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Saturday, September 26, 2009

He Can Think For Me

Written by Dr. Azly Rahman (I'd be happy if he became Education Minister)

Contrary to many an opinion of Malaysian linguistic nationalists, I do believe that English language can be a powerful force of revolutionary change - and a language of Malaysian unity primarily.

Bahasa Melayu has its own dignity but do not have the power to become a language of post modern science and technology. In its current form, Bahasa Melayu is being destroyed by its own internal contradictions and suitable only as a language of literature and Malaysian bureaucracy.

Everytime it tries to transform itself into a language of science and technology it become closer to becoming yet another periphery of the Center; it becomes subservient to the English Language. Why English language is a lingua franca can be explained by its ease of transformation. Philologists have written extensively on this phenomena.

Bahasa Melayu is fast evolving into a language of Ketuanan Melayu abused for political reasons. Language is an expression of culture and helps construct the social reality of that culture.

The phrase "kedaulatan Bahasa Melayu" is not a necessary slogan. No language has a dimension of Divine Sanctity unless it is pegged to the concept of "kerajaan" or the maintenance of this or that status quo however oppressive it may be.

In this case, no race in Malaysia is challenging the dignity of the Malay language. I believe it is merely a political play.

Malay linguists, academicians, and literary figures are now jumping into the bandwagon of defending the "dignity" of Bahasa Melayu.

However, they may in the end be bringing the kampong kids back into the kampong when they grow up. Ignore them.

Parents wanting to see the progress of all Malaysians must understand the importance of the English Language and to master it while at the same time respect the status of any language including the Malay language.

Parents must demand that schools teach Maths and Science in the English language. In fact schools should also teach Sejarah Malaysia and Pengajian Agama Islam, and also Pendidikan Moral in English.

To erode the influence of Ketuanan Melayu and to start thinking of being Malaysian and to start asking critical questions about history, teach the subject in English.

It is a liberal enough language to accept many points of view. To achieve inter-religious understanding, teach Agama Islam and Pendidikan Moral in English. It is a language liberal enough to accept religious differences.

Respect Bahasa Melayu but master the English language. The latter is also a language of global unity and of advanced science and technology.
-Dr. Azly Rahman

LazyBones

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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Supporting Baki Zainal, Against Khairy Jamaluddin

"Explain why trees around the semen factory have a low rate of photosynthesis".

Choice answer number 1 : Well, firstly, there aren't any "trees" around the semen factory, unless I have been sleeping for 200 years and don't know anything about the human anatomy. As far as I know, sperm cells thrive there. Not trees, man. Definitely not trees.

Choice answer number 2 : I strongly believe that the poor plants that made it there out of bad fortune simply did not receive enough sunlight.

Both seem highly commendable answers to counter the state paper. Yes, JPS and the Selangor State Paper. Now, what was that about english in Malaysia again?.....

LazyBones

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Friday, September 18, 2009

We Are Famous

If you go to 15malaysia.com (or scroll down) and see the movie Meter starring controversial politician Khairy Jamaluddin, you would notice that our school SMK Damansara Jaya is part of the background in the 2nd part of the movie which is about English. You would be able to see Blocks A and B and also part of our hall. =D



LazyBones

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Final Piece

Apart from my horrible English marks (which will definitely make most of my classmates happy) and the stereograms below, here is something to keep everyone occupied. This is what Melissa asked me to do a few weeks ago, and I finally did it.

Dynamic Thinkers

Dynamic Thinkers are confident and independent persons. They radiate enthusiasm and energy. Dynamic Thinkers pursue their objectives actively and energetically. They love nothing better than new challenges. This type is the born leader, competent, energetic and responsible. They have a sharp eye for errors and can criticise without mercy if they see the success of a project endangered. They are completely unconcerned as to whether they alienate anyone in the process. But they are always open to objective arguments; they love discussions, they are very gifted rhetorically and they are good at convincing and enthusing others.

As they are very sociable, Dynamic Thinkers like to have a lot of friends around them, preferably those with whom they can share their interests and discuss all sorts of subjects. They are very direct but never in an underhand or scheming manner. If you can bear being spoken to frankly, you have in them a loyal and unwavering advisor as friend. Everything new and unknown stimulates Dynamic Thinkers and awakens their curiosity. However, rules, routine and traditional things arouse their resistance. If something does not go the way they want it to, they can react rather pigheadedly and obstinately.

Some of history’s most famous military leaders were not just coincidentally Dynamic Thinkers. Leadership is simply in your blood. You are self confident, energetic and determined to reach your goals and if it is up to you, there won’t be any shilly-shallying. You are equally important in your work efficiency and effectiveness. Strategic planning, long term considerations, creative problem solving, and absolutely exact case analyses are some of your strongest points. The quotation “I came, I saw and was victorious” (Caesar) could also be written on your flag. You comprehend even very complex situations quickly and completely, and immediately issue comprehensive instructions on how they must be dealt with.

