Whenever I stop

I want to stop,

my brain tells me so,

but when I do,

I get

further

further

and further away.

I really want to stop,

my body tells me so,

but when I do,

I get

further

further

and further away.

I have to stop,

my brain's dying,

but when I do,

I get

further

further

and further away.

I really have to stop,

my body's dying,

but when I do,

I get

further

further

and further away.

I must stop,

so says my heart

but when I do,

I drift

further

further

and further away,

till I saw the angels and the clouds.

No more long bus rides?

No more long bus ride? More short-distance bus rides? Would this benefit us or trouble us instead?

Personally speaking, I do not actually think that more short-distance rides would actually benefit us at all. The intention of the LTA for pushing forth such a policy is so that they would be able to solve the problem off having too long waiting times for buses. However, in trying to tackle such a problem, the LTA might have actually inconvenience the rest of those who do not really mind the long bus waits. What are the advantages of having long bus rides that caused such a debate?

With the long bus rides, the commuters going to work or to school would be able to catch up on lost sleep. They wake up early in the morning so as to be able to reach their destination on time, and hope to catch up on lost sleep in the bus so as not to feel too tired later on in the day, but with such a new policy, would they still be able to catch up on lost sleep? Probably not. This is because with the new policy, there would be lesser long distance direct buses to get the commuters straight to their destination. With lesser direct buses, it means that they would have to transfer to a MRT station and taking an MRT to the station that is nearest to their destination and then taking another bus to get them to their destination. With more transfers around, how would they be able to sleep on the buses while going to their destinations, when they have to transfer buses every 20 minutes?

Furthermore, such a policy is also very troublesome to some commuters. To some commuters, such a policy would not be a problem to them, since they might be living near their destination or that their destination is right beside an MRT station. However, to some others, it is extremely troublesome. Why is this so? Simple. After taking a bus to the MRT station, they still have to take an MRT before reaching another MRT station and FINALLY reaching their destination after taking ANOTHER bus. Not only does such a policy prevent them from resting on the bus, it also causes a lot of trouble for certain commuters.

Apart from being unable to rest on the buses and it being very troublesome to many commuters, there is another problem for them to face, that is, even longer bus waits. The original purpose of the LTA proposing such a policy is so that the commuters would have to wait less for their buses. Have they actually thought that it may have backfired to those who need to transfer buses/trains often? Whenever they transfer buses/trains, they have to wait even longer for their buses every time?

I believe that with such a new bus policy, it does not actually help many commuters, but trouble them even more. Who knows? Such a policy might even result in them actually being LATE!

Distance fares

On July 3rd, the LTA put forth a new policy to the rest of Singapore. According to them, this policy would allow them to save money when it came to travelling around by bus. However, did this really help us save money? Or was it simply just a policy to help the LTA earn much more money? What is this policy all about, that creates so much debate when it came to whether it helped commuters save, or spend more money?

Just a few years back, one paid the bus fare by entry, for example, when a commuter takes a bus once, and transfers over to the next bus to complete his journey, he has to pay twice the fees needed. Let's say that each time you take a bus, you pay 50 cents. With the old system, when you changed buses twice, you have to pay twice the fee, resulting in the commuter paying a dollar. This means that you pay more when you change more buses, and that it is cheaper to take a direct bus to the desired location. However, the situation is now changed. With the new policy in place, then the situation is reversed instead. One no longer has to pay by the number of times he takes the bus, but by the distance traveled instead. This policy benefits those who transfer buses often, as they no longer have to pay by the amount of buses they take, which would lead to a high bus fare since they transfer buses a lot, but pay by the amount of distance traveled.

Such a policy has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advantages of such is that it benefits those that transfer to other buses very often to complete their journey. The downside of such a policy is that it does not benefit those that actually take direct buses to their desired locations. Think of it this way. A commuter who has to take a direct bus to his desired location, say from Choa Chu Kang to Tampines, has to pay for the entry fee for the bus ride, say 50 cents. This small sum of money would allow him to reach his desired location. However, with a new policy, the same commuter has to pay a lot more since the bus fare is calculated by the amount of distance traveled and not the number of times he or she enters the bus. This results in him not just being unable to save money, but ending up paying more.

Let's have an example to allow ourselves to picture better. When a student like me takes a direct bus ride from my school to my house, I only need to pay 55 cents for the bus fare, since I only entered a bus once. However with this new policy, I instead have to pay 80 cents instead of the original 55 cents. If I take the bus for 5 days a week, that means I have to pay 25 cents more every day. I would have to pay 5 dollars more than I usually have to with the old policy. Does this actually help us to save money? Does it? IT DOES NOT.

I am not saying that it would not save money for ALL of us but majority of us. This does not mean that the LTA has not thought of anything to actually try to benefit those who do not benefit from the policy. There are policies to allow such a policy to benefit everyone. What is this policy then?

This policy is to reduce the amount of direct buses but instead increase the number of buses that lead to MRT stations instead, so that commuters can take a bus to an MRT station and continue their journey by MRT. HOWEVER, does this really benefit us? Would such a policy be a curse of a blessing?

I believe that such a policy is more of a CURSE than a blessing. Why do I think so? I would finish up this topic in the next post.

Book review: The Final Days

Title: The Final Days

Author: Alex Chance

What it is about:

Karen Wiley, recent qualified San Fransisco psychologist, thought she understood moral dilemma. Then an anonymous child cries to her for help via letters: "O God help me hes going to hurt me if you don't do what he says". No one Karen knows is in trouble, but the letters keep coming. Then something far worse: "He knows where you are now I had to give it to him". Until the horror in the Trueblood trailer, Ella McCullers, police chief of Canaan, Utah, believed she knew crises of faith. Abruptly promoted to senior investigator of the state's most high-profile kidnapping case, her only leads are a decaying tombstone, a missing cat and a little mute girl with ghastly formless nightmares. "Daddy says go to the church of the final days" was also another letter sent by the child. In truth , it began with the Cult of the Final Days, and a long-buried history of murder. Now Karen Wiley must cross the desert wilderness to play a deadly game disguised as a righteous quest for the truth.

