How did we human beings get to become the dominant species on this planet? It isn't because we have opposable thumbs, as some hacks might suggest. If it was, then we'd be facing competition against the other primates and a couple of squirrels in a triple-threat match to be "King of the Hill". But so far, we seem to be the only ones able to survive pretty much anywhere on Earth. For changing the environment to suit ourselves rather than adapting ourselves to suit our environment, no one else is in our league.

I think it's because we've made 6 good friends, and we've been leveraging on their strength ever since. They are: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Our ability to ask questions means that we no longer have to accept status quo all the time. We can question our current situation, draw implications from conclusions to our queries, and plan ahead to implement our desired predictions, forecasts and outcomes. We dare ask, "how might our future be better than it is now?" No other animal does anything like this.

So asking questions has to be our #1 most important skill to learn. It has helped us crawl out of the mud, climb down off the trees and it will eventually take us to the stars -- if we so desire.

When I look at our approach to education, though, I have to wonder if we are teaching the right skills. School experience for the student is almost entirely just learning what the answers are. But if they didn't ask the question in the first place, why should they care about what the answer is, anyway?

Besides, the skill of answering questions is a nonsense skill. Answers are static, fixed. Answers reinforce the status quo. Answers force acceptance, giving the impression that nothing can or will change, um, because. Answers are always right, even though they may be wrong. What's the shape of the world? What's at the centre of the universe? Whatever the answer, people at one time believed it, though today, we believe in a totally different answer. And whatever we believe must be right. Right? Whatever.

When we teach students to answer GP questions, whether compre or essay, to me it seems like putting the cart before the horse. We ought to be teaching (or re-teaching) kids to ask questions first.

I believe that the right questions will answer themselves. So when they learn to ask the right questions, they'll learn something that's so much more practical and potentially more life-changing than just learning the right answers.

Will try this approach with my '07 kids. Hope they won't kill me for educational heresy.

The staff tour of farmland Kranji was a novel way to begin our 2-day end-of-year workshop. Between dodging raindrops and puddles, I got to handle a live bullfrog (slimy but oddly odourless) and rubbed up the fur of a farm dog and cat along the way. Like my noisy, chatty companions, the animals were equally sociable.

Apart from learning that bullfrogs are monogamous, and new vocabulary like "aeroponics" and "agri-tainment", I was quite taken by the approach of the Kranji stakeholders to deal with their individual and collective problems operating farms in S'pore.

For example, we have farms in S'pore??? Where do we have space to have 1 farm, let alone the 170+ farms that are supposed to operate in the area? Aren't farms far away, inaccessible, dirty, smelly places that are nice to visit but don't exactly offer top career choices for our children?

With public perception as such, they don't get much support from either the market or even our public institutions. Each farm struggles to survive, and people being what they are, S'poreans in particular, the temptation must be great to conflict and compete the hell out of each other, neighbours being at each others' throats for scraps of resources all the time. We all know what that kind of life is like.

But the Kranji collective impresses me with its ability to cooperate with each other, leveraging on each other's strengths rather than exploiting one another's weaknesses. They rightly identify their problems as obstacles to overcome rather than target each other as the source of their woes.

And even more impressively, they rely most on their ideas: always finding new ways to do things better. Our farmers ain't hicks. They're scientists, engineers, craftsmen, artisans and designers; market-savvy, well-travelled and well-connected. They're angry and frustrated 'cos it's a tough line of work, but they're also hungry and unwilling to just keel over and die without a fight.

And what I love is their attitude that ideas are meant to be shared open-source, instead of selfishly hoarded. I've always believed that an idea is only as good as it is shared. The further it spreads, the better it must be. Ideas propagate one another, and I guess farmers are best positioned to understand this simple truth.

Respect the farmer, urbanite!

Meet Swiss Cheese Man a.k.a. Holey Man, my stunt double in one of my earliest productions with MU. He's come home with me after all these years hanging around as a wall decoration at the MU studio in Cairnhill.

Yup, MU is leaving the premises and closing its doors for good. We had our farewell party tonight attended by many of our founding members as well as a number of our latest generation, and a few well-wishers and friends.

It's a little sad to see a chapter in my life close for good, particularly as I had been intending to reopen it at some point in the near future. But that's not going to be so easy now.

