Sui Generis People in the world today, especially in Singapore, are too willing to settle for fitting in with the status quo and just doing what they are told to do. Here's my thoughts on society, education and life in general; and my views on being significant. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 72 1863

Articles from Sui Generis

Walter Wright vs Dan Wallace 2008-01-20 08:41:53 I recently watched the fight (boxing) between Walter Wright and Dan Wallace, on YouTube. You can watch the last two rounds here. I’m honestly quite intrigued by boxing. And well, one lesson we can learn from the fight. It’s not about how much you move. It’s where you’re moving to. Wallace, in that fight, moved all over the place, and did more. But more often than not, his punches missed, and he moved straight into the line of Wright. Wright on the other hand, threw less punches, and moved less. But he did what he needed to. He moved straight to where the opportunity was, and threw the punch.Moving, and doing something just for the sake of doing something, is pointless. You need to know where you want to go, where you’ll be effective in. And go there. As the conversation from Alice in Wonderland went: Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to Alice: I don’t much c ...

Marketing Principles 2008-01-20 03:49:05 Mitch Joel wrote an interesting post about Presentation Zen yesterday. But what really caught my eye in the post was this.   clipped from www.twistimage.com Presentation Zen wins as a must-have book for every Marketer because the best insights come from Garr’s perspective on uncovering your own creativity, how to plan a presentation, how to craft the story (and even how to find the story) along with great concepts on story boards and core presentation skill principles. Garr spends a chunk of time writing about how the concepts from the book, Made To Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive And Other Die, by Chip and Dan Heath are core to a successful presentation. Presentation Zen is superbly organized, clear and has tons of key Marketing insights. A book on presentations with key Marketing insights? How so? That post, especially the question, got me thinking. And it made me realize, just how much of what we do everyday is marketing. Marketing principles and lessons can be foun ... Marketing

A Chat with Sarah Deutsch 2008-01-19 07:55:53 Sarah Deutsch is a really inspiring and creative person. She’s the founder of the Drama Farm, a cool project which aims to bring a new look to education, specifically in the theater/drama sector. She also runs a personal assistant company, Pinkleberry Services, so if you need someone to help with errands, project management, etc, look her up. Anyway, Sarah’s kindly agreed to share about her experience with building the Drama Farm, as well as a bit about being a personal assistant. She has some simple, but really good, advice on building something new, and a great perspective on freedom and education. So without further ado, the interview with Sarah Deutsch. Firstly, could you introduce yourself - what you’re doing now, how you got there, etc? My name is Sarah Deutsch, and I’m currently a part-time theatrical stage manager, as well as running my own personal assistant/errand service, Pinkleberry Services. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and started working backstage ...

Macbook Air - Why I’m Excited 2008-01-18 08:56:56 The Macbook Air was just announced a couple of days ago, and it’s been stirring up quite a lot of commotion in the technology world. I don’t want to go into any review of it or anything, because I’ve yet to see it in person. But it does excite me. It looks really good. The pure sleekness of it makes me already want to buy it. But more than that, why I’m excited about it is because what it reflects for the future. More and more emphasis is being placed on portability and mobility. On making gadgets easier to carry around, while not compromising on computing power. And now we have a notebook that is 0.16-0.76 inches. It’s just making me wonder. What will it be like in 5-10 years? When I go out to the working world. What will technology be like? And the progress on contact lenses with circuits really pushes it the possibilities even further. The possibilities are just mind blowing. ...

Prism 2008-01-17 09:54:43 You might have noticed the prism in the header image and favicon for this blog. And from now on, that will be the ‘logo’ of this blog, going with the tagline of “Let your true colors shine through.” So, why a prism? Because of what it represents. The one in the icon might not be physically accurate (in terms of angle of reflection, etc), but it represents what a prism does. It splits white light into the various colors. And that’s what I hope this blog can be. A medium to get you thinking, and to encourage and inspire you to be your true self and “let your true colors shine through”. A prism doesn’t do anything to the white light that isn’t already there. The colors, the different wavelengths, are already part of the white light. The prism just brings it out. And the same holds true for you. The potential to make a difference, to be significant is in you. It’s in all of us. It’s just a matter of bringing it out. Making t ...

All New (and hopefully improved) Sui Generis 2008-01-16 10:16:00 I haven’t been around much (here and on Twitter) lately, and my apologies for that. But that’s because I’ve been spending the weekend setting up this Wordpress account. Those of you reading through RSS might not have noticed, but my blog has been moved to http://derrickkwa.com/. It’s a new location, with a new look, but it’s still more or less the same blog. I’ve got some plans for this domain, and this blog, that I won’t reveal until they are definite, but hopefully this blog will keep moving forward. I’ve got a couple of other post ideas as well. So despite the inactivity lately, this blog is definitely not dead. So, for you guys who are reading through RSS, come down to the blog itself. I’ve created a couple of pages, which Blogger didn’t have, and the sidebars have different content from the sidebars of the blogger blog. Hope you’ll check it out at the domain itself, and let me know what you think. ...

