Financial education

Hey people, I'm going to start a series of posts about planning for your finances; and also about planning for your future job.

Now you may be thinking, I'm still young, this really doesnt concern me. OR, I got no finances to plan for whatsoever... Now if you are thinking that, you got it all wrong!

A friend of mine started investing his savings of about SGD$2000 back in 1999. By 2004, he had close to SGD$150,000, a whooping growth of 7500% in 5 years. And he did all this while he was still an undergrad in NUS, did not take part time jobs or depend on pocket money from his parents. On top of that, he was a malaysian and didn't have a place to stay in singapore so, he had to rent and pay for all his own living expenses. He also paid for his undergraduate course fees ( about $10000 a year). To top all that off, he could afford to buy macbooks, ipods, new zealand holidays for himself and for his family these past few years. All his expenses he paid for with his investments.

He's got his own condo now; I should think he'll be getting his million soon at 27. Oh yes, in 1999, this friend of mine just turned 20, Just 3 years older than what some of my students are. So I think, its a good idea for you to become financially 'aware' right now, as a start.

What were some qualities this friend of mine had that made him successful?

1. Drive. This friend of mine was highly driven.

While the rest of us were idling our time away with games and shopping and eating, he made productive use of his time. He did what he had to do to do reasonably well in school and in hall activites, but on top of that he did a lot of due diligence on what he wanted to invest in. He read a ton of books about investing, financial management, technical analysis, fundamental analysis and so on. A year before he started investing he had already been following the markets. He did his charts, planned his entry and exit points and read the companies' balance sheets. All this work enabled him to make smart investment decisions so he was correct most of the time and wrong only occasionally. This of course translated to lower risk and higher profit.

In between all that he did find time to go out with friends and catch some concerts.

2. This brings me to my next point, focus.

He was focused on what he wanted out of his life. While I'm not going to touch on how focus impacts every aspect of your life, it's interesting to look closer at how focus impacts investment strategy. Lets take a look at a growth of 7500% over 5 years. It can be averaged in to a 50% growth per year compounded. Can it happen? Yes it can; Just this year, the stock price of Apple computer (AAPL on the nasdaq; chart ) went from $50 in mid July to $91 in early december. The price movements of smaller cap companies can be even greater.

So if your insurance broker, financial planners, unit trust managers etc tell you that they can only grow your portfolio by about 5 to 8% per annum, they're not good enough.

What is their problem? You realize most of the sundry financial peddlers recommend diversification to minimize risk; What they are not telling you is that it minimizes risk to themselves. They don't really know whats good to buy, so they tell you to buy a bunch of everything. They also don't tell you the fees they charge eat up a large part of your profits, while you invest all the capital and shoulder all the risk.

Read this article.

Now is it really a good idea to trust these managers? Most people don't really know what to buy or understand what investment is about; they're financial idiots, so they diversify. And they rely on funds.

What's not risky is focused investment, what's risky is ignorance.

If you really know what you are doing, you focus. Warren Buffett (go wiki or google him) didnt diversify randomly. He focused, taking large stakes in businesses one at a time after careful research and understanding exactly what he's going into ( Go read a book about him so you'll understand what I mean). Oh yes Buffett was at one time the 2nd richest man in the world after Microsoft's Bill Gate, until he recently gave away huge portions of his own wealth into the Bill and Melinda Gates Trust, which spearheads some noteworthy philantropic efforts(I'll talk about that some other time). Again even in philantropy, Buffett adopts a focused approach; he gaved a lot (US$33bn) but only to what he thought was the most effective philantropic organisation in the US; he didnt 'diversify' his giving to other philantropic organisations.

Buffett became the 2nd richest man in the world purely by investing; he didnt inherit the money or run businesses; he simply invested.

So are you going to listen to the sundry financial advisors who tell you 8% is max, and diversify? or are you going to listen to the oracle of Omaha (as Buffett is called) who tell you to focus?

3. Remember, ignorance is risky so start learning!

I think its been good to get started by looking at qualities of drive, focus, and a wilingness to learn; however, to motivate you on this area, lets pull out some numbers.

All the following has been reported in recent editions of the Straits Times or Today newspapers.

This year, Goldman Sachs, the largest invesment bank in the US, is giving its CEO $138 million for his bonus(does not include salary!)

Morgan Stanley is giving its CEO $40 million for his bonus.

Back in singapore, the banking industry has seen average wages grow by about 5% this year, and expects 5% next year. Executives can expect 6 months' to a year's bonus.

Some young investment bankers(in singapore) are taking about US$450000 this year; according to one of them, most of them, even those who just started out should expect at least $100000 to $200000.

So really, if you just want to get a job to make a living, why follow the singapore herd into the professions of medicine or law or accountancy? Just take up the job with the best pay :)

You really should go into professions only if you have real interest in them; ie you reaaaally want to heal people, so you'd like to be a doctor. For me, I like to teach.

Finally you may ask, why the focus on money? The focus is not on money. Rather, its on making wise choices, and on achieving financial freedom which means you don't have to work, but instead spend time doing what you dream of.

In almost every great endeavour, a lot of resources, money is required. You want to fight disease on an epidemic scale? Help victims of natural disasters? Feed the poor, and beyond that, help them to become self sufficient? Lots of money helps. If you have just enough money for yourself, all the talk about benefitting others and being a blessing to others is just that: talk. You can't afford to help others, and your time and energy will also be expended to meet the needs of yourself and your family ( you have to feed your aged parents, your young children, your car, your house, and your wife. It's tough.)

Even in teaching and educating people, you can make great impact if you have the wealth to spearhead programmes, as what Bill Gates has done. He's recently been voted to be the most influential in US education(ranked above the US president, Department of Education etc etc)

Of course, investment banking isn't really an easy job. But really, which job is easy? (more on that in a future post)

And even if you don't become an investment banker, it still pays to figure out how to manage your wealth. My friend's a computer programmer.

You can start by reading great articles or books about investment attitudes and mindsets to get some inspiration before going into really detailed research. A nice author to read will be Robert Kiyosaki; he;s the guy who wrote "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"

He has a column in yahoo finance, and I'll leave you to a link to one of his articles. More to come.

Hohoho

my pc is still dead :( as in my desktop.

So how do I blog? I've to use my office computer(which thankfully is a laptop). But then this being an office laptop cant be used to play PC games, listen to itunes etc etc blah blah.

So how do I while my holidays away??

well..there's the PS2..... hah well i did do some constructive things! First off there the Singapore Chemistry Olympiad! I'm so so so happy for RJC's team (which i coordinated and conducted training with). Its nice to work with a bunch of bright(ok they got brains.. but its whether they use it or not.. heh heh) kids who like chemistry. Ok ok the good news is, that its over and the results arrrrrrrre (drumrolls..)
i) all our 15 candidates made it to final round and got a medal (not true for any other college)
ii) we had 6 gold medals (out of the total of 13 awarded, that means we swept half the golds) plus assorted silvers and bronze
iii) we had the top scorer for the entire olympiad (xinyang from 6D if you wanna noe; the olympiad had 2 theory papers and 2 practicals)
iv) we had the top scorer for the theory papers (ben chen from 3K)
v) RJC team won the best team award!

hmm we didnt get top for practical.. hmm will need to look into that
wooohoo welldone!

hmmm on top of that I found time to do quite a bit of reading (eh? so geeky? yar, i'm a geek)
wikipedia's great! I read about the origin of malays and malay language, and then more ancient civilisation stuff, on mesopotamia, the phoenicians (they're the canaanites), child sacrifice, the roman empire. It also interesting to think that, while Judaism is one of the many religions amongst the middle eastern region in ancient times, its offshoots Christianity and later, Islam came to influence such large populations of peoples and geographical areas. (These religions are called the Abrahamic religions; Abraham, Ibrahim, the same you know)

For Christianity, intense persecution under the Romans forced believers to scatter, and along with that, their message spread. But 2 other important events happened to bring Christianity into such dominance over the western hemisphere. 1) Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, 2) Emperor Theodisius I (he was the last emperor of a unified Eastern and Western Roman empire) made Christianity the state religion of the roman empire. Now if you didnt know, the Roman empire at its peak stretched from the British Isles, the whole western europe, much of the north coast of Africa (basically all round the mediterranean region) including some of egypt, Most of what is modern day turkey and iran(persia).

