"Tony Tan heckled; fellow candidates voice disapproval"

This article is taken from another edition of the Strait's Times. It is about a presidential candidate, Dr Tony Tan getting booed by supporters of other presidential candidates when he stepped up to the podium to make his Nomination Day speech, but mostly by supporters of Mr Tan Jee Say, the previous speaker. The hecklers chanted "Patrick Tan, Patrick Tan", the name of Dr Tan's son, whose 12-year disruption from National Service has drawn criticism. Some supporters of Dr Tan replied by shouting "Shut up", while others cheered in support for their candidate. At a press conference, Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr Tan Kin Lian both voiced their disapproval at the booing. Dr Tan Cheng Bock said that he had told his supporters that there should be no booing while members of Mr Tan Kin Lian's campaign team told their supporters not to join in the heckling at the Nomination Centre.

I think that it is really very silly and childish of the supporters of Mr Tan Jee Say to heckle Dr Tony Tan. After all, if Dr Tan is so well-qualified as to even be able to run for presidency, what position are the supporters to heckle him? Also, they need to learn to not do to others what they do not want others to do to them. I am sure that they would not like it if they were giving a speech and the audience was booing them. Furthermore, this would leave others with a bad impression on Mr Tan Jee Say(no offence) on the type of supporters he is attracting, thus affecting his chance of getting elected as President. Also, if foreign visitors witness this scene, think of the impression this would make on them when they see that even elections for presidency resemble a wet market.

On the other hand, I think that it is very good that the other candidates, including Dr Tan himself, is handling the situation extremely well. Instead of lashing out at the hecklers, Dr Tan instead just simply says that "while different points of views are to be expected in a campaign. he was disappointed that some refused to listen to another candidate", according to the article. This is very true. Also, his attitude is very good. He does not show signs of being perturbed by the hecklers, showing that he probably is confident of his chance of becoming President, hence he is not affected by the hecklers. After all, let the hecklers heckle! Let them do whatever they want! In the end, the result is then what matters, and by heckling, the hecklers are just disgracing themselves in public.

I think that if the hecklers boo Dr Tan just because they do not like him, then the booing is really unreasonable and childish. However, if they really think that Dr Tan is unsuitable for presidency because of some particular reasons, they also should not boo him. If he really is unsuitable, he will not be able to win the votes of others and in the end, not be elected as President. At the end, the facts will come into light as to who is the most suitable and is able to win over the hearts and eventually the votes of the majority of the voters.

"See, he's a President's Scholar"

This article is taken from an edition from the Straits Times. It is about Hwa Chong's most recent President's Scholar, Aaron Koh. For some unknown reason, he did not get very good grades for his A-levels, although he was a straight A student usually. For the A-levels, he obtained 4 As and a merit for his other subjects but got a B in English Literature and C in Economics. This was a big blow for him and he said receiving the result was one of the "lowest points in my life". However, the PSC, the Public Service Commission, said that results are not all and also stated other factors in their decision to award Aaron the President's Scholarship.The PSC sited other reasons for awarding Aaron the prestigious scholarship. The reasons included all-rounded achievements, topping his midshipman course at Officer Cadet School and a good performance at the President's Scholarship Assessment Center, where candidates go through exercises to test their responses to challenges and scenarios related to public service work.

I think that the PSC's decision is very wise. To succeed in life, results and good grades are definitely not all. One must have both IQ, intelligence, and more importantly, EQ, which is one's manners, courtesy, and how one gets along with others. If one has extremely high IQ, meaning that he is very smart, even a genius, but has zero EQ, meaning that he has no manners, no courtesy, is not gentlemanly at all and totally cannot get along with others, who will want to employ him? No one!! I believe that not even a single person would want to befriend him. With no job, which means no salary, and no friends to count on to get him out of the sticky situation, how will one even succeed in life.

However, the opposite is also true. If one has extremely high EQ, gets along very well with others and makes everyone around him very happy and very willing to get along with him, but yet no IQ, meaning that he is extremely dumb, nobody would want him either. A certain standard of intelligence is also needed for one to succeed in life.

In conclusion, a mix of both IQ and EQ is needed for one to succeed in life. One must have a high level of intelligence and also be a gentleman or lady, extremely polite and get along well with others, not only to be the perfect President's Scholar and also to succeed in life.

'Mubarak spectacle captivates Arab world"

This article is taken from the Straits Times. It is about former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak's trial. He pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and complicity in the killing or protesters in the start of his historic trial last Wednesday.

There have been mixed reactions from the public. Some expressed satisfaction at seeing the tyrant get his just desserts while others expressed sympathy at seeing him in such a state in the hospital, confined to a bed.

True, Hosni Mubarak has been extremely evil. He has killed 850 protesters during the uprising. Most importantly, he was a tyrant. He has made the lives of Egyptians extremely difficult during all the years of his long reign. His government is corrupt, accepting bribes and whatnot. All tyrants should be treated with contempt. They have no right to make the lives of others miserable, especially the lives of their own citizens. What have they done wrong which warrants life like that of a prisoner? Therefore, one should feel satisfaction at seeing him get his just desserts and rejoice that he has been thrown out of power.

However, one has to look at both sides of the matter. For one, whatever accusations brought against Hosni Mubarak may or may not be true. There is no cold, hard evidence that he committed all these crimes, although he is guilty of being a tyrant. Moreover, one has to sympathize with the state he is in now. The picture of him in the newspaper depicts him as pale and haggard, confined to a bed. While many will accuse him of playing with the minds of others so that he will not be convicted, the judge ordered him to be held at a military hospital and overseen by an oncologist. This is a very strong sign that Mubarak has cancer. Therefore, one should not be over biased but should be fair and equal and consider both sides of the matter.

Blog Prompt: The Strauss Kahn Case

This case is about the alleged raping of a chambermaid by Mr Strauss-Kahn, the now fired IMF chief and who is running for the French presidency. He was sued by a chambermaid for attempted rape. According to the chambermaid, she went into his room to clean it, but then saw him standing inside, naked. According to her, she apologized, but he replied to her that she had no need to be sorry. Then, she forced her into his bedroom, saying that she was beautiful. Inside the bathroom, he forced her to her knees and made her engage in oral sex, holding her head so 'hard' that it hurt.

One must note that the above is the chambermaid's account of how things happened, and may not necessarily be entirely true. To have a clearer and unbiased view of things, one has to carry out an investigation into the backgrounds of both Mr Strauss Kahn and the chambermaid herself.

Firstly, we will look into the background of the chambermaid. Not much is known about it, except that she is from Guinea, is colored and has a sexual history. It is important to note the that the chambermaid is colored. This will greatly affect the decision by the court as the case is held in the United States, where most people are stereotyped against those who are colored. Also, since she has both a shady background and a sexual history, it makes it more difficult to believe the her story that she has been raped. Instead, it is easier to believe the testimony of Strauss Kahn's lawyers that she had consensual sex with Strauss Kahn. Also, she lied in her application to the USA. Even worse, her reason for immigrating to the USA is to seek asylum, meaning that she had done something wrong in her own country, which is why she has to seek asylum in the US.

Lastly, we shall look into the background of Strauss Kahn. Firstly and most importantly, he is a man of power and absolutely loaded with money. Hence, he is able to hire an army of top lawyers to help argue his case so that he will be acquitted regardless of whether he committed the crime. Also, he can also use his money and influence to destroy evidence, bribe or coerce with other key personalities to help clear his name. And this has happened in the past. Strauss Kahn has a history of sexual assault, but he has not been charged even once because every time, evidence has mysteriously been destroyed and hence there is insufficient evidence to convict him of any crime.

Therefore, the ultimate question comes to whether everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. Undoubtedly, the court will side with Strauss Kahn because of three reasons: he is a white and she is colored, and because they are stereotyped against her, Strauss Kahn has the advantage. Secondly, the court is made up of males, and therefore they will side with Strauss Kahn's lawyers' claim that because she was scantily clad, Strauss Kahn would want to have sex with her. This would also givve Strauss Kahn an advantage. Lastly, Strauss Kahn has money to hire the best lawyers in the world. He can also bribe and destroy other pieces of evidence. On the other hand, she is a chambermaid seeking asylum in the US. Hence, Strauss Kahn's story would be more believable in court and therefore there is a much higher possibility that he will win. This also brings us to the conclusion, which is: Justice and mercy lies with those who wield the power and money,

"Help, I'm in debt"

This article is taken from the Straits Times. It is about the rising number of people who are calling the Samaritans in desperation about gambling debts or harassment by loan sharks. Sixty percent more callers reached out for help between April last year and March this year as they were being plagued by illegal moneylenders. The number of those driven to call over gambling debts rose by half compared with the figure in the same period a year ago, according to the annual report by the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS). The report also showed that 352 people called in with loan shark problems between April last year and March this year, up from 218 cases in the same period a year ago, and 196 called in with gambling debt issues, up from 132. However, the good news is that the suicide rates fell from 401 in 2009 to 353 last year.

