S'pore to up number of varsity places

By Keith Lin

THE Government is studying ways to increase the number of university places and whether to build a fourth university, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong revealed yesterday.

The aim: to give more Singaporeans, especially polytechnic graduates, a chance to study at a university here.

Now, about one in four in each cohort receives a university education.

'We will up the percentage,' Mr Goh promised.

Speaking to about a thousand residents and grassroots leaders at a National Day dinner in his Marine Parade constituency last night, Mr Goh also pledged a stronger social safety net for those struggling to cope with changes in the economy.

Measures being studied include topping up the Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts of lower-income senior citizens, securing higher returns on CPF savings and raising the retirement age, he said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will discuss new ways to help Singaporeans work longer and build up their retirement savings during the National Day Rally next Sunday.

Mr Goh's announcement comes after several parents and students complained about the difficulty in securing places in the three local universities this year.

In June, Dr Tony Tan, who heads Singapore's high-powered International Academic Advisory Panel, suggested the setting up of a liberal arts college as one way to increase the number of university places.

If not for its decision to pull out in May, the University of New South Wales would have been the fourth university here, with a planned intake of 15,000 students by 2020.

Business administrator Elizabeth Moses, whose 18-year-old son is at a local polytechnic, said more local university places could save her the high cost of sending her son overseas.

'It's great news,' she said.

Turning to the outlook for Singapore as a whole, Mr Goh was upbeat, saying that 'our boat is now entering a favourable stretch of the journey'.

He cited several reasons for his confidence.

Economic restructuring was paying off and the economy was being upgraded.

The external outlook was also positive.

He said that the current turmoil in stock exchanges worldwide, sparked by problems in the United States mortgage market, was in his view 'temporary'.

On Singapore's other strengths, he said it was well plugged into the global economy and had a Government that thought long term and acted to solve problems.

It also has in place the unique practice of planned political leadership succession.

Mr Goh said that he was, however, also aware that some Singaporeans found it difficult to keep up with the fast pace of life or rising cost of living.

The Government would help them to cope better, he added.

He also called on those who had done well to share their wealth through acts of philanthropy, so as to 'give something back to the community on which their success has been built'.

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A little too late for that now. I'm already in perth.

If we choose to stay overseas and not come back you can only blame urselves

And why not? Shorter working hours, cheaper cars, an easier way of life than livin it up in the concrete jungle only to come back to bring squealing kids to tuition and wrapping up the housework

Not to mention NS

Modernisation vs Heritage

its no use dwelling on ancient history but the fact remains that where we are today is a result of our ancestors taking a gamble. a gamble to leave their homes and find a better life overseas. we are who we are today because of that gamble that they pulled off.

(i sound like an NE teacher now)

in a way we are where we are because of what they have done. it would not be otherwise

(i sound brainwashed)

therefore we should treasure what we have inherited from them

(i am sounding more and more creepy)

meaning- if you cant even recognise ur own dialect, or will not respect your roots, then you are not worthy of ur family name. blood is thicker than water. yeah sure it may be crude, yeah it may sound uncultured but hell! i am proud to be what i am and i am loving it. i lament the fact that even in my generation, such cultures are getting diluted in the wake of literacy, affluence and exposure to other influences. i will never be as fluent as others in my mother tongue and my dialect, that i am sad to admit. if that is so what is that saying of our future generations? if even the chinese language is seen as a bane to many people, then where are we headed?

not to mention traditional practices. if i were to go on it would never end. the neverending tirade against popular religion

patriotism

one for the bengs

Fossils paint new picture of human evolution

CHICAGO - AN ancient skull and upper jawbone from two early branches of the human family tree - Homo erectus and Homo habilis - suggest the early human ancestors may have lived close together for half a million years, researchers said on Wednesday.

The fossils, discovered in eastern Africa, challenge the understanding that humans evolved one after another like a line of dominoes, from ancient Homo habilis to Homo erectus and eventually to Homo sapiens, or modern people.

