Apple's New Spaceship

Apple plans to build a new campus with a circular building that looks a spaceship, big enough to house 12,000 employees. The campus, near Apple's existing headquarters in Cupertino, California, will generate its own energy.

The company has 12,000 employees in the Cupertino area, in its headquarters at Infinite Loop and in other buildings, Jobs said. It plans to retain its existing headquarters building, but needs new office space to accommodate employees, he said.

The new office building will be of "human scale" size, about four stories high, Jobs said. About 12,000 employees in one building "sounds rather odd," Jobs said, but said that the campus is necessary to keep up the company's pace of growth.

Apple plans to build an energy center that will generate primary power for the new campus, and the company will rely on the grid for backup power. That will help the company use power from natural gas and other cheaper and cleaner forms of energy.

A lot of the current land on the campus is asphalt parking space, and the new campus will be greener, Jobs said. The company wants to landscape 80 percent of the new campus, up from 20 percent, and put most of the parking underground.

"The word spectacular would be an understatement. I think that everybody's going to appreciate what clearly is going to be the most elegant headquarters at least in the U.S. that I've seen," said a council member and former HP employee, Orrin Mahoney, after Jobs' presentation.

Results

Above is the set of my results I received yesterday

I must say that I am extremely happy

For people who do not know, I like to check my results module by module. I will use papers to cover up e rest and I will slowly reveal the grades for each module by moving e paper bit by bit to check e letter grade.

First off, AB103 Statistics

I think this came as the biggest surprise. The thing about NTU results is that the A- and A+ are aligned to the left if you noticed.

Because I was the least confident for Statistics, I checked it last and when I saw it was aligned to the left. I was thinking in my head, its either an A- or A+. But what are the chances of me getting an A+?

Considering that my 2 case studies, I got B and A- respectively.

So I was thinking oh well, its definitely an A- and when I saw an A+, I was totally blown away.

Yeah, so I must say that I am super happy for Statistics.

Next, AB106, Economics.

I was confident for this module but for the final examination, I thought I kinda screwed up some 5 marks question and because in Economics, the bell curve is uber competitive, I was a little nervous and scared.

So I thought I might get an A- but end up I managed to achieve an A which was definitely a relief.

I did well for my 2 quizes in which i got 9/10 for both quizzes, a total of 20%.

And for class participation of 20% I think I did well too. Hence, I was pretty confident for Economics.

But like I said, I heard that the bell curve for Economics is really tough, so I was still a little apprehensive beforehand.

Next AB105, Organizational Behavior.

I managed to get an A for my critical thinking which was 20%

I also managed to get an A for my ethical reasoning which was 20% as well.

For the final examination, again I gave away question 1a unfortunately so I was thinking. Will it cost me my A? But then I was thinking again, hmmmm maybe not because I have 2As for my 2 essays which has a weightage of 40% so I should be pretty safe.

Turns out I managed to get an A for my Organizational Behavior too. I'm really happy about that.

Next AB112 Marketing.

This is one major ambiguity. Why? Because there were no examiner's reports to refer to. Hence, I do not know how to understand the questions in the final examination appropriately

The questions were worth 15-20 marks and that's really scary if you do not know what to write.

What should you write to get the maximum marks?

I was pretty panicky initially but at the end of the day, I was thinking, you know what, I should just go ahead and write whatever I know.

End up, I even requested for an additional booklet to write and I was definitely really proud of myself for achieving an A.

I think getting an A for Marketing is definitely an achievement in itself because it is so content intensive, filled with a plethora of concepts and presentations.

Finally, AB114 Communication Fundamentals.

Basically, this module is about email writing and presentation skills.

I managed to score high marks for my presentations and my email writing so I was the most confident for this module.

In fact, I was really aiming for an A+ for this module because I thought I did really well for the coursework.

Yeah, so once again we have come to an end for yet another semester.

I'm appealing for my double degree programme in Business & Accountancy and I hope that I will be able to get it.

See you all.

I will work harder for Year 2 Semester 1 because the competition will be stiffer

Chile volcano ash cloud shifts direction

A thick plume of ash from the erupting Puyehue volcano in the Andes shifted direction into Chile on Sunday after spewing volcanic dust over parts of Argentina.

North-westerly winds pushed the giant column of ash from the Chilean volcano, located 870 kilometers (540 miles) south of the capital Santiago near the border with Argentina, into Chile's Lago Ranco area.

The eruption forced some 3,500 people to be evacuated from 22 rural Chilean communities.

"This change means that we will have ash falling in the area, with damage to the population and a threat to small farmers," Lago Ranco Mayor Santiago Rosas told AFP.

The volcano, located in the Andes 2,240 meters (7,350 feet) above the sea level, appeared to have largely gone quiet on Sunday, though Chile's Office of National Emergencies (ONEMI) said it was experiencing a "moderate" level of erupting.

The Puyehue rumbled to life on Saturday after showing no activity since 1960, when it was awoken following a magnitude 9.5 earthquake.

"There are some people, especially heads of family, that have decided to stay home and take a risk. The government, for the time being, will not interfere in that individual decision," said the regional governor in Chile, Juan Andres Varas.

The eruption forced the nearby Argentine resort town of Bariloche, population 50,000, to declare a state of emergency on Saturday and close down its airport.

The eruption also forced a major border crossing point to close due to low visibility, an dropped ash on the upscale Argentine resort town of Villa La Angostura.

Bariloche, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the volcano, had covered in a sooty blanket of several centimeters (inches) thick and remained under a state of emergency.

The picturesque town, as well as others in the vicinity affected by the ash, welcomes thousands of foreign tourists each year to its lakes and mountain scenery, as well as ski slopes in the winter months.

Chile has some 3,000 volcanoes, of which some 500 are geologically active and 60 have erupted in the past half century.

In 2008 the eruption of the Chaiten volcano, also in southern Chile, spread a thick cloud of ash across a large swath of South America, grounding flights across the region. Ash from that eruption drifted east as far as the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.