This really showed how rusty I am in my subjects… Although I did manage to solve it with some help from my old (and dusty) notes…

For those curious here’s the question…

• 6.956g of hydrated sodium carbonate Na2CO3.xH2O were dissolved in water and made up to exactly 250 cm3.
• 25 cm3 of this solution was neutralized by 48.80cm3 of 0.05mol/dm3 of Sulphuric Acid.
• Calculate the value of x in the formula.

(p.s. the answer is 10).

As always, the start of a New Year signifies a fresh start. However, we do have to look back sometimes in order to move forward. So here’s my thoughts, separated into sections.

• About Life
• About Blogging
• About Tech

About Life

2009 is a year where I actually found myself starting to play Facebook games after going on a no-computer-game hiatus for the last 4 years. Thanks to Mousehunt which prodded at my interest. I always thought I will start playing games again when StarCraft 2 comes out (and I’m still waiting…).. Haha.

In general, it was quite a good year, especially with University acceptance and a few other events. Furthermore, there is also the APEC 2009 event as well as the National Youth Assembly which spiced things up. Not to mention the small gatherings and meet-ups with loved ones which always makes me smile..

2010 would mark another milestone, leaving the NS and stepping back into the World Of Studies (not World Of Warcraft…) once again. Really looking forward to school life.. I aren’t  too crazy about the multiplication of work load, but will look forward to it nonetheless..

About blogging

I started blogging since 2004. 5 years on, I’ve moved through 4 blogging services and finally got my own domain at the start of this year.  Many thanks to my friend, who has kindly provided hosting this past year.

I’ve always just maintained a modest blog with no specific target, but come 2010, I should probably start thinking about pushing this blog further.

About Tech

The tech world in 2009 has also seen some new directions. Some of the highlights for me…

• HTML5 is now much more defined.
• Short URLs are all the hype…
  • Google (goo.gl), Facebook (FB.me), Youtube (youtu.be) all joining the already crowded scene which is dominated mostly by bit.ly (which launched a PRO service)
• Acquisitions are also abound as usual. One notable one was Facebook acquiring FriendFeed, signaling real-time friend updates within Facebook.
• Windows 7 was finally launched (oh man! I was one month too early to the free upgrade…)
• Google Wave was announced and in invited beta.
  • It may/may not revolutionize collaborations/email in the future, but has definitely created “waves” with users…

Wonder what seismic shifts will be found in the tech world in 2010.

Anyway, that’s all for now… Happy New Year (2010) once again! Have a great year ahead!

To everyone out there, friends and sponsors:

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Here’s a “toast” (a virtual one) to a peaceful and great year ahead!

Cheers!

This fact shows up prominently in a RazorTV interview as well as Straits Time Special Report published in it’s Online and print editions.

Granted, the cases in the article are mostly cases of malingering. For example, calling in sick so that they could party, not considering that there is chance that photos of them at the party could  surface on Facebook… One was fired while another was given a warning by their respective superiors.

You could say that they deserved it. However, if we look past the malingering fact,  a few of these cases involve photos that were not uploaded by them.

Would this constitute as an invasion of one’s privacy? Or is it the photographer’s/possessor’s right to the photo and upload it as he/she deems fit?

With companies now searching for and going through their potential employees’ Facebook accounts, and with more and more people citing Facebook in court documents, uploading photos shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially when you’re not even in the photo itself. The simple desire to share a photo of your friend may just have “unwanted side-effects”.

At this juncture, you may be saying:

“That’s b/s.. You’re thinking too much.!”

However the statement:

“Doesn’t mean that something that doesn’t happen often wouldn’t happen”…

…applies here.

I do think that sharing photos is a way of showing people your life, and a nice souvenir shared between the parties involved.. However,  before you upload your next photo on Facebook,  take a step back and think of the impact it will have. If in doubt, especially if it’s a photo of someone else, ask first, then upload.

References:

• The Straits Times, Page A6, “The truth is out there – on Facebook”, 21 December 2009

EDIT: Further Reads

• (27/12/2009) Privacy Theater: Why Social Networks Only Pretend To Protect You (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/27/privacy-theater/)

Anyway, the 4 songs are:

• “Teardrops on my guitar” by Taylor Swift
• “Crazier” by Taylor Swift
• “Mad” by Ne-Yo
• “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

Here are their official music videos from youtube:

“Teardrops on my guitar” by Taylor Swift

“Mad” by Ne-Yo

I guess part of the reason why I like “Mad” so much is also thanks to the TV Competition series: “So You Think You Can Dance”. The lyrical dance choreographed to this song was, in my opinion, “fantabulous” (fantastic and fabulous).

