Rag 2011/12 - KreaSHion

http://www.straitstimes.com/Br​eakingNews/Singapore/Story/STI​Story_702007.html

http://ragtoriches.rantx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/STarticle20110814small.jpg

Megalikes Sarah Lee 's comment on the straitstimes article! Initially I was upset of both writers and Eusoff. Eusoff don't deserve the highest glory which they have had solely for 2 years but should be shared among the Halls. After reading the comment, I have to agree that Eusoff is not the one to blame but only the 2 writers of that stupid article.

To all my fellow Kreashers, I am proud of you and myself as we built a float at lowest possible cost with greatest possible performance! Who could do it? Only KreaShion raggers, Krashers!

Seriously I couldn't find any words to describe how much I love u guys! May be in the past few years KR sought to win at all cost and lost the original vision of Rag. But, this year, KReashers, we have brought back the origins of Rag!

Since the 1st week of our official working period, I have seen how much effort Sarah and Melissa Teo both of you have made. You were not as experienced as Ruth, Beth or JJ who spent less time to complete the designs. Although most of your early designs were rejected, you never give up. Sarah your comment reminded me of what you did when I was still working in reading room. I could feel that it was exactly what you wrote on your comment that pushed you to work for so long hours every day. And yeah, this also reminded me the sweet encouraging sentence Ziyi wrote for you on one of your costume designs. To those people who disrespect Rag, my friend Sarah didn't think of winning (even if there was a competition) when she was doing her designs, but tried her best not to let Ziyi and Ben down; she wanted to produce costumes which fitted the theme the most and made dancers feel comfortable wearing her costumes.

Hmm... I feel like writing more for the rest...

Mayank Srivastava I can't say you have been a better ACE than the ex-ACE Willyam as what he experienced was very different from yours. However, everyone could see you have done a great job in playing your role. Albert and I were really lucky to have you in DP whereof we were able to bring you into Rag. Do you actually know if without you, all of Albert and my hard work in DP would have been worthless? Hmm... The only thing I am worried about now is whether you will regret to choose staying in Rag again next year. I remember you told me how much you didn't want to do Rag for 2nd time as you had planned to go home next year. In addition, Albert and I might not be able share your burden next year when you face the new challenges. Anyway, I am pretty sure your other Kreashion brothers are reliable. No worries, you will still see Albert, ziyi, willyam and me around helping out next year. And one more thing, do you remember the what I said you would receive if you join Rag when we were still in DP? And now every thing has realized, haven't they? Friends for a lifetime, growth in mentality, decision making, time management, etc.

Adrian Lim you are the most conscious engineer. I believe you know why I say you are the most conscious engineer. This might be the reason why you have the potency to lead the engineer team. Well I know you are graduating, but please, come back and help next year, to share the love you have in rag with new raggers! You have fallen in love with rag so deeply. With your talkative skills, you should make new raggers to fall for rag also!

Eddie Chong most people say you look like a noob, but those who are close to you know that you are damn smart! May be your brain works too much to make itself excellent thereby forgot to give you a smart look! Hahaha! Hey, don't waste your talent, use it to do something great! Better contribute it to Rag again!

Ee K Iy I would say Kreashers wouldn't have a smooth process of rag without you! Most people know you are extremely smart in doing construction and mechanism, but they might not be able to understand why this Rag process would have been tough without you. I am not saying that you are the most important person, as rag requires contribution from people of different skills. We need Ziyi's leadership skills, Albert's ability to influence people, willyam's multi-tasking, vivi's costume stylizing knowledge, etc. and so as your capability which you know the best.

Mohammad Kemal It is true that all engineers this year are good, but in my mind, you are the best! And I could feel how deep you love Rag. Everyone of us loves rag, but you love more! (This is simply my opinion.) Next year, all raggers need you again! I hope you will consider Albert's suggestion.

Di Jiun Leong you always just do work and do work, always be calm and ignore other things which I also think are negligible, haha! This makes you a good engineer but could you be more aggressive?

Joseph Chin you have been trying your best to contribute the most you could to Rag. Although sometimes you brought some worries or troubles to your Kreashion brothers, you actually hoped everything went smoothly. We all could see that. And your fellow Kreashers do love you!