The extroverted part of your personality provides you with excellent communication capabilities plus a certain charisma, making it easy for you to engage other people in your objectives. With all that, your visions are not limited to the existing and the contemporary, but frequently extend far into the future. For your professional satisfaction you need these objectives like you need air for breathing. You especially enjoy intellectual challenges and don’t care for victories too easily achieved.

Since you belong to the extroverted Thinker types, working in a solitary environment is not for you. In order to be happy, you need to be in the company of people, with new excitement and tasks plus a little action. Although this frequently provides for a great output the human (all too human) needs of your colleagues could easily end up being ignored. As an intuitive Thinker type, you are always focused on the objective of your task and the welfare of the company, respectively. You quickly have the number of those who are not disciplined and performance-oriented and prepared to work equally hard on the task.

Dynamic Thinkers expect a great deal of themselves and of others. Whoever does not fit in with their scheme of things does not have it easy. They sometimes appear to be rather severe due to their frankness. Partners and family also find it difficult to satisfy Dynamic Thinkers. They know exactly what they want and compromising is inconceivable to them. Whoever has an Dynamic Thinker as partner should have a strong personality and have a great deal of independence and sufficient self-confidence in order to give this dominating type some opposition. Normally, for Dynamic Thinkers, a partnership only takes second place after their profession. But they like to have someone at their side who is a match for them intellectually, with whom they can pursue mutual objectives and have interesting discussions all night long; preferably factual discussions - sentimentalism and romance are not their thing.

There is no question: You belong in every respect to the born leaders among the personality types. Other types may doubt, be insecure about what they expect from life and their partnership - you don’t. You know what you want and take care to get it. This may have a intimidating effect on others and occasionally it will even be described as arrogant. Therefore, not everybody is going to chance approaching you as a potential partner, and you don’t find anything wrong with that. You prefer to be the conqueror rather than be conquered.

Besides, your demands of a potential partner are so high that the majority of the people around you would not qualify, anyway. You don’t like to compromise and, where love is concerned, you are not the least bit prepared to negotiate. You prefer to patiently search for someone who really fascinates you. But once you‘ve found him/her, you can fall in love head over heels and very passionately - a rare quality in a Thinker. However, even in this case, after the first rush is gone, your cool strategy subjects the relationship to a comprehensive examination, and quickly and decisively terminates it rather than put up with second best. It is not for nothing that literature likes to describe your type in military terms such as “general” or “field marshall”!

As a very self-sufficient person who has no problem being alone, and who appreciates his/her space, you really don’t care if your search for the perfect partner takes a little longer. Being so autonomous, you should look for someone who comes from a similar mold and who can deal with the fact that you are going to defend your independence like a lion even in a partnership. Not all types can handle the fact, that they may be an appreciated part of your life but never are going to be its only center. You have too many of your own interests, including your career.


Dynamic Thinkers are also known as ENTJ people. Traits according to importance (different types have varying importance), eg INTJ people [Chingx, this is you] have iNtuition on top. For more information, click HERE. Chingx, this website also claims that we should be good pals. =)

Extraverted Thinking
"Unequivocating" expresses the resoluteness of the ENTJ's dominant function. Clarity of convictions endows these Thinkers with a knack for debate, or wanting knack, a penchant for argument. The light and heat generated by Thinking at the helm can be impressive; perhaps even overwhelming. Experience teaches many ENTJs that restraint may often be the better part of valor, lest one find oneself victorious but alone.

Introverted iNtuition
The auxiliary function explores the blueprints of archetypal patterns and equips Thinking with a fresh, dynamic sense of how things work. Improvising on the fly is something many ENTJs do very well. As Thinking's subordinate, insights are of value only insofar as they further the Right, True Cause celebre. [n.b.: ENTJs are capable of living on a higher plane, if you will, and learning to value individuals even above their principles. The above dynamic suggests less individuation.]

Extraverted Sensing
Sensing reaches out to embrace that which physically touches it. ENTJs have an awareness of the real; of that which exists. By stilling the engines of Thinking and iNtuition, this type may experience the Here and Now, and know things not dreamt of nor even postulated in iNtuition's philosophy. Sensing's minor role, however, puts it at risk for distortion or extreme weakness beneath the hustle and bustle of the giants N and T.

Introverted Feeling
Feeling is romantic, as the ethereal as the inner world from whence it doth emerge. When it be awake, feeling evokes great passion that knows not nuance of proportion nor context. Perhaps these lesser functions inspire glorious recreational quests in worlds that never were, or may only ever be in fantasy. When overdone or taken too seriously, Fi turned outward often becomes maudlin or melodramatic. Feeling in this type appears most authentic when implied or expressed covertly in a firm handshake, accepting demeanor, or act of sacrifice thinly covered by excuses of lack of any personal interest in the relinquished item.


