4th Camp

Last week I went for the 4th Ipho camp as one of the top 5. Today I'll be going to Malacca and going to Pulau Perhentian until friday morning. Then I'll be having a family reunion/photo shoot that weekend.

My Birthday!

Sorry for the lack of updates these few days. Yesterday was my birthday. And I am still busy replying thanks to all those who had wished me. Thank you.
This brings back memories, just last year on my birthday, I took SAT2, in the middle of the same top 5 camp. And in 2004 I celebrated in a Jamboree camp in Malacca.

I dearly miss the days of one year ago where Cavan and Kent Loong are with me. The other 4 now are too quiet and a bit cold. I had quite a pressure on myself to make things livelier. Perhaps I should just concentrate on doing my job of studying and go through some hardship with them. Perhaps I should abandon the arrogant attitude of know-it-all-just-because-I-went-there-before. Kent Loong, your wisdom is beyond my grasp. Save me!!!

On another note, preparation for NUS is quite tedious and troublesome. So I'm going NUS, who's with me? Talking about that, I meet the guys who are going for the International Chemistry Olympiad in NUS Welcome Tea. Gavin was one of them. They are going for a month of intensive training before going for the Competition. Well, hopefully Malaysia will get some golds from these 2 Olympiads this year.

What kind of reader are you?

I'm a selective reader. I don't simply read every single book in the world. I did that before but now I am selective. Just how selective, let's find out.

1. I don't read boring novels. If I hadn't read the Lords of the rings, I wouldn't had. Ya I read the extremely boring and thick book. Word by Word, even finished the foreword and introduction. It's a good thing I stopped after the climax, cause I can't bring myself to reading it again. ( maybe next time) So if there's any books like that, with a lot of descriptions and details so well, detailed that it takes a page to describe a thing in a very messy room, don't expect me to read it.
2. I don't read novels with too much Christian or Islamic Influence in it. Novels that take the existence or non-existence of God as a matter of faith I can take. But Novels that forces the reader to accept the existence of God, that scares readers into it, that uses the concept dogmatically and shows that anyone who's a non-believer will suffer in the story.... that's the kind of novels I avoid. Of course, I tolerate Bruce Almighty and other like it since it's not a Christian/Islamic propaganda to expand their religion.
3. I avoid novels with violence in sex and extreme sex, that is the whole book talks about the sexual activity from beginning to end. Novels with mild mentioning of sex is ok(unsuited for minors through but ok). Oh come on, don't act surprise here, most of the novels have minor scene of normal sex like most movies nowadays. (However, you don't see them in Star Wars, The Lord of the Ring, and harry potter, so it can be said that bestsellers normally don't include sex inside it.) Novels like Disclosure by Micheal Crichton which uses seduction as a important element in it's plot are acceptable.
   
4. As to novels with too much military words and atmosphere, too much mindless and unnecessarily violence (which I think the author just throw it in just to express themselves and make the readers bore or disgust) I don't read too much of it.
   
5. Now I don't avoid any other kind of books, I can read girls books, where the main character is a female doing whatever thing there is like house life (little women), or love or just plain little girls (Heidi) ya, ya those are classics and I read them in an abridged version. I can read magic and superheroes books too.
   
6. But if you ask me the type of books I read most, it's Science Fiction. Arthur C Clarke caught me on and Murray Leinster brought be to Isaac Asimov. With Micheal Crichton standing in a special place. I find that books by them are very interesting and wouldn't turn away (almost) any books written by them.
7. Now turning away from fiction, I also read non-fiction science, mostly those of popular science books like A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking. And perhaps it's not so worth it to mention since we all read it, but I read textbooks too. lol.
   
8. Oh ya as a general rule, I don't read books with less than 200 pages and would prefer it if it is thicker. It's only a general rule, so I'm not banning myself to read simpler books too.
9. Last but not least, I read Buddhism books. I just love the philosophy and psychology of Buddhism. Investigate first and then accept if you found it's true.

Ok so that's all about me, what about you?

Psychohistory

People say that technology is the bane of mankind. Just look at the results technologies had brought us. Overpopulation is the side effects of the advances of medical technology. Pollution becomes our burden because of the Industrial Revolution more than a hundred years ago. And science is the base of technology, scientists are well aware of the bane of technology but they shrug off their responsibility by reasoning that science advances of its own sake and how mankind choose to use it is none of their concern. I find this attitude disgusting. Therefore being a future scientist, I wish to develop a science that can predict the future.

