Oh! What a hunt. The Megapawns started badly; recovered some lost grounds; blundered again in the games; regained momentum; lost precious time; and in the end was too far deficit on time to recover for the final home stretch. The net result, a miserable 22nd place of a total of 120 teams. Decent, but way below my own expectation.
We missed some easy questions—novice questions in my opinion—on account of rushing under time pressure. But I am getting ahead of myself. I shall get to them later, but first here are those proud winners:
Champion: Liew Kok Seng, Chong Foo Seong, Dato' Ramesh, Yap Hock Guan
Second: Muhammad Razif Ahmad, Darmataksia Abai, Andre Teh, Chin Poh Choo
Third: Frederick Samson, Teo Chen Lung, Yew Min Yun, Tan Cher Kian
Fourth: Morris Bisoni, Nuraiza Zaharin, Ismail Ibrahim, Mohd Rozainol
Fifth: Chai Koh Khai, Chong Voon Kiat, Margaret Sha, Vincent Woo
Sixth: Alvin Wong, Bernard Liew, Christine Netto, Audrey Chin
Seventh: Benedick Bisoni, Mark A Martin, Mizal Ashfeek Khan
Eight: Alexcius Daut, Jennifer Sham, Coreen Rozina Aman Sham, Monsu Ewor
Ninth: Gabriel Chong, Allister Kong, Onalia Kong, Benjamin Liew
Tenth: Johan Salul, Dr Ben Lau, Sam Rahman, Kheirul Nazib
Up to 50 top teams were eligible for prizes. I have the scores here with me. But Time Out Solutions obviously made some mistakes on some of the positions. So I would refrain from publishing them here, as I'd expect them to publish them in their official website soon.
I am dead exhausted. But as usual, I have some comments about this hunt. I desperately need sleep right now, but would like to post this interesting question below:
Q) What you could call the rafflesia in the light of other species.
After the hunt, I was able to discuss briefly with Soo Khian (TOS) about this question. But to use a chess term, we ended up in a stale-mate situation.
In order to answer this question, of course one has to know that the Rafflesia is the name of a flower. It is famous for its size as the biggest flower in the world—at least in terms of its weight. Now within that question sector, there is a shopping mall known as The City Mall; and at the road side, there was a huge sign "giant", standing on its own. It is of course that famous logo (with its unique font) of the Giant Supermarket.
Now looking at the question, there is no doubt that the Rafflesia is indeed a GIANT when considered in the light of other species. It is after all the biggest flower in the world. However, we should remember that the flower need not be the biggest to qualify as a GIANT when compared to other flowers. To me, that word GIANT (without the "supermarket") fits the requirement of the question perfectly; and I would challenge anyone to debate with me why the Rafflesia is not a GIANT when taken "in the light of other species" (of flowers).
Now, within that same sector, there is a signboard "Taman Bunga Raja". To be quite frank, I am fully aware of the existence of this sign. My home is in Taman Iramanis, which is just a stone's throw away from Taman Bunga Raja. I pass this board all the time. But I rejected this board anyway. And I told Soo Khian, if I had to do it all over again, I would still reject it. Let's see which one is a better fit to the question.
I suppose because of its size, some people might consider the Rafflesia as the king of all flowers. Bear in mind that because it is a GIANT when compared to the other flowers, so perhaps the giant is the king. OK, that is understandable. But that begs 2 important questions: firstly, would everyone consider the Rafflesia as the king because of its size?; and secondly, even if indeed we can all agree to treat the Rafflesia as the king (because of its size), how should we translate the title into Malay?
To answer the first question, I think we can safely say that not everyone considers the Rafflesia as the king. I have not researched thoroughly, but I suppose someone, somewhere must have referred to it as the king in the past. And I am not surprised if that is the case. So for the moment, we will assume that we can indeed treat it as the king (of flowers).
But now we are faced with the fresh dilemma of how to translate the title into Malay. I have said before that I was first educated in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), and I say with pride that the Malay language is as good as my first language! So let us now do a bit of translation for the title of KING OF FLOWERS.
If for example, we have a hotel by the name of PERKASA HOTEL, the Malay translation is HOTEL PERKASA. Therefore, if we need to translate KING OF FLOWERS into Malay, we will get RAJA BUNGA, and not BUNGA RAJA. Similarly, it should be RAJA SEHARI, and not SEHARI RAJA. Based on this argument, TAMAN BUNGA RAJA fails on grammatical grounds.
But there is yet another problem. BUNGA RAJA itself is the name of a specific flower in Malay. Of course it's full name is BUNGA ULAM RAJA, but many people simply refer to it as BUNGA RAJA. Now we all know that the fellow who "looks like him and sounds like him", is still not conclusively Lingam—at least not conclusively proven yet. The Rafflesia does not look anything like the Bunga Raja at all; and they are most certainly not the same flowers.
In the end, in my humble opinion, there are more grounds to support Rafflesia as the GIANT of all flowers, rather than the BUNGA RAJA. At the very least, I feel strongly that GIANT (the logo without the word "supermarket" attached to it) should equally qualify as the answer. Furthermore, if it were my hunt, I would have accepted it even if that word "supermarket" was there! Otherwise, I would challenge the "Taman" in TAMAN BUNGA RAJA.