Personal opinion:

I think that this is a very interesting book for a few reasons, namely the suspense that is created, the different viewpoints and language that is used to show the characteristics of each character, and the eerie atmosphere created by the letters

The suspense in the book was built up gradually, unlike most of the other thrillers that I have read, which does not have this element of suspense in the plot. The books starts out with the mind of a madman, which leaves the readers in suspense, as we gasp in horror at what he does at the start of the book. This suspense is built gradually as he starts to talk about his fetish for phone books to target his new victims. We do not know who he really is at the start of the book and are left in suspense as why he was introduced as the first chapter is not immediately revealed to us. Such an introduction entices us to read on. No one except for Karen trusted the letter and this also builds up the suspense gradually as it isolates her from the rest of the world. This gives us the feeling that she is the only one who was in danger, and this builds up the suspense, as part of us actually worry for her while reading the book.

The choice of words and scenes in the book is also something that I enjoy in the book, as it clearly depicts the characteristics of each specific character. The first character that is introduced in the story is Jon Peterson. He is introduced as a madman and this is clearly shown in his weird fetish for phone books. He is further depicted as such by him targeting his random victims by using the phone books. However, the diction changed when introducing Karen Wiley, and the choice of words give us the impression of a slightly confused but reliable adult instead of the delusional madman introduced earlier. The diction was then changed again to show the innocence of a young child of the two divorced couple, when she just wanted to make her father happy. This change of diction to introduce the character's characteristics is interesting and allows us to fully grasp the atmosphere.

Piano

Its dark black structure

filling the room with sounds

Its stream of queer buttons

filling the room with creativity

Its wooden base

filling the room with strength

Its inner mechanism

filling the air with energy

Its dark black structure

Its stream of queer buttons

Its wooden base

Its inner mechanism

Filling the air with music.

Flash Floods that sparked off the lame blame game

Some people grumble and mumbled to themselves as they secured their pants above their knees and trudged through the flood waters even above their knees. More people swore and complained to themselves as their car engines died down gradually, going to a complete stop. Most just gasped at the sight of their destroyed goods. Then the lame blame game starts as everyone starts complaining. "It's the government's fault for not making sure this would never happen". "It's the PUB's fault for not properly maintaining the drainage systems". As the blame game continues, no one actually stopped to think what is the main cause of the entire incident is. Is it really the drainage systems? Is it really the government? Or is it simply an incident that happens once in a blue moon?

In my opinion, the people are not particularly correct either. Look at what they have done to try to "alleviate" the floods. Complain, grumble, curse, swear and the list goes on forever. However, have they actually thought about how the government may not always be the ones at fault? Have they ever thought about how they may be other factors that are beyond the government's control? No, they have not. They only know how to play the lame blame game but never thought about how unreasonable their demands may be. They demand that Singapore must be a flood-free country. The government tries their best to give it to them, but is it really possible, when there are also other factors that may be preventing a flood-free Singapore? Perhaps a suggestion: Mother Nature. The participants of the lame blame game never really stopped to think that such floods may simply be a phenomenon that happens once in may years. Think of it this way, the average rainfall per month for Singapore that month was about 150mm. All that rain fell in two hours. How is it possible that the people are unable to comprehend the fact that it is impossible to stop such an incident from happening? How is possible that the government still blames the PUB for such an occurrence? The people do not even try to understand the governments plight and how it did try to prevent such events from happening. They only played the lame blame game and made the government the ultimate culprit of a trick played by Mother Nature.

I'm not trying to imply that the government is entirely faultless in this event. Think of it this way, the government desperately tries to cover up their faults by pushing the blame to PUB or a clogged drain. Doesn't this just make the government look highly incompetent, when it does not even admit that they MAY be a cause of the flood and that pushing the blame to others just make it even more so? They blame the clogged drain but they did not really stop to think how it was near impossible that the drain could even get clogged to begin with. The drain was as large as the width of and SBS bus. You don't see debris as large as SBS buses suddenly floating down the drains and clogging them everyday do you? It just looks like a dumb excuse that the government came up with to cover up for themselves, since they think that they may be the cause for it. Furthermore, they blame PUB for not checking the drains frequently enough to prevent the flood. However, they did not stop to think that PUB might have checked the drains frequently? The drains were indeed checked by the PUB a mere three months ago and the drain was clear then. That did not stop the floods did it?

What I'm trying to say is that the people should just shut up and think for that one moment that they should not blame the impossible on the government and that the government should see how it may be one of the causes of the floods to begin with. The lame blame game is pointless. Both parties are to blame.

Expository essay exercise: What makes a superhero?

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Superman! You look at your favourite superhero soaring across the sky to save the damsel in distress. You gasp in fascination as your favourite superhero lifts cars and thrashes villains. We all know that they are more than just a sack of flesh, blood and bones, but has anyone actually stopped to think what makes them “super”? Has anyone stopped to think what makes them different from a “hero” that leaps into the air and crashes down almost immediately? What makes them so special? Without the brain of a fool, all the luck in the world, and a high-tech costume, a superhero would be no different from an average schoolboy with an “S” on his T-shirt and his briefs outside his pants.

The brain of a fool is highly essential in a superhero. Think of it this way. Without the brain of a fool, would the superhero be rush stupidly into danger to save the damsel in distress when there is a monster or an alien the size of a skyscraper? Probably not. If Superman had the brain of an average kindergarten kid, he would have realized that monsters were scary and that it would be pointless when the monster could break him like a toothpick. If he had half the brain of an average teenager he would have realized his outfit would have looked ridiculous. However, it is exactly because superheroes do not possess the brain of a scholar that makes them so heroic. Spiderman was battling a 100-foot tall pile of sand that could never be destroyed but that did not stop him from diving head-first into danger. He simply went “Mary Jane!” and rushed to save her without actually thinking how impossible the task was. It may also be the fact that it was because of him having the brain of a fool that he thought he could have killed the pile of sand somehow.

Luck is the next most important thing that must never be lacking in a superhero. Ultraman gets thrashed around by huge aliens time and time again, and more often than not, his little LED on his chest flickers red and he lies on the ground half-dead while the city screams in horror at the sight of the mutation that threw Ultraman off the ground. Lucky for Ultraman, the alien creeps towards him at the speed of a snail. By the time it reaches Ultraman, he recovered miraculously and jumps up again and throws the alien back into space. Without his insane amount of luck, he would have met a lightning-quick aliend that would have thrown Ultraman down and ended him there and then. Another superhero with that requires luck is probably Ironman, where with a lot of luck, his beam touches that of his ally’s and it created an explosion, killing the enemy. He would simply kill his ally by missing if he had no luck to speak of.

A high-tech costume is the most important in a superhero. Spiderman would not be shooting webs if he did not have a super suit that does it for him. Imagine, would Superman be able to attract the attention of his enemy, if he did not wear his red briefs outside a ridiculous blue suit? Would the Hulk be able to show his power if there was not a suit for him to burst out of and scare the enemy into surrendering? This shows the importance of a suit to a superhero. An “S” on your suit would not save your life, the suit would.

Without the brain, the luck and the suit, “super” would be erased from the dictionary of the superheroes. Without them, you would get insane fools jumping from building to building, and falling to their deaths in the most comical manner if they failed to have a firm step.

Conscience

Can I steal it?

Yes, yes please do.

No, don't else you would be in trouble.

Can I skip school?

Yes, we can go places.

No, no, please don't.

Can I sneak out?

Yes, yes please do.

No, no your Mum would be angry,

Can I do it?

Can I,

Can I,

Can I?

Yes, yes please do, you know you want to.

There was no answer at all.

The sadness of life

When you want to let trouble fly,
when you want to close your eyes,
something,
somewhere,
tells you it ain't right
and you brain fights,
to erase the fatigue,
to ease the pain,
but fails.
The sadness of life.

When you are primary one --> Exams or not?

When you were primary one, how did you feel because of exams? Stressed? Relax? Or simply too caught up in the fun of making friends to actually care?

I am quite sure that many of the primary one students in schools before such a program changed the system have encountered the ultimate challenge in life: Stress. Perhaps it is not only these students giving themselves this stress. Has anyone actually stopped to think that there are also other factors that lead to these young children feeling the stress of the exams?

A common factor in creating such stress for the primary one students is their parents. Most of the parents that enter their child into the school for the first time are not sure of what to expect at the end of the year. Difficult questions for their children in the test? Easy questions that they can breeze through? Due to these doubts that parents have about what to expect for their child, they "force" their children to study for hours and hours "just in case". Forcing them to study so much is probably to make sure that they would definitely ace their exams with ease and hence would not have to worry so much about their exams, resulting in lesser stress. However, did any of these parents actually stop to ponder about what could have really caused stress for their children? These primary one students are young children just fresh out of kindergarten, is it necessary to pile them up with so much stress just because of the exams?

Many parents give their children stress due to the exams. It is because of the exams that there are parents like these that exist in our society. It is because of the exams that these primary one students feel stress. Is this stress really necessary at such a young age? What if the exams were removed just for one year? Would that change anything?

I believe that removing the exams for the primary one students for just their first year in their primary schools is probably one of the best decisions made. Think of it this way. they just emerged out of kindergarten, without actually knowing how life in primary school would be like. They just emerged out of kindergarten, with no clue how different life in kindergarten and in primary school can be. Shouldn't we allow them to get used to such an environment before actually throwing the pressure that our society faces at them? Shouldn't we allow them to familiarise themselves with such a strange and new atmosphere before letting them face the unnecessary pressure?

Without the exams for just that one year, the primary one students would be able to make friends, to familiarise themselves with the new study system, to know that there are people who care about them in the school. They would be able to adapt to such a strange and new environment and possibly even study better than they would with exams. Another way of looking at it would be that with the exams, they may not have familiarised themselves with the new study environment they may not perform as well as they would when they are familiar to the new study atmosphere. Furthermore, I believe that one's interest in something would result in him or her learning faster than they would when they are not interested to begin with. I feel that first year of the students primary school life should be spent on trying to gain an interest in studying, instead of already starting preparations for tests. Teachers should teach material that would pique the interest of the students in the class and this would allow them to find studying interesting. This interest would result in them either being very enthusiastic when taught topics that would be tested in the exams next year or do more research on their own, resulting in even better grades.

The good thing about these primary one students not having exams for their first year is that they would not face any pressure at all. It is also because there is no pressure that makes having no exams for the first year slightly worrying.

With no stress at all, would the students learn to adapt to the slightly more hectic school life in future? With no stress at all, would they be able to survive in such a fast-paced society like ours?Probably not. Apart from being unable to adapt to the hectic lifestyle that they would face in future, they would also find it hard to adapt to the exam conditions set during their exams in their second year. They would be clueless about what to do, clueless about time management, and clueless about how important the exams really are to them. Is this what we want to achieve by removing the exams for a year from their lives? Most probably not. Furthermore, with no stress at all, would the primary one students still concentrate in class? Most probably not, since they know they would not be tested anyway, and would not even bother looking through what they have done before at all, making going to school rather pointless.

Simply because of this problem, I do not think that the exams should be completely removed. I believe that there should be an exam at the end of the year, but the questions set would be much easier. The purpose of this exam would simply be to let the student have a taste of the exam conditions so that he or she would not be entirely clueless when he takes the exams in the following year. Knowing that there would be exams would also force them to concentrate in class as they know that they would be tested and would hence study a little for it.

Hence, I believe that having no exams at all would have also rather adverse effects despite having multiple good points too.

Letting go of the cane

Over the years I have become less and less convinced of the merits of spanking a child. It is not the ideal way to raise one.

