Rest In Peace

My teacher, Mr. Seow Tian Pow,

a legendary Physics teacher in SMJK Jit Sin,

passed away on December 23rd, 2013,

sending shock wave throughout the Jit Sin community,

apparently died of a sudden heart attack.

The news hit hard and spread fast.

He's young, and he's such a lovely and optimistic teacher.

He had no prior sickness, or at least none is visible.

His death was sudden, and astonishing.

Jit Sin has suffered a great lost.

We all have lost a very dedicated and brilliant teacher,

a teacher who taught with loving heart,

a teacher who spreads his infectious optimism wide,

a teacher whose laughter fill every corners in the school,

a teacher who brings sunshine to every darkness.

Rest in peace, my teacher,

you'll forever be in our heart,

we will never ever forget you.

Rest in peace, Mr. Seow.

Inferno

The book hit the market about six months ago, but due to severe financial constraints (RM98.90 per book) couldn't fork out my meagre money to purchase it, despite being constantly propelled by intense enthusiasm and excitement.

When I went to Taiwan a few weeks ago, I found the book at a book shop, and it cost only NT$450 (due to depreciation of Malaysia Ringgit, it converts to RM50), and so I bought it immediately. After all, RM50 for a hard cover book is very worthy.

Inferno is slightly different from Dan Brown's other work. It begins immediately with a suspense, and it catches pace after it. Unlike The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol, they begin with great suspense, and the mysteries build up over pages and then the pace quickens. Inferno decides to be a little recalcitrant - it begins with Robert Langdon awakes with amnesia, and realises himself being hunted by assassins who will go to great lengths to ensure he does not breathe anymore.

What enlightens me the most is that this book contains very minimal Christianity compared to The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. I'm not a Christian, and no offence, but I have no interest to read about religions in a purely fictitious novel. I don't really care about the controversy behind them, because I ain't a Christian and I know nothing, and I think fictions are fictions. They do not merit solid historic background. If your education prepares you right, you can tell whether a historic fact in a fiction is authentic or misleading.

However, Inferno is, in my opinion, less engaging than the other Robert Langdon's series, although the suspense is still powerful enough to keep me absorbed for hours.

Probably the best book for 2013. I'm definitely waiting for the sequel.

Away

I have begun working. I wouldn't want to waste the 9 months before university admission on September next year. I'm staying at a hostel near my working place which does not provide any entertainment facilities, including internet service. Hence, I wouldn't be blogging often.

I will most likely work till only February next year, quit, and focus on retakes, and then find another job to fill the time. Right now, STPM retakes would be more important than my current work. But we'll see.

But till next year, I'll be away. Bye.

Imagine

After I completed my STPM, I realised with horrible sense that I have completely lost the ability to write in English, and at the same time I have failed to improve my English with the same burning passion I was had.

Perhaps there's no motivation for me to do so. Back when I was form 4, I had SPM, specifically GCE-O grade, to aim for. After SPM completion, I have MUET, one exam I swear I must achieve at least a Band 4, and with great struggle due to a simultaneous STPM exam, I managed to scrape through Band 5 by achieving a mere 220.

Now, I have a lost of aim. A sense of emptiness that drives me further. I know one day I'll regain my passion, but right now I have lost it, and sadly I couldn't retrace it.

Perchance it's good. It allows me to have a break from everything. Right now, all I am concerned about is indulging in reading, and I did.

Reading is one of the greatest passion I have, and one that'll never fade for a foreseeable future. You know why? Well, I think I'm going to flatter myself for once - I have good visualisation.

Whenever I read a book, I attempt to let myself be absorbed into the book, to make myself a part of the fictitious world and as a passerby witnessing the ongoing events that are transpiring in the novel. The change of setting allows me to assume the identity of a jumper, where I could be one place at a time, and when a event terminates for once, I'll jump to another setting, viewing a story that is simultaneously happening at a different place.

I like this ability of mine. It perhaps ain't a unique one, but it certainly is one I have. That's also why I am better at narrative essay. When I allowed myself to be absorbed, I'll remember every events that transpired, and they'll etch in my memory as a gum that stuck at the sole of your shoes. It allows me to write with the same elaboration but perhapsess interesting and beautiful as I have not possessed the ability to write as wonderful as the talented writers out there who always publish books to feed the hungry souls like me.

Every time a writer narrates something, my imagination will start to go wild. If a writer begins to describe a countryside, I'll begin to recall what I saw in kampung, but with imports of Western elements. I imagine a streets with bungalows, all without fence and with beautiful porches. I imagine a boy cycling on the street, wearing an attire and helmet he probably bought with every money he has. I imagine a few ladies watering their plants in the garden, or men with green fingers doing some planting. Perhaps I'll see a few people bringing their pets for a stroll, a few cars driving on the road. A wonderful weather with nice sky and weak sunlight. Refreshing air that brings everything alive in the place, and a temperature so comfortable it makes living there such an amazing one.

Imagination. You need to utilise well because it is one that everyone has but lays dormant until something triggers it to be wildly active. I have triggered mine, and I attempt to trigger it further so that it gives me more pleasure while reading. It is one with unknown potential, but one that appears to never stop expanding.

Disappointed

Disappointment.

Disappointed.

Ever since I first started doing this, it never succeeded. Everything I planned would never be carried out smoothly, and most got cancelled at the end.

Disappointment is what possesses me ever since I was small.

When I got happily waiting for something, looking for something, they'll be something that'll make me despondent, make me sad and cause a change of plan.

Whatever I do, things will never go smoothly as I want them to be.

Perhaps, this is life, and people grow mature from accepting a faith they know they couldn't change.

And mine, would be full of disappointment.

Perhaps I should stop expecting or hoping too much. Perhaps it'll be easier that way.

Recommended Books for STPM Third Term

As the same, I'll be only recommending books I find good and for subjects I studied. However, each person might have different opinion on the quality of the book, so please make the choice yourself. Compare them before you buy.

(Updated 12/12/14) It is also worth mentioning that it appears that Sasbadi has bought over Pearson Longman, or the publication right has been transferred to Sasbadi. But anyway, the content remains the same. Since the books have ceased being published under Longman, any book below I mentioned as "Longman" is now "Sasbadi". Take note. 

PENGAJIAN AM

The good thing about this semester is that there is no subjective questions. The bad news would be: you have three essays to be completed, together with 15 objective questions, in 2 hours. So time's really precious, use it wisely.

For this term, you'll be studying isu-isu antarabangsa yang melibatkan Malaysia. Malaysia's international involvement will be your main concern, together with threats to Malaysia and problems Malaysia face at international level. You'll need good notes on this as there are quite a lot of organisations out there you will encounter.

Data synthesis will be something new for you. There's no certain format for the synthesis, no strict rules on how they should be written, and no word limits. You'll be taught on understanding the questions' requirement by searching for the key words such as bandingkan pola, bandingkan kebezaan and so on. Jadual will be the easiest to synthesise among all. Carta might be a little confusing but is actually a long essay with points given, provided that you're able to link the points together to deliver an essay that fits the data. Graf has not been asked for years.

Essay questions will test you on Malaysia's international participation or threats to Malaysia, which will be quite tough.

So the reference book I'll be recommending would be Oxford Fajar. The book contains sufficient and well-organised notes on isu-isu antarabangsa Malaysia, and there's a section isu dan cabaran which will be very helpful for the essay part. Longman's incomplete. There's only a little about D8, OIC, ZEE and some organisations that are actually important. Pelangi's good too but not better than Oxford.

I'll say just go for Oxford.

PHYSICS

This term's physics is kinda horrible, perhaps only a little better than the first term (to me). Anything that cannot be categorised under dynamics, thermodynamics and electricity will be thrown into the third term. As a result the students suffer. You'll be studying waves, geometrical optics, wave optics, quantum physics and nuclear physics, which are in no way linked to each other, unlike the previous terms.

