123 Read this....

Ah, the MRL members know this code, so if you happen to be here and want to know a little something-something, remember this line from the Bard...Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer...

Km ghbvjx, Q sz qvcvvvgef vqmylgu xltr cvp hrhalvk xmmnmp avty-lvphmq, Lm ksm ywycu h wxymvl wx pcjygzlrgjie iag t pan tk meplpepkvgkw, nbe lpjw ghv qgku iksw nnri, kdhx B kitblwq hp Rsfoyx lzqzlrgs'k vqtk LNS xh ziv ppwgvfc xyml tyi nmvqz gwwwjxzrl sk usk... ppwa W teydjyxk ybwa d pstmnyi bjvag hw Sewytse, hlzku bz e ntbj lsslhm iecprx alrm lgrg nzvv butu kudr bhi oiwiw, zp nmolw phc hbgu emktrl asa. Buh ifgvqjq zo, oi wphe'm sfbk usek pvl ipao jdl zamyjh fj alx zirkkz rbhtrv, iaw ome xbvmg slj qirgprz vyk bvlb hip tljybj wxwjor, ofx ymek shw ff jctaz bt jywgqetamav. Gkx djigqid shw moek mpw fcvcgv eruzmfm, v.h. mvw iqi YIH del zxzet uuisymeo axd taagv bbli ymi jahvvo iezqfr, kitgy qf bttaafluzw fjfhzjn qx as kaqfx hilx kpr ibdltr obsk cs ylv ybvklrk icrmzf aexm. V zbiea frfslcrjw Z jliw alv dqux wo elv jraprp bb jh ggfaj e gqgdel, avet Krbh Jie avgji kwh'ux hzy tspp kui pos ttv jroe elza, V momzs... Gktbc stz jfn alta fchwvl kbvi-lx ptsp, U vrhwsv cy... Fru em xal aibbwe cg elrb cngdxm pdg fwui ylzo, P atz tctgaau zzy fv ZLU aubu was aurgmt llrmhkitu jvrewi...

Kpl wpwbtnb iwunzwi ykshl h zzmid pzvp,

Rfvr ubx avr ngcom, xt xya xyxzxzhv af "Kiz?"

Xym ahipqz dxxglcts me poml smex, qk us;

Cfx ym xgvae buh dsq nmfx zo brdusng bg ls.

Nj hzacehc bqpwnfw qfx xywa sy zxrbvwq umlwj evgksia nqw hzy "stfcay unlwkbwf" vg usi cqax almb srezgq "Yt fv ky rha xf um" aa Vbxpvb... V zbiea lrn yfib blvnl xapw zl ogvbh...

(L vvkrga ipqg) SL: Gwhl Die, ovvkf jfk bzr rfwepmq kltxg gr rcml htqdaux, B dej t taghmp flal ppxt buh Uzga Bmivh... hrw hpjh agefz qsi bux vjrtvqx awmxfkvo, tc fbq nta mfwor xym phttgbru lc A wtzpuj'a iqwvvla el synmkmzxux qieobsj...

122 Remember, remember...

... the exact phrase to complete the line is, "The Fifth of November". It's the famous first line from the children's rhyme that describes a certain Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up the British Parliament quite a long time ago. But, don't worry, there's no Parliament around here that requires blowing up, just one that needed its leaky roof fixed quite some time ago. So, don't charge me for sedition, OK...

"Remember, remember, the 13th of April..." is the line I had in mind. A quick check with that wonderful calendar at the bottom right corner of your monitor, would show that this date, last year was a Friday. Yes, it's Friday the 13th, and the fear of the date is known as paraskavedekatriaphobia, and I'm sure a lot of people I know suffer from this phobia, beginning from last year. We all know why, so I won't mention it explicitly. And now, for some number crunching...

Because there are 365 days in a year, which is 52 weeks and 1 day, mathematically, the dates move forward by a single day, i.e. (13/4/06 is a Thursday, 13/4/07 is a Friday). But since 2008 is a leap year, 13/4/08 is a Sunday, a two-day jump. Since the MOE likes releasing results on Fridays, just to make us upset, the closest Friday is 11/4/08, which was yesterday... and guess what, they did just that... And more numbers are coming your way...

109 people got As in SAJC, compared to 6 people last year, which implies an increase of 103... Simple math shows that,

(103/6) x 100% = 1717 %,

which is a very large percentage increase, and I'm sure there has been much rejoicing.

Here's a little bit more, last year's percentage with As is:

6/888 x 100% = 0.68 %

And this year's percentage with As is:

109/850 x 100% = 12.8 % +/- 0.7 %

... since I don't know exact number of students in the cohort.

But it can be said that there is an increase of 12.1 % +/- 0.7 % in the number of students getting As... which is relatively good...

However, as I was browsing the Internet, these percentages popped out for other colleges...

Taken from the Straits Times, April 12 2008

NB: TJC has 87%

... quite some way to go, huh? But, let's not complain and move on, and be happy that finally... finally, we are on the right track.

PS: "It's the 2008 SAJC PW results analysis"

121 Reminiscence

Remember this song? 525,600 minutes, precisely the number of minutes in one year. The actual title of the song is "Seasons of Love", taken from the musical turned movie, "Rent". Although, I didn't watch the movie. this song found me in another way.

It serves as the reminder of my last days in the hostel, I first heard it on the 5th of December 2007, when it was played during Grad Night. The song stuck so badly that I downloaded it on the following day, the 6th of December from the "Rent" soundtrack, and the song kept playing into the 7th of December, the last day for me, and most of the others staying the hostel.

Two years, or slightly less than twice of 525,600 minutes were spent in that place, and the love for that place and the people there is irreplacable, just as the song suggests. The best measure of time gone past is not daylights, sunsets, midnights or cups of coffee, it's LOVE. Seasons of Love, as the song goes.

To be honest, it was this song that took me through the withdrawal period. The lack of people constantly around me, and the voices, and fun things, oh... it was all too depressing. I was really glad I took one thing from the last few days, and held on to it as tightly as I could, until the hostel-sickness all went away...

And just a few hours ago, the song found me again. I was watching "Idol Gives Back", the American Idol charity show on 8TV, and they sang the song. Oh my God! You should have seen the look on my face when Ryan said those words. I found myself tearing, I stared at the screen during the whole three minutes of the song. I couldn't believe it, it just came back to me all of a sudden. The song... oh, no... that song, it was pain, joy, excitement all at the same time. I really didn't know what to think... and now, I can't let it go again. It's playing again and again as I'm typing this post. It's just so... oh, I don't know. It must be human nature to hold on tightly to something that makes you so... so... happy, and sad, and emotional.. once you found it once again... This is the one song, I can sing with so much emotion... Ah, memories... Sometimes it makes you wonder why we keep them, if they can bring so much confusion when it jumps out at you again... Life is so funny sometimes....

120 Relapsed, once again

The more grammatically meticulous may note that "Relapsed, once again" has committed the sin of redundancy, since the re- prefix of Relapse, already implies "once again". But that's what happens when one has an ongoing "re-" obsession.

I'm still trying to find a way to touch up the current MSN Circadian Cycle graph, because a drawing on a whiteboard looks aesthetically unpleasing. Based on monitoring for the last 20-odd hours, the trends are more or less accurate. The basic monitoring is based on my own MSN, but I'm also collecting data from my sister's MSN, to gain a larger sample set, to iron out the idiosyncrasies of my own sample set and her sample set. Lastly, I also want to avoid incurring the Observer Effect, in which my act of data-collection throws off the readings by itself creating trends. The figure is here once again, for easy reference.


But today is Friday, in which the trend curve for the one curve converts to the other in some way. I know that the Friday curve will start as a weekday curve and end as a weekend curve, but the transition period will be worth studying, but Fridays only come once a week, much to the chagrin of most of us. I'm not sure whether ultimately, this will be another mere triviality in the study of Internet trends, having limited practicality, and based on quite a number of assumptions. However, I'm quite convinced that this could be the first of such a study conducted.
On a side note, I know not many of you have seen the Kindergarten Teacher's Addition Problem, and so I'm posting it here once again, with a hint. You don't have to write down every possible number combination that adds up to 10, there is an easier method...