I think that these two results are inter-related. This is because it is likely that it is because more people are calling the SOS for help on their money-related problems, and hence fewer people die as their problems are shared with and hopefully solved by the SOS. However, according to a Today article, the number of calls received by the SOS are still worrying. This is because those with such financial problems usually possess "medium to high suicide risk" and hence even thought the SOS can get in touch with them, they are still very likely to commit suicide anytime and their conditions are extremely unstable. Furthermore, the SOS also said that the callers are also "particularly difficult to engage because their urgent need is for fresh funds to service their loans". Therefore, that is their main aim, not to seek comfort and encouragement. There is not much that the SOS can do to help them. In the end, the SOS still has to refer the callers to other community resources for additional help.

Again, this is the common lesson that is taught all over and over again but no one seems to listen. "Once bitten, twice shy" does not seem to apply to anyone anymore.

"Counterfeit lenses sold in shops"

This article is taken from a Times magazine and the Straits Times. It is about some counterfeit lenses being sold in shops. These lenses are imitations if "Freshlook ColorBlends" by CIBA Vision and have been found to be unsafe and of poor quality. Lab tests by the HSA, the Health Science Authority, have found colour pigments deposited on the interior of the lens rather than on the exterior, which causes the pigments to be in direct contact with the eyes. Also, a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes a serious eye infection, has been found in the storage liquid of the lenses. Using these fake lenses can result in serious complications like eye infections, corneal ulcers that open sores in the outer layer of the eye and blindness. After some investigation, various differences have been found between the real and counterfeit packaging of the corresponding lenses. Here is a list of the differences:

1) There are typographical errors on the counterfeit packaging. For example, commas in the real packaging may be replaced by full stops in the counterfeit packaging.

2) The fonts on the packs should have a clearer and more defined outline. On the other hand, counterfeits tend to have blurry text on the boxes.

3) Colour pigments on the real lenses are on the exterior of the lenses while the counterfeits have the pigments on the interior

I think that whoever producing these lenses are very inconsiderate and should be extremely ashamed of themselves. This is because to make money for themselves, they are putting the health of others at considerable risk. The bacteria found on the lenses are very dangerous and may even cause blindness to those who unwittingly buy them. I do not know whether these people know that the lenses that they are manufacturing contain the dangerous bacteria or not. If they really have no idea, then I would suggest that they first check what their products contain in explicit detail before putting them into market. This way, it would be better for consumers as their health would not be at risk and also the producers themselves, because if the products are safe, then the police would not be coming after them for selling not only counterfeit but also dangerous goods, as is happening right now.

However, if the producers of the counterfeit lenses do know that they are selling lenses which contain such a dangerous bacteria, then that would make it even worse. This is because doing so simply means that they are crooks who harbor evil schemes, either to harm as many people as possible because of their perverted minds or even to land CIBA Vision in trouble. Either way, if what I am saying is true, then I have no sympathy for these people and will dearly like to see them end up in jail.

'The Pessimism Index'

This article is taken from a Times magazine. It is about the overall pessimistic feeling in the United States through a series of questions asked to a number of people in the U.S. The poll confirms that the country is going through one of its longest sustained periods of unhappiness and pessimism ever, According to the article, teenagers hardly remember a time before the 9/11 bombing, the war on terrorism, the war in Iraq and constant economic upheaval. Baby boomers, the generation known for continuous reinvention, are filled with worry and doubt about their future and the future of their children. Even though the U.S usually bounces back after a few years of difficulty, such as the Vietnam War, Watergate or recessions, but the forces now aligned against the American people seem much more formidable than those which were surveyed; instead, the poll uncovered the minds of attitudes seen among Europeans during the decade after World War II.

The poll uncovered some unpleasant results among the American citizens. Here are some examples. Firstly, a poll asking whether the past decade has been progress or decline for the U.S as a country, 68% of those asked replied that the U.S was on a decline. Another question asked was how does the past decade compare with other decades in the past 100 years. 47% replied it was one of the worst, 32% said it was about the same while a measly 13% said it was one of the best.

I think that these pessimistic views show that this is the start of the fall of America. If the citizens are always so depressed, how then can they be motivated to work harder and produce better result so America can improve. Furthermore, if even the youth also are so pessimistic about the future of America, it is very scary thinking about how the next U.S president will be like. If he is so afraid and pessimistic, he will very likely bring down America into the slums instead of leading them up the road to improve.

"Long night of questioning for 80 youths"

This article was taken from an edition of the Straits Times.

Basically. the article is about 80 youths, aged between 12 and 21, who were alleged to have been helping a loan shark syndicate by distributing name cards and pamphlets advertising illegal moneylending services. The youngsters have since been released on bail. The youths were being paid $14 for distributing 1000 pamphlets and $16 for distributing the same number of name cards. The instructions given to the kids was simple: distribute the pamphlets and name cards for three days before being paid. The father of one of the kids who were arrested said that his son had responded to an advertisement on classified website Gumtree and did not even know that he was working for a loan shark syndicate.

I think that the kids should not be blamed as doing so would only be unfair to them. After all, they are youngsters and are hardly as mature as adults. Most of them, like the boy mentioned above, probably responded to the advertisement and took up the job because they wanted some extra pocket money and anyway, they also had nothing to do during the holidays too. Additionally, the youngsters also did not know that they were working for the loan shark syndicate. Hence, they should not be blamed.

On the other hand, I think that the loan sharks are really cruel to do things like that. They are adults, hence their thinking is more mature and also, they know the minds of children as they themselves have also been children before. Hence, when they posted the advertisement, they were taking advantage of the inmature thinking of children as they knew that the children just wanted extra pocket money and hence would sign up without question. Therefore, it can be inferred that these loan sharks are really despicable.

Blog Prompt 5.7.2011

The question for today was: Should the US have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in World War II?

The dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the deaths of many innocent civilians. The next generation of civilians was also affected by sicknesses such as radiation poisoning. However, was the dropping of these two atomic bombs really necessary?

First of all, the dropping of the bombs were the reason for the end of World War 2. The bombs completely decimated the two cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. According the the pilot who was instructed to fly there to survey the damage, a scar in the land which was still burning and a great plume of smoke was all which remained. Animals, humans, buildings had all been seared to nothing. Why was it necessary for the US to bring about such an extent of destruction on a city in Japan, which was already on the losing side. Moreover, the US has already been bombing 67 cities of Japan, so why should they suddenly drop the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Furthermore, was not the decimation of Hiroshima and the deaths of about 90,000 to 166,000 people cruel and tragic enough? Why the second bomb on Nagasaki?

Well, the answers will all be explained here. It was most probable that even the U.S, the creator of the atomic bomb, did not know the extent of its power as no other country has ever created an atomic bomb. Hence, it is highly possible that the bombing of Hiroshima was both a so-called test drive for the atomic bomb and also serve as a warning to Japan of the destruction the U.S could cause and therefore maybe get Japan to surrender. Therefore, it is not necessarily fair that the U.S had meant to cause such destruction in Hiroshima. On the other hand, the second bomb on Nagasaki was dropped because before that, the U.S had already issued an ultimatum to Japan that if Japan did not surrender, the U.S would then actually drop a second bomb on Japan. However, because of the fighting spirit of the Japanese, they would not surrender no matter what. Hence, the second bomb was then dropped on Nagasaki. Therefore, these pieces of evidence show that the U.S did not necessarily mean and want to cause so much damage in the two cities.

Another reason why the U.S dropped the atomic bombs on Japan might be a show of power by the U.S. It is important to note that the U.S entered the war more out of revenge than of peace. It had all the high technology weapons and hence it was more satisfied to sit back and make money out of selling those weapons to other countries needing them. However, then came along Japan, who had already signed a peace treaty with the U.S. Japan bombed the U.S's Pearl Harbour. U.S was probably extremely angered by this betrayal and entered the war to defeat Japan so as to take revenge. Thus, it could also be said that the Japanese actually brought the disaster upon themselves.

"Taleban's latest weapon, Child Suicide Bombers"

This article is taken from the Straits Times.

Basically, the article is about the Taliban now turning to using women and young children, especially young children, to become suicide bombers and carry out their dirty deeds for them. For example, some members of the Taliban in Afghanistan, two days ago, approached a seven year old girl and asked her to carry a package to the nearby police contingent for them. Then, as the child approached the vehicle, the men detonated the bomb in the bag she was carrying from a safe distance using a remote control device. Amazingly, all the policemen survived, but the child was literally blown apart. In another case, a boy believed to be between 10 to 12 years of age managed to slip past 6 security cordons and detonate the bomb on his vest, killing 30 recruits who were training there.

I am just so disgusted with the Taleban for committing such acts. How could they resort to using children and women to carry out their suicide bombings? They exploit the innocence of children and mental weaknesses of women, the supposedly weaker type of people, to carry out their evil deeds because they themselves just do not have the guts to carry it out themselves. They are the ones who are unhappy with others, for some reason or another, but to the point that they have the desire to kill those who do not practice what they do. However, when they do not dare to kill, they get others weaker then them, thorough brute force or lying, to do it for them. I think that this is the behaviour of cowards. If they do not dare to do it, then why do it at all, let alone get others to do it for them through underhand means?

