The best group in the world!

New place

2008-09-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

dnc.sg/sg15

See you there.

Team mate,
Dean

PreUsemOuting

2007-11-30T02:08:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
A couple of things first.
1. Congrats, juniors! On slashing Cambridge the Terrible into oblivion.
2. NUS peeps, congrats on finally pinnning the 1st semestrial examinations down!
3. All the best to the rest and those who are NS-ing.

It's been a bloody long time since the last meet up. Hence, a PreUsem outing has been proposed to be on December 1st (This Saturday), marking the 1.5 year anniversary-anniv.

The details:
12pm Harbourfront station for lunch.
Pick up tickets for a night movie before leaving for the Siloso beach at about 2pm.
Currently, we have a frisbee, basketball and a couple of groundsheets. Do add on more items!
Dress casual. Extra clothes, swim suits and bathing items will add to the fun and give you a piece of mind.
Leave for VivoCity by 7pm for dinner and movie.
Movie at about 8pm, running till 10. Followed by reckying for a chatting ground.
It'll end around 11pm, which will give ample time before the last train arrives.

This list is just a guide, so feel free to suggest any changes/new items on that day!
Note: It'd be nice if you can reply by Friday (November 31st) evening, so that we can be sure if the event is a go. Sorry for the short notice (because we didn't think that free time actually exist! Not until now.).

Thankyou.

Dean

PostScript:
Special thanks goes to KaiChi and Nandita for initiating this event.
For any emails you have for me, please send them here (hanmilo@gmail.com), thankyou.

New shoutbox!

2006-11-09T03:17:00.000-08:00

I got fedup with the pop-up due to a gliche with the previous shoutbox server, so I replace it with another one. Haha!! Enjoy shouting! :)

-dean

In the midst of everything

2006-10-31T02:39:00.000-08:00

Hey all!
Its pretty much exam fever right now. I wish you guys all the best! :) Well, i pretty much keep forgetting it is still exam period. So much so that i keep asking Errol out (Shucks! Sounds real wrong. After all the wrong things said during pre-u sem you'd pretty much think i'd corrected. For those who forgot, what i said was = Me to the girls,"So, what are we doing after lights out?") Yeah, we definitely should/must meet up after the exams yeah? And this time we would have to plan properly beforehand. So far the only pre-u sem guy I've seen since the last outing is Daniel. See him almost every Saturday and Sunday for church unless he gets owned by school programmes.

To the guys,
Oi! When can we finally have a game of football? So far we've never had a good chance to have a good game eh? Must meet up after exams for a game! Or... we could get the girls along and have some sort of a friendly/clinic. That way, we could get everyone involved! :)

Haha, okay. All the best for the A's students! :)

Enos Koh Ming Zhi

Forum!!

2006-10-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I've set up a forum and there's a corner reserved for Pre-U sem people.
I chose to make it public to increase forum size so that it'll be more lively. If it's not working, we can set up a separate one. I hope this works!!

Thanks :)

-Dean

Click to enter forum.

Randomness

2006-09-30T05:17:00.000-07:00

GASP! the last update was over a month ago! So to prevent this blog from becoming totally dead, i shall post some of my random nonsense. How are y'all? Hope you're all okay/not stressed with exams/not having exams at all. Yes, anyway, give us updates on what's happening in your life! I just finished exams, so i'm feeling rather free right now. But for the rest of you who are still having/anticipating them, don't stress, study hard and i'm sure you'll do really well! Does anyone (coughVanessacough) have pics from our outings? I'd love to see them. Really miss y'all and all our fun times during the week at preusem. i just found my preusem file and i was having fun going through it and looking at our insane schedule and my vegetarian meal pass and other wierd stuff that remained in my file since June and i wonder what i'd give to spend another week at preusem.

Okay I shall stop with my randomness now.

Take care and all the best!
Nandita.

Oh bother. Got to update sooner or later anyway.

2006-08-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

I wonder why,
I wonder why,
I wonder.

I wonder why,
I wonder why,
I wonder.
- Feynman's poem on the topic "Sleep", for his literature assignment. Apparently he fell asleep writing it.

Some quotes by Richard P. Feynman that I hope might amuse you in a way or another:

By Feynman:

"Einstein was a giant. His head was in the clouds, but his feet were on the ground. Those of us who are not so tall have to choose!"

