I'll be Back in October

i'll be back to msia from 21st august to 29th september. i don't think i will post lots of articles during this period. i'll post something in october. assalamualaikum

Winning A Lottery: Probability and Co-incidence

a few days ago, a women in glasgow won a lottery worth more than £ 35 millions (approximately rm 245 millions), the UK biggest ever lottery payout . on 4th august, mark page won £ 4.7 millions. 3 persons won in july with prizes worth £ 6 millions in total. at first, i was quite shocked because i never thought people will win lottery that often. i thought maybe there will be a couple of winners a year. but, i was wrong. this is my motivation to comment about this issue.

i'll use lotto for an example. the rule is very simple, choose 6 numbers between 1-49. if you get all 6 numbers correct and in the right order, you won the first prize, 5 numbers correct for 2nd prize and so on until the fifth prize.

first, lets analyse the chances of winning a lottery in mathematical point of view. there are 49 possibilities of the first number being drawn, 48 possibilities for the second number and so on. so, if we multiply the numbers 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45 x 44, we get 10,068,347,520. however, each possible group of six numbers (combination) can be drawn in different ways depending on which number in the group was drawn first, which was drawn second, and so on. there are 6 choices for the first, 5 for the second and so on. multiply these numbers 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 720. then, divide 10,068,347,520 by 720 and we will get 13,983,816. therefore, the probability is 1/13,983,816 = 0.00000007151. This is roughly the same probability as obtaining 24 heads in succession when flipping a fair coin (almost impossible isn't it). the probability of winning a lottery first prize is 0.00000007151 or 1 in 14 millions. the chances of winning is infinitesimal.

but why lots of people still playing this games? because lots of people attracted with the huge amount of money they could win and the stake is low (a pound for each combination). people don't really think about the chances of winning the lottery. usually, people tend to overestimate the chance of something good happening to them even if the odds are infinitesimal whereas people often underestimate the chance of something bad occurring. for example, if you were told by a doctor that you have a one in fourteen million chance of getting cancer in the next seven days, people will say 'oh well it is obviously not going to happen to me it is so infinitesimal'. but, the fact that there is a one in fourteen million chance of winning the lottery people think 'yes, it's got to be someone, why can't it be me.

according to psychologist, the so called 'near miss' is also a factor that makes people want to play again. if your number is 17, and the number 18 is drawn, people will think, "i was so close...". even if number 27 is drawn, some people will intrepret it as near miss.

besides, a lot of people also do not understand the odds of the lottery. In a recent survey, 21% of people thought that if they put the same numbers on to the lottery for the rest of their lives that they would have a chance of winning. This is totally wrong. They don't understand that each number retains the same chance of winning no matter how many draws take place. the chances of winning is 1 in 14 million. however, some people also does not understand how big is 14 million.

the probability of winning is very slim. but why lots of people win the lottery? this is because lots of people play the games. the population of UK is approximately 60 millions. if 14 millions (23 %)of people play the lottery for the same draw and each of them choose different combination, of course there will be a person who gonna win. but in reality, this is almost impossible to happen. the chances of people in the UK to win is realistic, but the chances of YOU winning the lottery is very very slim.

is it wise to spend your money for lottery? in fact, lottery is a type of gambling and therefore it is forbidden in Islam. so, think wisely before you play.

Brain Buster Time

why Gordon Brown (you should know who is this guy) likes jogging in the evening and not in the morning???


Answer:
(read from right to left)

AM not (minister prime) PM is brown gordon because

Lagi Kemalangan Ngeri Melibatkan Bas

Belum pun reda kepiluan rakyat msia atas kes kematian 5 beranak akibat kebakaran di kluang tempoh hari, kita digemparkan pula dengan berita kemalangan ngeri melibatkan bas ekspress. kali ini ialah yang terburuk dalam sejarah negara. 20 orang mati manakala 9 yang lain cedera apabila sebuah bas ekspress menjunam ke dalam sebuah parit di KM 229 di lebuh raya utara-selatan di bukit gantang.

