What Are Roads in Malaysia Used For?

The following piece is a satire of the current Malaysian driving scene. It's pretty lengthy, so prepare yourself for some serious laughing!

WHAT ARE ROADS IN MALAYSIA USED FOR?
David Astley, an British/Ozzie guy!! now living in KL

A guide for expatriate drivers in Malaysia

Since arriving in Malaysia in 1997, I have tried on many occasions to buy a copy of the Malaysian road rules, but have come to the conclusion that no such publication exists (or if it does, it has been out of print for years). Therefore after carefully observing the driving habits of Malaysian drivers, I believe I have at last worked out the rules of the road in Malaysia . For the benefit of other expatriates living in Malaysia , and the 50% of local drivers who acquired their driving licences without taking a driving test, I am pleased to share my knowledge below:

Q: What is the most important rule of the road in Malaysia?
A: The most important rule is that you must arrive at your destination ahead of the car in front of you. This is the sacrosanct rule of driving in Malaysia. All other rules are subservient to this rule.

Q: What side of the road should you drive on in Malaysia?
A: 99.7% of cars drive on the left hand side, 0.2% on the right hand side, and 0.1% drive in reverse (be on the look out for drivers reversing at high speed in the left hand lane of freeways, having just missed their exit). Therefore on the basis of 'majority rules', it is recommended that you drive on the left. However, be aware that only 90% of motorcyclists travel on the left hand side - the other 10% ride in the opposite direction or on the sidewalk. Fortunately, motorcyclists travelling in reverse are rarely seen.

Q: What are the white lines on the roads?
A: These are known as lane markers and were used by the British in the colonial days to help them drive straight. Today their purpose is mainly decorative, although a double white line is used to indicate a place that is popular to overtake!

Q: When can I use the emergency lane?
A: You can use the emergency lane for any emergency, e.g. you are late for work, you left the toaster plugged in at home, you are bursting to go to the toilet, you have a toothache or you have just dropped your Starbucks coffee in your lap. As it is an emergency, you may drive at twice the speed of the other cars on the road.

Q: Do traffic lights have the same meaning as in other countries?
A: Not quite. Green is the same – that means 'Go', but amber and red are different. Amber means 'Go like hell' and red means 'Stop if there is traffic coming in the other direction or if there is a policeman on the corner'. Otherwise red means the same as green. Note that for buses, red lights do not take effect until five seconds after the light has changed.

Q: What does the sign 'Jalan Sehala' mean?
A: This means 'One Way Street' and indicates a street where the traffic is required to travel in one direc! tion. The arrow on the sign indicates the preferred direction of the traffic flow, but is not compulsory. If the traffic is not flowing in the direction in which you wish to travel, then reversing in that direction is the best option.

Q: What does the sign 'Berhenti' mean?
A: This means 'Stop', and is used to indicate a junction where there is a possibility that you may have to stop if you cannot fool the cars on the road that you are entering into thinking that you are not going to stop.

Q: What does the sign 'Beri Laluan' mean?
A: This means ' Give Way ', and is used to indicate a junction where the cars on the road that you are entering will give way to you provided you avoid all eye contact with them and you can fool them into thinking that you have not seen them.

Q: What does the sign 'Dilarang Masuk' mean?
A: This means 'No Entry'. However, when used on exit ramps in multi-storey car parks, it has an alternative meaning which is: 'Short cut to the next level up'.

Q: What does the sign 'Pandu Cermat' mean?
A: This means 'Drive Smartly', and is placed along highways to remind drivers that they should never leave more than one car length between them and the car in front, irrespective of what speed they are driving. This is to ensure that other cars cannot cut in front of you and thus prevent you from achieving the primary objective of driving in Malaysia , and that is to arrive ahead of the car in front of you. If you can see the rear number plate of the car in front of you, then you are not driving close enough.

Q: What is the speed limit in Malaysia?
A: The concept of a speed limit is unknown in Malaysia.

Q: So what are the round signs on the highways with the numbers 60, 80 and 110?
A: This is the amount of the 'on-the-spot' fine (in ringgits - the local currency) that you have to pay to the police if you are stopped on that stretch of the highway. Note that for expatriates or locals driving Mercedes or BMWs, the on-the-spot fine is double the amount shown on the sign.

