Tutorial Qn2

What happens when you connect the Wonder Girls to a MOSFET?

You get nobody effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET#Body_effect

mummy, why do trolls stay?

I was thinking, if trolls stayed under bridges, where do reverse trolls stay?
I think they stay in ivory towers.

CPF updates

Here's a quick summary of the CPF changes announced during Budget Debate 2010:


Members will be automatically included in CPF LIFE if they have $60,000 in their Retirement Account at age 65 from 2023

The first $40,000 of a member's Special Account savings cannot be invested from 1 July 2010

From July 2010, members can apply to increase their CPF monthly income under the Minimum Sum Scheme, if their adjusted payouts can last at least 20 years from the Draw Down Age, or at least another 5 years from the time of application, whichever ends later

Members can transfer their CPF monies upon demise to their nominees' CPF Accounts when the CPF Nomination Scheme is refined in January 2011

Parents would be able to nominate their disabled children to receive monthly disbursements from the parents’ CPF savings after the parents have passed on, under the new Special Needs Savings Scheme (details will be announced later)

The Workfare Income Supplement Scheme (WIS) is being enhanced for work done from 1 January 2010. The key enhancements are that the WIS qualifying average monthly income will be increased to $1,700, up from $1,500 previously; and the maximum WIS payment will be increased from $2,400 to $2,800 a year

Alexandra

If you live in Queenstown, your bound to know Alexandra Road.
Its got nice Yu Sheng porriage and oyster omelete, but do you know why Alexandra is called Alexandra?

Its named after Princess Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, a Danish princess who married Queen Victoria’s eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, in 1863.

Line of the day (18/3/10)

"University education, you can't beat it"

The jap way of being repulsively kawaii

みなさん, こにちわ, Awesomeさん です.
*Stares blankly...blink blink...smile*
Bye bye

Don't run this program

Hi guys,
I just testing out the bell sound.
trying to figure out how to do major project 1.
So I took this program out of the lecture notes.
Modify it a little...
Apparently the loop is a little screwed up.
Don't try this program...really...the loop isn't really working.
If you can fix it then its cool.

DATA segment
Msg db “to stop this annoying sound press any key $”
DATA ends

;stack segment
stk segment stack
db 128 DUP(?)
tos label word
stk ends
;

code segment
assume cs:code, ss:stk
start:
Mov ah, 09
Mov dx, offset Msg ; this is to display the message using int 21h (09)
Int 21h
AGAIN: mov ah,02
mov dl,07 ; bell character is 07 loaded to register dl for using int 21h
int 21h
mov ah,01 ; checking a key press
int 16h
JZ AGAIN ; if no key is pressed keep looping and create that annoying sound!
mov ah,4ch ; exit to DOS prompt;
int 21h
code ends
end start

Then I thought...screw the loop I only wanted to hear the bell.
So I removed the loop and the program only produces the bell sound.

It beep thrice...rather annoying.
Anyway, still trying to figure out the musical notes.
I think need to attach a WAV or MP3 folder...just thinking man...

Flexi-work? unemployment?

I've been noticing this lately.
Have any of you been to any regional libraries lately?
There seems to be a lot of middle aged (say 30 -40 years old) people hanging out in the library using their laptops and stuff, surfing the net, doing work, whatever. This seems very evident in the mornings. Especially at say 10-12?

In the past, there wasn't that many middle aged people hanging around the library.
It used to be rather empty.

I'm not complaining or anything. Its not like these people are hogging seats or are a large proportion of library visitors. Its just this thrend I've been noticing lately, its obvious in the morning since school going kids will be studying in school.

You'd know, I was brought up in a time when office people worked with their computers inside cubicals, not in the libraries. Where drinks were served free in the pantry, not in Cafe Galilee(business hasn't seem to good lately, but the drinks are pretty good).

The whole paradigm shift in work environment is something I cannot get used to. It only goes to show how much our society has changed. The idea of flexible working hours and stuff. It usually imply comission-based jobs such as property, insurance agents or MLM salesman.

Well, I'm just saying...

Then again I thought, could these people be unemployed? Erm...increase in middle aged people hanging out in the library equate to unemployment? Well, they could be waiting for a job reply and hiding the truth from their family. Unemployment can be painful thing especially when the family members are not understand, or unable to appropriately react to the situation.

1 year anniversary of stock buying

Hi people.
This is an important day.
It marks the one year anniversary of me buying my first stock.
Overall, its been doing pretty well, but on hindsight I felt I could have made many more improvements.

