Recently, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the current Prime Minister of Malaysia decided to change the medium of instruction of maths and science from English to Malay. This is supposedly because the usage of Malay in maths and sciences will instill patriotism for Malaysians as well as for Malaysians to better grasp the Malay language.
This is not a good decision to me. Being a Malaysian Chinese, I am personally for the introduction of English as a medium of instruction of the sciences. However, I also understand where some of the Malays are coming from in arguing that the introduction of English will diminish Malay language and culture. This is the cultural and emotional aspect, and lets not kid ourselves and say the mother tongues will remain intact under the onslaught of the English language. There is no debate over whether proliferation of English, an international prestige dialect, will cause mother tongue usage to drop - any sociolinguist worth his salt will tell you yes, given enough time. It is simply a trade off between protecting the traditional cultures and changing enough to survive in this world.
It is becoming quite apparent, even to the hard-line advocates of racial politics, that Malaysia does not have much of a choice. The economic outlook is bleak. With the dip in oil prices and various economic flops like the huge deficit of Malaysian Airlines, Malaysia is looking for ways to change its economy. The Iskandar Malaysia project is one way; but teaching the rakyat good English can be another way to bring in foreign cash without having banking on the negotiations with Singapore . Much of the controversy that surrounded this policy at its inception was not whether to implement the policy, but rather how to go about doing it. Most of the qualms raised by the Chinese community has been about the abrupt nature of the original policy. After all, forcing a student without prior knowledge in English to learn the Sciences and Mathematics in English in primary one is hardly sound pedagogy. The introduction of the original policy has not been smooth-sailing, with many students struggling to cope; but the teething problems eventually passed and it had gradually became a way of life as previously Chinese speaking parents started to pick up English so that they could help their children master the language. Now that the rakyat had been through those pains, the policy is changed yet again, meaning yet another few cohorts of students would have to go through the problems of transition.
In a nutshell, I think that this policy of teaching math and science in English should not be scraped. This concludes my argument.
My blog prompt: View on Dr Najib's decision to scrap the use of English to teach math and science by 2012
on Sunday, July 12, 2009There can be many stands to this topic, but I for one chose to think that progress is neccesary for the society, however, too much progress might in turn do more harm than good.
I will first argue that progress is beneficial for society. If society has no progress since the olden days, we will still be wearing clothes made by animal skin, we will still have to go around hunting if we ever hope to fill our stomach and we will still have no education. Everybody will be outdoors, either hunting for food, growing vegetables or looking for a suitable place to stay. Do we want that? Of course not, therefore progress is neccesary for our lives to be more comfortable, and also to be more convenient.
Secondly, I will explain why too much progress will do more harm than good. Too much progress, might harm the environment. For instance, for the society to progress, we have to have land. And where can we get land? Cutting down trees is one solution. However, cutting down trees will result in global warming. Besides that, trees also help to purify the air, without them, the air will be very dirty.
In conclusion, progresscan be good, and can also be bad for the society. Progress is neccesary for the society, but too much progress might in turn become harmful, with that, I end my speech.
Lamb to the Slaughter
on Thursday, July 9, 2009Favourite Poet
on Tuesday, June 30, 2009Today, I will be blogging about my favourite poet. His name is Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965). He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, of an old New England family. He was educated at Harvard and did graduate work in philosophy at the Sorbonne, Harvard, and Merton College, Oxford. He settled in England, where he was for a time a schoolmaster and a bank clerk, and eventually literary editor for the publishing house Faber & Faber, of which he later became a director. He founded and, during the seventeen years of its publication (1922-1939), edited the exclusive and influential literary journal Criterion. In 1927, Eliot became a British citizen and about the same time entered the Anglican Church.
It was in London that Eliot came under the influence of his contemporary Ezra Pound, who recognized his poetic genius at once, and assisted in the publication of his work in a number of magazines, most notably "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in Poetry in 1915. His first book of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations, was published in 1917, and immediately established him as a leading poet of the avant-garde. Eliot's reputation began to grow to nearly mythic proportions; by 1930, and for the next thirty years, he was the most dominant figure in poetry and literary criticism in the English-speaking world.
