Freewebs http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm No, this is not a rant about the Student Union (if you're not happy, don't rant, run - for a position in SU and make all the difference you can), rather, it is about the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory option.

I chanced upon this Facebook group "FIGHT FOR S/U OPTION AFTER RESULTS RELEASE FOR NTU".  Well as the group name suggests, these students are rallying for the S/U option to be exercised after the examination results are released.  I didn't join the group as I don't agree with them, rather I stand by the school's point of view.

The S/U option was introduced as a way to encourage students to explore areas outside their major without adversely affecting their GPA.  That means it should not be used as a means to improve your GPA.  By applying the S/U option after knowing your results, you are effectively given the option to improve your GPA, whereas with the new extension until just a few weeks before the exam to apply the S/U option, you should by then have a very good idea of how well you can and are willing to do in a subject and thus be able to make a very informed decision.  Otherwise, you might as well let the computer system automatically apply the S/U option (up to your maximum quota) to subjects that you do poorly in, and maximize your GPA for you.

With regards to motivation, I don't think having the S/U option after the exams helps to spur you on to try harder to attempt to get a better grade.  My personal opinion is that it's all about personal interest and self-awareness.  If you're really interested in the subject, and you have been consistently performing or at least know that you are able to perform in the subject, then you're likely to do well in the final grade since you have the attitude and aptitude, and thus wouldn't want/need to S/U it.  If, however, you're lacking in either attitude or aptitude, then it's unlikely that you'll do well and you'd want to S/U the subject.  But then again, I don't suppose anyone ever takes any subject without any interest unless they think they can score well in it.  Haha, it seems like I'm beginning to contradict myself.  Oh well, let's just look at it this way: if you had already opted to S/U a subject before the exams, you'd just want to do marginally well (i.e. obtaining at least a C) to pass it and thus focus your efforts on other more important subjects,whereas if you hadn't S/U the subject, you would be spurred on to work hard to score well for it.

To summarize, I believe that the current system (with the extended time period to exercise the S/U option) is working perfectly fine and shouldn't be changed.  Don't try to fix what ain't broken!  And don't bother inviting me to that group, I'll just ignore your invitation... ]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=4281485 2008-11-22T09:52:00UT If you have difficulty understanding the current world financial situation, the following should help...

Once upon a time in a village in India , a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.'

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! ]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=4124422 2008-10-18T11:05:00UT
This middle-aged man had a girlfriend who appeared to be sincere but was actually all out to ruin his life.  But this girl, after being with him for a while, realized that the man is really a good guy and not as bad as he was made out to be, aborted her mission and left him.  This girl was actually hired by a woman who was the classmate of the man.  As it turned out, the woman had a crush on him but was frequently teased about her size - he used to call her a fat pig and treated her as an outcast.

What you say to others or do to them may come back to haunt you many years down the road, when you least expect it.  But what's done can't be undone, just be true to yourself from now on and don't unknowingly put a dent in other people's lives, and people can forgive you for your wilful behaviour in the past as you were immature, and they will appreciate you for who you are now.
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=4106412 2008-10-15T10:20:00UT One of the classic examples of media censorship was demonstrated recently when NTU pulled a story at the last minute.  Apparently Chee Soon Juan and some SDP members had visited the NTU campus on 26 Aug to distribute flyers and interact with the students.  A pity I wasn't there to watch the drama.  Student reporters were on site to cover the visit, and in fact a highly censored article was due to be published in the Nanyang Chronicle on 15 Sep, but NTU President Su Guaning had the article removed at the last minute before its publication.

I believe that of all people, students should be allowed to express their views, to be in line with the ideology and other lessons that we learn in school.  The Nanyang Chronicle is full of personal views of student journalists anyway, and the students who do read the publication (which I term as the New Paper of NTU) do it with a pinch of salt anyway.

Incidentally, a similar visit was made to NUS on 11 Sep and was covered on their Campus Observer, with no details whatsoever on the content distributed by the SDP.  And so far there haven't been any reports of adverse ideology or behaviour from NUS students after the article was published.

Hiding facts does not protect anyone, it only makes people curious, and when they are curious they are more susceptible to believe what they next see or hear.  In the end, a student-led protest was held at Hong Lim Park, a letter was sent to the Straits Times Forum regarding the censorship, resulting in a (less than satisfactory) public response from the Senior Associate Provost.

While our prestigious president has made some pretty less than desirable calls  in my course of study here, we shall put those other issues aside for now - I do hope that at least we are entitled to our freedom of expression in our local media.  Wake up your idea la Su Guaning!

