When Science Meets Creativity . . .

After I returned to Hong Kong from France in 1994, at the encouragement of my Aikido teacher, I decided to apply for the position of Police Inspector with the Royal Hong Kong Police.  The first step of the process was to go to a recruitment center to fill in a form and take the vision test.

Equipped with the necessary documents, I went to a nearby recruitment center. Filling in the application form was a breeze. Next, the policewoman asked me to stand at a corner of the office, take off my eyeglasses and wait for her instructions. A moment later, she turned around, apparently held up something in her hand and said, "Can you read to me what is written on the card in my hand?" I was stumped. "Hmm. There is something written on the card in her hand. Hmmmm. Could you at least tell me whether that is a Chinese character or an English alphabet or a Roman numeral?" I thought to myself.  I had absolutely no idea. To be frank, it was only then when I was sort of able to see that, indeed, she was holding some white color object up in the air.

"Errr, I can't read it, Madame." I replied. "Try your best," said the policewoman,"You need to be able to read at least 8 out of 10 cards before I can take your application." WHAT? 8 out of 10??? I almost couldn't see the card itself and you ask me to read 8 cards? That's insane!

"Mmm, am I allowed to squint?" I asked. I could not see her facial expression, but I could hear in her voice that she was trying not to laugh. "Yes, you may." I have never squinted that hard in my life. For a flash moment, I thought I saw something, but then I lost it. I squinted and squinted.  At the end, I could only read two cards correctly.  "I am sorry. You failed. However, you may come back after three business days and try again,' said the policewoman.  I put my eyeglasses back on and stared at her. "This is totally ridiculous: Come back after three business days! Would my vision change so dramatically in three days so that I can read eight cards? Absolutely pointless." I thought to myself as I walked out of the recruitment center.

For the rest of the day, I could not stop thinking about the experience of reading the cards. "It is just not logical: If I am totally incapable of reading those cards, I should have scored 0, but I got 2! That means, somehow, I was able to read it -- just not consistently. So, how did I read those 2 cards???" 

Typical me, I started experimenting with my squinting in front of the TV using the Chinese subtitles on the English channels. The clarity of my vision was going in and out. I realized I need to squint very consistently to get a clear picture.  The trouble is: It is very hard to hold my muscles still for long enough to read anything!

All of a sudden, this sport trivia came to me: Famous British snooker player Dennis Taylor was known for his oversized spectacles.  They were custom-made so that he could easily aim and shoot within a short time.  It is critical because the coordination of muscles from a stationary pose holds only up to 6 seconds.

Then, a lesson I learned in physics class surfaced my mind: Spinning a card with a bird on one side and a cage on the other. Due to the persistence of vision, if the card is spun rapidly, the two pictures will blend into one.

Eureka! I know exactly what I need to do!!!

For the next three days, I sat on the couch to practice my newly discovered "dynamic squinting technique" by tightening and relaxing my squint repeatedly. Before the end of the third day, I had pretty much mastered my new technique and could read the TV subtitles without eyeglasses. I knew I got it.

Sure enough, I went back to the same recruitment center. The same policewoman was on duty and she recognized me. "You again!" "Yeah, I am back to try again." She looked up at me from her desk. She let out a very light sigh and shook her head underneath her professional smile. I saw it. I had my eyeglasses on.

We didn't even need a new form. The form from last time was still there. After going through the routine of verifying my ID, we went straight to the vision test. "This is the moment of truth," I told myself. As you may have guessed, I started doing my "dynamic squinting" and I read out loud what was on the first card. "What are you doing?" the policewoman asked. "Squinting! You told me squinting is allowed. Is that ok?" The policewoman was astonished. I bet she did not expect me to be able to read a thing. We went through 10 cards, and I missed 2. "You got 8 out of 10. Do you want to try the 2 you missed again?" "Absolutely!" I did and I got them all.

On my application form, under vision test, it says 10/10.  I, a proud science student, just got into the second round of the police recruitment process.