It had been really rush of late. I went for steamboat and stayover last night while half asleep at niagm’s place, followed by a night of mahjong. Going back in for field camp. I’m still kind of tired but nevermind. I think I’m getting addicted to mahjong, its as addictive as bridge

Have you ever wondered what the mechanism of disgust is ?   This thought just sprung into my mind for a split second ten minutes ago.

Easy queasy

At the end of the 1990s, Dr Valerie Curtis of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine began to survey people in different countries to find out what things they found disgusting. Curtis uncovered some interesting cultural peculiarities. For example, food cooked by a menstruating woman was a frequent cause of disgust in India. While fat people scored highly as disgusting in the Netherlands.

But overall, people kept reporting the same things as revolting wherever they were from. It seems that whether we live in Islington or Isla Pinta, Margate or Marrakech, we are all disgusted by:

• Bodily secretions – faeces (poo), vomit, sweat, spit, blood, pus, sexual fluids
• Body parts – wounds, corpses, toenail clippings
• Decaying food – especially rotting meat and fish, rubbish
• Certain living creatures – flies, maggots, lice, worms, rats, dogs and cats
• People who are ill, contaminated

These universal sources of disgust led Curtis to hypothesise that disgust might be genetic; hard-wired in our brains and imprinted on our biological code by millions of years of natural selection. But what persistent force in our past drove us to evolve such a powerful emotion?

The origin of faeces

The things people consistently find disgusting also make us ill. This link convinced Curtis that disgust was a biological mechanism for avoiding infectious disease. Faeces, pus and corpses are all sources of dangerous bacteria and viruses; faeces alone being the source of more than 20 dangerous bugs.

The genes for disgust probably arose by accident and then became common through natural selection. The observation that most animals avoid eating each other’s faeces suggests that disgust could have evolved a very long time ago.

Unwashed genes

Curtis still believes that upbringing plays an important role in determining what we find disgusting. But she believes that we have evolved genes that predispose us to find some things more disgusting than others.

“Imagine a child had never come into contact with either a rat or an orange. If you showed the rat and the orange to that child for the first time, they would probably be fascinated not disgusted,” says Curtis.

“If you then decided to condition that child to be disgusted by both things, I think you would find it easier to get them to be disgusted by a hairy, smelly rat than to be disgusted by a nice round orange,” she adds.

But we can override the disgust response. People find family less disgusting than strangers. And when it comes to sex, we compromise between our instinctive avoidance of disease and our urge to reproduce.

Opposing views

But not everyone believes that we have a genetic predisposition to be disgusted. Unlike Curtis, Paul Rozin of Penn State University thinks that disgust is culturally acquired.

Rozin carried out his own survey on the things people found disgusting and discovered that causes of death rated the highest amongst his North American subjects.

“Anything that reminds us we are animals elicits disgust,” Rozin writes. “Disgust functions like a defence mechanism, to keep human animalness out of awareness

Anatomy of disgust

But few people argue that the way we express our disgust is universal. Humans use a distinctive facial expression to signal disgust.

Professor Paul Ekman of the University of California, San Francisco found that this was identical in different cultures across the globe. We make this expression by screwing up our noses and pulling down the corners of our mouths.

MRI scans also reveal that we use a special part of the brain when we get disgusted: the anterior insular cortex.

Curtis has even claimed that disgust could have been one of the first words uttered by humans. “The word ‘yuck’ is similar in languages all over the world. It seems to be a proto-word,” says Curtis.

Despite rapid advances in medicine, disease still poses an unprecedented threat to human life in the 21st century. If disgust really is as crucial to our survival as some scientists believe, then we’re likely to be saying yuck for a very long time to come.

For more info

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/emotions/disgust.shtml

And here is another

TELEVISION is often viewed (at least by intellectuals) as an anti-intellectual medium. But truly clever people know how to harness even the most unpromising material, and that is what Val Curtis and her colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have done. They employed the mass-market appeal of TV to test a long-held, but unproven, hypothesis: that the emotion of disgust evolved to protect people from disease.

I think my interest is to enquire and explain. This instictive reaction to the unknown however doesn’t last long because im rather impatient on the other hand. I skim through what I read. I do not have the patience to go into every detail maticulously.

