so, seems that its only now that scientists had the brains to do an experiment to find out why hammerheads have hammer shaped heads…

and tests suggest that they have eyes in such fantastic position that they can see distance and depth more accurately than other sharks whose eyes isnt positions at such far ends of the heads.

click on the hyperlink above, the give you a video to show the range of vision for a scalloped hammerhead shark.

scalloped hammerhead shark

for those who are lazy, basically, the shark can see everything above it, and everything below it at any positioning of the eye. thats apart from having great binocular vision (which humans have too, but just not that great).

and by moving their heads from side to side, they get to cover a wider angle of vision too……

each eye’s vision overlaps 32 deg. which eventually gives hammerhead sharks (scalloped) a binocular vision of 184 deg. from all my searches, i find that humans have a binocular vision of 180 deg. thats not that far off. so why is this so important to a shark?

apparently, other sharks which have a more forward facing pair of eyes (like lemon sharks) have a binocular vision of 159 deg.

lemon shark

i guess this means that the hammerheads are able to find prey, or detect predators more easily than other sharks could. and in the water, where danger comes from everywhere, that would be a good feature to possess….

cool isnt it!

how come other sharks didnt evolve the same? hmmm…

for some reason, i was highly sought after by ppl from all walks of life especially between the period of 1-4pm… amazingly, i survived. and have more to come..

after being torn apart by almost everyone in the world today, im here, retaliating by doing my highly deserving reading of news in my feeds.

check out what NASA has been doing when they have nothing to do… coming up with new reciepes. seriously, wouldnt it be neat to try space food?

i also always thought that once neurons die, they die forever. but that was knowledge i learnt way way way back in 2002………….. 6 yrs later, information was bound to have improved/changed.. and now, scientists show that polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids boost the growth of neurons. maybe ive not read the article right. or i havent read the full paper. but there are variations to this. and i am a little tired to look up the technicalities. (one day when im freer)

evolution of future humans? the article is SO good, im so inspired and happy…

but i dont have the energy to be creative now, so i’ll write when i can…

i got to go home now…

recieved an email, as my school is part of SWCDC’s 1000000 Native Plants project. but anyone can pledge, so here’s the info.

Cut paper use, save the trees, reduce climate change.

A new initiative, Pledge a Plant – Carbon Offset Challenge @ South West was rolled out during Clean and Green Singapore 2010 held from 30 October – 1 November 2009. This initiative seeks to offset the amount of carbon emissions from our daily activities by encouraging youths and the public to pledge to adopt clean and green habits.

Every pledge will generate $10 worth of corporate sponsorship, up to a total of $60,000, which will be used to plant trees and shrubs in the district.

We would like to encourage you and your organisation to pledge to adopt clean and green habits and help us to raise the sponsorship to plant in the community. You can pledge here or at www.swcdcecogreen/pledgeaplant.

Every single pledge makes a difference to the environment. Grow the Movement. Pledge to adopt clean and green habits today.

ok no… im not that kind of a SUPERhero…

but hero i was alright!

outside my condo today, there was a road traffic accident. car that was turning out crashed into a bike. i didnt see the accident, but i did see a lady squatting beside the injured biker weeping. a teenager who stood by his car. and his dad who was trying to help the weeping lady. another guy stood by the far pavement and was probably calling for an ambulance.

as i walked down, i saw the scene, and wondered, “should i help?”

yes, i had the obligation to.

i waved across and shouted, “excuse me, i’m a first aider. do you need my help?”

they nodded and waved for me to cross over. the nice guy who called the ambulance walked be across the busy road.

not like i do first aid everyday, but, i knew the chances of a spinal injury were very high in a RTA. but the biker’s helmet was already removed. so i left it as that. his abdomen was moving up and down, so he was still breathing. and that meant he was still alive. i checked for his pulse, to see if he was in cardiogenic shock. pulse was normal. breathing was shallow.

the next thing i was supposed to do was to do a head to toe check, BUT, i decided not to touch anything. so i went on to check his level of response.