Sehingga kini, sudah 82 nyawa terkorban (berdasarkan rentetan yang saya perolehi di bawah) dalam kemalangan melibatkan bas yang kebanyakannya akibat daripada kecuaian pemandu bas seperti hilang kawalan akibat memandu terlalu laju dan tertidur.

Apabila pertama kali saya membaca mengenai berita kemalangan di bukit gantang, saya berasa amat marah sekali. pada pendapat saya, segelintir pemandu bas langsung tidak mempunyai kesedaran. adakah mereka sedar bahawa mereka sedang membawa nyawa para penumpang? beberapa tahun lepas, media ada mendedahkan bahawa sebahagian daripada pemandu bas ekspres memandu laju disebabkan ingin mengejar trip. lagi banyak trip yang mereka perolehi, lagi banyak pendapatan mereka. saya percaya, pihak pengurusan juga bertanggungjawab dalam perkara ini. ingin saya tujukan soalan di sini bahawa adakah nyawa para penumpang sama seperti nyawa trip tambahan, sekadar rm300 atau rm400?

sesetengah pemandu bas pula memandu laju dengan alasan 'habit', darah muda yang sukakan kelajuan dan mereka sudah 'expert' dengan jalan tersebut kerana hampir tiap-tiap hari memandu di laluan yang sama. pada pandangan saya, alasan tersebut langsung tidak memberi 'authority' untuk mereka memandu melebihi had laju yang ditetapkan.

sekiranya pemandu bas mengantuk, mintalah pembantu pemandu menggantikan tempatnya. sekiranya tiada pembantu, berehatlah sebentar ataupun mengambil makanan yang dapat menghilangkan rasa mengantuk. amatlah tidak berbaloi membahayakan nyawa para penumpang semata-mata disebabkan keengganan pemandu bas berhenti rehat.

saya juga berasa pelik dengan sikap sesetengah pihak pengurusan bas ekspress. sesetengah daripada mereka amat kedekut untuk membelanjakan sebahagian daripada keuntungan syarikat untuk menggantikan bas-bas yang telah usang. penyelengaraaan bas pula amat tidak memuaskan. bukan sekali, tapi banyak kali telah saya naiki bas-bas ekspress yang berada dalam keadaan yang tidak memuaskan. sebagai contoh, air-cond tidak berfungsi, tempat duduk yang bahagian penyandarnya yang sudah lagi tidak boleh disandar dan macam-macam lagi. apalah salahnya membelanjakan sebahagian keuntungan mereka untuk menjaga kualiti bas. sekiranya bas mereka dalam keadaan yang baik, sudah tentu ia secara tidak langsung dapat menarik lebih ramai penumpang. bukannya menggunakan taktik menarik penumpang dengan meletakkan gambar bas baru di kaunter masing-masing tetapi pada hakikatnya bas mereka buruk-buruk belaka. saya tidak mahu menyentuh aspek seperti ketepatan masa, taktik kotor mereka dan lain-lain lagi. cukuplah mengenai kualiti bas. saya tidak mahu memberi gambaran bahawa semua pengusaha bas ekspress adalah teruk kerana sebahagian daripada mereka adalah baik dan boleh saya kategorikan sebagai pengusaha bas ekspress sejati.

sebagai contoh, saya cukup kagum dengan syarikat bas ekspress satria yang beroperasi dari kluang ke kuala lumpur. inilah bas ekspress yang sering saya naiki semasa belajar di banting untuk pulang ke kampung halaman. pada ogos 2005 (kali terakhir saya menggunakan perkhidmatan syarikat berkenaan), saya sempat berbual-bual dengan pemandu bas berkenaan. pemandu tersebut berkata kepada saya bahawa bas transnasional (juga beroperasi dari kl ke kluang) yang baru sahaja memotong basnya tadi langsung tidak membawa penumpang. kemudian saya bertanya kepadanya,

