Fake $50 notes

Hawkers have fallen prey to fake S$50 notes surfacing in Boon Lay Market and Food Centre. The hawkers, who sell drinks, food and vegetables have lost S$300 as a result of the fake notes. According to the hawkers, the culprits will turn up alone when they are busy serving customers at their stalls. Police said they were 72 such cases reported from 2006 till the first half of last year. I feel that the reason the hawkers did not notice the notes at first was because they couldn't tell the difference between a fake and real note. This despicable way of obtaining money is really indescribable. This is no different from stealing money. I really sympathise the hawkers as their hard-earned money are gone just like that. It is really difficult to make a profit already due to the rising cost of rent. However, according to a STOMPer who received a letter ostensibly from the Police, warning about fake $50 notes being used locally, "The culprit uses a fake S$50 notes, commonly bearing a serial number 2EY322725 at pubs, restaurants, petrol kiosks, convenient stores and 4D outlets for purchases." Thus, I hope that people can spread the message as that would result in less people getting conned. All in all, hawkers also have to play their part and be vigilant.

Vulnerability in Apple's Operating System

Hi all, Today, I am going to talk about the glitch found in Apple's Operating System. According to security firms, Apple's operating system for the iPhone, iPad tablet computer and iPod music player have been discovered to have vulnerabilities. The vulnerability could be exploited by remote attackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device. However, at present, experts say that the threat only exists on paper but Apple has to address this issue before it becomes a reality. Apple said that the company was aware of the report and was investigating. One vulnerability is caused by a glitch triggered when a user views data in Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. As Apple's Mobile Safari automatically opens PDF files, a hacker could have embed malicious codes into this files. However, ironically, the only way to prevent Mobile Safari from automatically opening PDF files is by jailbreaking a phone and installing an application called PDF Loading Warner. That application asks for permission everytime the browser tries to open an PDF file. Now, it up to Apple to release a patch that would either prevent Jailbreak from working or close the highlighted security flaw. But, in retrospect, Apple has been slow to fix problems on their mobile browsers. Personally, I feel that Apple, has to change its method on facing problems and creating solutions as the present one is not effective at all. This threat could become major if nothing is done about it, a person could just suddenly lose control of his expensive device just because he opened a PDF file. When the hackers start exploiting the vulnerability, it will be even more difficult for Apple to prevent it, and the unknowing users might fall victim to the hackers. Thus, I feel that Apple should try and solve this problem as soon as possible.

Youth Olympic Games

Hi all, Today, I am going to talk about the Youth Olympic Games which is taking place In Singapore. The Opening Ceremony was held a couple of days ago at the Floating Platform. Singapore has never had so many visitors from so many countries. There are in total 204 nations and 3600 athletes. The first Youth Olympic Games, which is taking place in Singapore, was inaugurated by Our President SR Nathan during the opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony, the athletes were sitting in the stands, watching the showed that was being performed for them. However, now is the time for these young athletes to show case their talents to the world. Although the area for the opening ceremony was not as large as compared to the Beijing Stadium, where the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games took place, but no doubt the level of enthusiasm and energy level had been as high and as great. This had thus became a historic moment for Singapore, where a small island is holding such a big event. This is indeed a big event, the First Youth Olympics Games, and Singapore will be marked down into the History as the first nation to organise this event. While holding the Youth Olympic Games, Singapore would also improve on its economy as more people from all over the world would come to Singapore to watch the Opening Ceremony and also to watch the matches of the sports competitions. Thus, they would tend to stay over in Singapore and also they would go to try out the delicacies in Singapore and the popularity of the food in Singapore would rise and the economy of Singapore would also improve. I wish Singapore good luck in holding this Youth Olympic Games. As the first Youth Olympic Games holder, Singapore must make a very good impression of itself for the other countries

National Day

Hi all, Today was my national day celebration. If you don't know, National Day is to mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. Thus, National Day is very important to a country. Today, we did not go to school in our school uniform. Instead, we could wear our own clothes from home, provided they are red or we can wear the Pe + Khaki combo. I chose the Pe + Khaki combo due to the fact that i was lazy to search for red shirts in my closet. Back to the story, so when i arrived in school, everyone was slacking in class and we were all in a very happy mood due to the fact that there were no lessons on that day. Much to my surprise, there was no one wearing red t-shirts. Everyone was wearing the pe + Khaki combo or just the school uniform. However, during flag-raising, I saw one of my classmates, Carlin, wearing red. So after flag raising, there was this long speech as usual which practically no one listens to(correct me if I'm wrong) and everyone was just staring around and occasionally saying a word or two to the people beside them to pass the time. So when we finally entered the Kah Kee Hall for our National Day celebration, it was very squeezy as there was not much space to start with and 2 levels had to squeeze(the sec 3 and 4s sat upstairs) and there was also the teachers. So mainly, I was talking to my friends and playing my handphone games as I was never interested in the performances. Anyway, there was wushu, malay or indian dance and there was the mass singing of national day songs. So at 10am, the celebration finally ended and I went out with my friends. Yay.

