Thanks for the tip-off, Eik. A very inspiring blog, KC. I had to go and give my wife a hug first before I could continue...
KC, still remember you asking me about picking up photography many years back. I was very impressed when you made good your words later on and went ahead to become a photojournalist. Now i simply admire you, with a dash of envy and a tinge of jealousy, plus some regret of failing to secure your service for my own wedding. Can we visit your studio some time? There was a time when i dreamt about being a photographer too, for National Geographic. But when it came to the crunch, I didn't have the guts to go down that treacherous route.
Following up on wanting to share with all of you my work, now that Guochuan and Eik have started the ball rolling...
My work certainly lacks the adrenalin rush (and money) of Guochuan's, the sentiments of KC's and the predictability of Eik's. I take loads of pictures in my job too, using microscopes rather than cameras, and of a much less engaging sort of couples... dividing cell couples. In a nutshell, I research on different aspects of skin biology, with the aim of developing treatments for skin disorders. Without going into technical details, my pet project now is to find out how stem cells in the skin regulate division. When a baby is born, the skin is of that certain small size. Between then and adulthood, the skin expands several times in size to accommodate the enlarging body. In order for this to happen, cells in the skin must be able to coordinate their activities to regulate between dividing to create more tissue, and differentiating to renew exfoliating skin. Of course, this happens in everyone without anyone thinking about it. Why is it necessary to look into this? Because if this "program code" can be understood, then it will be possible to make use of it to help patients suffering from burns, chronic wounds etc. to regenerate skin. It will also open up possibilities to control hair growth (promote or stop) because skin stem cells are directly involved in hair generation.
Scientists never make money, and so cannot be judged by how much revenue they generate. The people who make money out of science are the businessmen who find the good scientists to work for them. Scientists are judged by the impact of our research. This is measured essentially by how many publications we have and where these are published. Therefore it has become that being first is more valuable than being the best, because you can publish in a more highly regarded journal if you are the first. Research is like running a marathon, a marathon that may not even have a finish point. What I like, however, is the autonomy to manage my own work and plan my own schedule, plus the fantasis at the back of my mind that the seemingly meaningless work that I do sometimes could contribute eventually to helping people in need.
how do you know if the "program code" can be understood by men in the first place? how do pple in bio engg decide what research topic to embark on? usually would there be some traces/hints that are present in related fields to spark things off?
It's really wonderful to go through greymatter, not so much for its exquisite photography (which also deserves more than a thumbs up), but more of the passion that underlines all the pictures, shouting out about how much the author loves his job.
To add to that, it's not just the job but the people it serves. Are there other photographers out there who put up pictures of the couples they shot on the web? Maybe there are, but this one sure does show how the work one does can really improve people's lives.
And if being an expert is being good at what you do, KC is definitely one. Which is really difficult - being good at what you do. Because it's really not about getting the shiniest award or reaping the highest gain on your IPO day. It's really about whether your work matter to people, and it's obvious that the pictures did.
In my field, trappings abound all around. A big part of being an architect lies in packaging - packaging people's lives. People always identify themselves with their proud homes, consciously or not. And many times, things that make homes proud are stuck in the repetoire of marble tiles, designer furniture and an upmarket address. Yet I venture to suggest that proud owners of a posh district 10 bungalow are seldom as happy as one who has his wedding photo so movingly taken.
Fortunately, there ARE architects who are sensitive and skillful enough to create moving works that deliver dashes of delight to weary souls. To me, these are the real experts who are few and far apart.
One of the most memorable experiences I had visiting buildings of famous architects is in this monastery called La Tourette, designed by Le Corbusier. The basement chapel that we were checking out was located at the lower end of a wide pedestrian ramp which we all had to walk down along. To enter the chapel, a huge concrete door pivoted in the middle (instead of the usual side) is rotated 90-deg to create 2 openings on either side for people to get into the chapel. At the opposite end of the chapel was a concrete wall onto which a row of skinny horizontal openings are cut. These are openings that allow the daylight to enter the chapel indirectly. As i approached the entrance down the ramp, it suddenly struck me how the 'door', which appeared as a tall vertical line due to the way it opened, overlays perfectly with one of the horizontal openings in the distant wall, and formed a cross.