"syarikat bas ni selalunya untung ke rugi, pak cik?"
"untung rasanya. kalau tak, macam mana company bas ni boleh beli banyak bas baru,", jawab pemandu tersebut yang sedang memandu salah sebuah bas baru syarikat itu.
"daripada pemerhatian pak cik la, kalau isnin sampai khamis untung sikit je. hari jumaat untung banyak. tapi kalau sabtu dengan ahad, untung lagi la banyak," tambah pemandu tersebut.

rupa-rupanya banyak juga untung syarikat bas ni. namun, masih banyak syarikat bas yang tangkai jering untuk melaburkan sebahagian keuntungan mereka untuk menjaga kualiti bas.

berbalik kepada kes kemalangan melibatkan bas ekspress. sekiranya tindakan untuk mengatasi masalah ini tidak diambil dengan segera oleh pihak kerajaan, para penumpang mungkin akan hilang kepercayaan terhadap perkhidmatan bas. sama seperti kanak-kanak sekolah yang kini enggan meminum susu bantuan kementerian pelajaran.

pada pendapat saya, langkah-langkah pencegahan yang bakal diambil perlu meliputi kesemua aspek yang melibatkan perkhidmatan bas seperti pemandu bas, bas, syarikat bas dan sistem perkhidmatan bas itu sendiri. keempat-empat aspek ini perlu ditangani dengan serentak, bersepadu dan berterusan. mengatasi masalah ini secara berasingan adalah kurang efektif. sebagai contoh, memasang kotak hitam di bas tanpa mendisiplinkan pemandu bas tidak akan mendatangkan hasil yang diinginkan. sistem demerit pernah dilaksanakan, tetapi tidak diselenggara dengan baik dan akhirnya ditamatkan begitu sahaja. adakah apabila kemalangan sudah berlaku, baru semua orang sibuk hendak melaksanakan dan memperbaiki sistem perkhidmatan bas?

bak kata albert einstein, orang yang bijak ialah orang yang dapat menyelesaikan masalah yang berlaku, tetapi orang yang genius ialah orang yang dapat menjangka masalah dan menyelesaikannya sebelum masalah itu berlaku. sama-samalah kita renungkan kata-kata azimat ini.

Berikut ialah rentetan kemalangan ngeri melibatkan bas yang dapat saya kumpulkan:

* 9 Mac 2007 di KUALA KANGSAR:

6 penumpang terbunuh manakala 20 yang lain cedera apabila bas ekspress yang mereka naiki terbabas dan terbalik ke dalam sebuah gaung di KM 254, lebuh raya utara-selatan berhampiran kawasan rehat dan rawat sungai perak.

* 30 Julai 2006 di NIBONG TEBAL:

11 penumpang maut, manakala 35 lagi cedera termasuk sembilan parah dalam nahas melibatkan sebuah bas persiaran yang membawa 46 penumpang terbalik sebelum terbabas ke dalam parit di KMr 160.8 Lebuh Raya Utara Selatan dekat Jawi.

* 30 November 2003 di KUALA LIPIS:

Dua buah bas bertembung di Jalan Kuala Lipis-Merapoh, Kuala Lipis, Pahang menyebabkan 15 penumpang maut, manakala 29 lagi cedera hanya selepas beberapa hari sambutan hari raya Aidilfitri.

* 20 April 2001 di BALING:

13 penumpang termasuk dua kanak-kanak maut apabila sebuah bas terbabas dan terbalik di Batu 7, Jalan Pengkalan Hulu-Baling. Dalam kejadian pada pukul 10.30 pagi itu, bas yang membawa anggota Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia dalam perjalanan dari Kota Bharu ke Langkawi.

