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

Your Turn: Meaning 2007-11-17 10:32:00 It's your turn to be heard again. And this weekend, I've got a question for you, inspired by a couple of conversations I've had recently. It's a simple question, but with a lot that can be discussed, so I want to know your thoughts.What are you living for - where/how do you find meaning in life?Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Guinness World Record Seekers 2007-11-16 18:59:00 I'm not really a fan of the Guinness book of records, in that I personally would never attempt to get into it. Plainly because, most of the time, the things seem really meaningless to me.But I do have to give credit to these people who are pursuing the records. They're putting their time and energy into something that they believe in. It's something that others might think pointless (like getting in a bathtub full of snakes), but they're pursuing it anyway, regardless of how crazy others might think they are. It's something that others might think impossible (after all, for it to be a World Record, it must mean it hadn't been done before), but they believed in themselves, and had faith that they could do it.So while I don't particularly see much of a point in the book itself, I have a lot of respect for the people in it. They've gone through great lengths and taken a lot of chances in order to pursue their dreams (as crazy as others might think they are), and being in the recor ...

Let Others Befriend You 2007-11-15 10:54:00 Karl Moore challenges us to make a new friend, today. I think it's a really good challenge, and something we should all attempt. But I want to build more on that. More than making a new friend, I want to challenge you to make it easy for others to befriend you.Seth Godin recently posted about concealing vs. revealing. His post was written in the context of advertising, but I think the ideas (as with almost all of Seth Godin's ideas) can be applied in other aspects of life. In this case, our personal relationships. Yes, you can go through life letting people know you on a need-to-know basis, hiding your weaknesses, etc. But to truly thrive, to build trust and have really meaningful relationships, you need to be willing to reveal things about yourself. It can be as simple as putting a phone number or even an email address on your blog. But yet, so many of us don't want to do that. We're afraid if we make ourselves available, we'll be contacted by people who we don't want to talk to ...

SHPS GEP 10th Anniversary 2007-11-14 10:48:00 This year is the 10th Anniversary of the Gifted Education Program in St. Hilda's Primary School. Over the weekend, the school held a dinner to celebrate the occasion, with the former and current students all invited.On our visit back, one of the teachers made a comment that really struck me. She said that our batch goes back to visit more frequently than any other batch. I think the reason behind that is the impact the school had on our lives. At least for me, St. Hilda's was basically the start of where I developed to be who I am today. Those were the years where I developed my interest in computing, for example.More importantly, though, they were also the years of the first lasting friendships I made. And those are things that stick with you. To me, that's the true value of school. It's not the content. It's the people and connections. And the opportunities to explore. The things I remember most are not the lessons, it's the times during recess when we played, and also the diff ...

Michael Jordan 2007-11-13 10:05:00 Michael Jordan is well known as arguably the best basketball player of all time. But something I just found out today, apparently he had an 18 month stint as a baseball player, in the Minor League with the Birmingham Barons.SneakerFiles tells us that "[i]n his time spent as an outfielder, MJ had a .202 batting average in 127 games, 114 strikeouts in 436 at bats, 3 home runs, 51 RBI’s, 30 stolen bases, and led the Southern League outfielders with only 11 errors." That's not a bad set of statistics. But it's nowhere near the top players. And the top was where he was with basketball.I can't read minds, so I can't say for sure, but maybe that's why he went back to basketball. Yes, he's decent at baseball, but he would not have made a name for himself doing that. He was good, but not exceptional. He wasn't remarkable. He was just above average. And being above average isn't enough. So he quit, and chose to focus on something he knew he could be the best at. And we all know how tha ...

How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law 2007-11-13 09:08:00 Larry Lessig presents 3 stories and an argument about how the law is ruining creativity.I couldn't agree more with him, and I hope common sense prevails in this. I think sites like Mixaloo are a good first step.What's your stand on this issue?Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Protests in KL 2007-11-12 09:44:00 Yesterday, tens of thousands of people gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to demand electoral reforms. The government had refused to grant a permit for the gathering, and as such, it was considered illegal. Tear gas was used by police to disperse the protesters. You can read more on the story here.I found out about this from one of my friends, Lihsia (who I've mentioned here before). It's really close to home for her, being a Malaysian herself, and here's what she has to say about it:"I like my country in this way- there's some sort of courage I admire in these people that you'll probably never see in Singapore. I like that there are Malaysians who care enough about their country to try and do something about it, even if it means risking arrest and their lives etc. I like that thousands of people stood there and demanded their right to a proper democracy, even when the police were firing water jets and chemicals at them. There's something inspiring about all of this."There's no ...

Daryl Peach: 2007 World Pool Champion 2007-11-11 11:26:00 Congratulations to Daryl Peach, the 2007 World Pool Champion. He beat Roberto Gomez 17-15 in an amazing final. I know I posted in general about the World Pool Championships earlier, but today I just want to discuss the final.I'll start with Gomez, the losing finalist. He had played brilliantly throughout the tournament, but just seemed to choke in the end. He was playing much more conservatively than normal. It just wasn't his own game. If you ask me, that's one of the main reasons he lost. He didn't stick to what he was good at. Ultimately, he just wasn't himself. And he payed the price for that.Peach, on the other hand, more or less stuck to his game. He didn't really try anything too fancy. He just stuck to his calm, calculated game. And it paid off. That's what his game has been all about throughout the week. It wasn't about making the great, unbelievable, highlight-reel shots. It was just about making the best decisions consistently, doing the simple things well. That's w ...