You'll need good notes on wave optics particularly as this chapter is considered the hardest for this term.

Pelangi and Oxford are written by the same author, so choose either one if you insist on buying them. To me, Pelangi is the better option. Oxford contains mostly past year questions that you should be able to get from your teacher. Pelangi has more exercise than Oxford, and the questions are much tougher. This is probably because the questions are taken from 1990s STPM which were much tougher. 

Longman's good. For the first three chapters, the notes are written by Lam Chok Sang and Lim Seang Kee. The notes were poor comparatively to Pelangi and Oxford in the sense that the note prepares you for answering but not knowledge gaining. The notes are relatively short, but the essays are good. The remaining four chapters are written by Ng Ow Ving, and like the second term book, the notes are too long and the exercise are too easy for STPM level. 

To me, I'll advise you to go for Longman for first exposure and building basic, and then move on to Pelangi for further solidification. But if you can afford only one book, go for Pelangi. Pelangi's good enough.

*Both Oxford and Pelangi are quite different in their explanations about lensmaker's equation and thin lens formula. The formulae he uses is different from the one required by MPM, although both are correct. 

CHEMISTRY

You'll be studying only organic chemistry for this term. Organic chemistry is rather independent and involves only a little calculation, and you'll not touch the data booklet often as well. And the best thing about organic chemistry: you do not need to balance the equation if the equation is complicated like carbonyl compounds reaction with Fehling's solution. The downside: you'll need to have good memory.

I didn't use Pelangi, so I can't comment on it. Oxford is good and the notes are short and concise. The exercise are mostly past year questions. Longman's very good. The notes are very detailed and the exercise are really good. But longman's a bit poor at polymer. The explanation is a bit vague.

If I were to recommend one, I'll say go for Longman. 

MATHEMATICS (T)

There are three chapters that are not covered in the terminal system, that are sampling and estimation, hypothesis testing and chi-squared tests. Don't be floored by them, hypothesis testing and chi-squared tests are rather easy, you should be concerned about sampling and estimation and probability distribution.

Statistics is very boring, but it does not mean it's easy. It can be quite tough, but however tough it is it won't be as painful as the first term. 

Because the three chapters are new, all three books were published in a haste, and the notes for the last two chapters particularly were very short and vague. Hence, none of the three books are good enough for the two chapters.

Oxford Fajar Maths is the worst reference books you'll encounter in your life. The notes are very vague. No guides on drawing box and whisker plot, very little explanations on probability distributions, focus are given to questions that are too tough and ended up got simple questions like simple integration wrong, answers given are wrong and the amount of wrong answers are way too plenty to be forgiven, contains some topics that are not in the syllabus, and shows examples of tough questions like probability distribution involving method of difference and ignoring simple methods of solving the questions. I don't know what has happened to the book. The previous two terms were of highest quality but this term the book has degraded to a horrible level. I hope it's better for the next publications. It's better if they rewrite the whole book. The notes for Probability is the worst (including the exercise), while the examples for Probability Distribution is worse than nightmare. Don't blame me for being too acerbic. I have the right to be angry for spending RM29.90 for a book that gave me nothing but a life time regret.

Longman's good, but the last two chapters are way too vague and contain insufficient exercise. The notes really are well-organised and written in a way to engage the readers, and you'll really understand what everything is about if you read the notes. The exercise in the books are a bit too easy though. However, the last two chapters spoilt everything.

Pelangi's note a bit long, and the exercise is a bit easy too. 

For the reasons given above, I'll suggest Pelangi. While it is not the best (notes not better than Longman for first four chapters), it contains the least flaw. And so I'll recommend Pelangi. Avoid Oxford Fajar, you'll regret it.

*All reviews above are solely my opinion. 

Recommended Books for STPM First Term
Recommended Books For STPM Second Term 

STPM Term 3: Day 3

After a week break from the previous paper, I went back for the last paper for this term: Chemistry.

Now, chemistry is really a paper everyone feared.
1) Organic Chemistry is quite tough, especially for essay. Even if your memorising ability has served you well for many years, the questions could baffle you at first sight because essay questions really present themselves as an essay.
2) Whoever set the chemistry paper was really good, and overestimated Malaysian's intelligence. The questions for the second term was downright ridiculous (not too tough, but required real mind twisting we do not have time for).

This term, it's not that good as well. Objective questions were not straightforward and required some serious thinking. Subjective was okay but asking us for reaction between ethylamine and bromine was rather unexpected. Essay question was fine. I almost made a mistake that'll cost me 9 marks, but I've corrected it and hopefully it was correct.

Summary: Term 3 chemistry was much better than term 2 chemistry.

And this paper officially marks the end for STPM 2013.

STPM Term 3: Day 2

First paper for the day would be Pengajian Am. This term would be quite hectic as we have to write 3 essays in a mere 2 hours, and within the given time we are also required to complete 15 objective answers, so time's really precious

The objective questions were....odd. Questions asked were completely new and simply bizarre, but it was fine. The data synthesis was fine. The second data on inflation rate baffled everyone (science stream) who saw it, but it appears that econs students have no difficulties answering it. Perhaps Ekonomi gave them an advantage.

The essays were the tricky one. All three questions were vague-sounding, and ended with only a word bincangkan. This type of questions were what everyone dreaded and feared because you can't tell for sure what the question wants. The worst thing is Pengajian Am has one of the worst marking scheme in Malaysian education, so answering this kind of question is a huge risk. And we were forced to take the risk.

Fine, I answered two of them. Won't be expecting good result

Afternoon paper was Mathematics (T). The questions were rather straightforward and easy, so I wouldn't make a huge fuss about it. Chi-squared test on contingency table were expected, but the Pearson coefficient of skewness was way out of expectation as it was way too easy. But the bright side: everyone gets good score.

STPM Term 3, Day 1

It's the last term, and the last paper for every subject.

It starts with Physics as the first paper. Unlike previous years where it would begin with PA, this year they decided to break the trend and put Physics as the first paper. The reason I could think off is probably because now, they wanna complete all papers in four days, hence the put several papers together in one slot. This might cause some people to have two papers at the same time (paper crashing), and to minimise such problem they have put PA to the 2nd day, and Physics to the first slot on the first day, together with Bahasa Arab.

Anyway, Physics paper 3 was downright ridiculous. The objective questions were fine, structured were a bit unexpected but you could do your best to come out with plausible answers. Essay questions were the toughest one. First of all, it tested us on topics we never found important because it was too hard, and it came out with a question that required a trigonometry formulae we learnt only in the first term. After a year I believe most have forgotten it.

And, like every STPM papers, the pattern of the question is new and not previously found. Basically, for STPM, past year questions aren't really helpful because the questions don't usually repeat themselves and the lecturers present their questions differently every year. This year it definitely is something quite new, and I really got a shock when I saw the questions.

Well, what can I say? This is STPM. The third term exam began with a sense of foreboding, as it has appeared to be.

Just in case you're curious about the essay questions, I'll show you two of the three questions:

18) 
(a)        i.  What is meant by a transverse wave?
           ii.  Distinguish between a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave.

(b) The periodic motion of a particle at the left end of a stretched string is defined by

y = 6.0 sin pi t

where y is in centimetres and t in seconds. The wave disturbance travels along the string at a rate of 6.0cm per second. 

(i)    Derive an expression for the displacement of a second particle on the string at point x to the right of the first particle at a later time t.

(ii)   Determine the displacement of the second particle is x is 80cm and t is 1 minute.

(c) A transverse wave is given by

       y = 6.0 sin pi(4.0t + 0.020x)

where x and y are in centimetres and t in seconds.
(i)   Determine the speed of the wave.
(ii)  Determine the maximum transverse wave of a particle of the wave.
(iii) Sketch the shape of the wave when t is 0.125s.