And so you see, the more you watch the television, the less critically you think. So it speaks for itself, cause I dont watch. kidding. Actually I hard this from elsewhere before.

Its worth your visit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/

I feel jealous about the kind of company my brother has. James is fucking right. Nanyang is a fucking desert, at least for people we’re looking for. HCI isn’t that bad afterall.

Ah fuck. Guess it doesnt matter, 2 years passed and what I went though might or might not be the best of it. The nice times, times that I wished I wasn’t in this school, all came and went. I think I made quite good use of these two years compared to some friends from supposedly more “fun” schools cause they didn’t have as much fun as I had. I mean they didn’t have that bunch of people to study with on sunday evenings till 11. They didnt stay in school till 11 to laugh at the world around them. They didn’t get to cycle home with a friend. I guess, I made the best of what I had. And thats the good deal. But again, at the end of the day, what they see isn’t about the times we had but the grades we produce. Nevermind them, I believe in a holistic education, socially, physically and intellectually.

Anyway Esi bar was pretty quiet. Wenhua got drunk, and puked. Indian poka yadda yadda soccer watching, cai1 quan2. Although I dont usually watch soccer, MAN UNITED LOST ! 

And back to camp tomorrow. Live firing, field camps, grenades,urban warfare, battle innoculation course. Bring it on.

Well, thank goodness my sectionmates are wonderful people. I’m glad all the strange people are in other sections. On the contrary, it means less exposure for myself. Lets see, we come from, I must say, pretty different similar backgrounds. So communicating and joking is not a problem at all, different from what I had initially expected. So allow me to intoduce them to you. We come from JJC, VJC, ACJC, AJC, RJC, SAJC. And most most importantly, the one and only representative from NYJC, none other than me. Training isn’t as tough as expected, guess NPCC prepared me pretty well.

They load you with hell lots of carb and so little protien. Hence, the most apparant implication would be that your body consumes its own protien and replaces it with fat as a result of excess carbs. I loose mass and gain fats. In conclusion, it had reduced my physique. Yes, no doubt people get fitter in there. Reason being that they loose mass, both muscle and fat, rather than gain anything. Second, it degenerates your mind. A friend received a text message to help solve and differential equation question. Almost all of us couldn’t do it, although we knew it was simple. Perhaps thats because we lack the practice so it isn’t such a perfect example, but trust me, its degeneratory. Thirdly, it destroys your face, like literally. Totally retarded. But one thing to note, its really boring in there. No that it is that excruciating, but just downright boring. It would have been worse, much worse in fact if not for my section mates. With people like Gerald cracking jokes and swearing, Wenhua doing his job as an excellent section IC, endless games of murderer, polar bear and snack breaks just to name a few. Well, of course, most importantly, Mark and my wonderful wonderful singing during area cleaning ( with so much pleasure). Wenhua is always teased as prettyboy. Mithil as boss and loads of other crap. Vipercoy platoon2 section4 is always the last to do area cleaning, first to slack, but we always get things done in the nick of time. Thats the whole big deal.

Maybe all stems back to just conditioning. Probably I’m just used to the wide array and portions of meat and good food I was getting. But nonetheless the food isn’t that bad, it was better than expected but not ideal. Well again ideal doesn’t exist in a regimental unit.

Stayed over at james place yesterday. I am drained, even now. From morning yesterday, gym, tennis, stayover, some night cycling and exploring, band of brothers and by time I got sober and changed I went to meet the council till now. I was so tired that I spilled a box of chocolates and a plate of apples at Shaojie’s place. My appologies dude.

Butter fingers =/

Anyway, just for myself to look forward to, tennis with Lenard int he afternoon and then meeting my section mates for chilling at some bar in Holland V. Haven’t been there before.

But anyway, I expect fun.One last note before I sign out.

Dont think with your balls, dont think with your eyes, dont think with emotions. Think with with your brain. Love of all things cannot be based on superficial attributes. A shallow attitude leads to nowhere because nothing of such can be sustained. A flirt may seem popular but deep down, though unspoken, we unanimously know that this relationship holds no water and commands little respect. 

