Vietnam Armed conflict

After and during the later part of the Vietnam War, public support of U.S. involvment in Vietnam was reduced to zero. After the war, returning veterans, whether marines, airman, or seamen, were ostracised and labelled as "baby-killers" or similar demeaning terms, because of the (mostly unintentional) killings or mistreatment of innocent civillians, mistaken to be Viet Cong or other forms of communist activists. Most, however, were the result of civillians being caught in the crossfire between the belligerents. Just to name an example, in the average "search-and-destroy"* mission carried out by the U.S. infantrymen, for every Viet Cong weapon captured, there would be a bodycount of six, of which more than half of this number would turn out to be civilians.

The other main cause of civilian casualties was the huge area effect that American chemical weapons had, the weapons being Agent Orange and napalm. These weapons were originally designed to destroy the forests in which Viet Cong operatives took cover in. However, they had many other side effects. Agent Orange was a strengthened form of pesticide, not only defoliating large areas of land and destabilising ecosystems but also causing birth defects in children of adults who had ingested it. Napalm frequently burned not only trees but also spread to villages and other structures, sometimes setting people on fire too. Lucky civilians might be able to remove their burning clothes, but most of them died.

Thus, the collateral damage could have been absorbed by the US Armed Forces instead, by modifying tactics to reduce civillian casualties, though in the process, this damage would have been "transferred" over to the US forces instead. However, if the US had been commited to reducing civillian casualties and collateral damage, it would probably have accepted this.

Of course, collateral damage is impossible to mitigate, so my solution is... Don't go to war at all.

*"Search-and destroy" was a mission profile were marines were airlifted to a suspected Viet Cong shelter (usually a village). Then, they would attack the area and attempt to capture the suspected Viet Cong weapons and operatives, often not only at the cost of their own men but also civillians in the area.

Justice, Equality and Fairness in general (and especially in the education system)

Recently, I heard that a letter was written to the press pointing out that richer kids who could afford tuition had better chances of entering prestigious schools such as Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Hwa Chong Institution or Raffles Institution, and doing better when they grew up. As such, the letter said, it can be seen that the education system is stupid and unfair and will make poorer kids have less chances of leading a better life and will make them end up as bottom-feeders on the dirtiest and darkest alleys in Singapore (or something to that effect).

Well, is this fair or not? It depends on the POV. I like to use the following analogy:

WARNING! COMPLETELY INCOMPREHENSIBLE INFORMATION BEGINS HERE!

Fairness can be described as a bar that has to be filled. Different parties involved in the situation must fill up the bar according to how many parties there are. In this ideal scenario, all parties happily contribute the needed generosity, or “giving” to fill up the portion of the bar that is their quota (When two parties are involved equally, each have to “give” 50% of the bar). No problem. Err… never mind if this is absolutely incomprehensible, just go on to the next section.

Arguments over fairness and justice arise, however, when the environment causes the size of the bar to increase from 100% to well…more. Thus, the parties start arguing over which party is to “fill up” the last whatever percent, causing the argument.

END OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE INFORMATION

Of course, this analogy doesn’t always work. But the basic idea is the flaws in the environment twist our sense of fairness and justice and prevent us from acting totally fairly.

Anyway, my point is, depending on your POV, this matter can be fair or unfair.

Government/State POV: Prestigious schools like RI and HCI are there to provide better and faster education to those who can cope with it, as can be seen from their PSLE/EOY scores. Better students will have better education and can contribute to state in the future. Thus, it doesn’t matter if selection for better schools is biased towards richer kids, because they will still do better and contribute to State in the future.

Individual POV: Richer kids have better chances of getting into better schools. This means that they will be able to do better in life and poorer kids do not have worse chances for a better lives, and even if they work harder than richer kids, they will not get as far.

As seen from above, adopting a State POV (and leading to a more socialist-oriented state) would prevent complications from occurring. It is also more practical. Thus, one can see the EVILNESS OF DEMOCRACY AND FREE MARKET!!!

I digress. And I’ll post whatever solutions to this problem I can think of in my next (ok, fine maybe not next) post. Comments are welcome!

The Business Times: "Parents angry at Obama's planned speech to school students"

"US president Barack Obama's plan to deliver a speech to public school students has sparked a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused him of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas and are asking school officials to excuse the children from listening."

I think this talk should be compulsory for students to attend, no matter what parents think. There are several rebuttals to the parents' decision.

The first rebuttal is a very general argument to the citixens of the US totally rejecting a controversial (or even a bit more on the logical side) decision by the presidency. Firstly, Obama is the president of the US and he is probably doing what he thinks is best for the nation and for the next generation of American citizens. If Obama's every actions are decided or "censored" by the citizens which he is trying to look after, then he isn't really the president anymore, and citizens who are not suitable to be in positions of power will be making decisions that may harm the nation, or, more likely in this case, prevent the US from developing its future potential fully.

The second rebuttal is a more specific counterargument to this particular revolt. Many parents stated that they did not want their children to be indoctrinated by socialist views. What's wrong with socialism? It's not like America's entire political system is going to change to a socialist one. Socialism also means that individuals' efforts will be geared more towards caring for others in a community than otherwise (communism is considered the system where individuals care for one another the most, followed by socialism, and capitalist systems' individuals care for each other the least). That's a good thing, unless these parents don't want their kids to help the people around them.

The last argument is against parents heavily "filtering" out what their kids hear. In this case, the parents in question are censoring what their kids hear in a way. Then aren't they treating their kids as if they aren't smart enough to work out what's right and wrong for themselves? Surely their kids are intelligent enough to work out if something they hear is right or wrong. And if the kids can't, then it means that the parents haven't properly taught their kids right and wrong or what values they should have.

Thus, I think kids should hear what Obama has to say and then discuss with their parents what is controversial in the speech. I think it will also help kids develop a "political sense".