Online articles for reference:
Today's online
The Online Citizen
Protest at Hong Lim Park
Straits Times Forum letter
Reply to Forum letter
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=4119832 2008-10-11T20:35:00UT

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I never knew why banks called them "personal loans", until I missed three payments and boy did they get personal.

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The left side of the balance sheet has nothing right and the right side of the balance sheet has nothing left. But they are equal to each other. So accounting-wise we are fine.
-Jacob Frenkel (Vice Chairman, AIG)

Describing the balance sheet of a failed financial institution, he said: on the assets side, there is nothing left and, on the liabilities side, there is nothing right.  This led me to think about the balance sheet of my own life......
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=4119253 2008-10-10T08:06:00UT
Put aside all the issues about foreign workers stealing jobs.  What is the real issue at heart here? People don't want to have foreign workers living so close to their doorsteps.  And why is that so?  Because these foreign workers stereotypically bring about noise, litter and crime.  But is that really true?  Are there any statistics to back that up?  Or is it just based on biased observations?  I hope people do realize that Singaporeans are just as ugly, if not uglier than foreigners - some of them do cause nuisances to neighbours.  Crimes are committed by all sorts of people, just that crimes by foreigners seem to get more spotlight in the media and attention from the people because it's a convenient way of pushing the blame.  Finally, touch your heart and ask yourself, have you ever littered and do you still litter?  Especially smokers, don't think that just because nobody says anything, you can innocently discard your cigarette butts as you like.

To cut my whole argument short, foreign workers are people also.  As long as there are people around, you need to be able to give and take, no matter what their background is.
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=4106534 2008-9-19T11:53:00UT
Back to my first point about grassroots leaders being uncles.  As I was putting up a banner, a man riding on a bicycle stopped, called me "Uncle", and proceeded to ask some questions about one of the events.  This guy was easily more than twice my age, so it gives him no right to call me "Uncle", but perhaps because it was quite dark at night he did not get a good look at me to ascertain my age.  I had almost wanted to rebutt him on his poor understanding of who should be called "Uncle", but fortunately for him, the more enthusiastic part of me focused on answering his questions.

I wouldn't mind if children call me "Uncle", because when you're small, you're taught that anyone who's taller and bigger than you should be respected.  But I find people very hippocratic because they want to feel younger and don't like to be called uncle/auntie when they're married and have children, yet in front of a youthful, single and available man such as myself, tell their children to address me as Uncle!  I guess that is the old image of a grassroots leader that will take time for people to shed and realize that if they expect the youths as future of the country to volunteer and lead, the youths should be accorded some respect, and addressed with befitting titles, such as "Kor-kor" or "Handsome".
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=3994744 2008-9-10T11:27:00UT
Having taken a course on IT Law and being IT savvy, I was already well aware of all the issues related to the internet, but I still attended the seminar to see if there was anything I could learn out of it that I could spread to my fellow residents.

The programme included a hilarious video presentation by Touch Cyber Wellness & Sports on downloading movies from the internet and incurring the wrath of Captain Copyright, a presentation by NIE on some pertinent issues highlighted by recent research results, a skit and presentation by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) on the various forms of intellectual property, a presentation by Microsoft on protecting the family, a presentation by eBay on e-commerce and online payment, a presentation by Technology Crime Department in CID on the latest criminal cases related to computer crime, a presentation by Ministry of Home Affairs on the proliferation of terrorism on the net, among others.

I personally felt the talks were very geared towards parents, but more than three quarters of the auditorium was filled with students from the various schools and institutions in the region.  At least these students were very active and lively during the quizzes and interactive sections so the adults can just sit back and relax while the students volunteer each other (i.e. sabo) and have fun.

I think it would be good to organize one such seminar on a bigger scale for parents who have no idea why their children can stay glued to the computer for hours on end, and only nag at them.  The lesson brought across for parents is to first be aware of all these internet issues, and communicate more with their children.  But it takes two hands to clap, children must also attempt to update their parents on their computer activities.
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=3875665 2008-8-23T11:47:00UT
The alignment of objectives and direction of every single member is very important in the team dynamics of an organization.  Even if anyone has marvellous ideas, if it is not in line with the organization's objectives, it will not be good for the organization.  Unless there is a pertinent need to change to ensure the viability and survival of the organization., one should not stray from the common goals.

Just some nonsensical rambling on my part to express my two cents' worth - it may not be applicable to all situations, so take it with a pinch of salt...
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=3867552 2008-8-20T10:36:00UT
]]> http://jarhad.webs.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=3711308 2008-7-16T09:47:00UT