Western Roman Empire later collapsed under the barbarian invasions(quite a few other factors also cotributed to its fall, such as economics and currency issues, disease, and environmental degradation), in any case the Roman empire declined, but the incoming conquerors(the germans,gauls, franks, angles, saxon, vandal and visigothic "barbarians") assimilated and later adopted Christianity till modern day Europe (colonization of the rest of the workd by europeans then brought Christiantity everywhere...)

From the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), Christianity made its to Russia. Later on, the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire (The capital at Constantiople itself became Istanbul later on) and brought in Islam (which now dominates the area)
Incidentally, the Ottomans were quite tolerant of the Christian church and also of Jews(the Sultan Bezayid II actually gave refuge to Jews escaping persecution from Europe) while the Protestants and Catholics went at each other's throats in Europe, executing heretics, purging Jews and all...

ehh quite enough talk for now, you can read all these for yourselves; but really, some knowledge of history is so useful, especially for us young people who view many things, including religion in the modern world through simplistic assumptions, when in fact many factors eg social, political, geographical and cultural go into making the world what it is today.

Oh and if you like, Greek mythology is pretty fun too, think Hercules, Achilles.. ahh the body of greek gods (and goddesses) are so fantastic! Did they workout in a gyms with persoanl trainers or sth?

My PC is dead

AAAAAIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!

My desktop has died. Thanks to the numerous diseases it contracted. Probably because it participated in lots of unprotected relations with other computers. Damn!

Always use protection. Be safe, not sorry.

AAAIIIEEEEE!

Now i'm using my office laptop. Cannot MSN.

acceptable statements..

Do read my previous post first before reading this one..

..

So, whats an acceptable way to phrase our observations in the ATP example?

you can say:
1) HYDROLYSIS of ATP releases energy (automatically hydration is assumed to be involved as part of the process)
2)Formation of ADP(aq) and phosphate(aq) from ATP releases energy
See? the above 2 statements are simple but harbours no misconceptions;

However misintepretation of statement (1) often leads pple to make statement (3):

(3) Breaking of the phosphoester link/ P-O bond releases energy.
This statement is wrong.; since breaking the bond requires energy. subsequent hydration of the phosphate and ADP is what releases energy.

So now you learn, while 2 statements may seem/sound the same, they essentially mean very different things, because a statement may contain implications, assumptions(as in statement 1) and context. These subtle things are what what people misread or miss out, because of their incomplete understanding.

Remember, in making statements, beware of implications, assumptions and most importantly, context.

Oversimplification breeds misconceptions

For all students who've done biology and chemistry at O lvls and Alvls, have you ever wondered about this: in biology you are taught that ATP is a high energy molecule, when its phosphoester link is hydrolysed ie ATP -> ADP + Pi (inorganic phosphate) energy is released.

Yet in chemistry you are taught that bond breaking (as happens during hydrolysis), REQUIRES energy? So which is correct? why the apparent contradiction?


This really stems from the oversimplification of the hydrolysis process taught in bio.
1) the so called inorganic phosphate is simply the phosphate PO4^3- ion or the hydrogen phosphate HPO4^2- ion. (they in equilibrium under cellular pH conditions)

2) ATP and ADP do not exist as neutral molecules either, their phosphate groups are deprotonated and so ATP and ADP are anionic.

Rewrite the eqn ATP^4-(aq) -> ADP^2-(aq) + HPO4^2-(aq)

The key difference is something as minor as the (aq)!
The P-O bond in the phosphoester link is actually quite weak so it requires little energy to hydrolyse (but energy is still required). However after the reaction, you've got TWO ions instead of just one. The phosphate ion is a small ion that forms ion dipole interactions readily with water; ie formation of HYDRATED HPO4^2- ion releases large amounts of energy.
Having two ions instead of one means more energy is release from hydration. and for those who take thermodynamics at higher levels they should also know that the entropy of the system increases.

So overall the reaction releases free energy.

Ther are many other misconceptions actually propogated in sec sch science eg ..octet rule as a driver of reactions in chem.. and in bio some people use the word oxalate for example to refer to oxalic acid, when in fact oxalate is the anion of the acid (after its deprotonated)...

I think simplification is good when it allows you to deal with issues without getting bogged down by too many details. But it should be done accurately and also set in a right context.
Oversimplification of anything, not just science but also in many current affairs issues, philosophy, religion, on the other hand, propogates misconceptions, clouds sound judgement, and mislead people.

Look at the masses of ignorant, misdirected people in this world....myself included

Last words on SPAA

Some last words on SPA

1. Make sure you study the suggested solutions to extra practice SPA. Note how each of the section is presented. Compare against you own and see the difference.

2. For theory and reliability please take special note.

3. Also note that you MUST still study for the functional groups not discussed in the extra practice.

4. So sorry I didn't manage to mark the extra practice. As it was submitted to me only on wednesday afternoon, and i had meetings for the whole wedneday afternoon still late evening; usually i would completely mark all your work. Regardless, please take ownership of your learning and work; make sure you self-mark using the answer key and correct as necessary. Good luck!

Last words on SPAA

Some last words on SPA

1. Make sure you study the suggested solutions to extra practice SPA. Note how each of the section is presented. Compare against you own and see the difference.

2. For theory and reliability please take special note.

3. Also note that you MUST still study for the functional groups not discussed in the extra practice.

4. So sorry I didn't manage to mark the extra practice. As it was submitted to me only on wednesday afternoon, and i had meetings for the whole wedneday afternoon still late evening; usually i would completely mark all your work. Regardless, please take ownership of your learning and work; make sure you self-mark using the answer key and correct as necessary. Good luck!

SPAz Again!

Hi pple! ready to go SPAz?

Somethings i wanna highlight so you dun go spaz during SPA. (haha i'm so punny)


1.When creating ur mtd make sure that for the test u choose you are careful to predict the correct outcomes.

2. Make sure the procedure you write is IN STEP with your method! some students propose a mtd like say use 2,4 DNPH first then use Na2CO3, but in their procedure its some other order!!

3. THEORY and RELIABILITY: again pls, be specific for the question. like for eg when describing the theory abt silver halide test for R-X, since we are using chloroethane, you should adapt the theory for that compound. So you'd write that OH- hydrolyzes chloroethane, to liberate Cl- ion. Dont bother to write general things like RX and X- ion.

What I mean is, answer the question!!!

