50th Entry- Emo, Quantum Mechanics and Alzheimer's

The title says it all, it's a milestone. :)
Some ppl takes ages to reach tat mark, I took 5 months... averaging 10 entries per month. Should I be proud of my achievement? Nah I guess.. probably just to know that you're having lotta thoughts when u're wild and stupid.

Anyway, there are a lot of happenings recently... Too much for me to bear really. I started to ponder upon issues like religion and relationship deeply, not that I haven't thought of those before though. Yet the world has changed, from the days where computer was a phenomenon to now where one is considered a phenomenon if he/she haven't use a computer.

There was a series of terrorist attack that shook Moscow several days ago, and today I saw pictures on MSN showcasing the severed head of the dead terrorists(2 females) and I followed the report. It stated that the two girls are actually widows of two Islamic militants in Russia, and they are no more than 20 years old. Then, underneath the link there was another link that led me to a bizzare website.. and it was critisizing religion as the prime murderer of mankind, and yes, I do agree to a certain extend.

The website exhibits pictures, articles, statistics, and really, I couldn't refute the arguments presented in the website. I couldn't do anything about my faith. I knew that religion has its dark side, yet I never really want to revisit the thought as it would ruin my faith. But today I didn't stop half way. I went on and on until my faith broke into pieces, not towards God, but towards human attitude, how human created God in their image; God hates all the same people you do...

Abrahamic religion, ie Judaism, Islam and Christianity are responsible for more human casualties than all other religions combined. This is a sad truth, and true enough, religious people would tell you that it's a lie of demon. Well the truth is out there. We see it in newspapers everyday. Even if we are told not to believe the media, we can see it around us, religious people responsible for the death of many, claiming and declaring Holy War everywhere. Lives are shred apart like paper, and corpses everywhere. THere are news about the Catholic church owning trillions of dollars in the bank and watch as hungry civilians in Africa die of hunger, and church priests raping young children..

Stories like this really piss me off and again I ask: what is the good of religion, if it leads to destruction and death? Are we misinterpreting religion as a source of emotional comfort? Or should we just exclude religion from our lives and use it purely for counseling purposes? Is there any difference between us, modern human and chimpanzees? Chimpanzees are known to formulate strategies against their enemy, and their jealousy drives them to kill their rivals.

Scientists say: They are like us.. smart and intelligent
I say: we are like them... brutal and barbaric...

I honestly think that the world is just like matrix, it is perfectly scripted and orchestrated to give a wrong perception of the future to the public. The truth is often ugly and unbearable.. I never thought that the Middle East actually is that chaotic, I thought it would be like Malaysia, where everyone dislikes everyone but we could still sit together and plan something out of nothing.

I do not want to emo any further, as this is a milestone entry :)

There was this Physics COlloquium that happened few days ago, but I wasn't part of it although some of my coursemates are. I read a paper by a postgraduate students entitled "Conceptual Paradoxes in Quantum Mechanics"
It is not as glamorous as it sounds, and am fairly disappointed with the paper itself. Most of the thing mentioned in there are things that we could read from books, and it acts more like a summary and not an elaborative paper. The only equation that existed was the average of wavefunction. But of course, it mentioned the three paradoxes that plagued classical physics into surrendering its place to quantum physics. It explains explicitly the true meaning of the Schroedinger Cat question, which has baffled me for so long, and also the EPR paradox and "God playing dices" incident.

Schoedinger Cat, for example is one of the most interesting thought experiments ever suggested by a playboy, and it is used widely in the teaching of the inconclusive nature of Quantum Mechanics across the globe. Thank God Schroedinger is so smart despite his fast-lane lifestyle and womanising habit.