His poems in many respects articulated the disillusionment of a younger post-World-War-I generation with the values and conventions—both literary and social—of the Victorian era. As a critic also, he had an enormous impact on contemporary literary taste, propounding views that, after his conversion to orthodox Christianity in the late thirties, were increasingly based in social and religious conservatism.
I chose him as my favourite poet because I sincerely admire his stlye of writing poems. Besides that, I also admire him for his great achievements, most notably the nobel prize in literature that he won. I hope to learn from him and to follow his examples. Now, here are three of his best poems.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS
THE broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.
Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.
The hippo's feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.
The 'potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.
At mating time the hippo's voice
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.
The hippopotamus's day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way--
The Church can sleep and feed at once.
I saw the 'potamus take wing
Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.
Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.
He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr'd virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.
MORNING AT THE WINDOW
THEY are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.
The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.
THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK
LET us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
(They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!")
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
(They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all--
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all--
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
* * *
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all;
That is not it, at all."
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor--
And this, and so much more?--
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
Resources/Blibiography
www.poet.org
www.poetry-archive.com
A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
on Monday, June 29, 2009This is the poem that I have chosen for the IT home learning.
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
I will now be elaborating on the figurative language used.
There is a hyperbole from the last 6th line to the last 3rd line. The writer used the hyperbole in order to place emphasis on that few lines. The author also used the hyperbole in order to better express his feelings and emotions.
From the last 7th line, there is also another hyperbole( While I weep--while I weep! )
The author used a hyperbole there in order to emphasis that he wept profusely.
A Dream Within a Dream" reflects Poe's feelings about his life at the time, dramatizing his confusion in watching the few precious things in his life slip away. Realizing he cannot hold onto even one grain of sand leads to his final question that all things are a dream.
The poem references "golden sand," an image derived from the 1848 discovery of gold in California.
Alternately, it may be interpreted that the "golden sand" is an allusion to the author's loved ones, and that each is inevitably swept away by death (the pitiless wave), no matter how tight a clasp the author tries to retain them with.
I like this poem because it shows us the feelings the poet have at the time. It is evident that the poet put a lot of effort in composing the poem. This poem is extremely sad, but I think it is very good, for it really reflects the author's emotions.
Lim Chia Wei
on Saturday, June 27, 2009Who is my favourite/least favourite character in Village by the sea
on Tuesday, June 9, 2009Village by the sea have many different characters with different ways of speech, different attitudes, etc. From the variety of different characters, I have chosen a favourite character from the book.
My favourite character is Lila. I admire her for being able to shoulder such a huge responsibility without any grumbles or complains. Most of us, if we are in her position, will most probably have gone around in our daily jobs sulkily, blaming god for the fact that our mother is ill and our father is drunk, unable to contribute to the running of the family. However, although in such a position, Lila still went on with a cheery smile while doing her household chores, even taking care of her parents though it ought to be the other way round!Moreover, I like the way Lila adapts to change. She no longer goes out and have fun with her friends and no longer goes to school. Every spare minute she has is devoted for caring for her 2 younger sisters and for tending to the house hold. I admire the way the way that she can adapt to change.Hence, I chose Lila as my favourite character in the book.
Today, I will be sharing with you my reasons why I would rather be the city rat than the country rat.
Firstly, a city rat gets to indulge in good food. Why wouldn't someone prefer to be a city rat when they have the opportunity to eat a lot of good and tasty food ? A city rat has the priviledge of not only having a considerable access to food, having only to turn to the nearest restaurant perhaps down the street but they are also assured of the quality and taste of the food as the food a city rat consumes are is consumed by food loving members of the general public. In constrast, a country rat will have trouble even finding adequate food to keep them alive. They do not enjoy the steady stream of food that the city rat enjoys. Furthemore, they cannot even think of finding good food for there are practically none in the countryside.
Besides that, a city rat will have good accomodation as compared to a country rat. A city rat have only to turn to the nearest household to find shelther . This not only provides the much needed rest for a rat after a hectic day but also provides a shield from the rat's natural predators such as snakes, mongooses, etc. In comparison, a country rat is much worse off because of its lack of good places to stay. A country rat will be able to find shelter, but not without much trouble and time. So why waste all the trouble and time? Isn't it better to be a city rat?
In conclusion, being a city rat is indeed more enjoyable than being a country rat. Thus, it follows that I would prefer to be a city rat rather than a country rat. This wraps up my discussion for today.