Visit to Peranakan Museum

Hi guys, this time i'm going to talk about my class's visit to the Peranakan Museum at Armenian Street which is near Bras Brasah and City Hall MRT. Anyway, let me get back to the rationale of going to the Peranakan Museum. Well, this term, my class is studying a text titled Emily Of Emerald Hill. This text is in line with the Peranakan as they characters in the text are Peranakan. They practice the culture of the Perankan. Thus understanding of the Perankan tradition, culture will help us more in understanding the text. Therefore, our language arts teacher, Miss Joyce Lim, arranged for us to take a trip to the Peranakan Museum. On that Tuesday afternoon, we left for the carpark in our school straight after class. Yes, we did not eat lunch (That was no problem as the trip to the Peranakan Museum was a short one). Back to the story, Miss Lim gave out some worksheets on the bus which our class grumbled and complained about. When we reached the Peranakan Museum, We stuffed our bags in 2 lockers and went on the complete the worksheet. Luckily, the kind receptionists at the Peranakan Museum provided us with a clipboard. Thus, we started exploring the Peranakan Museum which was 3 stories high and contained everything there was to know about the Peranakans. We visited a room with a video on the history of the Perankans which was very interesting. After that, we went upstairs to view the rest of the galleries. There were galleries such as the weddings and the food. They were all very interesting. I had a interesting time there and i would definitely recommend you to go to the Perankan Museum.

Task 2 - Background of Children in the Darkness

Point of View: The poet is trying to convey the message that war is harming the children in the countries involved in the war. The phrase“Or will a war consume them Their body and their soul” tells us that the author thinks that war is making the children learn the wrong things and thus consuming their soul. Situation and Setting: The situation is the Vietnam War. The author wrote this poem in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The author sees the harsh effects on war on the children of Vietnam. The children live in a “dark” place as they have to learn how to kill others unlike children in other countries who are living in a “bright” place as they learn how to read and dance. Language and Diction: In the first stanza, the author repeats “There are children in the darkness” The use of repetition emphasizes the effect that the children have a very “dark” and sad life. In the third stanza, “could we” is repeated. This emphasizes the fact that the children are very pitiful. The words “light” and “darkness” shows the contrasts between those children and the children in other countries. Personal Response: I personally pity the children in war-struck countries as they cannot live a normal life like children in other countries and I feel that we should do everything we can do help them.

Task 1 - Background of Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness There are children in the darkness Who have not seen the light There are children in the darkness Who someone will teach to fight Chalk and blackboards will not be To this door there is no key From this life they can not flee And these children are not free Could we simply light a candle Could we give them half a chance Could we teach them how to read Could we teach them how to dance Or will a war consume them Their body and their soul Will their life and blood be poured Down some endless thirsty hole Back into the darkness From which there is no flight Back into the darkness Into which there shines no light Henry M Bechtold 2010

Background:

I was in Vietnam in 1967 - 68 and again in 1969. I go back often because my soul lives in Vietnam and I go back to visit it from time to time. I was sitting in my hotel room in Saigon just before Christmas 2009 and I was trying to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them. I was angry but unable to write anything that did not sound trite or weak. I looked at the TV and the news was on. I did not know what the news reader was saying but in the background was a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. This poem flowed out. The words just came to me and I typed as fast as I could to get it all down.

