The Best Week Of My Life

I thought I was not going for IBM's IGN.I.T.E. camp, but it turns out that I was accepted later. Lucky thing, because this is THE BEST CAMP in my entire life.

Monday 19th October 09
Had a really heavy breakfast before reaching on time. I saw in the front row with one half of the DJians (they were split) and then we had the introduction to IBM and IGN.I.T.E.. I saw a few familiar faces during the break but only managed to register Rhonwyn, who turns out to be in BU's choir team. Ryan Khong was there too.

After that was a game session, in which Gheek gained recognition in. After that was an ice-breaking session where we introduced ourselves with an adjective in front of our names. We were introduced to our project of the week, which was to build a robot to perform environmentally helpful functions. We were split into 5 groups and I ended up in group 5 with Shu Wen , Soon Len, Dafinah, Chin Yang, Hariz, Ee Vonne and Rhonwyn; Soon Len being team captain. We called ourselves NanoDiversity.

There were subgroups within each team consisting of 2 persons each. We were in charge of different things:

Hardware (building the robot) : Soon Len and Hariz
Software (programming) : Chin Yang and Dafinah
Industrial (designing city) : Rhonwyn and Ee Vonne
Marketing (talking nonsense) : Shu Wen and I

Lunch was held in One World Hotel's buffet restaurant, Cinnamon. I was supposed to be very full, but the food was so good that I ate my dinner in advance as well. Lunch remained as 1-2 everyday for Shu Wen and I, the sad presenters of team 5. We created our IBM "pass" after that before exploring the IBM interfloor office tour. After a long day, we were quite tired when given a talk about how to go green and how students can contribute. I only regained enthusiasm after Shu Wen started on solar flares and I continued the nerd talk.

Overall, not much interaction with other IBMers yet.

Tuesday 20th Oct
We started with Games Session, whereby group 5's answers were epic fail. That was followed by a break. The mentors were introduced after that and we proceeded to play Power Up, an online game to save the environment.

Now, the worst thing about Power Up was that it was in 3D. And Shu Wen and I suck really badly at games like that. We were supposed to play it for 1 and a half hours and the pair with the highest points win. Shu Wen and I played this game for one hour and our points remained as ZERO. Other people had more than 2k points by this time. Then, Kendrick started walking around randomly as he had a headache. Long story short, he helped us and in 25 minutes, we had a score of 3180. Yay us! Thanks, Kendrick!

We enjoyed our glorious lunch before heading off to prepare our project (which lasted well until we went home).

Wednesday 21st Oct
I started getting to know other people today, as a result of my quirkiness. We were split into 2 big groups; one group would start with the canopy walk first (the BU and BU4 gangs), the other (Taman Tun Dr Ismail and DJ peeps) would start off with stream sampling first [which is very bad in this case, because we would get wet first]. We found that this was quite untrue, as the stream was only deep enough to cover our feet. We were further split into 4 groups to ease the job of the poor woman in charge of us. I caught an extremely big water spider which turned out to be a nuisance to my team (consisting of DJ stereotypes who were still shy of mixing around). Someone had to keep watch over the damned spider in case it escapes.

Then we started the climb to the canopy walk (which was only 150m in length; very anticlimactic). Shu Wen and I attempted to irritate our guide to make her bring us there faster. Hint : "Are we there yet?" Unfortunately, we missed our target and irritated a fellow camper instead. We spotted a centipede on the way and scared a bunch of foreigners. There was this cute English boy who kept saying "Konichiwa" at us.

There was a horrible climb to the canopy walk and I lagged behind with Sofea. In case you didn't know, both of us were enjoying the scenery while you were struggling with all your might. =)P. Anyway, we reached there to find that everyone was still lining up and wishing that they hadn't climbed up so fast. (I know, I'm mean). I was talking a lot of nonsense with the campers behind the line, who were mostly TTDI people, with the exception of Gheek, Soon Len, Naomi and Mona (the gamemaster-cum-ex-disciplinarian).

Gheek started telling Jian Min (from TTDI) and Siti the Ping Pong Ball story, which we lied was a "joke". Their anxiety level kept increasing as there were many interruptions during the storytelling (we were walking on the canopy walk that time). Gheek finished the story at a resting site. Both Siti's and Jian Min's reactions were worth watching, though not as bad as Gheek's own reaction when Sha Lynn told him the story.

On the way back the H3, our resting headquarter, I somehow ended up stuck with Sutheshan and Jian Min, both from TTDI. The jokers were debating on whether this person in front of us was male or female. "It" had long hair but was dressed like a guy. Sutheshan (somehow, more commonly called "T") guessed it was a girl while JM said it was a guy. The 3 of us then tried to make the poor soul turn behind so we can judge "it" better. Then, I got ditched when both JM and T ran away, but I guessed that it earned me the excuse of being able to walk nearer to "it". After much investigation, I came to a conclusion that it was a girl. I managed to find the nuts and reported my findings. Not believing me, they started walking really close behind the English people (could identify their accent). They found that I was right and started laughing like maniacs. Sutheshan crapped about the air being "too fresh" that we must "breathe all we can". Oh goodness, what an impression we must have left on the 2 Englishwomen.