The Village By The Sea is an interesting book that my school have made it required reading for us. It has many interesting parts and I will be blogging on one of the parts that I like best today.
Refer to pg 88 of village by the sea. I will be using that as well as information from other parts of the book in my sharing today.
In this part of the book, Hari is now having a tough decision on which course of action should he undertake to best support his family. His father is a drunkard and his mother is ill and he is the sole breadwinner for his family. His hometown Thul, is about to change with the arrival of the fertilizer factories bringing many people from all over India to come to Thul thus causing Hari to wonder whather he will have a job in the factories with such a lot of competition. Besides that, Biju, a person with considerable wealth from his hometown is going to launch a boat that is equipped with diesel engines, a deep freeze and a capacity to travel 50 miles a day. Hari is pondering whether to get a job on his boat. However, Hari is put off after a watchman from the city poured scorn on Biju's plans, saying that there is hardly any fish left in the seas near the village. Thus, Hari is left with no other alternative but to go to Bombay and to earn a living.
This part of the story is particulary captivating because it exemplifys the kind of ordeal that village people have to go through. Just think of it, at the young age of 11, they already have to provide for their family. I particulary sympathise with Hari because at such a young age, he is already burdened with the task of providing for his family, to earn money and to take care of not only his younger sisters, but also his parents! And it is in this part of the book where Hari is about to make a decision that will not only affect his life, but also the life of his family members. Anita Desai in this part of the story, shows the burden of Hari with his thoughts giving the reader a comprehensive insight on Hari's life as well as his burdens. This, together with the difficult decisions which Hari have to make made this part of the book the most interesting of all in the book.
This completes my sharing for today.
Obama weighing holding terror suspects in U.S.
on Thursday, May 14, 2009This is a blog post updating everyone on what obama is currently doing.
President Barack Obama is considering holding terrorism suspects in the United States under a revamp of military commission trials for Guantanamo detainees, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The proposal being weighed would mean keeping some terrorism suspects on U.S. soil indefinitely under the authority of some kind of national-security court, the newspaper said on its website, quoting Sen. Lindsay Graham.
Obama is reworking the Bush administration's system of military commissions for prosecuting detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba camp -- which he has pledged to close by 2010 -- with the aim of adding more legal protection for those on trial.
The Obama administration has been trying to win European commitments to take some of the 241 prisoners.
Obama, who is trying to balance security concerns with his campaign promise of shuttering Guantanamo and cleaning up America's image abroad, on Wednesday reversed a decision to release photos showing the abuse of terrorism suspects, over concern they could ignite a backlash against U.S. troops.
Since mother's day was just last sunday, I would like to give all of you a brief history about mother's day.
Mother's Day owes its origins to several long standing traditions in Europe and the UK where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers. Traditionally the day was marked by the giving of token gifts and the relinquishing of certain traditionally female tasks such as cooking and cleaning to other members of the family as a gesture of appreciation.
While the role of the woman has become less rigid in modern day society Mother's Day (or Mothering Sunday) as it has been called in the UK dating back to the sixteenth century, remains an important day for the honoring of the role that mother's play in the home and in society in general. There is a corresponding holiday for Fathers called, not surprisingly, Father's Day, but most sources site this as a more recent addition coming about in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins.
While considered by many as a "Hallmark Holiday", i.e. one with a purely commercial background, Mother's Day is actually a long standing tradition in the UK and several countries in Europe, and has corresponding equivalents in many countries, including parts of India and many communities in Eastern Africa and the Far East.
The modern Mother's Day holiday in the United States has been attributed to concerted efforts by American Anna Jarvis and her Mother's Day International Association which she founded in 1912. The idea, however, that this is not linked in any way to the older British and European versions, from where the majority of the of original North American settlers originated, is clearly spurious.
Maths Videos
on Monday, May 4, 2009Free Math Videos Online
Have fun learning math by watching free math videos online.
Precautions to take
on Saturday, May 2, 2009In line of the recent Swine flu case, I am posting this entry to educate all of you on the precautions to take.
There are antiviral medicines you can take to prevent or treat swine flu. There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. You can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by
1)Covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
2)Washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.
3)Avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
4)Trying to avoid close contact with sick people.
5)Staying home from work or school if you are sick.
