The Nobel Prize

On December 10, 1901, the first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be "annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm in 1833, and four years later his family moved to Russia. His father ran a successful St. Petersburg factory that built explosive mines and other military equipment. Educated in Russia, Paris, and the United States, Alfred Nobel proved a brilliant chemist. When his father's business faltered after the end of the Crimean War, Nobel returned to Sweden and set up a laboratory to experiment with explosives. In 1863, he invented a way to control the detonation of nitroglycerin, a highly volatile liquid that had been recently discovered but was previously regarded as too dangerous for use. Two years later, Nobel invented the blasting cap, an improved detonator that inaugurated the modern use of high explosives. Previously, the most dependable explosive was black powder, a form of gunpowder.

Nitroglycerin remained dangerous, however, and in 1864 Nobel's nitroglycerin factory blew up, killing his younger brother and several other people. Searching for a safer explosive, Nobel discovered in 1867 that the combination of nitroglycerin and a porous substance called kieselguhr produced a highly explosive mixture that was much safer to handle and use. Nobel christened his invention "dynamite," for the Greek word dynamis, meaning "power." Securing patents on dynamite, Nobel acquired a fortune as humanity put his invention to use in construction and warfare.

In 1875, Nobel created a more powerful form of dynamite, blasting gelatin, and in 1887 introduced ballistite, a smokeless nitroglycerin powder. Around that time, one of Nobel's brothers died in France, and French newspapers printed obituaries in which they mistook him for Alfred. One headline read, "The merchant of death is dead." Alfred Nobel in fact had pacifist tendencies and in his later years apparently developed strong misgivings about the impact of his inventions on the world. After he died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896, the majority of his estate went toward the creation of prizes to be given annually in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The portion of his will establishing the Nobel Peace Prize read, "[one award shall be given] to the person who has done the most or best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Exactly five years after his death, the first Nobel awards were presented.

Today, the Nobel Prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards in the world in their various fields. Notable winners have included Marie Curie, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nelson Mandela. Multiple leaders and organizations sometimes receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and multiple researchers often share the scientific awards for their joint discoveries. In 1968, a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was established by the Swedish national bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and first awarded in 1969.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides the prizes in physics, chemistry, and economic science; the Swedish Royal Caroline Medico-Surgical Institute determines the physiology or medicine award; the Swedish Academy chooses literature; and a committee elected by the Norwegian parliament awards the peace prize. The Nobel Prizes are still presented annually on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. In 2006, each Nobel Prize carried a cash prize of nearly $1,400,000 and recipients also received a gold medal, as is the tradition.

Forsaken Archer is OP

click to enlarge XD

Illiad

ὡς οὐκ ἔστι λέουσι καὶ ἀνδράσιν ὅρκια πιστά,
οὐδὲ λύκοι τε καὶ ἄρνες ὁμόφρονα θυμὸν ἔχουσιν,
ἀλλὰ κακὰ φρονέουσι διαμπερὲς ἀλλήλοισιν

or, the exact translation;

As there can be no covenants between men and lions,
neither can wolves and lambs ever be of one mind,
but hate each other for ever and ever.

whoever knew Greek literature was so interesting =P all the memorized names of books we did in Form 3 is interesting after all.

Book Sale Galore!

First it was the MPH book sale.... Large variety but the sales were just so so.

Then there is Big Bad Wolf Books Sale..... EVERYTHING off at least 70%. Now that is a real sale!! And knowing us malaysians, when there is such a sale, there will be people. And what a crowd there was. Yesterday was the first day and it recorded more than 5 thousand customers.. With so many customers on the first day you reckon there'd be less on the 2nd day. But noooo....

Look at the damn crowd just lining up to get in...

The line starts behind the white pillar in the middle. It goes to the other end of the block, curve to where I am taking this picture from..

Then it continues and turn once again....

And before you can think of going to the shop itself, the line snakes another turn all the way to the other end of the block and back to this side of the block.... The picture above? yea those aren't people walking around. All lining up.

Now is the wait worth it. YES!! I got one BOX full of books just for rm112. ALL OF IT!! One of the books I bought retailed at the MPH Book Sale for rm130. Here, it was rm15. =D

I got a box full of books for a price thats lower than what I could get that one book at the MPH book sale...

Said box of books

Now then... who's up for a visit to Pn Lee Hee Ai?? =P

PS: Sorry for the bad picture quality XD

Cheap Lenovo??? OMG

The recent influx of netbooks and light weight, low powered machines to the marketplace has made shopping for a hardcore, no-BS, no compromise machine a much harder task (since Alienware is all but affordable in Msia >___> ). That however isn’t going to be an issue for much longer, because Lenovo have just launched a monster of a notebook today.

The IdeaPad Y550P not only comes powered with an Intel Core i7 processor, but is also fully decked out with 4GB of RAM, a NVIDIA GeForce GT240M 1GB card, 500GB of storage, and a Blu-ray Disc combo drive. That’s all excellent specs for a notebook, but what really makes this machine stand out from the competition is it’s relatively affordable price tag. RM4799!

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RM4799 ONLY!!

The Blind Side

"The Blind Side" depicts the remarkable true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle..

(thanks to www.rottentomatoes.com)

A picture of the real Michael Oher and the Touhys

I only have one question, WHY ISN'T THIS MOVIE BEING SHOWN IN MALAYSIA?!?!??!

for those who want to view the trailer click here.

China's Overkill

A huge nest of hornets responsible for a wave of terror and one death was assaulted by army units in a bid to annihilate it.

The gigantic hornet nest, 1.6m wide and situated out of reach up a tree, had recently been responsible for numerous hornet attacks, including one fatality, and was forcing many villagers to take lengthy detours if they wished to avoid being stung.

With the local fire brigade unable to fell the tree due to the nearby buildings, an urgent call for assistance was made, and it was answered by a nearby PLA reconnaissance battalion, who dispatched a squad armed with flamethrowers to the scene, complete with chemical warfare suits and anti-bee nets.

Two bursts from their flamethrowers reduced the nest to flaming mass of scorched insects. XD

The Great Connection??

Scientists finally found out a biological association between our brain and cell phone usage. Researchers at Sweden's Orebro University recently announced their findings that cell phone increases the amount of transthyretin – a protein that is a part of the fluid that helps protect our brain – in the blood.

However, they still couldn’t figure out whether the said biological reaction is good or bad for humans, which pretty much put us back to square one. Don’t worry; numerous of other researches are still going on throughout the world that still trying to find possible health risks of cell phones to us.

For the mean time, maybe all of us could take some time to ponder the future of humanity if cell phones were taken away from our lives. Oh, the horror...

On another note: People are coming back soon! =)

PS: GOOD LUCK NAT AND RJ!!!

RE: RE: 7 weeks

It's my err Christmas break i guess they would call it. My summer break's in May and that's the 3 month long break. Basically just the opposite of Aussie's holiday period :O

I have 4 more weeks till home :(

lol and if that's the case goodluck RJ and Nat!

Lets meet up for a BBQ during Christmas or whenever or wherever! lol. Just to catch up and stuff!

RE: 7 weeks

Why 7 weeks so weird? What holiday is that? Mid-year break?

Hohoho. I'm almost done with my exams. One more paper to go on Tuesday then it's freeeeedommmm.

Nat's and RJ's STPM should be starting next week. Or I could be wrong. Nat has gone missing from the cyber world so I'm guessing they're busy with exam prep and stuff.

On another note, I'm coming back in SIX DAYS. I miss home!