The Vast Universe

We are just a spark in the universe! Look at the image below, Earth is the third planet from the sun. In this solar system, there are 8 planets.  Earth is just one of 8 planets in this one solar system. Our sun is just one star. There are two hundreds billions of stars in this milky way galaxy. This vast universe has one hundred billions of galaxies! （大千世界). Are we alone? Looking at this number, it is impossible we are alone. It is naïve to think we are alone.

For sure, there are other living beings in other planets in other galaxies. Many might be more technologically advance compared to us, looking at their supersonic speed spacecrafts flying around planet earth.  You can read more here.

There are more reports of people seeing Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) around the world. It's a great breakthrough that there is congress hearing on UFO in the United States of America . After the Roswell UFO crash in 1947, there were many great inventions. Did the US engineers reverse-engineer the recovered non-human (euphemism for alien) UFO space craft? Hopefully this congress hearing will encourage more people to share more information about UFO. The truth will be revealed one day. Who knows, those non-humans might reveal themselves soon. Maybe they are observing us, worrying about nuclear war that might destroy planet earth and the implosion might impact other planets and galaxies. Hopefully there is no nuclear war on our beautiful planet earth. It is foolish to move to dusty dull Mars if beautiful planet earth is destroy by nuclear war. May there be peace in this Universe. Meanwhile, just enjoy life on this beautiful blue planet!

This is our solar system. Our sun is just one star among the hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky way galaxy. The universe has billions of galaxies! We are just a small spark in the vast universe! Click here to read more. Image from Encyclopedia Britannica. 

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From Discovery Channel, Stephen Hawking - Are We Alone? 

David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence official, told US congress that ‘Nonhuman biologics’ were found at UFO site. David Fravor, a former US Navy commander said, "The technology that we faced is far superior to anything that we had. And there’s nothing we can do about it, nothing."

Former USA President, Obama smile and said the aliens exercise strict control over us. He looked serious when he said he can't reveal anything. Admire Obama for his honesty.

Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple

Yesterday was the first day of Chinese lunar month of  August. I decided to go to Kwan Im temple at Waterloo street to pray since I haven't visit the temple for many months. Luckily the temple opening hours is from 7am to 6.30 pm and I managed to pray at the temple after work. 

This temple started in 1884 and was last renovated in 1983.

From Wikipedia, "The temple's main worship is Cundi, a manifestation of Kuan Yin. It also worship Damo and Hua Tuo. A statue of Tathagata Buddha is also placed behind Kuan Yin. On top of the altar there is also the Four Heavenly Kings."

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard P. Feynman

Last month, I brought this interesting book, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by humorous Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner on the development of quantum field theory in 1965.

He shared how his father developed his love of learning through observation, creative imagination, thinking, and questioning and seeing the pattern and interconnection of things around you. I highly recommend this book especially if you enjoy learning.

You can watch this video on Richard Feynman talking about Fun to Imagine here

Night Walk in the City

Went for night walk at Marina Bay area to recharge this Monday.It's always a bustling place filled with tourists who are excited to pose with Singapore iconic Merlion, a lion with fish body spurting water. I felt happy after walking in the durian Esplanade theatres by the bay and looking at the colourful Merlion.

Merlion

One of my favourite places, the Esplanade theatre by the bay.

Visual Arts at the Esplanade

They are getting ready for F1 race.

Exploring National University of Singapore (NUS)

Early this week, I went back to NUS to explore and revisit faculty of engineering. Time really flies.  Many of my course mates are already married with kids. A dashing 1.8 m tall guy who looked like Aaron Kwok whom I had a crush on has also grown older with lesser hair. I think the stress of life has resulted in loss of hair. 真的是岁月不饶人!  

There is so much change at NUS. Now the Central library entrance is located at level 1 but the vast space for bazaar is still around. New buildings have sprouted and there are LiHo Tea and Starbucks near School of Engineering canteen. Many places are undergoing renovations and I could not explore. Maybe later this year, I will check if the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Yong tau foo stall is around or not. We used to go to the Art faculty for their delicious laksa yong tau foo. 

You can click here to read 2014 post on NUS.

Bookshop is now in the Central library

In the Central library

This vast space is still used for bazaar. 

Those were the days. My friends and I used to wait outside  Lecture Theatre 6 for lectures.