20)
(a) Explain the terms "energy levels" in an atom, and state the reason for its negative signs.

(b) Explain what do you understand by
     (i)    the ionisation energy of an atom,
     (ii)   the occurrence of a line spectrum

(c) A hydrogen atom in its second excited state undergoes a transition to the ground state by emitting photons. Determine the possible wavelengths of the emitted photos.

(d) A hydrogen atom is excited with its electrons in the energy level n = 4. Determine the energy, in eV, that is require to ionise it.

(e) An electron with energy 1.80 x 10^-18 J collides with a hydrogen atom in its ground state and the electron is deflected. If the hydrogen atom is excited with its electron in the energy level n = 2, determine the energy of the deflected electron.

Two Weeks

Two more weeks left to graduation. 8 more schooling days, to be precise.

I am very sure I'll miss my secondary school life. I've spent seven years in this school, have been mixing with my friends for so long, and I'm sure graduation, though doesn't signify a permanent end, will have a huge bearing on how we interact.

I'll miss my secondary life, where I have a class, I have a table to keep my stuffs, and classmates to play with.

I'll be posting one post dedicated to everyone on my secondary school later.

ICAS English

I sat for ICAS English in July this year. I was the sole candidate from upper 6 and therefore I was the only one sitting for Paper J. Prior to sitting this paper, I had not touched English for almost a year. The last time I sat for an English test would be MUET. Due to extreme lack of preparation and shortage of time, I didn't expect to do well for the paper.

And I didn't. I scored 37 out of 60, 3 questions answered correct less than the one I sat for 2 years ago, Paper I. But shockingly, I was ranked among the top 8 percent in Malaysia, and ergo was given a distinction certificate.

Well, I consider there a little weird, and believe it is because there are significantly less students sitting for Paper J as only upper 6 are eligible.

Anyway, target reached. Distinction obtained!

Memories

Humans grow mature when they lose something in their lives - no matter big or small, influential or negligible - and then begin to miss or reminisce about it.

You see, I have not been a fan of technology, and ergo I possess simple technological devices that are devoid of apps considered advanced. I have no camera or a phone with a camera. The only way I remember stuffs is by remembering. 

My brain, therefore, is my camera, and a video recorder.

Everything that transpires and deserves to be kept is being saved in my brain. I could remember details that were happy in my lives. And though I could not remember vividly, I could feel the emotion that I experienced. And that contributes to my fluctuating emotions daily.

I'm not sure whether not capturing anything in hard copy is a wise decision, but I'm soon opting for a material means of collecting moments of joys. Perhaps, time has changed, and people have to move on, or risk being left behind, and breaks ties with contemporary people.

Exam + Starwalk

I'm busy this few days, so I gonna make this short.

I've finished my exam last week, the very last exam I sat in a secondary school. The trial wasn't important to me because it practically covers the entire semester syllabus (which is preposterous to require us to master 5 months syllabus in 2 1/2 month time), and so I didn't care much about it.

Next, Starwalk on Sunday!

My friends and I went to Penang hotel for a night stay on Saturday. Together with my friends, Kuan Chiet, Chun Yee, his brother and Ming Tai - and yes I'm the driver - we went to Northam and had lunch before we wrapped up the night. The thing I like the most about Northam beach cafe is the scenery. I love the view of the beach, but when we reached there, it was night, and the weather appeared unfriendly and later it rained.

Anyway the dinner was extremely pleasing, although my wallet would have protested.

The night was fine. The hotel was horrible. The room was small, the bathroom door cannot be locked, and the air-conditioner was not cold.

I slept for approximately 4 hours and woke up at 4.00am so that I had enough time to prepare myself for a 7km walk. Reporting time began at 5.30am but past experience told me that the process was time wasting even though it was actually a simple one. Anyway, when it kicked off, the crowd moved forward with a pace even tortoise would laugh till the history of its lifespan had to be shortened by half. Too many people were there and most of them were busy taking photos instead of actually walking.

The walk was fine. The problem with non-competition is that lots of people were there to literally just wander, and not pacing. Me, Kuan Chiet, Yun Sheng and his friend decided to hold a competition ourselves and drill through the crowds as fast as possible.

The route this year was bad. We walked through streets so small crowds had to squeeze each other to cross it. The heritage site were not interesting and most were not accessible as they were only within viewing distance not on walking path. Traffic police were not in certain streets where roads were busy.

Anyway, we finished the walk in 1 hour and 8 minutes, which was about 8 minutes more than it took me last year. Horrible.

But, after all, the walk was fun. And I'll most probably return next year, if possible.

Accidents

Too many people got involved in motorcycle related road accidents recently. A person from my school was knocked and sustained serious injuries that led to him in a coma. He has since woken up, but his condition was still not known.

I do not know him, but I feel painful for him.

A friend of mine also got into an accident two years ago, it was a hit-and-run.

Motorcyclists please be careful. Sometimes being cautious is not enough. When you encounter someone who is brainless, driving with extreme caution is pretty useless.

Take care, and avoid rush hour traffics and riding in bad weathers.

Penang Trip

Long holiday fatigues me so I decided to have a trip to Penang. I called a friend who inspired me to have this trip, called four more friends but only three more were able to join. Managed to got a Nibong Tebal friend on board by saying I would drive there from BM. I didn't even know why I came up with that idea but I gotta say it's not a really bad decision. 

It was Sunday and after Raya, so traffic going out of Penang was exceptionally heavy. Driving down to Nibong Tebal was quite uncomfortable but I guessed I could learn to get used to it. Who knows, years later I will be one of the contributors to this nasty traffic.

Next, we headed to Penang.

First Stop

First stop was Prangin Mall. I parked my car there and we walked our way to komtar and went to eat cendoi and laksa at the stall immediately adjacent to it. The food was nice, but not so lovely to be called two-thumbs up. The price, however, was two thumbs down. Incredibly exorbitant.

Image taken from http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com

The weather was scorching so we left the place quite fast. A friend came out with the idea to go Armenian Street to seek the street arts, but considering the sweltering weather was a huge hindrance, I said we'll go in the evening, and we agreed. After the meal, we went to the next stop.

Second Stop

Gurney Paragon!

Image taken from www.leinvest.com

Comments: Too high class for ordinary people like me. Winding and extremely narrow parking and poor system. I'll say the lousy system is pardonable because the mall is still new, but the way they built the parking was laughable. The construction was poor (a bit too low), the curve was intimidatingly narrow (huge cars please be aware), and most of the lights malfunctioned. Oh, and we almost got into a lift made up entirely of soft wood.

Not my cup of tea. Won't visit again.

Well, I did go to Harvey Norman to kill some time while waiting for time to dinner. Having none advanced technology in possession, being able to fiddle with some at a crowded mall is quite appealing. The new computers with touch cover looks very weird and the keyboard is so flat and solid, I don't even know why would anyone bother to use it. Then I was looking at several iPads and smartphones that looked nice, but the price alone would rob you one month of meals.

Third Stop

Northam! The food I aimed!

It was only 5pm but because we still had several stops, we had to make it quick and take early dinner.

The restaurant was situated at a seaside, and while sitting there you could hear the sound of the waves hitting the beach. Okay, the foul smell emanating from the beach is a little disgusting, but the sound of the waves was really relaxing. 

So we ordered some foods that were, in retrospect, quite exorbitant. Two chicken pot pies, one German sausage, one Arabian sandwich, pasembur, hokkien mee and umm....two cups of drinks. 

I would really love to go there again.

Fourth Stop

Armenian Street! It was around 5pm, the sun had begun to set and the weather had begun to cool down. It was quite fun walking around the streets with lots of strangers. The atmosphere was different, and somehow the ebullience spread out the entire place and your fatigue would be wiped out instantly if you were there.

