Sunday, December 2, 2012
Tonight We Love
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Word Puzzle
1. Assess
2. Banana
3. Dresser
4. Grammar
5. Potato
6. Revive
7. Uneven
It's not that they all have at least 2 double letters. What else?
The answer is:
Take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Quote of The Week
Friday, October 26, 2012
Management Training - Relationship Management
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Moral -
1. Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
2. Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
3. When you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Management Training - The Power of Bullshit
He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Moral - Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Management Training - Know Your Place
All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral - To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Steve Jobs - The Three Stories
1. Connecting the Dots
2. Love and Loss
3. Death
They are all very good stories and inspirational and they provide valuable lessons to be learnt.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Travel History - A Look Into The Past
A. Cities visited - by air with overnight stay and not including stopovers in transit
Country
|
City
|
Hong Kong
|
Hong Kong
|
Australia
|
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ayers Rock, Alice Spring, Hamilton Island
|
New Zealand
|
Auckland
|
Fiji
|
Fiji
|
USA
|
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, Houston, New Orleans, Tucson, Minneapolis/St Paul, Atlanta, Philadelphia
|
Canada
|
Toronto
|
Brazil
|
Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Falls do Igaucu
|
Columbia
|
Bogota
|
UK
|
London
|
France
|
Paris
|
Germany
|
Munich
|
Denmark
|
Copenhagen
|
Bahrain
|
Bahrain
|
Japan
|
Tokyo, Osaka
|
Korea
|
Seoul
|
Taiwan
|
Taipei, Hualien
|
Singapore
|
Singapore
|
Malaysia
|
Kuala Lumpur, Penang
|
Thailand
|
Bangkok
|
Philippines
|
Manila
|
B. Airlines Traveled
Airline Code
|
Airline
|
Country
|
CX
|
Cathay Pacific Airways
|
Hong Kong
|
QF
|
Qantas Airways
|
Australia
|
JQ
|
Jetstar
|
Australia
|
AN
|
Ansett
|
Australia
|
TA
|
Trans Australian Airline
|
Australia
|
AA
|
American Airline
|
USA
|
DL
|
Delta
|
USA
|
NW
|
Northwest
|
USA
|
PA
|
Pan American
|
USA
|
PS
|
Pacific Southeastern Airline
|
USA
|
TW
|
Trans World Airline
|
USA
|
UA
|
United Airline
|
USA
|
US
|
US Air
|
USA
|
AC
|
Air Canada
|
Canada
|
CP
|
Canadian Pacific
|
Canada
|
BA
|
British Airways
|
UK
|
KL
|
KLM
|
Netherlands
|
SK
|
SAS Scandinavian Airlines
|
Sweden
|
JL
|
Japan Airline
|
Japan
|
FE
|
Far East Airline
|
Taiwan
|
MH
|
Malaysian Airline
|
Malaysia
|
RG
|
Varig
|
Brazil
|
Crucero
|
Brazil
| |
AV
|
Avianca
|
Columbia
|
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Who's Smart?
The woman said, " I really don't want to play unless you give me a handicap. If I don't know the answer, then I'll give you $5, but if you don't know the answer, you'll give me $50. Okay?"
The man thought he was much smarter than the woman, and so he confidently agreed.
There he started, " How many moons does Jupiter have?" After a few seconds, the woman said, "I don't know." And she reached into her purse and gave the man $5.
So came the woman's turn, "What goes up the hill with two legs and comes down with three?"
Reluctant to lose, the man hastily took out his laptop and searched the internet. After half an hour, the man sighed, "I don't know." And he reached into his purse and gave the woman $50.
A few minutes later, the man couldn't help but to asked the woman slowly in a low voice, "What was the answer?"
"I don't know either." The woman reached into her purse again and gave $5 to the man.
Monday, August 13, 2012
What Have You Missed in Your Life?
When she was 35, the wife asked again. Angrily the husband told her, "I just missed the bus."
At 45, annoyingly the husband said, "I missed the meeting with my client."
At 55, disappointingly the husband said, "I missed a good chance to retire."
At 65, hurriedly the husband replied, "I missed a dental appointment."
At 75, the wife didn't ask the husband anymore. The husband sat beside her bed who was very sick in the hospital. Remembering what the wife used to ask him all over the years, the husband asked her the same question. The wife reflected for a moment, smiled and answered peacefully and contentedly, "I have not missed having you with me in my life."
Deeply moved, the husband tried hard to hold his tears. He held the wife's hand tight. Regretfully he said to her, "I think I have missed the dearest and deepest love in these 50 years."