Tutorial rooms

At the Engineering faculty, they have Starbucks and LiHo Tea. 

Housing Development Board Flat

I think it is great that Singaporeans can own HDB flat. I hope they continue to produce high quality flats like the 1980s flats. I noticed new lift additions to old flats qualities are not as good as the late 80s with rust appearing on the lift facade after a few years and they don't feel as sturdy as the earlier lift versions. Also there are recent news of mould growth on relatively new flats in Punggol as reported here. I hope they don't compromise quality of flat for cost saving. It will affect Singapore reputation for excellence.

Unfortunately for single Singaporeans, we have to fork out additional $15k and can only choose flats in the non-mature estates like Punggol. Is it fair for the singles?

By the way, CPF saving is great in the sense that you can use it to pay for the HDB flat. But I find that it doesn't make sense that you have to pay back interest if you are using your own CPF money if you were to sell the flat. 

Recently I explored HDB gallery which is located at Toa Payoh HDB Hub. I'm  happy that they have finally changed the HDB show room design! I like the 2-room (actually only 1 bedroom) 36m2 and 46m2 flats. However I feel the living room at 46m2 flat looks smaller than the 36m2. I'm thinking of removing the slide door and replace with wall and door. I don't watch television dramas now so I will just buy desktop instead of television set. 

In the future, I will have my workspace design like the craft room where I can keep my art materials and books. Wall will be in light pastel pink and baby blue colours with perhaps wood or marble floor tiles. I have to start to do research now for the best price. It is quite exciting to be able to design my own home to what I want. My home, my rules.

Click here to see various designs at HDB gallery

Alms Round at Tampines Blk 823

My friend shared with me that Buddhist monks from the Palelai Temple will go to Tampines Blk 823 Tampines Market for alms round on every Monday morning from 8.15 am to 8.45 am. This alms round practice started during Shakyamuni Buddha time, more than 2500 years ago. It is to teach the monks to be humble and also provide opportunity for people to learn about Buddha's teaching and make merit by giving. 

So during the June holidays, I brought some rice packets, a bottle of cooking oil to offer to the monks at Tampines market with my friend. I couldn't explain it but I felt light-hearted and joyful after offering the requisites to the monks. Please take note that real Buddhist monks don't accept money in the street. They accept cooked or/and uncooked food. 

 

When giving, you practise generosity. There are also different form of giving like giving advice, effort, or providing a listening ear. 

I realised my colleagues had been talking about me and shared wrong information about the religion I follow thinking I follow monotheism religion. Don't share wrong information if you don't know. If you want to know, I believe in Buddha's teaching. I don't like it when people spread wrong information. 

The gold pendant that I'm wearing has the compassionate Guanyin pusa  or Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva image.  I believe and follow Buddha's teaching on Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold paths, rebirths and karma so you can say I'm a Buddhist. Some people say Buddhism only talk about suffering which is not true. Buddha shared solution too and that is the path out of suffering is to follow the Noble Eightfold paths, one of which is Right Action which also include 5 precepts for lay Buddhists. One of the five precepts is no sexual misconduct. So if you follow the precept, by not committing  extramarital affair, you are not causing unnecessary suffering to your spouse and children. 

 

Buddha advised don't blindly believe. Investigate and see if it is true first. I realised the truth of Buddha's teaching after reading books like Dr Raymond Moody, Life after Life, Dr Brian Weiss, Many Lives, Many Masters and Near-death experiences website here, shared by those survivors who shared about their past lives. From the book, some shared how their current body moles were related to past life injuries which I read in some Buddhism books. I think I have affinity with Buddhism （与佛有缘） as I enjoy listening to dharma talks. Also I can relate to the dharma teaching. I feel so happy listening to dharma talks by Ajahn Keng and Venerable Sheng Yen.

Back to the alms round. If you want to offer requisites to the monks during their alms round, you can visit Palelai temple website here. https://palelaibuddhisttemple.org/visiting-palelai/#weekly-activities 

Monks went for alms round at Tampines Blk 823 on every Monday, 8.15 am to 8.45 am. Image from one of the videos below here.

You can find out more about Buddhism from Buddhist monk.

Barbie Movie

I finally watched Barbie movie yesterday. I really enjoyed this comedy musical movie which features hilarious Ryan Gosling's singing and dancing. I love how this movie is so entertaining yet with philosophical thought provoking messages embedded. 

