The Great Firewall of China is exceptionally intelligent, it is rumored to use machine learning, deep learning and various other strategies to block users from accessing websites such as Google, Facebook, etc.

You probably have realized that most VPNs are not working well in China anymore, as of 2018.

Lantern Pro Review (China)

The one “VPN” that remains good to use is Lantern Pro. It isn’t actually a VPN, but rather a “network sharing” tool. As such, it remains relatively unaffected by the ban on VPNs by China. I have personally tested Lantern in August 2018 and find it working in good condition.

There is a free version, and also a paid version that is more stable and faster. You can first try the free version (data limit of around 800 MB) to see if you like it or not. The installation is extremely simple, basically you just click one button to connect.

URL: https://getlantern.org/

Lantern Referral Code: Use my code YJVD2WT and get 3 months free when you sign up!

Note that you need to install it before you enter China. Once you enter China there is no way you can download the installer as the entire website is blocked.

Use this referral code YJVD2WT and both you and I will get free months (1 or 3 months depending on which plan you buy).

PureVPN (Mac, iOS) not working in China (2018)

Unfortunately, to my disappointment, PureVPN is not working in China as of 2018. I previously wrote a post on PureVPN, it used to be good, but now it has been defeated by the Great Firewall of China.

Singapore is a country that prides itself on its scholastic achievements – with tuitions centers in almost every neighbourhood advertising its rockstar tutors and top-scoring students. The first day of school starts like clockwork, nobody misses a beat, everyone is punctual, assignments are due, and classes start rushing to finish the curriculum again.

This relentless pace for Singapore’s education system is because the exams are just around the corner. It may seem scary for readers that have graduated years ago but yet to have children. The pressure of school is cranked up to 11 on a scale of 10 almost immediately. Especially so for those in crucial streaming years (primary 4 / secondary 2) or graduating years (primary 6 / secondary 4 and 5 / junior college 2).

The importance of exams to the Singaporean society is paramount. As a meritocratic society, education is seen as the equalising force among the varying socio-economic classes. With a thriving bureaucratic government, the best and the brightest in national examinations tend to get the best scholarships and positions in public service afterwards. The fact is that every exam is one step closer or further away from securing the place in society.

Singapore is just above the equator – a hot and humid city with students all seeking a cool place to study. To combat the elements, the only way is cranking up the air conditioner. Almost every home in Singapore has one so to get some much respite from the hot and humid air. Students furiously studying for exams (colloquially termed “mugging” and those who do so called “muggers”) are more than likely doing so under the cool breeze of artificial temperature control.

It will be a common sight to see public places with free strong air conditioners like libraries, fast food outlets, cafes, even airport being full of students cramming away. Expect also to see plenty of midnight oil being burnt in the bedrooms and living rooms of students during the next few months. Because of the humidity of the climate being at an average of 84.2%, no matter what the temperature is, the weather is still often uncomfortable and sweat-inducing.

These are hardly the best conditions for students to focus and study. Extreme temperatures causes students to be annoyed and hence distracted. According to experts, the best temperature to be productive is at 23.5 degrees Celcius. With the average Singapore temperature in the day in the low thirties and at night in the high twenties, natural conditions are definitely not beneficial.

Does it mean that all students need to do is to set the air conditioner to high fan and low temperature? Unfortunately no. The same study also added that while that might work for the majority, 30% of people will be too cold or too hot. That means 1 in 3 will have to keep tweaking the air conditioner time and time again (yet another distraction to the studying process).

So what is a parent or student to do? Leave it up to fate on what the weather conditions are like outdoors? All the while constantly dealing with a fluctuating levels of comfort from the air-conditioner (a device purchased for the express purpose of delivering comfort)? Thank goodness that technology can step in to help.

With Ambi-Climate , a smart AI-enabled air conditioner controller, what we will have is a device that can recognise the students’ unique needs, and tailor temperatures for optimal comfort without having to ask. While traditional air conditioners only account for temperature and ignore other key factors – humidity, sunlight, changes in outdoor weather, and your daily metabolic cycle – Ambi Climate takes everything into account to help create an optimal, personalised home environment while saving up to 30% on energy

By connecting to your air conditioner and learning from your feedback, Ambi’s unique A.I. engine and smart sensors will work their magic to match the students’ needs and adjust to what they deem comfortable. Also, Ambi has an away mode, that efficiently keep your home within desired temperature or humidity thresholds. After setting a threshold of your choice (heating, cooling or drying), Ambi Climate will fulfill your preference in the most energy-efficient way; it will only turn the AC on when needed to maintain the threshold. Your home stays safe and you save money! This will come as good news for muggers as they can enjoy the breeze to keep them concentrated on the upcoming exams at hand.