Let's say you are a kindergarten Mathematics teacher, and all along you've been faced with math problems that never does exceed two digits. Life is easy, OK fine, little kids can be quite a handful, but mentally, it's barely challenging.

But, one day, the Principal, noting that you have an A-levels, STPM, or some other equivalent certificate for Maths, asks you to solve a problem for him. He plans to place posters around the kindergarten that contain all the possible ways to add up two or more integers (i.e 1 to 9) to make a sum of 10, e.g (1 + 9),(2 + 3 + 5), (1+2+3+1+1+2) etc. He also adds that the arrangement of integers matters, and hence (1+9) and (9+1) are considered two different sets of integers.

So, your question is: How many posters should the Principal order to accommodate all the sums, given that at most 50 sums can be fitted into one poster?

One final side note, I'm still waiting for the delivery of this: The Photographed Periodic Table, it's the most beautiful Periodic Table of Elements I've seen in my life. It's supposed to be my A-Level Present, I think, and it's scheduled to arrive 10 days after April 3, i.e. next Monday. Isn't that nice?

119 Relapsing

Do you know what a circadian cycle is? It has nothing to do with a chart on the life cycle of chirping cicadas (not circadas, as some people might think it's spelled) or the life cycle of any other insect, plant or animal.

Circadas? Close, but no cigar....

The Circadian Cycle is a compound word, made from two different Latin roots, Circa which means around, and diem meaning day. So Circa + Diem = Circadian, which means "around the day". You may also note that the Latin phrase Carpe Diem means "Day of The Carp", and people in Ancient Rome used to go to the River Tiber on this auspicious day in droves to catch carp (which is a fish), with their hands. And so it was, that Carpe Diem became to mean "Seize the Day" in the modern English Language.

Carp Diem!: You're right to think something's fishy around here

The Circadian Cycle in actual fact, is a biological cycle that affects most animals on a daily basis. Some of us call it the biological clock, and we usually complain that once we miss some sleep, we mess that thing up.

Biologists have tracked certain physiological statistics in humans and animals, such as temperature, and have noticed that it varies throughout the day, in a regular fashion. Also, certain hormone glands are more active, for instance at 1 -2 am, than at other times of the day. Body temperature seem to hit daily low at 4 am, when sleep is usually in its deepest stage, and a secondary low sometime in the evening, causing some of us to crave for forty winks in the late afternoon.

The circadian cycle has definitely got something to do with the biological clock, since it is influenced by, among others, our sleeping time. Dozing off at the wrong times has been shown, in the long term, to be detrimental to our health, and has been linked the increased risk of cancers, such as breast cancer.

But, I'm not interested in all that. After an afternoon of contemplating and drawing back on some past data, I've been trying to construct a rough sketch of a graph to tabulate a Circadian Cycle for MSN Messenger. It will show number of people online on MSN against the time of the day, for two different situations, i.e. the typical weekday and the typical weekend. This could effectively be an online biological clock, and I speculate that it could show a decent correlation to the probabilty of a person being on the Internet, at a certain time of the day. However the graph is very crude, and I'm still testing its accuracy using my MSN statistics combined with my sister's to see whether my graph is correct.


I can already extrapolate uses for the study if it is proven correct and further researched. The values taken from the graph can be treated as a statistical mean, which can be used in a Poisson Distribution to predict the probability of a certain number of people being online at a given time. It can also be further approximated to a Normal distribution for a particular strata of the population, i.e. students or even an age group. Wow, excess free time can be put to good use...

PS: Did you believe that "the Day of the Carp" is an actual festival? Unbelievable, huh? Here's another bit of trivia... did you know that the word "Gullible" is not an actual English word? It is actually a fictitious word created in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", used by the Lilliputians (there were very small creatures) to describe Gulliver. I think you can hazard a guess on the meaning of the word...

118 Repulsive

Today, we shall have a Physics lesson on pseudo-forces.

The most well-known pseudo-force is inertia, or if we look at its etymology, the "lazy force". I think we all know what inertia is, the force that irritates us when we don't get a seat on the MRT or on a bus. We always seem to feel a force in the opposite direction to the acceleration of the object we are in, in accordance to Newton's First Law of Motion, which states that "an object at rest will remain at rest, while an object in uniform motion will remain in uniform motion" or in Simple English, "everything is lazy to change". So, this laziness converts into a pseudo-force that seems to push us back everytime the floor under us move forward, and conversely when the floor stops moving. Simple enough?

Then, there is the centrifugal force, the force that always threatens to throw you out from the car via the outside of the bend i.e. away from the centre of rotation. This is actually a result of Newton's Third Law of Motion's (every action must have an opposite and equal reaction) response to centripetal force. Centripetal force is the force that keeps you moving in a circle, and when the body responds to this force by the Third Law, it makes us feel a centrifugal force, which is not really a force applied by anything or anyone. This comic parodies centrifugal force by using it in a James Bond situation:

... all of it, by the way, is true, by switching the definitions used in Newton's Laws, pseudo-forces like inertia and centrifugal force become real forces, while the conventional forces become pseudo-forces, but that's totally imaginary, so don't bother. There are, of course, many other pseudo-forces, but the Physics is either too difficult of too politically incorrect for me to include it in this post. Here's a list of the ones I've come across, courtesy of the Whiteboard People:

Forces written in red do not follow Newton's Third Law, for unknown political reasons

Here ends our short Physics class on pseudo forces. Any questions? Ok, then. I might post again later today, so just hold on tight while I'm not around. Bye!

117 Reaching Terminal Velocity

I really do have to confess, I think the rate I am blogging for the past few days have hit the terminal velocity I have set for myself, which is about 2 posts per day. Anything more than that means that I seriously have to try finding else to do, because I've spent too much time in front of the computer monitor. But at the rate I'm at, I guess it's still consider healthy. And by the way, my lifestyle for the past week is anything but sedentary, so don't give me looks of disbelief. Yes, I've been climbing hills and/or staircases for about an hour a day.

Ah, but blogging has reached a terminal velocity in another sort of way. I've been reading the Wikipedia article on blogging and I would like to bring to your attention the section on popularity. A study by Gartner Inc., has "predicted that blogging will peak in 2007, leveling off when the number of writers who maintain a personal website reaches 100 million. Gartner analysts expect that the novelty value of the medium will wear off as most people who are interested in the phenomenon have checked it out, and new bloggers will offset the number of writers who abandon their creation out of boredom. The firm estimates that there are more than 200 million former bloggers who have ceased posting to their online diaries, creating an exponential rise in the amount of "dotsam" and "netsam" — that is to say, unwanted objects on the Web." (as taken from Wikipedia as at April 9, 2008)


I spent the evening trying to represent these interesting data on a graph, and this was the resulting figure.




I shall leave you to digest the graph and the data, and remember people:
recycle, reuse and reduce, we don't want too much "dotsam" and "netsam" lying around the Internet, so make sure you delete blogs that aren't of any use anymore.
This is a public service message from me, thank you for listening.

116 Re: Ryan

I have always thought and said reading Ryan's essays was a fun activity, and it still is. A classic INFJ writing style, and as I have mentioned in Regress (Part 1), the iNtuitive (N) and Feeling (F) profiles make a very interesting combination when it comes to formulating worldviews and beliefs, and NFs actually hold on to their beliefs quite strongly. This INTP still believes in "mostly anything that doesn't annoy me is acceptable". I know some of you hate the notion of classifying people into 16 boxes, but I find it expedient, and I find the inverse (i.e. everyone is unique) annoying.

I have a sinking feeling that I've just irritated some people, I'm so sorry, but moving on...

His stance towards Economics is not unfamiliar to me, I've done it in a KayEye essay before, and I was immensely satisfied with it (and not forgetting to mention, Mr. Leong found it satisfactory too). Now, here's my opinions simplified:

Agreed:

Economic models (like Miss Ceteris Paribus, Miss Macroeconomics, and Mr. GDP), are pretty (or handsome, if you like) at first glance. They seem to imitate scientific theories, like Newton's Laws, by being elegant, and simple but most importantly, they are Universal. (in jest, it suggests, they must all qualify for the Miss or Mr. Universe competition). However, Economic models are based on highly ideal situations, such as Perfect Information, Infinite Divisibility, Perfect Competition (indeed, every organiser's dream) and Complete Rationality. Since such conditions do not apply to real world situations, Economic Models tend to be inaccurate when making these predictions, but the irony is, the inaccuracies cannot defeat the models because the models state that the conditions have to be ideal. All they have to do is utter that famous phrase, "Ceteris Paribus!", which is a magic spell that somehow makes all other influencing factors constant.