Source: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Children_

NPCC Day

Yesterday was NPCC day. If any of you do not know, NPCC stands for National Police Cadet Corps. So, in order to make it in time for flag-raising, all of us had to fall in in full uniform at 6.30am. I woke up at about 5.30am on that day and i usually wake up at 6.10am. So, it was very difficult to get myself to stand up from the bed. After falling in, the NCOs (Non-commissioned officers) took our attendance and people started streaming in because they were late. They then arranged us with the tallest at the sides and the shortest in the middle. At about 7.10am, we went to the terraces and started falling in there. At about 7.15am, all the students and the band arrived. Soon after, we started singing the national anthem. We could not move during the whole period of time as the audience could see our every action. Thus, we had to endure any insects or inch that was bothering us. It took all of my perseverance to stand still the whole time we were singing the national anthem and taking the pledges. Why do i say "pledges"? It is because on that special occasion, NPCC cadets have to renounce their loyalty to the country by saying the NPCC pledge. Here's a link www.npcc.gov.sg/ourppl_song_pledge.htm

After that, we had to wear our full uniform around the school for the whole. It was truly a memorable experience for me :)

Labour Day

Today was Labour day. As we all know, Labour Day is a public holiday celebrated every 1st of May. However, do we actually know what is the purpose of Labour Day (besides it being a public holiday) and how Labour Day originated? Well, I'll bet most of you don't. Thus, let me explain to you. Labour Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. The majority of countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, and it is popularly known as May Day and International Workers' Day, while some celebrate on the first Monday of September.The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the Eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

As you can see, Labour Day is a day to let the workers who have worked hard for the whole year to have a chance to rest. Thus, Labour Day may seem just as an ordinary holiday for us, but it is especially significant towards labourers as it celebrates their acheivements. I feel that labourers have worked hard over the year to make our life safer and more comfortable. They have very little holidays as compared to us students. Therefore, I think Labour Day is more of a break for the well-deserving labourers and not for us.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a Happy Labour Day. I think that we should use our Labour Day holiday to revise for our studies as we hardly get an public holiday.

Volcanic Ashes in Iceland disrupting air traffic

Recently, I have been reading the newspapers and I was shocked when I heard a huge volcano had erupted in Iceland and caused Air traffic to be disrupted for a long time.

An enormous ash cloud from a remote Icelandic volcano caused the biggest flight disruption since the 2001 as it drifted over northern Europe and stranded travelers on six continents. According to officials, it could take days for the skies to become safe again in one of aviation's most congested areas.

The cloud, floating kilometers above Earth were capable of knocking out jet engines and wrecked travel plans for tens of thousands of people, from tourists and business travelers to politicians and royals.

Non-emergency flights in Britain were canceled, and most stayed grounded until at least midday Friday. Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium also closed their air space. France shut down 24 airports and Germany's Berlin and Hamburg were shut and several flights out of the U.S. had to double back.

This has caused caused airlines direct losses of more than one billion euros. The ash cloud also caused a lot of people to be stranded in other countries.

I feel that man is overly reliant on nature to provide for his needs. This can be shown by the fact that once a volcano erupts, man is helpless and have to be stranded in other countries and suffer losses.

Project's Day Prelims

Today was the project's day preliminary round. In case any of you do not know, project's day is an annual event held in my school. This competition is meant to hone our skills as researchers. It also judges us on several rounds of oral presentations as well as a web-based report. We have 4 rounds of judging every year. First, we have the prelims which is usually held in April, the semi-finals which is held in July, the finals in August and the grand finals in September. Last year, I joined a very good group, which meant I passed prelims and semi-finals without any problems and I got an 'A' grade in the end, which was very impressive for a Secondary 1 student. This year, however, i formed my own group and gathered 3 friends to make a 4 men team. We worked during the March holidays and weekends and our mentor guided us along pretty well, thus we had quite a good presentation to show during the prelims. We were actually supposed to present before recess. However, due to some rearrangement of groups, we became one of the middle few after recess. As we walked down the stairs to start our presentation, my heart was beating like a trip-hammer. I swallowed my saliva and started presenting. We did pretty well and the judges had some questions. However, we already prepared a list of questions we predicted the judges would ask and we had the answers as well. Our predictions did not fail us and we got pass the Question-and-Answer segment safely. My only hope for now is that we could get into semi-finals and the judges have good comments about us. Hopefully it will come through.

Birthday

Hi all, today was my birthday! :) Although many people think that a birthday is a event to be celebrated on a grand scale, i beg to differ. I feel that birthdays are just the same as any other day and we still have to do work and run errands. If we just relax and have a good time and neglect our work on our birthday, we will be scolded by teachers on the next day for not doing our work. Thus, contrary to other's opinion, I feel that we should carry on living our normal lives on our birthday. In the early years of my life, my parents would buy a cake and call our relatives and celebrate my birthday like its the Lunar New Year. After that, when i could choose how to celebrate my birthday, I chose to downgrade and just buy a cake and celebrate with my family. This year, I did something totally different. I did not even bother to buy a birthday cake, which means i did not even bother celebrating my birthday. However, it was a different story in school. My whole class wished my happy birthday and every lesson and kept on embarrassing me. After school, i was also "attacked" by my classmate when i was rehearsing the presentation for my project with my friends. Luckily, I managed to "defeat" him and i could carry on with my rehearsal.