Being the grandmaster of science fiction, Isaac Asimov had also explored this idea and called this science psychohistory (now called futurology). According to the character in his Foundation series, psychohistory is a study of history and the psychological reasons of events occurring so that future events can be plotted out by means of statistical mathematics specially developed for this purpose. Psychohistory is a probability science which can predict how a big mass of humans will react under specific conditions, so it can’t predict how any individual will act.

Psychohistory then couldn’t hope to predict the entire future with just history and psychology at its expanse; it would require full knowledge of political science, sociology, technology, economics, trade, and all of social science. Constant updating of the state of current events including stock markets, natural disasters, political states of the world, and events in the internet are required to provide the raw data for the equations of psychohistory to work to give an accurate description of the future. In order for this to be practical, there must be interdisciplinary collaboration at an unprecedented level fully using the internet as the ultimate data gathering tool. One team of mathematicians will be the central nexus of psychohistory with subgroups of social sciences sharing information. Psychohistory, when successfully formulated can be tested by comparing its prediction with the current world events. Thus, soft sciences that are involved in the making of the theory can be tested and gained experimental sciences status.

The problem of global warming can be analyzed by psychohistory. It will tell us whether the efforts by our environmental societies will give an impact towards the survival of humanity. If global warming cannot be stopped, it can at least tell us how to ensure the survival of humanity so that the minimum amount of damage is done. Thus psychohistory will not be a passive science; it will be an active component in determining the future. Emerging technologies like nanotechnology and biotechnology will affect the course of the future depending on how we use it. With psychohistory, we can extrapolate the possible futures and choose the best course. Science alone doesn’t tell us what to do with technology, but psychohistory will.

After thinking about psychohistory, I had a vision, a vision that I’ll be leading the science and formulate it to its perfection. But the first step to do that is to learn interdisciplinary sciences, and University Scholars Program is just the perfect way to start my journey.

Anugerah Belia Remaja Pendidikan

On 18th of May 2008, I attended the ending of the Minggu Belia Negara 2008. I arrived with my parents on 3:40p.m. and had not much difficulty to find where should we go. About 1 hour later, I first talked to Azali, the 21A in SPM boy. I asked for his contact first and we launched into talking. About 1 hour later, we were asked to sit in the left side of the stage. And we resumed talking until 7 p.m. when we are finally given our prize. Where the MC had mistaken our accomplishments. After that we had a free dinner and gone back at 7:40p.m.

Me and My parents here.

Azali was supposed to be first but
I got the prize first, after the MC said, here's our IPHO guy,(we switched places) with an outstanding 21As in SPM (we were confused) from Kedah (we switched again), let's welcome:
Ng Xin Zhao( then I just gone there, a bit sorry for taking Azali's accomplishments)

Here's Azali

We laughed at the mistake just now.

Our respective families.

We got: the glass thing, cert, A big fake RM 2000 cheque(British spelling) or check(USA), and the real one of course. Ha ha.

Funny Physics isn't the first one

WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU? created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as English/Journalism/Comm You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in Communication, English, Film, Journalism, Literature, or Writing. It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it. Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests. Mathematics/Statistics 94% English/Journalism/Comm 94% Physics/Engineering/Computer 81% Education/Counseling 63% Biology/Chemistry/Geology 63% Nursing/AthleticTraining/Health 63% French/Spanish/OtherLanguage 56% Psychology/Sociology 56% HR/BusinessManagement 56% History/Anthropology/LiberalArts 56% Accounting/Finance/Marketing 50% Visual&PerformingArts 50% PoliticalScience/Philosophy 50% Religion/Theology 44%

Thanks Gin Yuen, for this.

The Full Report of my Biography in Accordance with the Anugerah Belia Remaja Pendidikan

I am Ng Xin Zhao, Ex-student of Malacca High School where I studied my form 6 and St. Francis Institution where I took my SPM. I won this prize mainly because of my contribution to Malaysia where I represented the country along with 4 others contestant in the 38th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in Iran (don't worry, it's a beautiful peaceful country) in 2007.

