The world would be different if human beings were not optimistic as the world would be full of depression and there would be numerous cases of suicide daily in the newspapers. Why do I say this? Although the article “The Optimism Bias” on Time magazine says that we, humans are inherently optimistic, there still have been cases of people who commit suicide. These suicides cases are usually because the victim is under too much pressure or in depression. One such case is students feeling too depressed when they do not meet their expected grades. An example is a suicide case of a fourth-year student at a university when her grades were not up to her expectations. She leapt from a block in the vicinity of the university due to the fact that her grades were continuously dropping. Imagine if we were not inherently optimistic, there would be a lot more people throwing themselves off the block due to their depression, as we do not have the any optimism to stop ourselves from ending our life. This is how the world would be different. Life would be so fragile that once we get knocked down we would not have the strength to get back on our feet.
The world would be different if human beings were not inherently optimistic as our lives would be a lot less convenient due to the inventions not made and discoveries not found. This is so as being able to invent something like a car, a light bulb or a plane takes much patience and optimism. There will be a thousand times that we will fail at inventing something new, but if we do not give up and persist, we will succeed in the end. If we are not inherently optimistic, do you think any inventions would have been invented? One example is Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Did you think he managed to invent the light bulb in just a try? No, it took him countless failures just to succeed at the light bulb. If human beings were not optimistic then he would have just given up and we would still be burning candles for light today. It goes the same for every other invention in the world. Thus if human beings were not inherently optimistic our lives would not be as convenient as it is today.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Reading and Reasoning: War Poetry
1. The gun he is describing here is a canon.
2. The “jackies” are pirates at sea. They would be singing war chanties because they are enjoying their attack on a ship.
3. He means that the shovel is very similar to the gun. The gun is used to attack or kill someone, which can cause trouble or bring justice, similar to the shovel. When you loosen turf using a shovel it is like a gun causing trouble while leveling the sod is like a gun bringing justice and order back.
4. The poem talks about people blindly obeying orders, which do and undo things.
5. It is trying to show irony in the poem by using complete opposite words. The persona is very fierce and strict towards the soldiers and citizens, the persona commands both soldiers and citizens, he does not ask politely.
6. It is definitely harder to built a society back up. In the recent events happening around the world, the earthquake that struck Japan is a good example. Japan is finding it really hard to rebuild their country, many people is injured and they do not have sufficient resources. Another example is rebuilding a house. It takes only a few hours to demolish a house but might take a few years to build it back up again.
7. It shows the sounds of soldiers driving large loud trucks. It represents an army of soldiers riding in huge trucks and tanks crushing houses and whatever is in its way.
8. A “king” who was kicked under the dust recently is the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. He was found out to be having sexual relationships with women, even paying for a service from prostitute, Karima El Mahrough. He should not do these things because he is a leader of a country, as a leader of a country he should set a good example. He should be ashamed of himself, many people have definitely lost respect for him. He has been “kicked under the dust” because he will not be someone who is respected anymore, instead he earned himself a bad reputation.
2. The “jackies” are pirates at sea. They would be singing war chanties because they are enjoying their attack on a ship.
3. He means that the shovel is very similar to the gun. The gun is used to attack or kill someone, which can cause trouble or bring justice, similar to the shovel. When you loosen turf using a shovel it is like a gun causing trouble while leveling the sod is like a gun bringing justice and order back.
4. The poem talks about people blindly obeying orders, which do and undo things.
5. It is trying to show irony in the poem by using complete opposite words. The persona is very fierce and strict towards the soldiers and citizens, the persona commands both soldiers and citizens, he does not ask politely.
6. It is definitely harder to built a society back up. In the recent events happening around the world, the earthquake that struck Japan is a good example. Japan is finding it really hard to rebuild their country, many people is injured and they do not have sufficient resources. Another example is rebuilding a house. It takes only a few hours to demolish a house but might take a few years to build it back up again.
7. It shows the sounds of soldiers driving large loud trucks. It represents an army of soldiers riding in huge trucks and tanks crushing houses and whatever is in its way.