* 15 Julai 1996 di GENTING HIGHLANDS:

Nahas ngeri ini mengorbankan 17 nyawa dan mencederakan 15 yang lain apabila sebuah bas yang membawa pelancong terbabas dan terjunam ke dalam gaung di KM1 Jalan Genting Highlands.

Sumber: Utusan Malaysia, 13 Ogos 2007

Lirik - Aku Tanpa Cintamu

Lirik lagu:

Telah ku mungkiri janjiku lagi
Walau seribu kali
Ku ulang sendiri
Aku takkan tempuh lagi
Apakah kau terima cintaku lagi
Setelah ku berpaling
Dari pandanganMu
Yang kabur kerna jahilnya aku

Mengapa cintaMu tak pernah hadir
Subur dalam jiwaku
Agarku tetap bahagia
Tanpa cintaku tetaplah Kau di sana
Aku tanpa cintaMu
Bagai layang-layang terputus talinya

Telah ku mungkiri janjiku lagi
Walau seribu kali
Ku ulang sendiri
Aku takkan tempuh lagi
Apakah kau terima cintaku lagi
Setelah ku berpaling
Dari pandanganMu
Yang kabur kerna jahilnya aku

Masihkah ada sekelumit belas
Mengemis kasihMu Tuhan
Untukku berpaut dan bersandar
Aku di sini kan tetap terus mencuba
Untuk beroleh cintaMu
Walau ranjaunya menusuk pedih

lagu dendangan mirwana dan jay jay ini menceritakan mengenai cinta antara manusia dengan Pencipta-Nya.

Apabila membaca rangkap pertama lirik lagu tersebut, saya berasakan bahawa makna yang cuba disampaikan amat releven sekali dengan kita. setiap kali selepas selesai mengerjakan solat, kita selalunya berdoa meminta keampunan daripada Allah atas dosa-dosa kita dan berjanji tidak akan mengulanginya lagi. walau bagaimanapun, kita sering memungkiri janji tersebut dan mengulangi dosa-dosa yang lalu. kemudian, kita bertaubat kembali dan berdoa meminta keampunan daripada Allah.

rangkap kedua pula menceritakan mengenai pergantungan kita terhadap Allah Taala. lirik tersebut menggambarkan kehidupan manusia yang tidak diredhai-Nya seperti layang-layang yang terputus talinya. manusia akan hilang arah tujuan tanpa rahmat dan kasih sayang dari-Nya. sebaliknya, sekiranya kita tidak patuh atau beriman kepada-Nya, Allah tidak sedikit pun terjejas. Malah, kita lah yang berada dalam kerugian kerana tidak berusaha untuk mendapatkan cinta dan rahmat daripada Allah Taala. Kejayaan dan ketenangan yang abadi tidak akan diperolehi tanpa rahmat daripada-Nya.

Oleh itu, sama-samalah kita berusaha memperbaiki diri supaya kehidupan kita di dunia ini sentiasa diredhai-Nya. Sesungguhnya, Allah itu Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang.

Sheffield to Newcastle: A Priceless Experience

I should write this one first before writing other posts about Newcastle but I felt that this one is a special one (like Malaysian community at Newcastle) . So I reserved it til the end.

When I was searching for internship opportunities at uni careers service search engine, I came across an advert from university of newcastle. chemical engineering and advanced materials department is offering an opportunity to work with them for 6 weeks during summer vacation. i was really glad to see that advert because i am desperately looking for an internship at that moment. I have made around 13-15 applications since december 2006 but all of them got rejected. I only managed to go to the second round with BP. Others were rejected straight away. ok, we go back to newcastle advert. They also provide a PDF file listing all of the projects available. Selection will be made based on CV and project choice. yess, there is no interview. at that time i was confidence that i have a really good chance.

when i read the project title and introduction, i was attracted straight away with spectroscopy project. i came across that term before when i was looking for journal papers when doing my 3rd year project. semiconductor people also used that device in their research. then, i emailed my CV to the person in-charged. i got the internship offer when i was in library, preparing for my exam.