So my friend went there to look for one of the newest drawing: the minions! It took us a while to find it, and when we've found it, to be frank, I never expected it to be the pole on a middle of a narrow road. No wonder my friend said "find the tiang". Now I know why tiang! 

The street arts were not centralised within a street so we had to walk quite a distance to find the others. I had to drive from one street to the other end to find the drawings of a young girl and a young boy on the swing. 

And the traffic had really become heavy.

Fifth Stop

Ubah bird!

We didn't know where the bird was and so we had to try every place we can go. My friend suggested it was beside the highway so I literally turned into every left turns available along the stretch of the highway. It was dark, almost 8pm, so finding a floating plastic bird on an unlit water was quite tough. Eventually we found it, and the location was really unexpected.

Due to time constraints and fear of traffic jams, we left rather fast. Anyway, it was dark, and photo snapping was quite impossible.

Sixth Stop

Nibong Tebal pasar malam! Lol!

After dropping one of my friends at Perniagaan Gemilang, I had to drive my friend back to NT. The traffic had turned so slow even tortoise could walk fast than your car. After exiting Juru Toll the traffic was fine, and I could drive to 110km/h. And I thought the traffic was so smooth and everything would be fine.

Shortly after Simpang Ampat toll, the traffic came to an immediate halt. There was no reason for the sudden gridlock. The first stretch was due to two massive lorries, driving side by side, that crawled slowly on the highway and caused the extremely long line of cars behind them. After passing them the second gridlock was long and I didn't get to see what happened. I exited the Nibong Tebal and freed myself from Hell.

It took me one hour to drive from BM to NT, and I drove the last 1.5km on the emergency lane, tempted by my friends and other cars. Thinking of it now, I don't even know I should feel ashamed or I should laugh at it.

Exiting the toll, my friend brought me to pasar malam in NT. It was still crowded despite being 10pm at night. I met up with another friend there, who went there 9.10pm and waited for 1 hour to meet with us. Sorry ya, lol. My friends had supper but I had only a cup of coffee because I felt sleepy and my leg was sore due to the jam.

After dropping my friend home, I drove back to BM by highway again. Going back to BM was smooth and the traffic was light. It took me a mere 25 minutes to reach BM and everything was fine.

It was a nice day, a nice trip, a real eye-opener for heavy traffic, and nice experiment. I would love to go out like this again in the future, haha!

*Photo credited to my friends, YYX

Guide for Mathematics T Assignment, Sem 3/2013

You can't copy all the answers as this semester involve random digits that are impossible for two individuals to have completely same data, hence, this guide will only be assisting you in solving the questions. This serves as only a guide, so no detailed solution here.

Question 1
Give the definition of subjective probability. Find the definition online and describe three examples. Don't just give, describe! For example: "The subjective probability that a China player would win in the match, as deemed by the Chinese player, would be 0.95 because they have faith in him".

Question 2
Generate 30 random digits, and then compartmentalise them into three sections: three different digits, two same digits and three same digits. Tabulate your result, find the respective probability. (If you got 20 out of 30, probability is 0.67).

That is your probabilities for the three categories. Find the answers according to the random numbers you generated.

In making deduction, just say which cases have high chances of occur, and which have low chances.

Question 3
Generate 100 random digits using either excel, calculator, or a website. Here's a website to help you:
http://www.random.org/integers/

Again, compartmentalise them into three categories.

This time you'll be asked to find the 90% and 95% confidence intervals. This involves knowledge on sampling and estimation.

Assuming that the population is normally distributed, to find its 90% confidence intervals, you merely want to find the 90% regions around the centre, which means you'll be eliminating 5% from the left side of the normal distribution, and 5% from the right side of the distribution. Same theory applies to the 95% confidence intervals (find 95% of area under graph at the centre, eliminating 2.5% at the left most and 2.5% at the right most. If you don't get what I mean, search your books for diagrams). Since 95% confidence intervals has a higher confidence, the intervals you get should be larger.

This questions requires only direct application of the formula, so just do it. Show your steps, and make a summary by tabulating them in a table would be helpful.

Question 4
a) Not sure what to do about this part, but we simply write the subjective probability obtained in Q3 in a table.

b)
Generate another 100 random digits, and find the subjective probabilities for each category. Chi-squared Tests is performed to investigate whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis. Your null hypothesis is "the distribution fits the distribution in (a)" and your alternative hypothesis is "the distribution does not fit the distribution in (a)".

You would be expected to have knowledge on Chi-Squared Tests. Just directly apply the formula and see whether the chi-squared calculated exceeds the critical value. If it does, the null hypothesis is rejected, and you can conclude that the distribution obtained in (b) does not fit the distribution obtained in (a).

Note that for chi-squared calculation to be valid, each category must have frequency of at least 5. If your "three same digits" category has less than 5 values, you need to merge it with another category of your choice to form a category of frequency exceeding 5.

Thus, if merging is done, your degree of freedom would be equal to 1 (2 - 1 = 1). You'll have to observe here whether your expected frequency of all categories are bigger or smaller than 10. If your expected frequency is less than 10, then Yates' Correction needs to be employed. But it is unlikely for your expected frequency to be less than 10 now that you've merged two categories. However, if this situation does arise, use this equation:

If all your categories have frequency exceeding 5 and no merging is done, meaning your degree of freedom is 2, and if your degree of freedom is one but all your expected frequency exceeds 10, then ignore this correction and just use the normal chi-squared formula.

Note:
Use Yates' Correction Only When
1) degree of freedom = 1
2) expected frequency < 10
Both conditions need to be met for Yates' Correction to be employed. 

Chi-squared tests is chosen here because the object to be investigated is categorical which does not, and could not, presume a normal distribution graph. (behaviours of categories)

Question 5
(a) Use the subjective probability you obtained earlier.

(b) Generate 64 digits using your calculator. Compartmentalise them again and find the probabilities. Then use hypothesis testing (normal approximation) to check whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis. Your null hypothesis is "the probability that a number has three different digits is more than the probability you have suggested in (a)".

Hypothesis testing of normal approximation is chosen because the object to be investigated here is numerical that could resemble a normal distribution graph. (The probability of three different digits).


*The guide above is only a guide and is not an official answer by MPM. 

Competitions

Official competitions do not engage me. whether its sports, chess, or academics. To me, lots of people want to win more than to enjoy the game, and to win, they could be really, really nasty.

It wasn't a lie I made up to cover up my weakness, but its based on my past experience.

I did take part in some competitions a few years ago. I didn't participate many because I was also lazy to join any. But there was one event, not a competition but merely a game, that completely changed my perception towards competition-based games.

There was a guy, he was, and is, exceedingly good at playing chess. We were merely having fun. We were just playing a game like usual, and as an ordinary game, they would be win and defeat. In that games, I happened to defeat him once. Because he was such a great player, he didn't receive it well. Frankly speaking, it was just a game. Nothing official. Nothing serious. But when he was defeated, he received it very badly, and was quite.....angry.

He got quite angry as he lost to a person who had no training. So he forced me to play another match with him. I refused to. But he insisted, and he kept insisting me to play another match with him, and he asked me to quite publicly and loudly. I had no choice but reluctantly agreed, and didn't want to even play a serious game. So I lost the match to him, and he was finally satisfied.

Actually, even if I did play seriously, I would still lose to him. He was just too great a player who just happened to make a careless mistake and lost to me. I was, and am, not his opponent.

I remember this event screamingly vividly because this changed my view towards competitions. There are always people who want to win more than to enjoy the game. And I hated it. To me, if you wanna play a game, play happily. Win or lose, let it be. I got into so many matches in so many sorts of games, and I would unashamedly admit that I lost more than I have won, yet I have not reacted the way he had reacted. 