8. A “king” who was kicked under the dust recently is the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. He was found out to be having sexual relationships with women, even paying for a service from prostitute, Karima El Mahrough. He should not do these things because he is a leader of a country, as a leader of a country he should set a good example. He should be ashamed of himself, many people have definitely lost respect for him. He has been “kicked under the dust” because he will not be someone who is respected anymore, instead he earned himself a bad reputation.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
One sentence narrative scene
We were in the scorching hot sun trudging over to the towering milo truck to grab a drink as it was sports day and everyone was having the time of their lives cheering the fervent participants on the track on as they were running a race which seemed to grab everyone's attention on the stands where there was a magnificent bird's eye view of the incredible events that were happening on the track which was the most electrifying race of eight runners competing and it was an extremely close fight but suddenly the runner in lane four tumbled to the ground with crash and everyone gasped and stared in horror as all the runners continued to dash to the finish line with all their might except one who stopped running and turned around to help the injured fellow who was lying flat on the red rough track
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Same-sex marriage
Singapore has never allowed homosexuality in the country. It seems that the Singapore government takes homosexuality very seriously. According to an article, Singapore criminalizes "gross indecency" between men, which includes consensual, private adult homosexual acts. The penalty is up to two years in imprisonment.
Singapore is not likely to legalize homosexuality any time soon. Mr Jonathan Cheng said in a letter to the forum that homosexuality is "harmful" to the society. Mr Cheng says that homosexual acts contribute to actual social harms, namely the low birth rate, or an increased risk of venereal diseases. This shows that Singapore will not legalize homosexuality because the Singapore government does not feel that homosexuality will do any good to the development of Singapore as a city. What Mr Cheng said shows that legalizing homosexuality would lead to other problems such as the falling birth rates. By legalizing homosexuality, there may be some straight people who get influenced and resulting in a bigger population of homosexual beings.
Singapore is not likely to legalize homosexuality. In Mr Jonathan Cheng’s letter to the forum, he goes on to say that the majority has the right to impose its vision of mortality over the rest of the society. As the population of people who are straight is definitely much bigger than the population of people who are homosexual, it should be right that the people who are straight to influence the homosexuals and impose that it is not alright to be homosexual. From Mr Cheng’s words, homosexual practices are disgusting and immoral. As such the Singapore government does not support homosexuality and thus will not legalize homosexuality.
Singapore is not likely to legalize homosexuality any time soon. Mr Jonathan Cheng said in a letter to the forum that homosexuality is "harmful" to the society. Mr Cheng says that homosexual acts contribute to actual social harms, namely the low birth rate, or an increased risk of venereal diseases. This shows that Singapore will not legalize homosexuality because the Singapore government does not feel that homosexuality will do any good to the development of Singapore as a city. What Mr Cheng said shows that legalizing homosexuality would lead to other problems such as the falling birth rates. By legalizing homosexuality, there may be some straight people who get influenced and resulting in a bigger population of homosexual beings.
Singapore is not likely to legalize homosexuality. In Mr Jonathan Cheng’s letter to the forum, he goes on to say that the majority has the right to impose its vision of mortality over the rest of the society. As the population of people who are straight is definitely much bigger than the population of people who are homosexual, it should be right that the people who are straight to influence the homosexuals and impose that it is not alright to be homosexual. From Mr Cheng’s words, homosexual practices are disgusting and immoral. As such the Singapore government does not support homosexuality and thus will not legalize homosexuality.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Reflections on HBL 24/25 May
The home-based learning (HBL) lessons on the 24th and 25th of May was quite enjoyable and definitely productive. During the two days, we were given a few tasks for different subjects and we had to complete them by the end of the day. The tasks and assignments that we given to me were reasonable and I could complete them. One problem I faced during this home-based learning is my chinese assignment. I found it rather difficult to complete the task given which was to finish an online question sheet about a book "The Romance of Three Kingdoms". It required me to search the book for examples of a character who displayed leadership qualities. I ended up spending lots of time on this assignment. This was the only problem I faced during these two days.