i did think about accommodation before applying the internship. i still remember hurul ain told me that she has a sister living in newcastle. so, i thought i could contact her sister and asked her help to look for a room. if that does not work, my second plan was to rent a room at the university accommodation. it is a bit expensive but since i will be paid for the internship, i thought i was not a big deal.

a week before i leave sheffield for newcastle, hurul brother in-law called me telling that he already found a place for me. but i need to stay at the living room for a few weeks before one of housemates going back to msia. at first, i was a bit disappointed because i don't think sleeping in the living room for a few weeks is a good idea. so, i bring a sleeping bag with me to newcastle.


at newcastle, i stayed at 80 dilston road. shahneel was the person that open the door when i arrive at his home. his house looks fine. i was glad when i saw that a mattress, pillows and a duvet at the living room. these stuffs must be for me. hehehehe. i found that living at the living room was not so bad. i got good and quality sleep almost everyday. there are 4 persons that live at that house; shahneel, hafiz aka ah seng, tuan fairuz and hisham. all of them are very nice person.

their house is a bit far from university but supermarket, mosque, halal fast food and halal butcher are very near. i have to walked for 30 mins (probably around 2 km) to go to the university. so, i walked around 4 km everyday, 20km a week and 120km for the whole internship. hahahaha.

this is the most important part which is the difference between malaysian community in newcastle and sheffield.

• in sheffield, there are lots of undergraduates and postgraduates. however, in newcastle, most of the msian are postgraduates.
  
• in sheffield, undergraduates do not really mixed with the postgraduates because we live in separate places. all undergraduates live near the city centre while postgraduates live in darnall which is far from the city. most of the postgraduates live there because the house rent is cheaper. so, it is more convenient for them since majority of them have family. there are lots of occasions when people asked me whether i know their postgraduates friends in sheffield and i said i don't know them. sometimes i feel embarrassed to answer like that because we are the minority at this place, we are not a lot but still i don't know all of them. i only know some of them especially the one who have position in the msian society and those who are studying engineering. in newcastle, undergraduates live at the same area as the postgraduates. so, they very closed to each other. they even play football together. at first, i was quite surprised when the undergraduates talked with the postgraduates using 'kau' and 'aku' even though some of them are in late 20s. i think it is a huge loss if we didn't build relationship with the postgraduates because all of them are professionals and some of them are very important persons in msia. so, if we have good relationship with them, we can absolutely enhance our networking.
  
• i think it is appropriate to called the msian community in newcastle as generous. during my 6 weeks period at newcastle, i have received about 10 invitations for lunch and dinner. when they know i was about to leave newcastle, they also invited me and my housemates for dinner. i was really 'terharu'(can't think the right word in english) with the warm treatment that i received over there. Unfortunately, this does not happened in sheffield. the main reason is because we lived among the undergraduates. usually undergraduates does not have enough 'kerajinan' to cook for lots of people. most of us only invite friends for food during hari raya. i was quite pleased that during last hari raya, there are lots of open house from undergraduates. when i was in my first and second year, there were not much open house organised by the undergraduates.
  

i think this article is long enough. lastly, i would like to thank shahneel, hisham, hafiz and tuan for giving me an excellent treatments during my stay. i really appreciate it. even though i only know all of you for several weeks but i feel that we already know each other for years and the bond that we have build is too strong. i am looking forward to seeing you guys again in the future. all of you are always welcomed to sheffield.

Inikah AKHLAK pemimpin kita?

Apabila pertama kali saya melihat video klip rakaman pergaduhan antara ADUN BN dan PAS, saya ketawa sakan. Apa tidaknya, jarang sekali saya melihat orang-orang yang sudah lanjut usianya bergaduh seperti kanak-kanak sehingga mengeluarkan perkataan seperti iblis, syaitan dan babi. Akan tetapi, apabila saya berfikir kembali, saya menjadi berasa malu dengan sikap tidak professional yang ditunjukkan oleh pemimpin kita. Bagaimana orang yang teruk akhlak dan bahasanya boleh dipilih oleh kita untuk menjadi pemimpin negara??? Yang di Pertua Dewan langsung tidak menegur bahasa kesat yang dilontarkan oleh ADUN tersebut. Adakah ini kerana ADUN tersebut daripada pihak kerajaan?

Dengan menjelangnya pilihanraya umum tidak lama lagi, saya menyeru pembaca-pembaca sekalian agar memilih calon-calon yang baik agamanya, rajin bekerja, berilmu, mempunyai visi dan telus. Dengan ini, barulah kita dapat memastikan bahawa calon yang benar-benar layak dan berkaliber sahaja yang akan mentadbir negara kita.

Sheffield Moves Up World Ranking of Universities

University of Sheffield is rated 8th in the UK and 18th in Europe, and has moved four places to 65th in the world in an annual academic ranking of the top 500 universities worldwide. Researchers at China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University evaluated the universities using several research performance indicators, including the number of highly cited researchers, academic performance, articles in Science and Nature and the number of Nobel Prize winners.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Boucher comments, "The University's ranking is indicative of our ongoing achievement of excellence in research and teaching. For research, we have top 5 and 5* ratings in 35 subject areas embracing 85 per cent of our academic staff, and in terms of teaching, 29 of our subjects are graded as excellence, which is the third highest number in the UK. It is part of our mission to be internationally recognised as a world-class research and teaching centre across a wide range of disciplines, and I'm pleased to see that this year's ranking recognises out commitment to this goal".

Summer Internship

Recently, I did a 6-weeks summer internship at Department of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. The internship started on 25th June until 3rd August. University of Newcastle is located at the heart of Newcastle city centre and about 5 mins walk to St. James Park. It is a nice university but I think it is a bit smaller than Sheffield Uni. 75 % of the university buildings are concentrated at one place and the others are scattered around the city centre.

There are 4 other students who also did the internship with me and all of them are studying at different universities. They come from Imperial College London (Chinese guy from Brunei), Cambridge University (English girl), University of Birmingham (Latin chick from Venezuela) and University of Queen Belfast, Ireland (Irish girl). All of us did different research.

I have conducted a research entitled, "Reflectance Spectroscopy for Monitoring Pharmaceutical Powder Mixtures". I was under the supervision of EPSRC researcher, Dr. Suresh Thennadil. This research has a balance aspects between experimental and theory. Basically, what I did is to figure out how to use reflectance spectroscopy to monitor pharmaceutical powder mixtures. Reflectance spectroscopy is a device which operate based on light reflection. If we illuminate a sample with light, a fraction of it with be reflected, absorbed, transmitted and scattered. Based on the reflected light, we can get chemical and physical information of the sample such as particle size and so on.

One of the main process in producing medicine is powder blending. Normally, manufacturer spend sufficiently long period of time just to make sure that all ingredients in the powder mixtures are evenly distributed. Significant time saving can be realised if the blending process can be stopped at an optimum time. So, if we can estimate the concentration of the components in the mixture at different regions of the blending unit, we can make a decision about the uniformity of the components in the mixture. Reflectance spectroscopy has a promising future to become an effective tool to monitor pharmaceutical powder mixtures because it of its ability to provide fast and non-destructive measurements without sample preparation.

Generally, there are 2 components in pharmaceutical powder mixture which is active ingredient and filler. Active ingredient is the one which has the ability to cure diseases and usually in small amount. The rest are just filler. In this research, I have used salicylic acid (usually found in aspirin) as the active ingredient and lactose monohydrate (usually found in milk) as the filler.