New laboratory data showed fewer people have died in Mexico than first thought from a new influenza strain, a glint of good news for a world rattled by the threat of a flu pandemic.
Mexico cut its suspected death toll from the H1N1 flu to up to 101 from as many as 176, as dozens of test samples came back negative. Fewer patients with severe flu symptoms were also checking into hospitals, suggesting the infection rate of a flu that has spread to Europe and Asia was declining.
The World Health Organisation said on Saturday 15 countries have reported 615 infections with the new flu virus A-H1N1, widely known as swine flu.
Italy later confirmed its first case, a man in the Tuscany region who returned from Mexico on April 24. He has recovered.
Almost all infections outside Mexico have been mild. The only death in another country has been a Mexican toddler who was taken to the United States before he fell sick.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed the outbreak may not be as severe as it looked a few days ago, citing many mild cases that were not immediately noticed.
President Barack Obama said the United States was responding aggressively to the new flu strain
He outlined steps his administration was taking to address the virus, including school closures, and said antivirals were being distributed to states where they may be needed and new stockpiles had been ordered.
For Mexicans -- spending a second weekend stuck indoors with stores and businesses shuttered across the country and the capital, Mexico City, devoid of its lively restaurants, bars, cinemas and museums -- the data is cheering.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova acknowledged the numbers were encouraging but cautioned it was too early to say Mexico had control of the flu.
The new virus is only the third infectious disease experts regard as having pandemic potential in the past 10 years.
It has world health experts racing to find a vaccine and is wreaking havoc with a travel industry that flies hundreds of thousands of people to and from Mexico each week.
China suspended flights to Mexico after Hong Kong authorities on Friday confirmed a Mexican man who flew via the Chinese mainland was infected with the flu strain.
The "24" Mystery!
on Friday, May 1, 2009This is a neat trick!
If you square ANY prime number bigger then 3, then subtract 1, the answer always divides by 24!
E.g. 112 = 121 then 121 - 1 = 120 and yes 120 does divide by 24.
WHY?
If you understand algebra, then you'll know that all prime numbers can be written as (6n+1) or (6n-1).
(6n+1)2 = 36n+12n+1. So (6n+1)2 -1 = 36n+12n. This factorises to 12n(3n+1). Either n or (3n+1) must be even, therefore the whole expression must be divisible by 24.
(6n-1)2 = 36n-12n+1. So (6n-1)2 -1 = 36n-12n. This factorises to 12n(3n-1). Either n or (3n-1) must be even, therefore the whole expression must be divisible by 24.
Mexico orders economic shutdown; flu pandemic imminent
on Thursday, April 30, 2009I think that the recent case of swine flu is very distressing.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon told his people to stay home from Friday for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy, after the World Health Organisation said a swine flu pandemic was imminent.
Calderon ordered government offices and private businesses not crucial to the economy to stop work to avoid further infections from the new virus, which has killed up to 176 people in Mexico and is now spreading around the world.
Eleven countries have reported cases of the H1N1 strain, and Texas officials said a 22-month-old Mexican boy had died in Texas while on a family visit, the first confirmed swine flu death outside Mexico.
Switzerland confirmed on Thursday its first case, saying a man returning from Mexico had tested positive for the flu.
The WHO raised the official alert level to phase 5, the last step before a pandemic.
"Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world," WHO Director General Margaret Chan told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
"The biggest question is this: how severe will the pandemic be, especially now at the start," Chan said. But she added that the world "is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history".
Having read this post, I now urge all of you to practice good hygiene.
Italian cruise ship fires at pirates, repels them
on Sunday, April 26, 2009An Italian cruise ship repulsed pirates in an attack off the east African coast by returning fire, a Kenyan maritime official said on Sunday.
"We hear it's a cruise ship," said Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Sea Farers Assistance Programme. "If that is the case, then they are putting the lives of their passengers in danger by having weapons onboard."
Mwangura did not have more details on the ship.
Sea gangs have increased raids on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since February when better weather allowed them to hijack more vessels and take more hostages despite foreign navies patrolling off Somalia.
The London-based IMB watchdog said piracy incidents nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2009 almost entirely due to Somalia. There were 18 attacks off the Somali coast in March alone.
I think that the increasing flu epidemic is extremel worrying.