Adjectives which describe your type: extroverted, theoretical, logical, planning, rational, self-confident, ambitious, direct, open, severe, organised, determined, witty, independent, purposeful, dynamic, energetic, optimistic, competent, responsible, clever, intellectual, enthusiastic, demanding, structured, controlled, aggressive

All in all, I sure sound like a slave-driver here!

The test was taken from HERE. Enjoy.

PS : I apologise for any slave-driving traits of mine. Note that I did not mean it. =)

LazyBones

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Monday, September 7, 2009

Mysterious Appearances

There was a mongoose in school last Friday (yes, it's a bit late to inform you about that, but better late than never). Okay, so I think it's a mongoose. It looked like a mix between a squirrel, weasel, dog, otter.....Anyway, Melissa googled 'mongoose' and the images came out close enough. But 'weasel' looks almost alike as well. And, there are pictures of dark-coloured weasels too. Weasels have bushy tails but the creature we saw had a sharp-pointed tail. Confused?

Let's just say we saw a weagoose/mongsel. If you're dissatisfied with this, let's initiate a wild goose chase for the creature (hehe, wild GOOSE chase, geddit?...).

Meanwhile, I'll try to annoy/amuse you with stereograms (magic eye images). Hint : try looking THROUGH the pictures and not AT it. Try crossing your eyes as well. If you're still not catching on, try glueing your eyes to the screen, then slowly move further away....

....or, if you're still lost, the first step you should take is ENLARGE THE IMAGE in a new tab.

This is the easiest one







Be careful, this is the hardest image:


And finally, the last image to mock all of you!! (yes, there IS an illusion in words). Take your time.



Note: I've added some cool commenting interface on a test run. You might want to help out by writing crap comments for this post to see if it really works. After all, I want to know if you could actually see those images (or whether you're just imagining weird things). Who cares if we're all strangers, tell me/everyone exactly what you saw in all 5 images and let's compare answers. Thanks.

LazyBones

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

You're Not That Bad

Most of us aren't that happy with our science results, so here's some scientific "facts" to cheer you up. Of course, I hope that none of you actually adopt these answering techniques, because I cannot 100% guarantee a pass. However, I can guarantee that you are definitely smarter than those who placed these answers (unless you cannot see anything wrong in the following).

These are reputedly real answers to questions on science tests (which you should NOT follow).

When you smell an odorless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide.

Water is composed of two gins, oxygin and hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water.

Nitrogen is not found in Ireland because it is not found in a free state.

When you breathe, you inspire. When you do not breathe, you expire.

Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes, and caterpillars.

Before giving a blood transfusion, find out if the blood is affirmative or negative.

The moon is a planet just like the Earth, only it is even deader.

The pistol of a flower is its only protection against insects.

A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more extinct it is.

For fainting: Rub the person's chest, or, if it's a lady, rub her arm above the hand. Or put her head between the knees of the nearest medical doctor.

Equator: a menagerie lion running around Earth through Africa.

Rhubarb: a kind of celery gone bloodshot.

The skeleton is what is left after the insides have been taken out and the outsides have been taken off. The purpose of the skeleton is so that there is something to hitch the meat to.

To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.

The body consists of three parts - the brainium, the borax and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain. The borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abominable cavity contains the bowels, of which there are five - A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: What is one horsepower?

A: One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second.

You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind.

Talc is found on rocks and on babies.

The law of gravity says no fair jumping up without coming back down.

When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions.

When people run around and around in circles we say they are crazy. When planets do it we say they are orbiting.

Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand.

While the earth seems to be knowingly keeping its distance from the sun, it is really only centrificating. [this guy is going to do well in college! *haha* ...Lj]

Someday we may discover how to make magnets that can point in any direction.

South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage.

Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime.

Water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. There are 180 degrees between freezing and boiling because there are 180 degrees between north and south.

A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go.

There are 26 vitamins in all, but some of the letters are yet to be discovered. Finding them all means living forever.

There is a tremendous weight pushing down on the center of the Earth because of so much population stomping around up there these days.

Lime is a green-tasting rock.

Many dead animals in the past changed to fossils while others preferred to be oil.

Genetics explain why you look like your father and if you don't why you should.

Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they're there.

Some oxygen molecules help fires burn while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother.

Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers.

We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.

To most people solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists solutions are things that are still all mixed up.

In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's.

Clouds are high flying fogs.

I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing.

Clouds just keep circling the earth around and around. And around. There is not much else to do.

Water vapor gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does.

Humidity is the experience of looking for air and finding water.

We keep track of the humidity in the air so we won't drown when we breathe.

Rain is often known as soft water, oppositely known as hail.

Rain is saved up in cloud banks.

In some rocks you can find the fossil footprints of fishes.

Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dogs tongue will kill the strongest man.

A blizzard is when it snows sideways.

A hurricane is a breeze of a bigly size.

A monsoon is a French gentleman.

Thunder is a rich source of loudness.

Isotherms and isobars are even more important than their names sound.

It is so hot in some places that the people there have to live in other places.

The wind is like the air, only pushier.


LazyBones

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