Very motivational story. Suitable for parents to read; sometimes a change of environment is what it takes for your child to reach his/her full potential. Though the Singapore education system is quite good on the whole, there are some gifted children who are unsuited to such an education.

Note that the financial costs are very high to study in Australia: It costs at least $262,000 for an Australian degree, according to Straits Times. The mother in the story below has 4 children studying in Australia, so one can imagine the heavy financial burden.

Also see our previous post on: School System Video (Do not make a fish climb trees).

Source: Facebook of Pamela Liu

(There is also a forum discussion at Kiasuparents.)

This is just a piece of paper, but a paper that is full of sweat, tears and stories.

Just not too long ago, in 2011, Sean was labeled with multiple learning disabilities. Even though he was selected to be in the gifted education program (GEP) in Singapore, we were told we have to withdraw him from the program because they didn’t want him after spending a year there. Instead, they wanted me to put him into a school for special needs children.

Sean did not want to go to the special needs school, because he felt that he did not belong there. The psychologist we hired told us that the place was not suitable for him. MOE and the school were not happy we did not heed their advice, some are not happy that I refused to put him on ritalin. So the only solution they gave me was to exclude Sean in all school activities if I were to send him to school.

They would put him in the principal’s office. The school, out of the goodwill of the principal, will assign a Math teacher to him.

What about other subjects? And what if you just allow him to take PE and recess with his peers? I asked. It was a straight no.

I couldn’t send my son to school to sit in the principal’s office all day long, he would never understand why he was not allowed to mingle with his friends. So I took him home.

I had no solution, but I was determined to find one. I will educate him myself, I thought.

The psychologist told me that homeschooling Sean will endanger me, I had no clue what that meant when she first told me that, but I did not have an alternative. So I brought him together with the rest of the 4 kids to Australia, determined to find a solution for each kid.

The older two kids were attending university but Sean and the other two younger ones had no school to go to, since they were not residents, no public school could take them, the private schools were full.

Out of the container that I rented, I taught Jo and Sean daily for two hours. He was 10, and we moved quickly from Year 4 work to Year 12 work. All within six months. He was attentive and a quick learner. He even won some medals for his SAT exams for being a top scorer. Jo moved from Year 8 to Year 12 in that time period too.

Jo became the youngest the university matriculated at 13, outdone only by Sean. By 11, he enrolled in UQ, and became the youngest they matriculated in history. The condition for him to attend university at this age was that I must accompany him for every class.

I gladly did. Every class, every day, every moment. 30 to 40 hours a week, plus having to bring up 3 other teenagers and a younger son, and all by myself.

Half way through the degree, he started to fail everything. He told me he really did not like that he had no age peers. So we stopped university and got him enrolled in high school.

In high school, he felt out of place, he found kids noisy and boisterous. After 18 months in high school, we decided to dual enroll him, both in the university and high school.

When it got too noisy in school, he would hide in the toilet, sometimes for the whole day. It became so bad, the tutor wanted me to bring to see a psychologist. The psychologist, to my surprise, told me that Sean is way ahead of his peers socially. All these years, I was told he is autistic, in that he is socially poor, and all these years, I was told to send him to therapies so he could catch up and learn social skills. Five years of doing all these later, I was told he is the opposite. His problem is that he cannot endure the childish behaviour of his age peers.

Sean turned 16, he could attend classes in the university alone finally. After sitting in for 2 years full-time and 2 years part-time, I finally bought some time for myself (except that Youngest One started university on the same terms, and so I have to sit his classes).

Sean started to skip many many classes. In the end, we found out that he was sleeping in the library. It is also then we found out that he has a sleeping disorder, narcolepsy. The university made some provisions for him, so that his exams are never in difficult hours of the day.

That was just last year. And with that, he finally graduated with his degree, and is into his second semester on his masters program.

