Over the Weekend Exam

Today I have to answer over the weekend take home exam. Since this is a take home exam, the questions are more to application rather than theories. I really need to read a lot of books and understand it + increase my general knowledge of current issues. The answer should be submitted on Monday before 9 a.m. and it means I have two days to finish it. So before I answer my exam questions I have something.......

Just for a laugh to make your day !!!! :))

Teacher: History is a very interesting subject. It tells you about what
had
happened in the past.
Student: Please teacher, I don't think I want to study history.
Teacher: Why?
Student: There is no future in it.
............ ........
Teacher: Ted, if your father has $10 and you ask him for $6, how much would
your father still have?
Ted: $10.
Teacher: You don't know maths.
Ted: You don't know my father!
............ .......
Mother: David, come here.
David: Yes, mum?
Mother: You really disappoint me. Your results are getting worse.
David: But I will only get my report book tomorrow.
Mother: I know that. But I am going to Hong Kong tomorrow, so I am scolding
you now.
............ .......
Father: Why did you fail your mathematics test?
Son: On Monday, teacher said 3+5=8
Father : So?
Son: On Tuesday, she said 4+4=8 And on Wednesday, she said 6+2=8. If she
can't make up her mind, how do I know the right answer?
............ ......... .
A mother and son were doing dishes while the father and daughter were
watching TV in the living room. Suddenly, there was a loud crash of
breaking plates, then complete silence. The daughter turned to look at
her
father.
Daughter: It's mummy!
Father: How do you know?
Daughter: She didn't say anything.
...........
Man: How old is your father?
Boy: As old as me
Man: How can that be?
Boy: He became a father only when I was born
-----------
Waiter: I've stewed liver, boiled tongue and frog's leg.
Customer: Don't tell me your problems. Give me the menu card.
------------
Teacher: Simon, your composition on "My Dog" is exactly the same
as your
brother's. Did u copy his?
Simon: No, teacher, it's the same dog!
------------ -
Father: Your teacher says she finds it impossible to teach you anything!
Son: That's why I say she's no good!
------------ --
Teacher: "Where were u born?"
Student: " Singapore , Sir."
Teacher: "Which part?"
Student: "All of me, Sir."
------------ ---------
A teacher was asking her class: "What is the difference between 'unlawful'
and 'illegal'?" Only one hand shot up. "Ok, answer, Joan"
said the teacher.
"'unlawful' is when u do something the law doesn't allow and 'illegal'
is a
sick eagle."
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ---
Teacher: "How come you do not comb your hair?"
Ah Kow: "No comb, Sir."
Teacher: "Use your dad's then."
Ah Kow: "No hair, Sir."
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ----
A boy came home from school with his exam results.
"What did u get?" asked his father.
"My marks are under water," said the boy.
"What do u mean 'under water'?"
"They are all below 'C' level"

Malaysian inflation likely to rise: central bank

Malaysia's inflation rate is likely to rise in the first half of 2008 as the impact of high prices for commodities and food make their mark, the central bank said Monday.

Bank Negara said prices had been on an upward trend, contributing to higher inflation globally.
"Consequently the impact of these developments on inflation in Malaysia is expected to be felt in the first half of 2008," it said in a statement.

The central bank maintained its overnight policy rate at 3.5 percent, where it has stood since April 2006. "The latest indicators show strong domestic demand will provide the support for the Malaysian economy to perform well in the coming months," it said in a statement.

"The demand for financing by businesses and consumers remain strong, with robust investment activity as corporations expand capacity, and steady consumption growth also being supported by a stable employment environment and growth in incomes." The risks to the Malaysian economy are primarily from the external sector, it said. However, Bank Negara said a slowdown in global growth is expected to ease some of the inflationary pressures.

Rising prices are a major headache for the government, which will contest general elections on March 8. The ruling coalition touted its economic credentials in a policy manifesto launched Monday, in a bid to ease public anger over high inflation and an anticipated shake-up of expensive fuel subsidies.

"When oil prices go up, we must have an action plan to reduce the burden of the people," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said. "We want to ensure that the people do not suffer."
The consumer price index rose 2.0 percent over 2007.