Life and love are very simple. While we are busy in life pursuing riches and fame which could be trivial when we look back, we might have neglected the most faithful and precious love already in our hands.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Truth and Reality
The CEO first went to hell. When the door opened, he saw a frantic party was going on inside. All his former collegues and friends were there. They were all celebrating like crazy. Everybody was enjoying delicious food and fine wine. The place was filled with handsome boys and beautiful girls. After an hour, they said goodbye to him and wished him to come back very soon.
Then the CEO went to heaven. Inside there was a tranquil and peaceful environment, with endless beautiful scenaries. There he relaxed and enjoyed comfortably for an hour.
Finally the time for making decision came. The CEO went back to see the angel and said, "Heaven certainly is good. But hell looks more attractive to me." So the CEO chose to go to hell.
Before long, the CEO was sent back to hell. Once the CEO entered the door, he was completely shocked by what he saw. Inside it was a desolate place. All his former collegues and friends were either being beaten by devils or being burned by fire. He was horrified and asked the staff at the door, "Why is it like this? Last time when I was here, it wasn't like this at all."
The staff at the door replied, " Last time you just came for an interview. Now you are one of our staff. Welcome to our corporation! HAHAHAhahahaha.............."
A job in a large corporation may look very appealing. But when you started, you'd work like hell!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Illusion or Reality?
1. You were flying on a plane from one destination to another (say Sydney to Hong Kong). The plane was so smooth and quiet that you could hardly feel any movement. You remained seated without moving around in the plane. So you thought you were not in motion. You threw a ball straight up in the air, and the ball fell straight down back into your hand, indicating that you were not in motion at all. But on a second thought, you knew the plane was moving at a ground speed of 500 km/hr away from Sydney. You also knew you yourself were moving (together with the plane) similarly at a very fast ground speed of 500 km/hr away from Sydney.
2. You were traveling on a train from one city to another. You felt tired and fell into a nap. The train was so smooth and quiet that, when you woke up, you didn't know whether the train was moving or not. You thought the train was stationary at a train station. You looked through the window on the left side of your train. You saw another train overtaking yours slowly carriage by carriage from your back to the front at a speed of about 10 km/hr. You then turned your head and looked through the window on the right side of your train. From the views outside, you then realized that your train was in fact moving forward at a very fast speed of 100 km/hr passing non-stop over the station. You then also realized that the other train on your left was in fact moving forward at a even faster speed of 110 km/hr passing non-stop over the station.
3. On another similar occasion, you woke up from your nap on a long train journey. You thought the train was stationary at a train station. You looked through the window on your left side. You saw another train passing by yours, carriage by carriage from your front to the back. When all the carriages had passed over, you could see other views outside the window. You then realized that the other train was in fact stationary at the train station, and your train was in fact moving forward passing non-stop over the station at a speed of 100 km/hr.
Your experiences above indicate that:
1. Your position at any time is determined by some point of reference. After an hour, you were still in the middle of the PLANE, but you were 500 km away from SYDNEY.
2. If your position (to some point of reference) doesn't change over time, you are stationary and not in motion (to the same point of reference). During the entire hour, you remained seated in the PLANE, you were stationary and not in motion (with reference to the PLANE).
3. If your position (to some point of reference) changes over time, you are in motion (to the same point of reference). During the same hour, you were further and further away from SYDNEY. So you were in motion (with reference to SYDNEY). Hence, motion is the change of position (to some point of reference) over time.
4. As motion is the change of position over time and position is determined by some point of reference, so motion is also determined by some point of reference. While you were on the train, your train was moving at 100 km/hr (passing over the STATION), but the other train on your left side was moving at 10 km/hr (passing over YOUR TRAIN).
5. Likewise, non-motion (being stationary and not in motion) is also determined by some point of reference. You were not in motion (in the PLANE) although both YOU and the PLANE were moving at a very fast speed (away from SYDNEY).
6. If you are moving (with reference to some point of reference) and the point of reference is also moving (with reference to some other point of reference), then you are also moving (with reference to that common point of reference). The train on your left side was (overtaking YOUR TRAIN) at 10 km/hr, and your train was moving forward at 100 km/hr (passing non-stop over the STATION), then the train on your left side was also moving at 110km/r (passing non-stop over the STATION).
7. When there is no common point of reference, motion can only be relative. As in your experience 3 above, without any common point of reference (the STATION), it can be regarded that either YOUR TRAIN was in motion and the OTHER TRAIN was stationary, or YOUR TRAIN was stationary and the OTHER TRAIN was in motion. Hence, without any common point of reference, it can only be regarded that YOUR TRAIN and the OTHER TRAIN were moving towards each other at a speed of 100 km/hr.