We missed some easy questions—novice questions in my opinion—on account of rushing under time pressure. But I am getting ahead of myself. I shall get to them later, but first here are those proud winners:
Champion: Liew Kok Seng, Chong Foo Seong, Dato' Ramesh, Yap Hock Guan
Second: Muhammad Razif Ahmad, Darmataksia Abai, Andre Teh, Chin Poh Choo
Third: Frederick Samson, Teo Chen Lung, Yew Min Yun, Tan Cher Kian
Fourth: Morris Bisoni, Nuraiza Zaharin, Ismail Ibrahim, Mohd Rozainol
Fifth: Chai Koh Khai, Chong Voon Kiat, Margaret Sha, Vincent Woo
Sixth: Alvin Wong, Bernard Liew, Christine Netto, Audrey Chin
Seventh: Benedick Bisoni, Mark A Martin, Mizal Ashfeek Khan
Eight: Alexcius Daut, Jennifer Sham, Coreen Rozina Aman Sham, Monsu Ewor
Ninth: Gabriel Chong, Allister Kong, Onalia Kong, Benjamin Liew
Tenth: Johan Salul, Dr Ben Lau, Sam Rahman, Kheirul Nazib
Up to 50 top teams were eligible for prizes. I have the scores here with me. But Time Out Solutions obviously made some mistakes on some of the positions. So I would refrain from publishing them here, as I'd expect them to publish them in their official website soon.
I am dead exhausted. But as usual, I have some comments about this hunt. I desperately need sleep right now, but would like to post this interesting question below:
Q) What you could call the rafflesia in the light of other species.
After the hunt, I was able to discuss briefly with Soo Khian (TOS) about this question. But to use a chess term, we ended up in a stale-mate situation.
In order to answer this question, of course one has to know that the Rafflesia is the name of a flower. It is famous for its size as the biggest flower in the world—at least in terms of its weight. Now within that question sector, there is a shopping mall known as The City Mall; and at the road side, there was a huge sign "giant", standing on its own. It is of course that famous logo (with its unique font) of the Giant Supermarket.
Now looking at the question, there is no doubt that the Rafflesia is indeed a GIANT when considered in the light of other species. It is after all the biggest flower in the world. However, we should remember that the flower need not be the biggest to qualify as a GIANT when compared to other flowers. To me, that word GIANT (without the "supermarket") fits the requirement of the question perfectly; and I would challenge anyone to debate with me why the Rafflesia is not a GIANT when taken "in the light of other species" (of flowers).
Now, within that same sector, there is a signboard "Taman Bunga Raja". To be quite frank, I am fully aware of the existence of this sign. My home is in Taman Iramanis, which is just a stone's throw away from Taman Bunga Raja. I pass this board all the time. But I rejected this board anyway. And I told Soo Khian, if I had to do it all over again, I would still reject it. Let's see which one is a better fit to the question.
I suppose because of its size, some people might consider the Rafflesia as the king of all flowers. Bear in mind that because it is a GIANT when compared to the other flowers, so perhaps the giant is the king. OK, that is understandable. But that begs 2 important questions: firstly, would everyone consider the Rafflesia as the king because of its size?; and secondly, even if indeed we can all agree to treat the Rafflesia as the king (because of its size), how should we translate the title into Malay?
To answer the first question, I think we can safely say that not everyone considers the Rafflesia as the king. I have not researched thoroughly, but I suppose someone, somewhere must have referred to it as the king in the past. And I am not surprised if that is the case. So for the moment, we will assume that we can indeed treat it as the king (of flowers).
But now we are faced with the fresh dilemma of how to translate the title into Malay. I have said before that I was first educated in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), and I say with pride that the Malay language is as good as my first language! So let us now do a bit of translation for the title of KING OF FLOWERS.
If for example, we have a hotel by the name of PERKASA HOTEL, the Malay translation is HOTEL PERKASA. Therefore, if we need to translate KING OF FLOWERS into Malay, we will get RAJA BUNGA, and not BUNGA RAJA. Similarly, it should be RAJA SEHARI, and not SEHARI RAJA. Based on this argument, TAMAN BUNGA RAJA fails on grammatical grounds.
But there is yet another problem. BUNGA RAJA itself is the name of a specific flower in Malay. Of course it's full name is BUNGA ULAM RAJA, but many people simply refer to it as BUNGA RAJA. Now we all know that the fellow who "looks like him and sounds like him", is still not conclusively Lingam—at least not conclusively proven yet. The Rafflesia does not look anything like the Bunga Raja at all; and they are most certainly not the same flowers.
In the end, in my humble opinion, there are more grounds to support Rafflesia as the GIANT of all flowers, rather than the BUNGA RAJA. At the very least, I feel strongly that GIANT (the logo without the word "supermarket" attached to it) should equally qualify as the answer. Furthermore, if it were my hunt, I would have accepted it even if that word "supermarket" was there! Otherwise, I would challenge the "Taman" in TAMAN BUNGA RAJA.
I would love to continue, but I am barely awake right now. So this will simply have to wait until tomorrow...
************************************************
Had about 5 hours sleep. This morning I awake with so much umph to continue with my full report on this hunt. But, you know, work an all, it will have to wait a little longer till this evening. There is so much more to tell, I will do it in separate posts under different headings.
3 comments:
our team hate Taman Bunga Raja too. sorry to folks who stay there. hahha
My sincere apology for a mistake. The last team member of 10th position was a Kheirul Nazib instead of Albert Yeo as earlier reported.
Thanks to Kok Seng for pointing out the mistake. I have since amended the list.
Hey CK, congratulations to your team!
I think many of us serious thinkers got hit by the Taman Bunga Raja.
The correct answer is of course GIANT, but I suspect what really happened was that when the question was set, it was done in a rush—and the possibility of another (superior) answer was not anticipated.
To quote a comment from one of my supporters through email this morning:
"The most significant characteristic of the Rafflesia is its SIZE. Therefore, it is, first and foremost, a GIANT—whether it is a king or not is secondary."
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