Kaylene Tan Sze Hui you are strong since it is not easy for a girl to survive through Rag, as an engineer! Is it because your fellow male engineers kept playing joke with you and encouraging you, or you boyfriend secretly supported you from your back? Haha, just kidding, hope you have had a great experience in Rag.

Ming Xiang I really really like your videos! They are so much better than last year! When I was watching your videos, I always felt something that could not be described using words. This has something to do with my Krohanga experience.

Peirong Lin I would say you are a better op exec than your precedent. Because you are more approachable and your fellow engineers could bully you easily! hahaha!

And for all seniors, it is a pleasure to be with you in Rag for 2 years. You all have not only given your juniors a great rag experience, but also your fellow Krohanga raggers.

Frankly, before Kreashion, whenever people asked me whether I like rag, I always answered 'No, but my friends from Rag!' But this year, krashers made me love Rag!

From now onward, I will answer 'Yes, I like Rag! It gives me something you will never know!' :D

10 common misconception dispelled

http://www.misconceptionjunction.com/index.php/2010/09/10-common-misconceptions-dispelled/

6÷2(1+2)=1 & 30÷2(2+3)÷5=0.6

(A real life problem:

A millionaire passed away and left down 6 millions. He had 2 wives, and each wife had c children.

In his will, the wealth would be divided equally among all his children. So, how much would each of the children receive?

Naturally we will come out with this:

6millions ÷ 2c, since the total number of children = 2*c=2c

Now,

If c=(1 girl + 2 boys),

option (1) => 6millions ÷ 2(1+2) = 6millions * 1/2*1/3 = 1 million

option (2) => 6millions ÷ 2(1+2) = 6millions ÷ 2*3 = 9 millions

by option 1, each child would get 1 million,

by option 2, each child would get 9 millions.

Which one is correct?

(From one comment below, someone says it should be 6millions ÷ [2(1+2)] instead.

6millions ÷ [2(1+2)] is true, but since [2*(1+2)] = [2(1+2)] = 2(1+2), we may just drop the parenthesis. The detail is included in the proof below.

)

It is so clear that

6÷2(1+2) = 1

and

30÷2(2+3)÷5=0.6.

But... How could this confuse so many people? And there are so many people arguing that the correct answers should be 9 for the first problem and 15 for the second problem. Even the news and some professionals argue that the correct answers are 9 and 15 respectively.

However, I am quite sure most students from PRC will get the correct answers, which are 1 and 0.6 respectively.

In fact, there are many students gave the correct answers, but they were told that they were wrong. What the heck?!!

*[To my dear readers, if you have forgotten some properties of function, please read the 'Extra' at the end of the post before you proceed. Thanks =). ]

Why is 6÷2(1+2) = 1, not 9?

Let c=1+2. Compute 6÷2c.

Then 6÷2c = 6*1/2c = 6/2c = 3/c .

( How could they get 3c??? Sigh... they do it in this way: 6÷2c = 6÷2*c = 3c .
Well, assume to the contrary that this is true, then

6÷2c = 6÷2*c = 6*1/2*c = 6*c*1/2 = 6c/2 = 6c ÷ 2, which is a contradiction.

So, 6÷2c ≠ 6÷2*c for c≠1).

Why? Let a,b,c be any real numbers.

Then a÷b*c = a*1/b*c = ac/b ≠ a/bc = a*1/bc = a÷bc , for a≠b, and c≠1.

(Note: bc is a number, while b*c is the product of two numbers b and c, and b*c=bc.

If we write b=2, c=3, then 2*3 = 6, so bc=6 is a number, while 2*3 is the product of two numbers 2 and 3.

If we write a=6, b=2, c=3, then a÷b*c = 9 , but a÷bc = 1.

If we assume to the contrary that a÷bc=9, then from the previous argument, a÷bc=6÷6=9, which is a contradiction.)

