Friday, October 17, 2008
sometimes there are ppl who make u really mad, make u lose faith in mankind, and make u wanna do bad things, just so to protect urself.

then there are those who make u realize that there is goodness in this world, and inspire u to do good as well. dr tan is perhaps such a person for me.

too bad i'm too lazy to slog over juris.. haha
Monday, October 13, 2008
cyber bullies

quote:
Consultant psychiatrist Ken Ung, who practises at the Adam Road Medical Centre, said that cyber-bullies are mostly "insecure and angry people who are too afraid to do anything in real life".

haha this statement must really make those anonymous and hostile taggers pissed. but i agree wholeheartedly with this psychiatrist's analysis. those who hide behind their online nicks are really just cowards. maybe it is time for the regulation of the wild wild web.

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yesh! one module down

3 more to go. the past 2 days doing LDGA was painful. hopefully i'll get a good grade for it tho. now i've to concentrate on my environmental law assignment.. and get ready for the exams!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
THES uni rankings

the latest rankings are out and NUS is ranked 30th this year. there are mainly only 2 world university rankings presently, the other being the shanghai one, so to be ranked 30th in the world in one of them is rather not bad.

the methodology of the THES rankings has been much criticised, but essentially it is based on the perception of the university by its peers and by employers, which together account for 1/2 of its scoring system. compared with the shanghai rankings, of which most of the score is based on the number of nobel prize winners and the number of citations garnered by the university, the THES rankings only placed 20% of its score on citations. thus, it can be said that the rankings are a perception index, just like the corruption perception index released by transparency international.

nothing really wrong with this method i feel, since 'perception' is everything when it comes to the recognition of the degree awarded by the institution. a degree, in essence, is a passport to a good career for most individuals; its recognition thus forms a crucial part of its value.

as one can imagine, NUS doesn't fare well in the shanghai rankings (we don't have nobel prize winners!), but perhaps this is a problem posed by sg's small population base rather than the inadequencies of the institution.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
sigh.. recession

all the reports are saying that this global economic crisis is the worst since the great depression. and sg is gonna face economic recession for the next 2 years.
greaat. what can i say? am i fortunate that i'm not the next batch of graduates which would enter the workforce in the midst of the economic crisis? or am i unfortunate that i'm gonna graduate in less than 2 years' time and, assuming that the recession is over, start work when the economy is still tender? i'm more of the glass is half full kinda guy, but graduating in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression (!) isn't really my idea of a good start to working life.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
LGDA in 3 days!!

this is abt the only thing that is occupying my mind right now. but other than that i've received a mixed set of news today. first the good one: i've been offered a scholarship from tsmp! yay! didn't really expected to get it since the last time i got any scholarship was eons ago. but i'm really happy that i've got something to put down in my resume under the "scholarships" heading now =) and the bad news: nr rejected me. again. which of course tells me that while i've been on the dean's list for the past 2 years i'm still some way behind the top students in law school. and of course, there is also smu to contend with also. this just means that competition is tough and i've gotta really work hard to just keep pace. the Lord couldn't have given me a kick up my backside in a better way.