Tuesday, December 29, 2009 ;
12:40 AM
second gre essay - on time
The author presents an optimistic conjecture that the Exer-Core exercise machine has delivered desired results of improving a person’s overall general health and fitness, through an observation of volunteers engaged in a testing of the abovementioned machine. The argument, however, presents a set of questionable reasoning based on cause and effect, within which it fails to explain unstated inherent assumptions and consider possibilities of alternative explanations. Additional evidence, which should be put forth, is notably absent which impairs its ability to explain the validity of the reasoning derived.
Firstly, the writer makes the assumption that nothing else could have contributed to a supposed improvement in fitness condition reported by the volunteers. The argument does not present evidence to suggest that other plausible factors such as an improved diet or sleep pattern, or other mitigating factors in a volunteer’s lifestyle, could have contributed to an increased stamina. Additional evidence would need to be included to reasonably pinpoint the source of improved fitness results as largely due to the implementation of an exercise machine. In addition, the author assumes that the normal fitness regime, which may be providing incremental benefits to a volunteer’s health and fitness in the first place, is not a viable cause for the stellar results claimed in this study.
Secondly, the author is assuming that improved stamina and muscle condition are key gauges or yardsticks for a person’s general health and fitness. While this link may appear plausible, it would be more useful to provide conventional definitions of ‘health and fitness’ of concern in this argument. Most would argue of general health and fitness to probably exceed that of the conditions of muscle and stamina, but also include mental well-being, appetite, strength and flexibility amongst other possibilities. The author should thus avoid placing a blanket conclusion of improved health and fitness on the basis of a few gauges in the study, and consider other outcomes that participants might have faced which may prove negative (increased bone stress or injury due to the machine) or by defining a viable yardstick of health and fitness.
Lastly, and more fundamentally, it would be naïve to suggest that a machine itself as a physical instrument can improve a person’s general health and fitness. It is highly possible that the machine concerned in the study may have merely played an instrumental role in improving the fitness of individuals participating in the study. More importantly, it appears necessary to consider if it is the change in exercise regime facilitated by the machine, or the discipline in exercising or the style of exercise promoted by the machine that could have been previously missing in the regimes of individual participants, that brought about the desired result observed. Hence, following this, it is critical to provide evidence of comparisons of a similar exercise regime imposed on participants using different machines, to be able to truly underscore the true and substantial merit of the machine by virtue of its instrumentation. It would be useful to consider the baseline fitness of participants involved in the study, as it is most likely that any form of exercise imposed on a relatively sedate sample population would provide some form of improved fitness anyway.
In conclusion, the argument of Exer-Core exercise machines in improving general health and fitness is possibly a valid one, but unstated assumptions and critical evidence needs to be unraveled in order to truly underscore its intellectual viewpoint.
every day is a new day ♥
Sunday, December 27, 2009 ;
9:43 PM
taking too long to write a GRE essay and it sounds rubbishThe argument in the letter seemingly seeks to convince the reader, rather good-naturedly, of the potential merits brought about by developing facilities and provisions to allow high school students to engage in math skill practice and reviews on the internet. The author, however, fails to focus and state its core argument or thesis statement from the beginning, often misleading the reader and finally producing a convoluted argument with several contradictions and gaps in the logical development of his / her reasoning. There exist several questionable assumptions that undermine the author’s key arguments, which can be potentially corrected with additional evidence and a sound argument structure, but the overall structure of the argument spells an indistinct logic to the reader at present.
The structure of the author’s logical reasoning leaves the reader unclear as to the real intent of the author. At times it is suggested that too much emphasis is placed on developing math skills in high school, yet immediately after the author argues that math skills should be brought onto the platform of the internet to better engage students in the subject matter, and finally towards the end of the letter it appears that the issue is one of high school boards permitting students to access the internet in the school environment. A circular and contradictory argument is evidenced by the suggestion that development of math skills in high school is too heavily emphasized, and then later suggesting that students are discouraged due to the lack of basic math skills, which in the first place have to be developed in high school.