I feel that home-based learning teaches us things that might not be as easily learnt in school. Home-based learning teaches how to manage our time properly and trains us to be disciplined. We learn this when we do our assignments. When we do our assignments we are tempted by the video games that are a click away. If we do not learn to be disciplined, we will end up getting no work done at all.
This home-based learning also allows us to maximize the time we have in a day. I say this because when we do home-based learning we do not waste time travelling during a normal school day. Instead once we finish our lessons and assignments we can use the extra time for other things. Moreover, we have an Integrated Humanities (IH) Exam the day on the 26th May. We can maximize the time after we finish our assignment to do revision.
On the whole, I feel that home-based learning is useful and allows us to practice discipline. I hope there will a few more home-based learning lessons.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Home-based Learning online lesson: Task 2
Point of View
The writer is writing in the point of view of the people who are affected by the spraying of Agent Orange recounting. The persona is talks about how the Americans have led astray causing illness, birth defects and deaths. He expresses his anger for the Americans when he says that the generations will pay. This shows that he is a victim whose life is destroyed by the spraying of Agent Orange because he shows his anger for the Americans who caused the deaths and illnesses.
Situation and Setting
It is during the Vietnam war where the Americans sprayed Agent Orange and other herbicides which caused many people falling ill and even deaths. Not only soldiers were affected innocent lives were too. The poem talks about the illness, birth defects and deaths and tolling on the innocent. This shows that there were many people whose lives were affected as there were many innocent people who died and got ill because of the spraying of herbicides.
Language/Diction
The writer uses sarcasm, imagery as well as rhyming words to show his anger for the Americans who caused him this suffering. The writer uses sarcasm when he says "America did not foresee" and "Now thinking twice?". He is trying to show that America saw the effects of spraying but they still carried on in spraying, they did not have a thought for the people who were going to be affected. The writer uses imagery in the poem in "green, pink, purple and other colours death potpourii" to allow the reader to imagine the situation. The reader will imagine rainbow colours sprayed down and causing death and illnesses, and recognise the amount of damage done. The writer also uses rhyming words in the last three lines of him poem. The rhyming words he used are "astray", "pay" and "spray". He is emphasizing the Americans going astray in spraying Agent Orange and other harmful herbicides and they will pay. This expresses the writers anger and frustration for the Americans.
Personal Response
I feel that the everyone should think about what they are doing twice before carrying them out. We should always think of the consequences that will follow and whether it will harm anyone. We should always make a wise decision. In the poem, it talks about how the Americans have thought of the consequences but they still chose to carry out the spraying of herbicides. This resulted in many innocent people suffering. We must always spare a thought of people around as so that we can prevent people from suffering in the future.
Home-based Learning online lesson: Task 1
Rainbow Death by Hubert Wilson
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!
Conflicts
The poem talks about the Vietnam War, it shows that the effects of war that still exist. In the Vietnam war many people fell ill because of the spraying of Agent Orange. Hubert Wilson shows that although the war is long over, the after effects of war still haunt us. In the poem, he mentions Agent Orange, which is a herbicide and defoliant used by the US military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam war. Agent Orange and other herbicides that had a lasting effect on the people who were in contact with it. During the war, about 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, with 500,000 children born with birth defects. During the production of Agent Orange, dioxins were produced as contaminant, which caused numerous health problems to millions of people exposed to it. He shows how it describes how innocent people lives are destroyed and that even though literally the vietnam war is over, the effects of the war still lurk.
sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc
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!
Conflicts
The poem talks about the Vietnam War, it shows that the effects of war that still exist. In the Vietnam war many people fell ill because of the spraying of Agent Orange. Hubert Wilson shows that although the war is long over, the after effects of war still haunt us. In the poem, he mentions Agent Orange, which is a herbicide and defoliant used by the US military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam war. Agent Orange and other herbicides that had a lasting effect on the people who were in contact with it. During the war, about 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, with 500,000 children born with birth defects. During the production of Agent Orange, dioxins were produced as contaminant, which caused numerous health problems to millions of people exposed to it. He shows how it describes how innocent people lives are destroyed and that even though literally the vietnam war is over, the effects of the war still lurk.
sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc
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