Q: Where do you pay the 'on-the-spot' fine?
A: As the name suggests, you pay it 'on-the-spot' to the policeman who has stopped you. You will be asked to place your driving licence on the policeman's notebook that he will hand to you through the window of your car. You will note that there is a spot on the cover of the notebook. Neatly fold the amount of your fine into four, place the fine on the spot, and then cover it with your driving licence so that it cannot be seen. Pass it carefully to the policeman. Then, with a David Copperfield movement of his hands, he will make your money disappear. It is not necessary to applaud.

Q: But isn't this a bribe?
A: Oh pleeease, go and wash your mouth out. What do you want? A traffic ticket? Yes, you can request one of those instead, but it will cost you twice the price, forms to fill out, cheques to write, envelopes to mail, and then three months later when you are advised that your fine was never received, more forms to fill out, a trip to the police station, a trip to the bank, a trip back to the police station, and maybe then you will wish you had paid 'on-the-spot'.

Q: But what if I haven't broken any road rules?
A: It is not common practice in Malaysia to stop motorists for breaking road rules (because nobody is really sure what they are). The most common reasons for being stopped are:
(a) the policeman is hungry and would like you to buy him lunch;
(b) the policeman has run out of petrol and needs some money to get backto the station;
(c) you look like a generous person who would like to make a donation to the police welfare fund; or
(d) you are driving an expensive car which means you can afford to make a donation to the police welfare fund.

Q: Does my car require a roadworthy certificate before I can drive it in Malaysia?
A: No, roadworthy certificates are not required in Malaysia. However there are certain other statutory requirements that must be fulfilled before your car can be driven in Malaysia. Firstly, you must ensure that your windscreen is at least 50% obscured with English football club decals, golf club membership stickers or condo parking permits. Secondly, you must place a tissue box (preferably in a white lace cover) on the back shelf of your car under the rear window. Thirdly, you must hang as many CDs or plastic ornaments from your rear vision mirror as it will support. Finally, you must place a Garfield doll with suction caps on one of your windows. Your car will then be ready to drive on Malaysian roads.

Q: What does a single yellow line along the edge of a road mean?
A: This means parking is permitted.

Q: What does a double yellow line along the edge of a road mean?
A: This means double parking is permitted.

Q: What does a yellow box with a diagonal grid of yellow lines painted on the road at a junction mean?
A: Contrary to the understanding of so me local drivers, this does not mean that diagonal parking is permitted. It indicates a junction that is grid-locked at peak hours.

Q: Can I use my mobile phone whilst driving in Malaysia?
A: No problem at all, but it should be noted that if you wish to use the rear-vision mirror to put on your lipstick (women only please) or trim your eyebrows at the same time as you are using a mobile phone in the other hand, you should ensure that you keep an elbow free to steer the car. Alternatively, you may place a toddler on your lap and have the child steer the car whilst you are carrying out these other essential driving tasks.

Q: Is it necessary to use indicator lights in Malaysia?
A: These blinking orange lights are commonly used by newly arrived expatriate drivers to indicate they are about to change lanes. This provides a useful signal to local drivers to close up any gaps to prevent the expatriate driver from changing lanes. Therefore it is recommended that expatriate drivers adopt the local practice of avoiding all use of indicator lights. However, it is sometimes useful to turn on your left hand indicator if you want to merge right, because this confuses other drivers enabling you to take advantage of an unprotected gap in the traffic.

Q: Why do some local drivers turn on their left hand indicator and then turn right, or turn on their right hand indicator and then turn left?
A: This is one of the unsolved mysteries of driving in Malaysia.

Subjects Registration for Semester Starting Jan 2009

For those who doesn't already know, subjects registration for the Diploma in IT program has been on-going for more than a week now. And it will end on the 24th of December 2008. Make sure you register for the new semester before then.

The new semester will begin on the 5th of January 2009. I expect your exam results to be out in the same week.

Industrial Training

For all those final semester or senior DIT students who are interested to go for an Industrial Training, please see Ms Kameni.

Trainings will be conducted for approximately 3-6 months by selected IT companies. If the students perform well during the training period, there is a chance that they will be hired.