What a journey. This piece of paper is probably the most hard earned one for me this lifetime. It is also the most precious.

Sean is now 18, he is officially an adult (in Australia), and looking back, I will never do it any other way. I think, journeying this with him has made me a much better person than otherwise. I am thankful for all that we had to go through, and I am thankful he was put into my life. I learned so much.

Well done, Sunshine Boy.

*Even though Sean started university the earliest, he did not
graduate the youngest at 17 because of his multiple anxiety problems. Jo graduated at 16 and the Youngest One will graduate at 16 as well. It really does not matter. We took the time to adjust and ensure each child is comfortable in the education path. Education is about finding our kids’ potential and bringing that to the fullest. Isn’t it? Time and age should not determine what we do with them.

**If you want to know about the costs of doing this, I have made some videos and in the midst of editing them. They will be available in two weeks. Go to this link and watch for it: www.facebook.com/liupam

URL: https://www.quantamagazine.org/tag/2018-fields-medal-and-nevanlinna-prize-winners/

I find that the above link by Quanta Magazine has the most detailed and educational write up about the 4 new Fields Medallists:

1. Akshay Venkatesh, a former prodigy who struggled with the genius stereotype
2. The 30-year-old math sensation Peter Scholze is now one of the youngest Fields medalists
3. The mathematician Caucher Birkar was born on a subsistence farm and raised in the middle of the brutal war between Iran and Iraq.
4. he mathematician Alessio Figalli is rarely in one place for very long. But his work has established the stability of everything from crystals to weather fronts by using concepts derived from Napoleonic fortifications.
5. Also included is the theoretical computer scientist Constantinos Daskalakis, who has won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize for explicating core questions in game theory and machine learning.

This news sounds bizarre, but is true. I have been “researching” on this topic sometime ago, it is a true scientific research topic, not bogus or fake. Basically the parasite “Toxoplasma gondii” affects human brains in some subtle ways that can affect one’s personality.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/parasite-cat-poop-could-be-reducing-our-fear-failure-study-n894221

A mind-controlling parasite found in cat feces may give people the courage they need to become entrepreneurs, researchers reported Tuesday.

They found that people who have been infected with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite are more likely to major in business and to have started their own businesses than non-infected people.

The parasite, which makes rodents unafraid of cats, may be reducing the fear of failure in people, Stefanie Johnson of the University of Colorado and colleagues said.

They haven’t actually shown that. But toxoplasma does get into the brain, and it’s been linked to a variety of mental effects in mice and people alike. And fear of failure could be a good thing, Johnson said.

Toxoplasmosis has been linked to a greater risk of “car accidents, mental illness, neuroticism, drug abuse and suicide,” Johnson and her colleagues wrote in their paper, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

It might be affecting message-carrying chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters, or hormones such as testosterone, they wrote.

In particular, scientists have studied whether the parasite might increase risk-taking behavior.

Johnson is an associate professor of management at the University of Colorado and often told her students about the odd effects of the parasite, which travels to the brains of rodents and causes them to lose their innate fear of the smell of cat urine.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-17-best-universities-in-the-world-to-study-math-2018-7/?IR=T/#17-kyoto-university-japan-2189-1

According to the above source, the best 17 universities to study Math are:

1. Princeton, United States
2. University of Paris-Sud, France
3. Stanford University, United States
4. Oxford University, United Kingdom
5. New York University, United States.
6. 6-17 are listed in the website.

The above ranking is a little strange, Cambridge (7th) and Harvard (12th) are both outside the top 5. Most typical rankings will have these 2 universities in the top 10.The ranking “looked at factors including how many Field Medalists had studied at each institution”.

See also: Singapore universities should look beyond international rankings: Panel

Interesting article on the “power of education in modeling the brain”.

Source: https://www.futurity.org/approximate-number-system-math-1819602-2/

Scientists have long believed that our ability to solve symbolic math problems such as 3+2=5 depends on an imprecise, primal brain function called the Approximate Number System. A new study suggests otherwise.

“Our study shows that gaining expertise with symbolic math, which is a human cultural invention, actually refines this evolutionarily ancient system of quantity representation, not the other way around,” says lead author Macarena Suárez Pellicioni, an educational neuroscience postdoctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development.