Talking about smart people, I read a report about an elderly scientist who suffers from Alzheimer's, Charles Kao Kun. He was formerly the chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and declared 2009 Nobel Prize winner - an award bestowed for his pioneering work in fiber optics. He was born in Shanghai, educated in Hong Kong and the US, holds dual American-British citizenship. Remarkable for man of his intelligence, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2004. An outstanding scientist whose research had led to a breakthrough in fiber optics in determining how to transmit light over long distances via optical glass fibers as thin as a human hair, today's Kao can express himself only through short, simple sentences. Now, he could barely contemplate upon how to pay the bill, let alone thinking about complex mathematical formulas that brought him fame and wealth over the years.

Alzheimer's, estimated to afflict 26-35 million worldwide, is characterized by a gradual loss of memory, speech, movement, and the ability to think clearly.

It's scary when you cant even remember your own name..

Arrogance

I went around searching for science blog~ and found out that I'm not the only person in the world who does this thing. XD

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/
http://chickenoreggblog.wordpress.com/
http://twistedphysics.typepad.com/

All of these are examples of bloggers who appreciate and have a passion for scientific knowledge, and my favourite :http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/ has won a prize in blogging recently. Yea bet u'll be surprised to know they do have a competition in blogging. :P

Anyway I just want to highlight here that these are the people who propel the world forward with their writings. The articles are good, ferociously written and very, very inspiring. Some of them do have the SSS moment but most of their entries are related or directly focused on scientific issues.

In contrary, bloggers in Malaysia are really lacking in knowledge. Most of them, if not all, write about daily crap, events that happened, silly moments, and random comments. Funny though they are, these blogs aren't meant to be popular at all. In other countries, bloggers blog about everything, from science to politics, music and of course, daily crap. Malaysia do have bloggers who write about politics, music, daily crap as well, yet the percentage of those who do scientific investigation and learning via blogging is few and far between. I am impressed with Ed Yong (http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/) and his knowledge about basically everything, from sperm to whales, his articles are really awesome~...and very long =.=

I know, upon labeling our local bloggers "silly" I am inviting unwanted attention from these fellow bloggers who might stumble across my blog some day XD
But who cares, I have always been labeled as arrogant, ego, and blunt by many, especially my peers who steered away from me.

But really, they are stupid, in the sense that they don't know that the whale is the largest animal ever to roam this planet, and some morons who tried to be smart and quoted that the seas of Malaysia do not have sharks... sharks were imported in by the Ministry of Tourism to boost tourism...and these comments are from the lips of a university student, majoring in biology =.=

I'm being proud again. XD

but I must admit, pride comes before a fall..
the higher you go the harder you fall (this quote needs to be changed, cuz we'll reach terminal velocity at some point and cannot go any faster XD)
and I'm not very good at all in some field.. really sucker at those, that's why I'm avoiding myself from those stuffs. Again, a smart move XD

Israel

Alright, this is going to be a long post on religion.

Looking back in history, and you will find that religion is one of the essences of human civilization. Every civilizations that thrived has its own religious component, be it Polytheism or Monotheism. Egypt, China and India were several civilizations that worshiped multiple gods, also not forgetting the Inca, Maya and almost all tribal or jungle dwelling ethnics.
The mesopotamia civilization started in present day Iraq, and it is the birthplace of three of the most related-yet-conflicting religions in the world; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Christianity came from Judaism, and Islam was founded some 400 years after Christianity. Yet the three of them hold different principles, hate one another and of course, worship the same God. Ironic huh~

Temple of the Maya

Back in the ancient time, people burned offerings to god, and in places like China and Mexico, the ancient Chinese and the Incan offered human sacrifices to their gods, many of whom were children and women.

Child sacrifice

Then, major religion started imparting their influence on civilizations. Buddhism was brought to China, Christianity conquered Europe, and Islam was carried across mountains and oceans to as far as China and South East Asia and Northern Africa. The famous Zheng He (the Chinese dude that traveled around the world in 1405) was a Muslim. This expansion has brought an end to tribal practices (not all of course), and benefited the lives of those who embraced the religion, or did it?