In addition, the evidence struggles to support the suggested broad conclusion of having high school students engage online resources for math practice, and it soon becomes apparent that the flow of logic is often missing in the argument. The author provides evidence such as studies that attest to the value of learning math online, but this is insufficient to conclude that students would be more eager to study and learn math as a result. The flow of logic makes little sense in certain parts – students are supposedly discouraged in learning math due to its difficulty and inadequate basic skills, but yet the solution lies in a method of engaging their interest. It is not immediately conceivable that the solution actually provides the antidote to a less difficult math subject or in strengthening basic skills of students, as it is not explained that such discouragement has actually stemmed from a lack of interest in the first place. The role of missing arguments and links are most useful in such a context, as well as a more distinctly stated aim of the letter, which would convince the reader that internet-based math practices solve problems of high school students being discouraged by the subject (should that be the author’s key argument).
Several questionable assumptions are made in stating the case for internet resources in the letter. It is assumed that the school board is mainly concerned with the expense involved with internet resources, but there could be several counterexamples or additional information that suggests that this may not be so. School boards may be concerned with other reasons such as misuse of the internet, which may prove difficult to manage and equally counterproductive to efforts to engage high school students in math. Similarly, it is assumed that allowing students to practice math on the internet would make them more eager to learn and study math, but it is unclear as to the true reasons and value such resources have on providing such motivations. Although studies have attest to the values of using Internet-based math review, it is not clear if these values actually translate to the desired outcomes of better learning of concepts and a heightened interest in the subject matter. In the same vein, it is not clear that, even if students respond well to practicing math on the internet, if it would have been because of a greater interactivity or dynamism in such programs, or of a general interest in using the internet. The availability of additional information to study these motivations of school boards and students, as well as qualitative and quantitative outcomes of such math programs in solving problems of content difficulty and inadequate skills , would thus prove significantly useful in stating the case for internet usage.
In conclusion, the author provides a feasible argument for internet-based math practice, but the problem it seeks to solve and the solution it seeks to implement needs to be more clearly stated. An increased clarity in cause and effect logic, supported by additional evidence and a robust structure of argument, would go a long way in providing the intellectual argument this letter seeks to construct.
every day is a new day ♥
Saturday, October 17, 2009 ;
10:01 PM
in year 1, on a long night with the adjustment of the daylight saving times in the UK, three friends including me planned for a trip out to the countryside. we somehow settled on surrey, found a route that said go to leatherhead, found discounts on rail for groups of 3, came to a station in the middle of nowhere, found our way vaguely based on directions of people, braved the wet and cold, and ended up on an unforgettable experience in surrey. that was, by all sorts of accidents, the start of my love for the britsh countryside.
in year 1, in february of the academic year, i was bringing a group of singsoc members and others on a day trip in surrey. we were walking through druids grove, when an old man approached the 10-12 of us, and asked how we had found this place. i replied that i had found this place with two other friends who were here, and he commented this forest of thousand-year-old trees was the best kept secret in the whole of surrey! he was visibly impressed we had found it, and more so when we said we were really from all across the globe.
in the cotswolds, alvin, zihao and i came to a little known village called temple guiting. having followed an ordnance map route which we had plotted vaguely on our own, we had expected to seek out accomodation, only to realise there was only one bed and breakfast in the ghost village. and it was closed. it wasn't really what we had expected, it was the kind of place where the village shop only opens for two hours on certain days of the week. having met a kind soul who had offered us a lift if we couldn't find accomodation, we sheepishly asked for him to do us that favour. we were ferried to the nearest large town where we found the last 3 places at YHA accomodation in a porsche cayenne, learning about pilgrims and the history of the cotswolds.
malisa and i went to salzburg where we discovered the existence of a salzburg lake district, and we decided to venture further into the place to stay for 2 nights. tucked away in a corner somewhere, it turned out to be a paradise. there was a old town with a historially rich salt mining caves to be explored, a playground which set back ourselves to our lost childhoods situated in front of a beautiful lake, and a real gem of an apartment which had everything you needed for cooking except for the food. well the supermarket opens for a few hours a day as well, but that's beside the point. it turned out to be a place of beautiful memories!
alvin and i went to sheffield park gardens not too long ago. we went there rather expensively, and we had viewed some very beautiful gardens, and caught a glimpse of a very old castle and tower, realised in a pub that apple cider and some very strong drink (for alvin) was indeed something more tasty than the normal beer. and the day seemed rather normal and was ending soon. yet i was edged on to climb the hill in the distance before us, which i was rather skeptical about. we found a small little public access route through two inconspicuous houses by chance, and we ended up climbing another hill, before being rewarded with an unbelievably inspiring and panaromic view of much of east sussex.
