Big vs. Small

Books on Economic always tell about the agility of small corporation and the high inertia of big corporation. I've never really thought about that until recently. Simply said, I come to appreciate the difference between different sizes of a company. Small company equals to small number of employees. When there are few employees, they are all somehow forced to reach quite high efficiency and productivity. People would also be more resourceful. Hence, the cost of keeping them are pretty much similar.

However, in big company, there are lots of employees. Hence, there are far more people who work inefficiently and perhaps sit around doing nothing. These people who contribute not much still need cost to keep them and these huge cost when divided among the departments would definitely increase the cost to keep of all people across the board, including those competent, productive employee. This is also the main reason that the reason that big company can take in more people because the cost will be spread to many people. The bad news is that if one's hard work is also distributed to the same amount of people.

I believe, though, that the recent globalization and the pace at which the world moves will derail the big corporation who maintains their sluggishness. They either have reinvent themselves and seek for more efficient operation or face the risk of being perish within 5 to 10 years time. The world is no longer capable of waiting for anyone who sits tight. It's so dynamic and collaboration is everywhere. Innovation is pretty much alive with the concept of mass idea. The big corporation that works inefficiently will be soon taken over by other small agile companies that manage to harness the power of the crowd.

A car? no! a plane!

See this: http://www.youtube.com/user/TerrafugiaInc

Amazing innovation, priced at <>

I would be wondering about the danger though. If I were to drive in such a car, I think I'd wear parachute at all time. Someone really need to do good risk assessment of the car and show the buyer!

Hoshi - Japanese Restaurant

Just ate at Hoshi, a Japanese restaurant in IMM. The restaurant was quite crowded so I am a bit surprised. I went there with my wife because her Japanese friend said the restaurant serves good Japanese food. So, we tried. We bought onigiri, saba shiyoaki and karee katsu. The onigiri has salmon and taste quite good although it was quite cold. It could have been better if it's warmer. The karee is a bit too average and the miso soup that came with the set tastes like soup made with some miso bought from supermarket. Admittedly, the soup is still better than the one in Sakae Sushi. The chawanmushi, though simple with a tiny cut of chicken, tastes quite good actually. There is stock with the chawanmushi and the egg texture is smooth. The karee comes with salad, ebi prawn and chicken katsu. The ebi prawn has too thick a batter although the prawn is crunchy. On average, the price is quite reasonable, we paid around 35 SGD so the food worth the price in fact.

If you do go, try to sit near the side facing the garden, at least there are some better views. The service is good actually. They employ a lot of Singaporean elderly and they speak english well! This is really in contrast with other restaurants which tend to employ mainly Chinese from PRC who speaks no English (e.g. Mayim restaurant in Bukit Batok, just try it). The uncle serving us the green tea even provided a baby seat for my wife to put her bag! That's what I called good service. He even threw away the cold tea and poured for us the hot ones.

7/10 for the taste
8/10 for the service

More conspiracy theory

And now the situation has somewhat worsened. News in Indonesia reported the parents of the student saying that they never saw wrist wound and Singapore police confirmed the absence of the wound. They said they saw slash wound in the neck of the student. They indicated that it may be the student who was assaulted. The student's friend claimed that the student carried a bag with towels, drinking bottles and other normal stuffs implying that he did not intend to kill (? or do any harm). There is even an opinion that there are 3 people in the room where the incident happens!

Now, this has gotten more out of hand for the fact that the police is somehow keeping very quiet. I hope the police works fair and faster.

I hope it ends fast

I hope the police can reveal what happens in the stabbing fast. There is far too much speculation going on that would do more harm than good. Undeniably, there has been lots of pressure into the scholars to produce good results at all time. I understand clearly their pain because I was one myself. However, part of the problem lies on the scholars themselves. By subjecting themselves to the scholarship, they have taken part in adding the pressure into themselves, knowingly or unknowingly. Self-expectation, parents' expectation, peer pressure and the benefactor's expectation is a deadly mixture of pressure that can easily culminate in a sad incident.

