Origin XT Blog

URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2103604

LOS ANGELES Jun 21, 2006 (AP)— New earthquake research confirms the southern end of the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles is overdue for a Big One. The lower section of the fault has not produced a major earthquake in more than three centuries.

The new study, which analyzed 20 years of data and is considered one of the most detailed analyses yet, found that stress has been building up since then, and that the fault could rupture at any moment.

“The southern section of the fault is fully loaded for the next big event,” said geophysicist Yuri Fialko of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

o_O The southern section — how south is the southern section? I hope it’s Los Angeles, not San Jose.

California’s screwed if this happens in the next 5 years. (proleptic statement <– I still need to find a dictionary definition of that word)

Thank you Joey for another opportunity to inflate my blog with random stuff!

MY LIFE IS 79% PERFECT

[ ] You have a boyfriend/ girlfriend/ fiancee/ husband/ wife.
[x] You have your own room.
[ ] You own a cell phone.
[x] You have an ipod/ mp3 player.
[x] Your parents are still married.
[?] You have more than 2 best friends. (A superlative cannot be exceeded… what shit logic is this?)
[ ] There is a swimming pool in your backyard.
[x] You live in a house.

T O T A L: 5 (if you replace “best” with “very good”)

[x] You dress how you want to. (Shorts and some random shirt)
[x] You hang out with friends more than once a week. (Who says school doesn’t count? :P)
[x] There is a computer/ laptop in your room.
[x] You have never been beaten up.
[x] You never cry more than twice a month.
[x] you are allowed to listen to the music you want to.
[x] your room is big enough for you
[x] People don’t use you for something you have. (They can try, but if I see it is to my detriment (wasting my time for something stupid, for example), I won’t agree )
[x] You have been to a concert.
[x] You laugh more than twice a day. (Thank you Duke o_o)

T O T A L: 10

[*] You have over 50 friends on myspace (What myspace?)
[*] You have pictures on myspace. ^
[*] Your parents let you have a myspace ^
[x] Your parents just give you money (and take it away)
[x] You collect something normal.
[x] People don’t make fun of you to be mean.
[x] you look forward to going to school.
[x] You don’t wish you were someone else.
[x] You do a sport. (Uh, “a” sport? Swimming, tennis, and badminton are fun in the summertime)
[x] You do something after school.
[x] You shower daily.

T O T A L: 8

[ ] You own a car. (Damn it!!!)
[x] You usually don’t fight with your parents.
[x] You are happy with your appearance
[x] You have never got a failing grade in your life (unless a B+ == failing…)
[x] You have friends.
[ ] You have so many inside jokes with friends.
[x] most of the time you know your parents care and love you.

T O T A L: 5

[x] You know what is going on in the world. (Good ol Google News)
[x] You care about so many people. (Define so many… How about “you care about only so many people”)
[x] You are happy with your life
[x] you usually aren’t sick.
[x] You know more than one language
[ ] you have people that tell you they love you
[x] You own[ed] a pet.
[x] You know the words to more than 5 songs. (Duh duh duh dummmmm! Beethoven’s fifth!)
[x] You have enemies (<_<)
[x] you are happy you’re living.

T O T A L: 9

* = not applicable

(9+5+8+10+5)/47 = 79%

What the hell was with the myspace questions? And what moron replaced the O in TOTAL with a 0?

Computer (black) resigned. That’s interesting That has never happened before.

… which reminds me:

Yeah, I left Arasan to think over a move while I was sleeping. Apparently it didn’t finish when I woke up. I saw it was using 100% (~99%) of my CPU so I shut it down. Maybe turning it on to turbo mode on this system isn’t very prudent…

I bothered Mr Monsees about the MC portion, which he said he finished grading, today. Apparently he marked 2 of my correct answers wrong — because the key says so. After presenting a lengthy argument backed by the physics book, he gave me back the 4 points (2 pts each). However, although he did admit those who got everything “correct” probably cheated (actually missing two easy questions while getting everything else correct seems more than a coincidence), he acknowledged that it would be too much of a hassle for him to go back and review what others did.

So if you are in physics honors (under Monsees) and need 4 points, go bother him about #18 and #30.

EDIT: I bothered him again regarding the FR. I even checked out a physics textbook at the depository to prove him wrong! Anyway, after an hour or so, I was able to convince him that I’m right and the key is wrong, and got all but 1 pt back (for crappy penmanship).

So, 99/100 on the final isn’t bad, I suppose.

That’s the name of the stupid “prestigious” piano evaluation my teacher signs me up for every year. I say stupid because nobody does it or recognizes it, unlike the CM (certificate of merit, for you non musical visitors) here. I took that last Monday — the day before my Catcher in the Rye test (for which I made the dumbest mistake of missing 10 questions (look back) in addition to the other bad mistakes I made).