It is completely possible that this is a 'design accident' not intended by the architect, but what really mattered was the subliminal experiences the building offered (and i wasn't even a Christian then). In my opinion, if what you do goes deep into your customers' heart and soul, you've got the hallmark of an expert.
I'm having problem putting up a new post again (sigh...give up!) so i'm piggybacking on this post to put up some links i came across when i googled 'Toh Wai Keong'.
you will need to use your yahoo.co.uk (yingchek) account to login. alternatively let me know this new account (michael) that you prefer to use then i can invite the second you.
Guess I shouldn't call it a "program code" because in the context of biological systems it is not really a code, so understanding it is not an issue. Rather, it is typically a cascade of events that links genes and proteins together in a cause and effect manner. For example, a researcher may observe that when you add a chemical to cells, they divide faster. But the mechanism between adding the chemical and cell division is not known. After some analysis, the cascade of events can be something like this: 1. Chemical binds to receptor A on the surface of a cell 2. Receptor A activates proteins A and B 3. Protein A causes gene A to be expressed 4. Expression of gene A causes protein C to be produced 5. Protein C activates cell division 6. Protein B inhibits receptor A, thus serving as a negative feedback to stop the signal after while
The difficulty is in confirming what is the accurate sequence of events, because these are always very complex and interlinked with other cascades. That's why science takes time to evolve, because it takes years for other scientists to repeat and confirm your results before they are generally accepted as facts. I suppose your reference to bio engg refers broadly to biomedical sciences. Yes, scientists discuss possible future directions in their publications for others in the field to follow up on. People can also get inspiration of what to study further, how to do something better etc., by looking and listening to how others work (that's why we're regularly attending seminars and conferences... which are sometimes boring to the core... that's one occasion when I ask myself why I got myself into this...). Scientists therefore rely heavily on one another, even though competition does get ugly sometimes, for the whole field to advance.
---------------
Eik, another technical query. Can i add other blogs which i am not registered on my dashboard? If not, is there a way to monitor a few blogs from one portal, other then bookmarking them individually?
yes you can, but not on the dashboard since it is not customisable. you can do it in your own blog though. just login to your own blog, go to Customise, Templates, Page Elements, Add a Page Elements and choose HTML/JavaScript. Under contents, cut&paste the following in bold italics:
<script language="javascript">
function showrecentcomments(json) { for (var i = 0; i < numcomments; i++) { var entry = json.feed.entry[i]; var alturl;
if (i == json.feed.entry.length) break; for (var k = 0; k < entry.link.length; k++) { if (entry.link[k].rel == 'alternate') { alturl = entry.link[k].href; break; } } alturl = alturl.replace("#", "#comment-"); var postlink = alturl.split("#"); postlink = postlink[0]; var linktext = postlink.split("/"); linktext = linktext[5]; linktext = linktext.split(".html"); linktext = linktext[0]; var posttitle = linktext.replace(/-/g," "); posttitle = posttitle.link(postlink); var commentdate = entry.published.$t; var cdyear = commentdate.substring(0,4); var cdmonth = commentdate.substring(5,7); var cdday = commentdate.substring(8,10); var monthnames = new Array(); monthnames[1] = "Jan"; monthnames[2] = "Feb"; monthnames[3] = "Mar"; monthnames[4] = "Apr"; monthnames[5] = "May"; monthnames[6] = "Jun"; monthnames[7] = "Jul"; monthnames[8] = "Aug"; monthnames[9] = "Sep"; monthnames[10] = "Oct"; monthnames[11] = "Nov"; monthnames[12] = "Dec"; var comment = entry.content.$t; var re = /<\S[^>]*>/g; comment = comment.replace(re, ""); if (showcommentdate == true) document.write('On ' + monthnames[parseInt(cdmonth,10)] + ' ' + cdday + ' '); document.write('<b>' + entry.author[0].name.$t + '</b> commented'); //if (showposttitle == true) document.write(' on ' + posttitle); document.write(':<br/>'); if (comment.length < numchars) document.write('<a href="' + alturl + '">' + comment + '</a><br/><br/>'); else document.write('<a href="' + alturl + '">'+ comment.substring(0, numchars) + '...</a><br/><br/>'); } }
var numcomments = 10; var numchars = 30; var showposttitle = true; var showcommentdate = true; </script> <script src="http://18thsc.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentcomments"> </script>
the above will be for recent comments. notice that you can customise variables like numcomments, numchars etc. most importantly just change the last line to the blogspot that you want to monitor.
