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Magnolia
This evening, when I came home, I noticed that some
buds of the Magnolia had opened. I could define this
as that the Magnolia is blooming. Many of the white
leaves of the buds have turned brown due to the cold
and the snow of last weekend.
Fluid intelligence
This morning, I came across the term
"fluid intelligence"
and I found a Visual Pattern Fluid Intelligence Test. I decided to take
the test. For some of the questions, I was not sure about my
answer, but when I finished the test, it appeared I had scored
quit well. But in a sense the score did not really
surprise me, because from earlier experiences, I had already
expected that my "fluid" intelligence would be rather high.
Playing Go
This evening, Annabel and I
went to the university to play Go.
We were the first to arrive. Annabel wanted to play a
13x13 game on the middle of the 19x19 we had brought
with us. We played with no handicap and she finally
resigned the game. Then we agreed to play a 19x19 game,
under the condition that I would not take too much time
to think. We played quite fast and in the end I won with
something like 30 points. While we played this game the
other arrived. Next I asked Taco if he could give me some
comments on a game I played on ItYourTurn. Huub also had
arrived and we discussed the game. At the same time
Annabel ordered some bitterballen. Next I played against
Huub. And because we had not played against each other
before, we decided to start equal, just to see how it
would end. When I capture one of his groups he resigned
and Annabel and I went how shortly after.
Last-minute substitution
Today, I went to a soccer match of the team that
Annabel belongs to.
She is the only girl in this boys team. In the past
week she did train twice with a girls team, but she
felt like those girls could only run mindlessly after
the ball. The weather was quite nice. It did get a
little cloudy and we even had a few drops but the
sun returned again. I felt that Annabel was quite
actively running around the field. In the first half
the other team made one goal. In the second half it
looked like there was no go in team anymore. The other
team scored another five goals. The trainer was very
happy about how Annabel was playing. He feels she made
a lot of progress since the start of the season and
that she was playing very goal oriented. So he decided
to give her a last-minute substitution. At first she
did not understand why he wanted to substitute her, but
when we started to clap she got the idea. Afterwards
it became clear that the other team had "borrow" some
players from a stronger team. The trainer said that it
did not bother him so much that the team had lost, but
felt that this had spoiled the day, because these strong
player were simply dominating the game, and thus took
away the opportunity for all the other players to learn
something from the game.
Human rights in the Netherlands
The human rights situation in the Netherlands has been reviewed by the
United Nations Human Rights Council. Some news announcement
stated that Pakistan, Nigeria and Peru acted as supervisors. I do
not know what is reason behind this choice, because to me it seems
that the human rights situation in those countries is far worse than
in the Netherlands.
Especially in the first two countries, people are being
prosecuted and discriminated because of their religious
convictions and the governments of these countries have
not done much to prevent this. (See for example,
the persecution list of
Open Doors.)
I heard that the human rights situation in the Netherlands
was judged as not as perfect as suggested by the Dutch government.
I sure believe there is room for improvement. I hope that the
judgement did take into account the amount of support that the
Dutch government gives to minority groups in the Netherlands.
Today, Pakistan, represented by ambassador Masood Khan, and
many other muslim countries called the Dutch government to
prosecute Geert Wilders with respect
to Fitna, suggesting that the movie was encouraging racism and
xenofobia, and that it shocked the world.
Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak replied that the
view of Wilders was not shared by the Dutch government, that
the government is fighting against prejudice and
promoting the freedom of religion, that the government is looking
into possibilities for prosecuting Wilders, and that even Dutch
muslims value the freedom of speech in the Netherlands.
It seems that some members of the UNHRC are interpreting
human rights differently than many western counties.
Aricle 19 already warned that
UN Human Rights Council Undermines Freedom of Expression.
(follow-up)
Playing Go
This evening, I went to the university to play Go. (Annabel had
to play a soccer match.) When I arrived, Taco was already
there. I invited him for a game. We decided on a seven stone
advantage for me. Not much later Rudi and Vincent showed up.
Later Araldo also came and watched us playing. I lost with
eleven points. Really not so bad.
Painting by Andy
Today, Andy came home with a painting
that I found quite interesting. I took a picture of it.
The sixth sense
In the Dutch television show "Het zesde zintuig" (The sixth sense)
a number of candidates compete with each other to test
their psychic powers.