Also, the children and women who do their dirty deeds for them are innocent. They do not have grudges against anyone. They just want to live their lives peacefully. They are living in a country which is poor, hence they do not even have big plans for themselves. However, even that cannot be granted to them!! It is so ironic that the members of the Taleban satisfy their thirst for blood and get what they want by denying others what they want to have, for example denying the women and children suicide bombers the merry, peaceful life they yearn to live. Essentially, what the Taleban is doing now is dragging others into their grudges and their fights. Take the pitiful girl for example. She thought that she was being kind by helping the men take the bag to the police contingent and hence she was probably feeling all good and melty inside. However, her reward was to have a short life ended so abruptly and probably with great agony. How is this being fair to her? I do not think that any of the Taleban actually have families and kids. If they do, they are just inhumane. This is because if they have their own children, then they will probably know what love is, how precious their children are to them. And yet, they can snuff out the lives of other children without blinking an eye.

In short, the Taleban are made up of savage, unfeeling men who should not even be called humans. They can watch a life being snuffed out and yet be indifferent about it. The acts they engage in are horrifying and cruel. They should be destroyed as quickly as possible. Ironically, I believe that most people would rejoice over their deaths just as they rejoiced sadistically over the deaths of the innocent, as the earth would then be rid of much evil.

"The Wonder of Not Knowing"

This article is taken from an edition of the Straits Times, but it is actually from the New York Times. It is basically about the essence of not knowing and its many benefits.

If you really think about it, like how this writer obviously has, there are a lot of advantages of disadvantages of not knowing things.

I agree that life must have been much more exciting in the past. This is because people, especially children, asked a lot of question about a large variety of things. Therefore, because of the lack of technology, they had to find out the things themselves. Life would have been more exciting because of the thrill of looking for the answers by oneself, and the satisfaction and pride that one had found out something and widened his pool of knowledge using his own means. Nowadays, although it is certainly much easier to find out things which we want to know, for the information is just one mouse click away, it takes away all the excitement which existed in the so-called "good old days". The curiosity only lasts a while because it can only last for the time which we take to boot up the old laptop.

I personally like to read about the unexplainable, or related topics, like mystery stories. This is because knowing that no one can find out the answer makes the whole issue extremely mysterious and exciting. Knowing that there is actually an answer, as the writer says, takes away the mysteriousness of the whole issue and leaves me quite disappointed. I can truly testify to this, and so can anyone else. This can be accomplished simply by picking up a mystery book. While still thick in the plot, one feels excited and curious about why this and that happened, and how it is going to solved. However, when one reaches the end of the book, where the mystery is solved, one feels a twinge of disappointment because alas, there is an explanation for all the things which happened in the crime, in the mystery. The next time one reads the book, all that excitement is gone, because one already knows what happens. The suspense no longer exists. This may also be the reason why people like to watch horror flicks. Because there is suspense. There is the crawling on one's skin and the cold clammy hand over one's heart. That is exciting.

However, there is still a downside for not knowing, which is quite obvious. The reason is that one will not be able to enhance one's knowledge and know how the world works. Man has long looked for answers to how things work, and since different people have different ideas, Google appeared. This search engine provides comprehensive answers to almost any question one can think of, and not from only a few but instead a seemingly endless list of sources. This is so that people can search for answers as easy as 1,2,3 and satisfy their thirst for knowledge.

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"Ask and you will be rewarded"

This article is from an edition of mypaper. Basically, it is about the writer, despite being Asian and the Asian culture where people normally feels very inhibited from asking. However when she picked up courage, she met with unexpected results. Firstly, when she picked up courage to approach the counter to ask for a replacement of fries when they were not prepared well, the fries were replaced without question and thus the write was very much relieved. The second incident was at a shoe shop. The writer would get a discount if she was to buy two or more items, but as she only needed one pair of shoes, she decided to ask another shopper if they could combine their purchase. Fortunately the shopper agreed and hence she got to enjoy a better discount than she would have asked.

I think that this kind of behavior should be encouraged, especially among Asians. I do not know how this kind of thinking came about, but it seems 'integrated' in us Asians, including me. Sometimes when some one whom I have never met or just met a few times asks me if I would like to have some snacks, I accept because I feel uncomfortable about saying anything else. I strongly agree with the writer that 'if we ask questions, we would learn so much more than we would by keeping silent', even though 'Most of the time, we are afraid that we would be laughed at for asking a silly question'. Also, if we ask, there are only two ways to go from there: one is to be rejected, the other to be accepted. However if we do not ask at all, the answer will forever be 'No", rejection. We have to ask to clear our doubts. If we walk around all day will a head full of clouds, how are we supposed to get anything?

In my opinion, the prime reason why Asians are afraid of asking questions is because they are afraid of being embarrassed, or diu lian, in Mandarin. That is where the problem comes in. The solution, however, should be very simple. One just has to cope with rejections and embarrassment from time to time. These are parts and parcels of life, which one has to go through. It does not matter if one is embarrassed, because at least one's doubts about that certain problem are cleared. However, trying to get over embarrassment is a very big obstacle, which may explain why although the solution is so simple, so many have trouble getting to it.

"Marcus Chin ordered to pay wife $4k a month"

This article is basicially about how freelance radio and television personality Marcus Chin, 57, was ordered to pay his wife $4k a month. Initially, when he walked out on his wife, who is called Madam Yan, he promised to pay her $6000. However, when he took up with a 25 year old woman who has since borne him a daughter, he told Madam Yan that he could only afford to pay her $1500. The latter took the case to court and hence after a four0day maintenance hearing in the Family Court, he was ordered to pay his wife $4000 monthly and $7000 in costs. Marcus Chin's reasons for not being able to afford to pay Madam Yan the sufficient amounts of money were that his income had shrunk to $9000 a month 'as a result of the very public fallout from his affair with Ms Eileen Cheah, the mother of his daughter.' However, he failed to explain why his income was now less nor gave evidence of what it was before. However, I also fail to understand why $9000 is not a sufficient amount of money for a family of three to live on. Also, even after he gives the promised $6000 to his ex-wife, he still has sufficient amount of money as $3000 cannot be said to be very little and also, it is highly impossible that he has no savings of his own from the days when according to him, he had much more salary.

Marcus Chin also said that he stopped performing in getai during the Seventh Month from 2009, and that his earnings from such shows in that month accounted for half of his annual income. This excuse is just ridiculous. He stopped of his own accord, so who can he blame but himself? Therefore, this excuse is totally invalid.

Why are Singaporeans just like that, especially actors. First it was Jack Neo, and then now Marcus Chin. First of all, a wife is supposed to be one's partner for life. If one wants to marry a certain woman, one must be prepared to overcome all the obstacles in the course of the marriage and not just walk out on one's wife. Secondly, a promise is a promise. One must stick to one's promise no matter what and also be prepared to face the consequences if one breaks the promise he has made.

"Dentist pulls out wrong person's teeth"

This article is basically about a dentist, Dr Debbie Hong, who was fined $3000 by a dental council after failing to check the identity of a patient and hence wrongly pulling out 2 of the patient's teeth.

A 23 year old male patient went to have his teeth straightened at Dr Debbie's clinic, but ended up 2 teeth short. This was becausethe clinic clerk put the chit for extracting two teeth into the wrong patient's file, and hence the wrong patient was called into the treatment room. Dr Debbie Hong "failed to check the identity of the patient before commencing the extract the teeth. She wrongly took out the upper left first premolar and lower second left premolar." According to the Straits Times article, the patient was not under general anaesthesia, but said nothing went the first tooth was pulled out. When the error was discovered, the man was called back within the hour. Although 3 senior specialists from NDC were called in immediately, they were unable to reimplant the two teeth. Hence, the patient filed a complaint against Dr Debbie Hong to the Singapore Dental Council.

This is a very severe mistake which has been made, by standards, by quite an experienced dentist. According to the article, this dentist has been in the trade for 4 years already. Hence, she should already be used to checking the identity of patients and hence should not make such a mistake. Furthermore, her careless actions has also caused permanent harm to the man. This was because the man was still in his youth, only 23 years old, but yet had already lost the use of two of his molars. How can this loss be repaid to him? What is more, the patient was also not under anaesthesia. A molar is a large tooth situated at the back of the mouth and secured by lots of roots. Most likely, it was also an adult molar. Imagine the agony the man must be going through without general anaesthesia. This was great carelessness and irresponsibility on the part of the dentist. A $3000 fine is much too little.

Home-Based Learning 25 May 2011

Once again I ask myself: Why in the world did I join the army for? Certainly not for torture, right?? I cannot seem to remember the reason by which I finally convinced myself to join the army.

Here I am, sitting in a dark, gloomy, stinky trench. But I have to be grateful, because of the simple fact that I am not dead yet. My rifle is sitting by my side, ready to be used at any time. We are wary of the Germans, because of what we faced today.

