xpmai

Latest Posts by xpmai

Usually I didn't calculate: Today I just realised that I do at least 20-100 questions/day. Unless it's word problems then just 20 only. 😅 ⁣ I really hope I can make it for 'O' Levels—all subjects! 🙏 https://www.instagram.com/p/BvMOnxIn0SFMvVznk48pGcccVlSaBcK-M7CUKw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11oh1wvw8o9tj

I find this app #digime is so cool! 😎 It collects and organises all my data in 1 place, putting everything at glance 😍 Totally free.

This is one of the most heartfelt moment in my secondary school life. 😌 Coming from a neighbourhood school, it’s a privilege to be a participant and I’m truly contented just with that. 😇 Different people have different achievements/pivots (whether in games, sports or academics), I’m really happy to formally become an Olympiad medalist in Biomedical Science. (It’s not the best Olympiad as compared to other ~5 Olympiads, but I’m still vv delighted) 🥉🎊🎊🎊 PS: I sacrificed Informatics Olympiad (N.O.I) though. 😅 (at Loyang View Secondary School)

“Two things define you: Your patience when you have nothing, and your attitude when you have everything.”

—

My 3km Road Run Yesterday

As a non-sporty person, it was a remarkable feat to have constantly ran throughout the race with minimal walks. It was all thanks to Iskandar, my close friend, who kept pushing me to keep on running non-stop. It was a fantastical moment to see that as a result of his encouragements, my speed was on par with some fitter students that I have known.

His physical push only helps by ⅓ in effect, its success is purely symbolic

Initially, I thought that Iskandar’s physical push would be totally helpful because I had never really gotten someone to forcefully motivate me to run. Only to realised that despite his aid—his physical push to support my run—did not help solve or reduce the effects my physical exhaustion because it still requires tremendous effort to/maintain accelerate.

The continued efforts to run was largely attributed to my desire to keep up with his motivational demands as I did not want to disappoint him. The physical effect of running with and without his aid, would have been mostly the same such as physical strains and fatigue.

For the first time, I could feel a discomfort from my heart

As Iskandar forced me to keep on running, he also pushed me beyond my physical limits. For the first time in my life, I could feel a subtle sensation of pain from my heart. It was a very unusual feeling. Normally, when I am tired or during peak performance, I would expect a tingling sensation — a feeling that my heart can’t breathe any harder, but this time, it’s a real pain.

It was negligible, before gradually becoming more obvious. This was totally unexpected. I always thought those who often complains “heart pain” was exaggerating, but this time round I personally felt it as I pushed my natural limits that I am accustomed to.

Self-imposed a 10-second rule xD

Yes, yes, I know that it is better to strive for a constant run as opposed to short walks. However, that is easier said than done. It was not practical to set that standard to an unfit person like me. It was just a matter of when will you eventually give up and walk.

This is probably because of my natural limits that my heart is not used to work at such rate and so it would be difficult for me to maintain that good, constant pace. Additionally, the early symptom (subtle sensation of pain) forces me to be mindful of a potential fallout.

Hence, I responded to this challenge with a 10-second rule. I could intermittently take a break of up to 10 seconds, so that my body could re-calibrate itself and to relief the discomfort of my heart then continued running. It worked very well, and I managed to complete the entire 3km run with little to no walking at all. Much impressive compared to my 2.4km practice, which I will usually walk ≈0.5-1 round.

This Road Run is significant to me because of this rare moment of a close friend, who truly cares about me, tried his best to encourage me to try my best and effectively sacrificing his potential medals or achievements. He concurs that friendship triumphs achievements.

Wow, seems like this “first impression” thing is scientific, known as the Halo Effect. So conversely if you’re late the first time, that negative trait will form an overall bad impression of that you.

This means that the unmentioned bias is real…… if you seem clumsy during the very first encounter. 😝

The halo effect

People who are nice are often perceived as being more physically attractive, due to a cognitive bias known as the Halo Effect. This is because being exposed to a single positive trait of an individual causes us to form an overall positive impression of that person.

In the United States 🇺🇸, there are 2 sides of the aisle on the resolve of gun violence – gun deaths that killed tens of thousands every year or firearm injury that affects up to 70,000 yearly).

One advocates for more gun control (common sense), while another believes in more gun rights. The latter may sound counter-intuitive, but with proper research, I realised their belief is justified.

There is only 156 mass shootings in 2016, and a total deaths of ~800

Unlike the partisan narrative that some try to push, gun violence is less severe than how it is purported. This allows the Conservatives to dismiss statistics as “rubbish” and biased. Most of the gun violence deaths are suicidals, and mental health is a whole new category. Even if gun is banned, and a person determined to self-kill, it won’t stop the person from doing so.

Gun Right advocates also believe that more guns could be more effective in stopping mass shootings. For example, in the event of a rogue actor trying to carry out mass killing in the public, an armed Samaritan could come out to quash the shooter while waiting for police’s arrival. This helps to mitigate casualties and fatal deaths. Here are some real-world cases of aforementioned possibility.

As a result, unless guns are universally banned in the country and rigorously enforced, partial or compromises are ineffective and counterproductive to gun violence homicides or mass shootings.

Nonetheless, Gun Right advocates are also hell-bent on the solution of more guns to reduce gun violence deaths. Opposition would point to the success model of Japan and Australia of eliminating gun deaths by banning it and gun buyback programs to reduce firearms in circulation as their statistics. Unfortunately, Gun Rights also have their own statistics to substantiate their point.

If you look carefully, more guns ownership have no correlation to more gun deaths.

It is just the way of how we present the same piece of information.

Hence, that is why Gun Right advocates think to the contrary of the rest of the world and maybe this phenomenon is caused by the fact that criminals do not voluntarily relinquish their access to firearms and therefore an inadequate gun buyback or restriction program will instead put those law-abiders in greater danger. Gun prohibition is only effective in the long-term.

how many more fucking kids have to die in school because these selfish ass lawmakers don’t see the the importance of making stricter gun laws

Hahaha, was trying to casually stitch multiple recordings and photos that were poorly taken into one video, and it turned out quite well (to me)! 

I was exploring rooftops and hoped to have a peaceful dinner on the rooftops with the spectacular urban landscape. Things didn’t turn out well initially, as I was caught by a manager just a moment before the lift opened. Luckily I managed to circumvent him later by befriending a Bangla worker there and he guided me around with authority. 👈🏻– although it isn’t cool that way, but at least got free narration for the entire tour on the office building 😝

Kudos to those rooftopers out there. They are terrific. The whole process I was preoccupied with fear&anxiety… it’s like entering into a condominium as an uninvited guest and going into the ⛔️restricted area (both by policy and by law) 🚷👮‍♂️

My Apple Music 3-month trial is ending, and I’ve dedicated a detailed review to Reddit that the Internet is missing regarding Apple Music vs. Spotify. Although it isn’t very well-received by the Apple community, I hope it serves as a helpful reference to future users who are looking for advice whether it’s worth to give Apple Music a try.

I’m very disappointed by Apple Music’s missing of essential features and plagued with bugs/glitches.

Nevertheless, I’m glad there’s a strong case for me to switch back to Spotify now since by right I hate copycats and I feel indebted to Spotify because it gave me a chance to get into music with its free streaming service model.

It's the last year I'm taking art. Yayy!!! 🎉(It's rubbish to me🤕) I scored 64/100 which is good enough to me. Hahaha, I actually appealed for sympathy😆: Done by amateur. Pls be lenient. I guess it worked because I scored higher than a friend whose drawing is more complex 😅 Then the Mr Bean one I got 5/10. 😕 Yet, honestly I think it's one of the best portrait I could ever create 😶

I feel so proud of myself. 😆 What happened was that I had created a Tinder account to explore the then "new, trending social network" before it was closed down for <18yo users. It was viral in US among teenagers that's why. 😅 So Tinder disabled my account (they gave deadline when it wouldn't be available for <18yo, I was June I think) before I even deleted my account. This is actually a huge concern. They "disabled" my account, means it wasn't deleted just that I couldn't log in. I confirmed with Tinder if it was the case and the response was positive. 😮 The moment I received their response, I immediately requested them to delete my account. Few weeks later, they denied my request and said I can log in again when I'm 18yo to delete myself. 😠 I was so irritated. Met with such resistance, I recalled a law that I had read before regarding personal information. So I went to find out more and used the law against them. I formally issued them a legal request, to delete my account in pursuant to the Online Privacy Act. 😛 Few weeks later, they retreated and passively assented my request. 😄 I honestly love laws. I like reading laws. It's fun. 😋

This video is so helpful. 😅 It isn’t straightforward to fit the EarPods back into its case, and doing it haphazardly can damage the cable.

Building Better Backgrounds – Zack Krida – Medium

Approaches to stacking css background images on mobile for improved readability, using object-fit and ES2015+.

