ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

There's an old Hokkien* ditty that I remember from childhood days. It's surrealistic, if this term can be applied not only to visual art, but to songs and poetry as well. Like Salvador Dali's art, it conjures up images that can only possibly appear in dreams. Like "Alice in Wonderland" , it is nonsensical, and yet profound. When I hear it, it seems to be saying something important to me that lies beyond the words, though I know not exactly what. This photograph of a busker at the Mass Rapid Transit Station in Tampines, Singapore playing the traditional Chinese guitar the Pi-Pa was taken many years ago. He was singing this ditty: The Sky is black, its going to Rain, Grandpa went to dig a Drain, Tortoise carried the Lantern, Snake beat the Drum; they said The Beggar broke wind, and the Tiger was dead * Hokkien, or in Mandarin Fujian are the people of Fujian province, on the South-Eastern coast of China bordering Taiwan. Living in an area with not much arable la...

The sound of an electric jazz guitar playing a jazz standard in the quiet of the night, with all those luscious chords and chord melody sends thrills and chills up and down my spine. The sound of an electric jazz guitar has come to epitomise urban sophistication, cool factor and maybe wealth. Look at all those advertising clips from banks to luxury cars or chic restaurants that use the sound of an electric guitar jazz quartet playing in the background. Look at the popularity of Diana Krall's band which always includes a jazz guitarist. And marvel at how her guitarists Russell Malone and Anthony Wilson so fittingly complement her music. In my view the sound of an electric jazz guitar has a charm and authenticity all it's own. An instrument in it's own right, distinct from the acoustic guitar from which it was derived. Until about 4 years ago, a jazz guitar player who wanted a good carved- top would probably have to buy an American-made Gibson . An L-5 would set you back abo...

More than Char Kway Teow [a messy, greasy plate of fried flat noodles garnished with squid, cockles, Chinese sausage, eggs, chive] and Roti Prata, [ a crispy Indian pancake eaten by dipping it into a Curry]; I miss the Singapore dish called Yong Tofu. Basically Yong Tofu is a dish that uses minced fish meat to be the stuffing for vegetables and items made of tofu. Above, you can see the brown triangular pieces of dried bean curd which has been stuffed with the fish paste. You can also see Chinese bitter gourd, large peppers, white pieces of soft tofu, and fish balls. There are many versions of Yong Tofu, and the number of items can be in the dozens as the newer food stalls become more inventive. Some stalls have their stuffings made of a mixture of fish and pork. Many stalls offer Convolvulus, also known as water spinach, as an item. Another common item is rehydrated cuttle-fish. But I like the simpler, purer versions of days gone by best, like this one from a shop in Telok Kurau cal...

It is an accepted principle that in attempting to build a model of something in the real world, one should have a deep knowledge of the subject that is being modeled. Because domain expertise is crucial for choice of input variables, as well as clear statement of the relationship between the variables, as well as the quantification of the coefficients [parameters] for each equation of the model. However, in recent times, there is some serious study of blackbox approaches to modeling. A blackbox type of model is one where [1] choice of Input need not be restricted to those which are justified to be inputs according to the theoretical principles of the subject to be modeled. [2] A clear statement of the relationship between input variables is not absolutely necessary, instead leaving it to the blackbox to work out the relationship. [3] For [2], non-parametric methods machine-learning methods such as neural nets, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms are used to classify, detect patterns or ...