I’ve probably posted that dance video on my Facebook stream sometime back.

Going back on topic, the following 2 songs are from “Hannah Montana The Movie”…

“Crazier” by Taylor Swift

“The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

…and that’s all from my last.fm/grooveshark playlist.

Of course, I couldn’t resist taking some photos…

Details and photos

Camera: W995
Exposure: Varies
F-Stop: f/2.8
ISO Speed: Varies
Size: 2448 x 3264 or vice versa

Steps of Water

The Christmas Tree

The Doorway into the Tree

Into The Tree

Looking within the Tree

My favorite is the view within the tree. It feels like you’re in a fantasy when you look up at it. Furthermore, it makes a nice (but a little too bright) desktop background as well.

Knowing “the Two Sides”

One key view he held was that you should try and see all sides of a coin. This applies to real life situations as well.

Don’t comment until you’ve stepped into the other person’s shoes. If you’ve never been to where the person has been before, you are in no position to give a well-reasoned response.

I do agree that we shouldn’t judge people for something when we don’t have perfect knowledge of his overall situation. However, although we may not be able to judge, I am sure we are entitled to our own comments (whether this is aired is another matter), based on our own personal (and limited) experience in addition to holding the societal guidelines as a comparison.

(By societal guidelines, I mean established understandings that the society has “agreed on” collectively. For example, it can be something as simple as current fashion trends to something as complex as legislation.)

Why don’t you try everything?

In a similar vein,  another main point that he made was that life is short and thus you are curious, try it.

While I agree to the above in principle, it just aren’t that simple in reality.

It is true that we should try our hands on whatever life has to offer, but what he was implying was not limited to new sports or some new novelty you may have wanted to pick up. He explicitly extended it to include drugs and anything under the sun. As long as you’re curious, try it. Just make sure you know how to walk away from it.

Wouldn’t the above thus further imply that all addicts are addicts by choice and they just choose not to walk away? In certain ways they did choose it, but we ignore the fact that the drugs in itself affects the decision.

While “out-of-the-box” thinking and actions necessitate due consideration and actioned upon, I feel that logical and innovative thinking must meet practicality sometimes.

While taken at face value, we could definitely learn alot by experiencing everything ourselves. It may have more impact on our own personal growth. But we must remember that societal taboos are  taboos for a reason. Society has learned from the past, experience its effects and thus seek to prevent it. We don’t need to experience a catastrophe first hand to know the destruction it will cause. Similarly, in all practicality, we don’t need to learn everything by experiencing ourselves. We can learn by experiencing through others.

0100hrs:
I took the spot in the white box, taking over the equipment from the personnel before me. Armed with a massive sleep deprivation, I told myself: “It’s the last additional duty (on top of the usual 9 day work week)… Hang in there…”

I stood and stared ahead…  the sound of the crickets acting as my partner and  feeling the weight of the equipment and vest. Battling the heavy eyelids, I kept my mind on the duty and an eye on the grass for the snakes that we were forewarned.

Oh! What was that sound? ! Is that a car? I looked around, only to find that I must have been imagining it. I looked at my watch.. “huh? only 4 minutes have passed?”. Time seems to slow to a standstill when you are not occupied with something to do.

29 times I looked at my watch. Each time finding that only 4 minutes or less have passed.

0300hrs:
I saw a guy, wearing the same outfit, walking towards me. Oh good. Time for shift change. I looked at my watch for the 30th time in that 2 hours, heaving a sigh as I returned to the holding area waiting for dawn to break.

A few hours past dawn, I walked away from there, a zombie on my feet, glad that it is finally over.

Starting from today, in addition to the usual comment methods and Facebook Connect (FBC), you can also use Google Friend Connect (GFC) to leave a comment. Using Google Friend Connect or Facebook Connect allows you to skip typing in the required fields everytime you need to leave a comment.

GFC currently supports authentication with Google accounts, OpenID, Yahoo, AIM and Netlog.

I may be expanding the usage of both FBC and GFC on this blog in the future. For now, it is limited to the comments section only.

Anyway, I’ve got quite a bit of planning and courses to think about. I was really surprised that Nayang Technological University is also a partner, offering some distant learning courses and bridging modules which I think will be useful…

Another enticing option is to take up the language courses and leave the heavy brain work courses to when I actually have to start doing so.

The only issue I have with all the courses available is the fact that they are all online and there is no class-based tutorials.

Oh well… I probably should get my driving in progress first… Feels quite demoralizing when one finds out that he’s the only one left (among my army mates) without a driving license…