"I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem."

"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."

""There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers"."

Anecdotes:

"I have a friend who's an artist, and he sometimes takes a view which I don't agree with. He'll hold up a flower and say, "Look how beautiful it is," and I'll agree. But then he'll say, "I, as an artist, can see how beautiful a flower is. But you, as a scientist, take it all apart and it becomes dull." I think he's kind of nutty. [...] There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts."

"In particular, she had a wonderful sense of humor, and I learned from her that the highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion."
- Commenting on his mother's influence.-

"One time I was in the men's room of the bar and there was a guy at the urinal. He was kind of drunk, and said to me in a mean-sounding voice, "I don't like your face. I think I'll push it in."
I was scared green. I replied in an equally mean voice, "Get out of my way, or I'll pee right through ya!"

On Feynman:

"If that's the world's smartest man, God help us."
- His mother, Lucille Feynman, after Omni magazine named him the world's smartest man.

More at:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman

Further updates on 10th Aug outing!

2006-08-05T04:06:00.000-07:00

yay our b'day boy CAN make it. excellent.

PEOPLE GOING

Daryl
Enos
Zhuoyi
Kai Chi
Nandita
Shal
Dean
Sara
Mark
Daniel

UNCONFIRMED

Nurus
Emmeline
Emmanuel
Zi Heng
Boot
Colin

NOT GOING

Janice
Vanessa
Candice
Joanne
Errol

Is that right, y'all?
So now, what are we doing? Okay if The Lake House is as bad as shal says, then perhaps we shouldn't waste our money. Other suggestions?

love,
Nandita (a.k.a. Pride)

TERrorist aLeRt

2006-08-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

FIESTA...

Function:
10th aug (Daniel's bday)
3.30pm (orchard mrt... meet enos there)[ sorry nandita...enos is injured and he's not for sentosa)

Menue:
-starbucks?

-movie : enos wants to watch 'The Lake House'--- eee... I hate romance films...
they are soppy... so the major discussion begins... i hope we get to catch a movie...

-dinner: somewhere over the rainbow...

I ll arrive at 4.30. Cos I feel the need to be fashionably late... kiddin... PW at a childcare centre... I m teaching them how to react in a terrorist attack...

GUESS who is actin as the terrorist?

CAN'T guess?

If KNEW IT U WERE LOUSY AT GUESSING... I...

ME

Okokokok....

pple who can make it so far

me,kai chi
pride(nandita)
prejudice(shalini)
enos (Mr I hate P$#*)
chicken-little (zy)
daniel
singapore ( she s suffering a mid-life crisis... so we had myself include her...hope u don't mind)
mark
dean

pple who havent replied/confirmed yet (may make it)

sara( u better come ya!!!)
emmeline
emmanuel
ziheng
nurus(sence!!! where are u??? donnt abandonme...)
collin
boot( the loveliest tennis captain eva)

pple who can't be with us...

darryl
errol
vannessa
janice
joanne

yup thts a wrap
cys ( see u soon)
lol

kai chi

10th Aug

2006-07-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, my exams are over!!!! ( for the time being)

message to collin : I believe in Santa... he s a saint... read history...

ummm yeah me and nandita were discussin...

are u all free on the 10th of Aug?
it s a public hol
we can all go out... and ... go out... and out...go out and ... argh i m not too good at this...

anyeays pls tag and claim that u re free on the 10th? yes? yeap?

Pls suggest the timing u re free...

ENOS: U gave me the wrong user-name u ... u ... the correct user-name and password is ##$#$^%^%^$&^&%... i cannt reveal it HERE... as u said, it s danGerOus....

kiddin kiddin... agitated cos i m not allowed to watch the brazil-france match... GO KAKA...

LOL( i learnt this from chicken little),
Kai Chi

The Physics of Santa Claus

2006-06-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

The Physics of Santa Claus

A Scientific Disproof of the Santa Theory, and a couple of Rebuttals Thereto.

· No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

· There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau.

· At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

· Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical).

· This works out to 822.6 visits per second.
· This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.

· Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc.
· This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound.

· For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

· The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight.

· On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer.

· This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

· 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

· The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy per second each.

· In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.

· The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 0.00426 sec. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity.

· A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force – flattened to a thickness no more than 1 millimetre!