Free Course - J2EE and C++

Attention! Free courses for J2EE and C++.

It is an initiative sponsored by the government and it is a full time course conducted over 30 days. We need to find out if there are students who are interested in this course. However, it is not open to all students. You must meet the following requirements:

1. Malaysian citizen
2. Fresh graduates who are unemployed
3. Diploma or degree graduates
4. CGPA ≥ 2.5 - Candidates who have GCPA below 2.5 will be required to sit for the pre-qualifying test provided.
5. Field of studies should be relevant to course selected

Click on the following URL for information on the contents and the eligibility to qualify:
http://www.kbase.com/pdf/Building_J2EE_Intermediate.pdf
http://www.kbase.com/pdf/Building_JC-C++_Intermediate.pdf

If you are interested, please do let me know.

Pointers for IT104 Exam of Nov 2008

If you want some hints for your IT104 exam paper this November 2008, go to this IT104 Internet Technology page at my website.

Coursework Marks for November 2008 Exam

Here are your Coursework Marks for the following subjects:

• IT101
• IT104

Several things to note:

1. The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/40) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 40% of your subject grade total.
2. To pass your Coursework component, you need to have 14 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
   
3. The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below, or come and see me directly.

Deepavali Break

Please be informed that there will be no classes on the 27th and 28th of October 2008 due to the Deepavali celebrations. Classes will re-commence beginning 29th October 2008 (Wednesday).

Happy Deepavali and happy holidays!

Final Dates

I've been asked to inform all my Diploma students the following:

• The final date to Add subjects is 10th October
• The final date to Drop subjects is 17th October
• The final date to submit your Re-sit form is 17th October

All of them in the year 2008, of course.

I was notified through e-mail on the above on the 13th Oct 2008. Have a nice day!

Hari Raya Break

Please be informed that there will be no classes from 29th September 2008 (Monday) to 5th October 2008 (Sunday) due to the Hari Raya festival. Classes will re-commence beginning 6th October 2008.

Selamat Hari Raya and happy holidays!

Diploma in IT Timetable for September 2008

Just got the timetable. Click on the image to zoom in.

Subjects Registration

Many DIT students have come to me to enquire about subjects registration for the next semester. However, it seems that the timetable planning is still on-going. As such, I myself do not know the subjects that will be offered or which subjects I will be teaching in the next semester. Therefore, I've been telling you guys to come back later for the DIT registrations.

But I know that most of you have finished your exams and just want to go off for your holidays. So, I've brought this issue up to the Head of FOEIT. And, this is what we can do to get your DIT subjects registrations done ASAP:

1. Make sure you get the registration form from your DIT coordinator.
2. Fill in your particulars (name, student id, etc), but leave the subject code and subject name empty. 
3. Sign your form.
4. Get the bursary to sign your form (so that the college knows you have paid up your fees).
5. Pass the form to me or Mr. Saravanan personally.

When the DIT timetable planning is complete we will help you fill in your forms with the subject names and subject codes. You can follow up with this after your holidays.

Please keep in mind that the next semester is a short semester. The number of subjects offered will be limited. Class hours per week will be doubled to complete subjects in the alloted time. 

These DIT students did not sign their form. Please come and see me to sign your form.

1. Lee Yong Keong
2. Lim Wei Sien
3. Wong Jien Chee

This post was edited on 10 Sept 2008.

Google Chrome

Do you use Internet Explorer? Or Mozilla FireFox? Or even Opera? Are you bored with all the existing Internet browsers (especially IE)? 

Enter Google Chrome.

A brand new Internet browser from the Internet behemoth, Google Chrome boasts a sleeker interface, faster and safer surfing, as well as a couple of other neat features. This new open-source browser sounds promising, but you'll need to see it for yourself.  

It's free to use! So, what have you got to lose (besides a few minutes)? Download Google Chrome (BETA) and give it a try. 

Away

I will be away on the 25th and 26th of August. If you need to see me, I'll be back in office on 27 August.

