World’s #1

This is a gift that will be sitting in my display case for a long time. I had my farewell lunch with my colleagues at San Francisco Pizza today. The food was excellent even if the service was a little slow. After lunch, we began taking photos and that was when my two apprentices presented me with a gift – this gift!

This is what it says at the bottom:

World’s Number One Award
You are the world’s real number one. Your knowledge and talent together with your caring and helpful nature really sets you apart. You are truly a champion.
You’re worth your weight in gold!

I guess that all the abuse that they received from me, really made an impact. I am really touched by this gift because it is the first time that anyone has given me something like this in my life. It certainly gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, to know that I am appreciated.

Our relationship was always one of mentor-apprentice. I enjoyed giving them my regular hour-long lectures. To me, they had the necessary knowledge but they mainly lacked the ability to make the leap from knowledge to application. It was my role to shove them over the precipice.

With my departure, I hope that they will be able to grow and take on their growing responsibilities. If they succeed in performing their duties, it would mean that I have done my part. Now, they will need to learn to swim without a float.

I wish them the best in their careers!

SMS Scams

Among the various kinds of SPAM that I receive through SMS, I received this jewel recently. It was a scam, asking me to credit RM30 into someone’s mobile phone account. Slick. Thankfully, it’s obvious that my dad did not send me this SMS and he was not in trouble with the police. The source of the SMS is +6285237184056 (an Indonesian number).

Ini ayah Tlong bagi credit mexis 30RM ke nombor baru ayah 0128650385 Ayah lgi ada msalah kat balai Police.ta payah caal sekejap ayah call.

Scammers – they should at least work on spelling and grammar.

Production PhD

TLDR: I fear that in our zeal to meet targets, we will end up diluting the quality of local PhDs.

Our government has just launched a RM2.7billion programme to promote post-graduate studies through three schemes – masters degrees, doctorate degrees, and industrial PhDs. Application opened yesterday. However, what caught my attention was the fact that among the targets set under the SLAI programme was to produce 18,500 PhD holders by 2015.

Produce.

Having been through the process myself, I can safely say that you cannot produce a good PhD. You can most certainly manufacture a random PhD but one can only gain a good PhD if they earn it. The process is such that the quality of a PhD is only as good as the quality of its input and a lot of it comes from internal mechanisms that are difficult to quantify.

The article does not mention the details but I have gathered that the scheme is good for covering local university fees.

While I do not think that further education is a bad thing, I fear that in our zeal to produce a certain number of PhDs by a certain date, we will end up compromising quality. This invariably happens when people care more about the number than the game. I certainly hope that our local universities will ignore the targets and work on producing quality instead of quantity, and that the candidates themselves will focus on tackling world-class problems rather than doing just enough by a certain deadline.

Of course, having 48,000 quality PhDs in Malaysia by 2020 is a Good Thing. However, we need to be careful about how we get there. Otherwise, I fear a dilution of the degrees awarded by our local institutions, which will only further depress their global standings if the world realises that we are only good at turning out PhDs.

I have heard lots of horror stories on local PhDs from various sources. One friend of mine, has basically been offered decent money to basically write the thesis for a PhD candidate from USM. Another friend of mine, told me of a case where her UKM lecturer merely cobbled together the work assigned to students, and called it her own. Of course, all of this is hearsay but such things (and worse) definitely happen.

PS: Incidentally, the website for information is down.

Parti KeAnwaran Rakyat

Oh my god (pun intended)!

If the reports in the media are to be believed, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ibrahim proclaimed that, “God has chosen her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, to lead Malaysians towards a better future, and there is no one else who could surpass his leadership strength.”

When I read this, the only reply that I could think of was – WOW!

I can agree that Anwar is a gifted speaker and charismatic leader. I can also agree that he has shown great strength to fight for his survival. However, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that he is anointed by God to lead his people to a better future.

Now, all we need is for Anwar to part the Red Sea and herald in a new era.

Hallelujah!

Honestly, I have always had this opinion that PKR was a party about one man – Anwar. And with the recent farce of an election and now this, I am starting to think that it is turning into a personality cult. Dangerous indeed.

Update

According to TheStar, Izzah came out to say that, “We must differentiate between personality and principles that are brought by the personality. Only principles and not personality must be institutionalised in our party.” Now, that is something that I can respect. Regardless of how great Anwar may be, the party and struggle is more than just about him.

Props!

Cambridge Protests

The last time the UK government wanted to raise their fees, I was still there in the UK. But this time around, things seem to have gotten more serious. It’s probably because the fees are being raised to the levels paid by foreign students in the past. If this goes through, foreign students can expect to have their fees raised as well.

However, what struck me was the kind of protests going on. If such a thing were to happen in Malaysia, I doubt that there would be any sort of organised resistance. Our students here are just too docile for the most part and there is always the UUCA hanging over their heads, as well as the Police Act on illegal gatherings.

These Cambridge students were obviously well organised, even if everything was quite last minute. Good thing that the building is right in the centre of Cambridge town – with Sains and M&S within a short walk away. They can also get supplies in through Kings’ if need be. So, the students can stay for the long haul, if they need to.

Another good thing is that, these students are still studying and doing their assignments. A good protest is not an excuse to slack off because none of their supervisors are going to consider that a valid excuse. So, turning the SCR into a mini library to work in is a really good idea. Students can even help each other out if needed.

Seems rather quaint and all.

Buying Michelins

During a recent car service, I was told that my front tyres needed changing. Since I was already planning to change the tyres early next year, I thought that it would be convenient to just change the tyres then and there since I was already there for my regular service. I was shown a pair of Michelins and the stickered price was RM220. However, I was told that I could have them for RM185. I could go for a cheaper tyre but it would be some brandless make while the Pirellis would cost me more.

So, I got my new Michelins and thought it was quite cheap. I had fully expected to spend more than RM200 for a tyre.

Then, came another customer and they told the customer that his tyres needed changing too. And they told that customer that they were having a special promotion on Michelins now, for only RM220! Looks like sales people do what sales people do, and sell the same snake oil to different customers for whatever that they think the customer is able to afford. I must’ve looked cheap!

Anyway, after changing the tyres, I got my car balanced and aligned as well. Now, my car seems to drive better than it did before.

While changing the tyres, I had a chat with the mechanic as he worked. He remarked that I don’t go out at night and that I hardly used my car. I was wondering how he knew. Then he explained that he could tell from the fact that my headlights still looked really new and that my mileage was very little. Interesting, learned something new.