Introduction

Hi! My name is Daniel Lim Jhao Jian. Here is where I share my experience, knowledge and ideas. You are welcome to leave comments and follow my blog. You are free to copy anything from this blog. Please recommend this blog to your friends.


Monday 27 December 2010

Similarities of Chinese Calendar and Muslim Calendar

Our country, Malaysia is a multi-nation country. 4 types of calendar systems are used in Malaysia, which are Western Calendar, Muslim Calendar, Chinese Calendar and Hindu Calendar. Generally, everybody in Malaysia uses the Western Calendar. At the same time, the Muslims use the Muslim Calendar, the Chinese use the Chinese Calendar while the Hindus use the Hindu Calendar.

If you compare the Chinese Calendar and Muslim Calendar, you may notice that they both have some similarities. This is because both the calendar systems follow the cycle of the moon, while the Western Calendar follows the Sun. These are the similarities between the Chinese Calendar and Muslim Calendar.

First, both calendar systems have 12 months in a year. They are the same as the Western Calendar, which also has 12 months in a year. In the Muslim Calendar, every month has its own name, such as Muharram, Syawal and Zulkaedah. In the Chinese Calendar, there are no name for every month. The months are just called as 1st Month, 2nd Month etc. However, in the Chinese Calendar, not every year has 12 months. There is a leap year every 3 years. During a leap year, the Chinese Calendar adds 1 month. Therefore, a leap year of the Chinese Calendar has 13 months instead of 12. The Muslim Calendar has no leap year, so there will always be 12 months in a year.

Second, in both calendar systems there are either 29 or 30 days in a month. The number of days in any month will never be less than 29 days or more than 30 days. Every month does not have a fixed number of days, it will have either 29 or 30 days. For example, for the first year a month has 29 days, then on the second year the same month may have 30 days. In the Chinese calendar, a month with 29 days is known as a 'small' month, while a month with 30 days is known as a 'big' month.

Third, both calendar systems follow the cycle of the moon. In both calendar systems, the 15th day of every month is the full moon day, where the moon is the brightest and biggest among all other days in a month. As the same time, the first day and last day (day 29 or 30) of every month are new moon day, where the moon cannot be seen on the sky. For the Chinese calendar, the 15th day of the 8th month every year is the Mooncake Festival.

Fourth, for both calendar systems, there are about 355 days in a year. Because the Western Calendar has 365 days in a year, the Chinese Calendar and Muslim Calendar are slower than the Western Calendar by 10 days every year. Therefore, for festivals like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri, their date will be earlier than the previous year by 10 days. However, the Chinese Calendar have a leap year in every 3 years, where one additional month is added to the year, making a total of 385 days in that year. Because of that, during a leap year, the Chinese Calendar is faster than the Western Calendar by 20 days. This causes the Chinese New Year to always fall between 20 January and 19 February. The Muslim Calendar does not have leap years, so it is always slower than the Western Calendar by 10 days, and festivals like Hari Raya Aidilfitri can fall on any month.

Fifth, the date of both calendar systems are always close to each other. The Chinese Calendar is always faster than the Muslim Calendar by 1 or 2 days. For example, if it is day 7 on the Chinese Calendar, it is definitely day 6 or day 5 on the Muslim Calendar; if it is day 8 on the Muslim Calendar, it is definitely day 9 or day 10 on the Chinese Calendar. It is not possible that the dates in both calendar systems to be exactly the same. It is also not possible that the difference of the dates in both calendars to be 3 days or more. This makes it possible for Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri to be on the same date. This happened on year 1995, 1996 and 1997. Starting from year 1998, they were no longer on the same date because of the Chinese leap year. On year 2031 and 2032, they will be on the same date again.

The Chinese Calendar and Muslim Calendar have some similarities as well as differences. As Malaysians, we should understand and respect the cultures of other races and religions so that people from all races and religions can unite together to form 1 Malaysia.

Thursday 23 December 2010

My PMR Examination

My PMR examination was from 5 October 2010 to 12 October 2010. All Form 3 students in the whole Malaysia sat for the examination at the same time. Here's my dairy for every day during my PMR examination.

4 October 2010:
This was the last day before the start of PMR. The subject on the first day of PMR would be Malay and I was very busy studying for it. On that night, I was very worried of Malay as I was not 100% prepared. I could only hope for the best.

5 October 2010:
This was the first day of PMR. The subjects were Malay Paper 1 and Paper 2. After finishing Malay Paper 1, I was quite worried as it was very difficult. I predicted that I would get 28/40. Later, I sat for
Malay Paper 2. It was not too difficult. I estimated that I had 99% chance of getting A for Malay. On that afternoon, the subject was Pendidikan Islam and I did not take this subject. After returning home, I studied for English and Geography.

6 October 2010:
This was the second day of PMR. The subjects were English Paper 1, Paper 2 and Geography. Both English Paper 1 and Paper 2 were moderately easy. I was very confident of getting A. Geography was the subject on that afternoon. It was very easy and was much easier compared to the school exams and the PMR trial exam. I was very sure of getting A. After I went home, I studied for Science and History.

7 October 2010:
This was the third day of PMR. The subjects were Science Paper 1, Paper 2 and History. Science Paper 1 was very easy, but Paper 2 was quite difficult. Still, I was confident of getting A. History was the subject on that afternoon. It was very easy and was much easier compared to the school exams and the PMR trial exam. I was very sure of getting A. After that, I had 3 days of break. I slept on that afternoon and started studying on that night.