In conclusion -- If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now!

Rebuttal: (Jim Mantle, Waterloo Maple Software)
Come on, ya gotta believe! I mean, if you can handle flying furry animals, then it's only a small step to the rest.

For example:
· As admitted, it is possible that a flying reindeer can be found. I would agree that it would be quite an unusual find, but they might exist.

· You've relied on cascading assumptions. For example, you have assumed a uniform distribution of children across homes. Toronto/Yorkville, or Toronto/Cabbagetown, or other yuppie neighbourhoods, have probably less than the average (and don't forget the DINK and SINK homes (Double Income No Kids, Single Income No Kids)), while the families with 748 starving children that they keep showing on Vision TV while trying to pick my pocket would skew that 15% of homes down a few percent.

· You've also assumed that each home that has kids would have at least one good kid. What if anti-selection applies, and homes with good kids tend to have more than their share of good kids, and other homes have nothing except terrorists in diapers? Let's drop that number of homes down a few more percent.

· Santa would have to Fedex a number of packages ahead of time, since he would not be able to fly into Air Force Bases, or into tower-controlled areas near airports. He's get shot at over certain sections of the Middle East, and the no-fly zones in Iraq, so he'd probably use DHL there. Subtract some more homes.

· I just barely passed Physics and only read Stephen Hawking's book once, but I recall that there is some Einsteinian Theory that says time does strange things as you move faster.

· In fact, when you go faster than the speed of light time runs backward, if you do a straight line projection, connect the dots and just ignore any singularity you might find right at the speed of light. And don't say you can't go faster than the speed of light because I've seen it done on TV. Jean-Luc doesn't have reindeer but he does have matter-antimatter warp engines and a holodeck and that's good enough for me.
· So Santa could go faster than light, visit all the good children which are not uniformly distributed by either concentration in each home or by number of children per household, and get home before he left so he can digest all those stale cookies and warm milk yech.
· Aha, you say, Jean-Luc has matter-antimatter warp engines, Santa only has reindeer, where does he get the power to move that fast!

· You calculated the answer! The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy. Per second. Each. This is an ample supply of energy for the maneuvering, acceleration, etc, that would be required of the loaded sleigh. The reindeer don't evaporate or incinerate because of this energy, they accelerate. What do you think they have antlers for, fighting over females? Think of antlers as furry solar array panels.

· If that's not enough, watch the news on the 24th at 11 o'clock. NORAD (which may be one of the few government agencies with more than 3 initials in it's name and therefore it must be more trustworthy than the rest) tracks Santa every year and I've seen the radar shots of him approaching my house from the direction of the North Pole. They haven't bombarded him yet, so they must believe too, right?

Yet another Rebuttal to the rebuttal:

Several key points are overlooked by this callous, amateurish "study."

· Flying reindeer: As is widely known (due to the excellent historical documentary "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," the flying reindeer are not a previously unknown species of reindeer, but were in fact given the power of flight due to eating magic acorns. As is conclusively proven in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (a no punches pulled look at life in Santa's village), this ability has bred true in subsequent generations of reindeer, obviously the magic acorns imprinted their power on a dominant gene sequence within the reindeer DNA strand.

· Number of households: This figure overlooks two key facts. First of all, the first major schism in the Church split the Eastern Churches, centered in Byzantium, from the Western, which remained centered in Rome. This occurred prior to the Gregorian correction to the Julian calendar. The Eastern churches (currently called Orthodox Churches) do not recognize the Gregorian correction for liturgical events, and their Christmas is as a result several days after the Western Churches'. Santa gets two shots at delivering toys.
· Secondly, the figure of 3.5 children per household is based on the gross demographic average, which includes households with no children at all. The number of children per household, when figured as an average for households with children, would therefore have to be adjusted upward.

· Also, the largest single Christian denomination is Roman Catholic, who, as we all know, breed like rabbits. If you don't believe me, ask my four brothers and two sisters, they'll back me up. Due to the predominance of Catholics within Christian households, the total number of households containing Christian children would have to be adjusted downward to reflect the overloading of Catholics beyond a standard deviation from the median.
· Also, the assertion that each home would contain at least one good child would be reasonable enough if there were in fact an even 3.5 children per household. However, since the number of children per household is distributed integrally, there are a significant number (on the order of several million) of one child Christian households.

