"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.

"The

"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.