The notorious churches of Europe were responsible for the downfall of Europe during the dark ages. During this period, the church authority was so influential that they owned land, and influenced the outcome of royal infighting. The Catholic church oppressed science scholars, preventing them from teaching science as most of its principles contradicted that of the churches'.
Take astronomy for example, Mr Copernicus was a priest of a certain clergy somewhere in Europe in medieval time. He was convinced that the Sun was the centre of the universe, and not the Earth. He secretly wrote a book whilst fearing for his position as a priest, and published it when he was on his deathbed.

Galileo Galilei

Next in line was Galileo Galilei, who invented the telescope. He was sentenced to house arrest by the church, and it was during this time at home that he'd made his observation on stars and planets.
There were many other scholars who were pressured by the church authority to accommodate their teachings in accordance to the church.

Crusaders

Apart from that, the church was also responsible for triggering the holy war. The notorious crusaders of the dark ages were horsemen fighting the invading muslim forces of Contantinople (modern day Istanbul). These men were intoxicated (by faith), to kill and to plunder their enemies. I prefer to call them fanatic lunatics.

They killed in the name of God and their presence sent fear across Europe. The Christian and Muslim war went on for centuries, never resolved and never won by neither side. Next in line was the bubonic plaque, which wiped out 1/3 of the population of Europe at that time, and church was once again responsible for the slow recovery of the population. The disaster was thought to be the punishment of God. And once I read from the Nat Geo website that an ancient skull was found to have a brick in its jaw. It was believed that the skull belonged to a women that was believed to be a vampire that rose up at night to feast on the blood of the deceased. This is an example of wrong perceptions incorporated by the churches upon its believers during the medieval time.

Enough of history, let us observe the people around us. We can see that the Muslim world is uneasy about Israel, and also the minority muslim ethnic of Uighurs of China being relentlessly bullied by the majority Hans. There are also minority Muslim in Southern Thailand, close to Perlis, constantly living in fear. There are also Muslims in the southern part of Philippines being oppressed by the majority Christians of the Philippines.
Looking at this, perhaps we should ponder:

What is the purpose of religion?
If religion separates us and leads to war, what is the good of religion?
If we fear God, instead of loving Him, then why did He created us in the first place?
If evolution is true, what is God's purpose?
If Big Bang is true, then where is God's place in the creation of the world?

Last week I went to church and the visiting pastor was preaching something about the state of Israel and its history in the Bible, one that stirred something deep within me.
I am not going to mention the pastor's name, and all information stated here is merely for reference, judge whatever you like.(cheh, act pro gila...)

First, the pastor highlighted Isaiah 22:20-24

"22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will be a seat [a] of honor for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars."


This verse highlights the promise of God to strengthen the Israelites amongst the nations, and that they are to be the leader of the world.
The pastor went on and urged the congregation to pray for Jerusalem. Now that the city of David is in the land of Israel, the surrounding 22 Muslim countries are preparing for war against Israel.

Why war? What war? According to what I read from TIMES, Iran is currently developing nuclear arms. And the entire Muslim world is now united, something which never happened before, for a single aim; the destruction of Israel. The Muslims were hitherto disputing over territories, oil revenues, clean water, etc. But now, the destruction of the state of Israel has united them and Iran is apparently the leader. The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted saying that " the enemy can do nothing to stop us!" by the TIMES.

The determination of the Muslim states is adamant, and I personally think that this war is inevitable should Israel continue to oppress the state of Palestine and its people. The pastor even said that God's chosen people should ultimately prevail. Well he should also understand the fact that the anger of the Muslim community sparked from the decision by United Nations some 60 years ago to give the land of Palestine to the Jewish people for NO APPARENT REASON. What's worse, the Jewish people has since expanded their territory countless times until the Palestinian territory shrunk to what it is now.

Israel-Palestine map from 1947-2000. Green-Palestine Land, White-Jewish Land.

Muslim violence is coined as terrorism, but Jewish violence is often met with silence. The pastor was blaming the United Nation as an imposter, as an antichrist of this modern world, that it has never raise a voice against the demolition of the Jewish people. I mean, did he seriously said "the demolition of the Jewish people"?

Dear pastor, as far as I can see, the United States is the greatest ally any country could have, and Israel is sitting right on top of it. You're asking United Nations to protect Israel, then who is voicing out to protect the state of Palestine?

Next the pastor highlighted Psalm 83

O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.

2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.

3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.

4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-(referring to the 22 Arab Nations uniting for the first time in human history to plot the downfall of Israel)

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,(Edom is another name for Esau, Ishmaelites are people from Northern Arabia)
of Moab and the Hagrites,(Moab is modern day Jordan, Arabs east of Jordan River)

7 Gebal, [a] Ammon and Amalek,(Gebal is Northern Lebanon)
Philistia, with the people of Tyre. ( Philistia is the state of Palestine)

8 Even Assyria has joined them (Assyria centres in Iraq)
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah

9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,(claiming that Israelites should prevail over their enemies)

12 who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."

13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.

14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.

17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

The book of Psalm was written by Asaph some 2500 years ago, and it foretold the event that is about to happen now, 2500 years later. The pastor also claimed that God is not done with Israel, therefore He will not let them perish in the hands of their enemy.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is an organization that fights for the freedom of Palestine. They hate Israel and of course, they want it destroyed. In Islamic context, they are the real heroes who dare to challenge the supremacy of Israel, they are launching Jihad against God's enemy. Yet how many of us know that HAMAS means VIOLENCE in Hebrew? Here we're talking about a violent group claiming to be the savior running a country...

Israel too, is watching all this unfurls. She observes her violent neighbors, and building her own army as well. She's having the United States as ally, and so nobody dares to say no~


Benjamin Netanyahu

Several weeks ago, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu made several speeches to the country. He was quoting from the bible about the promises of God to deliver them from their enemies, to lift their hands and break the skulls of their enemies.

But the fact is, Israel was the one bullying her neighbors. Jews kicked Palestinians out from their land, and expanded their territory over the Palestinian border. Well pastor, I think that God is just, He will not help those who oppress others.
And yesterday I saw in the newspaper that Netanyahu was humiliated during his trip to United States. Apparently President Obama has had enough of the Middle East, and this time he isn't helping Israel. In fact he demanded some action to be taken by the Jewish state to restore peace in the Middle East.

The pastor went on and on, delivering mostly pro-Jewish messages.

One interesting thing that he highlighted was that God loves the Israelites even though they'd rejected Him, nailing Him on the cross. Christians accuse Jews for murdering Jesus. The Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. And the pastor insisted that God loves the Jews, and NOT NECESSARILY ALL CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS. He will still place the Jews ahead of us gentiles due to His promises to Abraham.

Now we have plenty of evidence to suggest that evolution is real, we do have fossil evidence of our primate ancestors, Ardi, the Hobbits, and we also have DNA analysis to suggest our relationship with these monkeys. How about the Bible's claim that there was a man called Samson that killed a lion with bare hand? If we can find bones of monkeys that died earlier than Samson, why can't we find bones of any of the biblical figure? It is sad that the Bible, despite its usefulness as a guide, being interpreted as the answer to all questions. It is an answer to our mental and emotional problem, but physical world is not shaped by mere words. Chaos is a good example.



In my opinion, bible scholars should not interpret the bible literally.
We humans have religion, because we can think. We have emotional feeling, and we feel hurt, disappointed at times. Therefore the bible is the answer to our pain, as in emotional pain. That is why animals do not have religion, simply because they do not feel emotional disappointment. They do feel pain, and hurt, because they have the pain-sensitive nerves, but they won't be disappointed, nor jealous. They will not plot against their enemies, and certainly will never fight over religion.

Lastly, the pastor said that Christians and the United Nations are the main perpetrator of the fate of Israel now. We, in many ways never raise a voice or heed the call for help from Gaza.