Competitions are good at encouraging improvement, but if to do so I have to sacrifice the joy of games, then I would prefer to withdraw myself from such competitions. A game is meant to be fun, not win. And when you have come across a player who wishes to win more than anything, it simply spoils the mood of playing a game. At least to me.

And my view stays.

STPM 2013 Second Sem Result

My second term result. I won't say it's very good but I think it isn't really bad either.

I didn't expect good results because I knew I couldn't do PA and Chemistry, but surprisingly I got an A- for PA and a B+ for Chemistry.

I don't know what happened to my Physics. I couldn't do only a few questions and I ended up got only a B+.

Anyway, I got a CGPA 3.58 for second term, slightly higher than 3.50 for first term.

Satisfactory. Will strive harder for the last term.

Natcomp 2013 - Grand Final

Natcomp Grand Final ended last Friday. To say the truth, it was a horrible event this year, and the organiser was really horrible in organising this event. They should feel ashamed of their appalling running of MWBC. It's supposed to be an international event but they ended up managed to invite only 2 international bands - one from Indonesia and one from The Phillippines. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Anyway, let's enjoy what's enjoyable. Sultanah Asma, the Malaysian champion, never fails us. Here's the video. Still mesmerising.

SMJK Chung Hwa Wei Sin Band, or otherwise known as Swadaya Band, reused the theme last year "Prince of Egypt", with major modification in their movements and this year they had pitch percussion. Both Swadaya and Asma share the same coach but I find Swadaya's more inferior and a little dull. Their last year's performance, without pitch percussion, attracted me more than this year's version.

Enjoy. 

Cancer

I have just came back from visiting my uncle who has cancer. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment once in three weeks. The cancer isn't affecting him, the treatment is. Chemotherapy brings side effects that literally paralyses him, and the fact that his stomach is the point of damage means he couldn't ingest anything solid and he has been taking fluids for weeks. This has resulted in his extremely emaciated physique and weakness. He's only 50, but looks as old as a 70 year old uncle. His manner of speaking is very soft because he is very weak. He has lost at least 20kg and all his bones are visible due to inability to eat. Like he said, the cancer isn't killing him, the treatment is. He's hardly recovered from the previous chemotherapy and tomorrow he has to go on for another.

Take care of your health, everyone. It will really bring you down and crush your world into oblivion, and even if you survive the ordeal, the effect will most likely be permanent. Take care.

Despicable Me 2

Went to watch Despicable Me 2 today. I had been looking forward to watch this movie for a very long time because I had been attracted by the minions ever since I watched Despicable Me. The minions were simply a piece of beauty, an example of pure talented creation. In Despicable Me 2, Gru had stopped being a villain and had unwillingly worked for the Anti-Villain League. The minions were as cute as usual, but the evil minions were very nasty. Lucy Wilder was a nice new character in this movie and I quite liked it, but like any other movies/dramas, when the story diverts from its main storyline to the love life between any two characters, the movie gets dull. Anyway, Despicable Me 2 is still nice, and I would still rate it 10/10.

Haze Invasion

Malaysia and Singapore have been attacked by haze from Sumatra recently and the condition does not seem to be easing. Singapore once hit an API of 400+ but now has dropped to below 100, a great news for them since they survive mainly on tourism and tourism is severely threatened if the country is literally enveloped under haze.

Malaysia is then being attacked. Muar recorded a terrifying API of 746 this morning, suggesting the air in the district left much to be desired.

Wind blows, so I guess Penang will soon be affected. I can already smell the haze, and the latest API reading in Perai registers a worrying 75. Though it only increases slightly, it still worries lots of people as everybody knows wind blows north and the weather is going to be sultry for the next few months.

Let's brace for the worst. Haze is back.

By the way, Indonesia should take actions to those who adopt slash and burn techniques. It is very inconsiderate for the farmers to resort to cheap and fast method of clearing forest at the expense of the environment and the people's health.

Dreams

Do you remember your dreams? Most people say they don't. Me too, but some dreams are so vivid I could remember all of it. And the weird thing is, I have no idea why they are so vivid, because they have no significance in my lives.

Okay, a few dreams I made

- got a D+ for my PA. LOLLL

- Starwalk at night. Saw a few teachers eating at hawker centres. Got chased and bitten by a dog while walking.

- a close friend smoking.

- in a park where I couldn't identify.

- trapped in a house, being robbed and tied up.

umm....I'll try to remember more. haha

Father

Although you are an antisocial, so antisocial you restrict people from doing lots of activities and forbid people from doing anything you dislike, so antisocial you expect everyone in your family to be antisocial as well, you are still my father. I don't like you being an antisocial guy and prohibit me from participating in so many events, but you're still my father and I have your blood.

Happy Father's Day.

Beginning of Third Term

Second term has ended and now I'm in the third and the final term before I officially finish my STPM.

Third term does not look well. Two science projects are to be completed. What we study look boring too, except PA, which is about Malaysian relation with foreign countries or Malaysian participation in and contributions to international events.

Maths is about statistics for this semester, and I detest statistics a lot.

Chemistry is about organic chemistry. The book is the thickest for this three semesters. So....it looks foreboding.

Physics's the worst. We study waves, optics and modern physics. All are equally boring and extremely tough.

Well, we shall see.

Natcomp 2013 - Sultanah Asma, Preliminary Round

I have always liked Sultanah Asma Marching Band owing to its uniquely powerful marching band, incredibly neat formation, captivating songs, and a marching show that delivers story.

Their Mulan show back in 2011 was mind blowing, and won them the first place of World Championship Marching Show Band 2011 (2011 World Champion), and subsequently they were awarded the Sudler Shield award, becoming the first Malaysian band to have been given the honour.

This year they are back on the field, with a brand new theme "Africa". I have to admit this year's performance might be a little disappointing if you're hoping for something more powerful, but it is still a great show and I still love it. And the coach might have run out on ideas for something new because I could see some old movements.

Nevertheless, still a great show. They won a gold award.

Definitely looking forward for their final performance in the Grand Final.

Recommended Books for STPM Second Term

I have just finished the second term and now I can recommend some books for all of you who are going to enter your second term soon. Well, I'll really say all of you are so lucky for not being the first batch to undergo the new modular system. We, the first batch, literally have to wait for days for the books to be published.

Anyway, I can only recommend books for 4 subjects which I take, and a few I heard good. So, here goes again:
(*I didn't buy all the books, I bought one for each subjects and borrowed the others from school library)

(Updated 12/12/14) It is also worth mentioning that it appears that Sasbadi has bought over Pearson Longman, or the publication right has been transferred to Sasbadi. But anyway, the content remains the same. Since the books have ceased being published under Longman, any book below I mentioned as "Longman" is now "Sasbadi". Take note.

PENGAJIAN AM

For this semester, you'll be studying mainly dasar-dasar dalaman negara, so the theme is kemajuan negara. Since there are only subjective questions, you really need to be good at memorising them. All books out there have decent notes on dasar, but I cannot tell which one is the best.

You are also required to draw a graph this semester. You need good guides for this because a slight mistake in the graph could cost you to lose 12 marks out of 20. Yes - you're reading right! It's more than 50% of your total mark. You need a book to teach you what to pay attention to, what are the common mistakes students make, and what are the key words in the titles that help you to identify the types of graphs.

You especially need help in drawing carta pai bertingkat. So, if you were to ask me to recommend one book, I'll say Longman. Pelangi's graphs wrong in many ways. Questions are wrong in some examples, the sumber is written on the same line as the last petunjuk, and graph garis is used instead if graph bar where the questions do not specify which graphs to draw (graf bar is always preferred if the question does not specify which graph to draw. But be smart, if graph bar is not suitable like when there are too many years, use graf garis).