· Even though only children are notoriously spoiled and therefore disproportionately inclined towards being naughty, since it's the holidays we'll be generous and give them a fifty-fifty chance of being nice. This removes one half of the single child households from Santa's delivery schedule, which has already been reduced by the removal of the Orthodox households from the first delivery run.

· Santa's delivery run (speed, payload, etc.): These all suffer from the dubious supposition that there is only one Santa Claus. The name "Santa" is obviously either Spanish or Italian, two ethnic groups which are both overwhelmingly Catholic. The last name Claus suggests a joint German/Italian background.

· His beginnings, battling the Burgermeister Meisterburger, suggest he grew up in Bavaria (also predominantly Catholic). The Kaiser style helmets of the Burgermeister's guards, coupled with the relative isolation of the village, suggest that his youth was at the very beginning of Prussian influence in Germany.

· Thus, Santa and Mrs. Claus have been together for well over one hundred years. If you think that after a hundred years of living at the North Pole with nights six months long that they remain childless, you either don't know Catholics or are unaware of the failure rate of the rhythm method.

· There have therefore been over five generations of Clauses, breeding like Catholics for over one hundred years. Since they are Catholic, their exponential population increase would obviously have a gain higher than the world population as a whole.

· There have therefore been more than enough new Santas to overcome the population increase of the world. So in fact, Santa has an easier time of it now than he did when he first started out.

· Santa dead, indeed; some people will twist any statistic to "prove" their cynical theory.

Thats the end of it, all the best for the coming exams! (^(00)^)

colin

Nostalgia hits.

2006-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

hey y'all! since i realised most of you guys havent seen my dedication post, i thought i'd put it up here.

preUsem was great and absolutely fun and hilarious and scandalous and thought-provoking, too. I never thought i'd make so many new friends so fast, but somehow right after the first day it was like we'd all been friends for life or something. Especially the gals, yeah? Since, i didn't get a chance to do postcards and things for everyone, i thought I'd do a kind of dedication thingy to all you people of group 15.

GFC 29 (a job well done. thank you!)

Sha (Prejudice to my Pride! and fellow Bug) - THANK YOU! for being such a great, perceptive friend and Bug :) We've only met for a week, but you can already read my emotions like an open book. rather scary, that. anyway, i'm glad i met you. keep in touch, okay?

Nurus (Sense!) - Our Voice of Reason, your title suits you so well! Thank you for being a great friend and dedicated producer. We couldn't have done it without you. you're a good neighbour, too. i laugh. As always, keep in touch!

Sara - You're a veryvery nice person and someone i can talk to about a lot of things. I admire the way you never judge people and how you always take a step back and assess the situation before speaking. Thanks for everything. take care and keep in touch!

Janice- Thank you for your hard work and your dedication and attempts to get us on track. It means more to us than you think! We couldn't have done it without you. take care!

Dean (tallest!)- you really are a sweet guy. Thanks for everything that you did for us, and your contributions to our group. You're an amazingly approchable person and of course, a great editor. take care and don't forget to drop us a line once in a while. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN ADVANCE!

Daniel (tall!)- I didn't really know you before pre-u sem, so i'm glad for this opportunity to work with you. it was fun, most of the way! for someone who claims to be computer-illiterate, you're certainly a wonderful editor! thank you. see you in school!

Daryl - our resident money-stealer (and NO i don't mean this quite as it sounds, it was part of the video lol) thanks for everything you contributed to our group as a scriptwriter, actor and so much more. take care and keep in touch!

Mark- our cameraperson! you're a really patient person, and it was great working with you on the documentary. i'll always remember the lollipop cool pose that makes you look like you're smoking. so to you as well, thank you for everything, take care and keep in touch!

GFC 30 (thank you for remembering us!)

Kai chi (sensibility!) - We really should start that Jane Austen club, yes? i know you to be a confident, funny and smart person, and I'm positive that you're a great debater. We had such fun laughing at the reports, no? Thank you! take care and don't forget Pride.

Joanne- The first of the girls in our group i really talked to, you're a great person. I remember we were quite sad when we realised that we were in different groups, but you were just two doors down. Thank you for all that you did for SG 15, and keep in touch!