4. LIMITATIONS. many students are not good at this. they tend to copy wholesale from notes.
i)Please answer in proper qn context. Like for eg 24DNPH test for aldehyde, the notes limitations says that it can give +ve for ketones too... now, whats the point of writing that if there arent any ketones ard anyway?? in this context, 24 DNPH gives an unambiguous +ve

ii) note that hydrolysis requires strong heat, while acid base neutralisation does not ( for amides vs ammonium salts for eg)



5. SPELL the name of the reagents. 2,4 dinitrophenylhydrazine

6. CONDITIONS!! be specific. like especially (aq), state symbols, and warming.

7. when giving procedure, be specific about the + and - observations!!
so again dont give general statements like.. observe for gas that turn red limus blue.

You should write:
add 2 cm3 dil NaOH(aq) to 1 cm3 of sample and heat strongly for 5 mins in boiling water bath.
Test for gas evolved using moist red litmus paper.
N-methyl propanamide will evolve gas turning moist red litmus blue, while compunds x y and z will not.

Notice If you have to test for gas, you shd describe how you are going to do it, as in "test for gas using..."

You should also specifiy the observations (both +ve or - ve) for the compounds being tested on.

8. Remember to DISSOLVE SOLIDS.

9. Remember to specify, "to fresh samples of cpds..." when describing procedure

10. for safety concerns, write both the measures taken and WHY these measure are taken. eg, do expt in fume cupboard to prevent toxic fumes from escaping to environment.

ok break for now

This is for the frenchies!

Haha you gotta watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NhSQARojp0



Haha la marche de l'empereur!!!
Its damn funny.

bounce!

You gotta try this! its so fun. you can pick'em up and throw them around. haha

Erm its done by this guy.

How religious words slip, slide, perish

I read this article on the straitstimes, 1 Oct 2006, sunday, by Janadas Devan. Its so good I am reproducing it here in full, for educational purposes.

---Article Begins ---

JOHN Duns Scotus, Byzantium, jihad - Pope Benedict XVI mentioned all three in his controversial address to the University of Regensburg on Sept 12. His Holiness didn't say so, but those proper nouns also gave us 'dunce' (an idiot, a dullard), 'byzantine' ('extremely complicated, inflexible, underhand', especially in politics, as the Oxford English Dictionary defines the adjective) and 'Holy War'.
How did that happen, and why? What do these transformations, or transmogrifications, tell us about religion - or rather, about some aspects of it?
Let's begin with Duns Scotus. Born in Scotland in the town of Duns, he became one of the 13th century's most eminent theologians. Doctor Subtilis (the Subtle Doctor) was the title popular opinion conferred on him, for his philosophy was thought to be especially intricate and subtle, just as Thomas Aquinas, the other great 13th century theologian, was known as Doctor Angelicus (the Angelic Doctor).
Pope Benedict criticised Duns Scotus for his voluntarism - the theory that God should be conceived as Will, not Logos or reason. In contrast to Thomas Aquinas, Pope Benedict noted, Duns Scotus believed that one 'can only know God's voluntas ordinata', or His ordained or established will.
God said, let the bird fall off the tree, and the bird duly fell off the tree; no use asking why, we can only know it was God's will. Such notions gave rise 'to the image of a capricious God, who is not bound to truth and goodness', Pope Benedict noted. Rejecting this view of God, His Holiness stressed: 'God acts with logos.'
Duns Scotus, though, didn't become a derogatory eponym - a name that becomes an everyday word - because of his voluntarism. Indeed, his influence lasted for centuries, and his followers, known as 'Scotists' or 'Dunsmen', dominated English universities up to the late 16th century.
The Dunsmen became known as the 'Duns', a byword for 'pedants', and later 'Dunce', a byword for 'dullards', because of the intemperate manner in which they had opposed the humanism of the Renaissance. No need to ask why the bird fell, they said. All one need know is that there is a first cause - God's will. An undue interest in second causes - the province of science - will only serve to diminish one's faith in the first.
It is altogether apt that our word 'dunce' commemorates the religious obscurantism that almost throttled modern science at its birth in the Renaissance. Sub specie eternitatis, or in the light of eternity, faith and reason may not be opposed, as Pope Benedict argued. But sub specie history, let's not forget, faith did indeed try to stifle reason for centuries. That the first 'dunces' were religious men registers that important truth.
Now, for our second word, 'byzantine', the adjective: It derives, of course, from Byzantium, the ancient Greek city on the Bosporus that Constantine the Great rebuilt as Constantinople in 330, and that is now known as Istanbul. It became the capital of the eastern empire when the Roman empire was split in two in 395. The Byzantine empire lasted for 1,123 years, till May 29, 1453, when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II.
John Julius Norwich, in his magisterial history of Byzantium, blames the 18th century historian Edward Gibbon for the bad press the Eastern empire has received. 'Like all classically educated Englishmen of his day,' Norwich writes, Gibbon 'saw Byzantium as the betrayal of all that was best in ancient Greece and Rome.'
Its art seemed sumptuous and intricate, lacking the balance and proportion of classical Western art; its Eastern Orthodox religious practices seemed familiar and yet bizarrely foreign; its politics were devious and complex. In a word, Byzantium seemed byzantine to the West, primarily because it was eastern.
Interestingly, Pope Benedict quoted one of the last Byzantine emperors, Manuel II Paleologus, on the subject of Islam. 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new,' Pope Benedict reported him asking a learned Persian in 1391.
'God is not pleased by blood,' Manuel II told the Persian, 'and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature.' Such a statement was self-evident to Manuel, Pope Benedict argued, because he was 'shaped by Greek philosophy'.
Manuel II, by this account, seems altogether rational and non-violent - a Byzantine Mahatma Gandhi almost - compared to the marauding Ottoman Turks who were pressing in on Constantinople.
Actually, he was nothing of that sort. 'He shared a love of literature and the traditional Byzantine passion for theology,' notes Norwich, but he was 'a man of action' - and devious and underhand, a byzantine man of action, one might add.
He fought with his father and brothers, his fellow emperors in the constellation of small states that made up the shrivelled Byzantine empire of his time. He travelled to Venice, Rome, Paris and London, trying to drum up support for another 'full-blown international Crusade' against the infidels. He made common cause with the infidels, taking part in their campaigns to expand their sultanate, even at the expense of the last remaining Byzantine strongholds in Asia Minor. Manuel II resembles nothing so much as a contemporary Lebanese Christian politician, navigating the byzantine politics of that war-ravaged, multi-religious country.
It is not in the least surprising that such a man, trapped in the politics of his time, would have said: 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'
Manuel tried to do the same himself, inviting the Western Christians to join him in another Crusade against the infidels. 'Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye,' asked the gentle Galilean in his Sermon on the Mount. Christ's words, needless to say, apply as much to Christians as they do to Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. And of course, all - Christians as well Muslims, Hindus as well as Buddhists - are united in believing that while casting out the motes in the others' eyes is a matter of the utmost urgency, casting out the beams in their own is an irrelevance for they are but mere figments of the others' crazed delusions.
Finally, jihad and jihadist, which are often translated loosely as 'holy war' and 'warrior', respectively. As countless Islamic scholars have pointed out, these translations misrepresent grossly what the words mean.
Jihad derives from the Arabic root ghd, meaning 'to strive', 'to make an utmost effort' or 'to struggle'. The struggle in question covers everything from striving to attain perfect faith to promoting justice. To equate jihad with terrorism is sacrilegious.
'While Al-Qaeda may call themselves 'jihadists' to legitimise their atrocities, I do not see why you need to trumpet their misrepresentations,' a Muslim Singaporean wrote to me recently, objecting to my use of the word in an article. My correspondent was right.
James Fallows in a recent Atlantic Monthly article listed 'an alternative lexicon', assembled with the advice of Islamic scholars, that he hoped would deny terrorists the legitimacy of sanctified language. 'These include hirabah ('unholy war') instead of jihad; irabists ('terrorists') instead of jihadists; mufsidoon ('evildoers') instead of mujahideen; and so on.'
That is sensible advice, but it is doubtful if the meanings of religious words can be cleaned up so easily. Consider, for instance, how the following simple words have come down to us: 'giddy', 'enthusiasm' and 'fanatic'.
Giddy is from the Old English gydig, meaning 'possessed by God'. Enthusiasm comes from the Greek en, in + theos, God, meaning 'inspired by God' or 'God in us'. And fanatic comes from the Latin fanaticus, 'of or relating to a temple', deriving as it does from the noun fanum, temple.
How did giddy come to mean 'overexcited, mentally intoxicated, excitable, frivolous'; enthusiasm, mere 'strong interest or great eagerness'; and fanatic, 'frenzied, mad' - and now simply 'fan', as in 'football fan', which derives too from the same fanaticus?
Religious words slip, slide, perish, lose their meaning, get distorted, become corrupt, precisely because the religious, like the irreligious, slip and slide, distort their faith, give way to irrationality, become corrupt. Corruptio optimi pessima.
Corruption of the best is the worst.