Lockerbie Bombing

Recently, much controversy has been raised over the release of "Lockerbie bomber" Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi. He was convicted of murder and was to serve a life sentence. After serving approx. 8 years, he was released on compassionate grounds because he was diagnosed of prostate cancer and had a life expectancy of 3 months. This has raised much outrage in the United States and mixed reactions from the United Kingdom.

Releasing Megrahi has been seen as a merciful and just decision by many. After, he was given only 3 months to live. It was stated that though the conspirators of the bombings were unjust and cruel to others, it did not mean that they could be repaid with injustice. However, what does being merciful and just warrant? It may not justify releasing Megrahi, assuming that he waas the perpetrator of this crime. True, being just and merciful, even to those that have harmed others, is correct and important, but how far do we have to go to fufil these? Releasing Megrahi may have nothing to do with being merciful to him. Assuming that he was the perpetrator, he should be serving much more than a life sentence. Therefore, I think Megrahi shouldn't be released.

Conflict in the classroom (and also on my C-box)

Well, conflict in 1I1 (and in groups of people around my age) is caused mainly by the mentality that one has to "be on top" or appear cooler, in a sense, that the people around one. Which is why one pointed comment in my class can spark off a whole chain of angry replies. And it doesn't stop in the classroom. My newly-decorated c-box is evidence for that. Of course, as time goes by, this mentality that afflicts us tends to (hopefully) fade away, and remains in only the most primitive form (adults can sometimes act as immature and childish as me). Of course, this mentality sometimes remains as strong and as compulsive as it was when this abnormal case was thirteen. And some abnormal cases have this mentality as strong as it was when they were 7. Anyway, that's saying something.

Forgive me if I'm typing crap. It's 10 and I want to go to sleep.

Blog skin

Sorry about the long break. I've been slacking off. Anyway, I'm trying to fit my posts into a scrolling table cell but can't anyway cos I can't understand the endless lines of div tags and CSS so I can't work out where to put the table and /table tags.

Expect more from me soon (I hope!).

The Gift Outright

The Gift Outright

The land was ours before we were the land's
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were Englands, still colonials,
Possessing what we were still unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were witholding made us weak
Until we found it was ourselves
We were witholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found our salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realising westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

This is another poem by Robert Frost that is about the independance of America. I think it's a patriotic poem that may (or may not) apply to Singapore's independance too.

My favourite poet

My favourite poet is Robert Frost. His poems explored a lot of social and philosophical themes. He also wrote a poem on America's history. He lived a rural life in his childhood, and used his experiences to give a realistic depiction of rural life. His poems are often quoted and he also received four pulitzer prives for his poems.

I like his poems because of his good grasp of colloqiual language. Thus, even the not so well educated can enjoy his poems. However, even though he does not use complicated language, he can still write poems that are weaved with metaphors and other figurative language and philisophical and social themes. Also, he writes poems that are meaningful both at the "surface" level and when you take a look at the deeper meaning hidden in it. So, even if you do not understand his poems, they can still be a pleasure to read.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice

From what I have tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire

But if it had to perish twice

I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice

Is also great
And would suffice.

This poem is about what would be a better fate for our world? Love and desire, or hate and violence? Even though the poem is macabre in a way, it still seems peaceful at first because it does not contain any words that are "strong". Instead, most of the words are neutral, except for maybe hate (This is another thing I like about Frost's poems).

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods are these I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

This poem emphasises with many of us because the author stops in the woods and wants to rest. However, he has stuff to do (much like the situation I am in now TEEHEE). This is main reason why I like this poem. The other reason, albeit not so strong, is because it rhymes too!

The third poem I'm going to post is The Gift Outright but that's a bit long and since my source is a tattered copy of The Norton Anthology of Poetry I'll have to type the whole thing out so I'll post this first.

Sources:
My Dad
HOW TO READ A POEM by Burton Raffel
The Norton Anthology of Poetry by Alexander W. Allison, Herbet Barrows, Caesar R. Blake, Arthur J. Carr, Arthur M. Eastman, Hubert M. English, Jr.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The entire poem is a metaphor for a major decision that the author has to make in his life. The fork in the path represents the two options in the decision; the less travelled one represents the path that fewer take in life. The author looking down the road is him trying to foresee or calculate the implications and consequences of his decision; the bend in the undergrowth represents the unpredictability of this decision. “way leads on to way” represents the irreversibility of some of the decisions that are made and also how they lead on to more and more choices. The author’s sigh is his regret that he cannot explore each “path”.

I like this poem because it accurately illustrates the difficult decisions that one has to make in life and also the huge implications of some these decisions. However, it also depicts what could be the author’s regret or sadness at not being able to experience both paths to find out which would be the better one or making the wrong decision or “missing out” the benefits of the other choice, if any.

55 Fiction: Saving water

“There is no question of it,” a solemn PUB representative said. “Singapore must conserve water so that our country can become more independent and will not rely on other countries for potable water.”

After the public convention on water had ended, the representative rushed home to organise the water games for his son’s birthday party.

55 Fiction: UDICEP

The Universal DIsease CurE and Prevention (UDICEP) has been produced! UDICEP utilises a combination of antibiotics, antiviral and vaccines to create the ultimate treatment for any disease, whether viral or bacterial. It will also prevent disease because of the integral vaccines.

Brought to you by the Suriv Ulf Eniws Company. Many more products coming soon.

55 Fiction: A Miser

One day a miser was buying a hat. The owner of the shop was selling it for ten dollars, but the miser refused. Even when the owner had brought the price down to two dollars, the miser still refused.

Finally, the enraged owner bellowed, “Have it free, then!”

The miser replied, “Good. I’ll buy two.”

If I could eliminate one emotion from the world, would I?

No. Some may say that they would eliminate sadness or anger, the "negative" emotions, but I think that one needs to experience "negative" emotions before one can experience "positive" emotions and vice versa. If sadness was elimated, no one would ever experience true happiness. If hate was elimated, no one would feel love. Anyway, the emotions that we experience are probably not actual things, but "multiplier"s used by the subconscious to emphasise certain events or facts that are actually not real ("Emotion is the enemy of Truth").

What is beauty?

One of the holiday assignments is philosophy. I have to answer some of the questions in my philosophy WS. However, I’ll try not to be limited and will write whatever I can think of as I answer these questions.

This has much to do with the human mind. Humans are hardwired to look on some things as aesthetically pleasing, and this in turn can help improve one’s mood, or help recognise things that may be beneficial to one survival or quality of life. Of course, in modern life, this is more to induce a good mood etc. However, there is also a direct correlation between what “level” of beauty the brain is experiencing, or rather seeing (scientists have found that the brain weighs vision as the most important among its sensory processes), and what “level” of happiness or entertainment the brain or human experiences. If the beauty is external appearance, the person experiences a superficial “happiness”. However, if the “beauty” is because of an act kindness of integrity etc, the person will be more touched, along with the more superficial “levels” of happiness.

However, note that there is no such real thing as beauty. This is only because of the brain’s wiring. And because the wiring of every brain is different, beauty is just perceived.

If seen through a computer’s inputs, then nothing in this world is beautiful. There are only those that are more useful or more efficient than others or healthier or mentally sharp.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

How do you know you are not dreaming right now?

There is now way to know that I am not dreaming right now. Some might answer that dreams seem very faraway and hazy when one recall them, and since "real life" seems so vibrant and, well, real, then it must be real life. However, when one is dreaming, the "dreamworld" is probably just as real and only when one wakes up, the other world seems very hazy and dreamy, pun intended. The only difference is that in the real world, we find out facts that we didn't know before. Dreamworld is merely a simulation by the brain. Since in real life we find out many things that are both true and new to us, it can only be unreal if it is a massive simulation by computers (Matrix). And there is no way to find out intentionally. Another thing is that dreams are inconsistent - they don't continue about the same thing each succesive night (Sometimes I wish they did - they'd be easier to follow).

What is happiness?

Many describe being happy as having lots of money, property and having a good life. However, this is completely untrue, or, I should say, to a certain extent. Having a good life is not necessary for happiness. Or rather, one will be happy by having a good life - by one's own standards. By lowering one's standards of a "good life" to accommodate for the "drawbacks" of one's life, only then can one have true happiness. However, something else is lost - the urge for advancements that will improve one's standards of life and possibly the people around oneself. In other words, not helping oneself (and possibly others) while one has the means.

So, which should we choose? The betterment of our own lives and others' or true happiness?

But then again, this may not be the only two choices. Look at Star Trek. Humans are still developing better and better technology but have achieved a sort of utopia. At first this seems impossible unless the Earth is a totalitarian regime ruled over by a very benevolent and uncorrupt leader. This because when better technology comes into existence, people usually think "How can I help myself with this" or "How can I make money from this". However, this is not the case in Star Trek. Instead, all technology is built for exploration of space and the "quest for knowledge". Thus, a utopian society is achieved.

What is the right way to live?

The way to live depends on the environment. In prehistory, the lives of humans were perilous, constantly being threatened by all sorts of dangers, such as lack of food or water or predators or unsuitable habitats. Thus the “way to live”, if I could put it that way, was to kill any animal that was weaker for its meat, take flight if necessary when up against stronger adversaries, and try to get the most out of the environment so that we could live long enough to, erm, ensure that there would be a next generation.

Now, humans have much more time on their hands and have invented all sorts of leisure activities and entertainment and industry. However, along with these has come environmental damage, so now humans have to be concerned with the environment, and the “way to live” would probably to reduce one’s negative impact on the environment.

Thus, I conclude that (in my opinion) the way to live should be to lead a simple life, never harassing one’s neighbours unnecessarily and also taking the least from the environment around us.

Filial piety and 《弟子规》

I feel that filial piety and general respect towards one’s parents has somewhat decreased over the past generation together with the “modernisation” or so-called “opening up” of this world to Western values because of the Western dominance in today’s society. In the original Chinese culture, parents are respected highly by their children. 孔子，　in 《弟子规》，　describes how a child should respect his parents, in the morning greeting them, notify them when leaving the house, asking for their permission when doing anything. People may look on this as “old-fashioned”. However, I think that this shows true and proper respect for one’s parents. 《弟子规》also states that after the death of a parent, one must mourn and abstain from meat and wine for 3 years. This is because a baby depends on its parents for 3 years to learn to eat and walk before it can survive more independently. This shows the respect for one’s parents that should have in life. Of course, it may not be so practical to carry out such acts in real life. However, we must still have this respect for our parents. Notice that 《弟子规》does not promote complete, blind respect for one’s parents. It does say that children can correct their parents when they are wrong. However, the underlying respect must still be there (children should not shout at their parents or scold and if the parent does not listen, the child should not be angry but should beg and plead for the parent to listen). Nowadays, youngsters can lie and even dare to argue or yell at their parents (and not apologise later on, even blaming their parents for getting angry at them). This shows that children no longer respect their parents or their parents simply do not occupy such an important place in their childrens’ minds. Also, the care that children are supposed to show for their parents is becoming increasingly reversed. Instead, children are doted on by their parents and when they throw tantrums, parents will do anything to appease their anger (of course, this is just a generalisation. It doesn’t mean that everybody is like this). When children grow up, instead of caring for their parents like their parents did for them, they simply plonk their parents in a nursing home.

But why is this? Maybe it’s because humans were hardwired for max survival. This means that children would not care for their parents if it meant that their own survival was compromised (which most of the time it was) e.g. giving what little food/water there was to their parents. This would be fine when their parents were younger, but when parents grew old, they would die because no one cared for them. But in present day society, even though humans in developed worlds like us no longer need to think so much about our survival, we still act the same way. And people who live in conditions where they really need to think about their survival still care for their parents.

So even though we are not really hardwired to care for our parents for the benefit of our survival, we should care for them because we no longer need to worry about our survival.

Semester 1

1 week of school left! Most other students will be rejoicing because of no HW and no exams left (of course in HC I still have the same, if not more homework). Of course, very little people (i think) actually reflect on the last 6 months (not saying that its not time to have fun of course). However, the EOYs are coming up (some may say that I'm thinking too far in advance) and to ensure a good score for progression into sec 2 (or whatever) I believe that a reflection is a very important task. So, I will write out the plusses, minuses, interesting things and future plans according to the template set by my most revered LA teacher.

Plusses: 1I1 v2.0, lots of HW =), HC wushu, IS Media (Adobe Flash, Photoshop), Mr Tan's music lessons

Minuses: some classmates *ahem* (not trying to pinpoint though, its actually a lot of people - including me sometimes =P), no Adobe Fireworks or Sketchup, no Halo 3 w/ Gabby =(, general hecticness of sec 1, getting pumped by wushu seniors, injuring myself with my nandao

Interesting stuff: huge campus, lots a wushu weapons to *ahem* play with (I've dented 2 nandaos already).

Future plans: well... I really have to start on my heavy metals science project, research was supposed to start 2 weeks ago, spam Halo during June holidays.

XD

Wushu training

Today we did forward flips for wushu. We had to use the huge mattress to land on (nicknamed "大blue" because of its size in relation to the other 2 mattresses "小blue" and "小green") and nearly killed ourselves jumping off from a roughly 40 cm high ledge and landing on the mattress. After that jiaolian got us to pump. And not normal pumping. We had to get down on the carpet, do 5 pushups, take 1 sideways step and do 5 more pushups... Please keep in mind that the carpets we use for training are longer than 10 m, and if anybody's knees touched the ground they had to start again. We were also not allowed to get up halfway through.

When we thought it was over, jiaolian got us to do it again - this time with burpees. Of course, I slacked doing 4 instead of 5 with each step and also moved slightly sideways with each jump =).

Swine flu outbreak - is it really something to worry about?

It's been about a month since the swine flu thing has started. Globally, people have panicked to contain and find treatment for this virus. However, the current "swine flu" virus has nothing to do with pigs anymore and has turned into a human-human virus, thus allowing outbreaks on a community level. However, the mortality rate for this virus appear to be the same, if not less, than the usual influenza virus. Of course, it could mutate into a much more virulent form, killing more people, but the rate at which it spreads would (probably) still remain the same.

Influenza isn't really designed (if you could call it that) to spread quickly and effectively, which is why it has been easy to contain it in the past. The influenza virus is gone in a week usually, minimising the time for it to spread. The victim either recovers completely, removing the virus from his or her body, or dies, preventing the virus from spreading further. As a result, influenza does not spread as easily as say, anthrax, which has a longer incubation period and has more time to multiply and spread.

So, considering that the new H1N1 may be just the same as the usual influenza, is it worth putting so much time and effort into stopping its spread, which actually may be quite low risk? Of course, I cannot rule out the possibility of the H1N1 becoming worse in the months to come, since this is just the start of the outbreak. The best course of action would probably be to continue the temperature checks etc., but not get more worried about it than we have to.

If any of my facts please inform me. I'll check and follow up =)

Wushu Finals

Wushu Finals officially over on 15 April (long time ago)!



Medal tally:

• Golds: 6
• Silvers: 13
• Bronzes: 15 (I think?)

Yippee!

The Longest Day

The Longest Day is based on the Normandy Landings of WWII. Personally I think it's a great film because it does not just show the heroism of the Allied men who landed on the beaches of Normandy, but also the incalculable loss that the Allied forces suffered and that always happens in war and also that bravery of some of the German soldiers and pilots. Also, the film is not biased against the Gerrys.

I think the film helps people realise how horrible wars are and the suffering of those who fight. 3 m men were unloaded on the beaches of Normandy. Very few survived. Those who died were, unfortnately, there to die, in the hope that enough men would survive the hail of German fire and hold the positions on the beach. This is exemplified in the basic military principle that you must outnumber the enemy 3:1 in order to be confident that there will be enough men to defeat it and if the enemy is entrenched, around 6:1 or 7:1. But, still you are only aiming for the same number of your own men to occupy the enemy's position. So, for example, if you attack an enemy entrenchment and outnumber the enemy 7:1, you can only be confident that 1/7 of your forces will survive. The other 6/7 is just there to increase the number of men that will survive the attack according to probability. They all don't survive.

I hope people will wake up as to the damage war causes not just to the defeated side in the war but also to the "victorious". Also, I feel that people who have actually been through wars themselves should be put in the command of the DoD, no matter what country. Also, countries should not wage wars they don't understand For example, the US has done that several times, in Vietnam and Iraq. In the Middle East, the US rushed in without understanding what was going on, who were their enemies and allies, and what was causing the conflicts there.

I know that humans will never be able to stop conflicts altogether because of our inherently evil nature. However, we should keep them to a minimum. War's aren't fun.

ICAS Science

ICAS Science test tomorrow. Hope I'll do well. I managed to get lots of Distinctions and High Distinctions for it in P3, 4, 5, 6 so it should be okay, but all the same, I have to revise my previous ICAS tests. You may notice that I'm blogging less nowadays cos there are lots of tests now. I hope I can make up for the lack of posts (and critical thinking) this weekend (Vesak day makeup on Monday ecks dee).

Lit test tomorrow

I got a lit test tomorrow :(. My past assignments aren't very good so I probably will not do very well and even might fail. I really got to study hard.

Violin Competition

Later in May I'm going for the DynamicWorkz young violinists competition. Too bad I'm already grade 8 in violin so I'll only be able to take part in the senior category :(, and will probably get owned. There are a lot of pro people in my violin class who play better than me anyway, so even if I don't get into the finals, there'll be lots of other students who definately will get in.