In addition to that, I've got a temp job opening from my previous recruitment company. Its called P-serv. Overall I find their service very good.
Temp Housekeepers/Supervisor needed in Aug (1-month).
Sports Event in NTU. Pay $7.50 to $11.00.
Call 62279035 to enquire.
So if any of you got friends or relatives finding a temp job in the month of August, feel free to refer them.

Being Kiasu

Worried you are not doing enough?
Anxious about not going the extra mile like everyone else?
Are you doing more than you can when you see everyone else doing it as well?
Does doing too much stress and frustrate you a lot hindering what you really need to be doing?

Then you got the case of the Kiasu.

Being Kiasu is not an illness, its a natural human reflex.
Studies have shown that 95% of the homosapien population suffer from this anxiety induced syndrome. 45% only realise the symptoms after entering various mediums of education. 95% of people who suffer from Kiasu are due to environment related factors and the remaining 5% is due to genetic disorder after the first homosapien was bitten by a rare species of spiders called the Kan Chiong spider.

The first step to cure Kiasu is to step out and admit it. If you know that you've got Kiasu, report yourself to the nearest general practioner or head down to any nearby hospital. Remember, love yourself, love your family, stop the spread of Kiasu.

Do survey again

Hi people,

Help my friend do this survey, or I'll place a bounty on your head.
http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=5ccb300a-fbcf-4eb2-961d-81705fff411d&cid=ed9b50f1-6759-47f9-901d-ece46081b29d

Thanks.

Line of the day (6/3/10)

"Every man is as no life as the next"

Finally, they are back...

Yeah, WOOOHOOO!~!~!~!~!~!
Naruto the Abridge series is back, just when everyone thought that they were dead...
Finally, after so long.
This time with episode 25...stay tune for the abridge movie.




In my opinion, nobody does abriged series better than Yugioh the abridged series(by little Kuriboh) and Naruto the abridged series(by Vegeta8639 and MasakoX.

While you guys have time, please help with the polls. The polls is at the column to your right.

Foreign talent, necessary or not?

This entry is about a letter a friend sent to me. I think its pretty good so I decide to share it. This does not imply that I share the view. I choose to keep my opinion regarding this issue secret as it can be a sensitive issue.

He argues that Singapore needs foreigners from a academic perspective using economics. Mind you my friend is a straight As economics major student. The letter was writtern to me and the format was rather informal, but I hope you guys will enjoy it.

"I believe that (i) foreign labor does not result in fewer jobs for local employees in the long run, (ii) free trade in commodities, of which labor is considered part of by the economists, results in net gains in welfare for both countries. Although there will naturally be individual winners and losers in trade, on balance, using an economics accounting trick to define welfare, free trade increases the total welfare of all individuals that make up society.

There is neither empirical evidence nor theoretical logic to support the notion that the influx of foreign labor results lost jobs for Singaporeans. When a foreign worker displaces a local one, he does so only by offering to work harder for lower wages. Two things happen. First, the local worker suffers by reducing his wage demand in the long run. This ensures that employment returns to its original rate, at the expense of the local worker’s wages. Second, the lower wages and productivity results in cost savings and greater profit for the employer.

Flexible wages ensure that both the local and the foreign workers are employed. Wage adjustments may be impeded in the short run. However, given an extended amount of time, there really isn’t any reason why wages shouldn’t fall to equilibrate supply of labor to demand.

Lower wages are painful for the local workers in the short run, especially if the prices for the product they make remain high. However in a perfectly competitive market, it can be mathematically demonstrated that to maximize profit, the employer must pay the local laborer just enough to allow the employee to buy back his produce. This follows by sheer logic from the assumptions we make about perfect competition.

But aren’t these assumptions questionable? Yes and No. It is possible to relax the stringent assumptions of perfect competition and construct alternative models of labor markets. Economists spend half their lifetimes twisting and turning these assumptions over and deriving the conclusions that must follow from them. However, economists spend the other half of their lives testing these alternative models with real world data. This is equally important. If we want to discuss real world issues on the basis of logic, it is essential that compare our theories with evidence from the worlds that exist outside our minds.