At best, it is the quickest solution to a long-term challenge.

As a parent myself, I have wavered between periods of spanking and not spanking, imagining it to be joyless but an occasionally necessary evil.

Now I am resolved not to spank my children at all – or at least, to die trying.

Those who support corporal punishment point to how we were all beaten as children and grew up none the worse for it. Most of us are fairly responsible citizens.

Then they point to how children those days are naughtier than before – more defiant, less respectful – and the difference, they say, is that they get away with more now.

But whether children are truly worse now than in the past has not been shown either way. They are certainly different; they come to things much earlier than we did.

But like all children, past and present, they need guidance.

And when it comes to discipline, schools can only do so much.

Parents have the unenviable lion’s share of raising them so they become responsible, respectful and resourceful adults.

Using the cane, however, is unlikely to be the most constructive way to achieve this.

Perhaps it’s true that most of us turned out all right despite having been caned as children.

The untestable hypothesis is whether we would have turned out better without it.

And even if it did us no lasting damage, what exactly was it supposed to achieve?

That was something I could never resolve, even in those moments I stood brandishing a cane in order to bend a child to my will.

Is the rod punishment or deterrent?

A deterrent would be like those anti-barking collars, which zaps dogs with a jolt of electricity every time they yap. Soon they learn to keep their mouths shut.

The problem with using the canes that way was, it wasn’t all that effective.

My children seemed as likely to commit the same infringements as before. Would I have to beat them to a pulp before they got the message? Did I have to up the ante every time?

I know of someone who got out his belt so often that his son eventually would just bring it to him and say, “Not too hard, please.”

That’s a tough kid. But is he a better one?

As for caning as punishment, many parents use it as such.

But there are other forms of punishment which may be just as effective without being violent. Remove all privileges. Ground them. Put them down to work. Hey, get creative.

Parent already have power over their children, simply by being their sole providers. They don’t need a big stick to prove it.

The sinister thing about corporal punishment is that it’s often just sheer venting. The line between discipline and abuse is probably crossed too often.

They tell you to be calm while administering a spanking, but the truth is that most parents hit their children when they are angry.

And children are utterly defenseless in such moments. There is no quid pro quo. I can hit you but you hit me back and you are in big trouble.

Smacking your little one out of anger is the worst feeling.

There are few more draining responsibilities than parenting. It taxes all your reserves of patience and wisdom, and there’s nothing like having a child to discover how little you may have of either.

It doesn’t help if your life is claimed by many other things – that necessary evil called work, for example.

The lack of time is the greatest enemy of parents, not the lack of corporal punishment.

When time is of the essence, it’s tempting to take the easy way out: give in (Junior doesn’t want to tidy up his room? Never mind, the maid can do it), or shut down a situation quickly by using force.

Either way, the idea is to avoid dealing with uncomfortable issues.

But discipline is not about making children behave better, or making them more amenable and agreeable.

It’s about empowerment, so they can deal with all those demands of life on their own once you have to let them go.

This means making time and space to listen to what they really need – which may be expressed in unlikable, even unacceptable, ways – and then thinking through a solution. Not wielding a rod to gain instant compliance.

It’s a tall order which I fail all the time to live up to.

But I know I have to try, because if I’m not on my child’s side, who’s going to be?

R. WILKS HCI 3/05

Personal response:

I do not totally agree with the writer’s views.

I do not agree with the point that the writer has made regarding the fact that parents should not use “corporal punishment” to punish and educate the child but should instead use other methods such as “making time and space to listen to what they really have to say”. The writer is under the assumption that such a method would work and that the child would be educated in a way that would give desired results. The fact that the children who educated in such a way may actually turn out in the opposite undesired way as they might even take whatever “time and space” that the parent has given him or her and might actually think that the parent is being too soft.

What I think would be a more appropriate way of handling such a matter is that the parent should first start with analyzing the working method of the two methods (corporal punishment or listening to the child and educating him or her slowly) before proceeding with the appropriate punishment/education method. If the parent is unable to properly analyze the child’s character and use the appropriate method, then the parent can use a more “open” method such as simply communicating and negotiating with the child first, so that both parent and child can come to a mutual understanding, and hence preventing the possibility of a backfire.

I also do not agree with the writer about the fact that parents usually hit or punish their children simply out of anger. I actually think that these parents actually hit or punish their children due to the fact that they think that caning can be a deterrent to their wrongdoings, and not just as a simple venting of their rage. The parents think that by punishing their children with “corporal punishment”, they would be able to educate their children into correcting their mistakes as they would “fear” such a punishment again. Hence, I feel that there are parents who actually punish their children with “corporal punishment” and I disagree with the writer that such a method does not work at all, as there is no evidence that is shown by the writer that every single case of using this method to educate the child has not worked at all.

Bijani Twins (Quite an old topic, but I would talk about it anyway)

In 2002-2003, controversy sparked when a neurologist, Dr Keith Goh decided to operate on a conjoined twin. It was worsened when the Bijani Twins did not survive the operation and had to pay the final price for their wish to be separated. Some professionals stated that the doctor should not have conducted the operation due to the high risks involved in it. Some feel that the doctor was over-confident and this might have led to the deaths of two innocent lives.

However, despite the tremendous amount of risk involved the doctors decided to continue with the operation. This was due to the wish by the Bijani Twins to be separated and to each lead their own personal lives. In a letter they wrote for their supporters, they were hoping for this day their whole life. Thus, the doctors wishing to grant them their freedom decided to go on with the operation.

I do not think that the fault lies with the doctors at all. They clearly followed the Hippocratic Oath, with the only intention of wanting to cure the twins. Did they have any intention of killing them from the start? No. The choice of being separated lies with the twins, and this is their choice. The doctors may not be able to change this choice, and hence tried to abide by their wishes, and tried their best to do so. The twins clearly knew the risks of the operation. They knew that by wanting to be separated, they might not make it out of the room alive. Despite knowing these terms, they agreed for the doctors to proceed with the surgery.