as follows is the code for recent posts. same as recent comments, choose the html/javascript page element.
<script language="javascript">
function showrecentposts(json) {
for (var i = 0; i < numposts; i++) { var entry = json.feed.entry[i]; var posttitle = entry.title.$t; var posturl; if (i == json.feed.entry.length) break; for (var k = 0; k < entry.link.length; k++) { if (entry.link[k].rel == 'alternate') { posturl = entry.link[k].href; break; } } posttitle = posttitle.link(posturl); var readmorelink = "(more)"; readmorelink = readmorelink.link(posturl); var postdate = entry.published.$t; var cdyear = postdate.substring(0,4); var cdmonth = postdate.substring(5,7); var cdday = postdate.substring(8,10); var monthnames = new Array(); monthnames[1] = "Jan"; monthnames[2] = "Feb"; monthnames[3] = "Mar"; monthnames[4] = "Apr"; monthnames[5] = "May"; monthnames[6] = "Jun"; monthnames[7] = "Jul"; monthnames[8] = "Aug"; monthnames[9] = "Sep"; monthnames[10] = "Oct"; monthnames[11] = "Nov"; monthnames[12] = "Dec"; if ("content" in entry) { var postcontent = entry.content.$t;} else if ("summary" in entry) { var postcontent = entry.summary.$t;} else var postcontent = ""; var re = /<\S[^>]*>/g; postcontent = postcontent.replace(re, ""); if (!standardstyling) document.write('<div class="bbrecpost">'); if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>'); document.write(posttitle); if (showpostdate == true) document.write(' - ' + monthnames[parseInt(cdmonth,10)] + ' ' + cdday); if (!standardstyling) document.write('</div><div class="bbrecpostsum">'); if (showpostsummary == true) { if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>'); if (postcontent.length < numchars) { if (standardstyling) document.write('<i>'); document.write(postcontent); if (standardstyling) document.write('</i>');} else { if (standardstyling) document.write('<i>'); postcontent = postcontent.substring(0, numchars); var quoteEnd = postcontent.lastIndexOf(" "); postcontent = postcontent.substring(0,quoteEnd); document.write(postcontent + '...');// + readmorelink); if (standardstyling) document.write('</i>');} } if (!standardstyling) document.write('</div>'); if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>'); } if (!standardstyling) document.write('<div class="bbwidgetfooter">'); if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>'); //document.write('<span style="font-size:80%;">Widget by <a href="http://beautifulbeta.blogspot.com">Beautiful Beta</a></span>'); if (!standardstyling) document.write('</div>');
} </script>
<script style="text/javascript"> var numposts = 5; var showpostdate = true; var showpostsummary = true; var numchars = 100; var standardstyling = true; </script> <script src="http://18thsc.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentposts"></script>
thereafter you can monitor as many blogspot as you like by adding more page elements.
7 comments:
Thanks for the tip-off, Eik. A very inspiring blog, KC. I had to go and give my wife a hug first before I could continue...
