Today I Died (Documentary)

Today, I watched a science documentary called Today I Died which is about the possibility of the brain living on and remaining conscious even after clinical death. There was a lot of case studies on people who had experienced near-death situations. Most of the patients described that they saw a tunnel of bright light approaching them which why it happens is explained in the documentary scientifically. Furthermore, the patients feel very happy and peaceful, which is because large amounts of brain morphine is produced when the patient is under lots of stress when they are dying thus, they feel happy. Another common sight was that the patient could remain conscious and see what is happening around them when they were under anesthetics and were supposed to be unconscious. Even though it was not mentioned in the documentary, I believe that the patients were conscious as the anesthetics only reached the other parts of the body besides the eyes and the brain or were not enough there. I have personally experienced this, when I fractured my arm and went to the hospital, I was put under anesthetics and became unconscious. However, after a while, I could see what was happening, the nurses were twisting my arm but I could not feel any pain and was unable to move my body. Lastly, about the case where a blind person could see when she was in a near-death situation, I believe she just imagined everything, as she has never seen how the world actually looked like and can only assume that to be the world when it is really not the case. However, humans still do not know much about the afterlife, thus everything has a possibility of happening. In conclusion, I have learnt a lot from this documentary and hope there comes a day where humans fully understand the afterlife.

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMGskL_bujE&feature=related

Paradoxes

A paradox is a self-contradictory and false proposition. For example, when someone says that "I am lying" , it is a paradox because if what he saying was true, then he would be lying, thus self-contradictory. However, if he was lying, then he would be lying about lying and would be telling the truth, thus it is a paradox. Many logic problems are based on paradox. However, there are several things that seem like paradoxes but are actually not. For example, one might think that there must be at least two barbers in a town in order for everyone's hair to be neat assuming everyone else besides the barber cannot cut their hair and the barber can only cut everyone elses' hair. However, the barber might be a female and do not need to have her hair cut. Thus, this is not a paradox.

Birthday problem(Desperate -.-)

The birthday problem is the probability of any 2 people out of n people having the same birthday. Did you know that out of only 57 people there is a 99% chance that 2 people have the same birthday? This is because every person must have a different birthday with all other people. The probability of 2 people having the same birthday is 1 x (1-1/365) x (1 - 2/365) x ... x ( 1- (n-1)/365). When you substitute n with 57, you find that its probability is 99%! This is hard to believe if you do not know the logic but it is true!

Colour Blindness

When people are colour blind, they cannot distinguish between certain colours, especially red and green. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, pilots are dangerous jobs if you are colour blind as you can't differentiate green light and red lights and might crash into something. Being a member of anti-bomb squad is also dangerous as you can't differentiate the wires and when you cut the wrong one the bomb might explode. Furthermore, some types of engineering are unsuitable as you might put the wrong wire in the wrong plug which may cause a short circuit and a fire may break out.

Recommendation to test whether if you are colour blind:

http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.asp is a fast and simple way to test if you are colour-blind. It only takes about a few seconds. The test is just to see a number in the pattern of dots. Best of all, it is completely free! Try it now!

DotA 2 and my thoughts

Yay! The long awaited GamesCom has finally started two days ago featuring Icefrog and Valve's whole new game DotA 2 which is unrestrained by Warcraft III. This competition is the biggest thing in the whole gaming community. The prize is 1 MILLION dollars! Many of the top teams in the world are invited to participate in this competition. One of Singapore's team ,Scythe.sg, has been invited! Scythe.sg has been doing remarkably well so far in the competition, beating many of the top teams in the European scene(especially the far more experienced MYM)! China has always been the dominating country in the DotA scene but this time there might be a change! However, to be honest, I feel that this competition is more likely to be a marketing move by Valve rather than to feature the professional teams. I must admit that this is a good move as this has caused many people from all over the world to notice the game. Furthermore, I have a feeling that gaming may still become an investment for some people. For example, a rich son in China has bought 2 of the top China teams for a total of 9.2 million and reformed another team(iG)! Lastly, I would like to wish all the teams the best in the competition and I would definitely buy DotA 2 when it comes out!

Gaming smartly :D

Did you know that the grater the frequency of gaming, the grater the possibility of reduced social skills and the greater the chance of poor school performance?

Thus, today I am here to advise you on how to game smartly. Just to clarify, I am not here to advise you to stop gaming, but rather to game without affecting your life as well as learn useful things in the process.

First of all, I would recommend games that requires teamwork such as CounterStrike, DotA and strategy RTS games such as Warcraft III. These games help to increase your social skills through communicating with your teammates as well as train your reaction and test your mind. You may think that this games are less fun than MMORPG games such as Maplestory and WoW, but, this games can be quite fun and is much less addictive.

