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The movie “Hotel Rwanda” was profoundly disturbing. Having institutionalised the ethnic distinction between Tutsi and Hutu based on skin colour, height, and width of noses, the Belgian colonists in the 1930s gave the minority Tutsi (lighter, taller) greater power and opportunities than the majority Hutu (darker, shorter). Years later, the jealousies boiled over into the [...]

I have just finished reading The daVinci Code and I loved it! In Uni days I took the class “Biblical Studies” as an interest elective. The lecturer was Barbara Thiering and I felt at the time that she did an excellent job of revealing several belief-shattering concepts to us… most societies have creation stories that [...]

A trainee teacher I talked to was about to set out for his probationary teaching period in ‘the country’ (I saw some very rough schools out of Siem Reap). He will be paid US$25 per month for the 2 years. When he is a fully qualified teacher, he will get $40 per month. Those working [...]

The Khmer civilisation at Angkor must have been a spectacular sight in its heyday, 1000 years ago. The kingdom extended over much of southeast Asia until its rapid decline by the 15th century. The temples near the present-day city of Siem Reap are spectacular in their different states of disrepair. The most interesting of the [...]

The 26th Dec 2004 tsunami had no effect here in Singapore – we didn’t feel the earthquake, either. Singapore is at the south-eastern end of the Strait of Melaka. This narrow body of water would funnel the energy of a tsunami and increase the wave’s speed and force. But lucky for us, this didn’t happen. [...]

Michael Crichton’s new book State of Fear will certainly be influential. I’m wondering if it was funded by the Bush administration since it gives the impression that global warming is still in doubt. This summary from Zinken, on the original Times Online interview: Interview: Jasper Gerard meets Michael Crichton. A giant wave envelops a tropical [...]

What a great movie! It was brilliantly filmed (you know it is a real photographer behind the lens when the light is superb – shots are taken at dawn and dusk, there is lovely backlighting and some superb angles, like the shots of the Zeros coming in above the woman hanging out her washing – [...]

Review: Paperback This book is about general problem solving (‘in real life’) but it could have applications in Problem Based Learning as used in educational institutions. It gives some good suggestions about identifying the problem and deciding what should be happening when the problem is solved. Then we assess the situation and look at causes [...]