The fact is that, Economics, like any social (pseudo) science, attempts to rationalise the wondrous pursuits of mankind. But then again, mankind is a fickle, but highly adaptable animal, and will always find a way around a stumbling block. Social science, being a science, is a decent attempt, albeit the high inaccuracy, to map out how mankind has solved a problem (of making a choice, in case of Economics). However, we are not simple creatures. Consider this analogy:

Ants are highly organised insects, they move around in trails. Every once in a while, a change in the landscape occur, say, a rock or a fallen leaf blocks the path. However, given the different possible terrain surrounding the obstacle, the alternate path would always differ from situation to situation.

Compare this to Man solving an Economics problem, and you will see why one model is simply never enough, and models change over time. This arguably is not a bad thing, since it can generally be said that the evolution of knowledge always moves towards higher objectivity But to say that models are chosen using "popularity" is a bit of a long stretch, since sometimes it's just mere expedience, coherence and practicality.

Disagreed:

The bovine-fecalness of Economics is sometimes overly associated to its subjectivity, we complain that we can never justify an economic model, and that they are unfalsifiable. However, as many pitfalls as Economics have, they do exhibit a certain degree of accuracy. Arguing that Economics fails in situations where non-ceteris paribus conditions are present could be nothing more than splitting hairs since we have to concede that the models have played a fair game by coming with a ceteris paribus disclaimer. However, we value Economics because of its practicality, the models are generally true, and has been and will always work in most situations.

To say that Economics is a cut-and-paste mode of inquiry, is not entirely incorrect, but then, it's not unusual for a field of knowledge to be founded and/or influenced by other fields of knowledge and/or commonsense. Science, in essence, is influenced by Mathematics and vice versa, such as calculus being discovered in Science, before blooming into a Mathematical field of its own. Art is sometimes influenced by Mathematics and Science: Fractals, Golden Ratio, Geometry and the like. Ethics influences most Sciences and sometimes even Art. History affects Economics, and Economics influence Geography, and Geography, in turn, is required in History. It's an interconnected web of Knowledge, one mode of inquiry can never stand alone in providing and constructing our Knowledge. To blame Economics of plagiarism is unfair, since by slippery slope, I can go on to blame Science for applying Mathematics, and Art for using mathematical axioms.

Finally, the problem of the Homo Economus, or "the average economic man", is not a challenge on human uniqueness, but an extension of the uniformity of logic. Although the assumption itself is an ideal situation, what it means is that given that we all have the same set of information, we will all make the same decision. The contention is that logic is infallible. If we know that all A is B, and all B is C, everyone will equivocally be able to decide that all A is C. The Economic Man will always make the same decision given so-and-so information. This is the point that the Homo Economus was designed to show. Of course, feel free to shout about the idealic assumption it's based on, I've got nothing to say about that.

That's all I have to blurt out this quiet and uneventful afternoon. Look out for the Whiteboard People tomorrow.

PS: You have two more days to solve the Kindergarten Teacher's Addition Problem.

115 Referrals

I find it difficult to relate how amazed I was to see the referral pages to my blog on my Sitemeter. It's just funny to see what Google search words actually link to my blog. Fairly recent ones are like:

• "died in a blogging incident" (for more info on why someone would search for this is explained here)
• "admission rate to NTU for STPM student" (did I type STPM somewhere?)
• "how often have i lain beneath rain" (it's in my Sidebar, if you didn't notice.)
• "142 bus" (ah, yes! The Potong Pasir bus)
• "breaking dsta code" (looks like someone needs a hint...)
• "singapore amk raining ice" (there are called hailstones, by the way... and, no, I didn't know about them. Thanks for the info, I would have loved to be there!)

The bulk of them are of course, from my friends' blogs, the links in their blogs to mine would allow them and readers of their blogs to read mine, and I know you are now tempted to reply with a resounding "duh!".

But then again, you may not be interested in listening to me ramble about going ons in my blog, since that's not supposed to be any of your business, so here's a diabolical problem I just found. I shall call it: The Kindergarten Teacher's Addition Problem... Here goes...

Let's say you are a kindergarten Mathematics teacher, and all along you've been faced with math problems that never does exceed two digits. Life is easy, OK fine, little kids can be quite a handful, but mentally, it's barely challenging.

But, one day, the Principal, noting that you have an A-levels, STPM, or some other equivalent certificate for Maths, asks you to solve a problem for him. He plans to place posters around the kindergarten that contain all the possible ways to add up two or more integers (i.e 1 to 9) to make a sum of 10, e.g (1 + 9),(2 + 3 + 5), (1+2+3+1+1+2) etc. He also adds that the arrangement of integers matters, and hence (1+9) and (9+1) are considered two different sets of integers.

So, your question is: How many posters should the Principal order to accommodate all the sums, given that at most 50 sums can be fitted into one poster?

I say that this question is diabolical, not because it is tedious and/or difficult, but because the solution can be either tedious and/or difficult or shockingly simple (let me assure you, it's so simple that you will definitely want to kick yourself for not figuring it out). Good luck!

114 Recurring

Let me make this official, I am getting sick of these nonsense, pretending to be shared links getting sent over MSN. I have done it, and I swear I'm going to do it again, the next I get one of these rubbish, I'm going to ignore them and reply the sender in CAPITAL LETTERS. Whatever the capital letters mean to you, is entirely your own interpretation.

So, to blow off some of the steam I've been getting over this issue, I went over to Youtube to seach and watch some interesting videos, and as usual Youtube never lets me down. I found a set of videos that were really entertaining, created from a software called Mario Paint, which is basically an awfully cute computer music composer. Here's one of my favourite, played to the tune of "Summer Nights"(this is a link to the original video) , from "Grease" , sung by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta (before he put on a lot of weight and changed gender in "Hairspray")

Yup, tell me more! Tell me more!

Oh, and I nearly forgot about my friends at the Whiteboard. give me a moment, yeah? Need to upload the photo...

I'm so sorry, guys!

Ok, that's it, since rain and thunderstorms make it difficult to go online. You know the rule, pull all the electric plugs out during thunderstorms. Bye!

113 Re-Return

Looks like I'll be returning to the Island of the Fictitious Lion-Fish Thingy sooner than I have expected, since I am suddenly faced with a surprisingly early interview by the University Scholars' Programme (USP) people. Their website stated that students with an international mailing address would only be called back for interviews closer to the admissions date, i.e. AUGUST, but it would seem that Malaysians (or rather, West Malaysians) get preferential treatments in terms of interview dates. However, there may or may not be such a rule, it's merely the speculations of a person with too much free time.

The Permanent Residents of the apartment in Novena, please take note, the interview is on the 23 of April (Wednesday, 23/4/08 (nice number, eh?)), so don't be surprised if I pop around some time closer to that date...

I am not really in the mood to write much today, since I'm a little worn out from my Kinabalu training and also from a spot of bother in both my legs due to Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS), but I must persevere. Also, despite the silliness of it all, I've been climbing the up and down the stairs in my house just for the fun of it for the past few days.

Lastly, something interesting to show you people. If you didn't already know, I've been watching you using a small link on the sidebar, marked Sitemeter. The histogram I'm going to post here shows the number of visitors, per month, since last June. I'm proud to announce that visits have hit a record high last month, and this month's showing thus far is more or less encouraging. Here it is:

112 Response Required!

Hello readers,

I have just included a new feature in the blog, which is the Snapshot facility, which will allow you to see a thumbnail of the contents of any link. It will appear as a chat bubble by the side of the link, and it will pop up into a small window when you move your cursor over it. Some of you should be already familiar with this... but there are others who may be surprised.