P/S - After a long time of not eating maggi I bought 5 packs of maggi yesterday that cost me RM3.80 comparing previous years it was only about RM2.80. Feeling sensitive and uncomfortable towards the differences in the price, I thought I went to a wrong kedai. Now I understand lah why there is a differential of RM1. By the way, I don't know when was the last time I ate Maggi.

Hard to find books in Malaysia?

Last two days I spent a whole day to find a book recommended by my lecturer as a supplement of the book I used now. I went to three different universities UKM, UM and UIA, university’s bookstores and MPH but I went back frustrated and felt like wasting my day. Just imagine I travelled from Bangi to Gombak and went back empty handed.

My last stop was to MPH bookstore in Mid Valley. While searching for the book I met with a Spanish guy who is a lecturer in Faculty of Economics, UM. He was also looking for Economics books. Then suddenly he said to me it is really hard to find books in Malaysia. I just smile without nodded what he said. If I told him my experience on that day definitely he would complaint more. He was interested in what I was looking for and I found out that he got the expertise in my area of research. We did some talking and he asked me why didn’t I do my Phd in UM since there are few lecturers can be my potential supervisors (including him lah). I have no answer for that since I just follow my heart and make my decision to UKM. Yes, I must admit UM has few lecturers in my area of interest so I took the opportunity of asking for his card, who knows some day I might need his help in my research.

Both of us couldn’t find the books we want. On the way back, I was thinking, why is so difficult to find a book in Malaysia especially the higher level books? Is it because …

1. There is less demand for the original books but higher demand for photo copy books so the bookstore get less profit and as a result they are not willing to sell it.
2. The books are not published anymore, the last version was 1978
3. It is rarely found because the lecturer has his own school of thought following his previous lecturer’s school of thought when he studied oversea many2 years ago, so he uses one and only one book as his ‘kitab’. As a result you have no chance to deviate from his school of thought and his kitab and you really need to find that kitab even though it is not sold in Malaysia
4. Highly demand for the books, the students hide it somewhere in the library or borrow from the library and never attempt to return it
5. None of the above.

Again, I have no answer for this question. You make your own choice lah.

Be Grateful

Last week I went back to my kampong as my semester break starts (time goes so fast until I don’t know what I have done or what I have achieved) and driving a long destination is a good time for us to muhasabah ourselves. On the way back, it was raining heavily and I saw a middle age couple riding a motorbike. Since it was in the middle of the highway and there was no place or shelter for them to stop. They were fully wet and I felt it was quite dangerous to ride a motorbike at that time. How pity they were!. At that moment I felt so lucky that I was not in their situation. Sometimes in life we should be grateful what we have and what we earn in life.

As I mentioned earlier a long journey is a good time for muhasabah ourselves because we can see many things and we have a lot time to ponder and realise that we all have so many things to be grateful for. Our health, career, family, friends are the things that most of us have and yet we are not grateful for them. We always don’t feel enough for what we have and forget the less fortunate people.

There are times we need to stock of the situation and not complain so much about what we don't have, when in real life is, we have so much more already. Other less fortunate people might look at us and wish they had what we have. We forget sometimes that we are many, many times more fortunate that people in the street.

Being grateful doesn’t mean we have to be complacent with what we have. We still need to improve ourselves and be better ourselves either in our personal or professional lives.

If we are not grateful for what we have then we can soon fall into dissatisfaction. Don’t dwell on past mistakes and our decisions, don’t focus too much on our lack or weakness. This will hold us back. Focus on a better future.

Sometimes being grateful has virtuous circle; the more grateful we are for the things we receive, the more we receive. So, be grateful

Never Quit

My friend sent me a card which really has meaningful phrases. Just to share, as it motivates me, hope it can motivate others too;

Believe in yourself
and your vision of the future
Surround yourself
with those who believe in you
and will help you achieve your goals

Keep your dream alive
despite the challenges along the way
There will always be those
who try to steal your dreams
by laughter and criticism.
they cannot understand what
drives you to always want more

In safety, there is no failure
neither is there success
Only by taking the risks that other fear
can you achieve greatness

Change can be frightening
but only by changing
can you experience growth
only by challenging yourself
to do what it seems impossible
can you ever know how much
you can achieve

There is only one key to success
never quit until you win
It may require a lot of changing
but you can do it
The seed of greatness
lies within you
nurture it, and there
will be nothing you can’t do

It Pays To Be Generous!

