How not to do research on the net

A very good example on how not to do research on the net.

I was doing up a aerospace lab report (of course last minute) and in it they asked asked for suggestions to the improve the quality of the readings. It was a propulsion experiment and one way to improve the readings was to find a way to improve the propulsion rate. So I was thinking, why not add a barrier at the back of the propulsor (?) so overall thrust is increased. Just like the barrier they have on aircraft carriers used to shorten the runway length for jets.

So I went on Wikipedia and searched ‘aircraft carriers’. It was a rather interesting article and soon I was reading about the Princess of Wales and the Repulse, the British ships which were sent to protect Singapore but destroyed easily by the Japanese. From there I jumped to read about the Yamato, the largest and most powerful battleships ever built.

From there I thought it will be quite cool to watch some videos about warplanes. So went to Youtube and started watching videos about warplanes. And after several clicks, I was watching space shuttles taking off, when I came across this video.

Pretty bad timing for the bird. And from there started looking for more birdstrike videos. This is one of the ‘better’ ones.

And from there, started googling about bird strikes and on and on I went for another 30mins.

So at the end of 1 hour, I was no where nearer to what I wanted to find as before.

I choose to blame Wikipedia and Youtube if my results turn out bad.

What do guys talk about?

What do you get when you put 7 contented guys, stomachs full of pizza and Pepsi together?  

So Roy, Adrian, Chong Chin, Rudy, Boon Yen and I decided to order pizza for lunch after our Public Speaking Course. Di Ming then proceeded to freeload off us. J

We were eating in the corridor along to prevent adding to the maggot infestation in the LDP room. As we were so contented and satisfied we just sat down there and more or less blocked the whole corridor.  

So usually when 2 or more guys get together, they talk about the usual things guys talk about. But we were different… 

We instead talked about the origins of the Internet; the difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet; how the speed of light was derived; why can’t anything go past the speed of light; will the orbits of Neptune and Pluto ever clash and if then what will happen; what is time travel and does it really exist; are there such things called Multiverses. And this is only from what I can still remember.

Yes, I know, we are such nerds. But have to admit, I was the one instigating most of these topics. And it was a pretty interesting and refreshing discussion/arguement.  I guess I still enjoy having long winded discussions about things none of us have an proper answer to, but nevertheless still fun to argue over.

 Oh the Public Speaking Course which we attended was alright, I just used my previous post as inspiration for my ‘unprepared’ speech. See, another benefit of having a blog.

Amor Fati

Amor Fati

I came across this term when I was searching for a suitable word or phrase that I might possibly want to tattoo on in the not-so-near-future. (Which deserves another post altogether)

A simple search on Wikipedia led to the following:

Amor fati is a Latin phrase that loosely translates to “love of fate” or “love of one’s fate”. It is used to describe an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one’s life, including suffering and loss, as good. That is, one feels that everything that happens is destiny’s way of reaching its ultimate purpose, and so should be considered good. Moreover, it is characterized by an acceptance of the events that occur in one’s life.

The Wikipedia entry further goes on to say that this Latin phrase was repeatedly used by Friedrich Nietzsche, a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher.

But why do I find this phrase so interesting?

Because it sort of states my very own approach to life. That is to see everything that happens as a good thing and a learning point. Call me cheesy or naive, but a little optimism and encouragement never hurt anyone.

Ultimately to stop myself from launching into a diatribe, shall just say this: There are many things in life that happen for which we do not the reason why, but whatever happens, just got to believe it is for the better.

However, I am not saying we should just accept life as it is. Change the things in which we have influence over, but learn to accept the things we have no control over.

Amor Fati.

The last stretch.. for now..

Woo hoo.. just another 4 weeks to a 14 week holiday. Just this small thing called exams in the way.

So in another 4 weeks, i will cease to be a  freshman.  So quickly 9 months of my university life has ran away. Uni life has a been rather interesting.. I enjoy it at times yet still dread it often. I’m so looking forward to my holidays but am rather sure i’ll be looking forward to school during the hols.

So unlike the previous years where i’ll just rot my hols away, i have taken the liberty to plan for all the 3 months.. 8 weeks in India, another 3 weeks in South East Asia, then back to school for oreientation camp should easily fill up my holidays.

Life in uni has been what exactly i expected to be.. Making great friends, dreading school work, exceling in things that have absolutley no effect on my GPA, emotions running a wild only to be brought down to earth with a crashing thud. There are certain things I’ve done so far which i’ll probably classify under the “Young, Foolish and Naive” portion of my biography.

 Studying aerospace, or rather studying to get a degree still leaves me with a lot of confused thoughts. But for now since i have no other better alternative will still stick to it and see where this brings me too. Life so far has been a great adventure, it’s so great just to be living.. haha, can’t understand all the ‘emo’ characters around me..

Sometimes on a completely different note, can’t help but notice how seemingly trival our lives are compared to so many other things around the world. We are so sheltered in Singapore that I too take a lot of things for granted.