On the whole, I feel that my birthday this year is very different from previous years in many ways.

Brisbane trip - 2nd day

Today was basically just us and the host. So in the morning, we ate some cereal for breakfast. I did not really like it as it was flavourless, unlike the ones in Singapore. So, after breakfast, my host asked us if we wanted to go shopping or to the countryside. Since the city would be similar to Singapore, my friend and I opted for the countryside. We took a one-and-a-half-hour ride to Toowoomba. During the ride, I manage to finish reading a book. :) Once we reached Toowoomba, it was freezing due to the rain and i immediately regretted not bringing a jacket there. Firstly, we attempted to try to find our host's friend's house, but we failed. Then, we said that we were hungry and the host brought us to a old english pub to have our meals. I ordered the chicken kier. It was wonderful and one of the best foods I have ever tasted. When I sliced open the chicken, butter with garlic flowed out like a river. The butter was melted and the chicken was hollowed out in the middle to let the butter have space. At first, I thought that butter was lemon sauce because I never imagined that butter would be like this. I took a bite and it turned out to be very nice. The fries were also very crispy, alot better than Singapore's. After lunch, we went to play snooker while we waited for the rain to stop. I lost to the host due to my inexperience. :P After a nice lunch, we went home because we had to attend church at 4.30pm. The church had a live band playing christian tunes and I was very impressed by it. We had fruit salad for dinner and I was left hungry for the night. :(

Brisbane

As you all know, I had to go the Brisbane for an exchange programme. We reached Brisbane at about 7.30 am. After that, we went to collect out luggage, but there was some problem with the baggae system and our luggage did'nt move. After like 15 minutes, the luggage moved and I was able to collect my luggage(19.8 kg). Then we went out to meet some of our hosts. The teachers Mr G. and Mrs Mills were all very friendly and the students were very initiative as well. After leaving the airport, we went to this place called Mount Cootha. We were supposed to be able to see the whole of Brisbane from there, but unfortunately, it was raining so we had to hide in the souveinir shop until the rain stopped. I also found out that the Australian stuff were very expensive and so, I did not buy any souveinirs. My apologies. So we went out once the rain stopped, but there was a mist so we could not really see anything. After that, we went on a boat ride called city sights. It was supposed to bring us around the city and the interesting sights. But, it was very boring and I fell asleep (I was not the only one). After the bus ride, we went on a boat ride and it was very nice. The wind was blowing very fast and when it starting raining, the raindrops were like machine gun bullets. After the boat ride, we went for lunch. After lunch, we met our respective hosts and went to the host's house. It was a 2-to-1 homestay, so i played with my laptop and my friend read his book. We had lamp roast for dinner and it was very nice. :D

Interpersonal: Interview

I decide to interview my mother about her views on prejudice and discrimination. 1) Me: What is your definition of prejudice? Mum: Prejudice is the generalisation of a certain type of people and thus do not like them. 2) Me: Can you give me a example of prejudice? Mum: Prejudice can be found in Singapore. An example would be that Singaporeans do not like foreign workers as they work in the construction yard and are thought to be low-class. So when they see foreign workers, they tend to not go near and interact with them. 3) Me: What is your defination of discrimination? Mum: Discrimination is like people dislike a certain class of people and act out their dislike, such as not going near them etc. 4) Me: Can you give me a example of discrimitnation? Mum: Discrimination would be like the common people in Singapore discriminate against gays. Most Singaporeans think that gays are disgusting and should not interact with them. Singaporeans typically keep their family away from them as well. 5) Me: Is there any difference between prejudice and discrimination? Mum: I'm not sure if there is any difference, but I think that discrimination would be the action while prejudice is the thought. These two words are linked together very closely and I'm not sure if I explained the difference correctly.

