d'Or
2. Hilton - Apparently there's a new restaurant in the Hilton but I can' find it online
3. Les Amis
4. Au Jardin - Food is superb, but price is even more superb

Air Chance
Apparently that's what they call Air France in private. And when they are flying to Lyon or Bordeaux for example, they have no choice but to take Air Chance because SQ doesn't fly those destinations. And on Air Chance, they only have about 6 movies, on the communal big screen, and half of them are in French so the Singaporeans are always complaining.

open source knowledge

My buddy is about to start her part time degree in Finance, and I have the open invitation to join her for lectures anytime. I'm kind of disappointed, however, that the other friend who was supposed to do Psychology has decided to go Down Under instead. Because universities offer a wealth of information- for free - to anyone who looks beyond the mere paper qualifications in the quest for knowledge.

And ultimately, it's what you know and can achieve that counts in life. Those few pieces of paper only help open the door to the first job.

In my student days, I visited many lectures. Law in NUS, Computer Engineering at CMU and even Nuclear Deterrence at Stanford, to name a few. I was also utterly intrigued touring the MIT Media Lab and a friend's robotics lab. Freed from the worried of exams, refreshed because I was on holiday, and motivated because I was there for interest and not credit, I gained a lot more from my visitations than my own classes. Steve Jobs made a similar point at his commencement speech at Stanford. The beauty of the system is that most colleges don't care who attends their classes, only who attends the exam. And since I attend mostly intro classes with large enrollments, the visitor does not really stand out.

Of course you need friends to help you navigate the system. How else would you know the interesting classes and the good professors? And since I started work, I could no longer drop in on the normal classes. But now with friends starting night school, a whole new world of opportunities is opening up, and I'm really looking forward to being a pseudo student again. Of course you might ask why not just read a book? But the best part about classes are that they spoonfeed you, and they usually give you a bibliography of interesting further reading to boot.

Everybody should go back to school for free.

memories

I was always the kid that got smacked with the ruler for not remembering his times tables. I was also the kid who forgot when assignments were due, forgot to bring the right textbooks and always lost at those games that involved remembering which card was where. I never remember names or faces. When I ask people for directions, I usually follow through with the first three steps and then ask someone else. My memory is not very good. Things got better when I got a PDA, but perhaps it gets worse too because the device becomes a crutch. And sometimes I forget my PDA.

My memory is really not very good. It has something I have come to accept about myself.

But increasingly, I find that memory is perhaps one of the most important skills a person can have. Along with raw intelligence and good communication skills, a good memory is essential to success at work. Because if you forget to do stuff, you're not going to do a very good job. And when the boss says "I told you A" and you can't remember, you lose. And when the boss says "I told you A" and you remember he told you B, you don't trust yourself because you have poor recollection and so you still lose.

There's only so much you can write down or key in, and when it comes to following instructions it really helps to remember the instructions in as much detail as possible; which I do not. And so I have resolved that I should go read Mega Memory.

work dilemnas

On fine day, I arrived in the office to find this sign pasted on my cubicle wall ...

... apparently I was not the only one.

Since then, it has become common to refer to the day by how much work we're getting done.

Some examples:
"I think I'm doing too much work for 5% day" or "I think I'm doing too much work for 12% day"
"I'm not going to meet the 40% quota today"

The best part is that my boss joins in the fun. He also ridicules people for working on weekends.

And more interesting was last week, when we had holidays on Tuesday and Thursday. Clearly Wednesday was no longer 40% day, but was it 12% or 5%? We spent 50% of the day trying to figure that one out.

pro-death

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore's government has rejected a plea from Australian officials to spare the life of an Australian facing the death penalty for drug smuggling.

A friend asked me today if I supported the death penalty for drug trafficking. After a moment's thought I said yes, based on socio-economic considerations.

My assumption is that drugs impose a cost on society because they destroy the lives of those who become an addicted, increasing the crime rate, causing a burden to relatives and lowering the GDP. It follows logically then that all possible measures should be taken to keep drugs out of the country, and impose the maximum deterrant on drug traffickers.