There was a treasure hunt after lunch (more like Answer hunt). We were somehow split into 4 different groups again. My group was *ahem* the BEST group ever! Considering how much we've done during the treasure hunt (we didn't do anything, actually), it's still a miracle we managed to get points. Our team's name? Awesome Laziness! (courtesy of yours truly!). We didn't came up with a name until the last few seconds before we were supposed to hand in our answer sheets. What were we doing when other teams were scourging for answers? Walking backwards to make ourselves taller and trying to slide down a steep slope. Yay us.

It started raining drizzling at the end of our discussion, so we couldn't present our findings of the stream sampling. It is quite ironic that while we remained completely dry throughout the day (except our feet), we got drenched the moment we reached the hotel. To put it literally, we were all wet at the end of the day.

Thursday 22nd Oct
Started with a talk about careers in IBM which lasted up until 10. Break. Project preparation and lunch, followed by a very interesting game session. We had to entangle ourselves by holding other people's hands randomly. Apparently, Gheek and Chin Yang didn't know the rules of the game. Both of them held each others hands and formed a circle of their own. Another time, 3 people had another mini circle and detached themselves from the bigger picture. We kept restarting again and unfortunately, due to unknown reasons, I had to keep squeezing in between other people's hands. Very smart planning, people! (Spot the sarcasm). Surprisingly, we won 2nd place. Considering how sucky we were, it's considered a great achievement.

The day ended with project preparation again.

Friday 23rd Oct
Doomsday. Long story cut short, NanoDiversity won!! Our prize? a Sony Walkman for each person in the team. *Jaws detach* Kendrick from team 1 went back early to fly off to Turkey.

There were many photography sessions after that. I won't elaborate much on this, except that this is the best camp I've ever been to. Not only were the activities fruitful and fun, the people were highly interactive and we established many new friendships. Aaaaaand, to prove Chin Yang wrong, we're all still keeping in touch on Facebook!

Since I'm eating up a lot of space on blogger (thanks a lot, pictures), I will just give the link to the IBM pics. Click HERE.

But amusingly, this was not the end. I just earned a new title called DipABRSM on Saturday morning. *Grins*

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Dr Death

This was taken from themalaysianinsider.com :

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand told the coroner’s court this morning that there was an 80 per cent probability that Teoh Beng Hock’s death was homicide and not suicide, and suggested that some of his injuries were sustained before his fatal fall.

Under questioning from Selangor state lawyer, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Dr Pornthip testified that the political aide was indeed alive when he hit the ground but added that he was unconscious, judging from the lack of injuries to his wrists and ankles.

She explained that if he were still conscious when he fell, there would have been “reaction wounds” to show he had instinctively tried to stop from hitting the ground.

She said that Teoh’s injuries showed he could have been strangled and that he sustained anal penetration before he fell to his death on July 16.

Dr Pornthip added that Teoh could have passed out as a result of the strangulation or from the pain from injuries to his anal region.

She told the court that the likelihood that Teoh had committed suicide — the theory previously put forward by the two pathologists who examined Teoh’s body after death — was only 20 per cent.

The stunning testimony made by the forensic expert, who gained international prominence from her work in identifying the 2004 Asian tsunami victims and more recently in the death of Hollywood star David Carradine, appeared to suggest Teoh was assaulted before his death.

Using a graphics presentation, the 54-year-old who has carried out over 10,000 autopsies over the last 27 years, told the court that not all the injuries sustained by Teoh were consistent with those caused by a fall.

The anal tear, which she described as a “penetrating injury”, appeared to have happened before he fell.

Dr Pornthip noted that the tear measured 6cm-wide by 2cm-long.

She rejected the idea that the anus was penetrated by a bone fragment, which had been put forward by local pathologist, Dr Khairul Aznam Ibrahim from the Hospital Tengku Rahimah Ampuan in Klang.

She reasoned that if that had happened, the force would have punctured the area opposite its entry and not as what was shown in the autopsy photos taken.

She suggested that they were caused by an object inserted into Teoh’s anus from a bottom-up direction, which she indicated with a blue arrow on a picture slide projected on a white screen in the darkened courtroom this morning.

“This kind of injury, I’ve not seen in cases of fall from height,” the director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) said.

However, she could not say what the object was.

She also said that the depth of the tear was not measured or mentioned in the autopsy report.

Dr Khairul had jointly written the autopsy report with Indian pathologist Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar who is currently based at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Several stripes on Teoh’s upper thighs, just below the buttocks were also pointed out as inconsistent with injuries caused by a fall.

Dr Pornthip suggested the horizontal lines were the result of a beating with a stick.

She added that if she had carried out the autopsy on Teoh, she would have cut open the thighs just under the skin to check for internal bleeding in order to confirm her theory.

