Summer break?

Back again... Now is 2 weeks into the summer break. For the last 2 weeks, it's some outing plus badminton and doing powerpoint slides for the upcoming physics enrichment camp. For this past 3 months, i have been tasked to do 3 power presentation, and of which 2 i have to present alone. To be frank, i actually like presenting, and i will really take out some time and think about how to structure my slides as well as how to make an impressionable presentation. I think as a presenter, we are acting as a mediator between knowledge and audience, and an engaging and successful presentation will allow the audience to gain as much information as possible. Of course this will be only important if the presenter actually care about whether the audience are learning anything. One of my better presentation is about the "philosophical and physical aspect of time". It received quite a lot of positive feedbacks from my prof and fellow classmates. The upcoming presentation topic is on "physics of fluid". Hmm.... it is an interesting topic if all the mathematical formalism is included, but since the targeted audience is JC and secondary, i guess minimal maths should be included and try to relate it to their everyday experiences. haha.... i am almost done with it, just that need a few of my friends to vet through. Yeap....

When holiday break comes, some people will ask me what am i doing, and when i replied, i m reading up stuffs, they often gave replies like,"holiday already, still study?" haha.... well, reason is pretty simple, reading and learning is a passion to me, just like how people will spend hours playing computer game during holiday, or doing window shopping, basketball etc. But again, this reflects what some people attitudes are towards studying or learning per se. It seems that studying/reading has become a duty that will only take effect during schooling period of the year. Reading is a good way to learn and to develop a broader mindview. It also allows us to appreciate the world that we are living in much better. To quote, "To question is to know; to know is to understand; to understand is to live".

while i was playing badminton, i saw some uncle using knee guard and elbow guards etc. I offer some advice, like constant reliance on these arent good, but they rebutted putting in way as though i am wrong. Of course, i dint persist in the argument but it struck me that, "what does it mean to know", because obviously i have good reasons to support my stand while their arent as strong. Upon thinking through and observing, i think not only the the uncles i saw in badminton, but most people always insisted that their "facts" or opinion are the correct understanding. Again, assuming that there is only one absolute reality, all of them can't be right at the same time(unless the facts are disjoint). Which means some of the "facts" are logically wrong, then it is funny to see how some people can always be so affirmative towards their "facts" . I think the main issue here is, to be open to ideas and always be ready to accept new "facts" that will subvert the original one. 虚心向学. Also, the level of education does not neccessary make one know more, because personally, i have witnessed people with higher qualification thinking that their views are the stronger one. In actual fact, with constant education, people should realise that "the more you know, the more you dunno". This is very true, let's take my field of interest for example, intially is newtonian mechanics, f=ma, then it extented to special relativity, then ended up with GR. The facts we know are subjected to changes and refining, so a receptive attitude is a must.

This is just a portion of what i've noticed during the free time in holiday. haha... well, free time allow me to think and see things which are usually overlooked when i'm busy. Oh yes.... back to reading my quantum mechanics. Bra... ket... feynman path integral... dyson series... argh...

The constraint

During the electromagnetism lecture, one question was posed regarding diamagnetism(diamagnetism is a phenomenon exhibit by some atom which causes the magnetic dipole to align against the applied magnetic field). Since the magnetic dipole is aligned against the field, isnt the atom taking up a less stable configuration since it has a higher potential energy. The professor reply was pretty nice, he said," Just like the book on the table, it has a higher potential energy than being on the floor, but given the following constraint, it is the most stable configuration." This is an explanation which i think can be extrapolated to most cases in our lives. For example, my fren was telling me he is not doing his best, but i replied, "ur best is the utmost u can do under the constraint you are in." This refreshes his mind and sort of solve his dilemma. This justifies again, physics is not merely about the intangible and esoteric stuff. It can be related to issues around us.... Then, that friend says "Ever since i know u, u never fail to impress me." It feels good to be able to offer insights to the people that needs it.

Recently during lecture, i have been observing how the lecturer is teaching the course and try to think of ways to improve it. If i were to become a lecturer in the future, i hope to be an interesting one that student will admire and look up upon, so need to think of ways to pave my way towards my goal. Also, i try to condense and synthesize the physics concepts and hope to give it in a unique yet complete and accessible perspective to the student. haha.... have been trying out this on my fellow friends, and it seems to work well.

This is a short post.....

Madness

First and foremost, happy new year to all my friends and closed ones out there! All the best in everything you do.

Now comes the more interesting part. Last night, went out to Kranji reservoir park with wk and ck, and at about 12+am, we decided to leave the place, but chose to take a detour through he neo tiew and lim chu kang road. After a series of exciting event, my car's tyre was punctured and got to stop at the lim chu kang road there, with a muslim cemetry opposite my car(Great...). After changing the tyre, we were so sure that we can start getting home, but end up couldnt start the engine. The battery seems to go haywire. Anyway, we were starting to find this whole thing a bit paranormal. Then the whole thing go on and on until our parent come to our rescue. lol... manage to get home by 4+am. What an eventful and mad night. But again, sometimes it is this kind of madness that gave a memory worth looking back. lol... Seriously unforgettable, but good thing is i know a lot more about my car now.

