SHAH ALAM 22 Mar 09: For those treasure hunters hoping for a return to normalcy after enduring two consecutive weeks of cyclone (aka treasure hunting fresh air), God or rather Sam Rahman from Go For It Hunts! probably answered their prayers today. And it showed in the results, with the champions a nose away from a perfect score while a mere question separated the chasing pack (between one position and the next).
Sam addressing the fatigued hunters.
Don't get me wrong as overall I felt it was a good hunt - fairly tight questions with sufficient hunting time for most (a really subjective matter. There may be others who may beg to differ - I noticed that there were some late comers amongst the top 20 finishers). Just that, it was nothing spectacular and anyone who had been following closely the Treasure Hunting 101 syllabus would have finished decently well. Except for Marten, a furry fellow that weaseled his way past everyone's attention, the rest of the questions were answered, by more than one team at least.
One interesting question that caught my attention in this hunt - a rarely used double definition gem crafted by the clerk of course. So much so, that I am willing to overlook in my opinion his fallacy of leaving out an all-important insertion pointer.
Q: Shut up and write final point.
Ans: PE
Rather, I thought the organizers of today's hunt, a state government in its infancy (celebrating its maiden year in office) deserves a pat on the back. Besides reviving an event that many years ago used to be a regular fixture in the hunting calendar, the organizing team led by a close friend of mine, Yang Berbahagia En. Kamarudzaman Sanusi, wisely decided to take a cue from Dato' Tony Fernandes's gameplan by keeping costs low (removing all frills) - making it a reasonably cheap outing for most @ RM120 per team, while still offering better-than-average prizes for the top 3 teams. There was no food and drinks served before, during and after the hunt, no leasing of expensive halls in star-filled hotels and no entertainment by highly-paid singers. And the 147 teams (a record number for this event, all the more impressive given the little to no media support in advertising this event) who responded by signing-up in anticipation of a good time-out, got their money's worth.
I felt that the organizers did well to discard the previously customary but unhealthy post-hunt food buffet of greasy fried noodles, cholesterol-rich curry chicken, fatty fried chicken and fried popiah and rather sad-looking cheese and cucumber sandwiches (you can tell I am not a fan), instead giving the participants the option of dining freely at one's own expense (of course) - effectively trimming off more unneeded expenses.
However, two areas that I felt the organizers may have the opportunity to improve upon in the next edition of this event, are:
(1) to beef up on the number of prizes (allocating only 20 prizes for 147 teams was a tad disappointing).
(2) to make all efforts to finish marking the participant sheets and presentation of the Q&A session within two hours from the end of hunt.
So lose your laps everyone, and let's make a toast to the organizing team for a job well done in their "inaugural" event! I'm sure with our support, there will be more state-organized treasure hunts like this one, for many years to come.
One interesting question that caught my attention in this hunt - a rarely used double definition gem crafted by the clerk of course. So much so, that I am willing to overlook in my opinion his fallacy of leaving out an all-important insertion pointer.
Q: Shut up and write final point.
Ans: PE
Rather, I thought the organizers of today's hunt, a state government in its infancy (celebrating its maiden year in office) deserves a pat on the back. Besides reviving an event that many years ago used to be a regular fixture in the hunting calendar, the organizing team led by a close friend of mine, Yang Berbahagia En. Kamarudzaman Sanusi, wisely decided to take a cue from Dato' Tony Fernandes's gameplan by keeping costs low (removing all frills) - making it a reasonably cheap outing for most @ RM120 per team, while still offering better-than-average prizes for the top 3 teams. There was no food and drinks served before, during and after the hunt, no leasing of expensive halls in star-filled hotels and no entertainment by highly-paid singers. And the 147 teams (a record number for this event, all the more impressive given the little to no media support in advertising this event) who responded by signing-up in anticipation of a good time-out, got their money's worth.
I felt that the organizers did well to discard the previously customary but unhealthy post-hunt food buffet of greasy fried noodles, cholesterol-rich curry chicken, fatty fried chicken and fried popiah and rather sad-looking cheese and cucumber sandwiches (you can tell I am not a fan), instead giving the participants the option of dining freely at one's own expense (of course) - effectively trimming off more unneeded expenses.
However, two areas that I felt the organizers may have the opportunity to improve upon in the next edition of this event, are:
(1) to beef up on the number of prizes (allocating only 20 prizes for 147 teams was a tad disappointing).
(2) to make all efforts to finish marking the participant sheets and presentation of the Q&A session within two hours from the end of hunt.
So lose your laps everyone, and let's make a toast to the organizing team for a job well done in their "inaugural" event! I'm sure with our support, there will be more state-organized treasure hunts like this one, for many years to come.