Anyway, I'll be really lucky to get into the finals. There are two top students in my violin class who are sure to get into the finals, both younger than me, and one I think is playing Wienawski's Polonaise no.1 in D major. :) I'm playing Concerto no. 1, Allegro Assai by Bach as my primary piece and Fruhlingswalzer by Shostakovich as my secondary piece.

Leaders - Martin L. King

Martin Luther King is well known for his role in the African-American civil rights movement.

I admire Martin Luther King because he used non-violent resistance that helped abolish racial segregation in the USA. He could maintain a non-violent stance even though his opponents threatened him and tried to blackmail him. He did not use force even though he was provoked and segregation activists used violence against him (bombing his house et cetera). And even segregation activists respected him for this.

However, he had his weaknesses. Lyndon Johnson claimed that King was a “hypocritical preacher”. Ralph Abernathy, an associate of King, stated in And the Walls Came Tumbling Down (1989) autobiography that King had a “weakness for women” and that King was a womaniser. Biographer David Garrow said that King had numerous extramarital affairs, one with a woman he saw daily that “increasingly became the emotional centrepiece of King’s life”. King himself claimed that these affairs were “a form of anxiety reduction”. Apparently, these affairs were accompanied by depressions.
I find King interesting not because he managed to carry out great things but because he dared to try even though he faced a lot of opposition from segregation activists and from some of the white population of America. This just goes to show that we can accomplish anything as long as we have ourselves. We don’t really need anybody else (to a certain extent, of course). Another interesting thing is that even though many threatened him and used violence against him, he never attacked back. He just took whatever opponents gave him and used it to fuel his vision.

Hooray for King!

Animal Farm by George Orwell a.k.a. Utopia

Utopia is what a lot of people dream of. Or at least people who live in the terror of violence. Utopia is defined as "an imaginary perfect world where everyone is happy". Of course this is completely impossible, but this doesn't stop people from thinking about it. All the world's problems...gone. A lot of people want it to be like that, but the only way to do it is to kill everybody(there won't be anybody to be unhappy).

But why is it impossible?
Man's and (probably) all the living beings on this earths' inherent evilness prevent us from achieving an utopia. Technically, a utopia coould be achieved like in "The Giver" but with a huge infringement on human rights(killing people without them knowing that they're dying). All of us humans have an instinct to get the most we can out others for our own benefit. So, no matter how perfect the system is, no one will be completely contented because it is our nature to want more...and more...and more...and more...and more...and more...and more...and more...

I suppose we'll just have to live with it.

LOLWUT

Reasons why I never visit my rich friend! Once while visiting a very rich friend, the maid approached me and.....
Question : What would you like to have...? Fruit juice, Soda, Tea, Chocolate, Capuccino, Frapuccino, or Coffee?
Answer : Tea please .
Question : Ceylon tea, Indian tea, Herbal tea, Bush tea, Honey bush tea, iced tea or green tea?Answer : Ceylon tea.
Question : How would you like it? Black or white?
Answer : White.
Question : Milk, or fresh cream?
Answer : With milk.
Question : Goat's milk, or cow's milk
Answer : With cow's milk please.
Question : Freezeland cow or Afrikaner cow?
Answer : Um, I'll just take it black.
Question : Would you like it with sweetener, sugar or honey?
Answer : With sugar.
Question : Beet sugar or cane sugar?
Answer : Cane sugar.
Question : White, brown or yellow sugar?
Answer : Forget about the tea, just give me a glass of water instead.
Question : Mineral water, tap water or distilled water?
Answer : Mineral water.
Question : Flavored or non-flavored?
...

Cynical youngsters

Well, I just had my three day Sec 1 camp, which explains the break from blogging. Sorry. Anyway, I thought that the camp was okay but practically all the time I had to listen to group mates harping about how sucky the food was, how much money they had paid to get themselves dirty et cetera(yes, write abbreviations in whole to make posts longer and also always give detailed explanations like this one). Philmann absolutely refused to sit down on the grass(was he afraid that worms would bite his butt off or what?) until they said if he didn't sit down they'd make him lie down. So, apart from that which was needed, most of the dialogue between my friends was about how much they hated the camp(except for rare ones like Darren Ho:))

Why are youngsters so cynical nowadays? Criticising this, criticising that. It's as if the grass isn't green enough for them. And there's no other side. In relevance to the camp, there would be no point in complaining, other than venting anger. But once you begin to criticise just for the sake of it, it just ruins your own day. We had to go through the camp anyway. And complaining would have just worsened the experience for us. So why complain?

Complaining doesn't improve situations. It just causes us to be filled with hate and anger. And living with hate isn't enjoyable. Why do people think hating is cool(or at least I'm given that impression)? There is no point in having anger or hate towards others. It may sound "gay" but if everyone accepted each others' differences and lived in harmony it'd be the end of our problems.

P. S. Kudos to Shan Wei for the excellent storytelling during the sec 1 camp.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

We had to read "The Lottery" for English lit.
Click here to read it.

At first I didn't realise what happened to Tessie until I looked closely at the text.

Well, the story is really relevant to today's society. In today's society, there are many traditions and discriminatory practices that are not abolished even though they are outdated and inefficient, which in the story are represented by the lottery. An example of a discriminatory practice that is officially abolished but still practised by some people would be racial segregation. The

A lot of the relevance to today’s society is also from its themes. This is part of a literature worksheet so I can’t divulge the reasons behind the themes otherwise my classmates will copy them. I promise I’ll post them after the assignment is submitted.

Anyway, the main themes that can be found are “the inherent evilness of mankind” and hypocrisy.

The inherent evilness of mankind is very relevant to today especially because of advances in technology like computer games and movies that have violent content, causing people to be influenced by them. Many would not have believed that a 20-something foreigner studying in Nanyang Technical Institute who had great grades would later on stab one of his teachers then jump to his death. However, it did happen, probably because he got addicted to Warcraft, which he played a lot. After that, his grades dropped and his scholarship was withdrawn. Basically, my point is that it is possible, improbable, yes, but definitely possible, for even the man next door, a hardworking student, or a quiet, unassuming bank clerk to someday commit an atrocious crime that makes the headlines.