However, we should not game for too long for any type of games as it will affect our studies. We should play less than 10 hours a week and only after we have done our homework. Furthermore, rest your eyes every 45 minutes of gaming for about 15 minutes. However, one common sight is that when teenagers lose or win a game, they will tend to play more, either because they hate the feeling of losing or likes the feeling of winning and wants to play more.

This should not be the case as this will lead to being addicted to that game. One way to see if you are addicted to a game is by seeing if you always think and talk about it in conversations, classes and even dreams! When you are addicted to a certain game, you are often distracted by it and can lead to poor studies and being anti-social. Thus, we must cut our addiction as soon as we notice it. We can do this by : cutting down our gaming time, go for counseling sessions or go for supervised gaming sessions such as at Bukit Merah Care Corner.

Another good way to cut your addiction is to find out the reason that you game for. If it is for the feeling of winning and achievement, you can play sports and other recreational activities. If it is because of bad peer pressure, find some better friends or learn to say "no". If it is for meeting new friends, join some activities at community centres or go for exchange programmes.

All in all, I would like to remind you that everything is your own decision so decided wisely. Time cannot be gained back so treasure it.

Now, after listening to my speech, I hope you have learnt how to game smartly! Lastly, I would like to end with my motto " Work hard, Play hard". Thank you!

LA results

My LA has never been very good since primary school. From Sec 1 till now, my MSG has been always pulled down by LA. As always, this term, I failed my LA. D: I have been finding ways to improve my LA but all these methods do not work for me. I know that a language has to be learnt through practice and hardwork. However, both of these does not seem to work for me, I can't practice much English as my parents speak Chinese with me at home and because people in Singapore do not use proper English in their everyday conversation. Furthermore, whenever I do an exercise or read something, my mind becomes blank and I do not understand and remember what I have just done. This is probably due to my lack of interest. Now, I will try to read more books and hopefully, do better for my EOY.

Land pollution

Land pollution is the degradation of Earth's land surfaces often caused by human activities and their misuse of land resources. It occurs when waste is not disposed properly. Health hazard disposal of urban and industrial wastes, exploitation of minerals, and improper use of soil by inadequate agricultural practices are a few factors. Urbanization and industrialization are major causes of land pollution. Here are some factors of land pollution.

The first factor is increased mechanization. The major increase in the concentration of population in cities, along with the internal combustion engine, led to the increased number of roads and all the infrastructure that goes with them.

As the demand for food has grown exponentially with the increase of the human population, there is an increase in field size and mechanization. The increase in field size makes it economically viable for the farmer but results in loss of person and shelter for wildlife, as hedgerows and copses disappear. When crops are harvested, the naked soil is left open to wind after it has been compacted by heavy machinery. Another consequence of more intensive agriculture is the move to monoculture. This is unnatural, will deplete the soil of nutrients, allows diseases and pests to spread and, as it happens; it quickly exhausts all the natural resources in an area, causing the introduction of chemical fertilizers and foreign substances to the soil that poisons it. The chemical fertilizers in the soil cause its infertility.

The next factor is the use of pesticides. A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest. A pesticide may be a chemical substance, biological agent (such as a virus or bacteria), antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest. Although there are benefits to the use of pesticides, there are also drawbacks, many of the chemicals used in pesticides are persistent soil contaminants, whose impact may endure for decades.

The last factor is the increased waste disposal. When solid wastes are dumped in drainage channels and gutters, they block the flow of the sewerage. This may cause flooding. At the same time, solid wastes also affect soil drainage which hinders the growing of crops.

Next I shall be talking about how to minimise land pollution. We can minimise land pollution by the 3 Rs, reduce reuse and recycle. By doing so, we can minimise waste disposal. We should also refrain from using pesticides and try to find a more environmentally-friendly way to get rid of pests like using predators and genetically engineered plants. We should also use high-tech agriculture methods so that lesser land is used for agriculture. Technology has also allowed soilless agriculture like hydroponics. This will minimise land pollution caused by mechanization.

Does wealth bring happiness?

I agree to a small extent that wealth bring happiness. Although everything in the world costs money, food, drinks, etc and our ultimate motive in life is to get a job and earn money to support our family, we should not be obsessed with money as money cannot buy happiness. True happiness is when you spend time with your family and friends. Furthermore, financial conflicts have sown discords between many families, the members of the family think egocentrically, wanting the most for themselves. Lastly, as we all know, elderly and children need people to talk to and play with as they get lonely easily and they do not only want the things we give them. Thus, spending time with your family brings happiness, not only wealth.