(From one comment below, someone is confused when I assert b*c=bc but on the other hand I said 6÷2c ≠ 6÷2*c. I know this is trivial and I didn't want to be so nagging on this part. Anyway, since some people might not know, let me give a little bit explanation. As from the example above, 2*3 = 6, then 6÷(2*3) = 6÷6. Generally for b*c=bc, then a÷(b*c)=a÷bc. But, a÷b*c≠a÷bc if c≠1 and a≠b.

Still not convinced? Well, if alternatively, we write a÷b², we know that (b*b)=bb=b², how do you interpret a÷bb? )

Hence 6÷2(1+2) = 1,

but 6÷2*(1+2) = 9.

Most students never learn the proof above, including myself. Why?

Because it is so clear that we don't necessarily need to go through the proof to get 6÷2(1+2) = 1.

Sigh...

While for the second problem, 30÷2(2+3)÷5, it follows the similar argument that the answer is 0.6.

In fact, any qualified scientific calculators would give us the correct answers.

All the news below are bull shits!!!

Even the math puzzle in the end of the news below was incomplete/not the real one we learned, which again, misled the students.

The puzzle given by the teacher was:

3 ppl went to a hotel, the initial cost was $10 per person. But they were given 10% discount, which means the total cost = 3*9=27. However the waiter put $2 into his own pocket. Then $27+$2 =$29, where is the missing $1? (Is it a puzzle? Nope, it is so obvious that if you paid 27, while the waiter kept $2, the resulting payment the hotel received was $25. Who would go and calculate $27+$2 ?)

A more accurate puzzle should be:

3 ppl went to a hotel and rent a bedroom, the room initially cost $30. Each of them gave $10 to a waiter who helped them made the payment. But the casher told the waiter that the room cost $25 only for that day and returned $5 to the waiter in coins. But the waiter realized that he could not divide the change equally btw the 3 ppl. So he decided to put $2 into his own pocket and give $1 to each of the 3 ppl.

Now each of the 3 ppl had been given a dollar back, so each of them paid $9. Then 3*$9 = $27.

The waiter had $2 in his pocket. So, $2+ $27 = $29. The 3 ppl originally handed over $30, where is the missing dollar?

The following news is even more ridiculous. The higher quality calculator indeed gives the correct answer, while the other cheaper calculator gives the wrong one. But the broadcaster told a different story.

Some people argue that by PEMDAS rule, the answers should be 9 for the 1st problem.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110428141904AAnPt5o

Note:

P - parentheses
E - exponents
M - multiplication
D - division
A - addition
S - subtraction

PEMDAS is true, but using this rule without following other rules is not the right way to do mathematics.

(Extra:

When we learn function, we ordinarily write xy=z for x*y=z, where x and y are independent variables while z is the dependent variable.

We can see that for every real number x and y, x*y = xy. So, for each x and y, z=xy.

Writing xy=z is better than writing x*y=z because it is unambiguous and convenient.

Let say we are given the values of x and y, and we now want to compute a/z, where a is some constant.

By convention, for each real number x and y, we compute a/xy to get a/z.

We don't write a/x*y.

This is why when we write 6/2(1+2), we don't write 6/2*(1+2), they are different from each other.)

What is inspiring me...

I have been curious about how social businesses survive and emerge to be the best way to generate funds which help the people in need.

I went to a talk on 2nd April 2011 (Saturday), by My Paul who has shown his face on TED.

He is the chairperson of B1G1. The concept behind is buy one free one. However, it is not for the a customer to buy one and get another one for free. Instead, it is whenever a customer buy a product from them, someone who is unfortunate such as blind could get a little financial help.

B1G1 is doing profitable businesses, generating positive revenue, to raise fund for the unfortunate people. I really appreciate what they do.

In fact, I am not a person who is willing to do a social business. I was born in a poor family and I found there the world is totally filled with unfairness. I experienced some bad incidents in the past. Yeah, it is true that there are many friendly and kind people. But there are many self-fish and cruel people. More generally, there are even more people having these good and bad attitudes simultaneously. What about me? I would say I behave as a bad guys to bad people, but I always sympathize people who are purely unfortunate.

I am ambitious to set up a giant business in the future. However, if I will one day become rich, I would not donate all my incomes to others. Being sacrificing so much to improve my life, I deserve a better life. Nonetheless, I will use my hands to pull people with bad luck up from their 'viscous circle'. Moreover, I will donate a portion of my income to people who are really unfortunate.

That is why I would not say I am a good man who will join social entrepreneurship, which work for unfortunate people. I will still do business on one hand, and help people on the other hand. However, what make me different is, I work for my family and myself, but give helps to people in need.

Anyway, I am really inspired by Mr. Paul for what he has being doing. He is indeed well-known as the wizard of wow.

Social Entrepreneurship - The wizard of wow

Will we still see the sun rise on 25th Dec 2011?

There is a controversial prophecy saying that 22 Dec 2012 is the doomsday.

Today is 24 April 2011 and catastrophes have been occurring in many countries since 1 Jan 2011. What interests people is that they are mostly the most serious cases in history.

It it is true, what should I do in the rest of the days?

The next was 274 tornados within 3 days in USA.

Dine out with parents

Ever since I moved to Singapore, I have little time to meet my parents.
It is undeniable that I have changed a lot, but I never forget the sacrifices they did for me when I was young. And in fact, I am learning so hard in university for providing them a better life in the future. I know it is my fault as I seldom visit them, but... somethings have to be given up to attain somethings else.

They are going to travel to Taiwan in two days with my sisters. They come to Singapore earlier to get some times for preparation and, visit me. They will be here for a couple of days.

We have just dined out. I can't remember how long I have never dined with them before this.

Yupp, study hard Min Hau! You will achieve your goals! Your have a better luck these days!

I am back :)

Today is 11 April 2011, 2 weeks away from my final papers.

I have been away from blog for quite awhile. The life has been so hectic since the semester commenced. Many things happened in the past 2 months, but I did not jot down any single word that traced my stories.

Well, I could still remember a few important incidents which happened in March and early April.

4,5 March: Dance Production.
After months of sweat and efforts, my team and I had finally brought a great show onto the stage. It was the first time, the first ever, I took up a great responsibility to lead a team in accomplishing part of the colossal project, Hall Dance Production (DP) 2011. In fact, my team wasn't playing the most crucial role in DP, but we were still important. It was really a great experience. And certainly I know I couldn't make it without him, my best friend in KR, Albert Milando. Here, I would like to thank him and all stage crew again for giving me such a memorable experience in my year 2.

4 March : Failing NOC interview.

Yeah, I was really upset of myself being not able to go NOC. Joining this kind of programme is in fact the reason I chose to come to NUS. However, I had failed. Sigh...

Anyway, it wasn't too bad! May be there is something better waiting for me if I did not go NOC. I am looking forward to a better success! Moreover, if the prophecy is true, Dec 2012 will really come. Therefore, I should spend the rest of my time with my family and probably, find a true love which I have never had.

6 March - 31 March: Returning to a normal undergraduate.

Nothing much exciting, midterm tests,assignments, homework, etc. made me suffer throughout the whole months.

However, I began to involve myself in Rag designers meeting since the week after DP. Frankly, I don't see a clue to win Rag this year. I am quite demoralized this time.

1 April - 11 April :

Life doesn't change much, but I bought a video camcorder. It costs $179. However, I got a $10 worth voucher and free tripod which costs $17.90. It was really a great deal!

Hmm... Why did I buy it? It might probably be because I am in video production team. However, I really wish to film down every single footstep I trace in my university life.

11April: Lazy to study/overwhelmed with stresses

Sigh, exam is approaching, but I am just not motivated to study. Sigh, recalling back what I did when I was in secondary school and high school, I was so hardworking as I aimed to be the best student. But now, there are so many distractions and I just cannot concentrate on study. :(

Chingay Heartland

Chingay was over one week ago but I was too busy to write anything happened during Chingay.
Anyway, I went to Chingay heartland today and it has been another great experience in my university life. I was standing on a float, smiling and waving to people for more than 4 hours. I have never seen so many people smiling and waving back to me before. None of the words could describe the feeling in me.

However, I inhaled an intensive level of monoxide and hydrocarbon emitted from the float engine. It was really suffering when I needed to smile whole inhaling the smoke :(.

hmm... it is time to study, I have to stop here.

2nd Interview

I went to NOC 2nd interview at 11.20am , on 8 Feb 2011, Tuesday.

I was quite nervous before the interview. However, I am mentally more well-prepared for this sort of interview this time. This is attributed to the course Communication Skills I took last semester. And I would like to thank Mr Blackstone again for all the advice he gave me.

However, I am not sure how high the possibility I would pass this interview. I did not perform so well during the interview, but not too bad. I was asked why I decided to go on this programme, why they should choose me why choose Philadephia, etc.

Haiz... In fact, there would be a lot of sacrifices if I am in NOC programme. For instances, I have to extend up to 2 semesters to graduate, loan would be heavier, CAP would be affected, lack of time to look for a life partner, etc...

However, the experience from NOC will really really pay off the opportunity cost! I believe!

Hope that I have pass the second interview! All the best! :D

Bought 2 fiction books & 1 business stories book! :D

Oh my GOD! Two fictions for $5, how could I miss such a great deal!!

There is a bazar selling 2nd books at school these few days.
I know I have been too busy to read non-academic books since I began my University life. However, the books are so cheap!! I am still hesitating whether I should buy more! :D
Anyway, I bought two fiction books which are 'Bone Man's Daughters' and 'New York Dead'! Yeah, both are under horrible category. Haha... Only this kind of books would not bore their readers.

Well I bought another book ' The best business stories of the year 2004'at $3.90. I am quite ambitious to own businesses in the future. Hence, this book really grabs my heart though all the stories might not fit into this new knowledge-based economy :D.

In fact, I have yet read the books I bought last yet, haha! It is okay, I just put them aside for the moment. I promise I will read them all after this semester.

Flood 30 Jan 2011

Oh my GOD! My house is flooded! (1st house on the left in 1st picture, 2nd from the left in 2nd picture (pointed by a 'white' signboard).
The long-life rain has just brought the biggest ever flood to Segamat, Johor, Malaysia since 22 Dec 2006.
Thoudsand of houses are abandoned. And there are even more who stay in their flooded houses, including my family. I guess its level is reaching my waist at living room and my forehead at the street in front of my house.

Frankly, I like rain because it makes me recall my past stories give me a comfortable cooling humidity. However, I don't want to get it at the expense of my family safety. Every time a flood comes, it brings lives away. Those who survive do need to suffer with hunger and thirsty.

Angel, please, stop the flood...

1st round Interview

I went to NOC 1st round interview at 9am yesterday. It was the 2nd time applied as I failed it last semester. 'Sigh....' I swore to improve my ability after my 1st failure. But I was too busy with CCAs and did not really follow my plan to train my ability. However, I was well-prepared this time. And I did very much better than last time. However, I was still not able to listen carefully the problem given, whereby not able to give good ideas during the group discussion. I really really hope I will be shortlisted to 2nd round interview.

Anyway, this morning I met a senior while going to film Inter-Hall Game Softball match who knew a couple of friends applied NOC before. He said one of them did not pass the 3rd round interview. Oh gosh!! If I happened to struggle so hard till 3rd round, and screw it up at the 3rd round, I will really CRY!!!

Anyway, for now, I can do nothing but wait for result to come out....

Our Young CEOs - Dare to dream, and dream BIG

I attended a panel discussion this afternoon which was from 1pm to 4pm. There were 4 speakers, Douglas Gan, Wayne Eo, Eileen Feng and Amelia Kang. That wasn't the 1st Entrepreneurship event I went to. And again, that was a inspiring one. I am gonna record down what they said while the memory is till fresh this time.