Hypocrisy is also a major theme. Nowadays, people are becoming more and more unscrupulous. Friendships nowadays are sometimes formed purely for gain from someone or to “have friends in places”. Sometimes people in leadership positions tell their employees that because there is an economic downturn they should tighten their belts, but they themselves are spending extravagantly, renovating their offices and buying new dustbins *ahem*. Some people in the American government criticised the Chinese government for having advanced surveillance and not giving anybody any privacy. However, they themselves voted in favour of such a scheme in America. The Americans have also criticised China for not giving their people any freedom (holding political prisoners et cetera) when there are still people in America who live on the fringes of society and have no freedom of speech. America also says it’s dangerous for other countries to have nuclear weapons (like N. Korea). But America itself stockpiles nuclear weapons. If countries such as N. Korea or Iran can’t be trustworthy to stockpile nukes, what makes America trustworthy? There is nothing that qualifies America to be “The Holder of the Nukes” that has the privilege to wield these weapons when others don’t have this “position”. I’m not saying everybody should be allowed to have nuclear weapons, I’m saying that everyone should not have nukes. If America wants others to not have nukes, it should dispose of its own stockpiles first.
I conclude that The Lottery is relevant to today’s society and no one should say that it is taboo. If you say that The Lottery is utter nonsense, then you’re a hypocrite because you’re definitely guilty of some of the crimes mentioned above (I am too. Everybody is).

Today's society

I really have to give credit to my friend and ex-classmate, now studying with me in my sec school, Timothy Toh for this story.. His blog link is somewhere on the right. I don't mean to make fun of the people mentioned though...esp. Obama(I copied and pasted this directly from T. Toh's blog)

Today's Society:
Look at this mess society is today. I mean...
The little red hen called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said,'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?' 'Not I,' said the cow. 'Not I,' said the duck. 'Not I,' said the pig. 'Not I,' said the goose. 'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
::~::~::
The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain. 'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen. 'Not I,' said the duck... 'Out of my classification,' said the pig. 'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow. 'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose. 'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
::~::~::
At last it came time to bake the bread. 'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen. 'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow. 'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck. 'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig. 'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose. 'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.
::~::~::
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see.They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said,'No, I shall eat all five loaves.' 'Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi) 'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer) 'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson) The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)
::~::~::
UNFAIR!
::~::~::
And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities. Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.' 'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen. 'Exactly,' said Barack the farmer. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants.But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.' And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.' But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. (Bread became scarce and the price tripled).
Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.
IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT??


Today's society is falling apart because of the lack of...(guess before scrolling down)

::~::~::

TRUST. No trust ==> lots of red tape ==> inefficient work place
==> when accidents happen, we may blame the innocent ==> hatred ==> inability to work together

And after a long chain of effects and causes, people become alienated from each other and then try to take advantage of each other. Families fall apart. Siblings have deadly rivalry. Divorces become the norm.

And all this will happen...unless we take action. Which we are most capable of. The human race has reached out into space, explored the depths of underwater trenches. If we can accomplish that,
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE and IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING

Blogging and ACE points

Well, it's grading time for my blog for term 1.
I just have to put a few more comments on classmates' blogs and I (hope) will get 3 CPs :).

Humans and computers (and lots of questions)

Has anybody watched "I Robot"?
It makes me think.
Must we bind advanced robots and machines to our commands to prevent them from harming us?
Do they have a soul?
Do they have feelings? Will these stop them from hurting out of malice(if a robot can have that)?


Many argue that because robots are mechanical, no matter how advanced or high thinking-order they are, they will never be "equal" to humans and they will never have a soul.
Read on, and wonder, whether you agree with me or not(wondering is great).
When computers or AI become "high order" through extensive use of neural networks, will they begin to have feelings?
Well, first, we must look at how humans have feelings. Did we have feelings because we had feelings then expressed them with expressions? Or did we start off just having expressions to communicate with each other as hominids then come to embody them so much that we began to have feelings? Nobody knows.
But if feelings were created from a soul, and souls come from animals(and maybe even plants?), and animals come from carbon, then, can feelings come about from souls, that came from machinery(because even the most human-like AIs are just machines), that came from silicon?
If this is possible, why won't advanced AI have feelings?
I don't mean to create souls, that would be taking the place of God, but creating a body that can accomodate an entity with feelings(like in Xenocide and Children of the Mind from the Ender quartet). Is something like the "computer mind" Jane possible? An entity that can live in a mechanical mind as well as a carbon-based mind? Or even, are all humans like that? Is there a vast, empty space filled with body-less living entities that is extra-dimensional such that we cannot access it? Is one entity, or aiua, pulled away from this vast, empty world and pushed into our universe when an organism comes to exist, whether it be an alien, an E. Coli, a plant or an animal(human or non-human)?

Will we ever have AIs as our equal companions, just like humans?
Will, silicon-based machinery ever feel sadness, happiness, or love for human beings and each other?

We may never know, but my mind never stops wondering.

The Environment

I suppose this topic sounds familiar, especially with the ongoing debate on whether global warming exists or is happening.
Well, it needs a look into the past to understand what is happening.
Originally, humans thought that we could not affect the atmosphere or our environment much. However, after the industrial revolution, more natural environments were converted and changed to human environments. Also, humans began to release more waste products to attain a higher standard of life e.g. manufacturing air-conditioners, cigarettes, household appliances etc. converting raw materials to products. These waste products, of course, are waste and some of them are harmful. We don't want to dump waste on our own property, right? After all, we got the whole earth and others' property to dump our waste. This was and is the mentality of most humans, and even people like me think like this. It's our primitive selfishness. So, all of this waste was dumped into the environment, which, because of this, is treated like a giant dumping area to put our stuff when we no longer want it.
As a result, the impact on the environment is huge, so natural patterns in the environment are all changing...for the worse.
Even if it isn't global warming(true, some places are getting colder, though this can be explained), something is happening. Storms are becoming stronger, coastlines are receding and so on. The South Atlantic had its first tropical storm. Some people say that it's just a cycle. If it's a cycle it should return to normal eventually. Question is, when is eventually? Will we be destroyed by the adverse parts of this cycle before it returns to the norm(if there is a norm)?
Something is happening to our environment, and we have to save it for our own survival.