Naturalist: Mockingbird's habitat

The mockingbird's habitat is in open country with thickets, farmland and desert brush. They live in places ranging from the Canadian border down through South America. I think that the mocking birds live in Maycomb due to the fact that it is very similar to their natural habitat. Mocking bird do not like people to desturb their nests and Maycomb is no densely populated. This explains why mockingbirds would want to live in Maycomb. Maycomb is a argicultural country, thus there is a lot of farmland, which is similar to their natural habitat. Some animals that can live in Maycomb would be the racoon and squirrel. They can live in Maycomb as Maycomb has a lot of trees and there is a lot of plants for the animals to feed on. Maycomb is not a urbanized country and thus almost any type of small animal can be found there. I think most, if not all tropical plants could be found in Maycomb. This is because the Maycomb is an agricultural country and is not very developed and urbanised yet. This also means that Maycomb has thick dense forests. Maycomb receives alot of sunshine throughtout the year, this will enable more types of plants to survive. Maycomb also has alot of water due to the amount of rainfall they receive. So, most tropical plants will survive in Maycomb.

Multiple intelligence quiz

As you can see, I am a interpersonal and naturalistic person. This means that I learn best when doing work with others and outdoors. However, I am not a logical and linguistic learner. This means that I do not learn well with words and numbers. I feel that the Multiple Intelligences test is very useful as it allows people to know how they learn best. Thus, people would not have to put themselves at an disadvantage as they will know how they will learn best. This test is also free. Thus, it will be accessible to everyone. However, there are a few disadvantages to this test. A disadvantage would be that some people would lie during the test and thus will not get accurate results. Another disadvantage would be that there are not enough questions to really determine a person's learning abilities. An example would be that for the interpersonal type of questions, it did not cover all the fields involving people.

Chinese New Year

I just finished celebrating Chinese New Year. During this time, I was very busy as I had to collect money from relatives :D and interacting with cousins etc. So, as usual, I went to my grandmother's house in the morning at about 10am. When I was there, we took our usual family photo and had a sumptuous lunch, which had abalone, sea cucumber, pig tendon and a lot of other good food. This year, my grandmother actually opened 6 cans of abalone! Then, we went to my great-grandmother's and grand uncle's house to visit and collect money :P. After a whole day of visting, we went to my maternal grandmother's house to visit her and then finally back home to rest for about 1 to 2 hours. Then we went to my aunt's house to eat steamboat. The second day was not as hectic and we visited the temple my father goes to as he noes the abbot there. To my amazement, the abbot actually hired a lion dance troupe. My ear drums almost popped when they started banging and clanging their instruments, so I heaved a sigh of relief when it finally ended. After reaching home, my mother cooked instant noodles for the whole family to eat. Then, my sister and i had to do our homework as the teachers gave alot of homework during the chinese new year. :( I then went to my grandmother's house to eat steambout. Usually, in previous years, I will gamble with my father's family and i will usually earn abot $120++. But this year, I gambled alot lesser as my luck was not very good. However, i still managed to make about $30+. :S Instead, I borrowed my 9 year old cousin's gameboy SP and played pokemon emerald. And to my surprise, it actually turned out to be quite fun! So, thus chinese new year turned out to be quite fruitful and I rediscovered a old game. :D

Revival of blog

Hi all! I'm going to revive this dead blog, because I'm trying to create my own identity through blogging. So I hope that you will follow this blog to show your support. Thanks all. :D

The seriousness of H1N1 and the precautions we can take against it

Do you guys know what is H1N1? Some of oyu may know while some of you may not. So, let me define H1N1. H1N1 is a subtype of the species Influenza A virus. H1N1 has mutated into various strains including the Spanish Flu strain. Let me tell you something more interesting. The 2009 swine flu outbreak is an epidemic of a new strain of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 identified in April 2009. It was thought to be a mutation (reassortment) of four known strains of influenza A virus subtype H1N1: one endemic in humans, one endemic in birds, and two endemic in pigs (swine). H1N1 has been spreading around the world, even Singapore has over 1000 cases and the numbers are growing more and more rapidly day by day. There has been 94512 cases and 429 deaths around the world. Recently, someone died of H1N1 in Singapore. It was a 49 year old man died on Saturday afternoon. He died of a heart attack, contributed by severe pneumonia and H1N1 infection. The victim also had diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. In order to prevent ourselves from catching the H1N1 virus, we have to follow some safety precautions, like: 1. Taking your temperature regularly 2. Go to the doctor if you feel unwell or have a flu 3. Do not to crowded places 4. Do not share things like utensils, cups, toothbrushes etc. without washing them throughly 1st If you take care of your health and follow the precautions, you are most likely to be safe. However, you cannot take H1N1 lightly. It is a very serious problem and there is every chance of you getting an infection. Please leave your comments. Yhank you.