My platoon, and most probably, other platoons, arrived at the German coast by boat. Extremely smelly boats. Why? We were really not prepared for sea. Virtually every soldier was severely seasick. Every second, one poor man would suddenly clutch at his stomach, his eyes widening, before a fountain of vomit spewed from his throat and onto the floor of the boat, and the stench would be unbearable. The seasickness had drained our strength, but still, we held on. Finally, Sgt. Bruce Williams issued the command: Men, get up, prepare yerselves. Pick up your weapons, and fight for yer damn lives and the lives of yer families!!!

As one, we immediately snatched up our rifles, checked quickly for sufficient ammo, then scrambled to our feet to face our adversaries. At once, bullets sliced through the air and slugs ricocheted everywhere. Many comrades fell as soon as they stood up. Directly in front of me, a bullet punched through the forehead of Private Johnson Whiteman. Pieces of bone splintered like wood, and blood spurted high up into the air as Johnson fell, dead, at my feet. I stared down at his fallen frame, horrified, and the world slowed to a crawl. I looked around me. In slow motion, comrades were falling and twisting into grotesque positions as they fell. Someone rapped on my helmet, and I slowly turned to face him. It was Sgt Bruce. He was glaring at me with those deep blue eyes of his and his mouth was working rapidly, but I could not hear him. I cocked my head, puzzled. Then everything rushed back into reality. Bruce's voice was pounding into my ears and the air seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. "Private!! We gotta jump, right now!!! The boat is on fire!!!" He grabbed my wrist, and then flung himself toward the sea. Ravenous flames licked the air where we stood, and the very floor of the boat crumbled beneath our feet as we hurled ourselves overboard.

Would the bullets never leave us alone?? Even underwater, those cold pieces of steel powered through the waters, leaving streaks of bubbles behind them. When they entered human skin and flesh, a dark red cloud exploded like a chemical experiment gone wrong. Rapidly, I swam to shore.

Nicole Seah breaks down during rally

Nicole Seah is a pretty 24-year old, an executive with a multinational advertising agency. However, do not overlook her, for she is at the heart of the political party, National Solidarity Party in Singapore and is contesting in the in the Marine Parade GRC.

On the night of 5 May, Nicole Seah participated in a rally for the National Solidarity Party(NSP). During the rally, she actually broke down in tears while recalling a meeting with a poor family in MacPherson. According to the Straits Times article reporting on this affair, Nicole said that "she was saddened when the mother said that she could not get help to fund her son's $80 tution fees. Worse, when the mother sought help, she was chided for the small amount."

I think that there are two viewpoints from which to look at this affair. The first viewpoint is that in trying to convince the people that the NSP was the best candidate for the job, she, without knowing, blurted out this story. She crying means that she has compassion in her and is able to sympathise with others. The public will certainly be moved and impressed by the maturity of this young woman.

However, the other, negative, viewpoint is that this was all an act. Nicole Seah purposely brought up this affair so that the public will also will compassion for the poor family and hence will start to sway in her and the NSP's favour. If this is true, it would mean that Nicole Seah is a dirty player and will resort to every mean ti achieve her goals, in this case being to be elected into the GRC.

Which one is true, and which is false? It all depends on who is deciding. Followers of Nicole Seah would agree strongly with the first argument while those supporting others would have taken up the second viewpoint with enthusiasm.

"Walkover terrain, 20 years and counting", "Opposition misses deadline"

MM Lee Kuan Yew has lead Singapore for umpteen years, and has literally "raised Singapore from the dead" after the separation with its hinterland Malaysia. Today, he gives the victory sign to supporters at the Singapore Chinese Girl's School after the opposition, Socialist Front narrowly missed the deadline for filing the nomination papers. This is the 20th year that there has been a walkover in Tanjong Pagar GRC. However although newspapers state that the walkover was caused solely by the Socialist Front submitting their nomination forms late, the truth may not be so simple.

Firstly, MM Lee, as stated in the previous paragraph, has led Singapore, such a tiny country with only people as its resources, and on bad relations with neighbouring countries, to such a successful nation today. How would anyone want to challenge such a great leader? The things that MM Lee has done for Singapore are not easily forgotten by the citizens. Any challenger just has to ask himself this question: Can you lead a nation with no resources, teeny land space and on bad relations with other countries into the fifth richest nation in the whole world? Then they will immediately back off and call of the challenge. There is almost no hope of winning. Why waste 16,000 dollars?

Secondly, the Socialist Front had signaled its intention to contest the GRC earlier, only to abort its plans on Monday, but nevertheless showed up at 11.30 at the nomination centre. This will show the residents that the Socialist Front is unreliable as it constantly changes its mind, particularly at the eleventh hour. How then can residents expect them to carry out promises if they are elected? A leader of the nation should stick doggedly to promises made, or he will appear as untrustworthy.

Thirdly, the Socialist Front withdrew so abruptly because they had insufficient funds. Let's think about the reasons why such a scenario could occur. Maybe poor financial management? Or lack of support? The Socialist Front only scraped together the money on Thursday. They appealed for help on Monday. They needed only 80,000 dollars. And it is impossible that they need all the 80,000 from supporters. Therefore they must have insufficient supporters or supporters who were unwilling to help. Who wants a government like that?

"Terrorists "planned to broadcast bombing""

Recently, I read an article in the Straits Times entitled "Terrorists "planned to broadcast bombing"". Firstly before I start writing, I want all readers to note that firstly, this is my personal opinion, and there is purely no intention of attacking or defaming any particular person, race or religion. Secondly, this is NOT a piece of writing, just my own opinion.

This article is about Islamists terrorists attempting to bomb an Indonesian church ahead of Easter
Celebrations and also film and broadcast the inferno. Fortunately, they failed in their attempt.

I feel extremely disgusted by this act. Firstly, I am a Christian myself, and I am deeply saddened by all the anti-Christian activities going on around the world. First, the Allah incident which led to the burning of numerous churches and now this. What do other religions have with Christians. However, I have noticed something going on everywhere like in schools and workplaces which possibly may be related to this incidents. For example, if somebody is very diligent in his work in the workplace, and all the workers are extremely jealous because he has received promotion time and time again. So let's say that the boss gives him a project to complete before a certain deadline. Naturally, the other workers, or at least some, would want to sabotage him so that he will not receive yet another promotion but yet be sacked for not finishing the project or doing it sloppily. This shows that when a certain somebody is good, others lower than that person will try out various means, sometimes under the belt, to try and bring that person down. Is this the same with Christianity?

Next, I have learnt from past teachings, that terrorists are mostly people who are perverted in their minds. They have mostly been brainwashed, and can no longer tell the difference between wrong and right. Therefore, they go down and down, to the level where atrocities seem normal, such as this act. Who in the right frame of mind would want to destroy a church and film the explosion. Something has definitely gone wrong in the brains of these terrorists. Thirdly, these terrorists are Islamic, meaning that they are Muslims. I have no idea what they have against Christians, but I think that they, brainwashed and perverted as they are, should still sit down and think it over seriously. Would they want others to do to them what they have done and are still attempting to do to Christians. I should think not. And another point, if they really have a 'God', would the God be pleased to see them acting in this way? I mean, yes, they are doing it for their 'God', but the way in which they are doing so is seriously wrong. I do not know what their Holy Book says, but I don't think any 'righteous God' would like followers to act in this perverted manner.

The Day I Confiscated my 12-year-old's handphone

Recently, I have read an article entitled "The Day I Confiscated my 12-year-old's handphone". Basically it is about a mother talking about how and why she confiscated her daughter's mobile phone. The author bought a mobile phone for her daughter when the latter was aged 12, mainly to communicate with her and to coordinate picking her daughter and her younger son up from school when the author was tied up in meetings. However, her daughter began to use the phone excessively, and the cost for the phone every month shot up sky-high and in the end, the author decided to confiscate her daughter's mobile phone.

My mother saw this article in the Today paper and highlighted it to me. She thought that I would also have the same problem. However, I think that this is not true at all. Firstly, I think that girls use mobile phones much more than boys simply because they have so many things to talk about and so much to talk on any topic under the sun. Now with the availability of mobile phone, they can talk for 24 hours a day. However, this does not apply to boys because we just do not talk so much. For your information, women talk on average 4000 words a day while men in contrast on average only 2000 words a day. See the difference?

However, this may not be the fault of the author's daughter, regarding the article. This is because she has just received a brand new mobile phone and along with it, free access to chatting all day long. She certainly used that power over-extensively until it has started to resemble an addiction. I also think that the girl does not know that there are charges while using the mobile phone, and therefore has racked up the phone bill perhaps while not even knowing it.

I think that the girl should exert more self-control when using the mobile phone. She can chat and message, but not too much, and also at appropriate times like when she has nothing else to do, not in the early hours of the morning or during school. The author should also educate her daughter on the fact that money is charged for messaging, calling or receiving calls from others and if she uses up so much money, it has a very great adverse effect on the whole family.