As for essay, well, none of them is perfect, but any one is good.

I'll recommend Longman.

PHYSICS

You'll study electrics and magnetism this semester, and be rest assured that the topics this term are easier than first term. You'll need great guides too, because Physics can be very abstract and a good book is required.

Like the last term, both Oxford and Pelangi Physics are published by the same author - Poh LY, so buy one is enough and don't waste your money to buy both. Longman's Physics is published by a new author - Ng OV. Longman's great. The notes are very detailed, the explanations are lengthy and complete, and there are lots of examples for you to refer to. But the problem with this book is the questions are way too easy for STPM. All of the questions in the books can be solved by applying the formula. Critical thinkings are not required. For STPM Physics, you should think a lot.

Oxford is good but I hate the notes and the printing. Pelangi is nice but like the last term, there's no detailed explanations for the answers. But if I were to choose only one, Pelangi's better than Oxford.

Recommendation: Go for Longman for first exposure and building foundation, and move on to Pelangi to try STPM level Physics.

CHEMISTRY

You'll study two types of chemistry this term. There are two chapters of Physical Chemistry and 5 chapters of Inorganic Chemistry. Oh please, don't think it's easy. Inorganic Chemistry is generally harder to score than Physical Chemistry because the answering technique is more difficult.

Like last term, I didn't use Pelangi at all because I think the printing is horrible, but I did do the exercise in it. Pelangi contains plenty of exercise but the essay questions are not good enough. The answers given are not how STPM wants it to be, so I won't recommend Pelangi at all.

Longman's great. Too great. The notes is too too long for all chapters. The exercise in it are fine, and the essay questions are quite good, but the notes are really too long and the book contains too many unnecessary things. It will be good for first exposure, but you won't want to read this after you've about grasped the concepts.

Oxford is fine. The notes are decent and reasonably written. Not too long, and not too short, and important points are there. The exercise are good too.

I'll recommend Oxford as first choice, Longman as second, and Pelangi last.

MATHEMATICS (T)

You'll study only calculus this term and calculus is a pain in the a*s. Okay, you study about 1/4 less than what you studied for first term, but what you study this term is slightly harder than first term. Basically you'll begin the semester with knowledge on limits and continuity, which is easy, then you'll taste what calculus is like and you'll realise SPM calculus is just a joke.

Differentiation and Integration are what you'll encounter this term. All chapters, except the first, use these two concepts for solving problems, but basically when you have mastered differentiation and integration, just do more practice on Differential Equation and Maclaurin Series which focuses on application of integration (substitution, by parts and partial fractions) for the former and differentiation for the latter. Maclaurin series might warrant repeated implicit differentiation that'll get on your nerves.

Pelangi's exercise a bit too easy, so if you think your Mathematics isn't strong, Pelangi should be enough. Oxford is good and the exercise is very very tough, but the notes are very vague and some are wrong, and some of the questions are unnecessarily tough. Longman's the best in my opinion. The notes are detailed and the exercise are good. There are also minimal errors. But like last term, it does not provide answers for curve sketching.

I'll recommend Longman as first choice, Oxford as second and Pelangi as last.

Recommended Books for STPM First Term
Recommended Books for STPM Third Term

Good luck to you all!

Life's Till Now

Life's been great, although there are less exciting events. This year has so far been great. There are no huge content or disappointment that bug me, but one particular event does deserve extra attention: first term result. It's better than expected, but could have been better.

January is the start of the year, and school reopens to my dismay. Going to school is fun because you meet your friends, it's sad because you have lectures to have attend and I recently realised I have troubles paying attentions to lectures. This is partly due to my refusal to be spoon-fed or gorged with facts. Knowledge is something like a mess of tangled knot. Somehow I realise disintegrating it yourself is much more effective than being guided to untangle them, although I do agree in certain circumstances a guide is important as some things cannot be printed black and white and need to be told verbally.

School reopens with quite a lot of changes. First of all, my class, as always, has always been unique. We have two teachers changed. One has been sent to teach form 4, and one has been given a pass for less burden. The problem here is, we got one teacher changed for a much better one - and one teacher with more acceptable English pronunciation and better proficiency - and one teacher changed for a worse one (but thankfully not that bad, just not good at teaching but still good at the subject).

You may say that the good and bad is balanced, but in third term we'll change the good one back to the bad one, and now that's not something one would receive with delight. Anyway, MUET result was released earlier this year. I have high expectations for my English for it is something I show interest in, so I was very anxious to know what band I got. I sent an SMS on midnight to check my result, and the reply gave a rather short answer: Band 5. That was the moment I almost jumped, because I knew getting Band 5 is tough for someone who does not use it as a first language, getting Band 5 is something that should be proud of.

The next day I went to school and tore the slip, I realised I scored 220, the minimum mark to get Band 5, and that was the time I first felt so lucky. Only 6 out of 220+ managed to get Band 5. I was one of them. I had never achieved such achievements.

School continues as usual. Then Chinese New Year came. This Chinese New Year was quite different because two of my cousins just got married, and one of them didn't return due to busy schedule. He now lives in Singapore but intends to celebrate it with his wife's family in Hong Kong.

Oh, did I mention after studying in my secondary school for 7 years, I got my first demerit mark? Technically, 3. I watched my friends play poker in class and it was so coincidental a discipline teacher walked past and caught us red-handed. I wouldn't completely grumbled for being given demerit marks even though I wasn't playing at the time of being caught because I used to play thrice. Yup, I counted. But of course if you could bring yourself out of this quagmire, why wouldn't you? Sadly, I did to no avail, and accepted the "awards". After all, I wasn't the only one being awarded so there was nothing much to complain. Lol

Anyway, house practice resumed and as usual, I hated it. House practice is a complete waste of time. You stayed in school wasted three hours for evening to creep by and you gathered with your friends, let your teachers marked a tiny little tick on his sheet of paper, and you sat around talking about nonsense. Whoever suggested house practice should realise how stupid this idea was.

We have two things to do for this term: an assignment for Mathematics, and a project for PA. PA project was useless. A piece of junk. Technically, you should choose a theme and select a title you wish to do survey about, and go out and drag unsuspecting Samaritans for interviews and surveys. The problem in Malaysia is that rote learning would regard such measures as ridiculous and insane. If you go out and stop someone for surveys, people will eye you with anger or annoyance and probably chase you with a broom. So, we all faked the data. Simple.

Maths assignment was rubbish too. I already had this conversation so I don't really want to talk about it anymore.

April came. April was the month I hate the most. Too many co-curricular activities, and we have trial. First, I have PA presentation to do. 10 minutes was more than suffice. I could talk only about important points and frankly 10 minutes was too long. Then I have a science project for Science week and it's actually a child experiment. Lol. We simply burnt the soft drink until all water had evaporated and sugar was left, and then we compared the amount of sugar present. Childish, but still earned us a third place. Haha. Trial then came and was one hell of a nightmare. I don't really want to talk about it.

Life after trial was rather dull and same. Study, study and study because term 2 exam was reaching. It finally came with little excitement. I have talked about it in three separate posts so I really don't want to talk about it either. I'll just prepare for the worst.

First half of the year has just ended. I'll embrace the second half with more gallantry.

STPM Baharu, Term 2, Day 3

There's only one paper for today: Chemistry. It is also the last paper I'll sit for for this term. Since we study mainly inorganic chemistry this term (with 2 chapters of physical chemistry), I know the questions will be tough, and I know it'll be difficult to answer the questions. But I didn't expect it to be this hard! Today's paper is basically a nightmare. Objective questions weren't tough, but you need to do lots of thinking. Subjective questions are okay, except that my school invigilators do not provide us data booklet and I am a bit afraid of the standard electrode potential question.