Projects Day

Finally! My group has (not yet, but we're very near to it) secured a mentor! We just have to decide whether we want to focus on heavy metals or chemicals that leach out from plastics dumped in water.
Our mentor will help us find out if the SRC has the equipment to carry out the experiment.

Chinese HW

Last Thursday I forgot to do my chinese homework so my teacher made me copy妈妈的心from the textbook 3 times! I was not free until after dinner to copy it and each copy was 3.1 pages long:(. I stayed up till 2330 to do it and couldn't do any other homework and had to complete the rest of my homework during recess on Friday.

Wushu practice etc.

In case I haven't told anybody yet, my CCA is wushu. I learnt some already when I was in P4 but not on the school team. I have a grade 8 in violin from Trinity Guildhall, and I'm trying to get a grade 8 from ABRSM. I heard that the school orchestra has really long hours so I decided not to join. However, wushu only ends at 7 so it also has pretty long hours -_-. Too bad.

I just had my 2.4km run last week and I managed to pass in (about) 15:48 :).

Result of poll

The result of my poll "What is the best Secondary school in Singapore":

1. Hwa Chong Inst.
2. ACS(Independant)
3. RI

Why nobody vote for NUS?

The Indignities of Secondary School

Hi everybody.
Well, a very, erm, "interesting" event that happened at school last week. What happened was that I walked into the classroom during recess and... I can't really remember what happened, but I do remember that the class monitor Bao Huei was trying to freeze my classmate Bryce's poem (click here to see it on my classmate's blog. You really should.) on the visualiser. So Bryce got really angry at Bao and tried to murder him (and nearly did). I don't know how he could have the heart to murder someone as cute as Bao.

Binary

On Friday we learnt binary at school. I learnt conversion of decimals(as in numbers of base 10) to binary before on my own from a book, but never really understood the system until now. At school, they taught us to break the decimal into powers of 2 to convert. The method I learnt earlier was to subtract the largest possible power of 2 from the decimal. If that was possible, it was represented by 1. If not, it would be represented by 0.

Example:
15 - 8 = 7 ==> 1
7 - 4 = 3 ==> 1
3 - 2 = 1 ==> 1
1 - 1 = 0 ==> 1

Therefore 15 = 1111 in binary or base 2

17 - 16 = 1 ==> 1
1 is too large to subtract 8 ==> 0
1 is too large to subtract 4 ==> 0
1 is too large to subract 2 ==> 0
1 - 1 = 0 ==> 1

Therefore 17 = 10001 base 2.
Then, of course, I noticed 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 are all powers of 2(1 = 2 power of 0).
I must really be a bit of a Charlie Gordon to have not noticed this earlier.

Projects Day 2009

Hi everybody.
Well, for the ex-plasmids project, my group couldn't find a mentor so we switched to a project on analysing water samples from drains, canals, the sea etc. It's getting along okay, we just have to check whether my school's Science Research Centre has the equipment for us to do our research. I hope we won't reply too late to our prospective mentor.

Tests, tests, and more tests

Hi everybody.
For the last few posts I've only been talking about global or general issues, and only realised yesterday that I haven't written anything about myself. Sorry about that.
Well, life in Secondary school is stressful. What would I expect? However, it seems a bit daunting that I will have to adapt to all this. I mean, I know that I will in the future, but that seems a little... completely impossible.
Today I had a Science and a Geography test. Last week I had a History test. The school is spamming tests like crazy!(or at least the teachers) I really support the idea of a fellow schoolmate that was brought up last week: that the school should devise an online test booking system on a importance basis so pupils will only have one test a day maximum. If that day was already booked for a test, other teachers will have to book their tests on other days. If a test is very important and can't wait, the teachers involved can work out a comprimise.
It just amazes me what fellow schoolmates can think up. ^_^

Current Affairs

At school we have this thing called "Current Affairs" held every Friday which is a sort of debate in either English or Chinese(not Malay though) between anywhere from 4-7 panellists. Besides them, a host, 2 student observers and the whole class is involved. Each panellist will play a role set by the teacher concerning the issue at hand. After the debate, the class will then participate in providing their views on the matter. After the whole thing has ended, the student observers will give feedback on each panelist.

So, anyway, I was one of the panellists last Friday but the worksheet telling us what our roles were was only given out on Thursday. What's more, I left the worksheet and my notes at school! So when the CA session started ... well, let's just say that I was pretty unprepared, even though that's an understatement. Worse still, I realised that I was supposed to play the role of some sort of Dean for Student Care, advocating a policy that students should only wear black-rimmed specs! If I was a student or parent opposing this rule, at least that would've been okay but...

Luckily or not, I was the third speaker so I managed to get my speech in order by the time it was my turn to speak. Strangely enough, Wei Zhi, the big hairdo guy, was the last speaker but only managed to say one sentence because he was unprepared too.

I hope I get to be a panellist again. Not because of the harrowing experience but because if I get it right I might be able to get quite a lot of ACE points(sort of like credits).

Human society

Why do people with many things in common, such as similar background or identical goals, simply don't get along with each other while others get along very well?

The answer is in personalities, interests and maturity.