How can the doctors be blamed for something that they knew had a considerable amount of risk? All surgeries have risks of failing. This surgery has an even higher risk of failing for the simple fact that it was a brain surgery. The brains of the Bijani twins shared the same artery. The artery is almost impossible to separate as they are the main passageways for blood to flow. This considerable risks were already there from the start, and the Bijani twins knew that. How could the doctors be blamed for the death of the twins, when they have already tried their best? How can they be blamed when the proper procedures are already taken, and there was no negligence showed?

Some actually argue that even attempting the surgery in the first place violates medical ethics. However, does this actually matter? Does this violation of ethics matter? Every surgery has a risk of failure. By trying, would that still be classified as unethical? Think of it from another point of view. If it was unethical to do so, would out medical research be so advanced as it really is now? Probably not, for the simple fact that no one would even dare to try and experiment. I am quite certain that despite the surgery to separate the Bijani twins not being a success, the doctors still learn much from it nonetheless.

In conclusion, I do not think that it is justifiable to blame the doctors for the failure of the operation to separate the Bijani twins, as there were really considerable risks and that they tried their best. Furthermore, without even trying, we may not even be able to reach our current level of medical research now.

Swiss vandal sentenced to five months, three strokes of the cane

Swiss national Oliver Fricker has been sentenced to five months’ jail and three strokes of the cane.

Earlier in the day, the 32-year-old software consultant pleaded guilty to two charges of entering a protected place and vandalising an SMRT train.

For entering a protected place, he could have been fined up to $1,000 and jailed up to two years.

He was facing a fine of up to $2,000 or a jail term of up to three years and at least three strokes of the cane for the vandalism charge.

Fricker’s lawyer Derek Kang told Yahoo! Singapore that he would be filing an appeal on his client’s behalf.

“We are filing an appeal because we feel the sentence is a bit on the high side.”

The 33-year-old lawyer from law firm Rodyk & Davidson LLP said the appeal hearing would take at the very earliest “a few weeks.” When asked if the appeal would succeed, he said he has to be “hopeful” it will.

Acknowledging the huge media interest in the case, Kang also said he was initially taken aback.

“Before the first time, I probably wasn’t aware of how much attention this case had attracted. But I was forewarned that a lot of foreign media would be covering it.”

Kang also added he was in touch with the Swiss embassy, who are providing consular support for his client.

The Straits Times earlier detailed how Fricker and his British accomplice, Dane Alexander Lloyd, carried out their vandalism act on May 15.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharon Lim said the pair came to know each other in Australia about three years ago, and had been keeping in touch occasionally through e-mail. Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Briton told Fricker he would be coming here for a visit for some “non-legal things”.

On the day of the act, the pair collected delivery of a carton of paint at City Hall MRT. By then, Fricker had already used Google to recce where the Changi SMRT depot was and where all the MRT trains were parked.

Later that evening, both men, each carrying a small bag with a few cans of spray entred the depot after cutting a hole in the fence.

After each had spray-painted the words “McKoy Banos” on the MRT carriages, they took some photographs of their work before leaving the same way they came.

Fricker was arrested on May 25, while Lloyd is still at large.

Many think that the Swiss vandal does not actually deserve the punishment, as his works on the MRT train were rather artistic and well drawn. However, in my opinion, I think that it is rather right that that he has to be punished this way. Think of it this way. Despite him not doing much harm to the society, he still managed to trespass the depot and managed to vandalise the train. If he was able to access the depot, he could have been able to do anything to the MRT trains there. If the authorities are not strict regarding this, it would be akin to being lax in security.

Random story (2)

It has been eight years. Eight years have passed since my brother stepped out of the house.. Eight years since the clock in my room stopped moving. Eight years have passed since I first felt alone. Eight years have passed since I, Dan, started to feel truly alone.

Life had not been the same without my brother. Life is barely livable. Life is something that ticks away with every budge of the needle. It is something predictable. It is boring. Or so I thought.

I saw her on the side walk.

She walked with a grace that kept eyes on her, a style of sauntering down the path that made heads turn. She walked with an elegance kept solely to the nobles and the rich. Her hair was long and of a burning hue of dark brown, swaying in the fine cool breeze. Her skin shined in the morning sun. It was a shine that attracted attention. It was a shine that gathered envy and jealously. When she turned, I saw her eyes. It transfixed me. The crystal clear eyes of bright serene blue sparkled in the light of the day. Her dress swayed and flowed with her walk. It was perfection gliding with liquid grace that met my eyes, which transfixed me, that shocked me. The curve of her lips was a symbol of perfection, and her smile showed tranquility and peace. I was transfixed, awe struck by her beauty, mesmerized by her. I found my self following what seemed to me as the most elegant and beautiful person in the world. I found myself under her mesmeric control.

She walked down the sidewalk, oblivious to her charm, oblivious to what she had done to me. I followed her down the sidewalk, slowly, silently, carefully, admiring her perfect self, the shocking sky blue in her crystal eyes. She whom I saw as an angel walked on, heading for the curve that led to the bright forest. She turned. I followed, with questions that pounded in my head. A forest? Why is she entering a forest? Quickening my pace, I followed the small path and found myself looking at naught but the tall trees in the bright forest.

The sky darkened. It was not the darkness of the night, but the darkness of the shadows. The gentle breeze died, replaced with a pungent lingering stench of the dead. The trees spread, covering the dense forest with its dark green cape, throwing the forest into the grasps of the shadows. The air was still, yet the area seemed cold. It was freezing, yet I was not shivering due to the cold, but shivering because of the eerie silence that descended on the now dead forest. Evil. The forest reigned of evil in is full dominance.

An agonized cry shook the air. It seemed like the cry of the dead itself. The lingering stench of the dead grew stronger, mixed with the deranged cries of someone, or something. I looked up, and saw the source of darkness itself.