Coursework Marks for September 2008 Exam

Here are your Coursework Marks for the following subjects:

• IT102/CS1201
  
• IT104
  
• IT203
  
• IT204
  
• IT206
  

Several things to note:

1. For IT101/CS1201:
   
   • After following the link above, please click on the Sep 2008 tab to see your Coursework Marks.
     
   • The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/50) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 50% of your subject grade total.
     
   • To pass your Coursework component, you need to have 17.5 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
     
     
2. For IT104, IT 203, IT 204 and IT 206:
   
   • The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/40) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 40% of your subject grade total.
   • To pass your Coursework component, you need to have 14 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
     
   
   
3. The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below.

*Edited (28 Aug 2008) - IT206 coursework marks revised for Kabilan.
*Edited (2 Sep 2008) - IT204 coursework marks revised for Arun Kumar.

Exam Dockets

For those of you who don't already know this, your exam dockets are ready for collection. They have been ready since the 20th of August. Please collect them from your respective coordinators on the 10th floor.

Test 2 Dates

The following are the dates for your upcoming Test 2:

• IT102/CS1201 - 5 August 2008 (Tuesday)
• IT204 - 7 August 2008 (Thursday)
• IT203 - 11 August 2008 (Monday)
• IT206 - 13 August 2008 (Wednesday)

You should know what time and where they will be held. Be on time.

Following Simple Instructions

Are our youths so completely hopeless? Can they not follow simple instructions that have been given to them again and again?

Case in point - my current IT102/CS1201 students.

I have given them very specific instructions on how to submit their lab assignments to me through e-mail.

• I have given them the instructions in class (repeatedly, week after week after week).
  
• I have also given them the same instructions on my web page here.
  
• I have also given them instructions again through e-mails when they make mistakes while e-mailing me their first lab assignments.
  

Yet, a number of them are still making stupid mistakes when submitting their lab assignments. And this is pissing me off. Really, my patience is wearing thin.

Shall we look at my instructions and see if they are really so impossible to follow? Let's see:

1. Submission dates of the respective lab assignments will be given in class.
2. Please submit no later than 5 pm on the day of submission to my hotmail account: phfoong@hotmail.com. Late submissions will NOT be accepted (read ZERO marks); unless you have a very good reason. Please don't tell me that your dog ate your computer...
3. Each lab assignment is to be submitted in ONE email. Attach all your .cpp files ONLY to that ONE email. The subject of the email must state the lab number that you are submitting.
4. Include your name and student ID in every email that you send to me.

What? Only 4 steps to follow? You must be kidding me? It takes more steps than that to make myself a bowl of instant noodles!!! And some of these students drive themselves to college??!! No wonder road accidents are at an all-time high. How do you expect them to follow the huge multitude of traffic rules when they cannot even follow my simple instructions?

20 Spillover Effects of the Petrol Hike

It is certain that there will be spillover effects on the Malaysian population as a result of the recent petrol hike. Here are 20 effects that I can think of:

1. Energy price hike (this has already been announced by the government, of course)
2. Food price increase (even though the government is subsidizing the essential foods)
   
3. Transport service fee increase (lorries, buses, airplanes, taxis, etc...)
4. Public transport nightmare (as more and more people will use the inadequate public transport system)
   
5. Products containing oil or oil derivatives will increase in price (detergents, soap, etc)
   
6. Grocery price increase (higher costs like transportation and plastic packaging will cause even groceries to shoot up in price)
7. Cinema tickets go up (cinema halls will cost more to cool with the energy price hike)
8. Healthcare to cost more (ambulance will cost more to operate, energy price hike will affect cost of running a hospital)
9. Poverty rate increase (the borderline poor will be re-classified as poor with more things becoming un-affordable to them)
   
10. Increased crime rate (robberies, thefts)
11. Family ties will suffer (parents are under stress to earn more, thereby reducing the time that they can spend with their family members)
    
12. Purchasing power of consumers will fall (less visits to the mall)
13. Food and beverage industry will suffer (more Malaysians will eat at home)
    
14. Entertainment industry will slow (reduction of cinema-goers and concert-goers)
    
15. Domestic tourism will suffer (consumers will try to save on un-necessary trips)
16. Companies may need to cut jobs - possibly causing increased unemployment?
    
