Okay I’ve finally arrived in London for my studies and today I had my first day of orientation programme in school. Besides the welcome address by the director of the school and introduction by the dean of undergraduate studies, it was really nothing much. The fair around the buildings of the school was pretty straight forward and very free-and-easy. People kept asking me what I think of London and i find this question both complex and a little hard to answer so I’m really trying to put down in words how I feel. As usual, I guess the complexity comes from the fact that i try to be objective.
I like most things about London, the fast walking, the multitude of sights and all sorts of building design. But the crowd gets of my nerves when we get into the many small spaces present in London – the small cabins of the tube train, the small shops or cafes, the catalogue-retail outlet. I enjoy exploration of the culture I’m encounter, the stuff they consider the ‘norm’ (though we don’t), but there’s too little time for that given the things I’ve to do.
Most of my online writing efforts is heavily centered on ERPZ now that there’s little time to do random personal musings – it’s like they’re all becoming the more heavy stuff worthy of ERPZ and therefore a little less suitable for the quirky, random, fun Propagator. The Propagator is a personal blog. It’s just a collection of plain musings, rubbish, descriptions of life and some conclusions drawn from them.
I’m about 45 hours away from arriving in London for my undergraduate studies at London School of Economics so besides an overhaul on the ‘About’ page, I’m expecting more real blog sort of activity here at Propagator. Maybe I’ll also do some photo-posting so as to satisfy those back in Singapore who needs to see what I’m seeing over there.
Webhosting business have been quite aggressive with competing with clients so you just have to take advantage of Siteground’s latest cheap deal. It’s seriously just USD $9.95 for a full year of hosting.
几天前，我在家楼下看见一个写着‘荷兰土豆 – Holland Potatoes’。
老爸却说‘土豆’是‘花生’，怎么可能会是‘马铃薯’呢？他是以闽南语的‘tor-dao’翻译为普通话解释。
我不服气，查了查维基百科才得知，土豆能指‘马铃薯’也能指‘花生’。 这是怎么一回事呢？
花生在闽南语或台语是称为‘土豆’，读音‘tor-dao’。马铃薯而是被中国东北称‘土豆’。
至于‘土豆网’是指‘马铃薯’还是‘花生’，那我就不大清楚。
I’ve got a few friends who just made the switch to Mac and this entry is for them. First, I’d congratulate you all on getting the awesome machine. Then I propose the following:
1) Configure your Keyboard Shortcuts at System Preferences and get yourself familiarized with the shortcuts of Mac
2) Configure your Exposé and Spaces
3) Sign up with MacHeist.com.
4) Get a Dropbox and start sync-ing files with other computers or just archiving them online.
5) Heck MSN Messenger for Mac, install Adium
6) Download Growl. Configure it for your Dropbox, Adium as well as Firefox and other softwares if you’re installing them.
7) Download Perian, purportedly a Swiss Army Knife for Quicktime.
8) If you’re a coder, install TextWrangler.
9) You’re quite ready to use your machine. Other needs may be fulfilled by iWorks or Microsoft Office for Mac as well as all sorts of entertainment utilities like VLC and so on.
Enjoy!
People have wrong ideas about dreams. My student gave me a GP question that asks “Is Racial Harmony just a dream?” A dream can mean rather different things; and when put in different context, the ‘just’ in the GP question can be rather unjust. Dictionary.com gives the follows explanations for the term ‘dream’, when used as a noun.
1. a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.
2. the sleeping state in which this occurs.
3. an object seen in a dream.
4. an involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake.
5. a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake; daydream; reverie.
6. an aspiration; goal; aim: A trip to Europe is his dream.
7. a wild or vain fancy.
8. something of an unreal beauty, charm, or excellence.
When the term is taken to be used in the context of meaning 5, then the question is basically asking if racial harmony is possible. When meaning 6 is adopted or used as the interpretation of the way the term is used, then the ‘just’ seeks to demean the idea of ‘racial harmony’ and so you can argue it such that it’s to your advantage. The two meanings seem so close but is essentially subtly different and necessarily so. A dream, can thus be an indulgence (ever unreal) or an aim (a fact of the future).
That being said, the Facebook status I recently observed, which says:
Have you ever wanted a dream to become reality so badly that your heart just aches when you realise it is, but a dream.
The quote tells me that this one is a dreamer, who indulges in the dream rather than one who aims to achieve. In this self-perpetuating cycle, the guy could only continue to engage in a dream the way it is used in meaning 5 and never in meaning 6. This leap has to occur for him to make a difference; otherwise, I guess he’d just die of heartache.