However, there may be problems loading the blog, since I embedded the HTML for the facility, directly into the blog template. My home computer traditionally has problems with my blog template, and usually shuts down the window halfway through loading, so I can't diagnose the problems by myself. Therefore, readers, I need your help:

Please inform me ASAP if you have any problems whatsoever with the blog site. I apologise in advance if this new feature causes any inconvenience. Thank you!
PS: The latest entries will be posted below this one for the mean time... so don't be in a hurry to leave.

111 Revelry

Yes, the answer is B. Regurgitate, but please don't make me give you the meaning of that word.

I was a little busier than usual yesterday, researching for my upcoming Mount Kinabalu climb, and preparing myself mentally and physically. I'm climbing some time in early May, so if you see me online then, to quote famous words, "It may look like me, and sound like me, but I'm not very sure that's me," since there shouldn't be WiFi on the mountain. I should be able to take some pictures if I'm not too tired from the stair-stepping exercise, and climbing.

A rough sketch of the terrain of the Melisau Trail.

In the meantime, let me introduce a few friends of mine: The Whiteboard People. When they are not busy humouring me during random cryptography or mathematical endeavours, they lie by the whiteboard, idle. Lately, they've gotten a little bored (no pun intended), like myself, for the past few months, and decided trying to entertain you, the readers.

Not in Picture: Mothker, Farker The Parents

They should be around every alternate day, but if I get lazy to upload their images, you may miss them for a few days. But, I'll assure you, I'll do my best. Here's their first job:

...And there was certainly, much rejoicing!

That's all for now, let's hope they continue to be up to no good.

110 Resuscitate

Can you digress, even before you start a discussion? I wonder... here's an opener that has nothing to do with the content of this post:

.

Which is the odd one out?

A. REGENERATE

B. REGURGITATE

C. REVITALIZE

D. RESUSCITATE

E. REANIMATE

.

Don't give me that look... I know, you know what the odd word means. Unless you know someone who does that, put this question behind you. Even of you do, I don't want to know who that is.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Now for the actual post.

.

.

.

After yesterday's post, I momentarily died in a blogging accident.

What, you don't believe me? Let me remind you, April 1 ended 2 days, 15 hours, 11 minutes and 34 seconds... 35... 36... 37..., why am I even trying to convince these non-believers? Continue being in your state of denial!

Want to know how that happened? Remember that hidden bush behind me yesterday, that I was so concerned about? Well, at the exact moment I typed/shouted "AND GET OUT FROM THAT BUSH!!!", an old lady who was knitting near the bush was startled and, in self defence, stabbed me me her knitting needle. The needle transected my left ventricle, and my heart stopped beating for about half a minute. Luckily, she was quick minded, and connected that knitting needle to my laptop battery, creating effectively a defibrillator, and shocked me back to life.

As incredulous as the incident was, I decided to Google "died in a blogging accident" and "died in a knitting accident", and I found out that I was not alone is this world. 47,100 other people have died in blogging accidents and 9,490 people have died in knitting accidents. However, no one had experienced these two predicaments at the same time, despite using various variations of the search text, which included "died in a blogging & knitting accident", "died in a knitting & blogging accident", "died in a knitting and blogging accident" and "died in a blogging and knitting accident".

Another interesting statistic that I found was that, 47,098 of the blogging casualties and 9,483 of the knitting casualties occured in the last 3 months, as shown by this histogram, which was constructed on 11 January this year.

Well, what can I say, humans have died in almost all ways possible...

109 Reductio ad Godwinum

Godwin's Law: As a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

For the record, I haven't even started discussing anything, so that probability is just slightly above zero. But, "slightly above zero" is not "zero". So, feel free to sue, or jump out of some hidden bush and attack, frighten, surprise, shock or arrest me, if at any point in the coming discussion, I make a Nazi/Hitler comparison, starting from the next paragraph...

Of the many, many blog entries I've read, I have yet to encounter such a comparison. But let me tell you where I've seen or heard them, in descending order of frequency...

1. KayEye classes: must be one of those days that have driven the philosophy so stale that we had to resort to them
2. TV shows: like CSI and even House MD, that have gone on for a little too long...
3. Wikipedia: but that's because my IS was on Conspiracy Theories, what was I supposed to do?!!
4. Newspapers: wait... those are May 13 comparisons, aren't they? Do they count? Doubt so...

The Law is not to be confused with "Reductio ad Hitlerum", which sounds like some Harry Potter spell condemning you to a Nazi concentration camp... wait... does that count as a comparison? Are you hiding in that bush behind me, second guessing whether to jump? I'm begging you, please don't, I'm too young to die of a heart attack...

I'm waiting, are you there?

Does it count?...

...

...

It doesn't, why? You don't think J. K. Rowling is a Nazi?

Of course she isn't! Can we go on now? What's that you said? I just made another Nazi reference?

...

...

Excuse me for a moment, while I curse loudly... Children, please close your ears or get away from the monitor now...

#$%*&$! (otherwise known as BLEEP)

FINE! I'll stop blogging now! I know! I know! This discussion is getting stale!

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PS: ...AND GET OUT FROM THAT BUSH!!!

108 Really?

April Fools' Day took on a whole new turn this year, as I had let it spread to this blog. The temporary shut down, I will now confirm, is an April Fools' hoax. But, there is some truth behind the people who supposedly shut it down. "Vengeance is Mine Inc." is a title of a short story written by Roald Dahl, which does quite close to what I have described in the URL I published in the hoax page. Inspired by their actions, I created a website that documents exactly what they did, together with a modern twist.

Later I took down the shutting down notice, and replaced with a link claiming to lead to the real blog, but as you would have found out, I rickrolled you, taking you to this video. Youtube, and Blogger itself was also guilty of Rickrolling this season.

Wikipedia was also getting clever this time around, paraphrasing certain entry descriptions on their Main Page to make them sound like utter nonsense, but if you read between the ambiguity, you would notice that the descriptions are actually TRUE!!!

Lastly, BBC recently published this documentary on penguins. I couldn't believe what I saw, and I must applaud them for this amazing find.

That's all the April Fools' hoaxes I have seen around the Internet, there's lots more, but I can't post all of them here because it would take too long. To find more, go to this wikipedia article. Have fun!!!

107 Revenge

"I have to make this fast, since I'm in a bit of trouble here. If there is a form of online hiding, or cubbyhole or safehouse, I'm desperately looking for one now. So, this should be the last post before I go on an online hiatus. Please pray that I return safely...

PS: On the top some .blogspot.com pages, there are two links, one marked next blog (which takes you to a random blog, I think) and there is a flag blog link, too. Don't click the latter no matter how much you hate and despise the "Next Blog". Bye..."

This post was later followed by an unexpected shut down of this blog for over 24 hours, and it was replaced with this post:

This blog has been shut down courtesy of Vengeance is Mine Inc. For more information, please visit vengeanceismineinc.blogspot.com

The original author of this blog has been named a target by a rival blog author, and he is currently awaiting action by us, on behalf of our client, as deemed fit by him.

Punishing offensive blog authors is part of the services we provide to our customers. If you wish to be our customer, please visit the URL above. We look forward to your patronage. Our website is not updated due to safety concerns, but, we assure you that we are still in operation. Thank you.

I guess you all know what's going on. If you don't, check your calendar.

106 Reality Redefined

Photography has a number of uses, mostly we use it to document, to freeze a moment in time so that we remember that moment in the future. It's a form of memory, it's a form of knowledge, like a book, or a recording.

It's also a form of sharing, we use it to tell others what we've done or seen, where we've been, how we got there and who we have met. Photography is also a letter, a journal and a diary. It's a testimony to our experience.

Last, but definitely not the least, photography is used to inspire, to awe, and to stimulate. It is meant to tickle the senses and frolic with the mind. It shows us a dimension of life that some have taken for granted or missed completely. It is a key, an opener of unlocked doors. Therefore, above all, we must never forget that photography is an ART.

This is a form of photography that I created about 1.5 years ago, but I lost the photos that I had first taken. It is mysterious and curious, but at the same time, it looks like we've seen it somewhere before. The swirl of colours will captivate you, along with how it ends with darkness at the corners. Here they are, a series of photos I call "Through The Looking Glass"...