50% Capture, 50% Processing 2007-11-11 09:22:00 Brian Auer shows us 28 ways to interpret a photo.Or rather, I should say that Brain Auer's readers show us 28 ways to interpret a photo. The collection of images here are the result of a recent project he held, where he posted a raw photo he took, and invited his readers to edit the photo, and process it in whatever way they wanted.And as you can see, even though it's the same main photo, the results are so different. The emotions evoked by each picture are so different. Brian himself says it brilliantly, "The photographs on this page clearly show the boundless possibilities of artistic interpretation, and it all spawned from a single image."It all goes to prove his belief that "photography is 50% capture and 50% processing." An awesome project, and great results. I just want to build upon it a bit.I personally think that his belief applies to most aspects of life. In almost everything you do, the first version, the initial take, isn't going to be complete. That's only half of the ...

Your Turn 2007-11-10 10:50:00 Well, I don't really have any fixed thing in mind.So I'd just like to hear from you guys. Anything that's on your mind, whatever you want to say, I want to encourage you to use this post's comments section to say it. Even if it's self promotion or anything, feel free. =).Like my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

NY Love Story 2007-11-10 10:35:00 I came across that picture on the web a while ago. It's basically a call from a web designer, Patrick Moberg, to the city of New York, to help him find the girl of his dreams. He saw this girl on a subway, and it was love at first sight for him. But he lost the girl in the crowd and didn't get to talk to her. So he posted that picture up, in an attempt to get in touch with her.And apparently, it worked. As much as I find it mildly freaky (and bordering on being stalker-like), I have to give Patrick full credit for being willing to try this. And I think we can learn a lot from this (his approach, more than the actual act).He knew what he wanted and just went all out for it. He took a risk, thought out of the box and created his own opportunity. He made use of all the connections he could (you can't really get more connected than the internet).If you really want something, go out and get it. Use whatever is available to you. Be daring and don't hold back. Who knows, you might just su ...

NASA Parties 2007-11-10 10:28:00 Apparently NASA spends loads of cash on parties.These happen with every launch, and are meant to honor the people who contributed to the launch. I do understand the arguments against it, but I'm on NASA's side on this. It's good to see an organization dedicating such resources to recreation. Too often we underestimate the value of play and enjoyment.It must do wonders for morale of the workers, and I would say it's definitely worth it.Link via Slashdot: NASA Knows How to PartyLike my blog? Make a donation. For more information, click here. ...

Smartest People in the World 2007-11-09 09:59:00 John P from One Man's Blog has posted a "Massive List of Geniuses". These are apparently the smartest people alive:Physicist / Engineer Kim Ung-yong has a verified IQ of 210Bouncer Christopher Michael Langan has a verified IQ of 195Engineer Philip Emeagwali is alleged to have an IQ of 190World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is alleged to have an IQ of 190Author Marilyn Vos Savant has a verified IQ of 186Actor James Woods is alleged to have an IQ of 180Politician John H. Sununu is alleged to have an IQ of 180Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have an IQ of 180Mathematician Andrew Wiles is alleged to have an IQ of 170World Chess Champion Judith Polgar is alleged to have an IQ of 170Chess Grandmaster Robert Byrne is alleged to have an IQ of 170World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer is alleged to have an IQ of 167Mathematician / Physicist Stephen W. Hawking is alleged to have an IQ of over 160Microsoft Founder Paul Allen is alleged to have an IQ of over 160Actress Sharon Stone is ...

What I Learned From the World Pool Championships 2007 2007-11-08 10:28:00 I've been watching the World Pool Championships 2007 today. And as always, there's a lot of things that I think can be learned from it.I mentioned 9 ball a while back, and the lesson on positioning that it thought me. But today, I want to focus more on the trends in the tournament.Soft breaks are a lot more common now, it seems. A few years ago, everyone was breaking really hard, just hitting it and hoping for a good spread. But now, it's a lot more controlled, and almost everyone is going for a soft break. The first lesson it shows is something that I've written about before: control. Sometimes, holding back is better, because it allows you to have more control over the results.Something interesting from the commentators as well. One commentator talked about how because the soft break gives less spread (the balls don't fly around the table as much), there tends to be more clusters of balls, and could create more trouble. A while later, I heard another comment, this time saying ho ...

Free-Range Drama Farm: A new way of learning 2007-11-08 09:13:00 I've mentioned this a couple of times before, but now that it's getting further down the road, and really gearing up for the pilot program, I think it deserves another mention.I really like the idea of the Free-Range Drama Farm, and I hope it turns out well. As Chris Brogan wrote, "There’s something really cool about people finding new ways to help others learn, and Sarah Deutsch’s announcement for beta testers is even cooler!"What's my point in all of this? That I really think you should go and support what she's doing. If you're interested in drama or theater, go check it out and sign up to help with the pilot program. If you're not, but you know people who are, inform them and get them to help, if possible. If you've got a blog or website, help to spread the word with these small banners. Even if you don't fit in any of the above, go join the forum and share your ideas. Or if you just really don't have the time to do any of those, just take a couple of minutes to donate ...