Governments around the world rushed on Sunday to check the spread of a new type of swine flu that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and infected around a dozen in the United States.
A man has his temperature checked by medical personnel before entering a bar in Mexico City April 25, 2009. Governments around the world rushed on Sunday to check the spread of a new type of swine flu that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and infected around a dozen in the United States.
Mexicans huddled inside their homes while U.S. hospitals tracked patients with flu symptoms and other countries imposed health checks at airports as the World Health Organization warned the virus had the potential to become a pandemic.
Mexico's tourism and retail sectors could be badly hit by the crisis and a new pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already knocked into its worst recession in decades by the crisis in financial markets.
The new flu strain, a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, poses the biggest risk of a large-scale pandemic since avian flu surfaced in 1997, killing several hundred people. A 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally.
Argentina declared a health alert, requiring anyone arriving on flights from Mexico to advise if they had flu-like symptoms. As far away as Hong Kong and Japan health officials stepped up checks of sickly travelers.
New flu strains can spread quickly because no one has natural immunity and a vaccine takes months to develop. A British Airways cabin crew member was hospitalized in London after developing flu-like symptoms on a flight from Mexico.
The government earmarked $450,000 to cover fighting the flu, and Calderon issued the government special powers to run tests on sick people and order them isolated.
The ELEPHANT Trick
on Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Think of a number between 1 and 9
Add 1
Multiply by 9
Add 1
Add the two digits of your answer
Divide by 2
Turn the number you have left into a letter:
1=a 2=b 3=c 4=d 5=e 6=f 7=g 8=h 9=i
Shout the name of an animal beginning with your letter!
What is a perfect number?
A perfect number is a whole number, an integer greater than zero; and
when you add up all of the factors less than that number, you get that number.
Examples:
The factors of 6 are 1, 2, 3 and 6.1 + 2 + 3 = 6
The factors of 28 are 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 28.1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28
The factors of 496 are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 31, 62, 124, 248 and 496.1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 31 + 62 + 124 + 248 = 496
The factors of 8128 are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 127, 254, 508, 1016, 2032, 4064 and 8128. I'll let you add them up.
This are a few sites for you to try out.
Genius Test Genius Test 2 -
kid version Genius Test 2 -
I've tried to arrange them in order... The easy ones math puzzles are first and, then, they get harder! See if you can make it through all the puzzles!
Alphabet Soup
Penny Triangle
Toothpick Squares
Number Fun #1
Number Fun #2
Connect the Dots
Nines
Plus Sign Puzzle
How Many Triangles (geometry)
How Many Squares
The Handshake Puzzle
Family Photo
What's Next #1
Pascal's Triangle
Planting Trees
What's Next #2 The Painted Cube Sticky Shapes
Find the Numbers 4
Number Bubbles 1
Number Bubbles 2
Number Bubbles 3
Number Bubbles 4
Number Bubbles 5
Amoebas in a Box
Arranging Books Karen's Age (prime numbers)
Nothing But Zeros!
Algebra Mess
Dark Bridge
The Fox, the Chicken and the Corn
The Climbing Cat Bears & Fish (this one might be easy for you... and it might not!)
Find the Numbers 1
Find the Numbers 2
Find the Numbers 3
Color Squares
Triangles (geometry)
Three Light Bulbs
The Two Doors
While surfing the net I came across this interesting article.
Physicist Stephen Hawking, the author of "A Brief History of Time" who is almost completely paralysed by motor neurone disease, has been urgently admitted to hospital.
Hawking, 67, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital in Cambridge, where he is a professor of applied mathematics and theoretical physics.
Hawking, who is only able to speak through a computer-generated voice synthesiser, had been ill for a couple of weeks, with his condition deteriorating since he returned from a trip to the United States at the weekend, a source said.
He cancelled an appearance at Arizona State University on April 6 due to a chest infection. A pre-recorded lecture was played to a science conference instead.
Hawking is renowned for his work on black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity. He achieved global recognition with the publication in 1988 of "A Brief History of Time", an account of the origins of the universe.
Hawking began suffering from motor neurone disease in his early 20s but went on to establish himself as one of the world's leading scientific authorities, and is constantly called upon to comment on new discoveries in astronomy and physics.