Just thinking, the older we grow, the harder it is for us to say out some words or even to do some things. We start to think and care alot about the consequence, the big picture, and eventually there will come a day where we regretted not saying out or doing anything. And that's funny. We care about everything under the sun, but in the end, we can't really take care of ourselves.

Physics as a way of thinking.

Feel a need to post an entry since i've not blogged at all yet for the new year. Was doing some research on "Time" for my individual Physics presentation. As a philosophy and Physics fanatics, i hope to merge the ideas from both fields and introduce them to my audience. For the content wise, i think i've collected quite a fair bit from both sides, now is left with how to put them together in a logical flow and engage my audience.

This is the second SEM in physics and the more i am in it, the more i see the "reason for physics" materialise in front of me. It gives me the opportunity to dream and think, not only about those physics questions, but also about things around me, and things within me. For example during my research on this topic "time", yes it does require me to think about the physics for example about minkowski space vs euclidean space, the concept of simultaneity, but it also makes me think about time in our modern world: How we are actually affected by the "time".

life is just about endless questioning and answering. yes, it is...

cycle through.

A funny world indeed. When i was still young, i remembered i was asking question about some electicity stuff, and my dad replied, "nothing in physics last forever. light bulb will spoil, battery will get exhausted" and with my further study in physics, perhaps i can add on to this, "matter decay, and even the smallest particle can be changed to other form of energy as permitted by heisenberg uncertainty principle". So, what is truely permanent? I not sure about the physical law, but i m sure that at least for the world we live in, nothing is and that of cause include the people around us. This year seems to be a funny year, witnessed quite a number of deaths, one of which is my grandma, and one is a secondary schoolmate. To be honest, i don't really feel much about my schoolmate death, but just set me into thinking.

As i was reading through all the comments given by his friend, i was thinking, if his death mean so much to them, why shouldnt they treasure him or even maintain a constant communication with him while he was alive. "盖棺定人“, i guess this will be an apt description of this scenario. Only, when people pass away, then we started judging them, in term of their contribution or their past actions etc. Then, the next question will be, is their emotion or sympathy overrated? There is a quote that says," A death of one is a tragedy, and death of many a statistics". How true. When people in impoverished country are dying of hunger, or even being brutally abused by local authority what are we really doing? I guess if people could redirect their sympathy for one death to the death of many i guess it will be much better. There are many ways to reach out and make a difference to the people out there that is suffering( Either in out own country or outside), and if the sympathy of us can be transformed into a self-justified way of helping them, it will indeed make a difference.

...when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.

Out of the mess

Just finished my econs tutorial and readings. After that, i sat in front of the comp, surf through some forums, facebook and some blogs. It is quite interesting that, all the blogs are not updated, even for though people that used to be a frequent updater. Then i looked at the past 1 month, i think i can understand why.

Everything comes in a flash (Not yet gone in a flash) like Uni admin stuffs, orientations, lectures, tutorials etc. To some extent, i really cant believe that i am in uni now as an undergraduate, perhaps things happen too fast, and i was not really prepared for it. Now, i am faced with lab reports, tutorials and all sorts of activities in front of me, and this whole thing just look like a convoluted mess in front of me (Oops, not in front of me, i am actually within this whole mess). Faced with all these hectic-ness and franticness, i guess the best way is to make an effort to adapt to it, and ya... that is what most of my fren are busy with, so they dun really have the time to blog.

Next up, i really enjoy what i am learning in my uni. Very proud to be a physics major in NUS. Well continue on this part next time. Too tired too continue....

How i present myself is how i wan people to remember me..... But this is so not true for me...  

When you approach the end of the road, what do you see?

Just fiddle abit with my guitar and did some morning static exercise. After everything, i just sat in front of my desktop and my mind suddenly thought of something.

I remember reading a book that wrote," Religion tends to paint a beautiful afterlife picture, so that people will not be too afraid of it. At the same time, if human can, because of this beautiful picture looks forward to afterlife then humanity has failed itself.". I can't remember the exact phrasing, but this is the main gist. The last part of this sentence struck me deeply - Humanity has failed itself. Perhaps, we human has through our own hand constructed a fearful world for ourselves. Maybe, we ourselves are the source of each pain and sorrow. Yes, all these are very probable.

Though the world is not exactly very pleasant to live in, i m definitely not one that looks forward to afterlife and this does not mean i am afraid of it. If the objective reality cant be changed, then perhaps we can change the subjective reality and this lies in us. In counseling theory, i remembered is called the ABC model.

And as for the answer to my title, I dont really care what i will see at the end of the road, all that matters is what i will see along the way.