Upon hearing this I felt a sudden rush of anger within me. He was so into helping Israel, so believing in the literal interpretation of Bible that Israel is ALWAYS LOVED by God that he accuse us Christians as the source of their downfall. He also quoted what Jesus said in Matthew 25:40

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

He inteprets this as though Jesus asking us to treat HIS JEWISH BROTHERS good, just like we would to Him.
This sermon ended in silence, not many people agreeing with the pastor. Given a chance, I would like to confront him and ask him some questions really. But I can see that he is quite a radical person, aggressor in a sense, so yea.. I probably will chicken out :P

I will not support the prayer for Israel, even after this message. They are often discriminated, yes I do agree to a certain extend. But to allow them to carry on with their violence across the Gaza strip, I beg to differ.

The Muslim world is angry, and rightly so. But there is a chinese proverb that says "killing each other continually, when would it end?" Someone has to give way... I hate the fact that they are waging war in the name of God. They claim to be the warrior of God on Earth, and that really is a jinx of humanity. They claim to be loving and kind.. and this is what they do to kids...

Modern day children sacrifice... akin to tribal practices.

note: I'm not supporting any side in this affair, as you can see I'm contradicting in my stance. I critisized both sides for causing all the problem. Let them fight on if they intend to. As for me, I don't think God needs us to go to war for Him.
If God is so weak that He needs you to wage war for Him, then that's a God not worth dying for.


Malcolm

Coelacanth

The primitive-looking fish, called the coelacanth (SEEL-uh-kanth) was thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But in 1938, a South African museum related dude found this fish in a fishing trawler and soon everyone was on fire. Biologists came together to discuss about this fish (c'on it's jus a fuckin' fish~!~) and questioned how this bizarre lobe-finned fish fits into the evolution of land animals.
You know what? we all are descendants of this creature.. T-T sad but true, we're once roaming freely in the ocean, falling prey to sharks and whales, and thus our brave ancestors made it to the land.

Anyway..
Many scientists believe that the unique characteristics of the coelacanth represent an early step in the evolution of fish to terrestrial four-legged animals like amphibians.


The most striking feature of this "living fossil" is its paired lobe fins that extend away from its body like legs and move in an alternating pattern, like a trotting horse.


Coelacanths are elusive, deep-sea creatures, living in depths up to 2,300 feet (700 meters) below the surface. They can be huge, reaching 6.5 feet (2 meters) or more and weighing 198 pounds (90 kilograms). Scientists estimate they can live up to 60 years or more.

I have read about this animals when I was in secondary school, and one thing that fascinates me the most is its name and its feature. Its name is super hard to pronounce for a young mind, and its feature that resembles a land animal really baffles me. What's more, the National Geographic narrator was saying "this elusive animal was once thought to have gone extinct"... and the subtitle "ikan ini pernah dijangka telah pupus oleh saintis" and I was like "WOWWW"... cuz it was discovered in the year 1938, and yet not much of us really know about this fish. Try ask any teacher in school or lecturers, bet they don't know this PREHISTORIC FISH. That's the point! PREHISTORIC!!! It is not included in our syllabus, and we were taught about dinosaurs, the dodo bird, the tasmanian tiger, mammoth, yet no one ever mention about Coelacanth~!

Hence I was really on fire about this fish, knowing something that most people don't know, and c'on, it's PREHISTORIC!!! We can trace the ancestral journey of mankind via DNA analysis of this fucking fish, to see how much our DNA differ from it, and draw up an evolution journey of all land animals, all from this bizzare fish. Anyway I'm probably dreaming cuz not many of us even know where to find this fish. there are two places in this world where you can find this fish. Ain't gonna tell ya, google it yourself :P

This creature is considered endangered as there are only several hundreds left in the wild. We have to stop polluting the ocean if we are to stop another prehistoric creature from disappearing from the surface of the planet.