0630

wonder why they call it non man’s land. Everything about it is wrong.

 its literally MAN’s LAND

K excited

Let me share a secret. Prople like peositive people simply cause they are positive and exude happiness. Negativity is just as attitude and it does more harm than good. Besides, it affects the prople around you negatively. Both positivie and negative attitudes are highly contagious. Regardless of your attitude, a day is a day and will become nothing more than a memory. So, the moral of the story is to be open and positive. You can take lots more of shit than you can imagine with this attitude.

You brighten up your life and those around you. If you feel sian just go a for a jog, it works perfect. It might seem horrible initially but you’ll love it, because endorphines are being generated.

Do more sports. Dont get cooped up at home, its just stifling and puts your mood down. Be outgoing, be someone you want to be.

To come to think of it, I dont see the point to publisizing this blog anymore. It serves for me to reflect on my past, not so much to entertain like other blogs do. So publicizing doesn’t make much sense does it.

I think this 2 months of break have been the most fulfilling. I have learnt how to do sales, had fun, cooked and its just too perfect. If I hadn’t gone through the rigor of studying, I dont think i’d appreciate it all. And finally, my clique, you guys were awesome. Studying wouldnt be any fun without you guys. I swear man.

Life is almost perfect. My break is over soon, in less than 24 hours. Hah, just how bad can it get, I’ll just get to know more people inside !

I’ll post my food soon. I just ate it hahaha

I love new things. Just to name a few

Since childhood, I played soccer, thanks to my bunch of kids around my estate.

At 13, I fell in love with basketball, thanks to ben

At 14, thanks to ben and kiran, I got my first deck, I love skateboarding

At 15, I picked up tennis after derrick got into school team

At 16, I leant how to study

At 17,  I dragonboated, Gym thanks to Yongjun

At 18, I picked up american football, thanks to james. I picked up drumming, thanks to deon. He showed me music

Now, at 19, I clubbed, had fun, took the wheel for the first time, and cooked for the first time. Right, tomorrow I’m cooking the beef i marinated today following the recipe I got from one of the ch 5 cook shows. I’m probably going to post pictures of my wonderful and ( definately edible ) masterpiece. I want to learn how to play golf and to sail if I have the chance. I’m inspired by photographers, like how I was by drummer, gym go-ers and skaters. So, I might want to try photography. It isnt a lame thing to do, trust me. I admire people with depth and passion, it goes beyond words. People like singers and photographers. Oh yes if anyone is up for reverse bungee =D yes please count me in.

In my bath, I’m a singer. In school, I’m a leader, an organiser, a follower, a student, a sportman.

In future, I might be a businessman, a policy maker, whatever. I dont know yet. Perphaps a psychologist or an engineer.  I’d love to go overseas for undergrad studies, but I dont think I can cause my parents seem rather disapproving of this idea. Guess I’ll have to forgo the exposure.

Looking back, I don’t have major regrets. I believe life is my legacy. Youth is everything. No way am I going to fucking shortchange myself

Tomorrow, I’m a soldier, and my legacy continues.

And so I anticipate with pasison.

And I’ll probably be back soon. Goodbye for now.

Some girls. Their hobbies, the way the write, the way they speak, its all enough to charm. I dont even have to look at her. I’m nutss. Crazy bastard.  Yup no doubt about it. Its acquired taste . Got a keep this vague haha

Damn right. Instead of going out everyday, I shall learn to cook and bake. Lisa said it is gratifying, so no harm trying. The kitchen is sexy OKAY, and it helps when I’m the first in the family to use the baking oven. ( soon that is ) HAHA.  Probably tomorrow or sometime soon, before I cease to be a civillian. Its so random right. Plus I didn’t sell pots and pans yesterday, someone took over me, so I went out. Ahhh might as well.         

Anyway paintball went great. I got hit on my head twice but thankfully I’ve got a helmet on. Felt like aa war zone, except that there was instant revival.          

I’m feeling totally wasted now. I’m not used to not learning after seeing all my younger friends studying and going through what was, back then shit. Now, honestly, I miss the night study. I miss school so so much. I want to study again. It just feels so empty.