“sir, i’m going to check your eyes now.” i said.

opened his eyes. pupil dilated. i should have checked the other eye, to rule our head injuries, but i didnt. but at least he was able to respond. at least its not a severe head injury.

i held his hands, and asked him to squeeze when i asked questions.

seriously, i think i was very calm and collected and handled the situation quite well.

the weeping lady was also in a state of shock, constantly mumbling and worried that the man was going to die.

to distract her, i asked if she had a bottle of water, so that i can dap on the man’s lips. she said she didnt want to stand up because she’s afraid she’d faint.

what else could i do?? i waited, as i checked for vital signs.

along the way, another motorist stopped by. he approached the dad, who directed him to me.

“do you need any help? i have a first aid kit in my bike”

“i dont see any bleeding or wounds, so i think it’s alright. i cant move him, but at least his level of response is alright. he’s just in a bit of pain.” i said.

“ok, then i’ll go off…”

i was pleasantly touched to see another person come by to help, rather than stand and watch.

an SCDF officer finally came on a bike. i pondered for a while before i decided to walk to him and summarise (though i know they’d do a more thorough check anyway)

“he’s been down for abt 10-15min. hes still breathing, has a pulse. difficulty breathing. pupils dilate when i open the eye lid, level of response is fine.” i summarised.

the SCDF officer rolled his eyes down my shirt (and probably saw the St John Ambulance Brigade Logo), smiled said thanks and moved on to do the head to toe check on the guy. and later told the ambulance officers that he has a lower back injury and a small abrasion on his left knee.

i figured they didnt need my help anymore, and i needed to get my arse to sch anyway, so i didnt stay on. i verified with the SCDF biker who said i can go off, and then, he directed the traffic for me to cross. (so cool!)

as i walked off, i reflected. one of the things we are not taught in first aid is to have the confidence to approach casualty. and yet, that is the most important thing to have.

and i figured, more than all the coolness of rescuing a casualty, being a first aider is more than all the hype.

“where did i get the confidence from?” i asked myself.

if i know i could be of some help, and i didnt go to render any help, and the guy dies because of my selfish act, would i be able to sleep at night?

i might not have been much of a help, since i couldnt do much for internal bleeding/spinal injury, but at least i was available for help.

i feel good.

and i hope the guy gets better.

2 auspicious events in 2 days..

Friday, a family friend of mine got engaged. Amazing to see such warmness and openness between both families. Such warmness. And probably a genuine wish to welcome each other’s family.

If you know the context from which im describing this, you’d know why this was such a beautiful sight for me.

They are going to get married a yr from now and I wish them all the best.

yesterday, I went for a long lost friend’s wedding. There’s something abt weddings I find so special, it warms my heart everytime………. The priest said, “in witness of, bla bla bla, I’ll take this girl……….” In tamil. When you know the kind of trouble these 2 ppl had gone through, this sentence just means a lot more. I really had to hold back my tears. If I was watching the wedding alone in my house, I’d have certainly cried. I wish the both of them the most Blessed married life. And hope they’ll love each other for their faults as much as they love each other for the good that they are……….

As excited as I was to see her, I wondered who else I’d meet… and I did meet. 3 other long lost friends, one of whose face I had forgotten. Had been 10 yrs since I last saw him. Been almost 8 yrs since I last saw the other 2.

met Al. really nice guy. Ever since the drama that we did, I always have known him to be so dedicated and loving to his gf (now his wife). He just appeared shorter than I remembered him to be. Along came a bubbly little girl. “my daughter” he said with a smile.

 I’m so happy for him. A nice guy, a nice wife and a nice family.

 met Da. Totally don’t remember his face. But I remember the name. somehow, I thought I knew of that name in JC……. Met his wife too…

met Ra. She’s matured so much. Married. Has a 6 mth old kid. We gave each other a hug. she introduced me to her husband. And we agreed to meet up one of these days.

 It was a sight worth remembering. My 3 friends sitting around a table with their spouses who all know each other and a small kid running around……. they had been in contact with each other for quite a while. thats perhaps 8-10 yrs of friendship i had lost. friendship that i had forgotten i had lost. and yet, they still warmly said their ‘hi’ and genuine handshakes.

“how are you” they asked. and i remembered how we all just clicked together… and at this age, when you meet ppl you havent met in a while, the next question they’ll ask is, “are you married?”

“no” i said.

“going to? soon?”

i lifted my shoulders and made a crooked smile………..