I actually have a solution for the author. I think that since the daughter is using a prepaid card, her parents can assist her in kicking the habit by giving her a fixed amount in her prepaid card, say 20 dollars for one month or whatever the author thinks is suitable. If the daughter uses up her money due to chatting unneccesarily, then she will just have to make do until the next month.

Blog Prompt 14.4.2011

The question for today is a question from a reading and reasoning exercise which we did based on the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird".

The question is "With reference to events happening currently and in the recent past, does crisis bring out the best in man? Explain your answer." The question goes something like this but I do not have the worksheet and therefore also not the answer.

Yes, crisis brings out the best in man. For example, take the recent Japan earthquake. It triggered both a massive tsunami and also severely damaged several nuclear plants is Fukushima Daichii, so much so that they began to dry up and would eventually explode, claim thousands of lives and affect many more around the world because of radioactive chemicals released. Even now, radioactive chemicals are leaking out into the sea and into the air from the reactors. The best brought out in man is demonstrated in the workers at the nuclear plant. They know very well how severe the situation is and how easily they can just die from radioactive contamination. However, they still are working hard at the nuclear reactors, plugging leaks and desperately trying to pump water into the reactors, most recently even turning to tap water. They are doing this to save the lives of so many people, and even willing to sacrifice their own lives, if that is the price to pay so that the problem can be solved. This shows that crisis brings out the best in man. Another good example is the residents of the affected areas themselves. Imagine how much damage a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, followed by a massive tsunami can do. How little have the citizens have left? However, many of them still return to their towns and respective areas to salvage what little is left and attempt to start life anew amidst all the death and destruction. Despite the fact that they have almost nothing, many citizens still willing donate their stuff to those who have less than they, for example those whose homes were completely decimated. This is a very good illustration of the fact that crisis sometimes does bring out the best in man.

In contrast, crisis sometimes also does the exact opposite, which is bringing out the worst in man. There are many good examples happening even now, in various part of the world. Several such cases are in countries in which civil war is going on, like Libya and Egypt. Since the civil war started, there have been no rules and regulations, now laws. Hence, many have looted shops in an attempt to get their hands on goods and things they want for free. This is very evil since they are taking what does not belong to them but are the property of others. Hence, this also shows that crisis also may bring out the worst in man.

Talent? Yes. Passion? No.

Recently, I have read an article entitled "Talent? Yes. Passion? No." The article is basically about the opinions of young people after PM Lee Hsien Loong lamented at a talk that there was not enough talent in Singapore to form two really ace teams to govern Singapore in the future. Young people are disagreeing with him all over the place. They feel that lots of young people have loads of talent, but only do not have the passion and instead, everything has to have incentives to make them move. Young people do not want to make personal sacrifices or even have passion.

In my opinion, young people should get more involved, especially in this matter which is the problem of who is going to govern Singapore next. And it is very likely to be them, the next generation. Youths need to get into the mindset that life is simply not a bed of roses. Not everything is just there for them to pick up. There are obstacles, difficulties which they have to overcome sometimes. Also at other times, some personal sacrifices are also required for the greater good. If youths do not have the passion to govern a country, then who else will? This is a simple problem, but the solution is complex. Young people have loads of talent, but no passion. If they had no talent, it can always be integrated into them. However if they do not have the passion, that is an entirely different subject. That is their way of thinking. Some way or another, they have to be persuaded and motivated to become leaders of the nation or the whole nation will just collapse. I feel that young people need to walk around in the shoes of other, such as the Prime Minister himself, and attempt to see things from their point of view. They cannot be too self-centred, but instead must make things good for as many people as possible.

Then comes the education in schools. I feel that this is also part of the school's responsibility. Besides teaching students the basic subjects and hence enriching their knowledge and harnessing their full potential in whatever talents they may have, it is also important that schools implement leadership qualities in the students. This is because if the schools train the students to their full potential in the hopes of becoming successful, then all the more leadership qualities should be implemented in them and they be given the mindset of a future leader. This is common sense, since once one is successful, his or her job is likely to be a job in which the individual is expected to lead, such as the boss of a company which has to lead his subordinates, or a teacher, who has to lead and set a good example for the students in the class, or even the Prime Minister, who has an even greater responsibility in leading a whole nation. In this way, if leadership qualities such as making personal sacrifices and looking at things from different viewpoints, students will be trained to become future leaders and with their talents, I believe that a future successor for PM Lee Hsien Loong will be found very quickly.

Blog Prompt 7.4.2011

The question for today was: Should students have the autonomy to create and have their own curriculum?

Regardless of whether they want it or not, all Singaporean children all have to go through at least secondary education. Schooling has become an important part of their lives. Therefore, education has to be engaging, enjoyable while also catering to the needs of the children. Hence, I think that yes, children should have the autonomy to create and have their own curriculum.

First of all, every child has his or her own interests which may be unique to others. One man's meat is another man's poison. So, children should have each of their own curriculum. In each of their curriculum would be their basic subjects, and then the subjects which they are good at and the subjects which have skills they really want to have, such as piano lessons. In this way, the curriculum of every children would be different as each curriculum would benefit the basic needs and then also the unique needs of each respective child. If the timetables and curriculum of all the children were the same, then as an example, if a certain child was good at piano, and yet there is no piano class on the timetable, then the skill of this child would be kept in the dark and not be allowed to blossom, which would not be good.

The habits of each child are also different. There are just so many examples to emphasize this point. For example, the attention spans of each child are different. One child might be able to concentrate for three hours straight while another child might be able to concentrate for just one and a half hours. Different things might also interest different children and hence either shorten or lengthen their attention spans. Using these examples, it is crucial that every child should have their own curriculum. This is because once every child has his or her own curriculum, the child can then decide exactly how the education should be, for example, how long lessons are, be it 3 hours or one and a half hours, and the emphasis on subjects the child likes the most. Only then can the child get the most out of his or her schooling.

Hence, these are the reasons why children should have the autonomy of creating and having their own curriculum.

Hard Mentality. Can peer pressure be mobilized to change behaviour for the better?

I recently read an article in the Times magazine entitled "Hard Mentality. Can peer pressure be mobilized to change behaviour for the better? Basically it is about peer pressure and the immense way it affects us. All people, but especially teenagers, like to fit in. This affects in such great ways that we are exhibiting this behaviour even in our daily lives.

I think that in the first place, we should not even be trying to follow people or supposedly 'fit in' with others. This kind of thinking is called 'sheep thinking' because it is exactly what sheep do. All you have to do to move a herd of sheep is to get a few moving and the rest will then follow. We should not be having this kind of thinking. If we do, then we will just be following one another and have no opinion of our own. Then where is our sense of originality, or creativity? All just gone. This is why we must not have sheep thinking but instead learn how to think independently. We must have our opinions, and go along with them if we think and know that they are correct, even when others do not like our ideas. If our ideas are right but others still disagree with us, it just means that they are morally perverted and are unable to distinguish between wrong and right, not that something is wrong with us.

On the other hand, we must not be easily swayed by others, just in a bid to be cool or hip or just to follow what others are doing. This is because if we are easily swayed, many people, some who are not exactly angels at heart, will come and manipulate us into doing many weird things, some which are not exactly angelic. Some examples are, according to the text, casual sex, drugs, smoking and the like.

So if you want to know why you should not always follow others but instead have your own thinking, there it is in a nutshell.

Blog Prompt 31/3/2011

I think that age may or may not be the criteria which people look for in a candidate in the general election, depending on how one looks at it.

Personally, I think that age should not be the key trait voters should be looking out for in candidates in the coming general election. Most people would assume that young people are typically inexperienced while old people have tons of experience. However, this is not always true. Anyway, in my opinion I think that experience is not so important in managing Singapore. This is because the world is changing constantly, so in turn the situation in Singapore would also be changing constantly. Therefore experience would not come in very handy here. Instead, the leader of the nation would need to be able to adapt quickly to new circumstances. The leader of Singapore should also have a quick and clever mind to solve the problems quickly. Hence these are the traits I think that the leader of Singapore should have, but also not forgetting that the leader of Singapore should not be a newbie. He/she should at least be weathered and have seen the world, and have encountered some hardships or difficulties.

However, what the citizens think may be different from my opinion. Recently, the PAP promoted the youngest candidate, Tin Pei Ling, 27 years old. From then onwards, there has been an online buzz over here. A lot of people have been slamming and criticizing her, some netizens even bringing in her private life. I think that citizens mainly have 2 reasons against her. One is that because of her tender age, most citizens are probably older than her. Therefore, they may not like the idea of someone who is younger than them telling what to do. I think that this kind of thinking is wrong. I think that true, she has very little working experience, not even 10 years, and also should have just gotten her degree or whatever. However, she has been promoted by the PAP, and the leader of the PAP is none other than the old and wise Mr Lee Hsien Loong, and his older and wiser father, Lee Kuan Yew. So if the people respect and follow Lee Hsien Loong, they should also respect and follow Tim Pei Ling as she is also a representative of PM Lee and the PAP. The second main issue I think citizens have with Tin Pei Ling is that they probably think that she is too inexperienced to take up such a great responsibility of leading nation and do not have confidence in her abilities. This is true. What is more, there are also pictures of her in her Facebook account which shows her like any 27 year woman, taking pictures of herself posing beside her branded bag. This behaviour should be classified as being normal, but then again, Tin Pei Ling is not exactly normal. She is a PAP candidate who is supposedly readt to take over at the helm to lead Singapore into infinity and beyond. So on this point, I agree with the citizens of Singapore.