Anyway, I did pretty well on the NGA according to my teacher, barring a minor memory slip on Sibelius’s “Romance” (Sentimental music isn’t my type, I swear — I used to play this “romantic” song like a military march). I got the results back yesterday: I got all the “C”s (the good aspects) except one: dynamic contrast? (I thought I did that pretty well, and my teacher agreed). I had one “A” (the bad aspect) for my memory slip.

Today I just had the piano recital. I played one of Brahms’ Acht Klavierstuke (Eight Piano Pieces) — the first one. My teacher said I have improved greatly over the past year or so, and that I now play “professionally”. She then continued to ask me how much I practice this year compared to last I evade that question.

Apparently I play more professionally if I don’t practice. I used to play at least 30 minutes a day last year. This year, it’s more like 30 minutes a week if I’m lucky.

Yesterday, I took the free-response portion of my physics final. I followed Abraham (peef2)’s advice and looked around the directories UCCP (University of California College Prep) had online — and unprotected Yes, the physics final and answers were all there. I decided to look at the answers (yesterday — yes, after the test) after Joey pointed out to me that at least one of the problems are not only grammatically incorrect, but also factually incorrect.

I checked with my knowledge (and the book’s for confirmation), and found that in the key, the answers of 5 of the 12 free response questions were wrong. I will briefly explain them. (Click here for the final questions, answers and explanations for both the MC and the FR — yes, I did steal/”hack” this from UCCP, but it’s their fault)

1. Let’s start with the first one. Yes, the very first question you encounter is wrong. I can’t believe UCCP went through an intermediatary step of using pi as a rational number and multiplying it. If it were smart enough and used proportions, the answer would have come out to be 1.69 m/s, not 1.68. (That’s the problem with too many mathematical steps — loss of accuracy). I know a 0.6% error does not seem all that big, but I’ve seen Mr. Monsees take points off of my quizzes for errors with HIS accuracy.

4. I was quite relieved when I found that the next consecutive 2 questions were all completely correct! Well, as you can tell, my hopes were too high. When I reached #4, I was astounded by the error UCCP made. It wasn’t something minute or stupid like #1 — this one was huge.

The question reads: A closed organ pipe has a length L = 70.0 cm. The speed of sound is approximately 340 m/s at 20° C, and increases by approximately 0.6 m/s for each degree C. What is the fundamental frequency f₁ of the pipe if the air temperature is 0° C?

Obviously the first step would be to find the speed of sound at the required temperature. UCCP’s explanation had: v₀ =(340 m/s)−(0.6 m/sâ‹… deg)(20.0°)= 322 m/s. This here is where the problem lies. 340-0.6*20 = 340-12=328, not 322. Since when did 340-12 = 322? This looks like the type of subtraction Ms. Jankowski would make (:P), but that is absolutely forgivable because she teaches English — and she is definitely competent in that field — whereas Mr. Monsees “teaches” Physics. Physics requires mathematics, and something as simple as 340-12 should not be evaluated incorrectly.

As a corollary to the above, the obtained answer is incorrect.

6. Another fundamental mistake was made by UCCP in this problem. The question required the calculation of the Carnot efficiency, which must be calculated using absolute temperatures, meaning in Kelvin, not Celsius. The explanation directly plugged in the given temperatures in Celsius to the efficiency “formula”, and used that to determine the answer — which is wrong, because Celsius is not absolute. Needless to say, that was a fatal error.

7. I was somewhat scared when I saw two questions wrong in a row. But this question is relatively simple. Basically we are to find the value of a variable given the value of the other one. The question reads: A galaxy is observed to be moving away from our galaxy at a speed of 22 km/s. How many light-years away is the galaxy? We just need to use v=H₀d, and solve for d.

The explanation plugged in 26 km/s in place of 22 km/s for v. Fatal mistake eh? The answer was off by around the same proportions.

10. This question was also extremely easy, like the above. Just solve for a variable given the value of the other ones. The question is: The pressure on the surface of a research submarine is 2.0×10⁷ Pa. The submarine has one window with a diameter of 30 cm. What is the total force exerted on the outside of the submarine’s window? We use the formula P(pressure) = F(force)/A(area), and solve for F=PA. UCCP made the same mistake as above. It substituted in 1.8×10⁷ Pa in place of 2.0×10⁷ Pa.