'There has been a view that has suggested habilis very slowly evolved into erectus,' said Susan Anton, a professor of anthropology at New York University. 'Now we have the two cohabitating, so that can no longer be the case.' The research, published in the journal Nature, was conducted by nine scientists including Prof Anton, paleontologist Meave Leakey and her daughter Louise Leakey, both explorers in residence at the National Geographic Society, and Fred Spoor of University College London.

Both fossils were found in 2000 east of Lake Turkana in Kenya as part of the Koobi Fora Research Project, which is affiliated with the National Museums of Kenya.

Their proximity suggests the two species used different food sources and behaviours to live so closely without becoming extinct.

'It's within two or three minutes walking distance,' said Patrick Gathogo, a doctoral candidate from the University of Utah who helped study the geological layers.

'They must have interacted with each other,' he said in a telephone interview.

Sister species
The upper jaw bone of Homo habilis dates from 1.44 million years ago, which is earlier than other known fossils of that species.

'The new fossil jaw suggests that Homo habilis was a sister species of Homo erectus, living at broadly the same time, rather than the mother species giving rise to it,' Mr Spoor said in a statement.

The second fossil, found in the same region of northern Kenya, is a well-preserved skull of Homo erectus, which dates from about 1.55 million years ago.

This fossil is striking because of its size. It is the smallest Homo erectus skull found so far and it paints a different picture of the species, suggesting more diversity than researchers had believed.

This diversity could mean that like gorillas, in which males have much larger skulls than females, Homo erectus might have exhibited sexual dimorphism, a primitive trait, the researchers said.

Reduced size differences between the sexes is typically considered a trait acquired during human evolution.

'It makes Homo erectus a bit less like us,' Prof Anton said.

Mr Spoor said all available evidence still suggests that Homo sapiens evolved from Homo erectus, a process that happened in Africa more than 1 million years ago.

He said it is likely the two species will have had a common ancestor living in Africa between 2 million and 3 million years ago. -- REUTERS

With so many scientific discoveries being made every day, i am positive that there will come a day when one's beliefs will come into question about the origin of human life. Hypothetically speaking,

What if there was overwhelming evidence that we evolved from a "lesser" lifeform?

What if what you discovered came into direct conflict with a belief that you have been holding on to your entire life?

Would you accept the truth or relinquish it in favour of your own religion?

That being said, would you even WANT to discover the truth if you knew the implications of it?

Would you rather live in denial and die according to how you want to live?

Looks like its not just Adam and Eve, but Roger and Bob, with neighbours Jessie and Melissa, poking in the primeval dirt of the African Garden of Eden? Interesting.

i'm not going to try anymore

whats the use of even bothering about things

i care, but do others care?

no all there is is but a masquerade of perceptions about how people want to be seen as, not what they genuinely are

enjoy the silence

bleed yourself dry

shout ur successes to an empty theater

keep your tower high standards up

it will topple you, like babel

dialect is your identity- finding it crude is laughing at what you are made of

religion is not custom. respect it

与你到永久

风儿轻轻的吹
雨也绵绵下个不停
望着走过的脚印
有崎岖有平静
看着你的眼睛
我最熟悉的表情
一路上有你
因为有了你
人生旅程不再冷清
迎着风
迎向远方的天空
路上也有艰难
也有那解脱
都走得从容
因为你是我
生命中的所有
将我的心放在你手中
陪你到永久
花儿开在雨中
雨水溅湿你的眼眸
怕我说得太晚
让你如此的承担
面对岁月的河
对你已经无法割舍
我是爱着你
深深爱着你
一首属于我俩的歌
迎着风
迎向远方的天空
路上也有艰难
也有那解脱
都走得从容
因为你是我
生命中的所有
将我的心放在你手中
陪你到永久
生命有了你
我已经无所求
将我的心放在你手中
陪你到永久
整个的心放在你手中
与你到永久

曲 : 伍 佰
词 : 伍 佰

What if..........

yea what if..... what if it happened?

chances of it happening are a million to one but there is still a remote possibility

i mean seriously, being an 85 too is the only thing that connects us. or me to her, rather.

so! if i saw her on the street what would i do?

"hi im ur biggest fan."

nah too streotypical

"hi i think ur cute"

nah too blunt

"hi are you who i think you are?"

then again would i even be able to recognise her on the street?

jeez.

i love her voice