It had the head of what seemed like a cross between a rotting snake and a monitor lizard, with two horns curling towards the front and two hollows for its ears. Dark leathery wings spread out of its ravaged back and curled forward, flapping and keeping its rotting body afloat, creating a gust strong enough to eradicate anything in its path. There was nothing to cover its dirt-covered bones, save the few patches of rotting flesh that wrapped its torso and parts of its white leg. Black claws extended from every one of its bare fingers, curling inwards towards its spiked knee. Amongst it all, was that hair grew out of its bare, empty skull. It was a burning hue of dark brown. Its red eyes shined in the surrounding darkness and crimson blood dripped from a crack in its deformed skull; blood that seemed as dark as the darkness around it. It shrieked, wrecking the trees that stood in its path. Its eyes fixed on me. Its eyes shone with an invisible force. It was the desire for my death, and my end.

Fear. Fear shook me. I tried to edge towards the edge of the forest but something held me in place. It shrieked once more. With a gust of wind it leapt off the branch and flew towards me. Revealing its fangs it let out another cry and its eyes shone with crimson blood. I couldn’t move. I saw Death coming straight at me. I saw the end of my life in front of me. I squeezed my eyes shut and knew that the end was near.

I was going to die, yet I could not do anything. Nothing at all.

I waited.

I waited for my death. The searing pain. The numbing heat.

I felt nothing.

I opened my eyes.

The creature was frozen in mid air, suspended by an invisible force, unmoving. Eight queer symbols shone from the ground forming an octagon made of glowing lights. Every symbol pulsed one after another in a steady tempo, and the air around it was heavy with what seemed to be raw power. A figure stepped out from among the mass of trees. Blood dripped from the tip of his index finger. The cloak he wore covered his entire body and the blood seemed to be the only colour within the shadows of his figure. Stepping over to the edge of the still-glowing octagon, he reached for the ground, and with his blood, traced eight more symbols in the ground behind each of the initial symbols, forming a second ring around the creature.

There was a glint as he extracted a knife with a silver hilt and sparkling blade and dragged its edge against his hand, drawing a line of blood. The blade grew darker in hue, till it matched the blood pouring out of the open wound. He pressed his bleeding palm onto the ground and the new symbols glowed dark red. A line stretched out from each symbol and connected the symbols together, forming a second octagon.

The air no longer ringed of power, it was now filled with a fizzy sort of energy. Soon, swords made of what seemed to be black light materialized in mid-air and stuck itself into the creature. There was a flash, and the creature was on the ground, cut into pieces and vaporizing on the very spot that it fell on.

The symbols stopped glowing.

Random story (1)

Sky stood unblinking into the depths of the night. Unmoving, he scanned the surroundings, hoping to catch a glimpse of an opening, any opening that could lead him into the ruins of Zarion. Every sound, every cry of the wild animals startled him, how could it not? Think of the jewel, only the jewel, it is most important, nothing else matters, thought Sky, yet there was something about it all that worried him. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to calm himself down but it failed. Looking back up and seeing the guards move away, he knew it was time.

Leaping from the wall, he broke his fall with a roll, trying to lessen the noise made. Sky moved among the cold hard stone, trying to sneak in without the guards knowing. Hiding behind the fallen pillars, he sneaked past the debris and made for the gate. As the guard turned away, he dashed and knocked him out with a blow to the neck. “Not as heavily guarded as I thought,” Sky muttered. “A Jewel in this place and not so many guards as I thought, what are they thinking?”

Every pillar and path were cracked and ruined beyond measure. Shadows lurked at every corner. The silence was deafening. Where were all the guards? All he could hear was his own rasped breathing and the distant echo of his footsteps. He could sense the faint aura of the jewel, and he followed his weak sense of location. The distant beating aura of the Jewel felt ever closer as Sky moved closer to the heart of the ruins. He could definitely locate it now. Quickening his pace, he turned into a corner.

The image of a hall came into view. And there it was! At the back of the hall, stuck in a stone tablet with symbols, chipping off with age, was the Jewel, pulsing with a magnificent hue of crimson red, its radiance greater than anything in the world. Sky’s heart jumped as the Jewel pulsed. He approached the Jewel. Shock found its way to him.

Countless bodies stood at the base of the wall, which the tablet was mounted on, their faces frozen with a look of agony, unmoving. Their faces were deathly pale, as if the blood which pulsed through their veins were sapped from their very bodies. He looked at their outstretched arms in horror, all seemingly reaching for the Jewel, with their fingers leaving bloody trails in the ancient stone, forming a strange pattern that glowed dark crimson. The stench of rotting bodies nauseated him, yet he could not force himself to budge. Every single part of his body was frozen, as he stood staring at the numerous bodies in disbelief, petrified. The Jewel pulsed. And soon after, the once red Jewel dimmed, and lost its radiance. The Jewel pulsed yet again and more of its magnificence vanished into the unknown oblivion. The Jewel darkened into black, and fell from its place on the stone tablet. Sky forced his body to move to the Jewel, and finally understood. The Jewel was the Jewel of Death, no longer Crimson as if it had been satisfied by the deaths of others.

The tablet read:

May those who reach towards the treasure,

May those whose greed drives them forward,

Feel the pain,

Feel the wrath,

And vanish into the unknown oblivion,

Where terrors await.

And Death follows.

Heat rippled through the room. Closing his eyes, he could hear the countless whispers. Where they came from, Sky did not know. All he could feel was the cold hard floor of the eerie dungeon and the distant screams of the agonized voices. Dilemma. He was in a quandary of what to do. It seemed as if his feet could not budge, as if his feet was engraved on the silent stone floor, as it fear has come to life, choking him, trapping him, isolating him in the very depths of the darkness around him, in the evil that surrounded him.

The Jewel beckoned. It pulsed with ripping power, though not as strongly as he thought it would be. “It is there, the key to the Dreona secrets, your ancestors’ secrets, the key to unlimited power… move your useless Dreonan body!”