Merchant of Venice on Facebook

1.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portia/247366961963710

2.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bassanio/156771407735863

3.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Antonio/164193693655023

LA test and R & R exercises

Recently, I just got back my expository and R & R exercises' results. I did badly for both. I admit that I am weak in LA but I have never gotten so low before. Thus, I decided to reflect on what I have done wrong and try to learn from my mistakes.

Firstly, I will reflect on my expository essay. Even though I listened to my teacher's advice to use transition words, my language marks was still quite poor. I guess that this is because of my poor sentence structure. I will try to improve on it. Also, I misunderstood the question (I thought that Arts include LA) and could not provide any real life examples to prove my point. Thus, I scored badly.

About my R & R exercise, I couldn't understand the passage, even though I annotated!(I thought that the Camilla represents purity!) and thus I scored badly. I will try to re-annotate TKAMB if I have the time.(more carefully this time)

But these are all over already, no point crying over spilled milk. So during this 2 weeks, I will try to remember quotations and examples and hopefully do better for the mid-term exam.

黄城夜韵 Chinese Drama

After watching the Chinese drama "黄城夜韵" organized by our school , I feel that it is a very good show in total. It acts out problems that can occur in our real lives. From this drama, I have learnt a lot of things. The drama was about the problems met when producing a drama.

Firstly, I have learnt not to prejudge other people or assume anything in situations before actually knowing the person or understanding the situation. In the drama, a lot of people thought that the 2 directors were in love, never taking the drama seriously and being unfair to them as they are here to produce a drama. But actually, the female director was not in love with the male director. The 2 directors often stayed up late in the night together to do the scripts for the drama. The female director, after seeing how hardworking the male director is, admired him but not love. If we prejudge a person for example based on their looks. We will ignore those with average looks but that person may be kind in heart and we might have lost a good friend.

Secondly, I learnt to think for others and not only yourself, if not your friends will leave you. In the drama, the female director always thought that only her views were correct and that the people whose expertise was at that certain area was wrong and scolded them. This even caused some of them to sign a contract with another company to work there. When your friend leaves you, it is already too late for regret. We should cherish our friends, unlike the female director in the drama.

Lastly, I learnt about the importance of teamwork and perseverance which are probably the main theme of the drama. In the end, after the people producing the drama worked together and never gave up, they finally succeeded. In life, if there is a will, there is a way, we must persevere till the end. Furthermore, teamwork is very important. A famous Chinese saying: “在家靠父母，在外靠朋友”. At home you depend on your parents, but after going outside and working, you will depend on friends. A lot of things cannot be done by one single person, but with many people together, nothing is impossible.

Favorite Anime

My favorite anime is Detective Conan(mentioned in previous posts) and its name suggests, it is a anime about mysteries. It is about a famous high school detective, Kudou Shinichi, who was with his girlfriend, Mouri Ran, in a amusement park and he saw some men in black(black organization members) doing some illegal business there. As he was watching, he did not notice one of the men coming behind him, the men hit him with a bat and forced him to take a new experimental pill, APTX 4869 which was supposed to kill him. However, a rare side-effect happened and turned him into a child. Then, Kudou Shinichi changed his name to Edogawa Conan to hide the fact that he is alive in case the black organization searchs for him and to search for clues to apprehend the black organization and cure himself. Meanwhile, he stays at Ran's place(Ran does not know Conan is Shinichi). Ran's father, Mouri Kogorou, who is a novice detective, also lived in there. As Conan searches for clues, a lot of cases happened, as he cannot solve the crime as Conan, he has to use Professor Agasa's inventions- a wristwatch that can put people to sleep and a bowtie that is a voice changer- to solve cases. He often poses as Kogorou and thus Kogorou became a famous detective.

I recommend this anime to all of you especially those studying Japanese, as this is not only very interesting(every episode is unique) and EPIC(especially parts with black organization but it also helps to improve your Japanese. Lastly, it is still producing new episodes. Luckily, the author and editors of Detective Conan were not affected in the recent Japan earthquake.