Shit I'm supposed to blog about religion just now but I saw this coelacanth thing on Nat Geo so... fuck it



Malcolm

Malam Penghargaan Dayasari - Malaysian PROM

Am having a prom tonight. And it is raining heavily now. =.= God is so mean...
Anyway I'm now stuck in my room and randomly google up some prom thingy... here's what I found:

Definition: PROM
1. For most teenage guys, a form of adult-approved, school sponsored prostitution in which the guy must spend $500 on flowers, a tuxedo, a limo, booze, and a hotel, dance with his escort in front of teachers and close friends while sporting 3/4 chub the whole night, and listen to awful pop music he could get off the radio for free, for which he is guaranteed to dick an untapped pussywell.

2. Unusual American custom in which otherwise Puritanical just-say-no parents support, tolerate, approve of or feign ignorance and/or disapproval of teenage public drunkedness, destruction of hotel property and lewd behavior.

3. Akin to primitive tribal rituals, where young females are made to look as desirable as possible by hopeful parents, then turned over to spear-equipped young males.

4. The lame, parent-and-teacher-sponsored event preceeding a night of Animal-House-level debauchery at the town's Holiday Inn.

5. Liberally-applicable euphemism for losing one's virginity, out-drinking a sailor on shore leave, participating in one's first gang-bang or date rape, milking the football team's gnads dry, etc.


6. prevarication of ascension to manhood, by one's claiming to do any of the many aforedescribed acts in 4., oft used by the less worthy of the young males who by some force majeure managed to attend or coincidentally be at the same location as the event and/or activity.

7.it starts out with romance and a acting like your mature. it ends up with sex and drunkeness (sometimes babies, too)
prom night...ha ha

8. Best excuse for girls acting as teenage hos for a night.

9. An occasion in high school where horny teenage boys thinking they are grown men dance with their GF to sucky pop/rap music and later buy off the girls with beer, limo, flowers and lots of gifts in the end getting sex as a reward/show of gratitude.

10. Best American example of parent-approved teenage/underage prostitution and is followed by other countries in the world.

11. An occasion you will regret participating in the later part of your life for the waste of money, waste of time, waste of someone's virginity and the risk that you might end up becoming a daddy the morning after.
Son: Mommy, how are babies made?
Mom: Well, when a boy and a girl in prom night get together...

12. A night where fat people are paranoid to think they are fat and decide not to show up in pictures, anorexic chicks are wondering what their slutty friends are doing, ugly girls gossip about uglier chicks, and homosexuals take the opportunity to walk around with their cameras since they cannot dance.

Wow...this is harsh~~ and really, our dinner is NOT A PROM. It's more like.. an annual company dinner, where every girl gets bitchy and itchy, and stupid dudes dress up like retardssss.. and according to the above definition, a prom ends with sex.. and in Malaysia we don't see that cuz we'll be heading back to our old creepy dorm right after the dinner.. so yea.. makes you wanna travel elsewhere for a prom huh~~ :)

information from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=prom%20night&page=2

Malcolm

A Mug

I was making myself a hot milo yesterday when I suddenly thought about a random question~ what is the total volume of milo in the mug? I was thinking, perhaps most physicists would make the question easier by assuming it to be a cone, but the reality is; the side of the mug isn't linear, it's more like a bended cone, extending outward, and thus making the question less friendly. I started to contemplate upon possible solutions; differentiation, integration, differential equation.. hmm.. perhaps I should spend more time pondering upon the solution, and this really taught me a lesson: You should perhaps forget about measuring complex equations and conjugates at CERN or having a law bearing your name when you cant even measure the simplest thing around you..

Life's like that. We are so deeply immersed in exuberance of encouragement, praises, and forgot the basic thing. Well we cant remember everything of course, just like an expert of particle physics would probably fail in his Geography, or History..or even simple mechanics. BUT, that isn't the point. The difference between a successful physicist and a lousy one, is how the two respond to the failure. Anyway enough of this emo-ness

anyone knows how a Sphygmomanometer works? check that out if you dont even sure what it is.