KC, still remember you asking me about picking up photography many years back. I was very impressed when you made good your words later on and went ahead to become a photojournalist. Now i simply admire you, with a dash of envy and a tinge of jealousy, plus some regret of failing to secure your service for my own wedding. Can we visit your studio some time? There was a time when i dreamt about being a photographer too, for National Geographic. But when it came to the crunch, I didn't have the guts to go down that treacherous route.
Following up on wanting to share with all of you my work, now that Guochuan and Eik have started the ball rolling...
My work certainly lacks the adrenalin rush (and money) of Guochuan's, the sentiments of KC's and the predictability of Eik's. I take loads of pictures in my job too, using microscopes rather than cameras, and of a much less engaging sort of couples... dividing cell couples. In a nutshell, I research on different aspects of skin biology, with the aim of developing treatments for skin disorders. Without going into technical details, my pet project now is to find out how stem cells in the skin regulate division. When a baby is born, the skin is of that certain small size. Between then and adulthood, the skin expands several times in size to accommodate the enlarging body. In order for this to happen, cells in the skin must be able to coordinate their activities to regulate between dividing to create more tissue, and differentiating to renew exfoliating skin. Of course, this happens in everyone without anyone thinking about it. Why is it necessary to look into this? Because if this "program code" can be understood, then it will be possible to make use of it to help patients suffering from burns, chronic wounds etc. to regenerate skin. It will also open up possibilities to control hair growth (promote or stop) because skin stem cells are directly involved in hair generation.
Scientists never make money, and so cannot be judged by how much revenue they generate. The people who make money out of science are the businessmen who find the good scientists to work for them. Scientists are judged by the impact of our research. This is measured essentially by how many publications we have and where these are published. Therefore it has become that being first is more valuable than being the best, because you can publish in a more highly regarded journal if you are the first. Research is like running a marathon, a marathon that may not even have a finish point. What I like, however, is the autonomy to manage my own work and plan my own schedule, plus the fantasis at the back of my mind that the seemingly meaningless work that I do sometimes could contribute eventually to helping people in need.
how do you know if the "program code" can be understood by men in the first place? how do pple in bio engg decide what research topic to embark on? usually would there be some traces/hints that are present in related fields to spark things off?
It's really wonderful to go through greymatter, not so much for its exquisite photography (which also deserves more than a thumbs up), but more of the passion that underlines all the pictures, shouting out about how much the author loves his job.
To add to that, it's not just the job but the people it serves. Are there other photographers out there who put up pictures of the couples they shot on the web? Maybe there are, but this one sure does show how the work one does can really improve people's lives.
And if being an expert is being good at what you do, KC is definitely one. Which is really difficult - being good at what you do. Because it's really not about getting the shiniest award or reaping the highest gain on your IPO day. It's really about whether your work matter to people, and it's obvious that the pictures did.
In my field, trappings abound all around. A big part of being an architect lies in packaging - packaging people's lives. People always identify themselves with their proud homes, consciously or not. And many times, things that make homes proud are stuck in the repetoire of marble tiles, designer furniture and an upmarket address. Yet I venture to suggest that proud owners of a posh district 10 bungalow are seldom as happy as one who has his wedding photo so movingly taken.
Fortunately, there ARE architects who are sensitive and skillful enough to create moving works that deliver dashes of delight to weary souls. To me, these are the real experts who are few and far apart.
One of the most memorable experiences I had visiting buildings of famous architects is in this monastery called La Tourette, designed by Le Corbusier. The basement chapel that we were checking out was located at the lower end of a wide pedestrian ramp which we all had to walk down along. To enter the chapel, a huge concrete door pivoted in the middle (instead of the usual side) is rotated 90-deg to create 2 openings on either side for people to get into the chapel. At the opposite end of the chapel was a concrete wall onto which a row of skinny horizontal openings are cut. These are openings that allow the daylight to enter the chapel indirectly. As i approached the entrance down the ramp, it suddenly struck me how the 'door', which appeared as a tall vertical line due to the way it opened, overlays perfectly with one of the horizontal openings in the distant wall, and formed a cross.
