Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

UPLB Chemical Kinetics Society Proudly Presents 16th Regional Chemistry Olympiad

Wazzup Pilipinas!

For 24 years, the UPLB Chemical Kinetics Society (CHEMOKINESIS), a duly recognized academic organization in the University of the Philippines Los Baños, has been promoting academic excellence and unparalleled service through its various activities.

This February 4, 2017, in cooperation with the Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas-Southern Tagalog Chapter (KKP-ST) and the UPLB Institute of Chemistry, the organization will hold its 16th Regional Chemistry Olympiad (RCO). It is comprised of the following events: Philippine National Chemistry Olympiad (PNCO) Regional Eliminations; Regional Feature Writing Contest, and; Regional CHEM-in-hue.

With the theme “Aquatic Chemistry: Bathing knowledge and drenching strategies to safer and smarter water usage”, the PNCO Regional Eliminations will serve as a venue in selecting the top three (3) high school chemistry wizards who will represent Region IV in the Philippine National Chemistry Olympiad. This event has a quiz proper and laboratory component.

Concurrently, the organization will also be holding its 7th Regional Feature-Writing Contest and 14th Regional Chem-in-Hue, a poster-making contest. Both competitions aim to showcase the skill and artistry of students in presenting Chemistry through literary writing and arts. All activities will be held at Physical Sciences Building, UPLB, College, Laguna.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Everyone had their say about Maxine Medina's performance on Miss Universe.Some even had the audacity to laugh on her answer.

The question for Maxine was "What is the most significant change you've seen in the world in the last 10 years?" of which "change" was roughly translated in Tagalog as "pangyayari" by her interpreter.
Maxine's answer: The last 10 years of being here in the world is that I saw all the people bringing (being) in one event like this in Miss Universe, and it's something big to us that we are one, as one nation, we are all together.

"Ano ang pinakamakabuluhang naganap na PANGYAYARI (event?) ang nakita mo sa mundo sa loob ng sampung taon?" and so she answered it on the point... What can you say about it? Was it perhaps the interpreter's mistake?

"She did her best yes. But its already given that winners are not taken from a home or host country. Usually host countries are given the consolation for being part of the top 10 only. That's according to Ms. Gloria Diaz on Ms. U's rules." - Luz Prado-Morales

"With or without an interpreter, she would probably have the same answer. Let's not blame the interpreter. Maxine knows how to speak in English. She clearly knows what "change" means." - Abbie Broqueza

"Lesson here is to speak or express yourself in a language you are comfortable in, particularly when the pressure is high. It's perfectly okay to accept the fact that your English is not so good rather than to force it and mess up." - Bern Wong

"The reality for some is that, "the most significant change I've seen in the world in the last 10 years is when the Filipinos were degrading their country's candidate instead of supporting her." - Aira Mika Jubilea

Some are saying that "people are getting worst by judging and bashing people without knowing what it feels like being under pressure. Instead of supporting their own, they're bashing as if they are perfect. That's all I can say. And goodluck to all the smart people bashing our miss Universe Philippines Maxine Medina. I'm looking forward for the next miss Universe and hope I'll see all your faces on the pageant next year. To all those people bashing her, try to put your feet in her shoes." - Mitchelle Cernio

Many netizens also shared their own answers to the controversial #MissUniverse question to Maxine Medina thinking they could offer better options.

Below are a few more of their answers taken from social media network Facebook:

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"I admire Maxine Medina for acknowledging her weakness. Asking for an interpreter is a bold move. Brave one!"

Everyone is talking about the "Interpreter" that allegedly made a crucial mistake in the "interpretation" or "translation" of the question from English to Tagalog. Many are saying Miss Philippines Maxine Medina was not able to give a substantial answer because of the mistake in translating "significant change" to "makabuluhang pangyayari" since it should have been "makabuluhang pagbabago." Netizens have mentioned that Maxine could have mentioned the developments in technology, the Internet or social media, or maybe like climate change or just about everything else that is more significant other than the "pangyayari" or "event" like the majestic gathering of Filipinos in watching the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

One of the trending topics in social media is now all about this guy who could have costed Maxine her chance to win the Miss Universe title. But we are forgetting that even with the mistake, Maxine did hear the original question asked in English. She does understand the language. Her only problem is how to correctly say it in English, mainly because she was under a lot of pressure.

But who knows? She could have really answered based from the Tagalog translation of which she did base it on the "pangyayari" word. When you're up there on stage knowing your every word is being observed by millions of people, you would also feel nervous, and make errors in judgement. It may not be a very well-thought out answer, but she did tried her best to come out with an answer from the heart. Though she could have fully utilized the interpreter to rephrase her thoughts better, we would still never know that since the interpreter could have made it worst for her. Remember that the interpreter did make a mistake with a particular word, he could have made further mistakes if he did "interpret" her answer. Also, Filipinos would know if he did fuck up because we would understand Maxine's Tagalog answer too. That could have been another interesting alternate story.

On the positive side, the Heussaff siblings (Solenn and Erwan) both tweeted that even France's interpreter also made a mistake in his interpretation but according to them Miss France's answer was even better when translated correctly.

At least many acknowledged the "interpreter" and not the "entrepreneur" - a joke that you would only understand if you look at the very bottom of this blog post.

Because of this situation, many netizens couldn't help but make fun of the #interpreter by tweeting their own humorous statements focused on the interpreter. Below are just some of the quite funny tweets from social media: