Off to Camp

Posted by HELiX

No time for anything. Eventful, yes, but blogging’s not really possible.

I’ll be off to bowling camp for the next 3 days, 3 nights. Will be back on Saturday night.

Yup, won’t be attending NYP.

See you guys all!

Comments(0) 12:59 AM 3 March 2008

Into The Holidays

Posted by HELiX

And today I was nearly knocked down by 3 cars.

Running from the front of a car…

…into the front of an accelerating car…

…into the front of another accelerating car…

…is probably not a good idea.

Words just can’t describe the stupidity of the situation.

Comments(0) 1:44 AM 3 March 2008

Yet Another One on SSEF

Posted by HELiX

I brought a camera along.

Buuuuuut, I didn’t photowhore. So this is what [little] I have.

Yes, that is really little, so shut up.

Comments(0) 11:56 PM 3 March 2008

SSEF Silver!

Posted by HELiX

I… I should be glad I guess.

But I’m not.

Oh, Silver is definitely good. Wonderful, in fact. Knowing the amount of support we get for SSEF in ACJC, Silver’s quite impressive. Last year, the best we produced was a Silver by Magdalena’s team. And the rest were Merits and Bronzes. Likewise, we repeated that unimpressive feat this year. Me and Shaun won a single Silver together, while the others settled for Bronze. So, we’re probably the school’s flagship team this year. Besides, schools like HCI only managed Golds in 2002 and 2007 previously, with Silver at best in the other years.

But then I look at it from a different perspective. I’m in JC2. It’s my last year in high school education — probably the last year I’ll get to participate in science competitions competitively. It’s either I achieve everything I wanna ever achieve in these competitions… or never get a chance to do it again.

I guess I’ll never be able to get a Gold in SSEF.

It’s that thought that is depressing. Otherwise, I’m quite contented with what I got. Although I still firmly believe that with the amount of effort we put in, it should’ve been a Gold…

Ah well.

A big congratulations to hardcore reseacher Shaun Sim, my research partner, for winning two Silvers in total. Not an easy feat, I reckon, and probably places him among the top individual prize winners in the whole competition.

249 projects. 14 Golds. 21 Silvers. I guess being in the Top 15% should be good enough.

Not much deal about Intel ISEF, as Google ISEF is only from 2010 onwards.

…

In other news, Warren Buffett overtakes Bill Gates as the world’s richest. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, Class A stock are priced at US$139,000.

That’s like, my Dad can sell our car, and he still can’t buy one Class A share of Berkshire Hathaway.

And suddenly, I feel poor :(

Apparently, Berkshire Hathaway shares have increased 25% in value annually for the past 25 years.

China’s richest person is 26-year-old Yang Huiyan. She is the owner of property company Country Garden Holdings Co., listed at 125 with $7.4 billion.

The youngest member on the list was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 23, at 785 with $1.5 billion, the youngest self-made billionaire ever to make a Forbes list.

Comments(0) 10:27 PM 3 March 2008

Post-SSEF Judging

Posted by HELiX

SSEF gives me yet another opportunity to rant, but I don’t that would be a good idea.

So, here’s a summary of today. With juuuust a little bit of rant.

Reached Science Centre at 7:45 am. Preparation and booth set-up.

Fair began at 9.00 am. A handful of judges randomly flowed in without any notice. A total of 3 judges will visit you any time until 6.00 pm. Yes, any time within that 9 hours. And I have reason to believe that they’re allowed to arrive at any time.

Everyone realised and stood by their booths, prepared. Naturally, I did so as well.

I waited for my first judge. 10.00 am, most people have been through their first judge already. And we’re still standing by, literally doing nothing but wait.

…and waited… 11.00 am came. To be un-judged at this point makes people feel sorry for you. And I was still waiting for my first judge.

…and waited… 12.00 am. Mostly everyone were so restless at this point after 3 hours of waiting around, no one was really standing by in their booths prepared to welcome a judge. The RG team opposite my booth completed their presentations for all 3 judges within 2 hours and packed up already. And we’re still waiting for our first.

…and waited… 1.00 pm! Lunch time! Packaged food, mediocre quality. So some people headed over to Mac for a second serving. And we happen to fall under the <10% of groups which haven’t been through their first judge.

…and waited… 2.00 pm. It’s after lunch, and seems like a whole new batch of judges arrived. Most un-judged projects met their first judge, while many others finished up all three. And we’re still anticipating the arrival of our first judge.

…and waited… 3.00 pm. Probably <3% of groups were still waiting for their first judge, myself included. It was simply WTF. All groups who have been through all their 3 judges were allowed to leave. And so they did.

…and waited… 3.45 pm. It has been nearly 7 hours, and I have been at my booth all day in case my judge suddenly pops in. Which is exactly what they usually do. About half of the participants have left.

AND LIEK OMG, SUN-THAN-LEY, OUR FIRST JUDGE ARRIVED. When half of the booths were empty.

So we happily presented, holding back tears of joy and fists of anger.

And-and-and-and-and-and-annnnnnd then, another one of judges walked by, saw that we were busy with a judge, and left. And-and-annnnd, soon enough, a third one came, and waited for the first to finish. But that sucked. Probably because the first judge was kinda pressurised by the third judge waiting behind him, he didn’t really ask or comment much, and left. Ugh.

Apparently, the third one mentioned that she was a replacement judge. That our original judge was not present. Bugger.

After we were done with the two judges consecutively, we waited for the last one who left for another booth a while earlier. About 90% of the participants have left.

…and waited… Finally, a SSEF staff realised that we were perhaps the only team still stoning away while everyone was packing up, so she decided to check out where our judge was. Indeed she did find him, and by the time he arrived, we were the last team (of 229 projects) presenting. And being the last of the last, 2 other judges joined him. And apparently yet again, our judge was absent, so he’s a replacement.

We left at 5.45 pm. We were the only ones left.

…

I hate SSEF Judging system.

Your score depends A LOT, A LOT on your judges. Who they are, how they respond to your project, their language of choice, their face as you present your project, etc… AND WHAT TIME THEY ARRIVE.

I mean, probably the first few judges who arrived in the early morning were the dedicated ones who bothered. And also, everyone would be still happy, active and all, so the presentation would be much easier.

But arriving after 7 hours is ridiculous. And being absent from judging is even worse.

Also, it seems to be quite common for the judges to start by saying, “I have seen through your report, so I don’t need to hear your presentation. Just answer my questions.”

…

Judging question of the year:

“Do you have a girlfriend? No? You really need to find more friends.” - Judge to Aditya.

Comments(0) 8:21 PM 3 March 2008

SSEF Judging

Posted by HELiX

Tomorrow. Here goes nothing!

Comments(0) 11:10 PM 3 March 2008

Science Student in AC?

Posted by HELiX

Hah! You'll have to Login or Register to read the hidden content that's behind this!

Comments(0) 11:13 PM 3 March 2008