Since 1974, the Oxford-educated scientist has worked on marrying the two cornerstones of modern physics -- Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which concerns gravity and large-scale phenomena, and quantum theory, which covers subatomic particles.
As a result of his research, Hawking proposed a model of the universe based on two concepts of time: "real time", or time as human beings experience it, and "imaginary time", the time on which the world may really run.
Motor neurone disease is a catch-all name for a family of muscle wasting diseases that includes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease in the United States.
Although Hawking is virtually paralysed, he has a slow-progressive form of the disease.
Hawking, who is due to step down as Cambridge's Lucasian professor of Mathematics when he turns 70, has been married twice. He has three children by his first wife.
A bear hunter sets out from camp and walks one mile south.
He sees a bear and is about to shoot it.
The bear grabs his gun and eats it.
The hunter runs away one mile east.
He then walks one mile north and gets back to his camp and changes his underwear.
What colour was the bear?
This is a classic puzzle, because it looks like the hunter has moved like this:
...and it doesn't tell you what colour the bear is!
However there IS somewhere on Earth where it is possible for him to move south, east then north and get back again!
Poker is a very popular game in the world. Therefore, I am writing this post for die-hard poker fans.
1 in 650,000 :ROYAL FLUSH (A,K,Q,J,10 all the same suit)
1 in 72,000 : STRAIGHT FLUSH (a run of five cards all in the same suit e.g. 7,8,9,10,J all hearts)
1 in 4,000 : FOUR OF A KIND
1 in 700 : FULL HOUSE (three of a kind AND a pair)
1 in 500 : FLUSH (all five cards the same suit)
1 in 256 : STRAIGHT (e.g. a run such as 2,3,4,5,6)
2% : THREE OF A KIND (e.g. three aces )
5% : TWO PAIRS (e.g. two eights and two threes)
42% : ONE PAIR (e.g. two queens )
If you are dealt 13 cards, your chances of getting the following hands are:
13 spades (in any order): 1 in 635,013,559,600
13 cards in the same suit (in any order): 1 in 158,753,389,900
13 spades in the CORRECT order (i.e. Ace,2,3,....queen,king): 1 in 3,954,242,643,910,000,000,000
If you have four players receiving 13 cards each, these are the chances involved:
All four players getting one complete suit each: 1 in 2,235,197,406,900,000,000,000,000,000
All four players getting all 13 cards of their favourite suit in the correct order :1 in 80,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
This are t6he chances of winning the UK's National Lottery.
Here are the approximate chances of all the different prizes:
JACKPOT (matching all six numbers): 1 in 14 million
FIVE PLUS THE BONUS: 1 in 2.3 million
FIVE: 1 in 55,000
FOUR: 1 in 1,000
THREE: 1 in 57
And just for interest, here are some other chances:
The chance of winning ANY prize: 1 in 54 (about 2%)
The chance of only matching 2 numbers: 1 in 7.5 (about 13%)
The chance of only matching 1 number: 1 in 2.4 (about 41%)
The chance of not matching ANY numbers: 1 in 2.3 (about 44%)
This post ought to discurage you from purchasing any lottery tickets.
Most people are wondering what does 0/0 equals. Therefore, I am publishing this post toexplain this.
Because anything x 0 = 0 therefore 0/0 can = anything.
There, its as simple as that.
Many of us are confused why 0! =1. This is the best explanation that I have came across.
If you have 3 playing cards in your hand, you can arrange them in 3! different ways. In other words you can put them in 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 different orders.
If you have 2 cards, you can put them in 2! different ways which is 2.
If you just have 1 card you can only arrange it 1! ways which is 1.
But if you have ZERO cards then there's also one way of doing that!
This is an interesting article regarding Queen Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth II will mark her 83rd birthday on Tuesday with a low-key day at Windsor Castle, but she won't have the day off work.
The queen's London office said the monarch has nothing special planned or any public engagements scheduled, but she will probably go through the stack of official papers she receives as head of state. She has long done that every day of the year, except Christmas.
A royal salute will be fired at noon in Hyde Park in central London to mark the occasion by the King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery.
The queen's birthday is celebrated twice a year - once privately, on her actual birthday, and again with an official national celebration in June.
Since the 18th century, British monarchs have been publicly celebrating their birthdays in June, no matter when they were actually born, in hope of good weather for public events.