Essay is the worst. There are only three essay questions and we are supposed to choose to answer only 2, but none of them is easy. The first one concerns bomb calorimeter and many of my friends did a mistake by using the formula q = mcT instead of q = cT. Anyway I did it correctly but I couldn't sure about the second part of that question. The second essay question regarding the acid-base properties of Group 14 oxides was fine, but the one about extracting tin was really baffling. The last question was downright weird. When I first saw the question, I knew immediately I wouldn't be able to answer it, so I completely ignore that question.

Chemistry Paper 2 is so far the most difficult paper for STPM 2013. But PA Kertas 2 wasn't any easy either so.....we'll see.

STPM Baharu, Term 2, Day 2

First paper for the day is Pengajian Am. I really fear this term because all we study is only dasar-dasar negara and hence everything in the paper, including the essays, centres on the theme kemajuan negara. And the graph was intimidating too. It is a part where you can get a lot of marks easily, and also the part where it could cost you lots of marks and give you an F. There are only subjective questions this term so you'll have to be good at memorising stuffs. Problem is I'm not good at memorising and that's why I'm so scared. So when I flipped the exam paper, I was flabbergasted. All 4 subjective questions that came out were about dasar that I didn't read. I read two but didn't think they were important, and for one I only read the teras I didn't read the strategy. Graph was fine. It was quite direct and the data are easy to count. Essay was quite tough and tricky but I believe I'll get at least 3 points correct. Anyway, I only hope for at least a B for this term.

Maths was fine. To study only calculus in a term is torturing. Sometimes you'll get confused and instead of differentiating a function, you integrate it. Instead of doing quotient rule, you do by parts. It sometimes really is confusing. Maths is always my strength so I strive to maintain the grade, and I believe I could. I could do all the questions except question 3 c) when I remembered the formula for the volume of the cylinder wrongly, and the last questions for Q7 where we are asked to sketch the curve. The curve looks weird but I really doubt it's a circle. Because a circle does not have a maximum or minimum point, the question says 'curve', and the formula is not the standard formula for a circle. The rest are fine, just pattern banyak-banyak, particularly Q1 about the limits and Q4 about the differential equation.

STPM Baharu Second Term, Day 1

First paper for the whole sem 2 exam, and therefore the first paper for me: Physics, paper 2.  For this semester, we mainly study electrics and electronics, and my memory tells me this term is much easier than last term. The exam paper was fine, but a few questions completely blew me away. The question on resistance of the wire was really shockingly unexpected. Problem with STPM is the questions sometimes are not tough, but are simply displayed in different fashion and sometimes you'll cringe at the completely foreign question. Anyway the questions were fine, I couldn't do a few questions. Based on our first term result, if you lost more than 5 marks, you lose your A, and I have lost mine. But doesn't matter, I just hope I won't get a B anymore.

May 2013

I realised I have not blogged for a long time. It's mainly because STPM is around the corner and I spent more time studying than blogging, and the pile of books I haven't touched kinda daunt me from blogging. Lol

Anyway, many things have transpired in this month so far. The highly anticipated and perhaps the most fiercely fought general election was held in 5th of May. As expected, foul play was suspected, and BN again won a total of >112 parliamentary seat and thus they are again the government. Malaysia's future is very very dim.

I won't drone on about the foul play here, if I did I'll probably be arrested for libel especially since the corrupted government now resort to desperate measures to attempt to eradicate anyone who goes against them. Oops!

Anyway, my second semester is next week. Again I'll post one post each day for the papers I sat. And I'll post more after my exam.

I'm waiting forward to it!

505

308 was a date everybody remembers. I admit with a little remorse I had no clear recollection of what happened that day. All I remembered was the elation everybody around me felt when Penang was announced to have won by the Opposition - DAP. And I was very glad my grandmother passed away knowing her one vote and her entire life effort had paid off. She died a few days after 308.

Five years have passed, and the cycle has almost completed a turn. The 13th General Election  is an imminent process that every politicians must go through whether they like it or despise it. BN receives it with appalling disgust because they knew their chances of winning is so slim they couldn't even be spared with 1/3 seat in the nation.

BN might have anticipated it. Losing 4 states (technically 3) in GE12 was definitely a big blow. Kedah, Penang and Selangor were snatched by the Opposition, while Kelantan remained stubbornly under PAS.  Two major states in the country had fallen under the hands of their enemies, and now their economic gains would be significantly reduced, not to mention the amount of money they could have swindled and conned while handling major projects that involve incredibly huge sum of money.

I have to admit something - while reading politics, I don't really care much about the politician, unless he is so stupid his wish was to be remembered as a nincompoop, or his political influence is so big his wave was felt throughout the nation and across the border. Therefore the number of politicians I know is very low. Lim Guan Eng is one of those who I not only remember, but revere and admire. He revamped Penang, cleaned out the island, and made the life in Penang a living heaven. Okay - he probably should not take all the credits, some should go to the workers who took the effort to realise his transformation plan, but still he remains a political icon and is a political star in Penang that many have likened him to the "Prime Minister of Penang", and show no verbal mercy to whoever that cast aspersions on him.

BN, desperate, begins fuelling political war that increases in graduation. Slander wasn't something foreign to them, and through our experience as Malaysians, all BN could come out with is sex video (by UMNO, and incredibly all videos are of amazingly poor quality and resemble only one person) and hudud law (by MCA). MIC remains rather silent and only stood out when Indian-related matters arise, and that probably is very good for them because they have not humiliated themselves so far.

UMNO came out with sex video, and alleged that Anwar was the man in question. Interestingly, instead of approaching the police or confronting Anwar, they called for a press conference and released the sex video to the media and thus to the public. This action already showed one thing - the video was, in all ways, phoney and did not resemble Anwar. If you had evidence someone had broken the law or violated religious beliefs, the appropriate action was to approach the party concerned, not releasing it to the media. This was, in my opinion, a way UMNO severely humiliated himself.

MCA leader, Chua Soi Lek, was caught in a sex video scandal. Only this time the video is clear and he made no denying. He admitted he was the guy in the video, but then later on was promoted to be the President of MCA. Ironic, isn't it, that a guy who breaches the party's moral belief could end up becoming the chief of the party? 

Utusan and The Star, each owned by UMNO and MCA, were used to circulate slanders deleterious to anyone intend to step in their way to reaching a total control over the country. UMNO was sued thrice, and for three times they lost the case. Now GE13 is drawing close, and MCA comes out with manifestation saying that "a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS", "who says DAP is good for you?" bla bla bla....This shows something - desperation. The public now well know the immerse pressure they felt because they are now teetering on the brink of political collapse. Publishing such advertisements further disgust the public, making us realise the newspapers now are no longer impartial and are simply a tool for political manipulation.

The EC's role as an independent organisation is deeply questioned when two days prior to the Nomination day, it was announced that DAP had de-registered and was no longer a legitimate party, and thus the rocket could not be used to represent the party because the party was, according to them, by law, a defunct party. It probably was a tactics by BN, it probably wasn't. But in this time I hardly could see how BN would hope that a foul play was not suspected. They immediately denied having any role - not surprising, they are dumb, but not too dumb to admitting a foul play - and urged the public to stop accusing. EC then later recognised the party as a legitimate party, but issued no black and white to DAP retracting their statement. 

April 19 was the day Malaysians unite to support PAS and PKR. DAP said if rocket could not be used, the moon will be used in Peninsular Malaysia, and the eye will be selected for Borneo. Immediately everybody in facebook changed their profile picture to Ubah Bird, with PAS sign and PKR's all over their profile picture. Anger rose and peaked, and we are further disgusted by BN. You know what I think? If I can vote, and if there's only a picture of Barisan Nasional and a banana, I'll still cross the banana. I'll cross anything that has no balance on it. 