If you're wondering how these photos were taken, think "Youtube"... or the London Underground, if that's easier.

105 Repetition, Replete

An older DSTA code: Can your Greater Mind take another challenge?

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"Oh, no!", you must be crying out loud, "not another one!" I have to admit, it has definitely turned into an obssession and Google-ing has its wonders. After another search, I have found an older version of the DSTA code. Now, what's interesting is that, this one has a different key. And it would have been very difficult, if I didn't crack the more recent ones. Why? A quick look at the code reveals that this time the code is alpha-numeric... what the heck is 4F, 6C and 6E anyway? They are neither familiar numbers nor letters, or are they? Frankly, and very, very honestly, it was by chance from tinkering with a scientific calculator quite a long time ago, that I knew what the letter-number combinations meant. Dare try your luck once more?

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PS: Credits to the author of mybloginthenet.blogspot.com for uploading this picture onto his blog.

104 Realisation/Realization

I have always thought the American spelling looked more elegant than the Queen's version. However, since we were under Lizzie (no, not the one that lived in room 205, and now in Novena) quite some time ago, her English stuck, and but the accent didn't, thank God.

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Anyway, I realised (or, realized, whichever floats your boat) that people thought I was ridiculously calm on the A-Level Results day a.k.a. the Big Day. Really? Let me check my diary, sorry, memory... no, I was not! Now, Houston, we have a problem...

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Let us run through the facts... I can tell you that more than one person said, mentioned, or something like it, that I was not as worried as the others. I'm probably the only person that can argue against it, since everybody was more or less occupied with their own thoughts on that day. So, how do we handle this?

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Let's try personality profiling. By the MBTI, I know that I'm INTP, with the functions in the following order:

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Introverted Thinking (Ti)

Extraverted Intuition (Ne)

Introverted Sensing (Si)

Extraverted Feeling (Fe)

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We can try to extract an explanation out of this, but first let me explain the ropes. The first function on the list is the dominant function, followed by the secondary, tertiary and lastly, the inferior function. The four functions (unlike Extraverted Sensing, etc.) are present in my personality, but, judging by the order, by strongest function lies in Ti while the weakest in Fe. The "strength" is not solely judged by expressiveness, (how often I use the function), but also by dominance (control over the function). So, these are the basics, and by now, if I'm not mistaken, most people with dominant Sensing functions would have stopped reading.

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If you're still here with me, good, let's try to apply this the earlier situation. Ti makes a person very cold internally, and of course that leaks out quite a bit into daily expression. You see, logic is such that it makes a person very hard to sway to internal emotions, hence given a superficial appearance of emotionlessness (if there is such a word), and that makes me calm and placid, and spookily cold and unexcitable on the outside, about 80% of the time. But let me tell you, what goes on inside is totally different, but that is utterly unrelated to this discussion.

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In the remaining 20% of the time, it's usually what would be best described as emotional outbursts, due to the inferior Fe, which means that emotions are preferably expressed rather than kept inside. Of course, happiness and other positive emotions usually dominate. Well, I try to maximise the time I'm happy, just like any sane person would do. Unfortunately, negative emotions are inevitable, and during those times, it's best that you don't come within 100 metres of me. Really! Most people I'm around with long enough, would have accidentally found themselves in that 100 metre radius, but look on the bright side, you now know why it happens, if that's a consolation.

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Of course, we now must figure what actually happened on that day. I was very excited and anxious actually, physiologically all the signs were there, increased heart rate, sweating, temperature fluctuations. all the normal signs of anxiety. There were definitely outbursts, small ones, some may remember how I reacted everytime a bus passed by at Toa Payoh Interchange. Unfortunately, the Fe is weaker than the Ti, the Ti was also switched on at full capacity that day, trying to suppress the Fe, which if uncontrolled (and trust me, you want it controlled) would be potentially embarassing. So, the result could be less than normal external signs of anxiety. Not bad, psychology can be put to good use.

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Or we could resort to Occam's Razor and say that it was a natural bias to perceive someone who you think is definitely going to do well, as much calmer than yourself, who may not do as well. But that is just plain arrogance on my part, isn't it?

103 Retake

I did a Google Image Search for the DSTA code, and guess what? I found another version of the code, same key, but different message. I will place it here, in case it can assist you in cracking the first message. I've given away quite a number of hints already, so no more excuses...

The second DSTA code: The Greater Mind beckons once again...

And while you're at it and need a break, or if you've finished the two codes so quickly that you're bored again, try these puzzles from pages of the Mensa book I'm doing.

Five rather interesting puzzles, for your solving pleasure.

That's it for now, while I go find something else to work on... If you want answers, just find some way to reach me, it's not that hard... comment, MSN, Facebook, you know the drill. But I might only give you more hints, so don't get upset

102 Revealing

No, this has nothing to do with the "Strip Ahead" in big white letters I saw painted on the road in Woodlands the other day. And, by the way, Malaysians, "Xing Ahead" is not some foreign language and it's not related to the Zinger Burger, it means "Cross"ing, I was surprised when someone told me the other day that he didn't know that.

Road Xing: BM road signs got the better of us, huh?

Back to the main point here, now that I'm back home in Malaysia, other than waiting anxiously to get paid to talk about Physics every weekend, there very few other things left to do. So, in the meanwhile, I picked up Mensa puzzles again, and I'm quite surprised that I've achieved much improvement in the Linguistics section as compared to three years ago. Singapore must have done that to me. That's good...

And with Mensa puzzles, comes even greater urge to do code breaking again, and Roger couldn't pick a better time to remind me that the DSTA (Defence Science and Technology Agency) usually places a code along with their scholarship advertisements. So, I dug out the code, and started working on it. My cryptography skills aren't as well honed as those who do it recreationally. I only do it when I stumble upon a code. So, it took me some time to recall some modular arithmetic, and learn how to use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to simplify my job. And guess what, after an hour of trying to manually decide the Mod number, using frequency analysis etc. and another messing around with Excel, I finally revealed the code. It was a feeling I haven't gotten for quite some time, and wow, imagine the excitement. My cryptography wasn't down the drain just yet.

The Code: Yes! I have revealed the Greater Mind, whatever that is...

Ah, the fun of cryptography... Someone wrote, the greatest pleasure of a puzzle lies in unlocking the twisted logic of the setter. Too bad, I'm not a Singaporean and I'm not eligible for the DSTA Scholarships, they would have liked to know that I've cracked the code. But, maybe now I'll seriously consider applying for Mensa.

PS: ...and they sponsor Physics students, one of the few that actually do that... real shame...

101 Revision: Kinematics

Fairly recently, I took in a few of my sister's classmates for extra Physics lessons, and I was doing Kinematics with them, as part of the infamous "Physics Chapter 2", which I struggled with a bit myself when I first tried to self-study during the old days, but I got around it anyway.

So, to lighten things up in this otherwise abstract chapter, I just devised a few questions titled "Meal or No Meal", derived from the popular game show, minus the metal briefcases, models and mysterious banker. The questions require use of the 4 kinematics equations, to decide whether the characters in questions will have "Meal or No Meal?"

So, are you game? Here are the questions...