17. Car sales go down
18. Possible economic downturn
    
19. Political instability (the government has certainly lost popularity with this move)
20. Loss of foreign investments (political instability in the country might scare off investors)
    

I believe all of the above is just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, I'm no economics student. So, I might have missed out quite a few. What else can you think of?

Petrol Price Hike

Unless you have been living under a rock, by now you should know that the Malaysian government has drastically increased the price of fuel. Most people (myself included) already expected a fuel price hike sometime this year, but I don't think anybody expected this huge a jump.

Before the general election, they promised that there will be no increase in fuel price (I didn't really believe that nonsense anyway, did you?).

Two months after the election, you hear them saying that will have to review the fuel subsidy. About the same time, some other government official also said that the government has no plans to raise fuel prices. By this time, most people were expecting a fuel hike soon.

Then on 2nd June, we get news that fuel price may rise come August. Still OK, we still got two months to prepare. And two days after that? BAAMM!! Our Prime Minister hit us with the mother of all bombs!

What the hell??!! Why does our government keep doing that? One moment they tell us, "No-lar, we're just reviewing the subsidy only, maybe in August will increase". The next moment, they say, "Tomorrow all fuel prices will increase by 40%! It's for the good of the country!".

I really cannot understand why they have to announce something so important at the eleventh hour and create chaos in the country. How will the people ever live normal lives if the government keep dropping bombshells like this?

Remember the general election? "No elections yet. Don't listen to rumours-lah". The next day - "Listen up everyone! The whole country will go to the polls this weekend." So, if you had a wedding event planned for that fateful weekend, you might as well kiss the event that you painstakingly planned ONE YEAR ago goodbye. Everybody you know will need to exercise their voting rights - so, the only ones who will be attending the most important event in your life will be you, your wife-to-be, and your relatives who are too young to vote.

But I digress.

I really wonder if our government thought it through before they implemented the fuel hike. Have they actually performed a study to see how this hike will affect the lives of the average Malaysian? Did they really think the country was ready for such a whopping increase?

Is our public transport system ready to handle it if suddenly 20% of all private vehicle owners suddenly decided to use the public transport to travel to work? Our public transport system which cannot provide a consistently punctual service even now?

The domino effect of this sudden move will be seen very soon. In fact, I heard that some school bus operators have already informed their clients that they have to increase their fees starting Monday.

How will the average Malaysian cope? If I ever find out how, I'll let you know.

Lecture Slides Added to Site

I have added some slides that I use in my lectures to my website.

At the moment, I have only completed adding slides for IT104 Internet Technologies. I have also started uploading slides for IT102/CS1201 Programming Methodologies with C++. Although, you can only see 2 slides now, more will be added soon.

I'm using 4shared.com to help me facilitate this sharing of files. It's a very good way of storing and sharing files online. I have found that the user interface is very clean and intuitive. You'll learn how to use it in a jiffy. Moreover, it's free to sign up and you'll immediately get 5 GBs of storage space online! The only catch is you need to login to your account every 30 days or they'll delete all your content. A pretty small price to pay for such a good service, don't you agree?

However, if there are any problems with downloading the files, please do let me know.

The Beginning of Another Semester

Today, the May 2008 semester begins.

There will be an orientation today for the new students. So, all my classes will only commence tomorrow.

If you are confused with everything that is happening (i.e. subject registrations, classroom clashes, classrooms packed like sardines, lectures cancelled even though they should be on, lectures starting without you, etc), don't fret - I'm just as confused as you! Let's just hope all these things get fixed real soon.

Exams Are Over!

By now, most of my students would have finished sitting for their examinations. I do not know if they still have their Religious/Moral Studies exam paper to take, but I know for a fact that the sitting for my papers have ended.

In fact, I have been steadily marking exam papers for a few days now. I should be marking them now, but I've decided to take a short break and just write abit. Just a little distraction for me. It's exhausting work, I tell you...

Well, dear students. How was it? Too easy (I believe most of it is!)? Or too tough? Either way, you should take the time to relax now and go have some fun. Do not worry about the results yet (some of you have started asking me about it already...). All will be revealed in due time - and according to my calculations, sometime around the end of May or maybe early June. Don't quote me on that though. Only the Exam Unit will know.

