Fancy Opera?

Opera 9 is here!

I started to use Opera some years ago because it took too long to load web pages on IE, which also didn't have a pop-up blocker. After looking around I decided to try Opera, and fell in love with it. It has some really awesome features like tabbed browsing, pop-up blocker, integrated search function, and my absolute favorite - mouse gestures! It's just great to browse back and forward without having to drag the mouse to click on some buttons. Yes, I'm that lazy; but it's also because I love those minimalist browser skins that maximize the actual display area. Then there is also the wonderful password manager, The Wand, so I don't have to key in usernames and passwords everytime.

The only weakness in my book is the minor compatibility issues. Some websites have features that don't work in Opera, like Blogger's WYSIWYG Compose function. But that's why we have Firefox!

Now with Opera 9 we can install Widgets, which are quite similar to Mozilla's Extensions. There is also a new thumbnail preview feature for the tabs. Go try it now! Forget about fat IE.

Fast Cars

Eat this! (Universal Pictures/Yahoo! Movies photo)

Having played various editions of Electronic Arts' Need For Speed sampai nak muntah, naturally I have to watch The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. The movie finally moves to Japan; home of the imports, as Americans call them, after featuring the best of Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota since the original in 2001. Of course, this being an American movie, the hero is still a white guy; and despite being set in downtown Tokyo littered with Mitsubishis, Nissans and Mazdas, the hero still wins the day in a good 'ol classic American icon - a (Nissan-powered) '67 Mustang.

Wet dreams: '67 Mustang GT500 "Eleanor" by Russ 'Dangeruss' Schwenkler

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Tokyo Drift is definitely better than 2003's 2 Fast 2 Furious; perhaps even better than The Fast and The Furious. But at the cinema on Wednesday night I actually felt a bit out of place, with all the punks and wannabes - budak-budak - flocking to watch the movie. It almost felt like high school all over again with a few boys stealing a smoke in the washroom. Macam la boleh mati kalau satu jam tak hisap rokok.

God, I am old!

Natural Selection

HAHA! I submitted the final results yesterday, so finally the semester is finally, officially, over.

I received the following SMS message while marking the exam scripts in the morning:

SIR..TLG SY..SY DH REPEAT 4 KALI B.MATE..TIGA THN SY KT SINI XDPT ENTER DEPTMNT LG..DH XDE SUBJECT SY BOLEH AMBIL SEM 1 NNT.LOAN SY DISEKAT.KALO SY FAIL LG B.MATE SEM NI,SY KENA DISMISS.SY SANGGUP BUAT ASSGMNT TAMBAHAN UTK UP MARKAH SY.SY HANYA NK C JE..SY BNR2 MNT TLG, PLEASE HELP ME SIR.. [Matriculation Number] [Name]

Coincidentally, I was marking the particular student's exam script at that very moment. It was the same student from before who followed me to my office after class. After that one encounter when he asked me to give him a (free) pass, not once did he ever come to see me for consultation. In fact, he only submitted three out of eight assignments I gave the class. So don't blame me for being less than sympathetic. Besides, his final marks were too low for me to push to a pass.

Some people are reluctant to fail students and allow them to be dismissed from the university. Kesian, they say; but not the cold and heartless me. I say we pass them if they deserve to pass, and let them fail if they don't. Natural selection, baby. Besides, it is not the end of the world to fail a paper and get kicked out of university.

Anyway, seven students failed out of a class of thirty-four. I wish them all the best.

Day 9

The semester is over! All that’s left for me to do now is to finish marking the scripts and submit the results by June 25. True to form, a joker who submitted an empty sheet of paper for a quiz earlier in the semester left the examination room early; with a grin on his face! I hope the rest of the class did well; I haven’t looked at the scripts yet.

But I was extraordinarily popular on Wednesday, the day before the exam; as students came swarming my office asking for help with textbook and past examination questions, and of course, tips for Thursday’s final. Already late for noon prayer, I commented that (almost) nobody ever came to see me throughout the semester. “We come today,” said one girl.

The next semester and new academic year begins on the second week of July. But before all that, we now have a new head of department, new dean at the kulliyyah, and new rector at the university. So there is a sense of excitement all around. I’ll be teaching four classes next semester.

Meanwhile, the World Cup has been wonderful. My favorite game so far is definitely yesterday's Argentina - Serbia and Montenegro match. Serbia and Montenegro is no small team, but Argentina played a great football game. The second goal by Cambiasso was simply brilliant!