This summer Rachel and I went to a woodworking workshop to make our own wooden rings. I never really understood how a metal band is supposed to signify our commitment to each other, so before we buy our actual rings, I figured that the experience of making rings ourselves would be a little more fun and meaningful. Neither of us have much experience in woodworking, so we took the lathe-turning workshop at Tombalek to learn the basic skills required.

I recently saw an article that teaches you how to make a very simple hologram with a bit of plastic and a phone. I’ve always been fascinated by holograms, so I decided to make one for my girlfriend as a little gift and have a bit of fun in the process.

It’s that time of the year again when ambitious wide-eyed undergraduate students start applying for graduate studies. I’ve gotten my fair share of requests for advice, so employing the help of my friends D and T, I’ve decided to compile a list of how to prepare and things you should know before applying for a Master’s program overseas, specifically in the US. Please note that these are our personal opinions (mostly mine) based on our personal experiences, so they may not necessarily be accurate or applicable for your purpose.

Money, they say, is the root of all evil. Yet money is but a currency, and human beings are the ones who attach meaning to any form of transaction. Money can be used as a medium for exploitation, yet it can also uplift those living in poverty and give them a better life. Without money, we will still be stuck in the Middle Ages, haggling over how many pieces of wool to trade for a bag of wheat.

I am running a free electronics workshop for complete beginners. If you ever wanted to find out what goes on behind the scenes in your smartphone, or how to automate simple tasks with electronics, this workshop will be perfect for you. You will acquire a high-level understanding of the basics of electronics, as well as get a hands-on experience with creating and programming an electronic toy.

A few days ago I read an article from Vox about Hillary Clinton. In light of her presidential defeat, people are offering up theories as to why she could never seem to find appeal amongst the masses. Her approval ratings dipped ever since she left her job as the Secretary of State, and it only worsened over the course of her presidential campaign. The article points to a common criticism people have – that Hillary Clinton ran on a campaign of identity politics, pandering to special-interest groups while shoving aside the woes of the disillusioned working-class voters.

What is the fourth dimension? Popular science tells us that it’s time, but sometimes we hear people speak of a physical fourth dimension. Who is right? In truth, there is no right or wrong. Dimensions are simply a way for us to measure things over a continuous spectrum. We usually describe 3D space in terms of length, breadth and height, but who’s to say which side of an object is its length? If I wanted to describe a man’s length from head to toe as his breadth, I jolly well could. Perhaps, this is the reason why shorter guys tend to work out more.

This is a semi-complete tower defense game I made a while ago. I am thinking of re-opening this project with a thematic and graphical rehaul. Please let me know if you’re interested to collaborate.

Before I left Singapore, I read about a half dozen articles on travel that my friends shared on Facebook. That’s the amazing thing about Facebook nowadays. They see that you’re clicking something and they just keep feeding you more. The downside is that your Facebook feed becomes an echo chamber, but then again, I think I’ve read enough about that on Facebook.

Don’t worry, this is not a cry for help; I’m not suicidal. This is merely an honest reflection on life, and the very state of existence.

Update: (14 August 2019) In the past few years, quite a few people have reached out to me regarding the contents of this post. For new readers, I would like to highlight that as of 2019, the Global Engineering Programme has been rebranded to Engineering Scholars Programme, and the programme has undergone an overhaul. It seems that the administration have addressed many of my concerns below, whether it has anything to do with this post I do not know. I have no knowledge on the effectiveness of these new measures, so read the post with this in mind.

As part of our orbital project, my friend Lee Kai Yi and I created a web service which will reconstruct 3D models from a collection of 2D images, also known as photogrammetry.

Scheduleit helps you to schedule your events effortlessly. Using an intuitive click and drag interface, users can set up a schedule in under ten seconds and share the generated link with their friends.

not so Instant Messenger is a simple standalone instant messenging program designed to allow users to chat over a network. Users can create a password-protected session within a shared folder, then join and leave the session at will. This was made during national service (NS) so we could chat on a local network with restrictions.

AnimateMe! is an animated illusion creator designed to help users create animated optical illusions similar to those shown in the youtube video by Brusspup below. You can convert any series of images, animated gif or video into one such animation and print it out or save it as you prefer.

Pudge practice map is a custom map made for Warcraft III with the intended purpose of helping DotA players better their performance with the hero Pudge in games. This was made a really long time ago when I played DotA obsessively and wanted to improve my skills.

I believe that before we can start talking about existence, we have to first study science. Our world is defined by physical laws, but there is no reason for these laws to be the way they are. The speed of light is a constant, gravity pulls objects together, no one knows why or how these things came to be.

At the start of this summer a few friends and I participated in a makerthon called Project Make-Possible, jointly organised by the student chapters of Institute of Engineers as well as Engineers Without Borders Asia. Project Make-Possible is an initiative to introduce and promote the spirit of humanitarian engineering amongst students in NUS. Over the course of a week, we were exposed to humanitarian efforts in engineering, as well as workshops teaching us the basics of engineering skills such as 3D printing and laser cutting. There was a site visit to SPD as well.

It’s the end of the school semester, and a lot of my seniors in college are leaving this place. It’s sad, but as the Chinese saying goes, there is no banquet that never ends. I wanted to do something so they can remember this place, and I thought what could be better than a small keychain which you can hang on your bag and whenever others ask you about it, you can fondly recount “Back in the days when I was in CAPT…”

I live in a student dormitary where the aircon controller is attached to the wall next to the door. I guess I should be content with air conditioning, but it is the nature of human beings that we are never satisfied. Sometimes, I find myself wishing for a remote to turn off my aircon or change the temperature at night when I’m in bed. Since I have always been wanting to do something with my Arduino, I decided to make my aircon bluetooth compatible with my phone.

Recently my senior (and dear friend) left Singapore for exchange in London, and left me his printer as part of his legacy. I didn’t really want to keep it in my room, and since it’s a wired printer, I had to find a way to make it wireless. Fortunately, NUS Hackers had a Raspberry Pi lying around which no one was using, so I sought to make full use of it and acquaint myself with the Pi at the same time.

Hello world!