Vanessa (bimbo!) - The first thing that comes to mind is 'Bomb Semadia...Bomb semadia!' haha! we'll always remember you for your distinct laughter, your unique earrings and the fact that you're the tallest of the gals. Thanks for the postcard. Take care and keep in touch!

Emmeline - You're a fun person, always laughing and smiling and making everyone feel just a little better. I remember you were me for a while, when we exchanged blazers. haha! Thank you for being so positive. Take care and don't forget to e-mail or sth once in a while.

Emmanuel Paul (Himbo!) - Fellow Coldplay lover! VIP tix? you lucky thing. Tell me how it went, okay? i shall live through you for a while. Also thanks for the video lol. You're a good emcee too! don't worry. Take care and keep in touch!

Zhuoyi (chicken little!) - didn't really know you before this, so was glad for this chance to work with you, even if only for a short period of time. We had fun, didn't we? So take care and I'll see you in school! The sky's falling down! jk. jk.

Enos - A fun, sporting guy who hisses once in a while. yes, hisses. i laugh. so Eunos (minus the U), it was great working with you. poor double-dared boy! don't worry, that video's not going anywhere. fair enough...*clap*! take care, keep in touch and all!

Errol - you think of the evillest dares in the world! haha. you're a great actor and a great person to talk to. sporting, too! how's that manicured nail? Will remember you for all of this, and your interesting name that is not Aaron or Harold. cheers! keep in touch, k?

Zi Heng - What can i say? Fellow assistant director and fellow SR blazer stealer. i smile! Didn't really work with you all that much, but you seem like a great guy. Hope to get to know you better, yeah? Take care and keep in touch!

To the SLOs, Colin, Candice, Boot and Sheikh, you guys are the best! thanks for always being there and being responsible and all. You really made pre-u sem happen for us. Hope you like the gifts! you'll be as much a part of sg15 as any of us. Thank you!

Oh no, i really miss everything, from the waking up earlyearlyearly in the morning to running (really, running) around NUS and watching people jump into the swimming pool and archery and all that. ah well, all good things must come to an end sometime, right? Thank you! and make sure you upload ur pics! need to keep the memories.

love,
Nandita (Pride, Bug2)

BORED.

2006-06-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

I AM BORED.

I BORED AM.

BORED AM I.

BORED I AM.

AM I BORED.

AM BORED I.

HELLO PEOPLE.

I AM VERY BORED SO I DECIDED TO BLOG.

BUT,

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO BLOG.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME A REALLY INSPIRING AND MOTIVATIONAL TALK AND GET ME TO STUDY?

THANK YOU.

SEE YOU.

BYEBYE.

VANESSA TAN LI BOON.

study sessions

2006-06-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

TO MY FELLOW SG15 COMRADES!

we are under attack from the arsenal of laziness, procrastination and distractions as we try and sit down to study.

WE HAVE TO CONQUER THIS!

as fellow mates, we can help each other out by studying together and motivating each other to press on. therefore, let's study together!

there will be 2 study sessions for the time being (don't worry, there's more to come.)

tuesday 11am @ some cafe in town (dun worry, we'll get a cheap one to safe the wallet!)
wednesday 11am @ some cafe in town (dun worry, we'll get a cheap one to safe the wallet!)

P.S. try and inform the others who do not visit this blog regularly. and the tagboard is there for any better suggestions or feedback.

"IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING!" Let's DRIVE towards achieving our goals! and yess... dean,"MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU." fair enough, we'll give it to you. (:

Outing

2006-06-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have decided to be really xtra and blog about the outing this friday night.

people going

Me!
Enos
Kaichi
Vanessa
Sara
Daniel
Daryl
Dean
Sha
Emmeline
Colin
Nurus
Sheikh

People yet to confirm

Janice

People NOT going :(

Emmanuel
Joanne
Mark
Candice
Errol (most likely)
Zi Heng
Zhuoyi

So yes, i hope we do have this outing! yay. excited already! The 'going' list grows longer!

love,
nan

Pictures!

2006-06-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the-best-group-in-the-world

2006-06-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Colin and I figured this was a great way for us to keep in touch and not lose whatever pre-u sem has given us, so here's our official SG15 group blog! So please blog regularly and put up all the pics you guys have of our time in NUS. And please confirm ASAP regarding friday nite post-seminar outing!

love,
nandita