We are all humans(or at least people I know). All of us have flaws, and some have more flaws than others. Usually societies are cohesive and the people that make up this society are cooperative. However, when we begin to focus on other's flaws instead of their strengths, problems arise. What usually happens after that is pretty hard to clean up. People will overeact, and become angry. This is a major turning point. Anybody heard "Anger is the justifying emotion" before? When anger arises, it causes people to feel that they are the one who is right. This was important in ancient warfare because fighters had to feel that their nation was correct in destroying the enemy. Otherwise, soldiers would not be able to stand the suffering of their enemies and the carnage when fighting or killing them. So, when people become angry, it is virtually impossible to turn around and clean up the mess that has started. After that, everything pretty much goes haywire. If there are equal "forces" in the society in which the "battle" is being fought, usually all that's left in the end is a pile of rubble. No survivors. It's suprising how much humans fight one another to destruction for ridiculous reasons. If there is an imbalance in the "forces", usually one party is kicked out of the society by the stronger one. If it's one person sgainst the multitudes, then that one person may be ostracised or left in isolation for the rest of his life.

I really hope that human beings can shape up and finally get along as one community.

Click this link for hope. Watch the whole thing.

Plasmids

For my school's Projects Day 2009, two friends, Wang Fan and Philmann(click here to view his blog) and I will possibly be doing a projects on plasmids. Plasmids occur naturally as double strands of DNA that are coiled up in the topographic shape of a torus(simulate this by twisting an adapter tightly and then plugging it into itself). Plasmids and viruses have many things in common.

1. Both act independantly from their host.
2. They are not living things.
3. They are packets of DNA without any organelles.

However, they are also very different.

1. Viruses destroy the host and propagate, whereas plasmids travel within the host and only destroy the host when the plasmid has been replicated and passed on to one of the host's daughter cells. Some plasmids don't destroy the host at all.
2. Viruses' method of propagation involves rupturing the cell and destroying it after an incubation period when the virus replicates while plasmids act as "upgrades", with different plasmids acting in different ways, e.g. providing resistance to antibiotics, increasing rate of reproduction.
3. Plasmids also only replicate when they are about to passed on.

Please correct me if any of my data is wrong. I will write more as my project progresses.

By the way, if you see any "Ah Phui"s on any other blogs, they refer to Philmann.

The impact of the Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam construction project in China will change the future. There are many advantages to this construction project. However, the dam also has its disadvantages. Its advantages, are that, firstly, the dam will produce a huge amount of electricity, in fact over 100 terawatts(1 terawatt = 1,000,000,000,000 watts). This will also reduce lot of coal consumption by 31 million tonnes, and decrease China's environmental damage. The emission of 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas, millions of tonnes of dust, 1 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide, 370 thousand tonnes of nitric oxide, 10 thousand tonnes of carbon monoxide and a significant amount of mercury will be cut.



However, the construction of the dam means that huge areas behind the dam will be flooded, not only displacing 1.13m people from their homes, but destroying undiscovered cultural artifacts and artifacts that cannot be moved into museums or safe places, such as the hanging coffins. Relocation of displaced residents(or important items) in the area adds to the costs of the dam. Also, sedimentation is a problem. Sedimentation building up behind the dam is not really considered as a problem because there are more dams behind the Three Gorges Dam that will prevent that. Sediment not moving past the dam is the problem. Shanghai is down river from the dam and rests on a bed of silt. So long as silt has been carried downstream, Shanghai has been safe from flooding. However, if the net increase of sediment to the bed of silt becomes negative, Shanghai will become vulnerable to inundation.

I hope that the Chinese government will be able to solve these problem so that the dam will be an overall success. If the problems that the dam causes are solved, this will be a great achievement. It will help China reduce its dependency on coal and other non-renewable, environmentally-unfriendly sources of energy.

Three Gorges Dam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam

Whaling

I have read the Q & A page on the Japanese Whaling Association. The association claims that because whaling is a Japanese tradition, it should continue. I feel that there is nothing wrong with whaling in itself, however, as Al Gore stated in An Inconvenient Truth:

old habits + old technology = predictable results

old habits + new technology = new, unpredictable results

If a country were to shoot nuclear missiles all over the place(as an example) as if they were just cannonballs, the results would be devastating. Similarly, with whaling, new technology ensures an extremely high kill rate compared to the older technology and techniques of the 8th century, when Japanese whaling was first recorded. During the 8th century, many boats would have to surround a whale to prevent it from moving out of range of their hand-thrown harpoons and then the crew would have to throw their harpoons, sometimes missing. However today, because of advanced technology such as high-powered harpoon launchers and explosive harpoons, both of which are standard equipment, kill rates are much higher. Also, instead of having a huge group of boats go after one single whale. One lone whaling ship can kill several whales on its own.

I conclude that whaling as a Japanese tradition can go on, but it should have the same kill rates as during the 8th century and the killing techniques used must be as humane as possible. A solution would be to have a maximum number of whales killed per year, whether their bodies are recovered or not and to have a team of International Whaling Commission members to verify so.

Japanese Whaling Association: http://www.whaling.jp/english/qa.html#04

Wikipedia on Japanese whaling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_whaling

Whaling by Japanese whaling ships

I believe that most people are aware of whaling by Japanese ships. The whaling is labelled as "research" by whaling companies when in fact, once a whale is killed, only its diet and birth date is analysed from the remains then the meat is packaged and sold. So much for "research". I believe that action should be taken on the whalers. However, violence should not be used unless it is very necessary. For example, a Japanese whaling ship that ignores warnings from a military vessel or aircraft can be fired upoun. Also, I do not think we should "flame" or slander other people because this will just aggravate the situation until there are insults flying all over the place and nobody is bothering to listen to anyone else anymore. The best course of action to take is probably to try to solve the problem diplomatically. Why bother trying desperately to find excuses to use destructive weapons while we don't have to?

I will continue to investigate this topic. My sincere apologies if I jumped to conclusions. Please comment. Thanks!

Whaling: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1686486,00.html

The Start

This is the start of my blog. It will contain discussions on global issues from my school. I am currently studying at a secondary school in Singapore. However, I am not permitted to divuldge the identity of this school.

Happy reading! Please comment on the issues that I write about. Thanks.