The legal system seems to have come up with four main mechanisms for deterring criminal activities:
1) Fines - but this is not likely to work on people desperate enough for cash to be drug runners
2) Caning - this seems like a weak deterrent given the payoff to trafficking
3) Life imprisonment - but this merely creates a new financial burden on taxpayers to support the criminal for the rest of his life (to the order of a few thousand per year, I believe)
4) Death - short and sweet, assuming the guilt is fully established

Thus, in order to minimise the cost to society, it seems any rational economist would pick the 4th option.

Alternatively, Singapore could also legalise drugs and impose a heavy tax on it. The proceeds could go towards funding rehabilitation programs to minimise the negative social impact. This would also boost tourism (since we would become the Amsterdam of the East where everyone can come to snort) and create more employment. You got casino? So what ... we also got, and here can do drugs some more ...

buying a camera

Recently, a number of people have been asking me what digital camera to buy. I find this rather strange seeing as digital cameras are not new, and most of these people are not buying their first camera. Nevertheless, I suppose it is logical that they come to me, given my reputation as a gadget freak. So once and for all, I will try to lay out my advice to potential camera buyers.



My own experience with digital cameras is quite extensive across most of the popular brands. My own personal collection includes
Fujifilm MX-500 (1999) - My first camera was a free gift, not very picky there
Olympus C-3030 Zoom (2000) - First 3mpx camera with manual functions
Sony DSC-U10 (2002) - Tiny camera with near instant startup time for the Kodak moments
Pentax Optio S (2003) - Combined size of Sony with quality of Olympus in an Altoids can
Canon PowerShot S200 (2003) - A second compact camera for the family
Panasonic DMC-FZ20 (2004) - 12x Leica zoom lens with image stabiliser
Pentax Optio S (2004) - Because the first one fell into river and later models didn't fit into the Altoids can
Panasonic DMC-LZ2 (2005) - 6x zoom with image stabiliser

Informed observed many notice I have actually gone for increasingly simpler cameras. I got tired of fiddling with the exposure settings and decided to focus on composition, which I think is the most important skill in photography and can (and should) be done with any camera.


My philosophy is that all cameras are the same, it just boils down to design and price. All my cameras have excellent image quality and the only one I have been warned off is Casio. That said, there are just a few factors that I would consider.

Image Quality
Not many people realise that a 2mpx camera is all you need to print an 8R photo (A4 size). With a 3mpx camera, you can crop it artistically before printing the 8R photo. Anything more than 3mpx is overkill for the casual photographer.

The main thing to look out for is colour saturation and balance, especially in low light conditions. So you should try to find sample photos from the camera to see if the skin tones are nice and the lines are clear. I find that flash, especially at close range is very harsh, and this has developed a preference for slow shutter speeds in low light. This requires a steady hand; an image stabiliser is very useful as well.

Ease of Use
For slightly more advanced photographers, you will want to be constantly changing the flash mode, white balance, exposure and even the manual settings. It is much less painful if the camera has a good interface, and my experience is that Canon and Pentax have the most user-friendly designs. Nikon is good too; Olympus and Panasonic are pretty bad. (This is based on my experience with the models listed above.)



Zoom
For all-purpose use, your camera should at least have a zoom of 3x, which is the standard today. The more the merrier of course, depending on what size of camera you are willing to carry. If you expect to take a lot of group photos of large groups, it is also important to look at how wide the angle can go - about 28mm is a good start (usual is about 36mm).

Appearance
Above all, I think that appearance is most important. You must find a camera that you are happy carrying around, and can show off to your friends. The Panasonic DMC-LZ2 is the perfect example of a poor purchasing decision (by my Dad). It has excellent technical specifications but it's a lousy chick magnet. Form factor is also paramount if you intend to carry the camera with you everywhere. And of course the camera should also fit your wallet.

Where to Buy?
I only have two places to recommend:
John 3:16 in Funan Centre has helpful and knowledgeable staff, and excellent sales support.
Parasilk in Holland Village is unbeatable on price.



And finally, when in doubt just check DPReview and count the stars.

For myself, I now intend to move up the value chain into digital video. Does anyone have camera recommendations?