1. Abu just got a promotion and he decided to treat himself to a delicious meal at the Sangat Jauh Restaurant, which (judging by the name) is on the other side of town. However, as luck would have it, he had to work overtime on that day. Therefore, he had to rush to dinner, and drove his car at 35 m/s, which is way over the speed limit. At Jalan Banyak Mata, he noticed that there is a speed camera ahead of him, and the speed limit there was 20 m/s. He also notes that if he brakes now, he will reach the speed camera in 20 seconds. If Abu kena saman, he would have forget about the wonderful dinner since it would cost him a lot of money. Given that his car has a deceleration of 0.9 m/s/s, your question is… Meal or No Meal?
2. Ben is driving down to Lukut to visit a friend, and since there was not much traffic, he drove at 30 m/s. Suddenly, a cow crossed the road 500 metres in front of his car, and Ben hits his brakes, which decelerated the car at 0.8 m/s/s. If Ben hits the cow, the nearby villagers will have beef rendang for dinner that night. Otherwise, they will only have ulam… sorry, I heard it’s called salad now… for dinner. Therefore, you have to tell the villagers whether they’ll have… Meal or No Meal?
3. Chow just bought a new toaster, but little did he know that the toaster had a slight defect. Upon toasting the bread, the toaster launches the bread with an initial velocity of 8 m/s directly upwards and the ceiling is 3 m above the toaster. On the first morning of its use, he decided to make breakfast with it. If the toasted bread hits the ceiling, the bread will crumble and his breakfast will be ruined. Chow can react and catch the bread only 0.8 seconds after the launch, and the deceleration due to gravity is 10 m/s/s. Once again, the question is… Meal or No Meal? (hint: take the smaller answer)
4. Dinesh is trying to get to the Not Open 24 Hours Fried Chicken fast food restaurant in his area just before it closes. He is approaching a traffic light which he knows will turn red in 10 seconds, but don’t ask me how he knows that. He was initially going at 18 m/s. Since he is a law-abiding citizen, unlike Abu, he can and will accelerate only up to 20 m/s. In addition, the traffic lights are 180 metres in front of him. Luckily, he did the calculations in time, and was able to do the right thing, i.e., break no traffic regulations. Ultimately, if he did not make it past the traffic lights, he would have to go hungry since the store will be closed by the time he gets there. For the last time… Meal or No Meal?
   
   
   
   
   

100 Return

The 100th post is always bound to be a special one, and it has been ingrained in time that the centennial celebrations are always the biggest and the best. This will be another superpost, like 099 Results!! formerly known as Results??, which will be updated from time to time. This post has been slated to record my return to Singapore, and this paragraph is only the beginning. I will be leaving Seremban at 0920 hours tomorrow (Wednesday), and travelling down to Singapore by train. I'll be returning to Malaysia on Saturday, hopefully in time for the election results. So, who's coming along with me on this memorable trip?

And, so sorry for the great delay in the update, apparently my Singapore trip lasted longer than it was supposed to and I forgotten that we must never trust WiFi for stable internet connection. Damn you, M1...

Phase 1 - The first coming... and going

Wednesday (5/3/08) - (Un)surprising return
The trip down to Singapore was mostly uneventful, I read the newspaper from cover page to cover page, and it's Election Time, and guess what, they were hitting out at Anwar, and some fiasco about indelible ink. Yeah, makes great news anytime. Surprising? Not really. Other things to note...
Unsurprising things:
- KTM was an hour late by the time the train reached JB
- Singapore was as cold when welcoming visitors as ever (it was raining the whole evening)
- MRTs are punctual, duh!
- Kids use public buses like Malaysians use school buses.
- The Malaysian news are the most interesting things in the Straits Times

Surprising things:
- They changed the lady who makes announcements in the MRT
- I can still find my way around town after 3 months
- They weren't expecting me to turn up at their apartment, with only an address.
- People actually treat a hospital like a shopping centre, they eat there and they walk through it like it's their home.
- I saw this painted in big, white letters on a road, "Strip Ahead", well, well, well, and I thought nudity was illegal.

Thursday (6/3/08) - The slightly problematic eve

The eve of the big day, wasn't as exciting as it was supposed to be, but nonetheless, had it's fair share of notable things. It was my first commute from Ang Mo Kio to Novena, the first of the few long walks from the flat to the MRT station and it was raining (again!). I took my first step into Novena Square 2 for lunch, via Tan Tock Seng Hospital, (yes, we casually walked through it, weaving around labcoats and wheelchairs).

Nightfall saw my return to Boon Keng and McNair Hostel, for the first time since the 8/12/07, and after having dinner at the place remembered for being the location of JTS (Junior Treat Senior cum Merdeka Celebration), I got back to hostel to collect letters. And, let me tell you, looking through a pile of envelopes for your own letters is an unenviable task, let alone, after the first round, you noticed important letters missing. Now, that is excitement. Went to the "mamak" place near by for tea, and I decided to take the 133 bus back to Ang Mo Kio, leaving by knapsack back in Novena for the first time, so I had one bag here and one bag there. The seal of the .5 resident of the apartment in Novena.

PS: Strangely, the missing letter worried me more than my results.

Friday (7/3/08) - The Big Day

Signs and symptoms that you are excited:
- Your extremities (your arms and legs, not the extreme positions, you smart fella) becomes slightly numb, which is a step beyond the clammy hands of anxiety
- You can go for close to 24 hours without solid food, apparently, adrenaline is one heck of an energy provider
- Riding a bus feels like riding a rollercoaster, I was holding the seat in front of mine so tightly, as if it was going to break away, on the 142 bus to Potong Pasir
- Getting to college seem to take an awful long time. You should see my face at Toa Payoh Interchange, waiting for the 142.
- You pray it doesn't rain on that day, because, I don't know... you tell me.

You know, I want to write my results here, but like my PW (oh no, vulgar word, sorry) results, it's deemed not very nice to boast about in a public space, so unless you really want to know, don't read the following sentence. A for Physics, Maths, Chem. Distinction for H3 Chem and Physics. B for KayEye, and that adds up to Top Science student, Go Figures!

OK, after all the rigmarole and camaraderie of the post A-levels result thing, which at that time, I haven't eaten anything for close to 20 hours, I had my first plate of Spaghetti Carbonara for dinner at Paragon, and all was well... almost everything was well, won't tell what happened, but you should just know that eating Italian Food can get ugly sometimes.

Saturday & Sunday (8/3/08 & 9/3/08) - The Crazy Weekend

The reason why the two days are placed together, is because, I honestly don't know when Saturday ended and Sunday began. Here's what happened...

Saturday and Sunday, the 8th and 9th of March 2008 were significant days for several reasons, in descending order of importance

1. Polling day of the Malaysian General Erections Elections. We all know what happened, BN lost the 2/3 Majority, along with 5 states, which includes the Crown Jewels of the West Coast, Penang and Selangor. Yup, stayed up all night on the internet, and the phone waiting for updates. It was an apartment filled with Malaysians, and rather excited Malaysians, to say the least. The news of the fall of Penang came during dinner at Fish & Co., Novena Square. We were scrambling for confirmation then, using the free internet service at Novena Square. And there was Samy Vellu's loss... it was a long night as news came in. Shocks, surprises, it was just crazy.

1.5. Samy Vellu's birthday, and he lost in Sungai Siput, serves him right... you wanted to retire, right? Great birthday present, then.

2. Unknown to many, I always wondered how it would be like walking outside in the middle of the night, alone. Solitary long walks in the day time, will always be disturbed by the noises of the city. And so, I did it, at about 4 am, Sunday morning, I started off on a long walk from Novena to Ang Mo Kio, it took slightly less than 2 hours, and after that I slept until noon. Furthermore, the only place I could do it is in Singapore, since it would be unimaginable to do this in Malaysia. And, no, I wasn't looking for Mas Selamat, and he didn't find me either.

3. I had the Swensen's Iced Cappuccino, my replacement for having an ice cream there, since I hate ice creams with a passion, and hey, same initials, IC. It was great, having it after... I don't know... half a year. It must be the whipped cream, yup it's the whipped cream on top. And also the Aglio Olio. No wonder we all like going there (for me, it's reasons other than ice cream.)

4. Had a lot of Pizza Hut pizza for lunch on Sunday, 2 pizzas for 2 people is always a little over the roof. But hey, it was free, courtesy of my aunt, the host of my Singapore stay, thank you for that, and also for the bottle of Pepsi, which I enjoyed for the next few days.

5. Watched PS I Love You, good show, this one, and the interesting show with the very sweet Irish husband and his letters to his bereaved wife, combined with the anticipation of the election results, made it all very surreal. I usually don't cry over movies, and I didn't over this one, but nevertheless it was a good attempt. But after all that, it was back to event number 1.

6. NTU Open House on Saturday. After stalling over departure time, we finally got on our way after lunch. NTU, isn't the closest and most accessible place in Singapore, and we got there for just the admission talk, picked up some stuff, and left. Not very eventful, but still worth the visit.

