Just some random or perhaps not-so-random thoughts from the past week. Posts whose chronological order is of no importance will just be posted as on today.

I’m lying alone with my head on the phone
Thinking of you till it hurts
I know you hurt too but what else can we do
Tormented and torn apart

I wish I could carry your smile in my heart
For times when my life seems so low
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring
When today doesn’t really know, doesn’t really know

I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you
I know you were right, believing for so long
I’m all out of love, what am I without you
I can’t be too late to say I was so wrong

…

Composed by Graham Russell and Clive Davis
Air Supply, 1980

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”

Where are all the Samaritans in this world, who wouldn’t leave a man in trouble when he sees one?

Why can’t lecturers write good grammar? Or rather I’m inclined to believe that they don’t bother to. We’re taught that Context Free Grammars (CFGs) should be written in an unambiguous manner but who writes grammar like this:

Expression ::= Expression Expression | ...

and all hell breaks loose. Probably cos the author doesn’t want to get into the nitty gritty details and throws everything into the water.

Ok so we listed down ambiguous statements and made assumptions and finally get a decent parse tree. Then now we’re thrown a totally cryptic sematic to the language. Who defines a semantic in another semantic which we don’t even know? It’s like translating French into German but you don’t even know both.

This assignment is turning into a nightmare. It’s not that’s it’s a hard assignment, it’s just that no clear instructions are given.

I can’t believe there are people who’d rather get a D than declare pass/fail as the passing grade would be raised to a C. Okay granted that it’s the more rational choice given that it’s their final sem but the point is why just settle for a D? If they don’t have the movitation to study or know they can’t make it, then they shouldn’t have gone to university in the first place.

But usually it’s not that they can’t make it, it’s more that they don’t bother. Skipping lectures and labs and just being satisifed with a CAP of 2.x, it’s just a big mockery of the school. Like would you trust a pilot who scored Ds and Cs in his training to fly you? Or a doctor who only knows half the material to treat you.

Admittedly not everyone is gifted but the effort should be made, which I don’t think most are doing. Seriously NUS should just save those peoeple their time and sell them the degrees.

Top 18th university in the world? Bah. What a joke.