In fact, when I began with Education, one option I was toying with was to complete my contract so that I would have some credibility and some experience as a teacher, then return to MU to teach drama full-time. Guess I felt it was more necessary for me to remain in the system, as it turned out. Funny.

As various members took bits of props and equipment home with them as memorabilia, and as the reception table was little by little cleared away of snacks, cheese and wine, it was goodbye to old friends, some of whom are departing for other climes for who knows how long.

My holey shadow is a piece of my history. And he's come home.

Banjo by Weng

Housewarming at Anthony and Wendy's! We got to see the interior of their new pride and joy today after more than a year of anticipation. It's a cozy place, much of the design based on straight zen lines; right down to the entertainment electronics. I like the design concept for its urban functionality, though if June was present, she might find it a little cold if not for the touches of wood panelling here and there.

Potluck dinner for the third night in a row, and no, I did bring a Christmas fruitcake with me despite what I said in my previous entry. Scrooge I may be, but friends are friends after all. The usual crowd of Anthony's showed up for a pleasant evening.

Weng, in his usual fashion, got us to help assemble the presents he got for us. With empty cartons, bits of plank and cord, each represented household got at random an elastic powered wooden rifle or a 3-string banjo. He helped me tune my banjo and even strummed some discernable chords from it. Thanks, dude!

June wasn't able to join the festivities tonight. She had to pack for her flight to Manila tomorrow, returning on New Year's Eve. Safe journey, ok?

My inner Scrooge is acting up. I'm looking back on the last couple of days of stuffed-to-the-brim feasting, and I'm amazed at how much waste there is left after everyone's had their fill. Then there's the ritual of bagging the remains and distributing them as leftovers, knowing that in reality it's all going to the trash anyway. Just not all into the the trash bin of the host's premises.

I'm also looking at the amount of water I'm using to do the dishes and I'm perturbed that every drop that comes out of our taps is potable H2O, which is in such short supply in many parts of the world even in generally clean condition, and I'm using such a torrent of it to get my kitchen back up to passable health standards again. And no, I wasn't even the host.

I wonder if my personal policy on Potluck Socials is so wrong after all? All I do is show up at my appointment and contribute just my pleasant disposition and a healthy appetite. I'm sure to still "bring home" some leftovers since everyone's brought too much anyway.

Oh, and what if more people adopted my policy and there's not enough food for once? Simple. Pool cash, call pizza.

Let's spare a thought for the less fortunate next year.

Q-tip says, "Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Er... you too, Momo.

Arrive late at Christmas family reunion. Get relegated to the kids' table 'cos all other seats taken. Realize that the kids I'm sitting with and I remember as screaming, bawling, running-around in short pants minor annoyances are no longer kids. Some are already at the U, some just starting work. Funny, I don't feel any older but I should, shouldn't I?

For a theme park with limited thrill rides -- 2 mild 'coasters, a flume and a drop tower -- Ocean Park still pulls in the crowd even on a Monday. It's hard to imagine how one could spend a whole day there without getting bored at some point but, surprisingly, the experience was quite enjoyable.

For one thing, there's a lot of space to cover, whether on foot or by some other means of conveyance. The attractions are well laid out: the kiddy rides at the bottom of the hill, the thrills higher up with a glorious Pacific Ocean view, and the aquaria and show areas concentrated together near the peak. And sufficient toilet facilities -- very important. The park is easy to navigate and because it's all on a slope, walking from place to place can be quite a workout too.

Though there's little we haven't seen before in the centrepiece marine show, the presentation was lively and it's nice to see the animals so animated and motivated for their schtik. The carny games gave out enough prizes to tempt participation. It was amusing that a toddler won a large Santa plushie by accident, while Vince and I got zilch for our efforts.

Ocean Park is simple, without the flash and the thoroughness of concept of most American theme parks. Yet it still packs in the people. I hope our own IR on Sentosa can do as well.

Observation: in any given situation, a people can choose to be happy or unhappy. Good government recognizes the people's right to choose unhappiness.

Finally uploaded our HK holiday pix! There's quite a lot to wade through, so only if you're interested, ok? Click here.

HK turned out to be quite the holiday. Tiny freezing hotel room (but snug and warm under the blanket), no actual plan, just doing whatever our inclinations directed, weather permitting. More walking and shopping than I believed we would do. June says shopping in HK in December is 'nothing,' but if this was nothing, I'm all agog at what 'something' might be.