His palm enclosed over the warm blunt edges of the pulsing Jewel. He could hear the countless silent screams that dominated this mind, which shook his body, which threatened his existence. Amongst the cries of agony, he could feel the beating of a thousand hearts, the pulse of the ages. The Jewel was in his hand. It was finally in his hand. The secrets of the Dreona clan, the secrets of his ancestors, the power of the ages, never seemed closer, seemingly near his very soul. The key to his own Dreonan body was in his very hands. The lives of probably thousands were in his very palm. “You would not regret it, they would not haunt you, they are dead,” he reassured himself. “Just use it, use it and unlock your strength. Use it and free your Dreonan self.

He closed his eyes.

Use it…

Use the power of the ages…

Use life itself…

Use it…

It poured in. It was an unthinkable flow of strength, never ending, never ceasing. Queer as it was, every bit of power that was poured into him was a stab to his heart. Every soul that entered his body was a scream of agony in his mind. It was raw power. It was strength. He was unaware of everything around him, save the flow of energy, and the swirling darkness in his mind. His vision blurred. His mind throbbed. The Jewel pulsed. His vision dimmed yet again. Another self seemed to have emerged from his mind, separating the Sky he is, and the Sky that he is not. Sky could feel the rippling energy that he emanated. It beckoned him, it attracted him, and it pulled him. The darkness thickened. There was naught but the desire for power in his mind. The darkness covered and reigned in the possessed mind.

The side of his mouth curled upwards. The sky blue in his eyes was gone, replaced by nothing but the deep dark emptiness of his now possesed self. The dark eyes flashed for a moment and lazy wings flicked out from his back, wings that were as dark as the night sky. The wide wings dipped and swept everything before it into a chaotic pile, and lifted him off the ground. The Dreonan senses unlocked and tasted the cool night sky. “Feel the freedom reign! It was wise of you to accept my offer of sheer power,” his other self cackled. There was no answer.

E-LEARNING 26th May

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay –

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!
By Hubert Wilson

TASK 1

Background

Hubert Wilson was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. Along with a dozen or so intelligence school graduates, he prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang.

Hubert's health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago his central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. No physician has ever rendered any medical assistance. The symptoms were probably due to the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during Hubert's year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure. Since his brain still functions moderately well, and he has mobility issues, he turned to writing just like his late father and late singer(and writer)Johnny Cash.

What the poem is about

The poem is about mostly about the sights and sounds of the Vietnam War. Modern chemical agents were used, such as the “Orange Agent” and other colour agents, as can be seen from the numerous colours that were state in the poem. It was reported by Wikipedia, “Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. Many Vietnamese were killed by exposure to such a chemical and many of its later generations were affected as well. The purpose of this poem is probably to warn us that war does not only affect one generation but even its decendants.

TASK 2

Point of view

• This poem is written in the point of view of either a war veteran or someone who has seen the after effects of the war, basically someone who does not necessarily need to be involved in the war at that time, but someone who was born in the later generations after the war.

-This can be seen from the rather third point perspective of the poet.

-“America did not foresee”

-This is written in the perspective of someone who has seen what America had not foreseen and hence is either someone who has seen what has happened or someone who lived from the war and saw what happened.

Situation and setting

• The poem shows the aftereffects of war and that war does not only last for that generation but may even bring it on to innocent members of later generations

-This can be seen from certain quotes

-“ Toll on the innocent and unborn.”

-“ Expecting others to pay a high price.”

-These quotes show the damage or the harm done to innocent generations.

-The “others” in this case, represents the later generations, and the “high price” is probably the deforms or the deaths of the future generations caused by the aftereffects of the “orange agent” or other chemical weapons

• The poem also shows the emotional conflicts of war.

-This can be seen from a few quotes in the poem

-“Toll on the innocent and unborn”

-This probably shows the emotional agony and depression of the family members of those who were innocently killed in the war and those who died due to the aftereffects of the chemical weapons used in war.

Language/Diction

• The poem also uses several words to demonstrate that war is extremely large scale and probably not as simple as just downright killing

-This can be seen from the use of certain words

-“Potpourri”

-This word shows the mixture or combination of certain or in this case the different ways in which the soldiers

were killed or the number of soldiers that were killed, showing that the war was extremely large-scaled, with even

different methods of killing the enemies.

-“Toll”

-This word is used to show that war is sacrificial and can be unbeneficial to everyone, as everyone has to pay a price to war, even if one may not be directly linked to war.

Personal response

I strongly agree with the poet in the sense that war is unnecessary and may even drag many innocent people into it, even if they have no part to play in the war. With one simple biological weapon, many generations may be affected and may even die due to its aftereffects, and this is extremely pathetic, in my opinion, as they have no part in the war, and may not even know of what happened a few generations ago and hence have to suffer due to the mistakes of their earlier generations.

Criticism ---> Turns towards the better or a fall towards the worse?

Should we criticize others for what the do? How do we take criticism in our stride and learn from it?

Many of us are unable to accept and take criticism in our stride. We are unable to learn and improve from such criticisms. This is perfectly understandable. Being criticized could even be comparable to speaking a sentence and getting a slap in your face. One may not realize his mistake and think that he is doing the right thing, hence, may not take the criticism lightly as they are unable to accept the fact that there might be an error with what they are doing of have done. Most of us are unable to take criticism lightly because of our pride. We do not want to admit that we have erred or that we have made a mistake, as we are afraid that by admitting that one has erred, it would make us seem weaker than everyone else. Some may even call it "humiliating" to admit to a mistake.

However, is admitting to one's mistake really something that make us seem weaker than others? Is it really humiliating to make an error. When one does not admit to his or her mistakes, it just makes him or her seem like a total sore loser.

Think of it this way. Everyone makes mistakes. By refusing to learn from one's mistake, or refusing to accept criticism, it is as if one was stating that he or she is the perfect person, someone who does not make ANY mistakes, someone who does not make ANY error, and someone who is ALWAYS right. I doubt that there is anyone on Earth that is perfect.

