Phenomena

I just realized that the song is fun to listen to...and to sing along with.

This is from LyricsBox, the first search result for "Phenomena Lyrics Planetshakers" in google (some parts edited).

PHENOMENA

by Planet Shakers

Album: Phenomena (2001),
So Amazing (2001)

I searched the sky for something,
That I can't see,
What lies beyond the naked eye, captivates me..
The truth is there, there's no denying in,
It lies beyond the realms of where we live... (Yeah!!)

It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's a peculiar interventian of the very hand of God
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's an invisible encounter with the very hand of God

Some things we can't explain now,
Natures free..
Is it coincidence or conspiracy?
The truth is there there's no denying in,
It lies beyond the realms of where we live...

It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's a peculiar interventian of the very hand of God
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's an invisible encounter with the very hand of God

The truth is there, there's no denying in,
It lies beyond the realms of where we live...

Eyeaeyeah... yeah...
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's a peculiar interventian of the very hand of God
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's an invisible encounter with the very hand of God
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena
It's a phenomena of GOD!!

Organic Chemistry

I keep typing it several times as "organix"...


Here's a view of the white board after Chemistry tuition class:

Alkanes, Alkenes, Alcohols, Carboxylic Acids,
and Esters (SPM level)

A closer look

And here's a digital version of IB/Form 6/A-Level Organic reaction pathways (Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, animated):

IQ

Ever seen one of those "How high is your IQ?" or similar questions on the Net? Ever done one? After which, upon completing the multiple-choice questions in the test, you'd get what is termed as an "IQ score"?
Of course.

Tickle provides a free "PhD-certified IQ Test", containing about 40 questions. And this is how a sample result would show up:

So what does a 136 mean? What's the full mark?
There's no perfect score here, buddy. No such thing as a full mark.

What?!
That's right. Each person usually gets a score between 55 and 145 (lower and higher scores are possible too). If you are familiar with a normal distribution, then IQ score is one example of such a distribution. The average is 100 while the standard deviation (s.d.) varies, but is usually 15, 16 or 24.

...(Blurry)...
This diagram might help visualize it.

And the diagram says?
...That very low and very high IQ scores are rarer - in fact, much, much rarer - than scores near the average.

The blue area looks biggest...
Precisely. About 68% of IQ scores fall in the blue area, that is, between 85 and 115 (within 1 s.d. from the mean).

Well, I for one used to overemphasize the importance of a high IQ about a year ago. While researching for my extended essay, which was on short-term memory, I came upon the topic of psychometrics (within which intelligence testing falls). Since then, I was reading every readable material on Mensa, TOPS, etc., up until Mega society and Giga society, where even an IQ of 150 (more than three s.d.'s above the mean) doesn't qualify entry. I pondered what this group of people - commonly labeled "gifted" in intelligence terms - had in their minds as they went on their daily tasks... Are they all 3-step thinkers (3 next steps and their implication, e.g. in chess)?

At one point, I even considered the possibility of raising one's IQ score by being very acquainted with test questions. I think some questions/solutions can be practiced, and will lead to up to a 10-point increase in the IQ score. A futile increase though. While very good intelligence questions can't be practiced at all.

So is it nature or nurture? I take a rather balanced stand. But I don't think it's 50-50. It's more like 60-40 or 70-30, with the greater weight on nature (a.k.a. genes).

And what now? IQ is a scale. Similar to height and weight. Only less absolute. That means, if my IQ score is reported as 112 and my brother's as 110, I'm not absolutely 2 points more intelligent than he is. This scale gives some knowledge on mental ability (again, not absolute knowledge), and this knowledge could help me decide 'where to go' and 'how to go' there.

But it's just another scale. 'Where to go' - direction in life - is influenced by so many other factors. There's passion, interests, discipline, calling... just to name a few. IQ can't predict those.



More:
IQ and Real-life Functioning (Paul Cooijmans)
A Legacy of Logical Art (Jonathan Wai)

Credits:
http://web.tickle.com/tests/uiq/paidresult.jsp
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005704/media/iqtest_dist_small.gif

Phenomenon

Caught this on camera on Thursday, 11 October '07.

E.V. set to -2.0, otherwise it's like photographing a white cloth

This is as full as the picture could get.

There actually is a bigger, fainter second rainbow outside the main halo.