Chemistry, the central science

Thanks Sharon!

Yup, when we step out of Singapore we realise that it's actually a very small place... and it's good to broaden our horizons so we won't be frogs in a well, and realise that Singapore actually has much to compete against and much to improve upon =)

It's also very different living far away from your family and parents... read: Freedom! Can be made the best of, and can be abused... but the flip side is that you need to do everything yourself! Pay the rent, bills, tv license, manage bank accounts, write cheques, buy groceries, cook, clean, wash clothes, buy a car! Haha!

Another question:
What courses are available in UNSW or Macquarie that are not available in Singapore?

For me to know and for you to find out... =)

Reflection! ((:

Hey! I am fast (: Look at the time. LOL. Okay, here's the reflection for my group!

Okay, my group reckon that there ARE indeed advantages about studying overseas. Although you have to leave everything down here in Singapore that you like to go over there just to study, there are indeed advantages, like you would be able to get a better job and you are exposed to more things around the world and that you have a wider perspective of studying as a whole.

Also, as my group did on psychology, we realised that there are more things out there than only Biology, Chemistry and Physics. We realised that the world out there is indeed very big and free for us to explore, and we should not be stuck here in our own little world, thinking that we are everything, we know everything, and we have seen everything. Also, there are the aviation and petroleum courses that the other groups presented on.

Therefore, we should all realise our potentials now, think about our future, and now what we want for ourselves now! (:

Group... Nameless Till Now!
Hsien Liang, Sheng Chow, Xin Yue, Kelvin, Sharontan (:

Conflict of Beliefs. What I think of what he thinks.

refering to kevin's post, and also the film we watched...

humans, like any other living organism on this earth, strive for only one thing: Survival.

and also like any other living organism on this earth, he is also driven by one other thing: Fear.
Fear of factors that endanger his survival. Fear of factors that may endanger his survival. Fear of factors that seem to be endangering his survival. Fear of Differences.

in a possible scenario..

you were walking home peacefully. you're imagining eating dinner with your family comfortably at home later on before you start mugging. suddenly you see a cockroach approaching. you freeze. the neurones in your brain start firing. what is that thing? it's so small, it's got wierd things on its head, it's got six appendages and it looks dirty! ARGH! it doesn't look like me. it must be dangerous. i've got to protect myself. then you decide whether to run or to annihilate the threat by stepping on it. your brain starts calculating the risks involved in both possibilities. it figures that dirtying your shoe is not as bad as letting the threat live and later eat you alive. then you start stomping your feet.

have you ever thought about what the cockroach must be thinking? Imagine..

you were scurrying on the ground. sniffing the air for food. you pick up an scent. mmm, smells good. you follow the scent trail. you're looking forward to it cos you havent had a nice meal in ages. suddenly you sense something else. you stop in your tracks. you then see a human coming in between you and your meal. the neurones in your cerebral ganglia start firing. what is that thing? it's so big, it's got a wierd head with no feelers, it's only got four appendages and it's so undirty! YUCK! ARGH! it doesnt look like me. it must be dangerous. i've got to protect myself. then you decide whether to run to the nearest hole or confront the threat. your tiny brain starts calculating the risks involved in both possibilities. it figures that there is a higher chance that this thing would run cos all those you've before ran when you approached them. you then dash in its direction. you then experience darkness.

yea. so it really isn't so different how organisms think.
it even applies to face-offs within the same types of organisms.

like humans.

when the white people landed on a previously-assumed uninhabited island, they had a shock when they saw darker-skinned people waiting on the shores. the white people had never seen these people before. their instincts tell them that these people must be dangerous. cos they dont look like the white people. they must have some kind of a disease or something. they must be removed!

when the white people landed on their shores, the Aborigines must have had a shock to see wierd looking people with light skin and thick hide. they have never seen such people before. their instincts tell them that these people must be dangerous. cos they dont look like them. they must have some kind of disease or something. they must be removed!

both parties had the same thinking. but why was there only one that so-called succeeded?

because they could. they were the stronger ones, equipped with technology. they were the ones who had the advantage. they were the humans that could step on the cockroach.

the other party was weaker. they did not have technology on their side. all they had were hunting equipment. they were the ones who had the disadvantage. they were the cockroaches who could not scare the humans away.

life is all about survival. survival is all about winning. winning is all about advantage. advantage is all about differences. differences is all about nature. nature is all about life.

Bet you didn't know

For starters here are some little known facts about Sydney Opera House

1. The sails of the Sydney Opera House were built using three tower cranes made in France for this job, and costing $100,000 each. Sydney Opera House was one of the first buildings constructed in Australia using tower cranes.
2. There are 1,056,006 roof tiles covering an area of approximately 1.62 hectares that sit over the structure. They were made by a Swedish tile company, Höganas, and whenever it rains, the tiles clean themselves.
3. Paul Robeson was the first person to perform at Sydney Opera House. In 1960, he climbed the scaffolding and sang Ol’ Man River to the construction workers as they ate their lunch.