Students / parents do take note of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get the free limited edition National Geographic magazine. Need to be quick since anything free in Singapore is snapped up almost instantaneously.

Share to your friends via Facebook!

Source: Yahoo

To celebrate Singapore’s 53rd birthday, we’ve got a special Singapore edition of a little magazine you may have heard of called National Geographic. Dropping islandwide at community centers and libraries, the limited edition publication will see 250,000 copies distributed for free from Aug 1 onwards.

Of course, this being a collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information, the mag will feature an interview with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about his thoughts on the future of Singapore, alongside a series of local stories about individuals contributing to “shaping our future home through their pursuits.”

Source: PM Lee’s Facebook

Gov.sg has partnered National Geographic to do a special Singapore edition of the magazine titled “Singapore – City of Tomorrow”!

Read about the people shaping the future Singapore – they are active in design, sports, sustainable urban farming, volunteerism and other unexpected areas. The articles are accompanied by great photos, of course.

You can pick up your complimentary copy at Suntec City, West Atrium from today till 29 Jul, and at Community Centres and libraries from 1 Aug.

In conjunction with the magazine launch, the #WhatMakesSG photo exhibition is currently on at Suntec City till 29 Jul. It features Nat Geo photojournalist Michael Yamashita’s photos taken during his visit here in May, as well as the winning entries of the #WhatMakesSG photo contest. Do drop by if you’re nearby. – LHL

This is an amazing story of an amazing artist. His passion for painting is so great, according to his therapist he wants to paint 24/7 without eating or sleeping. I find his paintings of Singapore River very good.

SINGAPORE: For nearly 35 years, Mr Sim Kah Lim’s world has been the walls of his ward at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

Outside, changes have swept the landscape, old buildings falling and new ones rising – skylines and shorelines of a 21st-century nation transformed.

But in his mind’s eye – and in his bold-stroked acrylic and watercolour paintings – Mr Sim’s homeland is one where bumboats still crowd the Singapore River, ferrying goods and passengers; and where Chinatown’s open-air markets thrive and its five-foot ways are bustling with locals, not tourists.

They are pictures, frozen in time and memory, from early childhood when his father used to take him to these places.

“My father brought me outdoors (for) painting. I saw the Singapore River and all the artists,” the 50-year-old said, words spilling out without pause in a torrent of English and Mandarin, sometimes incoherent and muddied, like the river of his paintings during monsoon season.

It’s through his art that he finds order, focus and clarity in expressing himself.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/schizophrenia-imh-sim-kah-lim-artist-singapore-mental-health-10530970

Sim Kah Lim 2019 Update

Found 2 more excellent updated videos on Mr Sim Kah Lim, the artist:

This video also features Mr Sim Kah Lim and his sister Cindy (including two other guests). Very enlightening interview.

Just saw this news online. Note that top 3 are all Asian countries. Probably one factor is that IQ test is after all still a paper-based test that rewards good test-taking skills. IQ test does not really cover all forms of creative and intellectual ability. Also, most likely the effect of early-age tuition has boosted the IQ scores. Since IQ is defined as the ratio of mental age over actual age, if a child learns material (be it math or vocabulary) beyond his age, by definition his/her IQ would be increased, though this does not mean that he is “smarter”.

In Singapore it is now common that a child by age 6 has already mastered the Primary 1 (age 7) syllabus. This achievement alone will give a mental age of 7, versus a actual age of 6, giving an estimated IQ of 7/6×100%=117.

For those gifted students that pass the GEP test (age 9), it is common that they already possess knowledge of Primary 5 (age 11) syllabus, or even Primary 6 (age 12). This translates to an IQ of around 11/9×100=122 to 12/9×100=133.

See also:

Recommended Books for GEP Selection Test and How to Get Into GEP

Results:

Joint 1st: Hong Kong and Singapore (108)

2nd: South Korea (106)

Joint 3rd: Japan and China (105)

Source: https://iq-research.info/en/average-iq-by-country

If you log in to Google today, you will see a doodle of binary numbers that celebrates Leibniz’s development of the binary system. Leibniz is very honest and generous to credit Chinese books for his inspiration behind developing the binary numbers.