Picture Description

Today, we had to do a descriptive writing on a photograph taken by one of the world's most acclaimed photographers, Don McCullin.

BOOM!!! Me and my comrades dived toward all directions as the bomb exploded in front of us, a piece of shrapnel missing the tip of my nose by a mere millimeter. We took a hard tumble on the rock terrain, got up instantaneosly and continued our advance toward the enemy lines. A single bullet shot went off and one of my comrades tumbled to the ground, bright red blood spurting profusely from the wound. Blake, out sergeant, shouted, "Sniper in the trees, nine o'clock!!" He fired off a shot using his rifle. The leaves rustled in the tree. Another slug flew past my ear and buried itself in the sand. I whirled and fired all in one motion. There was a cry of pain, and a body dropped out of the tree, striking the ground with a resounding thud. Serves you right, I thought as we raced past his fallen frame.

Japanese soldiers came racing out of the thick fog. The first wave. Before they had a chance to respond, our rifles spoke and they were silenced, forever.

Silence followed suddenly. Blake motioned with his hand for us to crouch down, remain hidden.What's up with those accursed Japanese now, I thought, Just then, I thought I saw a massive shape appear within the fog. I rubbed my eyes and squinted. Then, my best mate, Nathan shrieked,"TANKS!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" Everyone scrambled to their feet and dove for cover, as a giant fireball erupted just where we where standing. I was fleeing for my life when Nathan caught my uniform and yanked me in another direction. "This way!!" he shouted. "Jump!!" I jumped, and a massive explosion sounded. We continued sprinting till we reached camp.

"Whew!! Thanks Nat, I owe you another one." I sighed with relief. "No problemo, matey. Just glad you're alive." What are friends for? I firmly believed in Nat's abilities and that we would live through this horrible war.

After a very short break, we grabbed our weapons, plus some anti-tank weapons, and headed out again. The tanks continued rolling towards us, raising up great clouds of dust. "Nathan, come here!!" I knelt down, balancing the anti-tank gun on my right shoulder. Nathan knelt down behind me. "30 degrees to your right, and FIRE!!" I pulled the trigger. A high-powered missile shot out, striking the tank. It went up in a immense fireball. I pumped my fist victoriously, but my celebration was cut short by Nat again pulling me away. I went down hard on the ground just as a slug got Nathan straight in the chest. The uniform stained a scarlet red. "NOOOO!" Arms flailing, Nat crashed to the ground, breathing heavily.

Nathan gazed at me, a wan smile on his face. "So, going to be my last battle, eh? Too bad... Well, it was great working with...you, Scotty..." He paused as a coughing fit took him over. He coughed so hard he actually coughed up blood and he clutched at his stomach in great agony. "Well, gotta go, Scotty. See ya later..." With that, his eyes closed and his head slumped to the side, blood slowly trickling from his mouth. I shook him violently. "NAT!! NAT!! WAKE UP, NAT, FOR GOSH SAKES!!" No answer. I screamed to the heavens. Well, if he could not make it to the end of this war, then I would not, too. And not because I could not. It was because I did not want to. I would die on this very battlefield.

Posh neighbourhood or tour bus carpark?

Recently, I have read a newspaper article entitled "Posh neighborhood or tour bus carpark?" in the Straits' Times, Wednesday 23 March 2011.

The article was about tourist buses parking along the roads of upmarket Draycott Park and Ardmore Park. The residents there are very fed-up with buses which pull up daily to park illegally in their neighborhood. The area is so crowded on weekends that it looks more like a temporary carpark for tour buses than a verdant, exclusive residential area just off Scotts Road.

The residents are making noise for a reason, and I will list the major ones here.

1. With so many huge buses just standing on the roadside, there is bound to be traffic obstruction which will surely frustrate any Singaporean, not only these unfortunate residents. Waiting in the car for who knows how long is surely very frustrating, especially when one is in a hurry to go somewhere.

2. These tour buses are waiting while their passengers shop and also waiting to pick up guests from Orchard Road for city tours. Of course, these waits will be quite long and therefore no bus driver, no matter how good teir education is, will be stupid enough to sweat profusely in this hot weather instead of letting the engine run to get that precious air-conditioning. Leaving the engine on in buses will result in the engine making booming, rumbling noises the whole time the bus is waiting there. And there is not only one bus there. Tens of tens of buses, all with their engines on!! Imagine the noise! How can one focus on doing schoolwork, work, housework or anything else?? No wonder even these civilized people are also making a scene.

3. The residents also complain of heaps of shopping bags, boxes and even broken suitcases left behind by inconsiderate tourists after the buses drive off. Who likes their posh neighborhood, where only loaded people live, looking more like the city dump?? Who likes tripping over stuff which should not be there?? Those broken suitcases aren't a pretty sight either and what's more, nobody wants them except for the rag-and-bone man.

I think that the people who should take the responsibility, not the blame here should be the bus drivers. They should not be parking their buses along the roads as these will cause a lot of inconvenience to others even if it benefits themselves. they should also try to caution tourists tactfully that they should not leave their unwanted items along the roadside. After all, tourism is a big industry and hence we should not chase them away by chiding them lest they get offended.

Blog Prompt 24/3/2011

The question for today was: Why, in your opinion, should we care about what happens in places far away from where we live in general? And also, whether or not we pay attention to event which happen recently and why we do or do not and what is the importance of doing that.

Yes, I do pay attention to events in other parts of the world. This is because I think that it is good to constantly update myself on the current events in the world i order to be well-informed and also because some, if not most current events would have an effect on me and those around me. There are so many examples of events, not necessarily occurring in Singapore, but still affecting her and her citizens, which includes me and my family.

One good example would be the global economic crisis in 2009. Many countries were affected, includingj powerhouse America, in which numerous banks folded. Singapore would ultimately still be affected becuase of its reliance on other countries. And so it was. Because America was affected, the currencies of many countries like Malaysia and Indonesia fell against the American currency. Singapore was among the least affected in Southeast Asia, with the Singaporean dollar dropping only around 20%. This might seem good, but in reality it meant that the labour costs of neighbouring countries were much lower than that of Singapore and therefore making them much more attractive to investors. To solve this problem, the Singapore government and also companies in Singapore began to retrench workers. And guess what?? My father got retrenched. I, in the end, was still affected.

This is why I think that keeping up with current events, becuase the world is constantly changing and things often happen unprecedented. Therefore, the earlier we know about evemts which might affect us, the more time we have to react to them.

Student Exchange to Brisbane, Australia

I have just returned from a trip to Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It was a very memorable trip which lasted 8 days and was a real eye-opener for me in several ways. First of all, this was my first time taking a plane and it was a very exciting experience to me. At first, I thought, because of the influences from many of my friends, that I would surely be sick and want to retch. However, it was very normal and I did not feel sick in any way. Furthermore, there were miniature TV screens on the back of each seat. Therefore, we could watch movies on the screen on the back of the seat in front of us. So the flight was relaxing and enjoyable.

Secondly, the school which we were visiting, Citipointe Christian College, worked entirely differently compared to Hwa Chong Institution. Lessons started at 8.45 and ended at 3.20. The timetable went like this: One and a half hours of lessons, morning tea, one and a half hours of lessons, lunch, then lessons all the way until 3.20.

One thing which I noticed was that the school was very relaxed and did not emphasize on studies and degrees and good jobs even half that of Singapore schools. Instead, it emphasized on Christianity and free will i.e whatever the student wanted. I really envied the fact that they had no CCAs!! That was really sticking the knife in and twisting it. Why, the school ended at 3.20 and was nearly emptied by 3.45 while Hwa Chong ended school at 1.30 and was not even emptied by 5 because of all the CCAs!

I really enjoyed the homestay. The hosts were warm and very kind and made me and my homestay buddy, Brandon, feel very at home. They also had 2 young kids, Rachel and
Benjamin, who were in Primary 4 and 2 respectively. They were 2 really mischievous, sweet kids and we had tons on fun joining in their ridiculous games. The food there was really appropriate, appealing and suiting to our tastes and very quickly, I was really looking forward to meal-time.

Another thing which really changed was the sun. It was really bright around 6 in the morning, which naturally became the time we woke up, and set around 7, really early. I was shocked when I realized that the kids slept at 8.30 and the parents at 10!! 10 o'clock in Singapore was extremely early. An early night for me was sleeping at half-past 10 and my parents sleep around 1. Therefore, there was a real change in our sleeping schedules.

