Bite Sized Tidbits

Quotes from Sim Wong Hoo:

"(in 1988, when he set up Creative, he had no capital and not even a core technology. He just had) one life with nothing to lose."

"There was no U-turn. I leveraged on dedicated, hardworking and conscientious staff. Do not commit to more than one thing. If you are committed to your dream, that's one thing; others have to wait."

"Don't follow rules set by others. Set your own rules and you are in control."
(For example in Sound Blaster, the soundcard enabling personal computers to play music, Creative determined the standards for others to follow.)

Another tip: Set road blocks so others cannot copy you. The easiest road block is to file a patent but that costs up to $100,000. To succeed, he leveraged on the most iconic trait of Singapore: kiasu-ism. The company tested the product repeatedly to make sure it works with all kinds of computers, motherboards and games, he said.

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by the way, i adore my Creative 5GB MuVo2.
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NUS Students Need to Speak Up

just read a letter to the forum abt this.
too lazy to dig out the url again.
letter was from an arts and socie undergrad.
he should join some philo classes.
still have very fond memories of metaphysics class with dr de cruz.
so engaging, so mind boggling, so frustrating until it becomes amusing.

the tutorial room was more like a cosy private library
with sofas and shelves of books
the class was never short of vocal pple
in fact we always ran short of time
and then i'd spend break sitting in YIH still debating with myself in my head
some theories were seemingly ridiculous
but frustratingly hard to refute
and like a tai chi master the prof would keep deflecting your arguments back to you
while you think so hard you go "urgh!" and bang your head against the floor.
so fun

engineering classes were usually deathly silent
which is understandable cos no one did tutorials
it's very hard to bullshit without doing the math
and without really knowing what's going on
(it's amazing how the semester can go by in a complete blur
then during the one week exam study break suddenly it made a lot more sense)

C programming with the "ex-RJC" tutor was fun
Most of the bio-engine electives were fun
probably cos i was actually interested in what's going on
and the classes were smaller and cosier

hmm, now that i think abt it
based on personal experience
the classes i spoke up in were the ones i knew what was happening and i was engaged in
maybe that's the key to making students speak up
how to get there is probably the toughest part though

i'm reminded of Prof YC Lim
probably the best lecturer i will ever have
i wasn't particularly interested in his class at first
it was a pre-requisite class for another class

he made a tough topic so digestable
kudos to him
where usually most engine lecturers would rattle on while everyone doodled on the notepad
Prof lim kept stopping to make sure everyone followed him
and he would'nt go on until everyone understood
it's quite funny watching him
"questions? any questions? sure no questions? everyone understands? are you sure? no questions? you there you look blur what's the problem?"
and even if you ask something he just mentioned 2 seconds ago he would still patiently go over the whole thing
he was very grand
i still think that class was hard and not my area of interest
thanks goodness he was the lecturer
i think he's teaching in NTU now

of course his model of teaching
where he keeps stopping
means that he won't have enough time to finish the syllabus
but he sets the syllabus and he sets the exam so it's not a problem
it was more important to him that we understood in terms of quality instead of quantity
that's a very enlightening approach to teaching i think
for teachers in JC and sec school they have to finish all the syllabus so it's tough to do that
oh well
i guess that's why there're calls for MOE to reduce syllabus

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Reading up on clown colleges.
i think clowns are quite scary looking.
clown college sounds interesting though.

found one where admission is by audition only
and there's no real school fees
but graduates will be bonded to the circus for a few years
and they'll need to live on a train with the troop for 11 months.

so cool. :)