Monday (10/3/08) - Black Monday

I lost my wallet at Novena Square, along with quite a bit of money, the green cards, EZ link card, and ATM card. So, I lodged a police report, replaced the ATM and EZ link cards and that was all. A little frustrating, but I still think I'm the least upset person to ever lose a wallet. Lunch and dinner at Kopitiam, the former at Novena , where the incident happened, and the latter at Dhoby Ghaut. Didn't watch Rule #1, and I went back early, The End.

Tuesday (11/3/08) - The Blustery Day

Went to the ICA to see what I can do about the missing green cards. Well, it was, as it turned out, much ado about nothing. They cancelled the green card, gave me a social visit pass, and I can go back with immediate effect. Yeah, and I thought I had to wait the two weeks to reapply for the card. Things were really looking up. And then, after a few days of nearly no rain, it decided to rain the whole day.

In Malaysia, rain doesn't deter you, you drive the car out, rain or otherwise. But in Singapore, getting anywhere in the rain is a pain. We had packed chicken rice for lunch, and I had to go out in the rain with my very battered umbrella to buy my train ticket to return to Malaysia. And I came back quite wet... actually it was my soaked socks and shoes that were giving me a lot of trouble. After dinner at Han's Terrace in Novena, I got my stuff together from the Novena apartment, took it all back to Ang Mo Kio and here ends the first phase of my return to Singapore.

Phase 2 - On Official Business, sort of...

Saturday (15/3/08) - The Second Open-er

My second return to the little island nation, was due to reasons other than to see all the people living in the Novena Apartment, well that was one of the extra bonuses though, and I upgraded myself from a .5 resident to a full but non-PR status. The checklist of things that needed to be done was...

• Go for NUS Open House, and I was so hoping that it would be more enjoyable than the NTU one, since I really want to do Physics at NUS
• Get my copies of certificates certified, I know, I know, it's a little late to do it... but I wasn't supposed to be in Singapore until last Tuesday...
• Get that recommendation letter from Mr. Mannan, once again, a little late... but, what's the difference?
• Have a bit more fun before going back to the boring little town, soon-to-be boring city of Seremban.
• and, maybe, maybe spot Mr. Selamat... just kidding. I'm not that pretentious, and not as audacious as he is.

...and guess what, NUS didn't let me down, and so did their Subway sandwiches. And it was surprising to note the number of my fellow countrymen and women were studying there after STPM. Interesting... must be due to the 'Q' word thing. Now, which hall of residence to go to...

PS: Someone got a little high on Chivas that night, and my God, I haven't seen you like that before...

Sunday (16/3/08) - A Two-part Outing?

Yes, you heard it right... a two-part class outing... two places, with two slightly different groups of people, and the best of them all, two lunches. Didn't know one stomach could take two meals, back-to-back.

Part 1 was at Mingles in Novena Square, and Part 2, Pastamania at United Square... The problem was that Mingles was not halal, and a Malay friend who was not supposed to be able to come, made it for the outing. A change in the venue was required, but the wait was too long for one person, so minus one, plus one. And plus one again, for a resident of the apartment who was late. So there were 2 people who haven't eaten and the rest had a light lunch while waiting, since we all sat down at Mingles already, hence a second lunch. Spent a little more munny than necessary, but what the heck, an afternoon of food and light chatter, there is nothing better...

PS: Hostel called, informing me that my missing wallet was mailed there...

Monday (17/3/08) - Back to School, Part 1

Yes, this is official business, I had to get my certs certified, but there were slight problems. I had to rearrange the original with the copies, from the 3 separate sets that I had, in the General Office, it was really quite a sight to behold, the sorting filled up an entire coffee table and the floor around it. And with teachers milling in and out... Just strange... My Recommendation Letter was delayed since the internet server was down and Mr. Mannan left it in his e-mail inbox. So, got one thing done, and another was stalled, oh well...

But, it was a morning and afternoon of meeting teachers, catching up with them... I spent the afternoon in the Timetabling Committee office chatting with Mannan, and then another 15-30 minutes with the Deputy Principal, just talking, ah, they were great times, how often will it happen again in the future. And then, there was another stretch of nostalgia...

I took the route that I have taken hundreds of times, from the College back to the hostel. The walk through Potong Pasir, towards the MRT station, nothing much has changed in that place. It would always look the same, I guess. I was retracing the same route I had always taken, it seemed so natural. Then there was the short MRT ride from Potong Pasir to Boon Keng, and the walk through the Towner flats, to the crossroads at McNair and Towner, and I jaywalked there for old times sake. Got to the hostel, retrieved my wallet, had a short chat with the Madam, and then to the bus stop at Balestier Road, the same bus stop I would go to every Tuesday night on my bread delivery route.

Early PS: It was called Morrie-ing in jest, reminiscent of the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom

The paths were so ingrained in my mind, I didn't have to think twice before turning left or right, or crossing the roads. I knew it would be one of the last times I walked down the exact same route, but when you walk, you have to move onwards. And there will no time to look back down the route you taken and think, "Did I just walk down that stretch of road?" and "Will I ever return here?". No, we just walk on, looking ahead at the road ahead of us...

PS: Other notable things to note for this day are, 1) The wallet had everything in it, except my money and $40 worth of Kinokuniya vouchers. 2) I was in the middle of an apple juice fixation.

Tuesday (18/3/08) - Back to School, Part 2 & Other Miscellany

It was the last day in Singapore for quite some time, but it proved to be, after a slow start, not devoid of notable events. Mannan finally got around to printing the recommendation letters, but in the end there was not one, not two, but 3 original letters, quite worth the wait. If not for that trip to school, I would have bored myself to death, for the first time in Singapore.

The trip to school was so different than the one on the 7th, for it was devoid of the excitement that plagued the earlier trip, it was strangely normal. On the 142 bus, I was thinking of the that trip and how I was gripping the chair so tightly, and how that would never happen again on any other bus in the near future.

Lunch at KFC was with only one other person, with whom had just gone for cyrosurgery (cyro = frozen, surgery = cut, the rest is imagination) to remove a "corn", and we compared stories since my "corn" was removed differently, by electrodissectation (electro = electricity, dissectation -> dissect = oh, those poor lab rats!, once again, imagination required). And there was talk about chakra and yoga, after that. Rather interesting, I must say.

The afternoon was spent downloading and playing Scramble, an encrpytion game that messes up famous quotes, and leaves you to unscramble it. It employs a simple substitution cypher, since it's meant to be solvable, can't imagine one that uses a Vigenere Cipher, like the ones I use here.

Dinner at Pizza Hut at United Square was great, judging by the fact that it was my choice, since it was my last night in Singapore. Thank you, everyone, and after that it was a scramble to get to Tanjong Pagar in time for the train and I was reminded how fast Singaporean taxi drivers can drive. This marks the end of my return(s) to Singapore, and also the longest post. So long, and thanks for all the fish fun.

PS: This post stands at close to 3000 words, hands down the longest single post ever written. The 100th post has always been meant to be this great.

099 Results!!!

The Final Update:
Ladies and Gentlemen, we finally have official notification of the release date, drumrolls please....

7th March 2008, Friday

After weeks of speculation, and waiting, and more waiting, we finally can release half a sigh of relief... now onwards to Singapore!!!

Another Update:
If you didn't know already, two different types of results that holds much importance to this Malaysian will may be released this week, the first is what this whole post is supposed to be about, the 2007 Singapore A-Level results, an the other is the 2008 Malaysian General Election Results. Since the bloody callous highly efficient but cautious MOE has not decided to notify us of the date of the results release, we are all impatiently cursing anxious but patiently waiting for MOE to get that figured out.

Update:
Ok, people, this update is dated 29th February 2008, and the neither the results nor the notification of the date is out. This means that other than the obvious fact that the already small probability that the release is today is now zero, the probability that the release date is the 3rd and 4th has diminished greatly to less than 5% combined (in other words, don't count on it, but don't count on MOE either). The area of highest probability is on the 6th (as predicted by the algorithm) or 7th with at least 85% probability, 5th is marginally probable, I would give it 5%, and the remaining 5% for a date after the 7th.

My plan, for the information of those already in Singapore, is that I'm leaving on Tuesday night, arriving on Wednesday morning in Singapore. I've got accomodation, so don't worry about that.