I also really enjoyed the excursions we had, to the Australian Outback, Zoo and Movie World which was a really great themepark with the theme of cartoons like Looney Tunes. I had so much fun there and I hope I can go back there again.

The Presidency of Hosni Mubarak

This post is going to be, as you can obviously can see, is about the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.

Hosni Mubarak is the fourth President of Egypt, and he is the longest-serving president in the history of Egypt, serving from 1981 to 2011, making it a total of 30 years in power. He fell from power after 18 days of violent demonstration against his rule and on 11 February, Vice-President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned as president and and transferred power over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Mubarak, after completing his high school education, joined the Egyptian Military Academy where he received a Bachelor's Degree in Military Sciences in 1949. Then he left the Military Academy and joined the Air Force Academy in 1950, eventually receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation Sciences. From here, we can therefore see that Mubarak is actually extremely smart. However, Mubarak may not have been a good president maybe because he was unprepared to be the President and therefore might not have actually planned what he wanted to do in Egypt when he assumed the important position. This is because became the President in October 1981 when the then President, Sadat, was assassinated.

While Mubarak was in office, political corruption in his Ministry of Interior rose dramatically. This was because of increased power of the institutional system that is necessary to secure the prolonged presidency. The corruption led to many negative effects such as imprisoning of political figures and young activists without trials, illegal undocumented hidden detention facilities, and rejecting universities, mosques and newspapers staff members based on political inclination. Even worse, each individual officer was allowed to violate citizen's privacy in his area using unconditioned arrests due to the emergency law. I guess that it was because of this that the citizens became unhappy with Mubarak's rule, and apparently he was not well-liked, because he survived assassination a total of 6 times!! Examples are like the time in June 1995 when there was an alleged assassination attempt involving noxious gas and Egyptian Islamic Jihad while he was in Ethiopia for the conference of the Organization on African Unity. Mubarak was also reportedly injured by a knife-wielding assailant in Port Said in September 1999.

I think that as the years grew, the unrest in Egypt among the citizens increased until they could not take it anymore and therefore stood up and demonstrated violently. This should be because Mubarak was constantly re-elected by majority votes. However, why should the citizens want to re-elect when there was so much corruption going on under his rule?? The answer is that the citizens did not vote for him since they hated him so much. However, there was no one else to vote. Due to a restriction in the Egyptian constitution in which the People's Assembly played the main role in electing the President of the Republic. So the people did not have any veto powers or even the power to vote. Naturally, their frustration grew until they could not handle that frustration anymore and then took it out on Mubarak.

Egypt- What's the Big Deal??

This post is going to be about the Egypt Revolution 2011 following a popular uprising that began on 25 January 2011 featuring a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, labour strikes and violent clashes between protesters and security.

The Revolution was triggered when police forces beat to death a young man. Then the people of Egypt rose up in protest, and then finally, dictator Mubarak fell from power. Apparently, he had already lost the will to govern tthe country when his young nephew died after being on a coma. However although he had lost the will to govern, he was still determined to hold on but when so many citizens began to rebel, he resigned from his post. That is a summary of how the Revolution of Egypt began.

But why has this become such a big hoo-ha?? There was also uprising in Tunisia, but hardly anyone knows about it. But Eygpt has become such a big isssue because it has lots of resources and lots of countries including heavyweights on USA depend on those resources. Therefore if the people rebel, they might make their own decisions and maybe not want to supply them with resources anymore.

Egypt has huge reserves of natural gas, and liquified nitrogen gas is exported to many countries. Egypt has also developed an energy market based on coal, oil, natural gas and hydro power. There is also substantial coal deposits in northeast Sinai and are mined at a rate of 600,000 metric tons per year.

Therefore with all these resources, no wonder so many countries are so concerned about the uprising in Egypt.

Blog Prompt 21.2.2011

The blog prompt for today was 'Can the machine ever replace the teacher?'.

I think that a teacher will be better than a machine. This is because a machine needs input, and will spit out all and only what is put into it. Nothing more, nothing less. The teacher at least can plan out what he/she wants to teach. The teacher can teach what is necessary only, but he/she can also add in extra tidbits to give the students more knowledge on the subject he/she is teaching. I also think that a teacher is better than a machine because a teacher, firstly, is a living thing and has feelings. The teacher is able to care for the students, know their needs and address their needs, unlike a machine because like I said earlier, has only one function which is to proclaim whatever is fed into its system. Secondly, the teacher can respond to his/her surroundings. The teacher can reprimand and punish students if they turn too rowdy. He/she can also liven up the class by adding in games and discussions so that lessons will not be too boring. However, the lessons the machine gives will be so boring as the machine will just drone on and on in its monotonic, mechanical voice, just reading out everything that is fed into it.

Basically, a teacher is better than a machine because a teacher is a human and knows how to interact with other living things i.e students. That is the primary reason why the machine will never ever replace the teacher.

Blog Prompt 17.2.11

Today, we were asked to discuss on the song "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.

In the song, the issues addressed were terrorism, discrimination, war. These are my thoughts on the issues addressed in the song. On terrorism, the song says "Overseas yeah we tryin to stop terrorism But we still got terrorists here livin In the USA the big CIA the Bloodz and the Crips and the KKK" This is probably talking about the terrorism efforts in the USA. Apparently, the USA tried to help friendly countries eliminate their terrorism threats while still being faced with terrorism threats themselves. I think that the USA should first try to eliminate or at least neutralize their own terrorism threats and only help other countries when they are really in need and crying out for help. Although this may seem selfish, it is the best solution for USA. This is because when the USA still has its own terrorism threats and yet still try to help others, it may seem that they are not practicing what they preach. Also, other countries might not want the help of the USA when they see that USA also has terrorism threats themselves as they might not have confidence in the ability of USA to exterminate the terrorist threat.

The second issue mentioned in the song is discrimination. The lyrics of the song which addresses this issue are "But if you only have love for your own race, Then you only leave space to discriminate, And to discriminate only generates hate, And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah". I think that what the Black Eyed Peas are saying is very true. You cannot just love your own race and do not care about people of other races or even not like them. This is because when you do not like people of other races or do not care about them, you will start to discriminate against them. If everybody on the Earth just loved their own races and discriminated against other races and the whole world would be divided into the different races, against the saying "United we stand, divided we fall".

The third issue is war. About this particular issue, the song says "If love and peace is so strong, Why are there pieces of love that don't belong, Nations droppin' bombs, Chemical gases fillin' lungs of little ones, With the ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young". On this issue, I also agree with the Black Eyed Peas. There really has to be more love in this world. After every war, people always say that everything is now well and this is the last war, and then what happens? Another war takes place again. I think that war only comes to place when two or more parties have totally exhausted all methods to see eye to eye with each other. And I do mean ALL METHODS. Even then, the parties should not resort to violence and war as this will just lead to, as the song says, "People killin', people dyin', Children hurt and you hear them cryin' ". Therefore everybody needs to care for each other more. Look out for each other in every moment. Try as much as possible to come to an agreement without resorting to violence, even if it means that you are on the worse side of the deal. If both parties were not so stubborn, a lot of wars, killings and foolish things would not have happened and the world would have been so much more a better place.

Household Smaller but more Affluent

Today I just read an article entitled [Household Smaller but more Affluent]. Basically it is about the latest Census 2010 on households and housing released yesterday. According to the census, the average household size dropped to 3.5 from 3.7. The percentage of homes containing only elderly people rose steadily from 2.7% in 2000 to 4.6% in 2010. Also, the percentage of people who were living alone rose from 8.2% in 2000 to 12.2% in 2010.

I think that this is a very bad sign because these number show that more people are not looking after their parents and only care about earning money for themselves. I think that as young people grow up and mature, they should not throw away respect for their parents as firstly, without their parents, they would not exist and secondly, their parents love them dearly and brought them up to what they are today, and therefore they owe all their lives to their parents.

Through the survey, I can also see that Singaporeans are now more money-oriented and are obsessed with earning money. This is because nearly half of married couples are drawing dual incomes. Singaporeans should concentrate more on their families and not be obssessed with money. There are just so many things money cannot buy.

Two S'pore hotels named and shamed

This post is about an article entitled [Two S'pore hotels named and shamed] . This article is quite old; it was an article in Wednesday's Straits' Times on 9 February 2011. Basically, as the title suggests, it is about TripAdvisor's 2011 list of Top 10 dirtiest hotels in Asia last month.

The Goldkist Beach Resort, a group of chalets located in East Coast Park, Singapore, topped the list. Some of the reviewer's complaints were dirty toilets, stained sheets and towels and roaches. Anothe Singaporean hotel, The Aspinal's Hotel, was ranked third on the list. Some of the reviewer's complaints were that there was a stale smell, the bathroom was filthy, and that there were bedbugs on the mattresses.

I think that these hotels should put more effort into the cleanliness of the hotels. This is because this will have a negative affect on Singapore, the hotels in Singapore and even the hotels that were listed themselves.

