Programming Practical

Yeah, got 80.8 marks for my CS1101Y (Programming Methology; Java) Practical Exam (PE). Guess this is the highest mark I've got so far among all test I've sat for so far. There are 20 people got more than 80 marks (gosh, I'm the 20th?) out of 99 in CS1101Y. Guess, I'm just average, which is true all the time. So, should I be happy about it? Hmm, good question.

In CS1101Y:
# students who took the PE: 99

Average score: 62.3 / 100

# students scored 100: 4
# students scored >= 90: 12
# students scored >= 80: 20
# students scored >= 70: 31
# students scored >= 60: 55
# students scored >= 50: 77

Need to catch up in other subjects already. Can't really survive if I keep on like this - screwed up in other modules and fairly good in ONE module only. In the end, I will surely kill myself with low CAP.

Widget

My Yahoo! Widget

Cool, just realize how usefull tools like Yahoo! Widget are. With it, I can manage my daily activities easier. Furthermore, all the notes and events are stored in Yahoo! server. Which means I still can view the notes and events even I did not bring my laptop with me. Before this, I manage my daily activities using Microsoft Outlook. But now, hey, with Yahoo! Widget, I can paste notes, things-to-do and syncronize them with my Yahoo account. Hmm, I wonder why now only I realize how to use this kind of tools. I mean before this, I saw my friends using the calendar, clock, etc and I thought they just use it as "desktop decorations". But now, I can understand why it is not "things that waste cpu memories".

Why do not you try it too?

All Test Paper Has Been Destoryed

Received this email from EG1108 Electrical Engineering lecturer.

1. A number of you have emailed me directly, soon after the release of the grades, with requests for release of the raw marks, review of the answer scripts, release of questions and solutions, among others. Some of these requests are also posted on the IVLE.
2. I hope you understand that I am not able to respond to you individually.
3. Setting a normal exam paper (6 questions) and grading some 700 scripts is a big exercise, involving many lecturer-hours: marking, checking the marks, processing the marks etc, taking easily 10 days.
4. The MCQ paper shortcuts this process and saves time as computers can be used to grade the answers.
5. Unlike the "normal" paper, MCQ papers provide valuable feedback for the instructors on what students do not know through the award of negative marks, over which some of you have displayed much passion, not unreasonably.
6. As I mentioned in my note that accompanied the release of the test results, I am satisfied that the raw marks fall on a very well-behaved bell-shape curve, as can be expected from a student population of 700. The shape tells us that we have some very good students in the P band, some very weak students in the T band and the bulk of the population lying between these two bands. It's a bit like wealth distribution in a population: a small percentage that are filthy rich, a small percentage dirt poor, and the bulk managing 3 meals a day.
7. Raw marks are not very meaningful. They must be viewed in relation to the rest of the student population. We use a band of marks for the simple reason that a student with a score of 75 need not necessarily be better than a student who scores 73. Further there is always some uncertainly in the grading (not for MCQ papers), between
markers, over time for the same marker (before or after lunch, depending whether it's a good or a bad lunch), etc. Markers are subject to the same human weaknesses as everyone else including students.
8. Marking on the curve is a standard NUS procedure. And this is also practised in many enlightened universities in the world. One Canadian professor remarked: "We don't give the students the raw marks, because if we do, they all fail." A bit of an exaggeration, of course.
9. All the Midterm test papers have been destroyed.

C H Ling

Hmm, interesting eh? Nobody will know if they (markers) make mistakes during marking. Anyway, my mark falls in R Band. There is no way to check my own mistakes at all.

"We are not retreating - we are advancing in another
direction."


--Douglas MacArthur

Improbable Collapse of World Trade Center

Just a 1 hour 30 minutes video clip which I got it from video.goole.com. The clip is about why The Twin Towers and Building 7 of World Trade Center (WTC) should not have collapsed during 9/11.

Below are some of the facts that might get you hooked on the 1 hour 30 minute long video clip.

• No steel frame high-rise building has ever collapsed due to fire in mankind history. The impact of the Boeing-767 airplane and the explosion from the fuel of the airplane can never melt down the metal core of the buildings. It takes about 2500F to melt down metals and the maximum temperature an uncontrolled open fire is less than 1100F. Therefore, we can conclude that the reason WTC collapsed is not because of metal meltdown, probably because of explosives, such as Termites!
  


• The Twin Towers and Building 7 collapsed almost at free-fall speed. It takes about 8 seconds for an object to fall from the top of The Twin Towers to ground while these buildings "pan-cake" collapsed in less than 10 seconds. (South Tower - 11 seconds, North Tower - 9 seconds, Building 7 – 6.6 seconds. It is like the metal at the lower level did not even give any resistant to the falling of the upper level. This lead us to one hypothesis – The buildings were planted with explosives to carry out controlled demolition!