Barisan Nasional should stop playing dirty. When election is coming, playing dirty is only detrimental to yourself. The rakyat now is smarter than you thought, and you should be glad because it means your education system is actually working better than you have expected. Libelling the opposition now hardly could change the people's stand, and solving anything once-sensitive issues and approving all financial helps for vernacular schools, the Chinese rights or Indian rights could fish no votes to you, because, for 55 years, the people have seen how drastic Malaysians have gone backwards and how horrible your administration is. It's time for change. Pakatan may not be a great coalition, but when you have a grade C and a grade F with you, I'll still go for the principal pass. It's still better than a complete failure.

It's time to change. Ini kalilah!

505，大家一起换政府！

Olympus Has Fallen

'Olympus Has Fallen", it seems, refers to the
conquest of the White House by intruders.

Went out with my friends today to watch Olympus Has Fallen. I didn't know what the movie was about prior to watching it, all I knew was that most people gave overwhelmingly positive response and said it was much better than G.I. Joe. So together with my friends, we watched the movie in Pacific. It started out slow, and a bit boring, then the pace quickened and the excitement increased. It's actually about an invasion to US, and the intrusion and ultimately the conquest of the White House. I didn't know 'olympus' actually refers to the White House, but now I do.

It's really interesting, absorbing, captivating, and could literally make you impervious to any happenings in the surrounding. Lots of twists and actions that will make your heart race, and you'll be impressed by how sophisticated the terrorists are. They are organised, disciplined (though evil), and well trained. Incredible. Watch how one man stands alone to attempt to regain the White House and save the president who is being held hostage, and watch how he eliminates the terrorists one by one, interrupts their plans, and saves the innocent yet escaped from the mayhem.

Definitely one of the best movie ever!

Recent Activities

Nothing much has been going on recently. Well, pretty big case did transpire - parliament was finally dissolved by Najib after a long wait. Thank God! GE13 has finally come, and to BN their world has finally come crashing down.

Life has been pretty hectic recently, but pretty well spent. Due to the modular system, my study life requires vigorous study, but of course I too spend lots of time watching dramas. Thanks to newly installed HyppTV, now I am attracted by a few dramas not previously known to me - Flashpoint, Law and Order, and Whitney, and now my interest is aroused by Chicago Fire, apparently a series centres on the daily lives of the firefighters. I haven't watched any dramas about fire fighters before, so I really am curious how the show turns up, but I spent too much time watching these dramas though.

My health has begun to improve. I realised using asthma spray before I play helps a great deal. My nose allergy is still troubling me but not in the same magnitude as before. Overall my health is better.

April is the month I hate the most because there simply are too many things to deal with. Science projects are not as successful as before, and the results I got are not as impressive as I imagine and the risks of burning the school's apparatus are big. Presentations for PA project is coming and I have no idea how to do it. It would be simple if rules are not set and marks are given based on the teacher's liking, but obviously in a country where rote learning dominates, such case would never be allowed due to fear of bias. Trial exam is approaching and yet I'm not prepared, and Sukan Tara is around the corner and I hate it.

Anyway, life goes on.

Chris Carter - The Robert Hunter Series

I have read many crime novels, but none of them is as good as Chris Carter's. It was two years ago when I happened to come across "The Executioner" in Popular, and after reading the sinopsis I realised the plot could be interesting. So I bought it. When I started reading it, I was instantly absorbed and could never stop reading. So I found the first book, "The Crucifix Killer", and one year later, after a long wait of anticipation, I bought his third book "The Night Stalker". Finally, after another year of anguish, I bought his latest publish - "The Death Sculptor". His books are very hard to find in Malaysia, and I have to go all the way to Borders to get a copy.

Owing to its psychotic killers, the brutality of the murder, and the suspense at the end of every chapters that only stretches 4 to 8 pages long, the novel really keeps me attached to it. Believe me, once you start reading the book, you simply can't stop, because the suspense is really too great.

But be warned, the books contain exceedingly disgusting and brutal materials that are not suitable to anyone foreign to the world of crime.

If you're a crime novel fans, trust me, Chris Carter's books are the best! Highly recommended!

Guide for Maths T Assignment, Sem 2/2013

Many have asked me for a solution for Maths T assignment. Sadly I've handed in mine and now have only scribbles of important points so that I can prepare for my viva.

These are just guides. There'll be no detailed explanations. After all, this assignment is meant to hone your analytical and critical skills. 

Maths T Assignment: Logistic Growth Model

Question 1

Just find the answer in the internet. It's only a definition, you may rephrase it if you want.

Question 2

You simply need to play with the logistic growth equation given. dP/dt = rP (1 - P/k) is the growth rate, so for the growth rate to be increasing, the sign must be positive and for the growth rate to be decreasing, the sign must be negative.

Since rP will never give you a negative value (r is the positive constant and P, the population, would never be smaller than zero), for dP/dt to have a negative sign, (1 - P/k) must be negative. 

Hence if the population exceeds the carrying capacity (P > k), then P over k (P/k in the equation) would be bigger than 1, and therefore (1 - P/k) < 0, suggesting the growth rate is decreasing. If the population does not exceed the carrying capacity (P < k), then P/k < 0 and hence (1 - P/k) > 0

Question 3

3(a)

Basically you change your answer in question 2 into word form. Describe how the population growth will vary. If the population exceeds the carrying capacity, then the population growth rate will decrease and subsequently the population will drop. If the population equals the carrying capacity, the growth rate is zero and if the population is smaller than the carrying capacity, then the growth rate is positive and the population ins increasing.

3(b)

What would the value of P for constant growth? And what would the values be if the growth rate is increasing and decreasing? You should already know the answers if you've done the previous 2 questions.

Question 4

Differentiate the logistic growth equation once, and you'll get r/k (k - 2P). For dP/dt to be maximum, the derivative of the first population must equal to zero. Hence for r/k (k - 2P) = 0, (k - 2P) must equal to zero. You'll establish a relation between the carrying capacity and the population here.

However, you need to verify that the P value you get is indeed the maximum value of dP/dt. To verify it, you differentiate its first derivative once again to get d3P/dt3, the second derivative of the logistic growth equation.

When you've verified it, find the maximum value of dP/dt by substituting the value you found into the logistic growth equation.

Your final answer: dP/dt is max when P = k/2, and maximum value of dP/dt = rk/4.

Question 5

You need to use differential equation to find the general solution of the logistic growth equation so that you can express P explicitly. While doing this, you might need to perform integration by partial fractions. Everyone would possibly get a different equation because their constants might be different, but the final answer should not vary much.

You'll get one equation here. But if you wanna express it more clearly, you can form two equations by considering one where P > k and one where P < k. One should be enough. 

The equation is a fraction.

Do read the question carefully: "plot, on the same axes, a few graphs to show the behaviour of P against t", meaning there involves only one graph paper and within a graph paper there are a few lines.

You need to use arbitrary values and construct a table. Use actual values to show the behaviour. For example you may use r = 10, k = 200 and P = 100, 200, 300....to draw the graph.

Positive constant, r, would not vary. If it does all physics equations need to be remodelled. There are at least 4 cases: one where the carrying capacity is fixed and the population varies (P > k, P < k), and one where the population is fixed and the carrying capacity varies (k > P, k < P). There should be at least 5 lines.

Question 6

Find the growth rate within the time interval, and find the average of the population within the time interval. E.g. 1/2 (40 + 77) for the first one. Then plot a graph, you should get a bell curve with a maximum point.

Find the value of dP/dt when your population is half the carrying capacity (carrying capacity is the value where the population growth rate is zero). Once the value of P is determined, you'll find the value of the carrying capacity and the positive constant.

For those who have Oxford Fajar book, there's an example of assignment which is somehow similar to this assignment at page 224 and there's a sample answer. You may refer to it. They are almost similar. Use that as a guide.

Good luck.