While people in S'pore were drowning in a 48-hour torrential rainstorm, we brought the sun and a nasty cold snap to HK. Although it rained on our first 2 days, we had gorgeous weather for the rest of our stay.

A couple of places of interest:

Ngong Ping 360:
A tourist trap featuring a fake old-style Chinese village, a couple of multi-media presentations, and a climb up to see the giant Buddha statue; but the Skyrail ride up the mountain is spectacular with amazing views of the countryside. Best to take the Skyrail one-way though, unless you just want to hang out with the tourists.

There's a side-deal at the bus terminus where they offer a 1-way Skyrail ride, then unlimited bus rides to anywhere on Lantau Island. We took the bus to Tai-O Village for the sights, sounds and smells of a local fishing port. Lots more photo-ops and interesting local delicacies that you don't find downtown here.

The Mid-Levels Escalator system:
We were looking for the longest escalator in the world (which is in Ocean Park actually), but our map pointed us to this exotic, innovative people mover instead. From Central, a series of connected escalators takes people up a hilly incline. It passes Hollywood Street (antiques and curios), SoHo (western-style bistros, but also where I finally got my hands on some Krispy Kreme sweetness), and up to where the rich people stay.

The escalators start the day going downhill so the rich people can go to work, but the rest of the day they all point uphill so people like us can explore and the rich people can go home at night.

Once at the top though, it's a long trek back downhill again. Considering that we spent the morning walking down from the Peak back to Central to save HK$11 on the Peak Tram, June and I had wobbly legs by the time we hoofed it back to Central -- again.

BTW, Central becomes Manila and Causeway Bay becomes Jakarta on Sunday.

Have a whole load of pix to be uploaded. Perhaps they'll tell the story better than I can. Watch for the link!

It's got Death, whimsy, tragedy and a cutsey kitty. And it's a short little 'toon. Watch "Death Kitty and the Fat Man" (no, NBS, it's not Anthony) here.

We're leaving for the airport in just over 12 hours and we're still not packed yet. At least Q-tip's been taken care of. She's boarding at the Pawfect Companion, which sent a guy over to collect her this morning.

While we're away, my in-laws will come over and cat-sit for us. In exchange, they get to watch free cable TV all day. The cats, though, may not be too thrilled with the prospect of having the TV on all day:

Behind the TV is Kaiser's favourite napping spot...

and Momo's too!

I went to Vivocity in the afternoon (instead of packing like a good boy) where 3 random thoughts came to mind:

1) It's counterproductive to make staff wear Santa hats if they're still gonna look grouchy at work. The effect is quite a turn-off, in fact. An off-season smile works better than a seasonal decoration for brightening a mall any day.

2) Superdog burgers are as fresh tasting as they claim to be. I don't know if it's my problem or theirs, but after polishing off a bacon cheeseburger, fries and coke, I was still hungry. The jury's still out on whether I'm a pig or if the burger's too small.

3) At PageOne bookshop I found myself again looking at books in the Science section though I was looking for books on media criticism. That's odd because I'm usually looking at fiction and other easy-reading material. I think my subject's changing me... and not necessarily for the better. Brrr...

Right. HK, here we come!

It's always exciting to man the reception desk. Look at all the chaos we have to deal with!

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Prom Nite photos are finally in from our official photogs! Check out some of their best pix here.

Only 1 more working meeting tomorrow, and then I think I'll just focus on being on vacation, at least until Christmas is over. Looking forward to departing for HK on Thursday. What's the plan? Eat, walk, shop, Ocean Park, y'know, mindless, fun stuff. Current weather forecasts say it's going to be wet, par for the course for us. Could get chilly, but not freezing.

Have to admit, I am tired. The break is welcome.

We've got Universal Studios setting up shop on the southernmost tip of continental Asia! I got my wish for exciting coaster rides within driving distance after all! That's the good news. The even better news is that by the time it's ready in 2010, I should be able to get in on senior citizen rates! "Please remove dentures and all other prosthetics before riding the Lethal Weapon 6 for your own safety. Thank you!"