Is there anymore generous person in this world? Yes, I think there are still a lot of them. I sold my first car after driving it for 5 years. I really took a good care of that car and it has sentimental value but since now I am travelling a lot with long distance journey my brother advised me to drive a bigger car. I have no choice but to let go my first car.

Tonight, I got a sms from a person who bought my first car written as "I have credited the money in your bank account with extra RMXXX. The extra of RMXXX..., I think your car deserve better...". I was shock. For all this while I am not really good in dealing business and always become a losing party. My brother said that I'm not suitable to be businesswoman since I will become soft hearted person when dealing with money.

In my case, I don't know whether I am the one who is generous because of selling my car at a lower price ( I think I sold it at the market price) or he is too generous paying me more than the price agreed. Either or it makes me smile and happy.

Moral of the story : Our action of generosity will impacted others. The result of YOUR generousness is happiness IN OTHERS !! Enjoy making OTHERS happy by being generous in ALL to ALL OTHERS. As a direct and most of the time instant result you will earn a true sincere SMILE from the person who receive your generosity.

Game Theory vs Chess

I’m reviewing an article of game theory as a part of my assignment. We were asked to give a comment and an improvement on this article. Basically, this game theory is a branch of applied mathematics and it shows an interaction between rational players. A game will consists of a set of players, a set of moves (or strategies) available to those players, and a specification of payoffs for each combination of strategies.

When I read this article it seems there is not much difference with chess game. It has rules and certain basic tactical, strategic, and positional concepts. But this game theory is definitely more theoretical than chess game. Maybe chess is a subset of game theory. I remembered one of our team members is a Bangladeshi doctor who serve in Medical Faculty in our university (Other teams will always make fun of us because of him by saying that we use imported player) who is a strong chess player. In any tournament, before the game starts, he will come and motivate us. His words will be, "think about what you can do to your opponent and what your opponent can do to you". This is an example of game theory because we must anticipate and calculate what your opponent is going to decide and we have take into account their decision before making our decision.

Reviewing this paper is just like analyzing the chess game after our games end. However, analyzing the game is much simpler because usually we will sit together (sometimes at teh tarik stall) analysing our game and finding the best movement of our pieces. During this time we can see the brilliance and the blunders in our own play. We use all the probabilities and theories of movement to find the best solution. But now as I’m reviewing and need to give comment on the theoretical article from a well known researcher and it is published in the referred journal is just like analyzing chess game by Kasparov. As I’m amateur player absolutely it seems formidable for me to find his mistakes. Flawless!.

With my limited knowledge in this particular area and I need to comment on the theory and find the weakness of this article, it means I really, really, really need to read more. Finding what people cannot find or see what others cannot see is not as simple ABC but that what makes Phd, right?

Thank You!

My hard disk is safe! Yes, most of you are right. It is about display/screen problem. Thanks to all the advices and opinion including the phone calls about my laptop except for those who advice me to campak ke laut. Safe the world lah!. Stop polluting our sea. It cost me about RM300 to repair the display but I should be grateful at least my data, my work and ultimately important my software are still there.

I went to see one of the computer’s technicians asking what is the biggest risk of leaving our laptop in the car during the hot sunny day. Hoping that he will gave me a technical answer, unexpectedly I got a very good answer. He spontaneously said “ your laptop can be stolen”. Logically he was right. Since I didn’t get the expected answer so I just grin and said kalau macam tu saya yang buta IT pun boleh jawab. But serve me right for not clarifying the problem.

Moral of the story

Don’t leave your laptop in the car because;
1. Your laptop can be stolen
2. You may have problem in laptop’s display
3. You may lost RM300 that can be an opportunity cost of buying new hp 3 in 1 printer.