In my heart, I wish they’ll be happy always…

ive got a wedding next saturday. and 2 more in december… i’m officially broke!

its 715pm now, and im in sch effectively for the past 11hrs. im actually still quite busy now. half way through 1 document. on page 8 of the 17-page document. and im seeing things thats arent the word document. soon enough im going to think that the sch is haunted.

thurs and fri are my sch’s strat plan. first day will be alot  lighter than the second. but until the second day is over, alot of ppl have alot of things to prepare and submit. and after the second day is over, alot of ppl will have alot of things to submit.

my timetable this weeks goes as such:
monday: freest day – with 3 meetings, lesson with student.
tuesday: lesson with student, played badminton, prepared for RADAR, went for course from 630-1030pm
wednesday: had 3 consecutive meetings from 830-2.30pm, and thereafter follow up from meetings until 730pm and still ongoing. *Laptop infected with virus software that claims i have been infected with virus.
thursday: strat plan until 530pm. course from 630-1030pm
friday: strat plan until 530pm. engagement from 7-10pm
saturday: cca mtg from 830-1230pm. course from 130-630pm. wedding from 730-930pm.
sunday: course from 930-630pm.

and yes, that doesnt include the fact that im using ALL my available time to do admin crap (except for now)

so im obviously peeved abt the fact that i must have opened something that automatically downloaded a virus called – Advanced Virus Removal – which stated that i have 24 medium/high risk threats from viruses. now, my laptop is with my TA, and he figured that my hard disk also crashed, so he’s changing my harddisk, and that means……….. i wont have my laptop until tomorrow.

admist all these nonsense, i started thinking abt my retirement plans.

a colleague recounted to me yesterday, on how she just finished planning on how to retire in 10 yrs time.

me: 10 yrs??? you’d be… less than 50 right? dont you have a long long retirement to plan for then?

colleague: im a very simple person. i dont have alot of needs. i just need food, and a place to stay, and i dont go on holidays…. so… my plan is to make sure i get at least 5K in dividends each yr from now on, plus my savings…

hmmmm……….. retirement……… for me, i guess that would be in 35 yrs time??? thats a long time to work. but if i can get 5K in dividends each year for 35 yrs, that would ring in a whooping $175K. that is a hefty sum, even if inflation brings that value down to a 100K.

im should look into stable and proper investments….

apart from all these worrisome content, one good thing ive been reading all over my subscribed stuff is that sponges are feeding corals in a major way by shedding their cells, which are high in carbon dioxide concentration. many articles speak of how sponges stay slim. and how much corals get their supplements from these sponges.

isnt it amazing how these symbiosis evolved.

isnt it a wonder how life came to be?

sometimes, the more a scientists tries to break down Life, the more many others feel that there must be divine intervention in the sheer complexity of life. if indeed we all came from broken pieces of stones and clouds of crashing planets, its amazing how non-living things become alive…………

hmmmmm……… i love Life for all the things it is……………

time to go back to my remaining  9 pages. Home is another 2 hrs away!!!

…………………. back at 8pm…

ok fine, im distracted, but only because i really honestly dont have the mood to complete the RADAR!

check this out…. scientists found that sea stars actually soak up water during high tide, so that when the tide receeds, and the environmental temperature gets hotter, the sea star is able to cool itself (maybe by slowly releasing water to regulate temperature)!!! isnt that amazing or what… so cute!

and thalidomide was taught to me as the major disaster in medical history of the world…. with re-emergence of cases in africa and south america. if you remember, thousands of children were born with limb defects at birth. now they found out that that drug works by incapacitating immature blood vessels.

world’s temperature set to increase…. again…. all due to carbon dioxide emissions… thats bad again, because the oceanic creatures have nowhere to go…

and, its getting late, and i need to finish up…. so, we’re seriously going to work on getting out of sch before 9pm…

recently read this article on what really scares people…

many of which, may not be my top 10 fears………. but phobias, as defined by dictionary.com, says “it is a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it”

so i thought of what i feared, and came up with this list…..

im actually totally totally totally afraid of injections. i hate having ppl inject me. there’s nothing i cant stand more than that. i can inject anything or anyone else, but cant accept getting injected. thats called aichmophobia/balenephobia/trypanophobia and maybe agliophobia (pain).

my friend would know, that i turn pale at the thought of having to get a jab. and thats irrational, because, i’d be totally fine after the jab!