While the politicos and moguls are talking about the impact the Genting-Star Cruises deal will make on tourism arrivals and length of stays, I wonder if Universal is considering to use the theme park here for more than just rides and family entertainment. The possibility of Universal setting up a real movie studio here using Asian locations and talent hasn't been discussed yet, but it's worth thinking about. For both Universal and us, there's an opportunity to break into cinemas worldwide with quality storytelling and high production values... can't blame me for dreaming, right?

Looks like we're putting a lot of our economic eggs into the MICE/tourism/hospitality/family entertainment basket in the coming decades. Are our current batch of students being properly prepared for this industry? I'm sure currently we can produce a very able, very competent crew of engineers who can fabricate and maintain the stuff in their blueprints, but who's designing the blueprints? We've got penny-pinching, meticulous accountants who are great at counting money, but whose money is it? And will all the service staff and the guys in funny animal mascot costumes be from our vast pool of foreign talent 'cos our own local employment-seekers are too self-centered, too individualistic and too easily embarrased (paiseh) to entertain our guests?

In our immediate future, our working population can no longer be made of unquestioning assembly-line robots. We need people who can relate to people, understand them and integrate across cultures without prejudice, and be less obvious with keeping an eye on the profit motive. We need people who can respond to rapidly changing situations, and be empowered and able to act on good decisions quickly. We need creative, imaginative people who can weave interesting and credible narratives with whatever abilities and talents they have on hand.

Our schools willl have to make the paradigm switch, as will our students and their parents too. Though our curriculum rigour need not change, our end result needs to be students who are knowledgeable, yet fun-loving, sociable, active and adventurous. All this, and a healthy dose of common sense too.

Am I asking a bit much? Yes, as long as we keep knowledge an individual, competitive, have-or-have-not commodity. Instead, if in our schools we can develop a culture in which knowledge is freely shared and open-sourced rather than individually hoarded (for obtaining meaningless marks on exams, no less) I'd say that would make content learning much less work, then at the same time we can learn to think and have fun too.

"I gave [a lecture] in The Hague, Holland, to an audience of people who teach in English-language independent schools throughout Europe. I should stress that they were not primarily teachers of English, whom I have for the most part stopped addressing, since I came to the conclusion several years ago that they are the educators least likely to depart in any significant way from their pedagogical traditions. I do not know why this is so, but it is a serious deficiency, since English teachers are better positioned than any others to cultivate intelligence."

Postman, Neil. "Defending against the Indefensible." Conscientious Objections (1988).

Ouch.

Thought it would have been fun to grab my laptop and go sign up for the free wireless broadband service that's available to us for the next 3 years. There are already quite a number of locations around the island that offer this service, and the opportunity to surf and blog on location was an appealing idea.

Nice idea, but it didn't work. Quite a number of people have already signed up for the service already, so it's not likely to be a network problem. Somehow, my laptop isn't configured to detect a wireless signal, so I felt like a bit of a chump lugging it around Marina Square and getting squat out of it.

I'll take the laptop back to our campus tech and see if she (what's her name now? I've heard it twice already but it won't stick in my memory...) can help me get unplugged. Or, more likely, she'll tell me it's because of some paranoid company security policy that my wireless feature has been disabled. Grr.

It's a pity our bowling team didn't survive the changes we underwent this year. With 2 of our teammates getting transferred out and 1 leaving the service, when we finally had a reunion today, it was like we'd split into 2 separate factions: Amy and I still with the college, while Anthony and Vince are now in the secondary school system. Yee, gone on his own way since early this year, was too ill to join us today.

It's a pity because the competiton in this year's league doesn't seem as intense as last year's, and we could possibly be flying high as a result. Still, it's nice to be able to bowl for fun and not kill ourselves trying to beat the next team's high game or whatever. Thanks for the game Boyz!

And tonight, we celebrated Adrian's and Mary's birthdays at Long Beach, ECP. We opted for a few simple dishes and none of the messy crab stuff. They have an unusual spinach cooked with century-egg and salt-egg. Looked weird, like a creamy mess, but tasted quite palatable as a topping for rice.

For dessert, we finished nearly half the Goldmine cheesecake which June and I bought from NYDC. The remainder, Jen took back to her office to feed her workers and volunteers. That's staff welfare!