It is completely possible that this is a 'design accident' not intended by the architect, but what really mattered was the subliminal experiences the building offered (and i wasn't even a Christian then). In my opinion, if what you do goes deep into your customers' heart and soul, you've got the hallmark of an expert.
hi all,
I'm having problem putting up a new post again (sigh...give up!) so i'm piggybacking on this post to put up some links i came across when i googled 'Toh Wai Keong'.
http://www.gavinong.blogspot.com/
http://happyeternally.blogspot.com/
http://soupofthedae.blogspot.com/2006/11/dr-toh-wai-keong-memorial-fund.html
you will need to use your yahoo.co.uk (yingchek) account to login. alternatively let me know this new account (michael) that you prefer to use then i can invite the second you.
In response to Eik's queries...
Guess I shouldn't call it a "program code" because in the context of biological systems it is not really a code, so understanding it is not an issue. Rather, it is typically a cascade of events that links genes and proteins together in a cause and effect manner. For example, a researcher may observe that when you add a chemical to cells, they divide faster. But the mechanism between adding the chemical and cell division is not known. After some analysis, the cascade of events can be something like this:
1. Chemical binds to receptor A on the surface of a cell
2. Receptor A activates proteins A and B
3. Protein A causes gene A to be expressed
4. Expression of gene A causes protein C to be produced
5. Protein C activates cell division
6. Protein B inhibits receptor A, thus serving as a negative feedback to stop the signal after while
The difficulty is in confirming what is the accurate sequence of events, because these are always very complex and interlinked with other cascades. That's why science takes time to evolve, because it takes years for other scientists to repeat and confirm your results before they are generally accepted as facts. I suppose your reference to bio engg refers broadly to biomedical sciences. Yes, scientists discuss possible future directions in their publications for others in the field to follow up on. People can also get inspiration of what to study further, how to do something better etc., by looking and listening to how others work (that's why we're regularly attending seminars and conferences... which are sometimes boring to the core... that's one occasion when I ask myself why I got myself into this...). Scientists therefore rely heavily on one another, even though competition does get ugly sometimes, for the whole field to advance.
---------------
Eik, another technical query. Can i add other blogs which i am not registered on my dashboard? If not, is there a way to monitor a few blogs from one portal, other then bookmarking them individually?
yes you can, but not on the dashboard since it is not customisable. you can do it in your own blog though. just login to your own blog, go to Customise, Templates, Page Elements, Add a Page Elements and choose HTML/JavaScript. Under contents, cut&paste the following in bold italics:
<script language="javascript">
function showrecentcomments(json) {
for (var i = 0; i < numcomments; i++) {
var entry = json.feed.entry[i];
var alturl;
if (i == json.feed.entry.length) break;
for (var k = 0; k < entry.link.length; k++) {
if (entry.link[k].rel == 'alternate') {
alturl = entry.link[k].href;
break;
}
}
alturl = alturl.replace("#", "#comment-");
var postlink = alturl.split("#");
postlink = postlink[0];
var linktext = postlink.split("/");
linktext = linktext[5];
linktext = linktext.split(".html");
linktext = linktext[0];
var posttitle = linktext.replace(/-/g," ");
posttitle = posttitle.link(postlink);
var commentdate = entry.published.$t;
var cdyear = commentdate.substring(0,4);
var cdmonth = commentdate.substring(5,7);
var cdday = commentdate.substring(8,10);
var monthnames = new Array();
monthnames[1] = "Jan";
monthnames[2] = "Feb";
monthnames[3] = "Mar";
monthnames[4] = "Apr";
monthnames[5] = "May";
monthnames[6] = "Jun";
monthnames[7] = "Jul";
monthnames[8] = "Aug";
monthnames[9] = "Sep";
monthnames[10] = "Oct";
monthnames[11] = "Nov";
monthnames[12] = "Dec";
var comment = entry.content.$t;
var re = /<\S[^>]*>/g;
comment = comment.replace(re, "");
if (showcommentdate == true) document.write('On ' + monthnames[parseInt(cdmonth,10)] + ' ' + cdday + ' ');
document.write('<b>' + entry.author[0].name.$t + '</b> commented');
//if (showposttitle == true) document.write(' on ' + posttitle);
document.write(':<br/>');
if (comment.length < numchars)
document.write('<a href="' + alturl + '">' + comment + '</a><br/><br/>');
else
document.write('<a href="' + alturl + '">'+ comment.substring(0, numchars) + '...</a><br/><br/>');
}
}
var numcomments = 10;
var numchars = 30;
var showposttitle = true;
var showcommentdate = true;
</script>
<script src="http://18thsc.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentcomments">
</script>
the above will be for recent comments. notice that you can customise variables like numcomments, numchars etc. most importantly just change the last line to the blogspot that you want to monitor.