Why did Barbie choose to leave Barbie world where she can be happy and have dance and party everyday with the other Barbies who never grow old? Instead she chose the real world where humans will go through inevitable aging, mixture of happiness and suffering and in the end face their mortality? Perhaps it can be boring to go through the same routine everyday and you can't appreciate happiness if you never experience sadness. If there is no duality, then there is no meaning to the concept of happiness and sadness. 

It makes you reflect the purpose of your life and mortality. In the real world, people acquired things or people thinking it bring them happiness and then you have to leave it all behind. Or does it bring happiness or you have been conditioned to it? Why did you choose to be human? Or was it your choice? Barbie land is like heaven where you get anything you want just by thinking and you are always young as shared by this guy who experienced Near-death Experience (NDE)  here.  You can read more exceptional NDE here which I have been reading since 2017.

In the movie, Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler shared with Barbie about Humans. 

Humans only have one ending. Ideas live forever. 

Go watch this movie if you haven't. You will enjoy it especially if you love musical dance and comedy movie.

Dua Lipa: Dance the Night

Ryan Gosling: Just Ken

Cass Elliot: Make Your Own Kind of Music

Aqua: Barbie Girl

Hwa Chong Institution Open House

On weekends, I normally sleep late till around 8 or 9am. However, last Saturday, I woke up early at around 6.40 am to visit Hwa Chong Institution Open House. I have always wanted to explore this beautiful campus with the iconic clock tower and statue of Mr Tan Kah Kee, a generous philanthropist who was the founder of Chinese High School, now known as Hwa Chong Institution. I managed to watch the awesome Wushu performance by the students. I also went for guided tour conducted by the students. I like this school for their bilingual and bicultural education and contribution to society. Really thankful to the staff at my organisation who shared with me about the open house. 

I took the opportunity to explore the art gallery where there are some pretty interesting art work. Kudos to the students!

Did you know that the clock tower at Hwa Chong Institution is a gazetted national monument in Singapore? It was used by both the British and Japanese during world war 2 due to its strategic location. Also their military band will play live national anthem and school song during morning assembly at the stadium.

A really good introduction on what is Hwa Chong Spirit is shared by the current Hwa Chong Institution Principal Pang Choon How. I learnt something new on I-Ching, the ancient Book of Changes.

"Firstly, it is the undaunted spirit of strength, resilience and tenacity, as espoused in the school value of “自强不息”. Guided by the continual quest for excellence and continual self-improvement, it is manifested by an innate entrepreneurial dare and the determination to persevere and never give up. Indeed, “自强不息” has its roots from the ancient Book of Changes or I-Ching (《易经》), and describes a philosophy of life derived from the Qian (乾) hexagram, depicting the ceaseless evolution of nature and flow of the universe. (天行健，君子以自强不息。)

Secondly, it is the enduring spirit of community and service to others, as expressed in the school value of WIN-WIN or “己立立人，己达达人”. Guided by a deep sense of humility and gratitude to others who have nurtured or developed us (饮水思源)，it is to consciously seek a virtuous and meaningful cause larger than oneself, with an innate understanding that the greatest self-worth that one can achieve is the selfless and wholehearted contribution to the greater “I” (大我), by bestowing self-worth and success to others and the community. I-Ching also offers a similar worldview as captured in the Kun (坤) hexagram which depicts how nature nurtures life and supports growth. (地势坤，君子以厚德载物。)

Together, “己立立人，己达达人” and “自强不息” complement each other and form the Yin and Yang of a balanced disposition and character. It also describes how the cultivation of one’s heart and mind should not cease at the personal mastery level, but should be extended to an active contribution towards the betterment of society and humanity, including the family, nation and the global community (修身、齐家、治国、平天下)."

The clock tower.

Statue of Mr Tan Kah Kee. I alighted at Tan Kah Kee MRT station and walked for about 3 minutes to Hwa Chong Institution

Beautiful morning at HCI stadium

Tan Kah Kee MRT station is just next to Hwa Chong Institution

Went to watch the awesome wushu performance by students!

You can explore their various CCA and join in the game (only for potential students).

I also explored HCI art gallery!

Was that Justice Bao from the Song dynasty?

Robotics

Fun Science experiment on banana DNA.

HCI students as tour guides

Tan Kah Kee MRT station