小桥流水人家
– Istana Open House
新加坡的总统府叫 Istana，Istana 在马来文是“宫殿”的意思。新加坡总统府开放日就叫 Istana Open House。
新加坡总统府通常在新加坡国庆节或者其它的一些重要节日期间会开放给公众参观，公众可以通过新加坡总统府的网站上查到具体开放时间。
前天是 Istana Open House，天气不错，于是就跟康康他妈带着康康去 Istana 逛了一圈。
大门 （The gate)
Istana 位于新加坡商业中心乌节路的一头，就在Plaza Singapura的旁边，从外面看来并不很大。
新加坡国徽（Singapore national emblem）
开放日对新加坡本地人免费，对外地人收新元一块。其实并没有人查证件，基本上是自觉交费。
艺术展（Some arts）
艺术展 2（Some arts 2）
新加坡政府提倡艺术，很多地方都可以见到小型的艺术展，总统府也不例外。
草坪（Lawn）
这样的草坪令人心旷神怡。
整个总统府位于闹市中心，占地约100英亩。
Sir Ken Robinson是一个著名的演讲家。他主要关心在商业及教育领域的创新与改革。他认为不断的创新才能成功。
在这次TED的演讲中，他认为世界上现有的教育系统是19世纪工业化的产物，已经不能适应当今世界的发展。他主张对现有的教育系统来个彻底改革，要把创新能力列为教育的目标之一，与教育文化相提并重。
相信绝大部分人对他的英式幽默都很受用，睿智而发人深省。只是我有点跟不上他重重的英国口音。
另外，对于他讲的笑话要有比较全面的西方文化背景才能完全听懂。比如他讲的有关Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh的笑话，我是问了Tinker, tailor才搞清楚，虽然我自认读过不少圣经故事。
演讲精句：
All kids have tremendous talent, and we squander them.
所有的孩子都有非凡的天赋，只是我们把它们浪费了。Creativity now is as important in education as literacy; we should treat it with the same status.
创造力在当今的教育中应该与文化并重，我们应当对它们同等重视。…if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.
如果你根本没有做错的准备的话，那么你永远不会有独创的东西。Professors look at their bodies as a form of transport for their heads.
教授们把他们的身体当作运送脑袋的工具。We don’t grow in to creativity, we grow out of it…we get educated out of it.
我们变得越来越没有创造力了…我们被教得没有创造力了。Our education system has mined our minds in the way we strip-mined the earth for a particular commodity, and for the future, it won’t service. We have to re-think the fundamental principle on which we are educating our children.
我们（现有）的教育系统就如我们开发地球的矿产一样开发我们的思维，这样的方法是难以应付未来的。我们应当重新考虑现代教育的根本原则。
在这里可以找到相关的播客下载。
Reference link: Presentation Zen
Just back from Furama Riverfront Hotel, a place where the Convention was held.
It was a great one.
The Toastmaster District 80 includes 9 divisions in 4 countries and areas.
Singaore: 6 divisions
Hong Kong & Macau: 2 divisions
Thailand: 1 divisions
8 persons participated in the Table Topics Speech Contest. The topic was “Who do you love most in the world?” Although the topic was the same to every contestant, each contestant got to know the topic until s/he went onto the stage. S/he was required to think on their feet and have 2 minutes to deliver the speech.
These were very smart speakers. Within seconds, they could get the idea and start making speech. I was surprised that, though there were 8 responses, none of them was the same.
The results,
Champion: Benjamin Cheng
1st run-up: Ng Seng Chuan
2nd run-up: Laksha Metha
All were from Singapore.
In the International Speech Contest, Ramesh Muthusamy from division U Singapore beat the other 8 contestants and won the champion. His speech topic is Expectation. He cited his personal experiences and advised people to maintain a high expectation in their life.
It was an impressive speech. His speech skills were powerful and nature. People near me all believed he would go into at least top 3.
1st run-up: Donald Yee from Hong Kong
2nd run-up: Pradeep Kumar from Singapore
In fact, it did not need much training to tell who was a better speaker. So the results were not much surprise to the audient.
I heard some comments that a few contestants were over-prepared or overacted. Yes, I agree that the content and sincerity are the most important things to a speech. However, since most of them actually were talking about the same topics, so those exaggerated actions did capture my attention and help me sit through the event.
Interestingly, the most exciting moment to me was not from the contest.
Hong Kong is the host for the District’s 2007 annual convention. There was a marketing pitch for the Hong Kong event at the end of the convention. All Toastmasters from Hong Kong, over 60 people, went on the stage, waving the Bauhinia flag with the Chinese National Anthem reverberating across the hall. It really turned me on. It was the first time I heard this melody in a public place of Singapore.
The connection with homeland is hard to break, even for a cosmopolitan.