Firstly, having such filthy and unkempt hotels will spoil Singapore's image and lower the expectations tourists have on Singapore, especially since that Singapore has been labelled a clean and green city. Having hotels in the list of dirtiest hotels is already absurd enough for Singapore, let alone having one hotel in third place and still another one topping the list!! What's more, this list was made public, meaning that the whole world now knows that Singapore has such filthy hotels. How will foreigners now look at Singapore now?

Secondly, all the hotels in Singapore will also be affected just because of these 2 'black sheep'. This is because when tourists, after staying in those two filthy hotels and go away furious, they will have a mindset that all hotels in Singapore have such low standards and will not want to stay in other hotels in Singapore. This will affect the income of the hotels in Singapore and even Singapore's tourist industry.

Lastly, and needless to say, the hotels listed will themselves also will be affected. This is because once people come to stay, they will never want to ever come back. This will make the income of the hotel drop and drop until the hotels collapse, especially after this list has come out, as now the whole world knows which hotels to avoid if they come to Singapore.

That is why the hotels listed MUST brush up their cleanliness!!

More employers are giving convicts a second chance

I just read an article in Monday's Straits Times. It is entitled [More employers are giving convicts a second chance]. According to the article, a record of 2459 companies pledged to give former convicts a second chance- up 13 per cent from the 2118 registered with the Singapore Corporations of Rehabilitative Enterprises(score) in 2009. A record number of inmates and former offenders were also assisted by Score in their employment efforts last year.

I think that this is a very good sign. This is because if employers give convicts a second chance, then the convicts will then perhaps turn over a new leaf. Doing work will also take the convicts' mind off all the evil things or crimes he has committed in the past. Only then can the convicts really turn over a new leaf and even become successful in the future and earn good, clean money. If the employers do not give the former convicts a chance, they will have no jobs and no income. Only in this rotten situation do ordinary people turn into criminals, because they have no other path to go. In the same way, if former convicts are deprived of proper jobs, they will once again sink into the underworld and go out and commit crimes again.

Hey, the computer gave me an A for my essay

Today, I read an article entitled [Hey, the computer gave me an A for my essay]. It is basically about the computer marking system that some schools like Crescent Girls' Secondary have adopted. Firstly, hundreds of essays are fed into the computer to 'train' it to tell the difference between a bad essay and a good one. Then, teachers setting assignments will choose from a list of topics stored in the database of the computer to give to the students who will write their essays and then feed them into the computer which will grade the essays according to their content, style of writing, grammar and spelling. The software also points out mistakes and tells the students how to correct them.

There are pros and cons in this system. The pros are that mistakes, especially in grammar and spelling, will never be missed and therefore the student can learn and correct more mistakes. A whole load of work is also taken of the teacher's shoulders.

However, the cons are that the topics students are tested are likely to revolve around those stored int he database of the computer and nothing more. Moreover, readers of stories everyone aspires to write are humans, live beings with feelings. A story needs to be able to touch a reader, or make the reader furious, or get the reader excited. Only then is it considered a good story as it can engage the reader. However, how hard one may try, one is never able to 'engage' a computer, and this is the most important point of writing a good story. Therefore, I think that teachers are more suited to mark students' essays as they are humans and students are given a chance to attempt to engage them before they take on the feelings and emotions of the world with their powerful weapons- their books which they have written.

Blog Prompt 30.1.11

Hi. This is the blog prompt for 30.1.11 because I forgot to do it earlier. This is about a survey in which 67% of youths aged 15-35 have friends of different race, religion, or nationality. I think that we should try to make friends of other backgrounds so that we can understand them better and also know more about their practices and so on so that we will not offend them without knowing it ourselves. For me, I do not have friends of other backgrounds because my primary school was a Chinese school and now I am in Hwa Chong which is also a Chinese school so I have no chance of even meeting anyone of a different background. Personally however, I think that making friends of different backgrounds is too troublesome, firstly because friends eat out together more than any other thing they do together and therefore you have to know what your friend cannot eat and also choose a food that both of you like and also are able to eat. Secondly, you have to put up with their different practices which can be very muddling, and if you forget them even briefly, you might offend and hurt them deeply. So I am already very happy with my circle of Chinese friends who are all just like me.

Blog Prompt 7/2/2011

The blog prompt for today is about MM Lee's statistics on student backgrounds. His statistics show that most children who came from wealthy families would be more successful in life while children who came from broken or poor families would not do as well academically.

MM Lee says that he believes good parents would produce good children who would succeed in life but at the same time also believed that every school should have meritocracy.

However, I believe in the exact opposite. I think that it all goes down to the parents and children themselves, not their financial positions. A rich parent could either spoil the child by working everyday and supplying the child with no end of toys to keep them happy, causing the child to be unsuccessful in life or the parent could take the child in hand, look after him properly and give him a proper education, causing him to be successful later on. The child also has responsibility. If he is willing to learn and hardworking, he can become successful even if he is left on his own, but if he is unwilling to learn at all, even the best tutor cannot make him successful.

Atmosphere and theme

This time, we had to find a picture and describe/explain its atmosphere and theme.

This is my picture:

The atmosphere in this picture is terror. How can one not fear for one's life when this huge tsunami is coming upon them like some angel of death?

The theme for the picture can be fear as everyone in the picture is frantically running for their lives, desperate. If you look closely, you can even see the fear written all over the faces of some of the people.

Besides the people, the tsunami also conveys the feeling of fear and terror as it looms above fleeing people, making them look small and powerless to the tsunami's wrath. The difference between the sizes of the tsunami and the people also serves to heighten the feeling of terror as the tsunami now seems to be bigger and scarier than ever, and can take away precious lives in the blink of an eye.

MindMap

Today we had to do a mindmap on the background of 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. The research topic I was assigned was 'Civil Rights Movement'. The website we had to use was www.bubbl.us .

This is my mindmap:

Home-learning ACE activity

This is an additional ACE activity for this term that our teacher gave us during an impromptu home-learning because all the Hwa Chong teachers had to go to some meeting at Nanyang Girls'.

We had to create a comic strip to convey a message.

By dragonboy8686 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

As you can see, this is 'Scared?', my comic strip. Basically it is about being scared. In the first 2 squares, it is as if the boy is going to fight some ferocious animal. However in the end, it turns out that he is scared of a little chicken. The plot is basically to boy trying to be brave and fails miserably, and then still trying to save face, boasting to his dad that he was just a little scared when he has already wet his pants in fear.

After creating the comic, we had to answer these few questions.

1. Why did you choose the different pictures or background?

2. How do they contribute to the elements (plot, setting, characterization) of your narrative?

3.How did you make use of the different elements to contribute to the theme you have chosen?

These are my answers:

1. I chose my background because it was the most suitable one. It looked more like a place where there were supposed to be chickens, because one cannot expect chickens to appear in the midst of skyscrapers in the city centre. The background looked like a scene out of a farm or part of a forest or hunting ground where there was wild chicken.

2.The background is basically the setting for the narrative, which is where the boy finds the chicken. However, it does not really contribute to the plot, but instead just makes the whole story more realistic, because as I have said earlier, you cannot have this story happening in the city centre.

3.In question 2, I have already explained how the setting contributes to the theme I have chosen. For your information, the theme I have chosen is 'pride comes before a fall', as the boy is boastful and tries to show off by trying to scare off the chicken but ends up being chased by the chicken and wetting himself in the process thus embarrassing himself in front of his father. This is how the plot contributes to the theme too. For characterization, I have chosen a boy to scare off the chicken. Actually, kids are more appropriate, hence I could have chosen a girl, but I have chosen a boy for personal reasons. In the last box, I made the boys eyes wide and his pose as such to make him look as if he was justifying himself to his father. I made the father's eyes half-closed to make him look as if he did not believe what the boy said, because the boy obviously was not just 'a little scared' as he actually wet his pants.

Blog Prompt 20.1.2011

The blog prompt for today was: Is it better to have never known something than to have known something and to ultimately lose it later?

I do not have any personal experiences, but I do think that it is better to have known something and than to ultimately lose it later, such as feeling the pain of losing a pet or the pain of breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The reason for my opinion is that no matter how deep wounds are, they will ultimately heal sooner or later. No matter how great the pain in our hearts is, we must still get over the pain. We must put the incident behind us, and get on with our lives.

For example, if you own a pet, and the emotional bond between you and your pet is so strong. Suddenly one day, your pet runs onto the road and gets run over a car. You are shocked. You cry. You wail. You hold it in your arms. You recall all the fond memories you had with the pet. You berate heaven. But in the end you still have to get up, dust yourself down, and just forget it. Even better, you can also advise your friends on having a pet as you personally already know the pain and therefore can tell your friends on your personal experience, so as to prevent your friend from going through the same pain that you did.

Ultimately losing something you have known also acts as a learning experience as you will have known what you have done wrong and what you should have done. If you have done wrong, you can take measures to do right the next time. If there is the pain of losing something, you can then take steps to ensure that there is none, or less pain the next time round.

Therefore I think it is better to know something and to ultimately lose it later.