Literally at a crossroad. What to do...

“What made you so special?”
“Nothing, I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.”

I didn't come 10 million miles to turn back at the last 10 feet.

I just made an awesome discovery!! But yeah it's regarding math, so if you're not interested, please get lost.
Does patience and persistence really pay off?
I'm really beginning to doubt, what I actually mean to you.
Say you have two concentric circles of different radii, and R > r. To find the area bounded by the circumference of the two circles (grey area) is actually very easy: draw on our primary school mathematics knowledge of subtracting the area of the smaller circle from the area of the larger circle.
To seriously question myself.
Easy, but boring. That's not what I'm here to talk about.
What the hell am I holding on for?
What I'm actually going to say is an alternative way of looking at the area between the circles. Try imagining cutting out the smaller circle from the larger circle made out of paper, and you will end up with a ring/doughnut like shape. Then, make a single cut on the shape that we have, so we'll have some flimsy strip of paper.
Waiting and waiting, but what for?
Now here comes the important part. Picture stretching that strip of paper, all the way, until the curved lines actually become straight. If you are unable to view it in your mind, then I'll just say it here: the final shape that you get is actually a trapezium. The usual "parallel sides" of a trapezium are now the circumferences of the respective circles! The "perpendicular height" now becomes the difference between the radii of the circle. Of course, talk is cheap, so next up is the mathematical proof.
I'm nearing the last straw.
Proof:
Area of shaded region = Area of larger circle - Area of smaller circle
= πR² - πr²
= π(R² - r²) units²
Please, don't give me yet another reason to give up.
From a trapezoid perspective,
Area of trapezium = (1/2)(Sum of parallel lengths)(Perpendicular height)
= (1/2)(Sum of circumferences of two circles)(Difference in the radii)
= (1/2)(2πR + 2πr)(R - r)
= π(R + r)(R - r)
= π(R² - r²) units²
Cause I fucking don't want to.
The proper name for this area is actually known as a circular trapezoid. Okay think I should be back to hit the books...

Just read an article about the tightening of regulations with regards to the accessibility of research funds. I think what Mrs Liew has been saying is actually rather true, that "ideas are increasingly being monetised". A*star, for example, lies under the jurisdiction of the Singapore Government, and its parent ministry is apparent the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Hence, it makes sense that the funds are sourced from taxpayers' money. When the people's hard-earned money gets involved in the picture, there will inevitably be some form of bureaucracy, which is essentially the crux of the present problem. In order to justify the large amounts of money that goes into research, the gatekeepers of the funds, namely MTI and MOF, chooses economic key performance indicators to determine which ideas have the potential to reap the greatest benefits and thus are most deserving of the funding.
Nice guys finish last.
But is it justified that the most lucrative researches are rewarded with the largest amounts of fundings? Many of the great scientific achievements (really unnecessary to state examples, pretty sure you the reader are very well aware of some) had little ramifications on the industrialised economy. Does that mean that in the future, more and more researchers are gearing their compasses towards research that can reap the most monetary rewards? Sure, the notion of surviving in the competitive industry still holds true, but what I'm afraid is that the true essence and spirit behind scientific research is being diluted. And that, in my opinion, is the greatest issue regarding government-backed scientific research. The leaders of the countries, as well as related ministries, view R&D solely as a vehicle that can improve the long-term productive capacity of our economy, as well as simply raking in the cash. What scientists view their work, I believe, is the potential to bring about greater knowledge of the world that we live in. As you can see, these two vantage points are not exactly aligned, and tensions will always exist, no matter what.
They really do, dammit.
After reading the article, I think I have concluded that Singapore will never be a place where scientific research can thrive. For anyone who is a least bit interested to become a researcher (including myself, LOL), please look out of this island.