This post is so helpful. It covers the basic of CSS coding in order make a good, responsive website. 😃 I actually applied the newly acquired knowledge to my Tumblr blog and it works‼  😄

If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.

Jim Rohn

This is really an eye-opener. We’ve roughly known what are the broad Infocomm topics: web/software development, graphic designing, video editing. This is different, it’s music! And what’s more, OP managed to turn a scribble into a cool, final music production!

How to dominate class politics?

Whether in class or workplace, it is inevitable that there will always be a struggle for power (specifically social dominance), regardless of whether you want it or not. Those who are unversed risk social isolation or marginalisation in their respective environments.

The problem of taking an apolitical stance is its potential to affect you, especially an impediment to your goals/achievements. Even if it isn’t the case, it needlessly increases your liability and competency, forcing yourself to be at the highest standard of conduct all the time. This is stressful and an unrealistic expectation because no human being is perfect.

1. Be fierce and firm

This is easier said than done. If you carry yourself wrongly, you may inadvertently portray yourself as something more unfavourable than expected.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to resort violence or act like a hooligan to create such perception.

First impression matters. This is scientific. Within the first 7-30 seconds, your appearance and actions are being fastidiously scrutinised to deduce your personality and characteristics. Whether it is accurate or not, we can always manipulate their presumptions to make them think the way we want them to… such as your strong eye contact, authoritarian voice and tall, open posture.

Cause a deterrence effect. Before anyone undermines you, take the first-mover advantage and unleash fury on them. Limit the scope of the victim(s) to the minimum and the audience to the maximum. It may seem pointless to just victimise 1 person, but its effect is far-reaching to the rest of the watching audience. This is human’s instinct to learn and adapt, to prevent such nasty incident from potentially happening on them in the future.

Exert your authority. Don’t stay quiet and give in. According to the broken window theory, for every compromise that you make, it diminishes the perceived fear you instilled and immediately expose yourself to subversion. Hence, eroding your dominance.

NB: Be as original as possible. It’s OK to re-use certain phrases/actions that you’ve picked up from elsewhere, but not re-applying them to the environment with the same audience.

2. Be charismatic

This is often overlooked when discussing this kind of topic. Charisma is power; leadership is authority.

Successful people are leaders; they have the ability to get people around them to help them achieve their ultimate goal. It’s not what you do; it’s why you do it -- that is what gets people behind you. They are able to articulate a compelling or captivating vision, and are able to arouse strong emotions in their followers.

Source: https://www.elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/charismatic-people-successful

I’ve seen people who are ostracised due to their stern moral high ground stance. Their heartless attitude lacks empathy, which makes them more hated and excluded than those who are anti-social.

When many people like you (from any spectrum), you gain enormous amount of soft power (leverage). The leverage that you have enable you to easily seek help whenever you need and a biased defence when you are provoked.

In fact, if your charisma is high enough, you don’t need any leadership at all. Because authority comes from power, if you’re charismatic enough, you automatically have the influence of authority to the person in-charge.

3. Do not tussle with the authority/superior/in-charge

This is common sense. It’s suicidal to mess up with your discipline master or your boss  — generally anyone above you (seniors). Those people are in position to immediately act in reprisal, with guaranteed risk-free to retributions.

“A friend is better than a foe.”

Since so, it is worthwhile to make them your allies instead of adversaries, even if it is a need to be submissive/acquiescent to their unreasonable demands or unfair comments.

4. Pick the right side.

This is actually the least important, but it can be very effective if you’re affiliated with influential persons. It’s like a start boost, but you still have to build your image up from scratch, but you’ll have very high tolerance from the rest. They won’t pick on you often or as much as you would if you were alone.

Your initial affiliation is very important, and unfortunately, it’s very difficult to pick the best affiliation during the first encounter.

Remember, not everyone can dominate. There can only be 1 true dominant (can be shared) at any given time. If there’s already one, your best bet is to be the Second instead of having an endless conflict. Additionally, a defeat risks being shunned forever.

“War is expensive. Peace is priceless”

Disclaimer: This analysis is based on my personal experience in a harsh school environment. It may be different from yours and you need to apply the strategies wisely. Overuse or invalid use of strategies may have deleterious effects. You’re forewarned.

Humility pays off… but only in the long-term

Since young, all children are ingrained the common values of humility and integrity. What’s more virtuous than someone with inflated sense of self-esteem who constantly vies for recognition built with a wall of lies than a quiet, well-doing boy/girl?

“Sit down, be humble”

Unfortunately, such notion of true humility is mostly over especially in the Internet age. It’s so easy to “gain reputation” on social media nowadays. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the Likes/Loves/Views counter rapidly tickling upwards after every new post/video is made.

Thus, it fuels instant gratification and demands for more posts or fresh content to be made more regularly, which eventually erodes the value of humility in real life. (e.g. literal "updates" on Instagram) This is something unnoticeable that everyone overlooks when interacting on social media. This change of norm slowly aggravates into public request/demand for Likes/Loves on recent posts.

Other forms of inexplicit showing off include asking for advice/comments on the newly purchased accessory or item. Essentially, any action that calls for attention, whether deemed explicit or inexplicit, is sufficient to be labelled “showing off.”

It’s intrinsically recognisable, but unspoken

It seems to be widely misunderstood that just because someone doesn’t point that out, it means they don’t know or don’t notice. The reason why no one points out is because

It’s too miscellaneous. It’d backfire if the person is too picky on things that are too insignificant. And it’s hard to substantiate too.

Risk of social isolation. It’s quite foul to point out such thing to anybody. I’d personally also consider it as an act of hostility if anyone tries to point this to me, whether publicly or privately.

Friends' bias. (True) Friends will always respect and defend for one another. They would rather close an eye than pointing it out.

Generally, in most cases, they fall under (1). No one is that pernickety to point out such trivial matter.

Of course, it's possible that there are instances that go completely unnoticed. Nevertheless, they are still intrinsically recognised but can't be verbalised. That's the reason why ultimately real humble persons are recognised and commended as it's something rare.

So why should you be really humble?

Hmm, I can't thing of any practical benefit other than to gain even more reputation. 😆 This kind of reputation gain is actually more effective and prestigious, which means more enduring than the short-term, instant gratification.

The downsides of being silent about your achievements are…

You'll not receive any immediate flattery. It's all silent. Even though no one talks about it, but the positive image that you exhibit in their minds are cumulative. It's a kind of long-term investment. 😉

Your recognition may never be seen, forever. This is like gambling… becsuse there's no guarantee for the long-term "investment." You presume that they saw it, but they might not. They might be distracted or not be bothered to care about it at all. 😜

However, whenever anyone discovers your achievement by themselves, they would be more impressed and awed than you would show off to them personally.

So what should you do?

It's all about long-term and short-term reputation gain. If you choose humility, the best approach is be yourself. Don't carry any expectations in your mindset, just think it as your own characteristic and you'll eventually get used to resist the temptation of reward.

NB: However, at any point the mindset slips, and you try to vie for attention, no matter how inexplicit it seems to be, it's always intrinsically recognisable.

How to prevent someone from surpassing you

This is a very tricky question. Whenever I teach someone, my biggest concern is his/her potentiality to surpass me. It’s good if one can quickly learn and absorb knowledge – shows that your teachings are effective, but it’s bad if he/she can learn too fast, because you’d eventually be surpassed. 😝 Of course, it’s bad if one can’t learn well and don’t understand what you taught him/her – because it shows that your teachings are ineffective and useless.

That’s the reason why I hate/hesitate to teach others (my peers especially), because of their potential to surpass me if they are effective learners.

So how can you maintain your supremacy?

Answer: Learn from your competitor

The most common advice you’d often hear from your authority probably “Just by continuing to work hard” or “Work harder.” Unfortunately, that’s the most useless advice anyone could ever give.

Example:

There are 2 runners. Runner A is you, and Runner B is your emerging rival.

Scenario 1: You are Runner A running. Runner B suddenly appears and effortlessly surpassed you.

In this scenario, it’s clearly not of your concern. That Runner B is probably a teacher, definitely better than you.

Scenario 2: You are Runner A running. Runner B tags along behind you, but with a higher pace than yours.

This is the scenario of contention. It’s a scenario of someone supposed to be behind you, running a possibility of surpassing you in the near future.

Those who advised Runner A to “continuing working hard” or “work harder” are too simple-minded. It doesn’t solve any problems. It’s a stupid advice. If Runner A continues to “work hard” (running at same pace), he would eventually be surpassed.

The most viable approach to defend your supremacy is to learn from your competitor. Find out how he/she has an increased pace against you and nullify the difference by applying the new knowledge to yourself.

This solution isn’t groundbreaking at all… it’s quite relatable e.g. businesses. Companies learn from its competitors to improve their products or services. One such successful instance is Samsung, where it fancies copying everything of the iPhone and successfully brings in billions of dollars revenue every year.