As motion is the change of position over time, apart from being determined by some point of reference, it is also determined by TIME. We shall leave the discussion of TIME in some later blogs as TIME permits.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Radio Conversation
U. S. A.: "Please change your direction 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."
Canada: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."
U. S. A.: "This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."
Canada: "No. I say again, divert YOUR course."
U. S. A.: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER - ENTERPRISE. WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!"
Canada: "THIS IS A CANADIAN LIGHTHOUSE. UP TO YOU!!"
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Sunday Service
The priest saw him , and approached him and said, "Good morning, Alex." "Good morning, Father." replied the young man. Still staring at the plaque, Alex asked, "What's this?" The priest said, "Well, son. It's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service."
Little Alex's voice began to tremble. In a very low voice, he asked, "Father, is it the 9 or 11 o'clock service?"
Monday, June 18, 2012
EQ or IQ
He asked his mother to help him shorten the pants. His mother said she could not do it as she was not feeling well and would like to rest early. So the man approached his wife to shorten his pants. His wife said she was very tired and had a lot of work to do that night, so she could not help him to shorten the pants that night. Then the man asked his daughter. His daughter apologized for not able to do it that night because she had agreed to go dancing with her boyfriend. "Ah well!" The man thought and decided he could just wear his old trousers to the reunion.
Later that night, his mother thought to herself, "My son has been very nice to me. I'll just help him to shorten his pants before going to rest." So she shortened the pants by 10 cm. Then his wife finished her work and thought, "My husband knows I am always very busy and seldom asked me to help him. I would oblige him today." So she shortened the man's pants by another 10 cm. His daughter came home from dancing, and thought, "Papa loves me very much and when I declined to shorten his pants, he was not angry at all! I would help him to shorten his pants." So she shortened her dad's pants yet another 10 cm.
On the next day, the three ladies told the man that his pants were shortened. He tried them on and found that his pants had become shorter by 30 cm. The man laughed heartily, and said, "I must wear this pair of pants to show my schoolmates that my mum, my wife and my daughter are such loving people."
At the dinner, his old classmates were very envious of his loving family. When he returned home, he told his family. His mother, wife and daughter were all very happy to learn about his classmates' reaction.
Many of us have high EQ when dealing with people outside the family, and low EQ when dealing with family members. Treat your family with appropriate EQ as well. At times, we should put more emphasis on EQ than IQ for good reasons. A matter may become a good one if we handle it with a little bit more sense of humour.
If you were the man, what would you do? Have a big laugh? or start to swear XYZ?
Friday, June 1, 2012
How To Become Happy
A. Always Be Happier
As a first step, we can always be happier as mentioned in my previous blog, and as such, I do not intend to repeat here any further.
B. Appreciate What We Have
While we should always aim for higher and better, nonetheless we should always be content of what we are having; our family, friends, what we process and our status quo. Remember, the present is always already a present. Do not be unhappy unnecessarily.
C. Seeing People Around Us Happy
We will feel happy when we are surrounded by happiness. When we are in Disneyland, we feel happy because we are surrounded by a happy environment and atmosphere, and by happy people everywhere. Likewise, when we see that our family, friends and neighbours are happy, we will be happy too.
D. Making People Around Us Happy
By making people around us happy, we can have happiness around us. As result, we'll feel happy as mentioned in C above. There are various ways we can make people around us happy. We can employ whatever means appropriate to us, e.g.:
. buying a gift for our family and friends
. sharing funny and interesting stories, and our favourable experiences with others
. helping out with people needing help
. making donations to charity
. performing voluntary work in our community
. to a larger extent, be a philanthropist and contributing back to the society (some of) what we gained from them
E. Seeing That We Can Make People Around Us Happy
When we see people around us happy as result of us making them so, we'll have a very high degree of personal satisfaction. The happiness we acquire from such at that moment is usually far beyond any words of description.
As we expereience, happiness from material gains (e.g. living in a big house, having a delicious meal or enjoying a luxurious holiday etc.) is usually superficial and short-lived. Happiness gained from sharing happiness with others are mostly much more intense and long-lasting, and surprizingly, usually comes for free!
Be happy always!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Happiness and Unhappiness
One day, the woodcutter's neighbour came to visit him and saw the silver bird. He said to the woodcutter, " I've seen a little bird with golden feathers. That gold bird was much more beautiful than your silver bird. Besides, it sang much better than yours."