Data Portability and Your Personal Brand 2008-01-13 20:57:00 The biggest news of the last week has been about Data Portability. After Robert Scoble got banned (temporarily) from Facebook, a huge debate was sparked about who owns the data. And a few days ago, Google, Facebook and Plaxo all joined the DataPortability group. I didn’t want to write much about it, because I couldn’t really decide on what it meant for you as an individual. But I just wanted to point you to Mitch Joel’s post: Should You Be Frightened By What Facebook And Google Know About Your Personal Brand?. It’s a good article about the whole issue, and what it means for your personal brand. Great insights (as usual) from Mitch, and worth the read. Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Friday Flip-through: Cult of the Amateur 2008-01-11 09:53:00 I haven't posted a Friday Flip-through for quite a while, mainly because I haven't really read anything new, until now. But this book is as good a book as any to come back with."The Cult of the Amateur" is a book that has gotten a lot of press coverage, and started a lot of conversations in the social media realm. So I'm glad to have finally gotten a copy of it.My take on it? It's an intriguing book, that's for sure. He presents an interesting theory. I can't say I agree with it, but it's definitely something to think about.Being quite involved in the social media realm, though I can't say I agree with what he writes. I won't go into the factual fallacies as much as Larry Lessig did (there's plenty of that on the web already), but I do want to talk about the general point.The thing about Web 2.0 - wikis, blogs, etc - is not that it takes away trust from the experts. It's that it gives everyone the chance to contribute. It levels the playing field, such that everyone can be a ...

Friday Flip-through: Cult of the Amateur 2008-01-11 09:53:00 I haven’t posted a Friday Flip-through for quite a while, mainly because I haven’t really read anything new, until now. But this book is as good a book as any to come back with. “The Cult of the Amateur” is a book that has gotten a lot of press coverage, and started a lot of conversations in the social media realm. So I’m glad to have finally gotten a copy of it. My take on it? It’s an intriguing book, that’s for sure. He presents an interesting theory. I can’t say I agree with it, but it’s definitely something to think about. Being quite involved in the social media realm, though I can’t say I agree with what he writes. I won’t go into the factual fallacies as much as Larry Lessig did (there’s plenty of that on the web already), but I do want to talk about the general point. The thing about Web 2.0 - wikis, blogs, etc - is not that it takes away trust from the experts. It’s that it gives everyone the chance ...

Facebook Update 2008-01-11 07:06:00 Apparently Facebook is about to announce 3 new important features.I think the first update is going to be really significant. It's something I alluded to a couple of posts ago, and I'm glad to see this being done. This could be a big step towards really developing a 'friendship' model that reflects life more accurately. Especially since Facebook is (arguably) the leader in networks, it might spur other networks into doing something similar as well.Either way, it's just nice to see developments in this area.Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Facebook Update 2008-01-11 07:06:00 Apparently Facebook is about to announce 3 new important features. I think the first update is going to be really significant. It’s something I alluded to a couple of posts ago, and I’m glad to see this being done. This could be a big step towards really developing a ‘friendship’ model that reflects life more accurately. Especially since Facebook is (arguably) the leader in networks, it might spur other networks into doing something similar as well. Either way, it’s just nice to see developments in this area. Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Being Real 2008-01-09 09:14:00 I haven't really been following the US elections much, because it doesn't have any direct relation to me. But I have been reading the Twitter streams, and watched a couple of videos on it. And it seems like Hillary Clinton's win today was quite a surprise.And apparently, her choking up didn't do her harm. On the contrary, it could have helped her win, by making her seem more real. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first time she chokes, the first time she loses control of her emotions, is the first time she wins.Even in politics (or should I say especially in politics), being real is essential. People relate to people, not figureheads.Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Being Real 2008-01-09 09:14:00 I haven’t really been following the US elections much, because it doesn’t have any direct relation to me. But I have been reading the Twitter streams, and watched a couple of videos on it. And it seems like Hillary Clinton’s win today was quite a surprise. And apparently, her choking up didn’t do her harm. On the contrary, it could have helped her win, by making her seem more real. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first time she chokes, the first time she loses control of her emotions, is the first time she wins. Even in politics (or should I say especially in politics), being real is essential. People relate to people, not figureheads. Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do 2008-01-08 07:43:00 The title's self-explanatory. Gever Tulley, the founder of The Tinkering School, presents 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do. A refreshing outlook, especially considering how overprotected kids are becoming nowadays (they're even censoring Santato 'protect children'). Giving kids more freedom will only make them stronger and smarter, and in the long run, safer.Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do 2008-01-08 07:43:00 The title’s self-explanatory. Gever Tulley, the founder of The Tinkering School, presents 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do. A refreshing outlook, especially considering how overprotected kids are becoming nowadays (they’re even censoring Santato ‘protect children’). Giving kids more freedom will only make them stronger and smarter, and in the long run, safer. Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...