As consort, Prince Philip does not have a constitutional role, but he supports his wife and accompanies the queen to public engagements and on foreign tours. They have been married for more than 60 years.
This is a little insight on the prime numbers that mathematicians found.
On August 23rd, a UCLA computer in the GIMPS PrimeNet network discovered the 45th known Mersenne prime, 243,112,609-1, a mammoth 12,978,189 digit number! The prime number qualifies for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's $100,000 award for discovery of the first 10 million digit prime number.
On September 6th, the 46th known Mersenne prime, 237,156,667-1, a 11,185,272 digit number was found by Hans-Michael Elvenich in Langenfeld near Cologne, Germany! This was the first Mersenne prime to be discovered out of order since Colquitt and Welsh discovered 2110,503-1 in 1988.
The nearly decade long quest for the EFF award came down to a close race to the finish - with just two weeks separating the discovery of the two primes.
In recognition of the individual discoverers, the GIMPS project leaders, and every GIMPS participant's contributions, credit for the two primes goes to "Edson Smith, George Woltman, Scott Kurowski, et al.", and "Hans-Michael Elvenich, George Woltman, Scott Kurowski, et al.".
Edson Smith has worked in the IT industry for 27 years and the last 10 years as the Computing Manager for the UCLA Mathematics Department. Last Fall he replaced the Lab's screen savers with prime95 - a perfect fit for the Mathematics Department. UCLA has a rich history in the discovery of Mersenne primes. Dr. Raphael Robinson found five Mersenne primes at UCLA in 1952 and Alex Hurwitz found two more in 1961.
Hans-Michael Elvenich is a 44 year old Electrical Engineer working for Lanxess, a chemical company. He is a prime number enthusiast and is the owner and operator of www.primzahlen.de. In German, prime numbers are called "Primzahlen".
Both primes were first verified by Tom Duell (Burlington, MA, USA) and Rob Giltrap (Wellington, New ZealandThe first prime verification took 13 days, the second prime took 5 days.
Perfectly Scientific, Dr. Crandall's company which developed the FFT algorithm used by GIMPS, will make posters you can order containing all 12.9 and 11.1 million digits. You'll need a good magnifying glass to read the tiny, tiny print!
I recently came across this formula in the web and would like to share it with all of you.
An anulus is like a disc with a round hole in it. Although most people will think that you need loads of measurements but in actual fact you can get the area with just one measurement.
All you do is draw a straight line across the ring that just touches the little circle in the middle. If the length of this line is L then:
The area of the anulus is pi x (L/2)x (L/2)
But why?
The answer is rather satisfying.
Obviously the area is the same as the little circle taken away from the big circle, so let's see what happens when we try it.
Remember the area of a circle = PI x r2 where r is the radius of the circle (a radius is the distance from the middle to the edge).
Here we've called the radius of the big circle R and the little one is r.
The area of the big circle is PI x R2
The area of the little circle is PI x r2
So the area of the anulus is PI x R2 - PI x r 2 = PI x (R2 - r2)
Now we've got a right angled triangle.
Using pythagoras theorem, and you'll see that R2 = (L/2)x (L/2) + r2.
Therefore R2 - r2 = (L/2)x (L/2)
Swap this into our answer above and we get area of anulus= PI x (L/2)x (L/2)
I have came across this depressing article and would like to share it with all of you.
Today in Baghdada, a suicide bomber dressed in police uniform killed four policemen near a local government headquarters in northeastern Iraq.
Lieutenant Colonel Hameed al-Shimari, who heads an emergency police unit in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, said that seven civilians were also wounded in the attack in the restive city of Baquba.
The U.S. military said that eight U.S. soldiers were wounded in the bombing near the Baquba mayor's office but none were killed, as Iraqi police had reported.
The military put the death toll at three civilians killed and 19 people, including the U.S. soldiers, reconstruction officials and Iraqi police, wounded.
Suicide bombings have occurred frequently in Baquba, considered one of the few remaining havens in Iraq for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda fighters.
Nowadays, this sort of terrorists attacks have become more rampant. Therefore, in this dangerous times, it is wise to always be cautious and report any suspicious happenings to the police immediately.