The woodcutter wondered, "Is there really such a gold bird? How beautiful is this gold bird? Can it sing very beautiful songs?" From then on, the woodcutter began not to enjoy songs sang by the silver bird. Gradually, the woodcutter became more and more unhappy each day.
Now the silver bird fully recovered from its wounds. It was about time for it to fly away. Before it went, it flew to the woodcutter and sang to him for the last time. After the silver bird finished, the woodcutter sighed, "Your silver feathers are very beautiful, but I think you are not as beautiful as the gold bird. Your song is very beautiful too, but still I don't think it's as beautiful as the gold bird sings."
The silver bird then flew to the direction of the setting sun. Under the golden setting sunlight, the bird became a beautiful glittering gold bird. The woodcutter then realized that the gold bird he's been dreaming for so long was really just the one beside him all the time!
Happiness does not rest on how much one possesses, but on how less one bothers. Sometimes we don't appreciate what we are having is already a fortune. We just realize (and regret to realize) only when we lose it. So appreciate what we have and don't make unnecessary comparisons.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I'm Senior
Answering, he heard his wife's voice saying hastily, "George, the news just said that there's a car going the wrong way on M2. Be careful!"
"My goodness!" cried George, "It's not just one car. There're hundreds of them!"
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
We Can Hear Just Fine
One man remarked to the other, "Windy, isn't it?"
The second man replied, "No, it's Thursday."
And the third man chimed in, "So am I. Let's have a beer."
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The Pythagoras Theorem
Everybody with secondary education knows the Pythagoras Theorem. But I bet over 90% of people don't know why it is true (i.e. they don't know how to prove it)! While proving the Pythagoras Theorem appears to be difficult, I present below a classical proof by Euclid (circa 330 - 260 BC) which requires no more than elementary Geometry known to every secondary student!
Please feel free to skip the rest if Geometric Proof doesn't appeal to you.
First, draw squares ABFG, BCDE and CAHK. Obviously, our task is to prove the area of square ABFG is the sum of the area of square BCDE plus the area of square CAHK. Usually people are stuck at this point. But what Euclid did was to draw a few lines as follows:
. draw CM parallel to AG, cutting AB at N and FG at M respectively
. join BH and CG
With Euclid's hints, the picture now becomes much clearer as in above figure, we can then proceed as follows:
In ΔABH and ΔAGC,
....................... AB = AG ......................... (sides of square ABFG)
.................. ∠BAH = ∠BAC + ∠CAH = ∠BAC + 90°
.................. ∠GAC = ∠GAB + ∠BAC = 90° + ∠BAC
............... ∴ ∠BAH = ∠GAC
...................... AH = AC .......................... (sides of square CAHK)
............... ∴ ΔABH Ξ ΔAGC ...................... (SAS)
....... Area of ΔABH = ½*AH*HK
........................... = ½* (AH*HK)
........................... = ½*(area of square CAHK)
....... Area of ΔAGC = ½*AG*GM
........................... = ½*(AG*GM)
........................... = ½*(area of rectangle AGMN)
Since ΔABH Ξ ΔAGC as proved above,
................ then area of ΔABH = area of ΔAGC
So, ½*(area of square CAHK) = ½*(area of rectangle AGMN)
......... ∴ area of square CAHK = area of rectangle AGMN ......... (1)
Similarly,
............. area of square BCDE = area of rectangle BFMN ......... (2)
Combining (1) and (2) together,
area of square CAHK + area of square BCDE = area of rect AGMN
................................................................... + area of rect BFMN
............................................................... = area of square ABFG
i.e. .............................................. a² + b² = c² .............. Q. E. D.
Monday, April 23, 2012
A380 Experience
The A380 is a double-deck aircraft. The first class and economy class are on main deck, and business and premium economy class are on upper deck. Total capacity is 450 passengers with 14 first class, 72 business class, 32 premium economy class and 332 economy passenger seats. Boarding was a bit lengthy given the large passenger loads. Luckily we had boarding priorities as being Qantas frequent flyers. Inflight facilities were new and clean. Inflight entertainments were satisfactory with sufficient varieties. Cabin was generally spacious. Seat space was simillar to other aircrafts. Like boarding, baggage collection took longer than usual with the passenger loads. Overall, the journey was comfortable and enjoyable.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Blood Types
Everybody's blood looks the same. But under a microscope, distinct differences are visible. Two types of chemical molecules (A and B) can be observed in blood cells. Depending on what chemical molecules are present, bloods can be classified into 4 main types:
A - if the blood cells have only A molecules
B - if the blood cells have only B molecules
AB - if the blood cells have a mixture of both A and B molecules
O - if the blood cells have neither the molecules
In addition, a particular protein may also be present in the blood cells. If the blood contains that protein, it is said to be positive. if not, it is negative. Thus, the blood type can be further classified into 8 types: A+, A-, B+, B-, AB+, AB-, O+, O- accordingly.