She also pointed out several “round” bruises on Teoh’s neck, which could mean “manual strangulation” by fingers.

Her lengthy explanation on Teoh’s neck injuries was peppered with graphic references to her own case studies of strangulation victims.

The skull fracture on Teoh’s head, she said, was not typical of an injury from a fall, but more compatible with the result of blunt force applied directly to the skull.

“I found contusion on fracture line, so the fracture could be caused by blunt force injury directly on skull,” she said, explaining why she disagreed with Dr Khairul’s and Dr Prashant’s theory.

The two doctors who performed Teoh’s autopsy had previously put forward the idea that the head injury may have been caused by the momentum of the landing.

“For transfer of force, (you) only find ring fracture at base of the skull along (the) spinal column, not a linear fracture and not a cervical spine fracture,” she added.

She said that her assessment was based on Teoh’s autopsy report, the photographs of his injuries and from snapshots taken at the site where his body was found.

Dr Pornthip who had earlier suggested that Teoh may have been dragged before he plunged to his death told the coroner’s court after lunch break that she no longer held the view.

In her testimony earlier, she had contradicted Dr Prashant’s idea that it was caused by the impact on the ground.

She explained that she had been allowed to view the original pictures of the shoe, which are of a better quality than the copies she had been provided, and confirmed that the marks on the sole were indeed caused by the impact when Teoh landed on the hard and rough ground feet first.

She told the court she would like to carry out her own autopsy on Teoh, but magistrate Azmil Muntapha Abas who is acting as coroner in the inquest, indicated that it may be too late to do so at this stage.

Dr Pornthip had also previously sent two assistants to join the court to survey where Teoh’s body was found on a 5th-floor landing outside the offices of the Selangor branch of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Plaza Masalam here.

Teoh, who was the political secretary to a DAP state executive councillor, had been questioned overnight on July 15 to help an ongoing investigation into claims his boss had misused state funds.

Dr Pornthip was engaged as an expert witness by the Selangor state government.

She had been among the first names suggested to carry out a joint autopsy on Teoh, but was rejected by his family whose reasons remain unknown.

Earlier, she told the court that she had conducted over 10,000 autopsies in her career, of which more than 100 dealt with fatal falls from high places.

She estimated Teoh to have died between 6am and 8am on July 16.

So, what conclusion have you come to now?

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Teasers

1. How quickly can you find out what is unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all-- and, in fact, nothing is. But it is a bit odd. Why? If you study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without any coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows?

2. It is in a rock but not in stone,
It is in marrow but not in bone.
It is in a bolster but not in bed.
It's not in the living, and not in the dead.

3. A group of campers have been on vacation so long, that
they've forgotten the day of the week. The following conversation ensues.
Darryl: What's the day? I don't think it is Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
Tracy: Well that doesn't narrow it down much. Yesterday was Sunday.
Melissa: Yesterday wasn't Sunday, tomorrow is Sunday.
Ben: The day after tomorrow is Saturday.
Adrienne: The day before yesterday was Thursday.
Susie: Tomorrow is Saturday.
David: I know that the day after tomorrow is not Friday.
If only one person's statement is true, what day of the week is it?

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Posterity Demands This

Halal


Slovak Sling


Potong Saga


Healthy Paranoia

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Once

An early rest was what I got,
Before that day of gloom,
But sleep just could not cure the thought,
Of facing a lifetime's doom.

In school we held our faiths together,
To hell's mouth in a show of strength,
Thankfully, we got some hope and prayer,
Instead of dying hanged.

A feverish scent was no consolation,
For our underpaid, overworked hands,
Little did we know it would haunt us again,
Really, that sanitizer stank!

Darth Vader was suddenly feeling kind,
And decided to give blue masks to us,
To face off challenges that we would find,
Or maybe just to mend his blunders.

BM was on the average side,
Paper two remains the worry,
English did nothing to balance my pride,
An average revenge does not seem worthy.

Maths still ranks as number one,
Let's pray no carelessness be found,
Science in paper one was fun,
But subjective makes me down.

Geography's a happy subject,
The answers have been leaked,
While History might not be perfect,
I'm sure I was not (that) freaked.

KH was alright I told myself,
Let's hope I'm not surprised,
Bets I've made to console myself,
If I'm sad I'll get a prize.

A day has passed without my knowledge,
Whereby I've gone obsessively insane,
This is what exams do to those my age,
But now I won't complain.

It's hard to believe that here we are,
Winning a war of pointless wit,
From wrecks of ruin we've come so far,
Forget the past 'cos we've made it.

Note : I did not scream "Merdeka!", as I have initially planned. If I did that, I would be labelled The Extraordinary Idiot. Unfortunately for you, that's not what I want.

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Waste Your Time

You have not made your interesting observations on this topic yet.

Mind you, even if you do not have a blogger account, you can still comment (oh, there's this new feature in my blog where comments appear on the same page as the post).

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