I'm representing the country again this year for the 39th IPhO in Hanoi, Vietnam. I would like to use this opportunity to encourage students to come to form 6 for the chance to be selected to the training camps that starts around the beginning of the year. And I urge teachers to contact the Malaysian Institute of Physics for more details.

The International Science Olympiads really helps building your resume to Universities like the National University of Singapore(NUS) which I got admitted to. If you like to contact me for more information, look up my blog in ngxinzhaomonk.blogspot.com. I'm looking for a full scholarship to NUS so that I don't have to be bonded 3 years for signing the tuition grant of Singapore Government. I would greatly appreciate it if I am offered one before August 2008.

I'm also scored A in Further Maths (a subject which very few people take in STPM) , scored almost perfect on SAT 2, 11 straight As for SPM and a Mensa member.

This would have been out if I was in the news.

Sorry Wrong Date

Nonsensical guy told me I'll be awarded prize by the PM, now I know it's on Sunday and a Ministry guy going to give me something. Make me miss my school gathering today on 12p.m. sad lah.

Form 6 : A Reflection

My Form 6 dream started a few months before SPM. I told Ronald and Han Meng (if my memory serves me right) that I can't wait for form 6 to finish in reply to their can't wait for SPM to finish.

My dream in form 6 is to make a really good friend (preferably a girl), score top in my class, get 100 in all subjects, take up 7 subjects (plus Chinese and Bio) 4 or 5 or 7 flat is a must of course, get popular and most importantly, enjoy my form 6. Look, I was a introvert, book wormish guy and didn't know any girls outside of my primary friends, and didn't even got into top 10 back in my form 5 boys school, with a history of getting 1st in class. So it was only logical to have those dreams.

Malacca High School had been a strange disappointment to me. It's toilet was dirty, the girls not too pretty (sorry ah girls, if you're pretty, this doesn't includes you). The first best thing that happened to me is having my group win the first week's presentation and me as the leader went up stage and received the prize, instant fame! It's not a fully unsatisfactory victory through, I had no experience as a leader and had to rely on other team members to "take over" my job and make our group the best.

I had also made my first enemy during Lower 6. He was just another bully type just that that time, I had run out of my virtues. Now I wish to thank him for teaching me to see who I became then and giving me a chance to change myself. Well, all this happens more in my mind than our interactions.

Ok instead of going through all the form 6 experiences, I'll summarize on the accomplishment of my dreams. Well, my social ability improved, a lot. Even if not enough to make a best friend, I'm confident that I'll improve on further. The popularity factor I had succeeded quite well, well because of unexpected and good circumstances. I took up Further Maths, was famous as a weird Tai Chi fellow, but after I got into the national team of the International Physics Olympiad, I was more famous than ever! Now only the number 1 in class hadn't been realized. Not only I didn't got it, my STPM didn't even get a perfect score! So on a sour note, I had something to regret, but I had gain more out of form 6 than if I hadn't gone into it.

Even now I am still reaping the benefits of form 6, 2 days later, I'm going to receive a prize, not to mention I went to Port Dickson the week before STPM as an finalist for the excellence in co-curriculum award for secondary boy students. And in July I'm going to make Malaysia proud.
Well all this is because of my good karma. I better sow some more good karma while I'm still reaping the good effects.

I hereby apologize if my words sounded arrogant to you. Sorry!

Anugerah Belia Pendidikan

Yes you see it right. I'm nominated for the Anugerah Belia Pendidikan for 2008 and won! I'll be given the prize by the Prime Minister of Malaysia himself on the 15th of May in Stadium Bukit Jalir. The nomination was possible by the most gracious help from Mr. Wee from Malacca High School and Chester Chong and my sis, Ng Ching Siang for providing the photo of me. I hereby wish to express my deepest appreciation for their help and support. Thank you!

So after I got my holiday, it seems that a lot of things are starting to happen. I had just received the letter of offer from NUS and what a lot of things I had to think and do before entering NUS! For instance, on 24th of May in KL, there'll be a welcoming party for the ones that are going to NUS. One of my few regrets is that I'll miss some camps and orientations for the International Physics Olympiad. Ok so it's not exactly a regretful thing. Ha ha. In fact I'm proud of it! It seems that I'll have to rely on someone (Calvin) to take some important notes for me. Thanks in advance.

Oh ya I just finished Dark Cosmos and it's simply good, very good. Now I'm up-to-date on the latest development in Cosmology.

Here it is!