Take this analogy:
Studying hard and enjoying the good result is like developing a cocoon that protects the scholars. Once a wrong turn is taken, the cocoon has a hole exposing the weak developing pupa to the harsh world. Unless the pupa manages to close the hole, heaven knows what will happen to the pupa. But the pupa should have known at the beginning that by doing the cocoon, he is subjecting himself to a vulnerability.

It's a two-two relationship, that of the benefactor and the scholars. Both have their own motives. None is at fault.

What should really be done is to encourage communication. Although the online world opens up possibility of many connecting virtual friends, visible friends are those that can save the day. One in the net can't reach his hand to pull his friend out of a mud, although after multiple connections, the virtual friend can reach a visible friend to help which hopefully by then won't be too late.

A buddy system and network should be implemented. Sadly, the tutor system in NTU never works. I can tell honestly that I've not seen my tutor more than the first time ever when he was supposed to see me. After all, if the lecturers are pressured into producing research, how can they spend time to teach and mentor? The university nowadays are putting themselves into the shoes of research institute and have neglected the holy duty of teaching. I've seen a number of my old lecturers, capable of teaching well, being asked to become "teaching fellow" and get their teaching duty decreased with a lot lower pay. The saving then spent for young and brilliant researchers who speak bad english and zero teaching skill but with extremely good journals. Who can blame the university if the world measures the rank of universities by research (just look at Times).

This incident should be a good wake up call for the university to re look their priority and the scholars to think about what they are really doing.

The truth will never be revealed

The real story on what really happened during the stabbing in NTU will never go out. Sadly, that's how I feel. There is only one witness alive at this time and that witness will be the one ruling where the story will go. Apparently the student had been warned about his falling grade three times according to the news, contrary to what I felt previously. However, it would be nice if the parents can confirm this. You see, I am not a believer of one sided story. People are usually vindicated due to one sided story. Not that I am saying that the A/P is wrong. It just that two stories from different perspective will bring a more complete picture the situation.

Only if the student was alive to tell his story that solution can be found. His untimely death, decided by himself, brought him and the history more harm. Now, no way that we can get the real story. Even by reconstructing the event based on the one sided story, we'd only have again, one perspective.

After all, it's actually quite hard to fail your final year project. Experiments can always be wrong. There is no idea and experiments that can have its result predicted with 100% certainty. So, it won't be fair to penalize due to experiments not producing the expected results. After all, even the lecturers know so and hence, they will be lenient (I hope...). Hence, to be so afraid of failing is really... a myth propagated by self-fear. I hope no other student will fall into that trap.

I am still intrigued by the fact that the blood is splattered at the other end of the table containing the monitor. I hope more complete picture will emerge when the police is done with their fair investigation.

Analysis of the incident in NTU - flaws in logic

I read that lots of people in the net is saying that the student (David) was told by A/P Chan that his scholarship was revoked and hence David became angry thinking that A/P Chan was the one initiating the idea. Then the killing. I think there are a couple of issues with such logic that need to be addressed:

1. I believe that unless there is a huge breach in confidentiality, A/P Chan should not even know whether or not any ASEAN scholarship is withdrawn. Scholarship matter belongs to the university and only the university staff administering the scholarship are supposed to know whether or not they are withdrawing any scholarship from anyone. If indeed A/P Chan somehow knows the scholarship issues, this matter should be investigated.

2. If any scholarship is withdrawn, the scholarship should have been withdrawn before the beginning of the new semester. Hence, it seems that the student has a long time to think about? I am not sure what exactly happen, but it may be too short (<2>

Student - lecturer relationship can easily get sour for many things. What the university should do are:
1. Employ lecturers who can teach and can read students' feelings better.
2. Teach lecturers to do that.
3. Provide avenue for students to complain. Many times, students feel disillusioned and greatly disappointed for not knowing where to lodge complain. When complaints are put up, nobody seems to care.
4. Hold sessions to seek feedback from students under pressure, i.e. students having scholarships, having to take loan, etc.
5. Find a better way to communicate any bad news. Ready counsellor at all times.

In the current hard time, there will definitely students who are affected by the recession. There must be measures in place to help such students.

In all honesty, being an ex-student of NTU, there are TONNES of things that the university should have done better in preventing such an unnecessary death and incident.