There are some Sydney trivia on http://www.sydneymedia.com.au/html/2282-sydney-trivia.asp But here are some of the more interesting ones...

1. Around 80 per cent of the Australian population lives on or near the coast.
2. Sydney is one of the most multicultural and multilingual cities in the world, with people from more than 180 nations, speaking 140 languages.
3. One of Sydney's most famous beaches - Manly - was named by Captain Arthur Phillip after the "manly" physique of the Aborigines he saw there in 1788.
4. It is a little known fact that Sydney is older than many other great world cities including San Francisco, Washington, Los Angeles, Singapore, Toronto and Johannesburg
5. Opened in 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge cost A$20 million - then 10 million pounds sterling - and took until 1988 to pay off. Giving the bridge a complete new coat of paint takes 10 years.
6. The Sydney Opera House cost A$102 million and was paid for through a series of lotteries.
7. Sydney was hit by a freak hailstorm on April 14 1999. Hailstones the size of golf balls and oranges pelted down, smashing roof tiles and damaging cars, particularly in Sydney's eastern suburbs. As a result, more than 100,000 insurance claims were made and the total damage bill was estimated to exceed one billion dollars. Amazingly, only one life was lost - a man drowned when his boat sank due to hailstone damage.
8. When the British first arrived at Sydney Cove, there were approximately 3,000 Aborigines - using three main languages - living in the Sydney area. Through contact and disease, most were wiped out in the first five years of the colony.
9. Today, the Sydney Metropolitan area has the largest Aboriginal population of all Australian cities, with 30,800 Aboriginal people.
10. Legend has it that when the 233 entries for the design of Australia's most famous building, the Sydney Opera House, were being judged, Joern Utzon's winning drawings were plucked from the pile of rejects by one of the judges.
11. Sydney has had only one fatal shark attack since 1937.
12. Many Sydney and Australian restaurants are described as "BYO". This means that the restaurant is not licensed to serve alcohol, but that you can "Bring Your Own" wine with you.

These facts are brought to you by the people who created the City of Sydney website::Sydney Media::City of Sydney and the people who copied those facts and pasted them here, namely

Andrea &
Grace Ong &
Thomas &
Yiliang &
Yuhang

A Short History of Nearly Everything. In Australia.

Greetings to all again. (:

From what we have sourced from the Internet, the history of Australia began when people started to migrate to the northern part of Australia approximately 40,000 to 45,000 years ago. Australia was first sighted in the 17th century by the Europeans, which is probably why present-day Australia is inhabited by a large proportion of white people.

The pioneer immigrants to Australia settled themselves at the northern part of the continent and nearby islands, and they were the Indigenious Australians, or more commonly known as the Aborigines. About 2.4% of Australia's total population is made up of these people. They led fairly normal lives, which was disrupted very suddenly by the colonization of the British. Racism took place, as the white people believed themselves to be superior over the Aborigines in many ways. They also believed that the Aborigines were 'unclean', and devised many methods of wiping them out. This included violence, confiscation of land, disease outbreaks and poisoning of food and water, which reduced the total Aborigine population by about 90% over a century.

Also, as seen from the video 'Rabbit-Proof Fence', Aborigine children were removed from their families by the Europeans. This also constituted to the genocide of Aborigines.

Erm, sorry if this piece of information is really dry and boring and everything (because it kinds of reminds us of Mr Yang here and his SS lectures =X). My group and I will try to find another piece of interesting fact or figure about Australia sometime soon. Apologies again. Peace out.

(Oh, I almost forgot. Most of the imformation here is found from Wikipedia. Phew, nearly got penalised for plagiarism. (:)

Sharon
Xin Yue
Hsien Liang
Kelvin
Sheng Chow

Identity.

I think that this is a very important factor that makes up each and everyone of us here; it is what makes us unique and different from others. I feel that identity is something that is very cool. It is controlled and determined by US. We decide whom we want to be, how we want to be and so on.

As everyone is different, learning to accept and adapt to others becomes part of the life skills that we have to pick up along the way. Only by accepting others for who they are, can synergy and effective working take place. I think the best way to be able to accept and acknowledge others is through dialogues. When we go through dialogue sessions, we get to know the culture and the character of the person. Also through dialogues, it is more personal as compared to introducing or getting to know someone via msn or phone. Face to face is always better.

However, when engaged in such dialogues, we have to do it with an open mind, and being open mind is something I think we have to possess when we are in Australia. It only through this can we learn more and adapt faster when we are there.

11 more days((:

puen.

Tell us!

Okays, these were what you folks chose to discover & tell us:

Jun Han's group: Must-try food in Sydney
Poline's group: Must-see sights in Sydney
Pu En's group: What you can buy in Sydney with A$5
Grace's group: Must-buy items in Sydney
Hsien Liang's group: Must-know history of Sydney
Andrea's group: Less-known facts about Sydney

Have fun! =)

EL