Ok, enough of ranting.

With my trusty red ball-point pen and an almost empty strip of Paracetamol, I now go back to the pile of exam papers on my desk...

Tun Dr. Mahathir and his blog

Everyone is starting to blog! Even our former prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir has set up a blog of his own at www.chedet.com. His blog is titled simply Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The first entry into his blog was at 1.47 am on the 1st of May 2008. And judging from the number of comments seen at his blog, his first foray into blogosphere looks like a success.

In case you didn't know, Che Det is Dr. M's pet nickname as a child and he used it as a pen name many many years ago before he became the prime minister of Malaysia. Now he's using it again to write in cyberspace.

This will be one blog to watch!

Exam Schedule for MD1001 and MD1002

Here are the details of the final exam for MD1001 and MD1002:

MD1001 - Introduction to Multimedia
Date: 30/4/2008
Time: 2-4 pm
Venue: Room 7.2
Invigilator: Mr. Foong

MD1002- Introduction to Computers
Date: 28/4/2008
Time: 3-5 pm
Venue: Room 7.12
Invigilator: Kathy

MD1001 Coursework Marks

Here is the Coursework marks for MD1001: Introduction to Multimedia for the May 2008 exam.

Please take note of the following things:

• The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/60) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 60% of your subject grade total.
• So. to pass your Coursework component, you need to have 21 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
• The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

Here is the link to your MD1001 Coursework Marks.

If you have any questions, post it in the comments section below.

Passing Marks Corrected

My apologies. I made a mistake in posting the wrong passing mark for the Coursework component for the following subjects: IT101, IT107 and IT205.

The passing mark for the Coursework component of these 3 subjects should be 14 out of 40.

I've already made the necessary amendments to the individual blog posts. Please take note.

IT102/CS1201 Coursework Marks for May 2008 Exam

Here is the link to your IT102/CS1201 Coursework Marks.

A couple of things to note:

• The green column is your final Coursework Marks.
• For Diploma in IT students: The (/40) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 40% of your subject grade total. To pass your Coursework component, you need to have 14 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
• For Diploma in Engineering students, the (/50) means that your Coursework accounts for 50% of your subject grade total. To pass your Coursework component, you need to get 17.5 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
• The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

Any questions? Just post them in the comments section below.

IT107 Coursework Marks for May 2008 Exam

Here is the link to your IT107 Coursework marks.

To note:

• The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/40) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 40% of your subject grade total.
• So. to pass your Coursework component, you need to have 14 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
• The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below.

*Edited (22 Apr 2008) - Passing mark for Coursework component revised from 16 to 14.

IT205 Coursework Marks for May 2008 Exam

Some impatient students are bugging me for their Coursework marks! Give me a break guys. I'm drowning in a sea of paperwork!

Well, enough of ranting. Here is the link to your IT205 Coursework Marks.

To note:

• The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/40) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 40% of your subject grade total.
• So. to pass your Coursework component, you need to have 14 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
• The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below.

*Edited (22 Apr 2008) - Passing mark for Coursework component revised from 16 to 14.

MD1002 - Key Topics and Coursework Marks

The final exam paper is divided into two sections - Section A and Section B.

Section A is made up of MCQs. So, topics are spread out. Make sure you study topics 1-8 of your textbook for this section.

Section B is made up of essay questions. Really easy ones, actually. Key topics include:

• Advantages and disadvantages of using computers
• How the Internet works
• The World Wide Web
• What is output?
• Printers
• Storage
• Magnetic disks
• Computer viruses, worms and Trojan horses

---

Here is the Coursework marks for MD1002: Introduction to Computers for the May 2008 exam.
A couple of things to note:

1. The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/60) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 60% of your subject grade total.
2. So. to pass your Coursework component, you need to have 21 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
3. The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

Here is the link to your MD1002 Coursework Marks.

If you have any questions, post it in the comments section below.

IT101 Coursework Marks for May 2008 Exam

I've finally finished marking all your assignments. So, I can finally post your IT101 Coursework marks for the May 2008 exam.