for 3R

Hi 3R

Solutions for the revision mini test.

Consultations ogay.

Dear all, if you want to see me for a consultation, please make prior appointment with me.

best is sms or write me a note.

Even those who have already made appointments with me verbally, please sms me!! Cos, I can't remember them :P bad memory

All the best to all of you out there!

Some useful online chem resources

Rod Beavon: one of the chief examiners in UK for edexcel exam. http://www.rod.beavon.clara.net/chemistry_contents.htm

Chemguide: Good for building foundation and explaining and visualizing concepts http://www.chemguide.co.uk/

More on tutorial 14b and proteins

Here's an FAQ on what you should do in terms of preparing for the proteins section for Chem H2 syllabus. What do you need to study??

I suggest you print this FAQ and append to your tutorial 14b. The FAQ also references tutorial 14b.

Q1. Is it important to know about how enzymes work (induced fit theory etc.)?

A1. No. However students must know that enzyme function depends on its structure, which means if the structure is lost through denaturation, function is lost too. The whole chunk about how enzymes work explains the structure function relationship.


Q2. So what is it that the students NEED to know?

A2. The tutorial is crafted according to SIOs of the syllabus. So its a good guide on what students need to know. Basically 4 major portions:

i) amides - hydrolysis, synthesis, and peptide sequencing. That’s tutorial qn 1,2,3

ii) Protein stucture - Mostly fact and recall. Definitions and esp FOCUS ON BONDING
involved. They also need to draw diagrams, which cannot be only memorized but must be practiced (to draw good diagrams) esp for secondary and tertiary. Tutorial Q4,5,6,10

Quaternary structure. Question 10: you notice there are only 6 marks awarded but 12 bullets in the answer key! Why?
Actually on the FIRST 6 bullets in the answer key are marking points. Those points give a DESCRIPTION of what the quaternary structure is.
The next 6 bullet points actually give the SIGNIFICANCE of the quaternary structure. SO students need to discern; the points from allosteric properties onward should be written if the question asks for SIGNIFICANCE of quaternary structure.
The specific use of haemoglobin as an example is an SIO. So students must know all these points.

iii) Denaturation - Students should know the process, how denaturation take place. They should also know the significance and explain: mainly loss of normal function such as structural strength(eg in rebonding) or catalytic property(rate of enzyme catalysed reactions) and solubility(coagulation). Tutorial questions 7,8,9

iv) Explaining observed phenomenon: examples are given in notes from pg44-45. They need to know them for experience. The examples are by no means exhaustive, and I do not know what's going to feature in the A lvls. The basic concept is that structural alteration(usually via denaturation)or structural differences alters observed function. So students should be exposed and familiar with as many examples as possible, and be able to explain when given any example. Tutorial Q7,8,9


Q3. What does allosteric properties mean?

A3. It means that the biochemical property of the protein is altered. If this word makes you feel uncomfortable feel free to expand. It should go something like "The significance of the quaternary structure is that the biochemical properties of the protein is changed; allosteric properties can arise in the quarternary complex."
A little bit more about allosteric properties: it has to do with altering enzyme active site property when something else binds to it at some other site other than its own active site.
So the haemoglobin example illustrates this... the haemoglobin sub-units are bound together by extensive side chain interaction, when an oxygen molecule bonds to one of the haem groups, its subunit's conformation alters. This forces a conformational change on the other subunits. The result is that their haem groups now have an increased tendency to bind oxygen.

For bio students you would have seen other egs of allosteric effects, eg from co-factors, co-enzymes, and allosteric inhibitors

Some exam techniques

This is with regard to time management and how extensive you need to answer your questions.

Elucidation Questions:

1) Most importantly you must give proper deduction of FG and reaction linked to observation:
eg A reacts wtih 2,4, dinitrophenylhydrazine to form hydrazone--> A has carbonyl group.
These are most important, since without proper deductions you may make mistakes in structures.

2) Give structures and label: these will be 1 mark per structure.

Normally for 10 marks, elucidating 4-6 structures plus all deductions will give full marks.

3) equations?: give these only if the question demands for them. IE the question states:" give equations for ALL reactions that take place"

If question implies that equations are optional: for eg, "deduce structures, and use eqns where appropriate", it means that the equations are used in place of deductions, so they share the same marks. IE if you are able to give full and complete deductions, equations become redundant and do not score more credit.

In these cases, I recommend especially when you are short of time not to write equations; simply do a good job with observations->deductions and structures and you will score.

But if you've got time, write the equations to secure 100% marks.

During tutorials I always demand a higher standard(120%) in order to train you up, and you need the practice to ground your foundation. But during exam, learn to discern good time management.

remember: 1 mark => 1.5 minutes. you may need to be faster than this for organic chem, because for stoichiometry, 1 mark may take a long time (calculations etc) to obtain.

That's it for now.

Something abt proteins

Hi all,

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: Some texts regards -S-S- disulphide link as part of primary protein sturcture. This is from definition that primary structure is made by covalent bonding. Also certain proteins exist as crosslinked polymers, hence the inclusion of -S-S- as primary structure.

BUT PLEASE TAKE NOTE: at A lvls, the primary structure is defined ONLY by the amino acid sequence joined up by peptide links. Please do not include S-S in its definition.

-S-S- link is weak and considered to be part of tertiary structure.

Please make sure you highlight this on your notes.

oh well.. i knew it!

You Are 72% Cynical

You're a full blown cynic... and probably even skeptical of these results. You have your optimistic moments, but most likely you keep them to yourself.

How Cynical Are You?

Promo Goals

I hope by now my students have set a good goal for their promo results... I know I have: top 5 in the cohort for 3R and 3H, and top 10 for 7B!

I know that many of you out there are stressed out and really busy, and I'm going to say here the same thing I wrote to my class' yahoogroups:

Life is like a marathon, and through it, sometimes we may feel discouraged or tired; the good thing is, how you end matters more than how you start. So PRESS ON! Lets end this year well!

Plan now and take necessary, proactive steps to attain your goal. Spot your weaknesses and plug them. Work on your basics if you are weak at them. Summarize your learning to key points. Summarize and define the strategies used to solve problems. Use these to make your practice more productive. Balance your equations.

Remember its not just practising a lot, its also practising the RIGHT WAY. So insist on doing your practice properly - proper understanding as opposed to copying, proper format as opposed to poor expression, properly writing out key points rather than have it all in one big mess(and missing out key and marking points). That's whats meant by studying smart. But still lotsa practice is needed for things like, helping with memory, and familiarity so that you can solve problems fast. If your old way of doing things didnt work for you, then you have to do it through new ways! No change = no improvement.

I've been too busy to blog recently yep so sorry for the lack of updates. I'm trying to press on till the end too :) - New notes coming soon.

SPAz

nuts about chem spaz? don't wanna be a spaz in the lab?

Watch the videos!

Seriously, go watch the videos, and visualize what you need to do for chem spaz. you need to get a level 8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnQJ2q36d2E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZ39gFsfqU

Make up SPA practice

For those who missed out on SPA practice, these are the make up schedules. Please inform me if you wanna go for any of these.

Also, for the real SPA, if you cannot come please have valid reason (its a national exam) like MC etc.If it is due to some school sanctioned event(away for competition etc) please let us know in advance as well.

Thanks.

Thursday...13 Jul...2 to 4pm...Chem Lab 1...Practice 2.........Chem Lab 4 Practice 1
Monday.....17 Jul...2 to 4pm...Chem Lab 4...Practice 1
Tuesday....18 Jul...2 to 4pm...Chem Lab 4...Practice 2
Thursday....20 Jul...2 to 4pm...Chem Lab 4...Practice 2
Wed..........26 Jul...2 to 4pm...Chem Lab 4....MOCK
Thursday....27 Jul...2 to 4pm...Chem Lab 4...MOCK

The doctor is IN!

Yo peeps,

i decided to set aside time to have consultations with pple

Its based on the free period/early days of the classes.
So if you are from a certain class and you got to see me, just approach me to make and appointment (otherwise i will assume i got no business for the day and close shop)

Make appointment in ADVANCE!~


The appointment will then usually be the timings we set aside here. Unless we make other special arrangements

So..
3R: Tuedays 11-12 or 1-2. I till take my lunch at the other slot tho
3H: Fridays 12-2
7B: Fridays 2-4

cya.

omg, i have sub average logical skills

Your IQ Is 120

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

What it all means is that i got no logical reasoning powers in my brain, although i look like i can really analyse stuff cos i can talk my way out of stuff. And Math is illogical dats why i'm exceptional. That includes general knowledge too. I mean stuff like the chemical formula of vanilla and chilli's capsaicin is similar is very illogical.

And finally i dunno why i'm a verbal genius, cos whenever i type or write, it comes out dsyelcix.

Shopping

Its been so frustrating shopping for records. I was looking for Death Cab's albums and I went to them all, Gramaphone, HMV, Borders... they've only got the EP- Stability, I managed to get Plans from gramaphone tho. But what I was really looking for was Transatlanticism and Photoalbum

And only HMV had Transatlanticism.. at a mind blowing 43$!!! I almost flipped when i saw the price OMG double-eww-tee-eff daylight robbery.

So I was resigned to just listening to music over Pandora... fortunately Pandora linked thru to Amazon..

So off I went to Amazon.. Transatlanticism was selling only for 12.99$ USD! That works out to be 20$SGD only!! I figured since I was going to pay for S&H, I may as well order more CDs..... so.. I bot Photoalbum, We got the Facts and We are Voting Yes, and Something about Airplanes!

All in all that worked out to be a total 56$USD incl. S&H. Onconversion thats about 90$SGD. Which works out to 22.50$sgd per CD. Amazing! Buy original!..
.
.
....

....



Oh If you dunno what's Pandora, its simply amazing
Its an internet radio station, with a twist. You key in your favourite artiste or song title, and they produce a playlist of songs which are similar just for you. Great for discovering new music or artistes you'll like. After I got Pandora, I completely gave up on Singapore radio. Its all noise.

Go check it out --> www.pandora.com

Passion

Your True Love Is a Scorpio

Why you'll love a Scorpio: Strong and sexy, Scorpio will overpower you into falling in love (before you even realize it!). You'll love being swept away by Scorpio - into a world of insane passion. Why a Scorpio will love you: You don't mind letting your Scorpio take the reigns, as long as you know you're truly cared for. Loyal and devoted, you would never do anything to set off insanely jealous Scorpio.

What Sign Is Your True Love?

Haha I'll love a Scorpio?? but I am one! maybe dats why I love myself so much :P

Anyway, I think anything you do in life is fun only if you've the passion :D

I laffed when i saw the result

You Are Scary

You even scare scary people sometimes!

How Scary Are You?

3N

hey 3N peeps.. there were somethings I wanted to say during my gdbye and all da best speech today.. that i didn;t manage to say... well i was too focus on trying to deliver the message for you to press on and be consistent and reach your highest goal.

I wanted to say I'll be missing you all, and erm I never mean to "abandon" you all. its just.. an administrative thing i gas, distribution of workload and such. Hopefully I can catch you pple for lunch someday? tag on my blog if you are here!

love you all.

Common Test Results 2

I'd also like to announce good news more systematically

Technicals: MSG(Mean Subject Grade) almost works like reverse of GPA, A is 1 point, B is 2 points.. etc etc E is 5 pts, S is 6 pts, and U is 7 pts

So MSG is the average grade point for the whole class.

%A-B is the percentage of candidates from the class that obtained either grade A or B, and % pass is obviously the percentage of candidates that passed (obtained E and above)

There are a total of 40 JC1 classes taking Chemistry.

Against the entire cohort,
3R has been ranked #1 for MSG, #1 for %A-B, #2 for %pass. #1 for overall. congrats!

3H has been ranked #6 for MSG, #5 for %A-B, #5 for %pass. #4 for overall. congrats too! Though I think 3H should have done much better....

7B beat 7A, keep persevering people!

3N I'm not gg to post your results.. since technically I don't teach you anymore.. but all I gotta say is, you guys are smart enough to do well k, just be more focused, and attentive, and learn on a daily basis!

Congrats to individuals who made top 5% of the entire cohort
Ranking....Name.......... Class......Score(%)
#11............Lawrence.....3H.......... 83.1
#19........... Shimin..........3R...........79.1
#24............Hwee Juin... 3R...........77.7
#37............Bibianna.......3R...........73.0
#48............Xinhui...........3R...........70.9

Common Test Results

After days of gruelling non-stop marking, and data entry and processing, followed by compilation of statistics, the collated common test results are out!!

Overall, cohort wise, it was somewhat ....discouraging... to put it mildly.

For a straightforward paper with mostly fact and recall with some application and evaluation question.. we really expected better. I just feel sad.

Ah well I do have one good piece of news for myself and prolly some of my audience here...
.
.
.
.
.

errr no there is no moderation in view of world cup


The good news is, 3R is the top class amongst the whole cohort, in terms of class average score (mean subject grade or MSG).

See 3R, I did tell you in class that I was least worried about you and you all will mostly do fine yah? I was right! This is a tribute to your consistent efforts and great attitude...Most of the time I'm right about stuff.

So as an encouragement to others... it's not too late!! remember, building knowledge is like constructing a building. It takes effort, planning, deliberate action, and most of all consistent effort and time. You can't build a great piece of architecture overnight! The foundation must be laid, and usually that is the slow and ugly part. you cant see the building for a long long time. But once the foundation is laid carefully and firmly, through day after day and month after month of careful consistent effort, the rest of the building can spring up easily and quickly.

If the foundation is not laid properly, the whole building cannot stand and will collapse. And yoiu simply can't build a good or wondeful work or architecture if construction is done hastily. With hasty work, you just end up building a couple of shacks.

And so it is with learning. Learning is a daily affair, when you give thought, deliberation, and meticulous attention to what you are seeing and hearing- that builds foundation. Last minute mugging just doesnt cut it, you don't learn anything, but just have a hodge podge slum of desperately memorise snippets.

For some of you who've been trying hard, don't worry, maybe your building takes longer to materialize but keep at it; one day it will appear! You might want to check on the building plans tho...

So there seeya folks

perseverance

yo people, persevere for your common tests k, dun let the trauma of the previous papers get to you when you do the next few papers.

And yes, it shd be said that diamond _HAS_ a giant covalent structure. you can't say that it is a giant cov structure. cos it isnt. its simply a chemical element. which possesses said giant cov. structure get it?
*sigh* and its not right to say that I2 is a simple molecular lattice. It HAS a simple molecular STRUCTURE.

and i dun even wanna talk abt the abuse of because, therefores, hence, and thus.

In the past, exams used to have this phrase in the instructions: "Candidates are to note that marks will be awarded for proper/appropriate use of language in expression of answers."
which really is an euphemism for marks will be deducted for bad language. :)

ughh

i'm so dead.. the marking is killing me.. and so many students have such a poor ability to express themselves,.. its as if when they do science, their english gets thrown out of the window...

very often i see statements like "diamond is a giant molecular structure"

the answers written are at times are not structured in a logical fashion, or similar points are repeated, or lots of irrelevant points are written while key points are omitted... ( these are the trying to smoke the examiner/just whack type of answers)

this is such a trying time!

answers to alkane quiz

its CDCCADDBCC

How to study for exams.

After observing students' performance for tests, revision tests, remedials, and doing a postmortem with them for why, even those who worked hard and are smart, don't do very well in exams, i've concluded that they are not preparing well for exams.( for the revision tests, which are a lvl std, most are getting 40/80)

I should say they find find it difficult to bridge the gap between theoretical facts and application/evaluation/problem solving. This is because they do not understand the following principle: learning to prepare for exams is not about just mugging, its also acquiring problem solving skills. In devising solutions to problems, its not just sufficient to arrive at the "final answer". All key factors should be addressed, and given due consideration. Problem solving skills are not just useful in exams, they are useful in a whole lot of situations in life...

I think in fact singaporean students tend to treat exams as a... i dunno how to say, as a....unnatural animal. what i mean is that to them exams are just exams and somehow not related to problem solving in real life. this is at the same time true and not true.
Under the old A lvls/ and even o lvl exam system, many singaporean students have learnt, and teachers have also encouraged, a drill approach with a mindset of "memorising" without real understanding, answers to questions (problems). to them, they do not need to understand why/how the answer is crafted in particular fashion. Students, witha desire to feel secure and to do well, as well as teachers even, are equally guilty. They want to be able to simply regurgitate facts, to supply a direct and PREMADE answer to any question. so that they will never be wrong.And they just want the final answer. And if the marking scheme requires the working, then the working is also part of the "final answer" to be mugged for.

This is not the right mindset, to exams, and indeed to life. This is , to me, one of the major shortcomings of our system. To highlight what i mean, I've met graduates, and postgraduates, in the course of doing research work.

Now the nature of research work should be.. RESEARCH! that means dealing with the unknown. So skills like analysis, evaluation, generalising, deduction, induction all need to be used. Suppose we want to investigate a certain system, what do we do? well we hypothesize about how the system might be like. We compare with perhaps similar sorts of examples in nature that we already know something about. We take a similar experiemental protocol for those systems and modify them based on our hypothesis abt the current system we want to study. we conduct our experiments, and record data. based on the data collected from our system, we analyse and deduce the actual state and properties of the system as well as evaluate out modified protocol. make assessments, modify the protocol somemore,and try again. sounds very tiring and challenging yes? as well it should be.

The thing is, the typical singaporean graduate doesnt want that. they want a secure job, make enough money.. that sort of thing( so the mindset they bring to their school as kids, they also bring to their life as adults). and if the govt wants to make research one of the economic engines, then thats what they'd do. so i've met people who say, they are at a loss or don't want to create a their own/new experiment protocol. they don't want to read up and trawl the libaries, journals, an internet for similar examples/info where they can learn from and adapt solutions. They wish for a boss who would think the whole thing through and just give them instructions on what to do. They just want to be .. robots.. secure robots that is. (same as students who do practicals. they just want to follow the lab manual. they do not question, or understand even, why certain steps, apparatus, and reagents are used. to me.. thats like being robots. you dont need intelligence to follow instructions. you just need training.) I always feel a strong urge to tell these people, dude, you are in the wrong job. research means dealing with the unknown duh. In fact I like bosses that simply share with me ,a goal, a vision, and perhaps offer some advice and teaching in terms of experiential stuff like where to start, like look for info, and perhaps important factors to consider and pitfalls to avoid. and then after that leave me alone to figure out the answer.

Ok haha i digress...i should address some of the major components of info mgmt and problem solving(and adapted as exam technique) on the next post.

i have a fragile ego.

I came across the brochure for ballet under the stars and thought of suggesting that as a class outing, so i smsed this girl.. call her CL
me: hey lets go for ballet under the stars!
CL: what, you mean for class outing right?
(i was thinking like duh .. of course.. but i decided to play a prank so....)

me: no, its just you and me.

after a looong pause..

CL: HUH?? why me????....<--------at this point i was like.. waaah wat a response.. like she was called up for detention or punishment.. like the prospect of going out with me was torture!!! *sigh*

white slip for CL the next time she's late. hmph.

haha actually i just laughed my head off. :)

The Idea of God

I was just chilling this afternoon and as usual when i chill, my thoughts start to wander off ... and I started think, how come I can never be as pious as other christians.. or for that matter as pious as any other person is to his/her own religion?

but then, I've never been atheist or gnostic- i truly believe in and love God... so i figured, its because i really treasure the idea of having God. To me, if there is no God, no eternity, no karma, then perhaps life will seem more pointless( ala john lennon's "imagine").. like whats the point of doing anything? in the end it all becomes dust... and whats the point of planning, or trying hard, or being good? just eat, drink and be merry. So yep there must be a God. And of course i've experienced God in my life.. tho i won't go too much into that... anyway..

But I don't want to be too near to God... i think his holiness will burn me...

and when i look around at the immense suffering brought about by religious fanaticism( wars, genocide, injustice to women etc etc,) , i wonder.. is it worth it? and almost every religion/cult has been guilty of bringing about suffering. but maybe its not the religion itself.. but its the people in the religion... imperfect human beings thinking that they are acting in the infallible will of whichever God the believe in, but in fact they don't know better than any other human being .. or perhaps they are downright worse, manipulating others to think that they alone possess special knowledge of the divine.

I'm so unholy; men are so evil, how can anyone ever say that they can execute the will of God? I'd rather just cherish the Idea of God.

INTJ

Try this! http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Your Type is INTJ
Introverted
Intuitive
Thinking
Judging
Strength of the preferences %
11
50
75
11

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To outsiders, INTJs may appear to project an aura of "definiteness", of self-confidence. This self-confidence, sometimes mistaken for simple arrogance by the less decisive, is actually of a very specific rather than a general nature; its source lies in the specialized knowledge systems that most INTJs start building at an early age. When it comes to their own areas of expertise -- and INTJs can have several -- they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don't know.
INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. What prevents them from becoming chronically bogged down in this pursuit of perfection is the pragmatism so characteristic of the type: INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake.
INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. Whatever system an INTJ happens to be working on is for them the equivalent of a moral cause to an INFJ; both perfectionism and disregard for authority may come into play, as INTJs can be unsparing of both themselves and the others on the project. Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers. On the other hand, they do tend to be scrupulous and even-handed about recognizing the individual contributions that have gone into a project, and have a gift for seizing opportunities which others might not even notice.
In the broadest terms, what INTJs "do" tends to be what they "know". Typical INTJ career choices are in the sciences and engineering, but they can be found wherever a combination of intellect and incisiveness are required (e.g., law, some areas of academia). INTJs can rise to management positions when they are willing to invest time in marketing their abilities as well as enhancing them, and (whether for the sake of ambition or the desire for privacy) many also find it useful to learn to simulate some degree of surface conformism in order to mask their inherent unconventionality.
Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.
This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Fs -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.
Probably the strongest INTJ assets in the interpersonal area are their intuitive abilities and their willingness to "work at" a relationship. Although as Ts they do not always have the kind of natural empathy that many Fs do, the Intuitive function can often act as a good substitute by synthesizing the probable meanings behind such things as tone of voice, turn of phrase, and facial expression. This ability can then be honed and directed by consistent, repeated efforts to understand and support those they care about, and those relationships which ultimately do become established with an INTJ tend to be characterized by their robustness, stability, and good communications.

formatting

i really need to figure out this litle formatting glitch.. its so irritating.. sometimes its centred, other times its left or right justified.. grrr

up-update

21 Jun Make up revision test @ SR10: 10am to 1pm(includes break and gg thru the paper)

the following people are going:

from 3H:Changxun Debbie Jheeva Samuel Charissa YYY, mie, lawry, kenny

from 3R: kelly, natasha, natalie, angie, melu,

from 3N: Joash, Ryan David, Gerald, CZQ, Charlene, laila, aisha, teresen kristel+ fren,

from 7B: Sherine

23 June consultations

1100-1200 terese and abby

1300-1400 yanheng and angela

1430-1530 jheeva

1530-1700 melu and nat

updates

16 Jun:
1130am: 7B: paul n chen zhen

21 Jun Make up revision test @ SR10: 10am to 1pm(includes break and gg thru the paper)

the following people are going:
from 3H:Changxun Debbie Jheeva Samuel Charissa YYY
from 3R: kelly, natasha, natalie
from 3N: Joash, Ryan David, Gerald, CZQ, Charlene, laila, aisha,
from 7B: Sherine

22 Jun
filming of SPA video!
Hey people! we are thnking of making a SPA video! the vid will teach you all about the next skill coming up for exams. in this way, all students will get the same teaching (as compared to different tutors coverring their own classes) maybe we'll make it downloadable.

The video will be hipper than hip, cooler than cool, hotter than hot and MTVisque. What I need is:
1; suggestions for soundtrack. must be exciting k. and no propella heads or moby ala matrix or james bondish stuff.
2: if any of you are skilled in videop editing, we welcome you to volunteer! you won't get paid, but this is your chance to impress us and earn major brownie points....

23 Jun
The End of the Holidays!
*sob*!!!

11am : 3N: Terese and Abby
1pm: Yanheng and Angela

Oh yes, on a separate note, 3N will be getting a new chem tutor! he's a nice and enthusiastic guy & ex rafflesian. so yep I'm sure they will be in capable hands. ...I will miss them and their antics

More notes! haha no not chem notes.. just random stuff.. mostly to do with music...I just bot the Snow Patrol's latest album "Eyes open"..limited edition CD + DVD




http://www.snowpatrol.com/music/albums.aspx?pid=36

buy original!

Recent movie i just watched: Cars!

Its really funny, and thoughtful, and meaningful.. did i say its really funny? Pixar animation really has great production values.. you should all catch it! In fact I think we should make a learning journey out of it...

Winning isnt everything.. its the relationships that you build that give meaning to your life.

.. On a note about learning journey though, I'd like to suggest to the students from 3H: lets go for Ballet Under The Stars!

Paradise Falling

Performed by Sngapore Dance Theatre (SDT) (personal note: they are good, i've seen them before)

Music: Blue as the Turqoise Night of Neyshabur

Performed by : Yo-Yo Ma

http://www.singaporedancetheatre.com/performance/buts.asp

21 July Friday evening

its 18$ per tic: but we can get 15% discount if we order more than 5 tics, plus we can get a TOTE board arts grant subsidy of up to 60%. meaning you guys only need to pay 25% of 18$ = 4.50$

wanna go?

Other performances worth going:

Coldplay: Twisted Logic concert, 10 Jul 2006, Singapore Indoor Stadium

SIngapore Lyric Opera: The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

14-17 July 2006

Check them out at www.sistic.com.sg

What an exciting July! Every1 should go watch something esp after the very very exciting common tests :)

Remedials, consultations, and revision tests

I'm posting this to consolidate whats taking place:

5 June:
Revision test 1 @LT2: A lot of absentees!!

Consultations:
3N: I was suppose to see some people for 3N, but they never turned up.
Darren & Hanxin: yes I know they are from 3N, but they made separate arrangements with me and I met them at about 1030 am
3H: Qingyuan was suppose to see me, but didnt bring his stuff, so I will see qingyuan on 19 Jun

12 June:
3H: some fellas were suppose to see me, but did not follow up and confirm, so cancelled.

14 June:
7B: 9 - 11 am @A21: arenes, and any other topics they might want-> chem bonding and organic chem
Paul Yap: needs to see me for consultation after that.

19 June:
Revision test 2 @LT2

21 June
Make up revision test @ SR10: 10am to 1pm(includes break and gg thru the paper)
the following people are going:
from 3H:Changxun Debbie Jheeva Samuel Charissa YYY
from 3R: nil
from 3N: Joash, Ryan David, Gerald (if more coming, please let me know!)
from 7B: nil

consultations
from 3R: Huanghuan, Melu and Nat at 2 pm

Thats what i have so far. I suspect that I've missed some out pls let me know!
And I'm suppose to meet Ryan from 3N but I don't have his contact. So Elizabeth if you are reading this please call him and get him to confirm with me. Thanks!

Anyone who wants to see me pls sign up via sms or email thx.

K i just came back from a short trip to phuket... now my skin's burnt and peeling.. ugh.
And on an interesting note, some fellas in ACJC have come up with a CLUBBING CIP! its so innovative!

check this out:
http://www.knowideas.com.sg/thehighlife/

Answer to a question

some anon tagged a question and i tagged the answers. but i figure i better post this, since its like a FAQ.

here goes:
anon: erm.. just wondering why OH is activating and Cl is deactivating when O is more electro-ve than Cl.

me: oh.. i mentioned it in the notes, the O atom is able to donate its lone pair to the benzene ring readily; the O atom does this(donation of LP) to a much greater extent compared to the Cl atom

but here's more

The donation( or delocalisation) of the lone pair to the benzne ring is the resonance effect
This is different from the shifting of electron density due to electronegativity differences, which is called the inductive effect.
In the case of the OH grp and the Cl grp attached to the benzene ring, you realise that the resonance effect and inductive effect are working antagonistically.
;(resonance effect means that the O and Cl atom donates electrons to the benzene ring, inductive effect means that they withdraw electron density from the ring)

its helpful if u realise that the O atom has a similar size to the C atom, so orbital overlap and electron delocalisation is an easy affair. IE, resonance effect for the O atom is very strong.

for the Cl atom, its much bigger, and so delocalisation of its LP to the C atoms in the benzene ring takes place to a much lesser extent

so in conclusion, the resonance effect for the O atom outweighs the inductive effect. The OH group is an activating group on the benzene ring.
whereas for the Cl atom, the inductive effect outweighs the resonance effect, so the Cl atom is deactivating on the benzene ring.

New Notes!

Heh anybody out there miss my notes? well here's something new...

I've made a set of notes discussing why substituents are activating or deactivating, and why the substituents are 2,4,6 or 3,5 directing

Click here!

you can also get the link from my notes homepage.

Oh yes, Please note that for deduction questions, writing line by line (as per my alkene supplementary deduction question) or in table form ( as per arenes tutorial Q5) are both alright.

But really, writing in table format is much nicer. Also something thats not been emphasized is that to do deduction questions, identifying the type of reaction is useful and important. I'll come back to that another time, maybe in another set of notes..

Meanwhile, its the holidays!! yay!!!!! actually i'm half in holiday mood. But like you all, I have lotsa work to do during the hols too. so plan your holidays well, and so that you can have fun, relax, and yet get the proper amt of work done.

have a good holiday people!

One moment in time

I was just cataloging my song collection, when i came upon this dusty old song... I've almost completely forgotten about it, but the moment i heard it, I had to listen closely again.

Its a really beautiful song, and its super super inspirational, in term of both lyrics and the melody and voice.. You can find this song moving you, whatever station in life you are at. The youngsters out there may not have heard it before.. what a pity. I will post the lyrics here, but you gotta hear the song itself.. nobody does this like whitney houston. Read the lyrics!!!

One Moment in Time - Whitney Houston

Each day I live
I want to be
A day to give
The best of me
I'm only one
But not alone
My finest day
Is yet unknown

I broke my heart
Fought every gain
To taste the sweet
I face the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains

I want one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity

I've lived to be
The very best
I want it all
No time for less
I've laid the plans
Now lay the chance
Here in my hands

Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity

You're a winner for a lifetime
If you seize that one moment in time
Make it shine

Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will be
I will be
I will be free
I will be
I will be free

chilling..

heh chilling out after a long day of work again.. today ran the perfume workshop for JC2s this time round.. so closed shop at about 630pm.. its been almost a non stop 11 hr work day!

so anyways here's something chlling
happy tree friends!
funny if you like violent cartoons :P

Revision test make-up

Forthose who cannot make it to revision tests, I will conduct a make up on 21st June wednesday
9 am. venue to be cfmed.

I will do test 1 and 2 back to back.

now i think there was screw up in the database,; it got corrupted or sth so the shortlisted names are all wrong.

So if you did well in lecture test 1 and got shortlisted, you may elect to skip. but pls let me know

And if you did poorly but was not called down, my advice is, for your own sake, go.

Consultations

Dear students, I will make myself available for consultations during the june hols, for your benefit. Make sure you devise a revision plan and do your studying first. Then you can accumulate ur doubts/problems/ questions that you tried to solve but cannot do it easily.

Take the initiative to make arrangements to see me via sms, and we can work out a schedule k?

another thing about sms-ing me. Pls remember to greet me! and to identify yourself.

Also for those of you who do not understand what i'm going through in class, if so at anytime, please raise your doubts.

Another thing you will realise that the tutorials will also be more beneficial to you if u read up before coming in, since i'm more likely to focus on analysis, problem solving, and techniques, rather than go through facts covered in the notes or lectures.

I really hope that we can bring out the best thats in you.

bonding II

I'm so sorry, I was wrong abt the Mm-Sr bond. apparently its just an ion-dipole interaction...

tee hee.

but on a serious note I do love the 28 atoms...

and also to all students out there, I'm sorry if i've snapped at you recently.. i've been having a bout of insomnia and so i'm tired and impatient... that plus my bad traits = grumpy teacher.
still thats not an excuse i know.. so yes i apologise.

but in the same breath, i wish to say there are some students i'm worried about, and that's probably the reason why I'd grill them or get really ..upset with....

like for eg sometimes i ask simple recall questions with super obvious answers, and give hints, and every other student in the class has got the answer except for that one or two student.
... will resolve to find out from them whats bugging them..
for some maybe chem is not their thing, so we will need to persevere, but there are some who are not trying.. not reading notes even (so cannot answer recall questions) what should i do? punish and discipline(breeds resentment)? counsel(may fall on deaf ears)?

><

Poetry

I think i've gone mad
can you tell, what I'm writing?
Japanese haiku!

insomniac

struck with insomnia
i've lost sleep all sunday night
monday became blue

bonding

I was just observing this little container, labelled tree age.
there are 28 atoms inside and they all mostly have some happy hydrogen bonding... of course some hydrogen bonding is stronger than others..

but anyways, recently i've observed some instances of particular strong bonding formed...
like for example, element Mm and element Sr. I'm not quite sure if its just some super strong hydrogen bonding, but most likely its a stronger type of bond; the bond lengths are getting shorter and shorter.

with Mm and Sr, i wonder if its covalent or dative or ionic... do they share electrons?.. or maybe Sr has donated electrons to Mm?? Tee hee. well whether they go thru electrophilic addition to give new products, time will tell, but in the meantime, i hope their octets will be complete and happy..

I also wonder if there are more reactive species that wanna react.. I do know of at least 1 nucleophile Al that wants to donate electrons to some other unknown mysterious element. Now the question is, how do we speed up a reaction, or make it happen?

its very easy, you need to find out how to complete the other species' octet! sometimes a catalyst is also required... but most importantly, instead of just hovering around, the reactive species needs to overcome activation energy to start the reaction.

tee hee!

The worst things about me

There are three really horrible traits that i have, that i've found it so hard to change... so what's the worst things about me? here's the low-down..

1) patience.. or the lack thereof.. I have absolutely no patience.. with normal pple, i expect them to understand stuff/instructions after one repeat. at most 2 or 3. with students.. i've been conditioned after all these years to lose patience after 50 repeats. yep

2) I have a very very bad temper. Few students have really seen me lose my temper (what any of you have seen is the tip of the tip of the iceberg). When i get angry, its like a raging storm, and all hell breaks loose. I mean, when i was 18 yrs old, i was so pissed off with my (ex)girlfriend's dad so i started to scold him ( i know i know.. not a good example.. but i was young and ignorant k?).. not once, not twice, but on 3 occasions.. but yes.. once again i've been conditioned to be extra gentle with students.

bad trait (1) + bad trait (2) = errr... very bad anger management.

haha I will try to be more patient and slow to anger!