I mean, I thought about accounting for atmospheric pressure inside the sub, but that would only make it 1.99×10⁷ Pa (which rounds to 2.0×10⁷ Pa in 2 significant-figures), not a significant difference since the end result is in 2 sig-figs. And there isn’t any other force that would somehow decrease the pressure on the sub by 20 atmospheric pressures. It’s just insane.

Yes, the given answer was wrong.

Considering there are only 12 FR questions, and 5 are wrong on the key, what can we say about UCCP?

I will rant about MC after I take a look at that in more detail.

I have done it once again. I did not do a whole set of problems. This time, like most other times, it was the last page, consisting of 10 questions. But this time, I had a logical reason for why I did not do the ten questions. I saw the 41-50 on the bottom of the second-to-last page, with some pencil marks on it. I suspected that it may have been crossed out, so I asked Ms. Jankowski if we had to do 41-50, and I pointed at the questions I was referring to.

She said no.

Little did I know that she thought that I knew that there was another page with exactly the same number sets: 41-50. Anyway, after she told me that I did not have to do the 41-50 (She was probably referring to the ones I was pointing at). But (this part’s a joke :P) I made the wrong judgment: I assumed that Ms. Jankowski, an English teacher, could count. Considering the fact that I had only 50 spaces on my MC sheet in which to answer the questions (because the other side was used), and that 41-50 were to be skipped, I assumed that there would be no more questions. How often does a test have the same question numbers over? (”Ok class. Do questions 41-50, but don’t do the other 41-50.” “Which is the ‘other’, teacher?” “The one that does not refer to the former”)

Anyway, I am thankful that she offered me amnesty by permitting me to do the 10 questions I did not do.

Before leaving class today, she told me that I did not do so well on the test, telling me that I received a D+ or something like that. She told me to come afterschool (or lunch?) in order to find out why. So, I came afterschool.

Immediately upon entering, she told me to drop my stuff, and run to Ms Touchton’s to get the test - form A. So I did, ran back, and I was given a paper to do the last 10 questions on. I thanked her again after turning them in.

Once again, I was saved from the grueling consequences of ignorance and absent-mindedness (and benign assumptions of my teachers :P) by Ms. Jankowski.

Well, now I got to around 2 million dollars in revenue per year by the year 2150. Pretty good eh? Guess how I did it? I did what I did last time: tax the citizens 20% (the max). But the regular denizens already left because of the high tax, leaving me with only a portion to tax. So what did I do?

I built around 150 of those huge archologies that can store 65k people each (and occupies 16 squares). These huge structures basically helped me inflate my city’s population by 25 times — more people I can tax! The best part about the archeology is that the 65k people, once entered, cannot leave. So I set tax to 0% for a year, so everyone crowded into those structures, and then the next year I raised tax to the max, when the population was maximized.

Fun!

Guess what? I beat Mr. Woo in chess today in period 5. Because I was watching Jim play Justin, Mr. Woo called me over in order to alleviate a distraction; he yelled “JINGHAO, GET OVER HERE. I’m gonna teach you who’s the boss around here.”

Looks like I am I gained superior position at first, and then forked his rook. After that, it was all a spiral downward for him. He was close to checkmating me, but I forked him again. It’s hilarious

I then used my promoted queens and my rook to checkmate him. I made sure I didn’t stalemate, but checkmate. That was highlight of my high-school chemistry career.

I have a guaranteed A in his class now. (He said that whosoever beats him in chess gets an A regardless of anything else) I mean, sure, I do have the highest grade right now (102.4% <-- 10^-1x2¹⁰%), but it’s nice to get it guaranteed, since we still have a final.

This is just brilliant.

Here are some more:

Four freshman engineering students were sitting around one day arguing about who might’ve designed the human body. The first one said, “It must’ve been a mechanical engineer. The human body has all those levers and pivots and stuff - a mechanical engineer must have designed all that.” The second one said, “No, it had to have been an electrical engineer. The complex way the nerves are wired up to the brain must have been designed by an electrical engineer.” Then the third one said, “No, it must have been a chemical engineer. The nerve impulses all travel through chemical release and chemical receptors.” Finally, the fourth one said, “No, it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a waste water line through a recreational area?”

This one’s pretty funny. Where does YOUR recreational area reside?

A sociologist, a physicist and a mathematician are all given equal amounts of fencing, and are asked to enclose the greatest area. The sociologist pauses for a moment and decides to enclose a square area with his fence. The physicist, realizing he can fence off a greater amount of land with the same amount of fencing, promptly sets his fence in the form of a circle, and smiles. “I’d like to see you beat that!” he says to the mathematician. The mathematician, in response, takes a very small piece of his own fencing, and wraps it around himself, proclaiming, “I define myself to be outside of the fence!”

This is brilliant too!