A couple of things to note:

1. The green column is your final Coursework Marks. The (/40) simply means that your Coursework accounts for 40% of your subject grade total.
2. So. to pass your Coursework component, you need to have 14 marks or higher in the CW column (shaded green).
3. The marks here are unofficial. Official marks/grades are only released by the Exam Unit.

Here is the link to your IT101 Coursework Marks.

If you have any questions, post it in the comments section below.

*Edited (17 Apr 2008) - Coursework marks revised for Muhammad Omar.

*Edited (22 Apr 2008) - Passing mark for Coursework component revised from 16 to 14. My mistake, sorry. Yeah, it's easier for you to pass now!

*Edited (22 Apr 2008) - Coursework marks revised for Tang How Jenn.

C++ Revision

I added a Revision Exercise for my IT102/CS1201 students yesterday. Today, I've also uploaded the solutions to that exercise as well. You will be able to find the link to the solutions at the bottom of the Revision Exercise page.

Besides that, you can post any questions that you have regarding the C++ subject in the comments section at the end of this post. We can all use the comments feature here as a discussion board. Anybody can post questions as well as answer them, but try and keep your comments on-topic.

New Blog

I've started publishing a new blog named Do You Know? It's a blog that I'll use to publish topics that I'm interested in. These posts will include my findings on those topics and I hope that my readers will find them useful. There are no limitations to what topics I'll cover. Topics may include science and technology, religion, Renaissance art, news and issues, entertainment, computer games, sports - basically anything under the sun (or above, lol)!

Hope you will visit it and give your comments.

April Fools' Day!

It's the 1st of April today! And it's that time of the year again when everyone tries to pull a prank or two. And the people in Google are absolutely not newcomers when it comes to pulling pranks.

Did you know that Google plays pranks on people every year? You can actually get a good list of all the pranks they played every April Fools' Day here.

This time around, Google announced on their website that they were collaborating with the Virgin Group to form Virgle Inc., "a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars."

You can find on the main Google search page this line - "Space is the key to a rosier future. Become a Virgle Pioneer. " And when you click on that link, you'll enter a meticulously planned and well-executed prank by Google! One of the highlights of this April Fools' prank is a YouTube video featuring the founders of Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin...

They even got Richard Branson, the president and founder of the Virgin Group to help in the prank. Watch his YouTube video below.

They finally reveal that this whole Virgle thing is a hoax at the end of the list of FAQs for Virgle. The page is disguised as a 404 - Page Not Found page. You can see their confession here.

Nice one, Google! And Happy April Fools' Day everyone!

Funny Video

Saw this video and decided to share it with you people. The title of this video is "What Were They Thinking?".

Some of these people in the video were really stupid, like that guy who climbed out to the windscreen of his moving vehicle.

Others were genuine accidents. I particularly liked the one where the girl carrying her tray of food tripped. Ouch! Did you see how hard she fell? Lol, that had to hurt - both physically and psychologically. And I wonder what was she thinking about? :)

Cool Advertisements

Here are a few advertisements that I saw lately which I thought was very original and refreshing. Click on them to see a larger sized image. Enjoy!

Website Creation Section Added!

Just added a new section to my web site - Website Creation. In this section, I would like to put in pointers and tutorials on creating your very own website.

Basic HTML, webhosting, Google Page Creator tips and monetizing your website are just a few things on the list of items to include in this particular section.

Updates

It has been almost two weeks since i have posted anything on this blog. I have been busy with Real Life, and of course the Malaysian General Elections! Very surprising results for the Elections, eh? Nobody would have expected the Opposition (made up of DAP, PKR and PAS) to win this big!! Ah well, I hope this sends a message to the BN-led government and make them buck up.

Anyway, I've just added some new things to the Education section. Two new subjects actually - MD1001 Introduction to Multimedia and MD1002 Introduction to Computers. As usual, they are still being updated.

Finally Published!

Today marks the birth of my new site - phfoong.googlepages.com. This website is now finally published! All traffic from my old site - phfoong.150m.com has now been redirected to this site. All updates will only be added to the new site.

I will use this blog to post any news and updates. It is also meant to be used as a tool to encourage interactivity between my website visitors and me.

Feel free to comment. Also, if you have anything you might want to contribute, please don't hesitate to ask. Alternatively, you can email me at: phfoong@gmail.com.