today, with a last minute plan beforehand though without much resolve to go for a walk, i woke up from a bad dream and decided not to sleep any further, and decided to head down to surrey. i boarded a really late train from london victoria and only reached westhumble past 10am. i ended up hiking to polesden lacey, a national trust property, finding my way through closed roads only to find them pleasantly repaired and leading to impressive vantage points, walking through thick scary forests, encountering many farms with cute animals, trespassing farms, and realising that surrey hills is really much larger.
i met an old lady at the national trust property who probably has had a stroke as her speech was noticeably difficult, but we hit it off and discussed much about the national trust properties and areas in UK we love. lake district, north yorkshire moors, surrey.. nice lady really.
i had the resolve to read something important as i went on this trip, as i do not have the bravery still to do something else about it. i ended up hiking continuously without break as there was no suitable place. yet in the end i encountered the best pub lunch i have ever eaten - a wonderful gourmet burger with a chilling cider, in a restaurant with a river flowing underneath it.
i decided that i must read what was important on the trip home, yet i met another man (i must have a signpost face) who asked me if i had been walking. we talked for long on the train about walks, nice places to visit, snow in uk, railways. and he left me a final thought: he was impressed a foreigner like me, armed with a map and some passion, was going about alone in exploring lesser known places to many. well he was really being nice, but i think i was quite humbled and thankful for the boost of confidence he had given me. i have had to face up to many issues about confidence recently, and i was instantly reminded of people (fd etc.) who had given me such words, and i was thankful once again. i did not read what was supposed to be have read, but yet i felt like i was still rewarded with some gift from somewhere.
---
i may not have described the accounts in the manner i had most wanted to describe them, and it may not seem exactly meaningful to many people, but yet these things seem to have sent a message to me.
sometimes i wonder how i encounter these beautiful places, how i manage to encounter people who happen to jog by or drive by in the most remote areas of surrey and cotswolds, how i have people who will give me some messages which i so want to convince myself about. sometimes i wonder if what i am doing is meaningless, yet at some points some things seem to appear to tell you, you are actually worth more than what you value yourself. sometimes i feel like i've let down myself, yet i am being given new lessons about life and experiences to cherish.
hmm...
every day is a new day ♥
Sunday, May 24, 2009 ;
10:10 PM
are the most beautiful moments in your life often only realised as you look back? i just recalled what a beautiful christmas i had in NY last year.. would so much like to recreate all of it! right fd? :)
every day is a new day ♥
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 ;
10:06 PM
品冠 - 雨过天晴
雨过应该就会天晴吧
若知道痛了就会珍惜了啊
恋爱中有人被打垮
有人长大 你还爱我吗
你爱我吗
虽流过泪却无损爱的美丽
当然会有争执但不许怀疑
越是大风雨越要守在一起
真爱全靠真心累积
这肺腑的话要你聆听仔细
虽然说不上什么死心塌地
我些许的过去你要是在意
就等你想通我一直在这里
雨过应该就会天晴吧
若知道痛了就要珍惜了啊
恋爱中有人被打垮
有人长大 你还爱我吗
雨过应该就会天晴吧
谁说天黑就一定要下雨呐
恋爱中有人被打垮 有人长大
你还爱我吗 爱我吗
虽流过泪却无损爱的美丽
当然会有争执但不许怀疑
越是大风雨越要守在一起
真爱全靠真心累积
这肺腑的话要你聆听仔细
虽然说不上什么死心塌地
我些许的过去你要是在意
就等你想通我一直在这里
雨过应该就会天晴吧
若知道痛了就要珍惜了啊
恋爱中有人被打垮
有人长大 你还爱我吗
雨过应该就会天晴吧
谁说天黑就一定要下雨呐
恋爱中有人被打垮 有人长大
你还爱我吗 爱我吗
眼看真的就要天晴啦
已知道痛了就要珍惜了啊
恋爱中有人变得傻
有人长大 你会爱我吗
眼看真的就要天晴啦
已知道痛了从此珍惜了啊
恋爱中越是多变化
越快长大 你很爱我吗
爱我吧
every day is a new day ♥
Saturday, March 07, 2009 ;
7:21 PM
key decisions (admin post)
as life in year 2 draws to the exam period once more, it's only more apparent how short the time i have in london is.. i don't have 4 years to explore around, 3 years is probably all i will have! that is, unless the blessing of a 4th year comes in the form of a MOE masters grant, but that's not to be depended upon.