Science Center

I went to the science center on 2th May. It was indeed a fun and enriching trip. We went around the exhibitions first. What interest me the most was the maths room where there were lots of interesting formulas such as e=mc2 and e^(i*pi) + 1 = 0 which I have no idea why. Besides going to the usual exhibitions that everyone have seen before, we also went to a science show which was about liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is a liquid colder than dry ice which boils at -196 degrees Celsius, so its actually boiling in room temperature. When we pour it on the floor, it instantly vaporizes. The experimenters also made a soft banana into a hammer by pouring liquid nitrogen on it, as the banana contains water which turn into ice, it becomes as hard as a hammer and successfully hammered a nail into a chair. But when they tried pouring liquid nitrogen on a flower, although it became hard, when we tried to hammer a nail into a chair, the flower shattered into pieces. This was because that the frozen flower was like a thin layer of ice, it is hard but brittle. Then, they poured liquid nitrogen on a rubber balloon, they used it as a nail and hammered it in. This was possible even though it did not contain water due to the properties of rubber, when rubber contracts, it loses its flexibility and becomes stiff. Next, they tried to contain liquid nitrogen, they poured some into a plastic container and capped it with a lid tightly but the lid still popped out. Then they poured some into a glass flask and covered the mouth with a balloon. The balloon inflated and finally burst. This was because when liquid nitrogen vaporizes, its volume increases by about 600 times. After that, they tried to squeeze in a lot of balloons into a small box by pouring liquid nitrogen on it, this was possible as the air contracts when it is cool and the balloon's volume becomes smaller. Then, they took out the contracted balloons and the air inside expanded and the balloon had a bigger volume. However, some of the balloons burst as the air inside expanded faster than the rubber becoming flexible. Finally, they created a giant cloud by pouring lots of liquid nitrogen into a big unsealed container and adding hot water to it, the liquid nitrogen vaporizes faster and created a gigantic cloud. As I was seating in the first row, I could feel the nitrogen vapor, it was very cooling and I could not see the thing in all of that cloud. In total, the trip was very fun and enriching, I hope to come here again.

Computer Game Addiction

I have known that a lot of my classmates are addicted to computer games such as "Minecraft" and facebook games. But only recently that I have noticed how serious the addiction was!

Tests were coming up, but these students did not even care. When the teachers was teaching, they would just hide their laptops under the table and play, some were even so daring that they played right in front of the teacher! On those days where Wireless@HCI was down, one even used the teacher's LAN cable so that he could play!

It takes a gamer to know another gamer. Previously, I was also very addicted to computer games, I would play from morning till night without food or water and in the end, my grades dropped to a record low. Seeing this, I knew that I should stop playing but I couldn't. I even kept thinking about computer games in class and when I want to study, I will have no mood! Luckily, in Sec 2 Term 1 Sabbatical, I attended a cyber wellness program. This program was very fun and helped to get rid of my addiction.

Everyday in that week, I would go to a center in Bukit Merah for that program. I expected it to be very boring. But unlike other programs, this program is not telling you to quit gaming, but rather, telling you that there are other interesting and fun things in life. We had various activities such as kayaking and games such as Wii. Unlike other cyber wellness programs, we were told to play our favorite computer games there. We had a lot of fun, getting to know each other at the same time. We also did a test to find out our talents and occupations we want to be when we grow up. This was truly helpful in getting rid of my addiction.

In conclusion, I suggest that those who are addicted to computer games to go to this sabbatical course next term(you have to tell Cao Lao Shi or Mrs May Chen) or find another hobby other than computer gaming which is just as engaging and fun but consumes less time. But ultimately, it is still about self control, gaming is fine but it is not when it consumes most of your time. For me, I still game quite a lot but I know when to game and when not to.

Third Language

I have been taking Japanese as my third language for a year and a half now. I have wanted to learn Japanese so that I can watch my favourite anime "Detective Conan"(名探偵コナン）without subtitles which could can take subbers half a year to sub Detective Conan movies. However, as I am learning Japanese, I have become very interested in their culture than just watching an anime.

Japanese lessons are very fun and engaging. Our teacher is very kind and not fierce. She would always use objects, games and PowerPoint slides for her class so that we are engaged. Our teacher has literally everything in her handbag.(plastic fruits, long pencils, even soft toys!) She uses this objects to teach us nouns, how to describe an action or object. In total, I think that she is a very good teacher.

However, all these fun has ended as our exams came. A lot of us did not study and was not prepared for the test. 2 weeks ago, we received our test results, half of the class have failed but I got 47.9/55 marks, 3rd in class. [Evil Akira Makino >:( ] Most of the students after receiving their terrible results did not even feel remorseful. Instead, they were even laughing and comparing to see whose score was the lowest. Even the new student who have quit Japanese for 1 year got higher than them. I feel that they should treat Japanese lessons more seriously, not as a place to chat and socialize or they would just be wasting their time there. However, all is not lost, let's all study hard and ace the next test!

皆さん、がんばってください！：D

Upcoming exams and competitions

Right after I thought that the tests were finally over, I saw the emb message that there were 2 more mid term exams for LA and IH both subjects which I am weak in. I think I will study very hard for these tests but there is a problem: Both of the tests requires us to remember alot of information , such as statistics; quotations; etc. And, I will tend to forget most of the things I studied unless I study the night before. Furthermore, I have not read a lot of newspapers and I know nothing about the general elections, so if it comes out I will probably fail it.

On the same week, there will be the SMO. I hope I would do well in this year's SMO as it is my last year participating in the Junior Section. Maths, unlike LA and IH, does not require one to conduct any research before hand. Thus it is much simpler for me as I only have to remember the methods.

Why couldn't Maths and LSS be our mid term exams? D:

Blog Comments

1.http://quekface.blogspot.com/2011/05/shakespearean.html?showComment=1305103936042#c8827505584498825810

2.http://quekface.blogspot.com/2011/05/two-weird-words-in-english-language.html?showComment=1305104345114#c8921952672638359644

3.http://behla2i2.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-feature-article.html?showComment=1305104869849#c4634786719556175479

4.http://sparkielamelife.blogspot.com/2011/03/term-2-new-term-xd.html?showComment=1305105201018#c4144847273622992880

5.http://blogofdavidwho.blogspot.com/2011/05/tennis-tournament.html?showComment=1305105412192#c4403569471040297916

6.http://lashirley.blogspot.com/2011/05/about-expository-essay.html?showComment=1305105718817#c2795419538527953484

7.http://behla2i2.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-can-i-improve-my-comprehension.html

8.http://quekface.blogspot.com/2011/05/migrate-immigrate-and-emigrate.html

9.http://isandcastler.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-05-02T19%3A26%3A00%2B08%3A00&max-results=1

Blog Prompt

How has learning about newsworthiness and types of news articles (straight news articles and feature articles in different sections of the newspaper) affected the way you read newspapers?

After learning about newsworthiness, I realised that broadsheets may not be so boring and unreliable after all, as I always thought that broadsheets were propogandas and were bias to one side or that it is very boring and reports about unimportant news. But, I found out that broadsheets can be interesting, especially those with titles that catches my attention and that sometimes, it can contain feature articles(not always straight news articles). Broadsheets are important and may report important events like the recent Japan earthquake which has a huge impact on our lives (one factor of newsworthiness) . Furthermore, days which the newspaper reported articles that were boring were usually because they had nothing to write about. Thus, I after learning about newsworthiness and types of news articles, I do not only read tabloids which contains a lot of feature articles, but also read some of the broadsheets.

The Maycomb Tribune

Fire Breaks Out at Atkinson's

A big fire broke out at Old Miss Maudie Atkinson's house last night burning it till nothing was left. To make matters worst, the fire even spread to some of her neighbours such as Mr Atticus Finch and Miss Rachel Haverford.

It was a little after one when the incident happened. The town fire siren wailed and woke every white in the town. The men of Maycomb all helped to save Miss Maudie's furniture. They include Mr Avery Dick who almost could not make it out of the fire.

Mr Avery Dick was trying to throw down furniture from the upper level of Miss Maudie's house. But, the stairs burned down and he was trapped in. He tried to squeeze through the window but got stuck halfway. After much struggling, he finally got loose and crossed the upstairs porch. He swung his legs over the railing and slided down a pillar but he slipped and fell. Luckily, he fell onto Miss Maudie's shrubbery and was not injured severely. But he will still be in bed for a week.

Soon, fire trucks arrived and after one night of fighting, the fire was finally stopped. Then, everyone went back to sleep.

Our reporters have interviewed Miss Maudie and she was not looking sad, she said "Always wanted a smaller house. Gives me more yard. Just think, I'll have more room for my azaleas now!" and when our reporters asked her why wasn't she grieving, she replied " Why, I hated that old cow barn. Thought of settin' fire to it a hundred times myself, except they'd lock my up."

Miss Maudie is currently staying at Miss Stephanie Crawford's and will be staying there until she has a new house. The firemen have not yet located the cause of the fire, but they suspect that the carpet which was near the fireplace burned and spread to the house. This incident is a reminder to citizens of Maycomb to keep flammable objects away from the fireplace. If anyone has related information about this incident, please call our hotline 5184 9589 or come to our office at Maycomb, Street 89, Media Centre, #03 -56.

Monday April 18 LA Online Learning T2W5

1)The wrinkled old man had unkempt white hair, a overgrown, unshaven beard and moustache and reeks of blood, sweat and dirt as if he had been living in trash for a few years. His lips were as dry as sawdust, as if having walked in a desert for a few years. His eyes were filled with innocence like one of a child's, as if he wants the war to stop and have peace and it would instantly melt away anyone's hatred. He also looks very pitiful and sad as a victim of war, probably after seeing the effects of war.
2)A day in the life of WWII
Today, I heard that Singapore had surrendered to the Japanese. At this moment I knew that everything would never be the same again. My neighbours and I were taken to a trial, I was not suspected but some of my neighbours were not so lucky and I never saw them ever since. Our remaining crops which we had put in months of blood and sweat to grow where also taken away, probably for rations. Furthermore, I was starving from not eating food for 5 days straight, but despite just getting our rations, I was still hungry as they were meager. I know that I have to save up rations if I was going to survive. As I walked around the streets, I saw Japanese soldiers patrolling around, some even bullied the citizens and injured them." Why must war break out?" I questioned myself and wondered why people cannot be contented with what they have and want more. Is war really worth those things?

Different types of newspapers

Last week, I learnt about the different types of newspapers, specifically broadsheets and tabloids.

Broadsheets are newspapers which reports serious news which includes sections such as Singapore, Asia, World, Money, etc.(The Straits Times). They usually report news such as natural disaters, wars, political disputes, etc and are objective. They are read by every age group.

Tabloids are newspapers which reports what is "in" and what is "out" and are mostly not serious, such as "in"(The Straits Times). They consists of celebrity news, work of students, articles regarding the feelings of the reader after having experienced/read about a certain event. They are mostly read by teenagers.

Comparing these two types of newspapers, a broadsheet is twice the size of a tabloid. A broadsheet is more about serious news while a tabloid is more sensational and gossipy. Also, a broadsheet is objective(propogandas) while a tabloid is not.

Factors that make a story newsworthy(from my viewpoint as a teenager):

Uniqueness is one of this factors, readers would like to read unique news besides same old boring news about the government and political leaders, etc. It can be about news such as people with a certain ideal defying the ideal. Such as Pregnant nun accused of arson. Most people view nuns as kind-hearted and innocent. But this nun have not only defied their ideal(getting pregnant) but also accused of arson, a serious offense. So this should be a big scoop.

Another factor is the number of people affected/impact. A person getting injured seems a small deal to most of us but an earthquake killing and injuring thousands of people will catch our attention.

Another factor is who it affects. If a ordinary citizen just died today, no one will really care but if it was the minister mentor or a famous person, it will definitely hit the headlines.

The last factor is a how touching the story is. It must make the readers sympathise/empathise the incident. Such as, a dog saving its owner from a mad dog by fighting with it but as a result, died.

Strange fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

I feel that the author doesn't use the word "lynching" as not using the word creates more sympathy for the Blacks. It is also to show the contrast between what South America is thought to be and what it actually is. "lynching" is also not used so that the setting is more detailed and lets the reader guess what is happening and not directly tell them.

Mississipi Burning

I have watched a move called Mississipi Burning last week. It was about racism, a group of people which were called KKK lynched Negros just because they did not like thier skin colour. In the movie, the director wants us to pity the Negros(using methods such as showing the little boy reactions after his father was lynched and how KKK treated the Negros) and cause us to hate whites. The FBI agents, after a lot of effort, finally found enough evidence to sue the KKK. This shows that with perserverence, anything can be done, even able to put KKK in jail in such a racist community. In total, I feel that the movie is a little non-realistic and is critising the whites in the way that everyone in Mississipi except one single woman is discriminating the Negros which was probably not true in real life. The movie tells us that there shouldn't be racism as everyone despite skin colour, gender, etc is still a person and should be treated like everyone else, fairly.

Poem of Scout(To Kill a Mockingbird)

"Everyone who goes home to lunch hold up your hands".

"Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham".

"I've had about enough of you this morning".



She sank down into her chair and

buried her head in her arms.

had her been more friendly I would have felt sorry.



Saved by the bell,

Catching Walter in the school yard gave

me some pleasure of rubbing him in the dirt.



"Not a soul in sight" I said

as Jem leaned as far as he could into the window

but then I saw Dill ringing the bell with all his might.



We weren't makin' fun of him, we

weren't laughin' at him',

we were just-



Every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley

seeking revenge. Every passing Negro laughing was Boo Radley

loose and after us. Insects splashing was Boo Radley picking wire to pieces.



Leaving me to entertain

our cousin. Francis was eight and

had slicked back his hair.

"He's nothin' but a nigger-lover!"

"He is not!" I roared and

ran after him, collaring him.



"Why there he is, Mr Tate,

he can tell you his name."

He was leaning against the wall.



His hands were white hand that

had never seen the sun,

so white that they stood out against the wall.



I gazed at him in wonder,

His lips parted into a timid smile.

"Hey,Boo," I said.

