Email isn't cool anymore

This is how my email inbox looks like:






4213 unread emails and counting. You can till why I'm happy about the unlimited storage.

I remember when email used to be the main mode of communication for people my age. This might be a surprise to some of you, but nobody in my peer group checks their email anymore.

Myspace/Facebook has become the primary mode of communication, with some holdouts like me still clinging to instant messaging. (Even cellphones aren't really used that often anymore, other than for texting- I know friends who never answer their cellphone, ever)

Email has become more of a business tool- it's something you use to send and receive work or school-related communication, rather than social communication. Email is clunky.

It's rough being a parent in the IT age. I'm really proud of my mom for learning how to use email the past year or so, and it's nice that she's using it to keep in touch Unfortunately, my generation has passed email by, so I don't check it as often as I did when I was 15 or so. Mom has to start getting into Instant Messaging more, and quickly, before the next big Silicon-Valley innovation hits and renders that obsolete.

Funny how much can change in a few years.

Oh, some people have asked why I don't get a MySpace or Facebook account. I was going to last semester, but I got frightened off when my roomate became a Facebook zombie, spending almost 4-5 hours a day on that site. Blake is a stereotypical caffeine-infused pre-med student though, so he somehow managed to get good grades despite that. Plus, if you have a lot of contacts from disparate parts of the world, I feel IM works better.

Letter to the Star

I wrote a letter to the Star today. Here it is, unedited:

To the Editor,

"Pendidikan Moral" or Moral Studies is a compulsory subject in the KBSR, PMR and SPM level for non-Muslim students. The subject aims to instill moral values, as well as to occupy non-Muslim students' class schedules when their Muslim counterparts are in Islamic studies class.

I would argue that the needs of our students would be better served if Pendidikan Moral were replaced with a general religion class. I propose a curriculum that would cover, at the very least the basic tenets of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism so that students will understand better the different ethnic and religious groups that comprise our country.

As a product of the Malaysian education system, I am sometimes embarrassed by my ignorance of my peers' religious beliefs. For instance, I remember once offering a cup of juice to a Malay friend of mine during Ramadan, not realizing that the Ramadan fast required abstinence from water as well as from food. I had somehow remained oblivious of this fact despite having lived in a Muslim-majority country for 18 years!

That may have been a fairly trivial example, but I am certain that more grave misunderstandings can occur. I feel that this mutual ignorance of each others' religious beliefs is a main cause of tension in this country. When we as a people are ignorant, we become susceptible to prejudice, lies and hearsay, a process that can lead and has led to strife in this country. In particular, it is easy to see that for non-Muslim students basic knowledge of Islam is important in a country that has a 60% Muslim population

I am also skeptical whether Pendidikan Moral's emphasis on secular morality is effective in instilling values in students. I believe most Malaysians consider their religious beliefs the foundation of morality, and so I feel that a religion class, tying in morality to religious tradition will be more relevant to a majority of students.

The curriculum of this religion class will have to be very carefully designed, as handling it wrongly could potentially upset and offend large groups of people. Nevertheless, I feel that replacing Pendidikan Moral lessons with a general religion class will be greatly beneficial to our country as students would grow up understanding each other better. This is a far more effective way to promote tolerance than memorizing the dictionary definition of "toleransi" word-for-word, as is required in the current Pendididkan Moral curriculum.


Darren Ong Chung Lee

Playing chess again

Yahoo has been doing good lately. Unlimited email capacity is nice, and they've updated the Yahoo Chess program.

I haven't been playing chess at all for almost two years. It has been nice to be able to get back in the game again, though my ability has suffered a little (I'm struggling to get above a 1500 rating at the moment)

My schedule for the next week:

	Monday June 4th	Time	Wednesday June 6th
		9:00 a.m.	Meet in BYU Math Department Commons
4:30 p.m.	Pick up Group 1 from SLC Airport	9:15 a.m.	Research Discussions
	** 6 Participants **	11:30 a.m.	Tour of Cougar Eat, Library, and the Wilk
7:00 p.m.	Pick up Group 2 from SLC Airport	12:00 p.m.	Lunch
	** 3 Participants **	1:00 p.m.	Research Groups
7:00 p.m.	Amber Lee and Joshua Lytle	4:30 p.m.	Jim Logan's Computer intro
	should arrive in Provo (Driving)	6:00 p.m.	Hike Y Mount
Upon Arrival
	Apartment Assignments
	Organize and Set up Apartments
Time	Tuesday June 5th	Time	Thursday June 7th
8:40 a.m.	Meet Dr. Dorff at Apartments to walk to	9:00 a.m.	Research Groups
	- BYU Talmage Building (Math Department)	12:00 p.m.	Lunch
9:00 a.m.	Breakfast in the Math Department	1:00 p.m.	Research Groups
	- Bagels, Pastries, and Juice	3:00 p.m.	"Going to Grad School in Math" Lecture
	- Get to know participants and professors
9:15 a.m.	Intro to BYU REU
	- REU Magazine
	- BYU Facilities
	- REU Rooms	Time	Friday June 8th
	- MURM Lab	9:00 a.m.	Research Groups
10:00 a.m.	Research Talk 1 - General	12:00 p.m.	Lunch
11:00 a.m.	Research Talk 2 - General	1:00 p.m.	Research Groups
11:45 a.m.	Walk to Brick Oven for Lunch
12:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:15 p.m.	Walk back to BYU
1:30 p.m.	Research Talk 3 - General	Time	Saturday June 9th
3:00 p.m.	Tour of BYU for REU Participants	6:00:00 p.m.	BBQ at Dr. Dorff's house
	- BYU Visitors Center
3:45 p.m.	Meet in Research Groups
4:15 p.m.	On Your Own
	Suggestions:
	- Grocery Shopping