exploration is absolutely essential and i hope to do more!
within ukmore day trips in surrey!!
peak district
scottish highlands road trip
northumberland including newcastle
norfolk
sussex
wood lane shopping centre
tate modern
king's cross trail?
cambridge
oxford
snowdonia, wales
exploring towns of london
day trips in uk?
in europeportugal
italy - venice, florence, pisa
prague
vienna
iceland
french countryside
estonia
norway
amsterdam
spain - barcelona, mallorca
germany
egypt
switzerland in winter........
quebec (canada)
there's
no way i'm going to cover all of that.. but it's time to consolidate some targetted places i guess! looking back i've done much in uk but not much elsewhere:
6 trips to surrey (norbury, boxill, singsoc norbury + boxhill, leith hill, haslemere and black down, dorking to holmwood)
lake district
dorset
scottish highlands
edinburgh
kent and canterbury
hiking in cotswolds
new york
rochester eastman school of music (whee!)
orlando
interlaken, switzerland
helsinki
stockholm
paris
mallorca (fieldclass)
dublin
dissertation: lake sediment core for lake qinghai, tibetan plateau
exchange: universitet lund, sweden
3rd year accomodation: ian baker house, international hall or college hall (if successful)
moe hq attachment programme
it feels better to see things are slightly more consolidated. i always wonder if i'm making the best of my life here.. but i guess while slowly i'm seeing i can't do everything and i'm actually going about and seeing alot, i'm also thiristy for more but i've to cope with studies too.. oh well!
it's also been rewarding this year being a ucl tutor at duncombe primary school (they light up my life!), being a LSO ambassador.. if only i had the time to do something about my geography ambassador role :P
ok back to work stop slacking!
every day is a new day ♥
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 ;
3:48 PM
my ipod nanosometime in 2007, with the looming date of the lifetime chance of studying abroad about to arrive and weighing in my heart, i went to funan's challenger to buy a friend that has stayed with me ever since. just released, it has looked amazingly attractive and a trusty companion to depend upon through lonely days to come, and bring me escape in a noisy world or bring melody to the landscapes i see.
every day is a new day ♥
Sunday, February 08, 2009 ;
3:03 PM
an episode of 'LOST' in my dreaman overland train network was about to start, set in a futuristic setting with small skytrain-like vehicles moving on clean elevated tracks. either chuyan / vanessa / whoever was waiting with me for the train to stop. trains passed by without stopping to position themselves on various segments of the network, and when it was time to start allowing passengers in, the next train pulled into the station and picked us all up. the train stopped much further away from the platform we were waiting, and then we went into the train by just enough time as the attendant impatiently announced the closure of the train doors. the train pulled off into the darkness and whoever i was with was clearly ignoring me...
FLASH
a tram was pulling past orlando's hollywood studios super stunts and effects show of indiana jones. the audience area was covered by large walls and so was the backstage area. i told zihao he should come here tomorrow, i will bring him here as the show is very entertaining and gives a good insight into how action sequences in movies are made.
FLASH
alvin and i were in a kayak rowing down what looked like the forest and rivers in the amazon forest. as we came past a lake-like area with a shallow island in the middle, we decided to take a rest. a chinese man dressed in a very olden fashion like you saw in those period dramas, came out with two of his servants and spoke in a very chinese fashion. i mimicked their voices but kept quiet once they started to look in our direction. suddenly a boat decided to make its way out of the harbour and alvin was very concerned about our kayak. we turned to face the wave so that we would not be swept away. i wondered why was he so uptight since the waves weren't so strong anyway.
we decided to find our way out and we kept close to the island, taking out our two-sided map. earlier we had, in my memory, traced a route out through magnifications of this map. looking at both sides, the pink and blue sides, of our map, we could no longer determine where we were. there were no markings of a river in this place called yew tee (ok i've no idea why we thought we were in yew tee) and there was no lake to speak of.
bewildered, we turned our heads and looked towards the distance, where we saw many other kayaking people learning to kayak leisurely and a distinguishable disneyworld landscape in the distance. we looked at each other puzzled.