With most tests a jury gives point to the candidates. Of course,
this is a very subjective way of ranking. But in the final test
between the last two remaining candidates there were two sets
of seven doors with behind these doors the fourteen candidates
who had been eliminated before. Together with each set of seven
doors, seven cards were given with the names and pictures of the
candidates behind the doors. The two remaining candidates were
given fifteen minutes to match the cards with the doors and they
would get five points for each correct match.
(The final episode was broadcasted on last Thurday.
I did not watch it, but I did watch it this episode through
the web site. This test starts at 33:06 into the show.)
The one candidate who said that she was not good at these kind of things
and who just put the cards at random on the doors, had one correct
answer. The other who did use her psychic powers had zero correct
answers. The host commented afterwards that this test was just a little joke.
Yesterday, I already wrote a small program
to calculate the probabilities for the different outcomes. These
are:
- Zero correct answers: 36.79%.
- One correct answers: 36.81%.
- Two correct answers: 18.33%.
- Three correct answers: 6.25%.
- Four correct answers: 1.39%.
- Five correct answers: 0.42%.
- All correct answers: 0.02%.
It is interesting to see that the probability to get one correct
answer is slightly greater than zero correct answers. Also note that
the probability that you have at least one correct is 63.28%.
One could indeed conclude that the outcome of this test was
rather dissapointing. Maybe it is not even fair that the lady
who got one answer correct, got five points for this. The number
of points should have increased with the number of correct answers.
It is clearly that the outcome of this test does not provide any
evidence of psychic powers being involved. The test involved a total
of sixteen people who claim that they have such powers.
Playing Go
This evening, Annabel and I went
to the university to play Go. We were
the first to arrive, but Rudi arrived shortly after us. Annabel
ordered some french fries and got a full plate for a good price.
I asked Rudi for a game, and I got nine stone ahead. When Taco
arrived he played against Annabel on our board but with stones
that Rudi brought. Vincent arrived and watched us play, until
Araldo arrived. Then it appeared that Rudi had only brought two
sets of stones, so they started playing with our stones. When
my game with Rudi had ended, I guessed that I was thirty points
behind. Rudi thought that it was closer to twenty, but when we
counted it was 47 against 77 points, exactly thirty points.
Annabel lost her game with about 150 points. I wanted to go home,
but Vincent and Araldo had not finished their game. I decided
to copy their board on another board and the stones I had used
to play against Rudi. When I was about ready, Rudi came to help
me, because he had started a game (agains Taco, I guess) on our
board. Then when every body agreed that I had copied it correctly,
we swapped the boards, so that I could take our stones home.
Sixty years
This afternoon, there was a celebration because the school
Andy attends existed for sixty years.
Andy too had to perform with his class. He had to wear some
nice clothes. Afterwards, I took a picture of him in front of our Magnolia in the backgarden.
Batavierenrace
Today, the weather was very nice. Li-Xia,
Annabel, and I had agreed to have
dinner at Camel at five o'clock as usual. Just before this, I
went to bookshop De Slegte where
I bought the Dutch book Zibaldone, which is a translated
anthology by Frans van Doornen of
Zibaldone di pensieri by
Giacomo Leopardi.
It was quite busy in the center of Enschede because of the
36th Batavierenrace
that was being held. The Batavierenrace is the world largest (according
the Guiness book of records) relay race in the world.
When I was sitting on the sidewalk of Camel, I suddenly heard the
voice of Erica Terpstra, the chairman of the Dutch Olympic Committee.
It appeared that a restart would take place for the latest track
at five o'clock. This track has to be completed by a man and a woman
of the team. This was the women restart. A cannon was used to sound
the restart. Li-Xia and Annabel arrived a little later, and while we
were eating our dinner (the usual donner kebab, falafel, and fried
potato slices) the men restart was done. The track was such that it
would return along the start. We were surprised by the speed of the
fastest runner, an African man. I guess it must have been
Alan of US Handbal, a Kenyan. This team also had a female Kenyan
for the last track with the name Peninah. I expect that both of them
will also join the Enschede Marathon, which will take place tomorrow.
Painted stone tile
This evening, I scanned stone tile painted earlier this week by
Andy.
This months interesting links
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Sunday, April 27, 2008