And were we to test these alternative models with the data, we would generally find that none of these models come as close to describing the real world as well as the aforementioned perfectly competitive model. The assumptions of perfect competition are not perfect, but given these assumptions, the conclusions we can draw from these postulates are unmatched by any other combination of assumptions we may like to make.
Paul Krugman is the Nobel prize winning economist of 08’. He has spent a lifetime examining these issues we were discussing. Many regard him as a closet socialist and he certainly is no stooge of our government. Yet when it comes to matters of trade, he is unambiguous clear on this: trade has little effect on real wages.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/02/paul-krugman-tr.html

But even if we drop the assumptions of perfect competition, it is by no means necessary that a job for a foreign laborer necessarily results in one job less for the local populace. Say a shoe manufacturer makes an additional dollar of profit per month by hiring a foreign worker over a local one. Even if the local worker were unable get back his job in his old shoe industry for whatever reason, the additional dollar of profit made by the employer must be saved or spent. Currency is always conserved, never created or destroyed. Should the employer choose to spend the additional dollar on something else, say clothing, this merely results in an additional job for the cloth maker. Should the employer save the dollar in his bank account instead, that merely adds a dollar to the supply of loanable funds available for new investment or consumption. Modern finance ensures that deposits in banks are constantly reinvested into the economy. This reduces interest rates on loanable funds, increasing borrowing and spending on another item. The job lost by the shoe employee can be compensated by a job created elsewhere.

Say the local shoe employee is rehired at a lower wage, but there are only two shoe manufacturers in the market. Wouldn’t the price of shoes remain high? Wouldn’t the shoe employee be unable to buy back his produce? Not necessarily so. Because even without an infinite number of competitors, there is an incentive for each firm to make additional profit by stealing his rival’s share. The existence of an extra dollar’s worth of profit allows each shoe manufacturer to undercut its rival share by selling a pair of shoes for a lower price. This in turn forces the other manufacturer to respond by cutting his price to. Both manufacturers cut the price of shoes until the initial extra dollar of profit is reduced to zero. The shoe employee is able to buy his shoes again! This is actually a famous game theoretical result, known as the prisoner’s dilemma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium

The purpose of these simple examples is not to assure you that our jobs are not threatened by foreign labor. I merely wish to illustrate a point - just because the assumptions of perfect competition may not be realistic, it by no means follows, as a matter of pure logic, that foreign immigration must result in a net loss of jobs for Singaporeans. These issues are subtle and complex-they can’t really be settled by personal stories told by our relatives and friends. Statistical evidence is vital to separate myth from fact in this case.

Nevertheless, I don’t support free trade because it is economically efficient. I don’t support free trade because I think it benefits me or my friends. I support it because it has lifted millions out of poverty in China, India and many parts of South-East Asia. I take it as a matter of principal not to differentiate against foreigners in all forms, even in spite of my personal tastes. Unfairness to me takes many forms, including the belief that somebody in government should ensure that Singaporeans will preferential treatment in the job market ahead of a foreigner simply because he had the misfortune to be born in Timbuktu or somewhere else. This is a personal and philosophical/emotional stance for me rather than a logical one."

I know it seems like a wall of text, but from an economic perspective its rather interesting.

Internship

I'm planning to do my internship this holiday.
I really hope I get it, so that I can get first hand experience working.
The company hasn't gotten back to me yet, but if I do not get it, its a likelihood that I might do a module with my friend during the special semester.

I was comtemplating on working on the holidays, but I've been thinking lately...
I haven't been doing enough in my university education. My university life has been pretty much just studying and struggling to get the grades.

I really do admire the people who get to go overseas for exchange or go for some academic program. I've got friends who are in the NUS engineering race team, you know the one where they design a forumla one (or something equivalent).

But I've been considering my options and considering the direction I should take. I kind of liken it to planning the character build of an MMORPG character. If your character is a mage, you'd be insane to pump his strength, rather you would likely add his wisdom so that he's got higher mana and larger magic attack.

Just to side track, any of you guys playing MMORPG?
I might want to begin one during the holiday, while doing my internship(I hope I get it...) Hehe...please let me get it...

Similarly, I've been thinking of what kind of engineer I want to be. I think I know myself well enough to know that I'm not the academic sort of person. I dread thinking too much into an equation or a theory. I lack the memory(ROM not enough space) to remember stuff like Schrödinger and his pet cat. I lack the thinking power (RAM too low) to think about a lot of stuff in a short period of time.

But one thing I know, I like the hands on practical portion of engineering. I like the part where I get to build circuits. I like that part when my program works. I like to make something practical and see it in action. For that reason, I'm actually quite interested in being the GAR sort of engineer. I see myself working outside in the industry and doing a lot of practical work when I graduate. Hence, I might plan my modules and direction towards my working life. The problem is...how will I do it?

Well, thats a question I really need to think.
I don't really want to waste this holiday. Internship is part of my plan and I hope it doesn't screw up.