Responding-To Kill a Mockingbird

Scout was my favourite character as her experiences reminded me of my childhood, such as making dares with my friends and about how naive and gullible I was then. Her process of growing up was also very similar to mine. When I was young, whenever I saw a toy, I would almost ask my parents to buy it, if they did, I would probably throw it away after a few days but if they did not, I would argue with them but I never won. This is very similar to Scout's arguement with Calpurnia where she never won. My parents taught me that I will not always get what I want just like Atticus and Calpurnia exposing Scout to the outside world. I was also very rash like Scout, whenever I disliked somebody, I would pinch them or scold bad words at them; like Scout chasing after Walter Cunningham and her cousins. But, my parents taught me that I can't go bashing anyone I don't like and that I have to bear with them; like Calpurnia and Atticus teaching Scout that everyone has their own ways and that she should respect it. In the end. I have turned many potential enemys into friends by getting to know them better; just like Boo and Walter becoming Scout's friends after she got to know them.

Responding To Kill a Mockingbird, Twenty-two through Thirty-one

Personal Response

The ending of the novel surprised me. If I was the author, I would have ended differently as I have written a lot about the court case and had forgotten about the Radleys already.

Analyzing Literature-Recall and Interpret

1. The children was afraid that Bob Ewell will harm Atticus as Atticus had shamed him. However, Atticus was not worried at all as he believed that Bob Ewell will not harm him.

2. Bob Ewell followed them and attacked them near the Radley place. But luckily, Boo comes and saves Scout and Jem but unfortunately Bob died. It shows that Boo is actually kind-hearted and not a monster like they described him.

3. Scout was friendly to Boo. At first, she thought that Boo was a monster and was scared of him. But after seeing his shy attitude and kindness, she was not scared anymore.

4. I believe that Sheriff Tate and Atticus made the best decision about how to report Bob Ewell's death of himself accidentally falling onto his knife and not about Jem killing him. If this was not done, Jem probably will be discriminated and will have a unhappy life as he will have a criminal record even when he is just a teenager. People might even be misleaded that Atticus used Jem to kill Bob because of the court case.

5. Yes. Because only through baby steps, people will be able to accept other types of people. Like in the case of the book, it is best if they accept the Negros slowly. If not, they might not be able to accept it if the law was suddenly changed and they might go on strikes/riots.

Responding To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelve through Twenty-one

Personal Response
I empathize with Mayella Ewell most as she did not have much friends and was forced by his father to lie in order to protect him as she had probably caused the problem in the 1st place. When she was questioned by Atticus, she hesitated when she lied showing that she is kind in heart but as she was an Ewell, she had to behave in their ways. I empathize with Bob Ewell least, as he had forced Mayella to do alot of work that probably resulted in the court case and had probably beaten her and lied that Tom Robinson had commited the crime. He also had forced Mayella to lie and he did not even hesitate when he was lieing during the questioning showing that he was used to lieing.

Analyzing Literature-Recall and Interpret

1. People from Maycomb was trying to harm Tom before he courtcase, but Atticus wouldn't let them. But those people will do anything to get their way which inclues harming Atticus. Scout helped by talking to Mr Cunningham that entailments are bad.

2. He confirmed that Mayella's right eye was injured which means the criminal is left-handed but Tom's left hand was crippled so he could not have done the crime.

3. According to Atticus, Mayella had kissed Tom , a Negro. This action could not be accepted in the society of discrimination against Negros and thus Mayella tried to cover it up by accusing Tom. Atticus fear that the jury will think that all Negros are immoral, and often making up lies.

Analyzing Literature-Evaluate and Connect

4. The author describes that Mayella has only a single parent who is a drunktard that often beats her up and forces her to do a lot of work.

5. No. A jury today in a non-racist society would not have found Tom guilty as Tom could not have commited the crime with a crippled left hand. Juries today are mostly fair as there is no discrimination here.

Responding To Kill a Mockingbird, One through Eleven

Personal Response
After reading about Scout's experiences, I remember about when I was 4 or 5 years old, I often played truth or dare with my friends in my kindergarden and i always chooses the dare instead of the truth.

Analyzing Literature-Recall and Interpret

1.They thought that Boo was mad and was scared of him (Miss Stephanie Crawford said that one day, Boo was sitting in the living-room cutting some items from The Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room and Boo drove the scissors into Mr Radley's leg and pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.)but they were at the same time, curious of him by making dares about going to the Radley Place such as touching the house and trying to give a note to Boo.

2.Scout and Jem found a ball, soap figures of themselves, chewing gums, Indian-heads, a spelling medal and a pocket watch on a chain with an aluminum knife in the knothole of the Radley tree. This and Miss Maudie's explanation of the Radleys suggest that Boo may not be the monster the children imagine him to be.