But I'm always the kind me, provide u with the answer. It's not some sort of leviathans, nor is it something so bizzare that most ppl wouldn't wanna know.. it's so harmless...and useful
As always, I like to come up with random comments that make ppl sweat =.="
This piece of engineering marvel utilizes the simplest of physical concept: pressure, ie: P=F/A

Anyway the reason I'm mentioning this is because it replicates the questions that I post above. Most physics students, or engineering students, or students in general (I loathe act-smart students) prefer to know how GPS works, how the Large Hadron Collider works, how X-Ray Diffraction Spectrometer works, name some complicated names and you bet they are interested to investigate.

But dudessss (implying that there are a lot of these idiots around), you don't even know the simplest mechanics of all, which contributes so much in the area medicine and healthcare. You may try impress your grandma with all the shitty x-rays, spectrometers, polarizers, etc and when your lil brother ask you about SPHYGMOMANOMETER I bet you just shrug you shoulder claiming it to be some kind of Chupacabra.

Let's get down to Earth, try solve simple thing before proceed to another. Learn to walk before you learn to run..

And of course, there are a lotta useless trash in University of Malaya. How do they get in here in the first place?
Well we have to take a ride back in history...

Back in the early 20th century ie year 1905, University of Malaya was a premier institute of higher learning, where only the best of the best came together to craft a wonderful future for themselves.
Example: Tun Dr Mahathir, Ong Tee Keat, Ungku Aziz.. etc

Then, we were moved to the present location and separated from the Singapore campus, which eventually became National University of Singapore.


Under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, NUS was propelled towards excellence, and now they are among the top 50 University in the world.

We were not that bad initially. I remember back in 1990s' or early 2000 we were also top 100 university in the world (placed 89th at some point). But our education system slowly washes away our reputation.
The Malaysian Matriculation System, which contributes 90% of the population in local university annually, produces 50% idiots, 40% trash, and merely 10% English-speaking, smart students. In the medicine faculty, according to one of my medicine friend, 90% of the future doctors are from matriculation, who cant even speak proper English. Similar thing is occurring in other faculties as well.
In the Science faculty, 90% of the population is made up of English-fearing communities. They reject English, they despise bananas, and they do not accept the fact that they are so poor in English. They also question the importance of English in this globalized era. There are future Engineers who couldn't speak proper English, and can't even solve simple first year problem, who copy the resume of their senior (resume pun boleh salin ??!?!)

Of course, I cannot deny that there are high quality students from the pathetic system.. but the ratio of trash entering university each year is on the rise, and we are aiming towards becoming a top 100 university again. How far can we go, especially with our level of English, and our level of understanding of this world? Just walk around campus and pick a random student, chances are that he or she couldn't even name the capital of Turkey (Istanbul) or heard of the word Dakar (capital of Senegal)
I remember snapping a photo of me holding the prestigious World Cup, a fake one of course...and a random girl asked me

"what is that you are holding?"
"This is the Thomas Cup !!"
"Oh! So this is the Thomas Cup! I have only heard of it. It's so beautiful...."
-.-" but then I told her the truth of course...

dissatisfaction amongst STPM students is easily comprehendible.. it's up to our EDUCATIONISTS to do something about it. They keep changing the format of SPM, PMR and English every year, and yet they do not realise that the biggest problem lies in the pathetic matriculation system which aims to provide easy way for trash to enter university and graduate with a 2.0 degree, and work as engineers and doctors around the country, claiming to be the alumnus of the prestigious University of Malaya....

I guess this entry, though not very informative and reproach in nature, contains several thing that most ppl dont know.. so still..it's informative :p


~Malcolm

如果你爱的不是我

这就是“如果你爱的不是我”
词：MIZEN
曲：MIZEN
编曲：我
歌手：MIZEN，尔琪
乐手：我(吉它)，LEE FARN(贝斯)，RAYMEE(鼓)，LAY CHEU(钢琴)，凤凰(STRING)

断剑

这就是“断剑”
词：MIZEN
曲：MIZEN
编曲：我
乐手：我(吉它)，RAYMEE(鼓)，凤凰(琵琶)，LAY CHEU(箫)，LEE FARN(贝斯)，宝莲(钢琴)，JASMINE(大提琴)
歌手：宝文，MIZEN