Prom Night this year was at the Fullerton Hotel. And the students really dressed to the theme of "The Red Carpet". Amongst the memorable was the guy in the 1920's gentleman's suit complete with coat and tails, top hat and cane, whom the MC mercilessly made fun of. Most of the women looked sleek in their gowns and dinner dresses, and had their hair and make up professionally done. It's amazing to see our normally drab students transform into unrecognizably glam personalities with just a touch of effort. Ok, maybe more than just "a touch", I understand some of the do-packages were quite expensive. But for a night of good fun, good memories and great pix, it's worth it, right?

Tonight's menu was an Asian-western fusion buffet. I enjoyed the smoked salmon, and the steamed shrimp served on-ice . The sweet-sour fish was tasty too, and the duck confit was... rich (maybe what I mean is deliciously fatty, though I'm not exactly sure that was it). There was a crispy noodle that was oddly sweet, and the consomme was a little more sour than I had expected. By the time I got to the dessert table, there wasn't much left. I scrounged together a decent portion of bread pudding, a crunchy apple tartlet, a smooth chocolate mousse thing on a light cracker, and some healthy fruit for balance.

But what kept the party rockin' was a livewire MC who put together a repertoire of games that were entertaining, yet not too embarrassing for the participants. It helped that the students themselves were great sports and participated wholeheartedly. Makes all the difference in the world. It also helped that the MC had an assistant he kept abusing. Somehow, whenever he called for "Alfred", it was like playing off a foil of himself, so the humour had quite a self-deprecating quality.

If anyone is wondering why we staff at the VIP table did not participate at all in the games, it's because we were there as non-paying guests. Therefore, we had no business trying for prizes that the students had paid for. Good prizes too. Quite a number of shopping vouchers for quality stuff like from Kino, NYDC, Nike, Levi's and VivoCity. We also gave away an i-Pod shuffle and a nano, new models. The top prizes were sponsored: a night's stay at the Fullerton, and air tix for 2 to BKK, courtesy of Swissaire.

Congrats to Errol, our Prom king. He had a retro-aviator look (Top-Gun was what, early 80s?), and he had the showmanship to secure his votes, no surprise there. I don't know the prom queen personally, but I think throwing her fur stole into the crowd boosted her popularity somewhat.

Also, thanks, Amy, for the invite. I know our table was full of your cronies, none of us being senior staff deserving of VIP status, except the P of course, but we only responded after no one else did, so we did give everyone else a chance first, didn't we?

Currently reading Panic Nation by Feldman and Marks. Got through about 6 chapters so far, and so far the authors have been the bearers of excellent news! Everything we've been taught to fear about the food we eat is nonsense, according to them. They suggest that our precautions against consuming foods we think are dangerous to our health are actually the result of an "organized paranoia" perpetrated by well-meaning health-regulatory bodies who would rather err on the side of caution (and avoid expensive lawsuits) rather than good sense and good science.

Feldman and Marks cite study after study, across different demographics and over the long-term showing that there is no significant change to our life-expectancy even if we conscientiously reduce consuming "unhealthy" foods. They systematically debunk our fears through statistical as well as scientific analysis and expose the myths behind fat, "junk" food, cholesterol, salt, sugar and a whole bunch of other supposed poisons, toxins and carcinogens in our diet. In fact, by drastically cutting down on some of these substances, we might actually risk harming our bodies because we need them in certain amounts in order for our bodies to function properly.

Some facts they bring to light are quite eye-opening. For example, the cholesterol we eat does not and can not become the cholesterol that clogs our arteries. The two aren't even the same thing, having completely different molecular structures from each other. Sugar is a direct cause of tooth decay, but only contributes to obesity because it makes food taste better and therefore causes people to eat more food than they need. Salt intake is always properly balanced in the body of a normal, healthy person. If there is too much salt, the body excretes the excess through sweat and pee, but if there is too little salt the risk of heart failure actually rises!

If anything, Panic Nation advocates that we eat whatever we want without having to feel guilty about it. We just need to eat a variety of foods in reasonable quantity, like our ancestors have always done, and quit worrying that whatever we put into our mouths is going to kill us. I'll remember that next time I reach for a Krispy Kreme.

Myth: You can live forever if you only eat healthy food.
Truth: Life is sexually transmitted and always ends in death (Vincent Marks).

Further readings:
BBC News: Is junk food a myth?
A more balanced review: here.