3. Scout gets into fights with Cecil Jacobs and her cousin Francis because they call Atticus a nigger-lover, but Scout although not knowing what it means, thought that it was an insult and gets into fights with them. Their response suggests that Maycomb is a racist community. And Scout's response reveal that she doesn't like people badmouthing Atticus and that she is very tom-boyish, rash and violent.

Analyzing Literature-Evaluate and Connect

4. In both cases, Atticus has the courage to try and is willing to put in effort in doing it.

5. I would describe him as a good parent with effective methods of teaching. He wants his children to be on the right path but at the same time, explore themselves by giving them the freedom. But when they go to the wrong track, Atticus will bring them back onto the right path. Then, his children will have a all-rounded and fun childhood. Atticus wants to teach them that everyone have their own ways and that they should respect them.

Compromise

A compromise is a agreement reached by mutual concessions. It requires parties to agree to certain terms(usually each party have to sacrifice something) and conditions reached by thier discussion. After a compromise is made, both parties receive benifits.

Compromises are sometimes made in businness for partnership and also to settle disagreement/fights without any violence. E.g: In lawsuits, where one party pays another party to not go to court(this saves both parties money for hiring a lawyer and saves the face of the party which loses). Compromise can also be made between friends to make closen their relationship. Thus, compromise is essential.

When would I use First-person or Third-person Narrative?

I would use first-person perspective when I want to give the reader a sense of reading through the person's eyes and putting himself in the character's shoes by thinking what he thinks but not knowing how other characters think. This pushs the reader's curiosity forward to read on as he doesnt know what will happen next and creating a sense of suspence. The first-person perspective also makes the reader be closer to the character as the reader reads his mind and sees his behaviour. I would probably use this perspective when the main character is a bad guy / when the story is a mystery or action-packed story.

I would use third-person perspective when I want the reader to know everyone's thoughts and see the story at everyone's perspective. This perspective also makes the writer easier to describe the characters without sounding awkard(eg. Sweat rolled down my cheeks). This also causes the reader to see from a utilitarian perspective, trying to achieve the greatest happinness for everyone as the reader can read the character's thoughts and know their motives. Third-person perspective also allow the reader to see more about the setting but will not know each character very well, unlike the first-person perspective. I will probably use this when I want to develop the plot in storys involving relationships or conflicts between the characters.

Description of Beach LA Week 4

A big, fluffy cloud flew above the green-blue sea which splashed on the shore. There is no on in sight on the beach but there is a resort with a dark gray roof and clean white walls. It also has a wide staircase, a veranda for visitors to view the sea and some triangular shaped walls. There is some trees and a tall hill behind the resort which has an huge area of greenery.

Singaporean identity

- Why did you choose the different pictures or background(s)?

It is to create the setting of a place for the incident to take place.

- How do they contribute to the elements (plot, setting, characterisation) of your narrative?

They describe about the Singaporean identity.

- How did you make use of the different elements to contribute to the theme you have chosen?

The elements show the characteristics of a typical Singaporean.

Prejudice in real life

Have you ever been part of a group of people that were unkind to one or more individuals? Describe the circumstances. What caused you to behave the way you did? How did you feel then? How do you feel about the circumstances / events in retrospect?

There was a guy in 1i2 last year. He seemed friendly for the first week of school(no lessons) but after that, he became very weird. He was often late and sometimes even skipped school, we often laughed and teased him when he came. At first, I did not had such a bad impression of him but I was influenced by my classmates and avoided him like a 3-year old child often pretending to be a sniper holding a rifle making shooting and reloading noises or a wizard with magical powers able to hypnotise people. We then started giving him names, he seemed sleepy everyday and often slept in class which led to bad results.

In the later part of the year, he skipped school more frequently and finally did not come back. We then found out that he was addicted to computer games and slept very late in the night thus he had no energy for the next day.

I think that we should not have discriminated him but instead, try to help him get rid of his addiction. I feel that our discrimination had led him to not coming back to school for the last half year and I regret it. If only we had not done that and put ourselves in his shoes, he might be a normal student like all of us...

What I have learned about prejudice

Prejudice is a internal feeling where you pre-judge someone based on appearances or first experiences, etc which is an opinion of them. While discrimination is the acting out of prejudice which is because of reasons like sexism, ageism and racism. Because of these reasons, people commit crimes from mild cases like taunting to severe cases like genocides. Prejudice creates stereotypes which leads to discrimination of them and leads to more prejudice to the person who discriminates and prejudice leads to more prejudice as people might follow the one who started it. However, stereotypes may not be all negative.

LA week 2 post 1

What do I already know about prejudice? :
Nothing

What do I want to know/learn about prejudice:
1.The meaning of the word
2.How and when to use the word.