Distress...unpredictable ending

Firstly, I would like to express my displeasure in an utmost polite way...
WHAT THE 法克！！！！

看了MIZEN 的 “如果你爱的不是我” Video， 我的心烧了起来，不是因为被感动，相反的，我差点把电脑丢下楼了。
这么好的开局，不错的 reintro，接着到 bridge，然后可怕的地方。。。我听了简直发狂，气到。。。。。。马德发克。。
(注：绝对不是歌手的错)
Sign.. then I told this to a friend, and yea.. perhaps it was my own mistake at the first place.. Moreover it's in the past, unless I could move faster than light I can do nothing about that mistake anymore.. Although many people told me that song was one of the best of the night, I could not help but to dismiss it as random, supportive comment. I would like to stop here, to prevent further dejection..

Anyway there was an earthquake in Taiwan recently(4th March 2010), magnitude 6.2, and there was another one yesterday (8th March 2010) in Turkey, magnitude 6.0. Geologists say that we have earthquakes all over the world everyday, but this year 2010, we have quite a number of dangerous earthquakes(magnitude 6.0 and above), and the most significant is the 8.8 earthquake of Chile, and also the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti.. No doubt, earthquake is a major problem for earthlings, and it is even more deadly in poor countries like Haiti, African countries, Asian countries, etc. The earthquake that struck Gao Xiong, Taiwan was only 6.2, and there were only a few casualties, compared to several thousands who died in Haiti, and the 2004 earthquake in Indonesia. This, maybe due to the nature of Taiwan, having experienced the worst of earthquakes ever since its' first kingdom several centuries back, and the buildings are all earthquake-proof, and strict regulations are to be followed if you want to build something upon an earthquake zone. Japan is another example. The Kobe earthquake (forgotten the date) uprooted the roads and highways in Kobe, Japan, and although they were well prepared, there were still casualties reported.


The aftermath of an earthquake in Eastern Turkey, 8th March 2010, magnitude 6.0
photo courtesy of Nationalgeographic.com


We can never underestimate the power of Mother Nature. We took so much from her, and when the time comes, She unleashes Her fury(much more like seeking for vengeance) and upend whatever we painstakingly built. It is so simple. She shakes Her head, and we, much like small termites living on her head, crumbling to the ground with our "termite mounds".. Human is so pathetic... we are so powerful against wild animals, we conquered the oceans, the deserts, the deepest and densest forests of the Amazon, and the Artic, and planted our "fabric" on the Moon, yet we could not foresee the coming of an earthquake.

So the question is; what causes earthquake? That's very simple. So we move on to the next
What happens before an earthquake? Well geologists have no idea..zoologists say that the animals will become restless (perhaps they're about to pee?? XD)

toads crossing the road just before the deadly Sichuan Earthquake of China.. Evidence of the efficiency of animal as earthquake alarm?
photo courtesy of www.dailymail.co.uk


Ahh....busted.. A dead cow, killed by the earthquake in Turkey, evidence that it cant foresee the earthquake. Probably it did but it didn't bother to walk out of the barn, away from delicious grass within. It died due to:-neglecting its instinct, and gluttony XD
photo courtesy of Nationalgeographic.com

Anyway, I read Newsweek yesterday and saw some interesting articles.. regarding the Obama administration that attracts more negative feedback that positive ones. Read it yourself :P and...I have been reading other blogs for the past few days, and realising that perhaps I should emulate their SSS (Syok-Sendiri Syndrom) and talk more about myself, my act, my feeling, my this, my that, less formal stuff, less informative stuff cuz those shits repel readers. Well at the end of the day I decided not to. I don't need avid readers, I will read this on my own, someday when I'm busy out there working, I could just log on and see what I thought when I was wild and free. This is the real reason behind me writing all these shits. Oh yea.. then I cannot write names because bad memories are meant to be forgotten :P

I'm just so cool V(~!^)V


Malcolm