The top 3 winners of the Selangor Setahun Kerajaan Baharu Treasure Hunt
Selangor Setahun Kerajaan Baharu Treasure Hunt Results
(Full score: 130pts)
1st: Johan Salul, Dr Ben Lau, Lily Loh, Teoh Cheow Teong (129)
2nd: Alexander Hoh, Andre Teh, Viki Lim, Lim Kim Meng (128)
3rd: Chai Koh Khai, Margaret Sha, Chong Voon Kiat (128)
4th: Ramesh Rajaratnam, Liew Kok Seng, Chong Foo Seong, Lim Kong Yew (125)
5th: Wong Chiang Chuen, Julie Tan, Claire Chin, Goh Teck Koon (122)
6th: Rajj Melambaran, Shirley Hoe, Lim Say Chye, Haji Suhaimi (119)
7th: Anwar Jefrey, Tan Kok Cheeng, Chan Kah Sing, Sadique Lufi (116)
8th: Steven Arockiaraj, Sanjay Abdullah, Rahman Othman, Sumita Devadas (114)
9th: Ahmad Zahrol, Mazri Muda, Mohd Asri, Nadia (112)
10th: Daniel Aliff Chan, Aravindan, Aznita, Sashi Nair (111)
8 comments:
Congrats to all the winners especially Johan & Team - feels good to win so well, isn't it?
Penang : talk to your CM - maybe it is time to do SET-A-HUN there too! Perak will just have to wait and see.
I'm not trying to complain on every single thing, honest! I have seen the Q&A for this hunt. And I can say the CoC did a good job - good spread and balanced level of difficulties to cater to the crowd.
But strictly speaking, I disagree to equate SHUT UP => PEN. There is a difference between SHUT IN/OUT and SHUT UP.
Cornelius, the crossword and regular dictionaries accepts SHUT UP as PEN ie. here SHUT UP is taken to mean LOCK UP or TO CONFINE.
However, on the other side, were you able to discover an insertion pointer that I failed to find?
I spotted a similar fallacy in the previous week's hunt. Just maybe the hunters from the West are a little more forgiving (smile)!
Q: End of this month, we will see our PM out of control.
Ans: Kapal.
2R1I,
I didn't say I don't accept it. I said "strictly speaking" SHUT UP is to (close the mouth) STOP TALKING. When we want to say TO CONFINE or LOCK UP, we say SHUT IN; when we want to block something from entering, we say SHUT OUT. When we want to say STOP SOMETHING FROM FLOWING/WORKING, we say SHUT OFF. I don't rule out that some dictionaries may give the meaning of SHUT UP as TO CONFINE, but I shall not write my sentences like that. If the dictionaries give that meaning, then I will accept it!
And yes, I've noticed the missing insertion indicator too. But well, sometimes the reality of hunting is that when you can't find anything better, you take the next best answer. What to do, we can't expect everything to be perfect.
I've always been misunderstood when I comment on hunt Qs. I've been doing it in the hope of improvements. I myself am not free from mistakes, and I readily admit it! I'm sure when and if I do a hunt one of these days, there will be something wrong with a few of my Qs, and people will also criticise them. All I can say is that I will try my best to make as few mistakes as possible. Hopefully, I will learn from those criticisms and won't repeat those mistakes!... hehehe.
Ah! I have since consulted a friend who I know is very good in English! And I am sad to report that I am not quite accurate about SHUT UP!
It is possible to SHUT UP a person in a slammer, which means we're confining him to that place. And it is also possible to SHUT IN something into an enclosure.
BUT! strictly speaking, it is wrong to equate SHUT UP to PEN. We can, if we want to, equate SHUT UP to PEN UP, or maybe SHUT to PEN, but not SHUT UP to PEN.
But in the end, it doesn't really matter, because as I said, when you can't find anything better, you are forced to choose the next best answer.
Hi Corn,
Oxford and Longman are not just 'some' dictionaries and they both give "shut up" as to confine. I'm sure webster would share the same meaning too. Though seldom use by many, but it is what it is..
Huh? Did I miss anything here? I did not say SHUT UP is not TO CONFINE. It says so right here in my dictionary too!
But we are talking about SHUT UP = PEN, aren't we?
By my last comment, I said SHUT UP = PEN UP (and I admitted that I'm inaccurate about SHUT UP).
For this particular Q, the COC equated SHUT UP = PEN, but I said SHUT UP should be equated to PEN UP to be accurate.
Listen, KK, I'm getting confused about this whole PENNED UP business by now. I admit I might be wrong... I said this and that, and in the end I might still be wrong. The point I'm trying to make is whether it's right to equate SHUT UP = PEN (without the UP).
Af for SHUT UP = TO CONFINE, I thought that was wrong at the beginning. I thought it should be SHUT IN only. But I was wrong. I accept defeat. Sorry.
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