First time having someone to pray for/with me...a little awkward a first but eventually calms the heart... Thank you.
Each day...a little more for others, a little less of self...
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Awesome Poem- The Square Root of Three
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
- Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
- Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
These Are A few of My Favourite Things...
Beef Noodle
"O" Jian
Pasembur a.k.a Indian Rojak
many thks to Lek Lek on angle
Saturday, November 24, 2007
A Snippet of Brain Wave in Action ...
Person A was relating an incident or describing a scenario unrelated Person B and Person C.
After 1-2 mins...
Person C: "Did you tt the message?"
Person B: "Yes , I did"
Person C: "I know we tt the same message."
Person B: "I know that you know that I tt the message"
Person C: "I know that you know that I know that..."
Persons B&C bursted into laughter...
Note
tt : the sound of an incoming message tone on the handphone
After 1-2 mins...
Person C: "Did you tt the message?"
Person B: "Yes , I did"
Person C: "I know we tt the same message."
Person B: "I know that you know that I tt the message"
Person C: "I know that you know that I know that..."
Persons B&C bursted into laughter...
Note
tt : the sound of an incoming message tone on the handphone
Monday, November 12, 2007
THE CAVE
When Socrates drew up the parable of the cave to his friend Glaucon, he was trying to dramatize the difficulties of seeing through our delusions and fantasies, to find truth. And the difficulties would be that the so called “truth” would not be a shared concept amongst many. As it is not a shared concept, pains of not being understood and not being humanly affirmed arise.
Many thinkers of their time had gone through such tribulations and pains for having known and persisted in upholding their “truths”. Many such thinkers were often only understood after their lifetime….
My point is not on “what is truth” but on the process of going through the pains of not having such concept shared while staunchly believing in what is right. You might have recognized that it is so right in you gut! But you lack the power or the ability to influence and to convince. The crucial element seemed to be time…Perhaps it is not time yet…. Perhaps such time will not occur in our lifetime….perhaps that also explains why I love Ecclesiastes 3 so much…Such a pity….
Here’s the dialogue extracted from the book Socrates Way by Ronald Gross:
“Imagine a group of people living in along underground cave, facing the back wall. They have been there since their childhood. Their legs and necks are chained so they cannot move. They can only see straight ahead because the chains prevent them from turning their heads towards the opening, behind and above them. Behind them is a fire blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way. And you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.”
“I see,” murmured Glaucon, contemplating the imaginary scene Socrates had conjured up.
“Now please imagine,” Socrates continued, “men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall."
“This is strange image, and these are strange prisoners,” said Glaucon.
“Yes,” said Socrates, “strange indeed. The prisoners see only the shadows of the puppets, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the back wall of the cave.”
“True,” said Glaucon, “for how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to moving their heads?”
“And if they were able to talk with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?”
“Very true.”
“To them,” Socrates said,” the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.”
“That is certain.”
“Now,” Socrates said.” Imagine that one of the prisoners is freed. Suddenly his bonds are removed, and he is allowed to stand up and turn around, and walked toward the light. How do you think he would feel?”
“ I think that at first he will suffer sharp pains, and the glare will distress him,” replied Glaucon.” He will be unable to see the real objects of which, while a prisoner, he had seen only shadows.”
“Yes,” agreed Socrates. “But then his vision would clear. Though dazzled by the light of the real world, he would gradually grow accustomed to it. The pain and irritation would pass away. He would be able to distinguish among shadows, and reflections in water, and the real objects.”
“I can see that would be true, Socrates,” said Glaucon.
Socrates continued:” Then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven. Last of all, he would be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water. He would come to realize that the sun was the source of heat and light. And he would think of the cave, and the prisoners there, and how they had had to form all their ideas about the world simply on the basis of shadows against the cave wall. And he would pity them.”
“Yes,” Glaucon agreed.
“Suppose now,” Socrates continued, “that this man, after having the glimpse of the sunlit world, were brought back into the darkness of the cave and chained once again. He would be unable to see in the cave until his eyes again became accustomed to darkness. The prisoners who had never left the cave would think him blind. Men would say of him that he went up and down he came without his eyes, and that it was better not to even to think of going up. And the prisoners in the cave would say that if anyone tried to free them and take them to the light, they would refuse to go.”
Many thinkers of their time had gone through such tribulations and pains for having known and persisted in upholding their “truths”. Many such thinkers were often only understood after their lifetime….
My point is not on “what is truth” but on the process of going through the pains of not having such concept shared while staunchly believing in what is right. You might have recognized that it is so right in you gut! But you lack the power or the ability to influence and to convince. The crucial element seemed to be time…Perhaps it is not time yet…. Perhaps such time will not occur in our lifetime….perhaps that also explains why I love Ecclesiastes 3 so much…Such a pity….
Here’s the dialogue extracted from the book Socrates Way by Ronald Gross:
“Imagine a group of people living in along underground cave, facing the back wall. They have been there since their childhood. Their legs and necks are chained so they cannot move. They can only see straight ahead because the chains prevent them from turning their heads towards the opening, behind and above them. Behind them is a fire blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way. And you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.”
“I see,” murmured Glaucon, contemplating the imaginary scene Socrates had conjured up.
“Now please imagine,” Socrates continued, “men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall."
“This is strange image, and these are strange prisoners,” said Glaucon.
“Yes,” said Socrates, “strange indeed. The prisoners see only the shadows of the puppets, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the back wall of the cave.”
“True,” said Glaucon, “for how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to moving their heads?”
“And if they were able to talk with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?”
“Very true.”
“To them,” Socrates said,” the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.”
“That is certain.”
“Now,” Socrates said.” Imagine that one of the prisoners is freed. Suddenly his bonds are removed, and he is allowed to stand up and turn around, and walked toward the light. How do you think he would feel?”
“ I think that at first he will suffer sharp pains, and the glare will distress him,” replied Glaucon.” He will be unable to see the real objects of which, while a prisoner, he had seen only shadows.”
“Yes,” agreed Socrates. “But then his vision would clear. Though dazzled by the light of the real world, he would gradually grow accustomed to it. The pain and irritation would pass away. He would be able to distinguish among shadows, and reflections in water, and the real objects.”
“I can see that would be true, Socrates,” said Glaucon.
Socrates continued:” Then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven. Last of all, he would be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water. He would come to realize that the sun was the source of heat and light. And he would think of the cave, and the prisoners there, and how they had had to form all their ideas about the world simply on the basis of shadows against the cave wall. And he would pity them.”
“Yes,” Glaucon agreed.
“Suppose now,” Socrates continued, “that this man, after having the glimpse of the sunlit world, were brought back into the darkness of the cave and chained once again. He would be unable to see in the cave until his eyes again became accustomed to darkness. The prisoners who had never left the cave would think him blind. Men would say of him that he went up and down he came without his eyes, and that it was better not to even to think of going up. And the prisoners in the cave would say that if anyone tried to free them and take them to the light, they would refuse to go.”
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