Datuk Seri Abdullah handing over power to Datuk Seri Najib
on Monday, March 30, 2009I am a malaysian scholar that has come to Singapore to study. I have not been paying attentions to the malaysian news but just today, when I got the straits times for the reading programe in hwa chong, I noticed an article about Datuk Seri Abudallah(Malaysia's current Prime Minister) handing his power to Datuk Seri Najib. The reason that I write this blog post is to express my views regarding this matter.
I belive that Malaysia is a good country to live in many ways, such as -
1) No natural disasters
2) Low crime rate
3) Low cost of living
4) Beautiful Landscapes
However, it is my personal opinion that Malaysia really lacks good leadership. Therefore, I hope that this change in leadership for the country will contribute further to the country. I hope that Datuk Seri Najib will provide the much needed leadership for the country and now, from here, I would like to wish him good luck.
I recently read a heart warming title about a person named Oh Siew May who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. This disease rendered Siew May unable to walk properly and make her face a little distorted. Although of her disease, she is still a strong and giving female. In her life, she has done things that even some of us have not done before. For example, she had climb Mt Kinabalu before and had writen her own autobiography about her miserable life.
Siew May managed to do so many things in spite of the many life challenges and setbacks that she has faced since she was born. For example, people often keep away from her and ignore her completely. Very few people are willing to become her friend.Some people even critisize her openly.
I feel very sympathetic towards Siew May's plight. I would like each and every one of you out there to accept such people ito the society. I, for one. wish sincerely that there is something that can do to help Oh Siew May.
Language Arts Assignment
on Monday, February 23, 2009Today, i will be blogging about a news article from the News Straits Times Paper. The article's name is 'Handcuffed Singaporean flees from custody in Malaysia'.
This news article is a plot-driven story. A plot-driven story is a story which the intricacies of the plot are the most important aspects of the story. A plot-driven story makes the reader wants to read more not because they are fascinated by the characters but because they want to find out what happen next. The most well known plot-driven stories are mysteries especially murder mysteries. The plot creates the mystery so the plot is the focus of the story.
As for the news article, it is a plot-driven story because it makes the reader wants to read more to know more about the situation. The readers want to know more on what happened to the Singaporean man.They want to know his whereabouts and what methods are implemented to capture him. The readers will probably be reading the newspapers for the next few days just to know what happened to him.
In my opinion, i think that we should take preventive measures to guard ourselves against this dangerous criminal. He will not hesitate to kill us if he thinks we are a threat to him. Besides that, i also think that the police should dispatch more men to guard prisoners. This would prevent future prisoners from escaping.
Moreover, i think that the government should impose stricter rules against drug trafficking. This will deter people from trying to traffic drugs in the future. Last but not least, i would like to urge each and everyone of you not to commit any offences.
funny maths video
on Sunday, February 22, 2009These are a list of recommended mathematical videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqj5Qrxd5M0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_SGu7cH1bM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=154hwSQFreo
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The answer to squared numbers are as follow :
Firstly, you need to know the formula 1*1 + 2*2 + 3*3 + ......+ x*x = x/6(x+1)(2x+1)
Then, 1*1 + 3*3 + ...... + 99*99 = (1*1 + 2*2 + 3*3 +...... + 100*100 ) - (2*2 + 4*4 + ......
100*100 )
= [ (100/6) (100+1) (2*100+1) ]-[ 2*2 ( 1*1 + 2*2 + 3*3 +......
50*50) ]
= 338350 - [4 * (50/6) (50+1) (2*50+1)
= 338350 - 171700
= 166650
Fractions
on Saturday, January 17, 2009 1/x - 1/y = 1/4 . What is the value of
2y + 3xy - 2x / y - x - 2xy
Look out for the solutions. Meanwhile, you are invited to post your own comments via the comments box.
Four married couples, with names John, James, Matthew, Shaun, Lily, Elaine, Laura and Helen attended a function. At the function, they are required to shake hands with each other. The following information is given:
1 James shake hands with Lily.
2 John shake hands with Matthew' s wife
3 Elaine shake hands with Laura's husband
4 Shaun shake hands with John's wife
5 Laura shake hands with Lily's husband
The wife of James is_______
Look out for the solution to this question! Meanwhile, you are welcome to post your solutions via the comments box.
1*1 + 3*3 + 5*5 + 7*7 + 9*9 +...... +99*99
Look out for the solution tommorow.