as follows is the code for recent posts. same as recent comments, choose the html/javascript page element.
<script language="javascript">
function showrecentposts(json) {
for (var i = 0; i < numposts; i++) {
var entry = json.feed.entry[i];
var posttitle = entry.title.$t;
var posturl;
if (i == json.feed.entry.length) break;
for (var k = 0; k < entry.link.length; k++) {
if (entry.link[k].rel == 'alternate') {
posturl = entry.link[k].href;
break;
}
}
posttitle = posttitle.link(posturl);
var readmorelink = "(more)";
readmorelink = readmorelink.link(posturl);
var postdate = entry.published.$t;
var cdyear = postdate.substring(0,4);
var cdmonth = postdate.substring(5,7);
var cdday = postdate.substring(8,10);
var monthnames = new Array();
monthnames[1] = "Jan";
monthnames[2] = "Feb";
monthnames[3] = "Mar";
monthnames[4] = "Apr";
monthnames[5] = "May";
monthnames[6] = "Jun";
monthnames[7] = "Jul";
monthnames[8] = "Aug";
monthnames[9] = "Sep";
monthnames[10] = "Oct";
monthnames[11] = "Nov";
monthnames[12] = "Dec";
if ("content" in entry) {
var postcontent = entry.content.$t;}
else
if ("summary" in entry) {
var postcontent = entry.summary.$t;}
else var postcontent = "";
var re = /<\S[^>]*>/g;
postcontent = postcontent.replace(re, "");
if (!standardstyling) document.write('<div class="bbrecpost">');
if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>');
document.write(posttitle);
if (showpostdate == true) document.write(' - ' + monthnames[parseInt(cdmonth,10)] + ' ' + cdday);
if (!standardstyling) document.write('</div><div class="bbrecpostsum">');
if (showpostsummary == true) {
if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>');
if (postcontent.length < numchars) {
if (standardstyling) document.write('<i>');
document.write(postcontent);
if (standardstyling) document.write('</i>');}
else {
if (standardstyling) document.write('<i>');
postcontent = postcontent.substring(0, numchars);
var quoteEnd = postcontent.lastIndexOf(" ");
postcontent = postcontent.substring(0,quoteEnd);
document.write(postcontent + '...');// + readmorelink);
if (standardstyling) document.write('</i>');}
}
if (!standardstyling) document.write('</div>');
if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>');
}
if (!standardstyling) document.write('<div class="bbwidgetfooter">');
if (standardstyling) document.write('<br/>');
//document.write('<span style="font-size:80%;">Widget by <a href="http://beautifulbeta.blogspot.com">Beautiful Beta</a></span>');
if (!standardstyling) document.write('</div>');
}
</script>
<script style="text/javascript">
var numposts = 5;
var showpostdate = true;
var showpostsummary = true;
var numchars = 100;
var standardstyling = true;
</script>
<script src="http://18thsc.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentposts"></script>
thereafter you can monitor as many blogspot as you like by adding more page elements.
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