im acutely claustrophobic. i need to know that i can get out if i need to get out. so small places where i cant move when i want to move, sort of freak me out. but i can still do caves and stuff. im not paranoid.

i fear the dark…. sometimes. though i try to convince myself that there’s nothing in the dark. im actually internally freaked out.. thats called achluophobia/myctophobia/scotophobia

i might have this subconscious fear of athazagoraphobia. and sometimes, to be truthful, i do have monophobia. 

seriously, you should go and check out the A-Z list of phobias! they have a name for ALL sort of phobias, including phobias for specific colours, size of objects and stuff………. its weird that ppl are actually diagnosed with phobias of certain kinds!

isnt it amazing that making changes to 2 genes can result in a worm becoming a hermaphrodite or unisexual…….

what an evolutionary adaptation that ensures the species dont get wiped out… but considering that such self-fertilization isnt too good for creating a good gene pool, these worms usually have a way of preventing self-fertilization. and are usually only sexually active as a single gender.

so… of what use is being a hermaphrodite when you cant self-fertilize?

at least when there are the last 2 female of the species of worms left on the world, one can become a male and get the ball rolling…

what kind of environmental conditions would cause these genetic changes to occur naturally, i wonder.

my first batch of sec 1s finished their last ‘O’ level paper yesterday… pure chem mcq….

as i walked back to sch from invigilation, i saw many of those sec 4s, i said, “enjoy!”, “have fun”, “good luck”, “see you next yr”……………

i dont think these sec 4s know what i think of them… cos i didnt teach most of them in sec 3/4. but i taught most of them in sec 1.

but this bunch of kids are the nicest bunch of ppl. united. everyone accepts one another. quite professional. even if they dont like someone, they’ll still work well together with him. they help each other out. they feel for each other. support each other alot.

their relationships goes beyond classes. student leaders are so good, worthy. helpful, diligent, trustworthy and basically just very good people…

its impossible for me to say something abt everyone, so im doing this by class.

1A 06 was so united and happening, i did so many things with them during bio lesson. i actually havent seen another spontaneous class comparable to them.

1B 06 was too darn quiet!!!!! OMG!!!!!! apart from a few girls, the rest were like non-existent (maybe non-living) things!!!! but, nice bunch of kids la… had to vomit blood to get them talking. but i guess, maybe in other trs class they were alot more responsive.

1C 06 was so noisy! that was the class i got angry with most. but they were still the more ‘brainy’ class. always managed to get good results. had alot of fun with them.

1D 06 was really fun. had a mixture of different personalities, different working styles. and overall a nice class. i didnt get to know everyone, as well as i would have liked. but still nice ppl.

1E 06 was the only express class i didnt teach.

1F 06 was also a fun class, with loads of random remarks and quirky actions! i only took them half a yr onwards, and they got warmed up quite quickly. overall nice class.

3G 07 was a disasterous class. to think we’d meet up every mth to get updates on them… 3 yrs later, just look at them now. won the first Model Class award. so united. creative. happy. hardworking (though can still be more hardworking). lost some of them to ITEs last yr, but glad to know they are doing well. and are happy. i’ll miss them the most, as ive already told them, from beginning of this yr…

as this bunch leaves, the sch as ive known for 4 yrs will be different. maybe even loses meaning sometimes, if i were to be honest. for 4 yrs, i saw these kids grow up. become friends with one another. become st leaders. become enthusiastic abt events. become responsible. passionate. caring. helpful. compassionate.

hmmmmmm…………

met OGC and OKH in sch just now, and they asked me if i was going for prom. 

“of course” i said. 

im looking forward to seeing all the last-time-shorter-than-me and cute-haircut-boys dress up in coats and suits. all handsome with hair done up nicely. im looking forward to seeing all the last-time-shorter-than-me and sweet girls dress up to their nines. all pretty with hair all done nicely.

as i bid them goodbye, im sure i’ll see everyone again in jan for the ’O’ level results.  

and im sure many of them will come back for sch events, SSC gatherings, tournament trainings, UG camps, SYF practices, and of course, Teachers’ Day 2010…..

im not sure how many sec 4/5s will actually read this post, but, i’d still like to wish the graduates of 2009, all the very best in their future endeavours. stay good, do the right thing, make your parents proud, carve a name out for yourselves…