Firstly, we have Douglas Gan, founder & CEO of ShowNearby. He started his first small business when he was in primary school by selling chewing gums. Since then, he has been learning on the way how to do business. He was born in a poor family. And he said it was the environment that drove him to be keen in earning money since he was a kid. When he grew up and became a teenager, he began to endeavor some big business. The reason that brought him such a great courage when he was about 15 years old was he thought it would be rather easier to gain money by earning himself than getting money from parents. In fact, his performance in study was bad. For example, he got a score of 39 for his O-level. This is perhaps the reason he answered 'You may quit school if you want to start-up a business' to the emcee when he was asked whether education was important. However, he emphasized that it was just a different way of learning. He said :" Education can come in different forms, it might be learning in school, might be learning in real life, might be self-learning by reading book, etc. You just choose the one you feel the most comfortable with." He actually possesses a diploma cert. However, he said it was his mother who wanted him to get a cert, or else he wouldn't have bothered himself to study since the cert has been worthless to him. Nonetheless, his answer for the last question thrown at him was an impressive one. The question was "what you would choose to do or not to do if the time went back to a few years ago". He said that he would have not invested in stock market in year 2006 and 2007. He lost everything, every single cent with a lot of debts. However, he recovered his losses after 2 months by starting up a new business. And he assured that he would never invest in stock market again.
Douglas' advice: you have advantages if you start a business when you are young. This is because most old successful entrepreneurs would treat you like their sons.

Secondly, we have Wayne Eo, the founder & managing director of OOm Pte Ltd. He and his 2 partners started up their business 5 years ago with $500. Now, their company worths more than 1 million dollars. He had begun to dream owning a company since he was 10 years old. And he found OOm when he was 19 years old. He said he just ignored his study and focused on doing his business. Similar to Douglas, he did very bad (worse than Douglas' indeed) in his study. Nonetheless, he does have a choice to go study business in some private college. But he decided to learn everything on the way he was starting up OOm. In fact, in the first year of OOm, he couldn't get any client and there was once he experienced walking back to home because of running out of cash. However, he was so determined with a belief which was "I suffer now but I will make sure it will never happen again in the future."
Mayne's advice: Must learn to be able to smile naturally while people 'hit' you very badly (customers say no with teasing words).

Thirdly, Amelia Kang, the managing director of Auxein Consultancy and Management Pte Ltd. She was one of the top 5 Junior College students in Singapore. She graduated from NUS with Philosophy Bachelor Degree. She basically invests in new businesses and sells them out for profits. Currently, she has 9 businesses operating on her hands. She was once a person who was like others thinking to work with a stable high income after graduation. She became a manager of Singapore Art Council after she graduated for NUS. Everything changed when she gained a great network for herself. She felt that she would have been able to earn more if she resigned her job and involved herself in doing business. After considering it seriously, she opened her first restaurant with another 2 partners. Within a year, they managed to recover their capital. Awhile later, one of her partners got pregnant and wanted to withdraw from the business, while the other one got hooked up by a customer and intended to leave for Australia. She could not run the restaurant without them so she sold her business out. She actually earned a greater profit from the deal. After that experience, she began to set up and sell businesses for profits. Substantially, she sells businesses to her partners when the businesses become profitable.
Amelia's advice: (i) Learn to make use of your skills and knowledge.
(ii) Make sure your potential partners have the goal of developing their businesses instead of having another plan for life, such as quitting the business for children.

Lastly, we have Eileen Feng, founder of Singapore Cen Speak. She graduated from a polytechnic in Singapore. I can't remember much about what she shared with the audience. However, she was a lucky one as it was her life and fate that brought her to be the founder of 3 businesses in 3 different industries. She was rather passive to start up each of her businesses. Simply speaking, it was the business that came to her instead of having great aspiration before starting up a business.

Hectic life

Can't believe the 1st week of Semester 2 has gone.

The new semester started before I managed to take a breath. Being the set engineer of Kent Ridge Hall Dance Production, I began my work since the week after the exam weeks last semester. It was from Monday to Friday, from doing solid work, estimating and buying raw material to leading stage crew to build all the sets for performance. To avoid stage crew from being demoralized by the tough work ( as what I had experienced when I was a stage crew last year), I put in a lot of time and effort to simplify their work. However, it was not easy as I had to compromise with set manager and deginers.

Thinking to slack off myself in the last week of vacation, new job came and knocked my door. My Video Production Team (VPT) chairperson promoted me to be the vise chair. Since then, I have been working every day for the Inter-hall Games.

Well, this is just the starting point of the semester. There will be even more work coming on the way. Although most my times are taken away, it is being a good experience in my life. I have had learnt so much from CCAs this academic year. Good job Min Hau! :D

Cheer up and don't fall down!!