8, 9 and 10 October 2010:
I had no exam during these 3 days. There were only 3 subjects remaining, which were Mathematics, Chinese and Living Skills. I spent most of the time studying Chinese and Living Skills. My grandfather also taught me some Mathematics. The only subject I was worried of was Chinese, since I was good at Mathematics and Living Skills.

11 October 2010:
This was the second last day of PMR. The subjects were Mathematics Paper 1, Paper 2 and Living Skills. Both Mathematics Paper 1 and 2 were easy, while Living Skills was moderately easy. I was sure of getting A in these 2 subjects. After that, the Malay students could enjoy themselves since they had no more exams, while I still had to study for Chinese which would be on the next day. I was quite worried of Chinese.

12 October 2010:
This was the last day of PMR. The subjects were Chinese/Tamil Paper 1 and Paper 2. Only the Chinese and Indian students went to school. Chinese Paper 2 started first. It was quite difficult which made me feel quite worried. Luckily, Chinese Paper 1 was quite easy. I estimated that I could get 39/40 for Chinese Paper 1 and that my chance of getting A for Chinese was 99%. After that, I had lunch with my grandparents in OldTown WhiteCoffee. I enjoyed myself for the whole day, and for the rest of the days until I began Form 4 on 2 January 2011.

This is the ranking of the PMR subjects from the hardest to the easiest:
1. Bahasa Melayu Paper 1
2. Bahasa Cina Paper 2
3. Science Paper 2
4. Bahasa Melayu Paper 2
5. English Paper 2
6. English Paper 1
7. Bahasa Cina Paper 1
8. Mathematics Paper 2
9. Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu (Kemahiran Teknikal)
10. Science Paper 1
11. Mathematics Paper 1
12. Sejarah
13. Geografi

The PMR results was originally planned to be released on 28 December 2010. I estimated that I had 98% chance of getting 8A. I really hoped that I would get 8A in PMR. Later, it was announced that the PMR results would be released on 23 December 2010 instead of 28 December 2010. This made me feel more worried.

On 23 December 2010, I was so happy to see all A's on my PMR results slip. I successfully got 8A for PMR, which had been my target since Form 1. My next target would be getting 11A in SPM.

Thursday 16 December 2010

Zip File in Computing

Nowadays, a lot of computer users like to share files with their friends, especially pictures, music and video. I am sure you do that too. The most common ways to share files are sending them as attachments in e-mail, uploading them to file sharing websites and tranfering them in pendrives. However, I am sure you may face the following problems.

1. The file size is larger than the maximum file size for e-mail attachments. Therefore, the file cannot be sent as attachment in e-mail.
2. The file size is larger than the maximum file size for uploading. Therefore, the file cannot be uploaded to file sharing websites.
3. The file is very large, causing the time to send, upload and download the file to be very long.
4. The file is too large to be saved in pendrives.
5. The file saved in the pendrive uses up a lot of disk space of the pendrive.
6. You want to share a folder that contains many files, but usually it is not possible to send or upload a whole folder.

To solve the problems above, it is quite simple. You just have to zip or compress the file. After zipping it, the file size will be much smaller. A zip folder that contains many files can easily be sent and uploaded. Computers with Windows XP or later have a file zipping feature that allows you to zip files.

To zip a file, just right click on the file, select 'Send to' then click 'Zipped (Compressed) Folder'. The file will be zipped and the zipped file will be saved in the same folder. The zipped file will have the same name as the original file. To zip more than one files, press and hold 'Ctrl' key, select the files you want to zip, right click, select 'Send to' and then 'Zipped (Compressed) Folder'. The zipped folder will be saved in the folder that contains all the original files. The name of the zipped folder is the same as the folder that contains all the original files. When files are zipped, the original files are not deleted, changed or moved.

A zip file or zip folder that contains all the original files is known as a zip archive or compressed archive. To open a zip archive, just double click on it and you can see all the original files. You can open them but not change or modify them. Also, if there is a program in it, the program may not work correctly.

To edit files in a zip archive or to use programs in a zip archive, you have extract or unzip it first. To extract all the files in a zip archive, just right click on it and select 'Extract to'. Choose a location to save the extracted files. To extract just a few but not all the files in a zip archive, first open it, press and hold 'Ctrl', select the files you want to extract, then right click and select 'Extract to', finally choose a location to save the extracted files. The extracted files are exactly the same as before they were zipped. When a zip archive is extracted, the zip archive is not changed, deleted or moved.

The file zipping feature in Windows only allows you to create, open and extract zip archives in .zip format. If you often zip files, then you can download 7-Zip or WinRar to use. They allow you to add files to a zip archive, split a zip archive, set password for a zip archive, create a self extractor, use software in a zip archive without extracting and much more, besides creating, opening and extrating a Zip archive. 7-Zip and WinRar are also more convenient to be used. You can download them from the following websites:
7-Zip: http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
WinRar: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

Zip archives created using Windows are in .zip format. Besides .zip , there are many other formats for zip archives such as .rar , .zipx , .7z and many more. You can only open zip archives with those formats using 7-Zip or WinRar. To ensure that you can open and extract all kinds of Zip archives, you should have both 7-Zip and WinRar installed. Besides that, 7-Zip allows you to create Zip archives in both .7z and .zip format, while WinRar allows you to create Zip archives in both .rar and .zip format.