BLACK. wake up.
every day is a new day ♥
Thursday, January 29, 2009 ;
4:10 PM
it's been a long time!
well much has passed since.. i've had an unforgettable holiday in america! i've finished three life-sapping coursework and is going to face three more. i've got my exchange place in sweden! whether i'm going or not is another thing! i'm going to lake district.. i'm going to LSO concert!
but i face so many decisions.. decisions on coursework, decisions on my dissertation.. decisions decisions decisions. make up your mind mr nicholas tsao!
well we come into the new chinese year. i must say i really hope for good health, happiness, peace. and i want to be more humble, more thoughtful, less selfish. i want to get my life in order. i don't want to worry over things that aren't worth worrying over for. i want to expand my capacity. i want to keep fit..
one at a time.. for now i just want to stop worrying about work i've handed up and stop being such a fussy perfectionist because it always works against me in the end. there is always something missing the more u want to perfect things. RAWR
every day is a new day ♥
Sunday, December 14, 2008 ;
10:23 AM
a movie dreamUCL uni lecturer JF was giving a briefing for the next fieldclass. after mallorca and spain, there is a second part to the module in which we have to undertake another field class. the dates were rather staggering, we were to commence the fieldclass in early dec and end by 11 dec. the briefing then began and most people were cringing at the prospect of having another fieldclass so soon after we just had one. then the details unfolded and we were told that we were going to a fairy point outward bound school in... SINGAPORE! the details were to meet at some place in covent garden, where later RSAF planes will take us on a 11 to 12 hour journey through the night and day to the place to OBS for fieldclass. i was instantly excited and shocked. what about my US trip? could i spend a few days in singapore? i could see my parents? the fieldclass on pulau ubin? do i get to go off from the ubin island instead of returning back to UK immediately? will i have to pay for an air ticket by myself to get back to UK? what about coursework..... ahhhhhhhhhhh. flashes of covent garden, ubin, punggol start to appear.
in the tutorial group, someone who looked terribly like guo jing and some terribly shy asian boy were in the class. they were beginning to know each other and drew cartoons to connect.
i was finding a toilet at euston station and met with 5 toilet attendants who looked like eastern europeans. after taking some time to find the coins to enter the toilet, i was informed that 5 pences were not allowed, as such i had to give 10 pence coins instead. i commented that if they were to collect money in this style, someone who was very urgent to use the toilet indeed would not have been able to bear it. then again i wasn't in a rush. after paying up, several metal bowls and a big metal pot of fried noodles and bee hoon was delivered and we all sat down on the floor to have a meal. still feeling rather irritated, the rest of the attendants tried to cheer me up and i ate noodles with them. indeed. after awhile, i left for the toilet which took me into another world..
it was an old backyard set in a somewhat old europe house, and the toilet was one cubicle with hay and grass and a wooden door guarding its entrance. strangely enough, i seemed to have been thrown back into another era. i met shy asian boy at the area. then i went back into a tutorial room, and then saw guo jing lookalike over there. after awhile, shy asian boy came back and they shared an awkward conversation at first, which then proceeded to an active sharing of the cartoons she had tried to draw according to what he had taught her. aww i smiled and discreetly left the room.. (sounds like a music video story!)
then i came to this factory or old hotel looking place. it looked like one of those walk up apartments in singapore built in the 80s. i met this consultant or project coordinator who recognised me (somehow we had met earlier in the tutorial briefing which took place 10 years ago) and she explained that this place is going to be redone. it felt weird meeting people from 10 years ago and i was quite amazed. UCL lecturer JF and many random people, together with the consultant and me, then met in the stairwell to discuss about things. there was this buzz in the air but nothing exactly was discussed.
the next time i remembered being at the entrance to the building, it was flooding and many workers were trying to clear the floodwaters so that work could begin on the building. the water was finally all cleared about 4 months later, and the consultant and the rest were finally excited to start work.
the next time i knew it, the whole place was done, although i couldnt remember any significant changes to the building. i met the consultant at the gate to the building again, and this time she looked different. we realised it was already another 10 years. everyone met at the stairwell inside the building again and there was once again this buzz and excitement.
20 years have passed in my dreams.
every day is a new day ♥