The first thing that I have been told to do is error check. I need to know what is the error due to measuring instrument, packaging of the powder mixture and blending process. I used 2 methods to analyse the reflectance spectra which is absorbance and Kubelka-Munk theory. There are several other methods (which gives better results) that can be used but due to time constraint, absorbance and Kubelka-Munk were chosen. I also built a calibration model to estimate the concentration of the active ingredient in the powder mixture. Then, I need to evaluate which method gives better prediction and at what wavelength the reflectance spectroscopy works best to monitor the powder mixture.

At the end of the internship, we were asked to make a report and a presentation. The audience of the presentation was lecturers and almost all PhD students at that department. I think I gave a good presentation but not excellent one because there are weaknesses here and there. The worst part of the presentation is during the Q & A session. I couldn't answer 2 questions but fortunately Raimundas (PhD student who also works in spectroscopy field and under Suresh supervision) helped me. One of the question was

"can we combine the absorbance and Kubelka-Munk techniques to give better result? rather than using them separately and then decide which gives better results".

The answer is yes, we can combine them but with added complexity. Because our aim is to make the error as lowest as possible. This means to make the difference between the estimated concentration and the real concentration as smallest as possible. One of the method that can be used to combine both techniques is PLS. The other question was,

"why do you picked only one wavelength? "

This is because it is cheaper to build a spectroscopy that works only at one wavelength. Spectroscopy that I used in the lab is very expensive because it works at wide range of wavelength, from UV-Vis-NIR region. That is why we need to pick the best wavelength which gives the lowest error.

I think all the questions are brilliant especially the first one. The person who asked that question must have a very critical thinking. This is one of the most important quality that every researcher need to have.

In my opinion, I have gained a lot of benefits from this internship even though I am not a chemical engineering student. In fact, spectroscopy is also used by physicist, semiconductor people etc. Now, I got a clear view of what research is all about. Besides, I also obtain the necessary skills to do research. My view towards supervisor also has changed. Before this, I think supervisor as the person that assess me. This is why sometimes don't ask questions to my supervisor because I am afraid that he might feel that I am to dependent on him and it might influence him when assessing my performance. Now, I think supervisor as a person who will guide me and a person who i can discuss about my project.

I also has improve my confidence especially when working with high tech devices. When I did my 3rd year project, I don't have enough confidence when working with the laser, cryostat etc because I am afraid that I will damage it. They are very expensive equipments. But now, everything has changed. I am full of confidence when working with the reflectance spectroscopy alone in the lab because I know what I am doing. Besides, I also learned how to use Matlab. Actually, it is not that hard.

Lastly, I would like to thank Suresh, Carlo, Elitsa, Maria and Raimundas for helping me during my 6 weeks internship. Thank you.

Newcastle Attractions

I spent my last Saturday at Newcastle to visit attractive places. Hisham, Hafiz, Usop and I went out at about 10 a.m and we went back around 7 p.m. The weather was not good as light shower fall. We were fortunate because the weather becomes better in the afternoon. First, we took Metro (underground train) and headed to Tynemouth Priory and Castle. The castle is located near the sea side and the scenery is beautiful. The church was first built in 7th century and then re-founded again in 1090 after it was destructed by the Danish raiders. It was also used by the British armies to defence England coastal area during two world wars. In 1539, the church was converted as a royal castle. The original structure of the castle can barely seen right now because most of structures were already collapsed.

Then, we took a ferry to cross the Tyne river and visit one of Newcastle famous landmarks which is called 'Angle of the North'. It was made from special weather resistant steel which contains copper. The sculpture looks like an angle with wide open arms which symbolizes greeting to visitors who come to Newcastle. After that, we went to MetroCentre. According to Usop, MetroCentre used to be the biggest shopping complex in Europe.

Besides, Newcastle are also known because of its bridge. The bridge is similar to Big Ben for London. They also have new suspended bridge specifically for pedestrians which is called 'Millennium Bridge' (picture not shown). This bridge is very special because it can be tilted to look like V-shape. When it is tilted, it is closed for pedestrians. The bridge is tilted at night and several hours during the day.



