Brilliance vs Horror

Those of you taking SPM from 2011 onwards might appreciate this.


Bersemadi di sini
Aku adalah pelayar yang dahaga
Di dada samudera
Tak berpantai
Betapapun kuteguk darinya
Dahaga tak pernah langsai.
-Shafie Abu Bakar, Sajak Di Perpustakaan

(translation)
Meditating in this place
I am a thirsty sailor
In the middle of the sea
Without beaches
No matter how much I drink
My thirst has never been quenched
-Shafie Abu Bakar, At the Library

Fridge Brilliance: You can never quench your thirst with sea water because of its high salinity. You'll actually become thirstier.
Fridge Horror: He's trapped in an endless world of eternal thirst with no way out, other than to incessantly drink and drink until the end of time.

I realized too late that I shouldn't have linked you to that site. As a result, I apologize in advance for the countless hours you are going to spend your life there. :P

Whoo A2's over, received my results. We shall now have a short intermission until the next Chapter of Life!

A2
Let's

Give it our all
Give it our best!
Always look forward
Give it no rest!

Now is the time, our skills are
Put to the test
Aim beyond the finish line
God bless!

I have like, what? 20+ days to A2!

In the mouth of fools is a rod of pride ~ Proverbs 14:3

How many times have we made a fool of ourselves because of overconfidence?

I think I've done that a lot :P The memories haunt me.

P.S. There's actually a second part to this verse:
In the mouth of fools is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them.

God bless! =)

Lessons Learnt

Doing revision, I struggled to find the difference between "velocity over time" vs "rate of change of velocity over rate of change of time". Then I did.

For "velocity / time" you're actually taking a point from a v/t graph, and then dividing the coordinates, which doesn't mean anything. For "change of velocity / change of time" (notice how it gets clearer once the word "rate" is removed), you are now taking the gradient of the graph, which requires two points. Said expression is also the acceleration at that point.

In retrospect, it's really simple. Acceleration = gradient of v/t graph. We all learned that in secondary school! (except for those that did not)

Why was it so tough again?

Because there's also this Volt/Current graph, from which we can get Resistance. Now, unlike the a = Δv/Δt previously, resistance is just "potential difference (V) over current (I)". For a V/I graph, the gradient of a point does NOT give you the resistance.

This seems simple, because it all makes sense upon first reading; but mix up the two concepts, like I did, and you'll have trouble interpreting the respective graphs.

When I made this realization, I felt so relieved! Inevitably, I thought: "If only someone had told me "all this" when...

...when I struggled with the question?
...when I first learned about graphs?
...or the duration between the first two in which I had this misconception I didn't even know of?

Would I still have the same level of appreciation now, for each of the scenarios above?

I realized another thing. Advice given before a struggle, feels vastly different from Advice that sets us free from a struggle. We truly appreciate words of advice, when they point out what we've got wrong and give us the breakthrough we were desperately looking for. I may just end up at the same level as someone who didn't need to go through that struggle, but the difference is, I now have a greater appreciation for that piece of advice.

Physics has a similar concept: We can't feel motion; we feel the change in motion.

And this "feeling" is very much irreplaceable. In fact, it gives a whole new meaning to "knowledge as experienced".

Interestingly, this applies to Christianity too. To have "Christian" written on your IC is one thing. To have God transform your life, is a totally different experience altogether.

May God bless you, and have a great holiday!

Disclaimer: No study time has been reduced from the writing of this post. :D

Physics Student Goes Baking

Physics Student: Whatcha doing?
Student A: Baking.
Physics: Can I help?
Student A: Sure. Just put 250g of flour in that bowl over there.
Physics Student: Okay.

30 seconds later

Physics Student: 248g

*adds a bit more flour*
*watches scale*

Physics Student: 254g...ayoh. Hey do you have a spatula?
Student A (not looking): Yeah. Here you go. *hands over baking spatula*
Physics Student: err...nevermind.

Another 30 seconds later

Student A: What's taking so long?
Physics Student: Your analog weighing balance ah, now it says 252g. Shake a bit then become 253g. Or is it 254g? Very hard to take reading la.
Student A: For goodness' sake 253g will do! *dumps flour into mix*

later...

Physics Student: If you want, I can recommend some ways the baking procedure and apparatus can be improved!
*door slam*

~The End

The above scenario is purely for the entertainment of the writer and the other two people who read this blog. It is entirely fictional, and does not intend to reflect the mentality of Physics Students. Have a nice day. /disclaimer.

Come to think of it, it's usually Chemistry practical lab work that involves weighing and measuring stuff. The "improvement recommendations" part is from the Physics side though. XD

So today's National Day. Trial Exams are almost over (one more to go), but studying is not going to stop anytime soon!

God bless!

The Ring Matters 


This is Cyclohexane.

And this is Benzene

Forgetting about the former and mistaking it for the latter costed me marks in a Chemistry test. Then again, better now than later.

Where Did the Extra Man Come From?

Saw this fun video on YouTube. Took me a while to figure.




And while you're at it, a "similar" puzzle (doesn't mean they follow the same principle!):

Where did the missing square come from?