It is probably the fact that we do not have "perfect" people on Earth that we require the existence of criticism in the first place. With criticism, our flaws and weaknesses are pointed out. With the existence of criticism, we can hence learn from our mistakes and build on our weaknesses. Imagine that there is no one to show you your mistakes. Imagine that you are left to think that you are the best in the world. Imagine you are not shown the existence of errors. You would be left in your own little dream world of perfection and thinking that whatever you do is correct. You would be left to think that whatever others do, it would never surpass yours. You would be left to fall once someone does find a fatal flaw in whatever you do. Left to fall and left to die.

Criticism is ever so important to us. However, it depends on what the person's intentions are. Stop and think. Why did that person criticize my work? What are his or her intentions?

If someone just criticizes you so as to make you feel bad about yourself, so as to make you feel dejected, honestly speaking he is just scum. However, if that person actually cares about you and wants you to succeed, you should do well to heed his or her advice. If you are the one who is criticizing another person, stop and think before you act. Is what the other person is doing that unacceptable and wrong that you have to tell that person off? Put yourself in that person’s shoes. Would you get angry if another person told you off for something that you did? Remember that you must put your perspective from the other person’s point of view, not your own. You would naturally say that it is right to criticize the other person as you are not the person that is being criticized.

Lowering the weighting of Chinese ---> A good idea or bad?

Recently, I have read an article regarding the MOE planning to lower the weighting of chinese in the PSLE. Is this really a good idea? What are the good points and the bad points of doing so? How greatly would it impact the Singaporean society?

Personally speaking, I do not think that lowering the weighting of the Chinese language in the PSLE is a good idea at all. Think of it this way. There are so many disadvantages to such a choice.

Chinese is the mother tongue of a lot of Singaporeans. It is our ancestral roots. It is our culture. Without Chinese, how are we able to communicate with people from China, when China may be extremely powerful and important in the future? How are we able to communicate with them when we do not even understand our own mother tongue? We are Chinese. If the government decides to lower the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, then wouldn't it be like discouraging the students to learn more and strive harder for the Chinese language? If they are discouraged to strive to learn the Chinese language better, then are we really fit to be called Chinese? Are we really fit to have our Chinese culture? Are we fit to be the future generations of our Chinese ancestors? If the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE is lowered, it would be akin to asking the students to stop putting in too much effort in Chinese and concentrate more in subjects such as Math and Science.

Think of it this way. Chinese is a subject. By lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, doesn't that make it seem as if Chinese is a subject that is of less importance than other subjects? What makes Chinese so different from the other subject. It is, in my opinion, as important as any subject in the education system. What if the main language spoken by the world now were to be Chinese, instead of English? Then the situation may be reversed. Chinese would not seem less important than the other subjects. In fact, English might even be the language that seem less important to the students.

By lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, it is akin to disregarding the dedicated Chinese teachers that spend so much time and effort teaching and preaching these students. They spend so much time teaching their students, so that they would do well in their PSLE and even use the Chinese language more often, helping themselves in the future. If the weighting for Chinese in the PSLE is lowered, then would the teachers still feel like they are as important as the other teachers that teach other subjects such as English and Math? They spend so much time teaching Chinese, and realize that the subject that they so dearly enjoy teaching is lowered, making them less important than the other teachers that teach other subjects. Wouldn't this affect their morale? Wouldn't affect the students in the end, when the teachers are unable to teach as well, when they feel inferior to the other teachers?

Perhaps there are reasons for such a choice. Recently, more and more students are struggling to pass the Chinese examinations and tests. This choice could have been a choice so as to make their lives and education easier, hence enabling to strive on and get better results for the other subjects. However, this should not be the way to do it. If the students are unable to cope with such hardships in their studies, how are they supposed to cope with even more setbacks when they reach the higher levels of education such as secondary school or junior college. By lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, we may be actually weakening them in terms of their character in the end, as they are unable to even get past the obstacle in their life, in this case, Chinese. It may even be akin to spoon feeding them and trying to make their lives as easy as possible.

Another reason why lowering the weighting of Chinese is considered is probably because the government does not want to punish the students for doing badly in the subject but instead trying to reward those that do well in Chinese. However, by lowering the weighting of Chinese in the PSLE, it is also undermining what the students who score well can do. It makes their efforts and achievements less important.

Basically, I feel that lowering the weighting of the Chinese language in the PSLE is a bad idea due to the reasons stated above.

You have 1 friend request: "Hi son, this is mom! Accept my friend request!"

I am quite sure you send out a lot of friend requests on Facebook.

I am quite sure you have received a lot of friend requests on Facebook.

However, how many of you actually accept friend requests from YOUR PARENTS?

Recently, more and more people face a scenario where their parents add them in Facebook. Most of them probably face a very agonizing dilemma: Do I add them? How do I reject them without hurting their feelings? Will they monitor whatever I do? Will my freedom be restricted if I add them in Facebook?

Are you one of the people who face problems when you accept your parents' "friend" request? A 23-year-old friend’s worst fears came true last week when a guy she had a crush on tagged her on some Facebook photos. Next thing she knew, her very excited mum left a Facebook comment that read: “Wow, Sarah! How come you never told me your new boyfriend’s such a delicious hunk?” Predictably, the said “hunk” never called again.

Perhaps it IS true that there may be problems due to the simple fact that there may be a huge age gap between you and your parents. If they do not spend enough time with you, they might not be able to understand you and your feelings and thoughts. They may not understand that by talking to you in a manner that they always do at home online, they might even make you feel uncomfortable.

However, I honestly do not believe that adding your parents or relatives on sites such as Facebook is such a bad thing at all. Are there any words that you do not want to say but want to convey? Do you have something in your mind that you want your parents to hear but do no want to tell them directly? Doesn't your life get easier if you are able to convey these thoughts online? Your parents are able to better understand you when they can learn about who you really are or want to be online. They can also interact with you more efficiently. Who knows? Perhaps they may even be your online "best friend".