I also went to the Baltic centre, a contemporary art exhibition centre which is located near the Millennium Bridge. Even though art is not my interest, but I was quite impressed by some of the art works displayed especially the one which show how human plan to destruct the world. Human already made lots of destructions to the world and human still planning to make further destructions. I think that is a very good message. They used human replica, wearing a lab coat (probably a scientist) and show how human planning to destruct the world by putting a cloud (made from cotton) which looks like a tornado at the human head. The height of the cloud is about the same with the height of two storey building. They also put atomic bomb, animals etc around the cloud to show what kind of destructions human are planning to do. When I want to take picture of the model, one of the staff stopped me and said that taking photo is not permitted. However, i did take photos before that. One of them is a human model made from small metal bars.

Then, we went back by train. I think Newcastle transport system is amazing. We paid GBP 5.20 for the day ticket and we can use all kind of public transports like metro, bus, ferry and train even though they are provided by different companies. Lastly, I would like to thank Hafiz, Hisham and Usop for spending time with me and show me all the attractive places. Thank you.

Newcastle Utd 2 - 0 Juventus

I have the chance to watch a friendly match between newcastle and juventus at St. James Park. The match was held on sunday (already forgot the date) and kick off at 3 pm. Both teams lined up more or less their full strength with Trazeguet, Nedved and Buffon played for juve while Given, martins and solano for newcastle. juve also lined up 3 of their new signings such as iaquinta, tiago and andrade.

Juve were fortunate to have a world class goalkeeper like buffon. without him, juve could be defeated with greater margin, perhaps 4 - 0. buffon made several fantastic saves and i think he was the best player on the pitch. the first goal came from penalty. zebina made a slight pushed on milner and milner made a right decision to dive. the second goal was beautiful and unaviodable. i think the main reason juve lost is because of their attacking. their attacking was totally blunt. they didn't create enough chances to score goals and trezeguet hardly get the ball. juve really need to improve on their attacking if they want to challenge inter milan for the serie A title. they have lots of experience and creative players, and with the additional of new signings there is no reason they cannot improve their attacking.

On the other hand, i congratulate newcastle for playing really well. their defence, midfield and strikers were superb. rozenhal (i'm not so sure how to spell his name) organised the defence well and solano was the most tireless player. he was everywhere; attacking and defending all the time. newcastle deserved to win the match.

I hope newcastle will succeed under sam allardyce guidance and can challenge spurs for the fifth place next season (they still can't challenge the top 4 clubs, hehe).

Serasi Bersama

*** when i was taking a short break after writing my project report, i suddenly fancy reading some lyrics. Then when i came across 'serasi bersama' lyrics sang by Ajai and Nurul, i just feel that i really like it. the lyrics is very beautiful and i really attracted with the comparisons after 'bagai...' and parts when it says 'bagai permata cantum tiada terlihat garisnya. so, read it, feel it and enjoy it =) ***

Semakin hari aku rasalah
Kita macam makin serasi
Kau rasa tak?

Semakin hari semakin serasi
Bagai pagi dengan sinar matahari
Bagai malam dengan kerdipan bintang yang berseri

Terlintas saja hati belum ku luahkan
Kau dah pun tahu bagai tiada lagi rahsia
Antara diri kita berdua

Semakin hari semakin serasi
Bagai gelora dan laut air dan tasik tak dicemari
Bagai puncak dan lembah lereng dan titi

Terguris saja hati belum ku tangis ku
Dah kau belai seperti sakit ku ini
Kau yang terasa jiwa kita serupa

Kita bagai satu permata
Terbelah bercantum semula
Hingga langsung tiada terlihat garisnya
Pemisah halus rambut dibelah halus

Kita bagai satu jiwa
Yang bercerai terpatri kembali
Hingga langsung tiada terlihat lainnya
Di dalam hanya ada kekasih hati