B. Matching
If two different blood types are mixed together, the blood cells may begin to clump together in the blood vessel, causing a potential fatal condition. Therefore, it is important that blood types be matched before blood transfusions take place. As shown in Figure 1, type O blood can be given, apart from O itself, to all blood types, A, B and AB. Type A blood can be given, apart from A itself, to blood type AB. Type B blood can be given, apart from B itself, to blood type AB. But type AB blood can be given to AB itself only. Furthermore, positive blood types can only be given to positive blood types, whereas negative blood types can be given to both positive and negative blood types. As such, the possibilities of blood types for blood transfusion are summarized as in Figure 2 accordingly. As can be seen, blood type O- can be given to all blood types, and hence is usually regarded as 'universal donor'. Blood type AB+ can take any blood types for transfusion, and hence is usually regarded as 'universal receiver'.
C. Popularity
Type O blood is the most common type found in the population (49%), followed by type A (38%) and type B (10%), with type AB being the rarest (3%). Within each of the 4 man blood types, negative blood types are much rarer than their positive counterparts. Figure 3 shows the percentages of Australians with particular blood types.
D. Inheritance
Blood type is determined by a gene (ABO) in chromosome 9. Since chromosome comes in pair; one from each parent, so the gene also comes in pair, one from each parent accordingly. The gene is called type:
A - if it contains genetic material to produce chemical molecule A in blood cells
B - if it contains genetic material to produce chemical molecule B in blood cells
O - if it contains neither of those to produce any chemical molecule in blood cells.
Since one copy of gene comes from each parent's sperm and egg respectively during conception, the resulting gene pair and thus the resulting blood type of the child can be as follows:
Gene Type from One Parent | Gene Type from Another Parent | Gene Pair of Child | Blood Type of Child |
A | A | AA | A |
A | B | AB | AB |
A | O | AO | A |
B | B | BB | B |
B | O | BO | B |
O | O | OO | O |
From this table, we can then deduce, although a bit more complicated, blood type of the child as inherited from the blood types of the parents:
Blood Type of One Parent | Gene Pair of One Parent | Blood Type of Another Parent | Gene Pair of Another Parent | Gene Pair of Child | Blood Type of Child |
A | AA or AO | A | AA or AO | AA, AO or OO | A or O |
A | AA or AO | B | BB or BO | AB, AO, BO or OO | A, B, AB or O |
A | AA or AO | AB | AB | AA, AB, AO or BO | A, B or AB |
A | AA or AO | O | OO | AO or OO | A or O |
B | BB or BO | B | BB or BO | BB, BO or OO | B or O |
B | BB or BO | AB | AB | AB, BB, AO or BO | A, B or AB |
B | BB or BO | O | OO | BO or OO | B or O |
AB | AB | AB | AB | AA, AB or BB | A, B or AB |
AB | AB | O | OO | AO or BO | A or B |
O | OO | O | OO | OO | O |
In addition, the positive/negative aspect of blood type is determined by a separate gene (RH) in chromosome 1. The gene is called type:
+ - if it contains genetic material to produce a particular protein in blood cells
- - if it doesn't contain genetic material to produce the particular protein in blood cells
Similar to the main blood type above. since one copy of gene comes from each parent's sperm and egg respectively during conception, the resulting gene pair and thus the resulting positive/negative blood type of the child can be as follows:
Gene Type from One Parent | Gene Type from Another Parent | Gene Pair of Child | +/- Blood Type of Child |
+ | + | ++ | + |
+ | - | +- | + |
- | - | -- | - |
Again, from the table, we can then deduce, albeit much simpler, the positive/negative blood type of the child as inherited from the positive/negative blood types of the parents:
+/- Blood Type of One Parent | Gene Pair of One Parent | +/- Blood Type of Another Parent | Gene Pair of Another Parent | Gene Pair of Child | +/- Blood Type of Child |
+ | ++ or +- | + | ++ or +- | ++, +- or -- | + or - |
+ | ++ or +- | - | -- | +- or -- | + or - |
- | -- | - | -- | -- | - |
....end