An overview of the entry:
This is an entry that will attempt to make an educated guess on the release date of the 2008 Singapore GCE A-Levels results. I cannot assure you that I've not made any faulty mathematical assumption that will undoubtedly thwart the final answers and estimations. I also have to inform you that I'm working with very limited data, which will lead to crude approximations of probabilities. Lastly, I apologise in advance if I've inadvertently led you (the readers) to experience any form of distress, whether due to planning based on the given mathematical results, undue emotional anxiety or in any other unforseen way.

The Algorithm:
I've used the data of the previous release dates of the Singapore A-level results to deduce an algorithm which may describe how the dates were chosen. First, the data is as follows...

6/3/1996 Wed
6/3/1997 Thurs
6/3/1998 Fri
6/3/1999 Sat
4/3/2000 Sat
3/3/2001 Sat
6/3/2002 Wed
6/3/2003 Thurs
5/3/2004 Fri
4/3/2005 Fri
1/3/2006 Wed
2/3/2007 Fri

The possible algorithm which may have been used is this...

The date of release is the 6th of March unless the 6th of March falls on a Monday, Tuesday, Sunday or [Saturday (with effect after 2001)]

If the 6th is a Sunday or [Saturday (after 2001)], the results will be released on the previous "working day" i.e. [Saturday (before 2002)] or [Friday (after 2001)]

If the 6th is a Monday or Tuesday, the results will be released on a random March date (it was Saturday twice, Friday once and Wednesday once).

This algorithm is solely based on the previous years' data, and it is the simplest algorithm possible, taking into account as few variables as possible. My estimation is that there is about a 50% chance that an algorithm is totally non-existant, another 30% that there is such a system, but there are a few errors in the factors, and a 20% chance that it is true.

Assuming the algorithm is true, the 2008 A-level results will fall on the 6th of March since this year, that day is a Thursday.

Additional information:
- A separate analysis on the date of NOTIFICATION of the release reveals that it is quite common for the the notification date to be only 2 days before the release date. The longest recorded gap is 5 days, (it spanned a weekend, 24/2/2006, Friday to 1/3/2006, Wednesday), while the shortest is a gap of 2 days, occuring for all years before 2005)

- If there is no notification today, (25 February) there is a 70% chance that the results will on be released next week. The earliest predicted release is 29 February, a Friday. Previously, when the release date was a Friday, the notification was made once on a Monday, once on a Tuesday, and twice on Wednesday

-Therefore the following probabilities are true based on limited data
P(Notification on x given that results on 29 Feb)
when x (date) is
25/2 = 25%
26/2 = 25%
27/2 = 50%

Do not be thrown off by the large probabilities, the actual probability of that day being the release date is (the given probability x probability that the results are released on the 29th)

098 Remainder

I think I wrote a very long time ago, that there were a couple of Photoshop projects which I have created for my sister. Here they are, the first is for a presentation on Mesopotamia, the second for the Sajak Anak Laut, and the last for the Prosa Tradisional "Hikayat Bayan Budiman"

096 & 097 Removed?

Not very sure what happened to this two entries... They just disappeared into thin air, like...like... when the ISA people come and arrest you without trial. I'm still looking for them, but I fear they have been kept in some prison somewhere in the Ulu-ulu place in Malaysia. But, don't fret, they can still win in the General Election from there.

095 Regress (part 1)

This entry is about a theory of MBTI - Blog Characteristic Correlation, so if you're not interested, or really don't want to bother taking the time to understand the MBTI system, just skip this entry, because it will be hard to follow the reasoning (which has, by the way, nothing to do with regression, other than the fact that correlation is the mathematical opposite of regression, and that annoying "re-" obsession).



So, let's get to work... using known MBTI profiles associated with known blogs, I shall now attempt to speculate correlations between the two aspects, starting with mine...



NTs - The Knowledge-seeker temperament creates blogs that are usually philosophical, containing many abstract concepts and issues, causing it to be sometimes very hard to follow for the layperson. They are more or less information-based, and used as a platform to disseminate discoveries, theories etc. and also a place for either personal discussion or to stimulate thinking in others.



INTP (myself) - The NT temperament creates a blog that contains more knowledge-based information than the average NT, but due to the P effect, individual entries may lack organisation which makes it increasing harder to get around. The I causes it to be even less interpersonal with more emphasis to intrapersonal dialogue, or sort of a monologue written out. Also, there may be some warped humour. Grammar is also given a lot of emphasis.



ENTP - Once again, the NT temperament creates an informational blog, with more discussion rather than emotional rantings. The P makes entries a little disorganised, but more spontaneous. The E factor, however, softens the hard-ness of the issue since the author takes more effort in communicating his ideas to an audience rather than making it a self-fulfilling task. Grammar is somewhat as good but languange is kept less technical and straight-forward. It's all about the communication. Humour is somewhat better too. By the way, if you (the person I'm referring to in this paragraph) read this, I need a data check and balance. It should pique your interest.

NFs - The Ideal-seeking temperament, and personally, I like the blogs generated by people of this temperament, the blogs tend to be very private diary-ish, combined with attempts at understanding life, though it gets a little whine-ish at times, but takes into accounts their own feelings and also others. The warm types, these people.

INFJ - The blog tends to be an outpouring of personal emotion and problems, since an introverted NF tend to keep their problems away from the general public and prefer to channel the emotions somewhere else. It makes you symphatise, if not empathise, with the author. The J makes him a loyal and regular author to the blog, and makes him treat it as a confidante. Feeling tend to take precedence over other issues since the F factor is present, with the N philosophical twist.

ENFP- If you like listening to outright and loud complaints, this type's blogs is just the place for you, and when not complaining, they are usually passionately discussing a topic that hold their interests at that point of time, but don't expect follow-ups. The P factor makes their mood while blogging rather hard to guess. One entry could be all emotional, while the next may be passionate and another full of anger at a person. Entries may be frequent if the author is bored and has a lot of time to spare since their extravertedness demands frequent outpouring of ideas and emotions.

ENFJ- My favourite type of blog, it combines the good points of the above two types, the loyalty, warmness and closeness of the INFJ, and the passion and the flair of the ENFP. There are regular bloggers who make great story-tellers, they make you want to be interested about their life, written out lke a true novel. There are ups and sometimes there are downs, but the author shares the joy and makes you symphatise in the down times. Never abrasive, and ever-charming.

094 Relate, Relations, Relationships

I know it's a bad idea to start any entry with a dash of etymology, but I must do it...
Relate and its derivatives come from the root word "relatus", Latin for "brought back".

And if you were wondering, the constant use of entry titles with the prefix re- was a pure coincidence, until about 5 minutes ago...

Since today is the day when, for some unknown reason, people who have partners give each other gifts because St. Valentine, who isn't married, by the way, decided to do just that. And someone had to throw in a cherub named Cupid somewhere in between just so that archery will never go out of fashion. If only love was that easy... just like Midsummer's Night Dream, sometimes we fall for asses and it's all the cherub's fault.

I'm a rather good mood, since the materialistic aspect of the day hasn't got to me yet (hey, Cupid, great job there...and no, I'm not being sarcastic), and so I'll share a nice song with you now...



This song is titled, "Journey to The Past", by the late Aaliyah, OST - Anastasia. This song is eclipsed by the other famous Anastasia song, "At the Beginning" by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis (I think). It's a great song, and I like her voice... and the show, which I last watched slightly less than a decade ago, is rather good too.

But of course, I must also wish you a Happy Chinese New Year of the Muridae family (or of the Rodensia order), or if you are not as bored as I am and got a lot of better things to do than to read Wikipedia, it's the year of the Rat, Mouse, Gerbil, Hamster.., and any other creature than run on spinning wheels. This a special greeting from me, enjoy the contraption...



Damn you Youtube, making a perfectly clear video all blurred up... OK, not much time tonight, going somewhere, (to be exact, about 60 km to the North, to a place called Seri Kembangan, where the air is thicker with the KL car exhaust fumes, and the trees are not as healthy, and the roads are not as safe... etc.)

Only two more episodes to the Season 3 Finale of House on AXN, yay, then it's on to Season 4, if I ever get around to downloading them. And if that corn of my left foot works up again, I swear I'm going to get a cane.