How Many Sweets Did Ken Buy?

“Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim's sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken's sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?”

For those who don’t know, the above is one of the questions that appear in this year’s PSLE mathematics exam. Chance upon it in a blog questioning why questions are set so high for this year PSLE. It took me (an engineer!) around 10 mins to read and understand the problem and another 10 to solve it in a NON-examination environment, using simultaneous equations and algebra. To think that the Primary 6 kids have to solve it with the clock ticking and not allowed to use simultaneous equations and algebra, using only model diagrams and unit methods. No wonder kids are so stressed today… Not easy to parents these days.

Btw, the kids this year are allowed to use calculators during the exam. Yeah… like that helps a lot. -_-". Dun ask for the answers to the question. Solve it yourself or click on the link above

Gentle Giant

Check out this dog. This dog or wolf to some is own by a goldsmith shop near my parent's place in Jurong. You can imagine the size of it from the size of the Jack Russel standing next to it.

Though it look intimidating, turns out it is a gentle giant. The owner just went out of the shop and he just sit there waiting for his owner to return. Both him and the Jack Russel just wait at the door for the owner to return. Even with curious onlookers passing by taking pictures of him, he just sit there quietly, ignoring it all.

iPhone Goes Orange

The Big Red Machine no longer have exclusive rights to sell the iPhone. MobileOne aka M1 finally get the rights to sell iPhone. Three of my colleagues have own it and after playing around with it, I got to admit I changed my views of iPhone. With my handphone going haywire this week together with the fact that my M1 contract is ending next March, it might be a good choice as my next phone. But on second thought, I may get the HTC HD2 below by then...

People That Make You Go -_-"

Some funny conversations heard...

Shopping for Manuka honey with Angie
Angie: What's the difference between the normal Manuka honey and the raw one?
Salesgirl: The Raw Manuka honey is raw while the normal manuka isn't
Angie: -_-"


A colleague of mine got a call from some sales people
Caller: Hi, is this XXX NRIC 7498273D?
Colleague: Yes
Caller: I need your NRIC to verify your identity
Colleague: -_-"""

We Are Still The Same 50 Years On

I remember our PM Lee Hsien Loong's National Rally this year mentioned that our country have transformed over the past 50 years that it was unimaginable then. Well, I have to agree with him that yes Singapore really have change a lot over the last half a century.

Somehow I feel that all those change only happens on the surface. As the old saying goes, "the more we change, the more we stay the same". The city skyline may looks different now, but I feel that underneath the beautiful scenery, we are no different from what we are in when we are still an English colony

Then, our population consists of mostly immigrants. We have the Chinese from mainland China, Indians from India, Malays from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia and of course the westerners here to seek fortunes. Compare to the Singapore society today, we are more of less the same.

Walk into any food courts, hawker centers or shops and most of the time, you will be greeted by a Chinese national. The streets and construction sites are filled with Indians workers. High positions in professional sectors are taken up by angmohs. Like our forefathers, the Chinese national will gather at Chinatown while the Indians at Little India during the weekends.

Given these circumstances, it's not surprising that the recent figures from the Department of Statistics shows that 25% of the population here are non-Singaporeans. As for the 75% supposingly Singaporeans, 64% are local Singaporeans with the other 11% being permanent resident.

With the increased in "Foreign Talents" coming in couple with the continuing falling birth rates, I have to agree with DK that we, the local Singaporeans, are going to be out numbered soon. So did our country really changed?