See also:

Leibniz was a universal genius, but why is Isaac Newton more known? Does it have to do with Newton being British and Leibniz being German?

Leibniz Integral Rule (Differentiating under Integral) + Proof

Quote: Leibniz also developed the binary system, whose notation of zeroes and ones is the basis of modern computer languages. His book, Explication de l’Arithmétique Binaire, credited the ancient Chinese divination manual, the I Ching, with inspiring the binary system of zeroes and ones, since the I Ching’s hexagrams use a very similar notation to record numbers. In an age of European ethnocentrism, Leibniz still recognized China’s long-standing mathematical advancement.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2018/06/30/sundays-google-doodle-celebrates-mathematician-gottfried-wilhelm-leibniz/#3d748c371398

Just read this article by a researcher at MIT. Students and parents especially should read this as it affects cognition and alertness levels. Students in Singapore typically have preciously little time (usually less than 8 hours) to sleep, hence the quality of sleep is very important.

Basically to summarize, sleeping in a closed bedroom (without ventilation, with windows and door closed) leads to high carbon dioxide levels that can possibly affect the brain in negative ways (decreased cognitive function). Switching on air conditioner should be fine as essentially fresh air is introduced from the outside.

The solution can be as easy as opening the door/window. Open window is said to be better than open door. However in Singapore, light pollution is another potential problem, most likely there is some form of light shining through the window at night. Singapore’s doors and windows are not as airtight as those in winter countries, but it seems there is still some cause for concern.

A scientific paper for those who want to read in greater detail: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ina.12254.

Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-study-at-Raffles-Junior-College

Quite a few interesting answers can be found there. It is highly recommended that students read it before choosing to study at Raffles Junior College.

Also check out: Which JC is the best in Singapore?

Selected Quotes:

1. “Not pleasant,” would be my answer.Like some other posters, I wasn’t from the Raffles family in any capacity before JC, though I had a few (distant) friends who were Rafflesians. Being in the GEP also served as an insulating factor- gifted kids hung out with other gifted kids, and mainstream kids saw us as aloof. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy that turned itself into a vicious cycle, like a snake swallowing its own tail. Singapore society tends to be stratified like that.So when I got there, there was no in-built friend base waiting for me as a safety net. JC was a pretty shallow place, as far as I can remember.
2. Honestly? Nothing special.Resources aside (or perhaps more importantly, even with the Resources), Raffles is very much a stereotypical high school. Even though students are touted as the “cream of the cream” in a detestably common turn of phrase or the “top 3% of Singapore“, and everyone probably achieved above 265/300 in their examinations at the age of 12, or topped their secondary schools…it doesn’t mean that everyone is a genius, or a notoriously self-disciplined hard worker. In the words of Mean Girls, there are “preps, jocks, Asian nerds, cool Asians, varsity jocks…” so on and so forth. Everyone’s human, and no one’s flawless. I expected cutthroat competition at every turn, and impossibly well-put-together teenagers, but I’m glad I was wrong.
3. Academic Rigour
   The archetypal RJC student will not score above D in common tests right up to prelims – but, come A levels, he/she will score straight As. It will be drilled into you for 2 years that you only possess a modicum on intelligence. You get frustrated, then you study hard and you study smart. When you get your result slip, your first instinct would be to walk up to your GP teacher and tell her,”You told me for 2 years straight I wouldn’t make it in life with my current grades. I got all As… including GP. Take that lah.”  Then she knowingly smiles and congratulates you, like that was part of the plan all along. That’s how ‘cutthroat’ the teachers in RJC are.
4. Leader. Leadership is emphasized and celebrated in the institution. Student leaders are mostly hand-picked by peers and are then trained by the school to hone their leadership skills. Based on high levels of self-motivation, these leaders end up organizing events that demand a high level of coordination and huge amounts of time and effort. They provide tremendous inspiration to their juniors, especially those aspiring to be student leaders as well.

Thank you all readers of mathtuition88.com!

Mathtuition88.com has achieved 1 million views (currently 1,002,090 views)!

I find that the Pareto principle is quite true, even for blog views. The Pareto principle states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

For 2017, Mathtuition88.com had 267,859 views. The top 10 posts (out of around 2000 posts) alone accounted for 136,587 views, or around 50% of the views!

Check out the below catchy song about “1 Million”: