2 years ago, it was decided that Singapore was going to host the Youth Olympic Games. This week, the Youth Olympics Games kicked off and up to now, many countries has done well in many of the games.
Sports is a very good way to congeal people. These athletes are from different countries and speak different language. They even have different culture. Sports to these athletes is like a universal language. It is like how music is a universal language to musicians of all races or nationalities. Through sports, it is not difficult to get the athletes to bond with each other, to make friends with each other.
However, I feel that the Youth Olympic Games has many flaws. Firstly, I feel that the athletes are too competitive. The main objective of the Youth Olympic Games is international relationship between youths. The athletes are too focused in winning medals. Thus, they would not be as interested in trying to make friends with the youth athletes from the other countries. I personally feel that there is not sufficient interaction between the youth athletes. Although there has been efforts to allow the young athletes to understand each other cultures, I still feel that there is insufficient efforts to bring the youths together.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Polio Is Down 99 Percent, But That's Not Good Enough
According to Mary Carmichael in an article in the newsweek, the reduction in polio cases around the world by 99 percent may not be enough.
World leaders has done an extremely good job in trying to stop the outbreak of Polio but they must also understand that it is important to completely eradicate Polio. According to Mary Carmichael, Polio is a disease that would keep returning to haunt us unless we completely get rid of it. About 66% of the countries that had eradicated Polio were re-infected again. These countries are currently lacking in funds to support their causes. There is also the problem of Muslims resistance to western vaccination. Some Muslims resist the vaccination because they feel that this is just a western plot to sterilize them.
“If an infectious disease is brought down to low levels in the population, a given individual's risk of catching it will be lower—and that individual may be less likely to bother getting vaccinated against the disease because it doesn't seem like the threat it once was.”
The victims are mainly from the more rural or developing countries, thus they may not understand the point of continuing with vaccination when they thought that the threat of the disease is over.
This human complacency exist everywhere in the world not only in third world countries. This is similar to the taking of antibiotics. When we are recovering, we usually stop short of the complete dosage recommended and therefore our body cannot entirely kill the virus / bacteria which stay in our body to rear their heads later. Stronger antibiotics are then needed.
Continuous education is our only hope for change.
World leaders has done an extremely good job in trying to stop the outbreak of Polio but they must also understand that it is important to completely eradicate Polio. According to Mary Carmichael, Polio is a disease that would keep returning to haunt us unless we completely get rid of it. About 66% of the countries that had eradicated Polio were re-infected again. These countries are currently lacking in funds to support their causes. There is also the problem of Muslims resistance to western vaccination. Some Muslims resist the vaccination because they feel that this is just a western plot to sterilize them.
“If an infectious disease is brought down to low levels in the population, a given individual's risk of catching it will be lower—and that individual may be less likely to bother getting vaccinated against the disease because it doesn't seem like the threat it once was.”
The victims are mainly from the more rural or developing countries, thus they may not understand the point of continuing with vaccination when they thought that the threat of the disease is over.
This human complacency exist everywhere in the world not only in third world countries. This is similar to the taking of antibiotics. When we are recovering, we usually stop short of the complete dosage recommended and therefore our body cannot entirely kill the virus / bacteria which stay in our body to rear their heads later. Stronger antibiotics are then needed.
Continuous education is our only hope for change.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Book Review – Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
William Golding was a British writer. He won a Nobel prize for the book that he had written - “Lord of the Flies”. He was born on September 11th 1911 and died on 19th June 1993 when he was 81 years old. Apart from “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding also wrote many other great novels like the trilogy “To the Ends of the Earth”. This novel had won him the Booker’s prize for literature in 1980. William Golding’s fictional stories have a very wide range of topics.
The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written during the first years of the cold war. The theme of the book is mainly about civilization and people’s desire to rule. This desire for power destroys all the rules and laws that we create to live peacefully and harmoniously.
The novel “Lord of the Flies” is mainly about a group of boys who crashed landed on an uninhabited island. With no adults around, these boys have to take care of themselves and survive. However, the boys have many arguments on what to do and soon the two boys Ralph and Jack struggle to gain leadership over the group of boys. Eventually the group splits into two small groups. The group under Jack loses their civility and become savages.
This story tells us about the sometimes invisible evil side in every human being. This evil side can sometimes only be seen when the person is placed in a particular situation. For example, when the person is in an extremely dangerous situation, the person might reveal his evil side just for survival. In the novel, William Golding uses children as his characters instead of adults. This is to show that evil exist in every single being be they young or old. Children are a symbol of innocence, however in the story, these children show their darker sides.
“Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.” Although in this context the children did not mean that they were the beast but rather that they were imagining the beast. However, we can interpret this quote as the children being the beast which was true at the end of the story where most of the boys became savages - the “beast”.
"The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." At first, the boys had respected the conch. Blowing the conch would have meant a meeting was to be held and also the boys could only speak in a meeting if they held the conch. This conch was a symbol of civility, rules and values. However, when the conch was destroyed, it represented the end of civility within the boys and also the end of their rule system. They no longer abided by the rules. They had turned from civil people to savages.
In conclusion, the book mainly explores the darker side of the human being by placing the boys in an unfamiliar and possibly dangerous environment. William Golding does this by illustrating the boys’ darker side unleashed through their struggle for survival. The book makes us reflect about ourselves, if we would give in to our “darker” side when under pressure. The book ends abruptly leaving us a question if the children would revert back to their old selves when they return to civilization or would they remain as savages.
The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written during the first years of the cold war. The theme of the book is mainly about civilization and people’s desire to rule. This desire for power destroys all the rules and laws that we create to live peacefully and harmoniously.
The novel “Lord of the Flies” is mainly about a group of boys who crashed landed on an uninhabited island. With no adults around, these boys have to take care of themselves and survive. However, the boys have many arguments on what to do and soon the two boys Ralph and Jack struggle to gain leadership over the group of boys. Eventually the group splits into two small groups. The group under Jack loses their civility and become savages.
This story tells us about the sometimes invisible evil side in every human being. This evil side can sometimes only be seen when the person is placed in a particular situation. For example, when the person is in an extremely dangerous situation, the person might reveal his evil side just for survival. In the novel, William Golding uses children as his characters instead of adults. This is to show that evil exist in every single being be they young or old. Children are a symbol of innocence, however in the story, these children show their darker sides.
“Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.” Although in this context the children did not mean that they were the beast but rather that they were imagining the beast. However, we can interpret this quote as the children being the beast which was true at the end of the story where most of the boys became savages - the “beast”.
"The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." At first, the boys had respected the conch. Blowing the conch would have meant a meeting was to be held and also the boys could only speak in a meeting if they held the conch. This conch was a symbol of civility, rules and values. However, when the conch was destroyed, it represented the end of civility within the boys and also the end of their rule system. They no longer abided by the rules. They had turned from civil people to savages.
In conclusion, the book mainly explores the darker side of the human being by placing the boys in an unfamiliar and possibly dangerous environment. William Golding does this by illustrating the boys’ darker side unleashed through their struggle for survival. The book makes us reflect about ourselves, if we would give in to our “darker” side when under pressure. The book ends abruptly leaving us a question if the children would revert back to their old selves when they return to civilization or would they remain as savages.
Friday, July 2, 2010
The Trouble With Immortality
In an article published in the newsweek on 18 june, 2010, Jonathan Weiner talked about the implications of immortality and why we should not hope for immortality.
Many people desire immortality. However, immortality may not be as good as many of us seem to think. With the current global warming getting worse, immortality would be a worse option. If we were to live forever, it would mean that we would have to live in a worse environment compared to the one we are living in now. There may be many advancement in technology which would bring convenience into our lives but environmental issues would still be a very big problem.
The world’s population is already increasing at such rapid pace and is currently very crowded already. With immortality, the earth would soon become over populated and the quality of life would rapidly deteriorate. Also, with an overcrowded planet, there would not be much space between people and this might also lead to an increase in contagious diseases.
There is a large difference between leading a long life and leading a quality life. Without a quality life, a long life would be meaningless. However, it is impossible to get both. So, we should stick to a quality life rather than desiring to get a long life. I agree that everyone wants a good long life which is impossible to achieve with immortality. The longer we live, the worse our environment is going to get. It is impossible for us live a good life with the deterioration of the environment and the increasingly overcrowded earth. Thus, immortality is definitely not a solution for a good long life.
We should not be striving for immortality for ourselves. Instead, we should try to strive for immortality for the Earth. We should be protecting our planet, protecting the resources. If we do that, then we would have succeeded in obtaining “immortality” for the human race.
Many people desire immortality. However, immortality may not be as good as many of us seem to think. With the current global warming getting worse, immortality would be a worse option. If we were to live forever, it would mean that we would have to live in a worse environment compared to the one we are living in now. There may be many advancement in technology which would bring convenience into our lives but environmental issues would still be a very big problem.
The world’s population is already increasing at such rapid pace and is currently very crowded already. With immortality, the earth would soon become over populated and the quality of life would rapidly deteriorate. Also, with an overcrowded planet, there would not be much space between people and this might also lead to an increase in contagious diseases.
There is a large difference between leading a long life and leading a quality life. Without a quality life, a long life would be meaningless. However, it is impossible to get both. So, we should stick to a quality life rather than desiring to get a long life. I agree that everyone wants a good long life which is impossible to achieve with immortality. The longer we live, the worse our environment is going to get. It is impossible for us live a good life with the deterioration of the environment and the increasingly overcrowded earth. Thus, immortality is definitely not a solution for a good long life.
We should not be striving for immortality for ourselves. Instead, we should try to strive for immortality for the Earth. We should be protecting our planet, protecting the resources. If we do that, then we would have succeeded in obtaining “immortality” for the human race.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Book Review – Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
Jules Verne was a French author who mainly wrote science fiction stories. He was born on 8th February 1828 and passed away in 1905. He is known very well for his novels like “Around the world in 80 days”, “From the Earth to the Moon” and also “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea”. Jules Verne was one of the few who pioneered Science Fiction. He had predicted space exploration, underwater and even air travel. His works inspired people to invent things like the submarine.
In the mid-19th century, exploration of unknown lands was very common. So, while the explorers study the face of the earth, Jules Verne had the idea about travelling to the depths of the world. Besides that, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was starting to get noticed. Throughout his novel, Jules Verne used Charles Darwin’s theory in his novel.
The novel starts with Professor Lindenbrock finding a coded text on a piece of paper he found in an old book. After his nephew, Axel, managed to decode the text, Professor Lindenbrock decided to take Axel along with him on a journey to the center of the world which the scrap of paper said was possible.
They went to Mount Sneffels with their guide, Hans, and began to descend down the volcano. Along the way, they saw many magnificent sights and learned a lot. For example, they found an untouched coal mine and even found an underground ocean. However, they also met many setbacks.
Their first setback was when they ran out of water. They went around the vents looking for water but all they met was a dead end. The party turned back to take a different route but along the way, Axel could no longer bear the dehydration and faints. After many attempts to find water, they finally found a torrent of water which they named Hansbach, after their loyal guide who found the water.
Their second setback was when Axel got lost. He attempted to retrace his steps but still could not find his uncle. After a few days of suffering they were reunited. At this point, they found a large underground water body. Which they sailed across but realised that it was larger than they had expected.
Eventually they reached the shore and were once again blocked by a granite wall which they blasted apart. However, they were thrown onto a raft and swept down by the currents into the chasm. Their fall was stopped by a spout. They soon realise that the spout was lava and that they were in a volcano which was about to erupt. As the lava spewed out of the volcano, the party managed to return to the surface of the earth riding the lava.
This story may not have been set very far into Jules Verne’s future with a recognizable setting of the 19th century, but it depicts human underground exploration. Jules Verne’s fictional characters manage to accomplish in his novel what up till now we are still unable to achieve in reality. This science fiction novel attracts modern readers despite being written so long time ago because it reflects our dreams, our desire to explore what is beneath us. Despite living on planet earth, what happens underground is only theorized by scientists. The story is filled with many interesting science facts and theories which captivate the readers and interest them in that particular field of science.
"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth." This is a very true statement. In the field of science, only mistakes would lead one to truth. When one makes mistakes, others will be there to correct and give their opinions. By listening to these voices, we would find that there is actually more ways to think about a certain issue. This way, we would be able to work on the possible theories and find the truth. However, this statement would of course not only apply to science. It applies to our daily life. When trying to strive for the truth or answers in anything, failure is inevitable. In our journey for truth, we would meet many road blocks and only overcoming them or finding another path would we then reach our destination.
“If at every instant we may perish, so at every instant we may be saved. Let us then be prepared to seize upon the smallest advantage." Opportunity is everywhere. However, we sometimes we just are not able to see or detect it and then realise that it is lost only after it has passed. We should constantly be on a lookout for opportunity and always be prepared to exploit them. If we are able to get every single opportunity that comes our way and make the best use of them, we would be extremely successful in our life
In the mid-19th century, exploration of unknown lands was very common. So, while the explorers study the face of the earth, Jules Verne had the idea about travelling to the depths of the world. Besides that, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was starting to get noticed. Throughout his novel, Jules Verne used Charles Darwin’s theory in his novel.
The novel starts with Professor Lindenbrock finding a coded text on a piece of paper he found in an old book. After his nephew, Axel, managed to decode the text, Professor Lindenbrock decided to take Axel along with him on a journey to the center of the world which the scrap of paper said was possible.
They went to Mount Sneffels with their guide, Hans, and began to descend down the volcano. Along the way, they saw many magnificent sights and learned a lot. For example, they found an untouched coal mine and even found an underground ocean. However, they also met many setbacks.
Their first setback was when they ran out of water. They went around the vents looking for water but all they met was a dead end. The party turned back to take a different route but along the way, Axel could no longer bear the dehydration and faints. After many attempts to find water, they finally found a torrent of water which they named Hansbach, after their loyal guide who found the water.
Their second setback was when Axel got lost. He attempted to retrace his steps but still could not find his uncle. After a few days of suffering they were reunited. At this point, they found a large underground water body. Which they sailed across but realised that it was larger than they had expected.
Eventually they reached the shore and were once again blocked by a granite wall which they blasted apart. However, they were thrown onto a raft and swept down by the currents into the chasm. Their fall was stopped by a spout. They soon realise that the spout was lava and that they were in a volcano which was about to erupt. As the lava spewed out of the volcano, the party managed to return to the surface of the earth riding the lava.
This story may not have been set very far into Jules Verne’s future with a recognizable setting of the 19th century, but it depicts human underground exploration. Jules Verne’s fictional characters manage to accomplish in his novel what up till now we are still unable to achieve in reality. This science fiction novel attracts modern readers despite being written so long time ago because it reflects our dreams, our desire to explore what is beneath us. Despite living on planet earth, what happens underground is only theorized by scientists. The story is filled with many interesting science facts and theories which captivate the readers and interest them in that particular field of science.
"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth." This is a very true statement. In the field of science, only mistakes would lead one to truth. When one makes mistakes, others will be there to correct and give their opinions. By listening to these voices, we would find that there is actually more ways to think about a certain issue. This way, we would be able to work on the possible theories and find the truth. However, this statement would of course not only apply to science. It applies to our daily life. When trying to strive for the truth or answers in anything, failure is inevitable. In our journey for truth, we would meet many road blocks and only overcoming them or finding another path would we then reach our destination.
“If at every instant we may perish, so at every instant we may be saved. Let us then be prepared to seize upon the smallest advantage." Opportunity is everywhere. However, we sometimes we just are not able to see or detect it and then realise that it is lost only after it has passed. We should constantly be on a lookout for opportunity and always be prepared to exploit them. If we are able to get every single opportunity that comes our way and make the best use of them, we would be extremely successful in our life
Friday, June 11, 2010
MRT vandalism
In the case of MRT train being vandalized. so far only a 33 year old Swiss national has been arrested. The police are still investigating and arresting people who were involved in the vandalism.
Vandalism destroys the aesthetic beauty of something. By vandalizing, these people are being very inconsiderate. There are many other people using the MRT train. Should these vandals not think about the users? Besides, there vandalism would mean that the train company have to spent money and resources clearing up the mess that they made. When the train is pulled out of service for cleaning, if the company does not have another train to replace the one out of service, then it would cause a lot of trouble for the commuters.
These vandals do not understand how the electronics work. When they trespassed and vandalized the train, what if they had damaged a piece of important equipment. If that happened, it might put a lot of people in danger. If the train malfunctioned, it might cause a tragedy, leaving many injured or even worse, dead.
The MRT staff should also be blamed for this incident. When the vandals had trespassed, why didn't they notice it. If those who had trespassed were not vandals but terrorist, they could have planted a bomb and the consequences would have been disastrous. Also, the staff did not notice the vandalism for two days. The train went in and out of the station and none of the staff noticed it. I feel that the MRT staff should be more alert and aware of their surroundings. This incident has shown that the staffs were not vigilant enough. This time it is vandalism, who knows what will happen the next time due to the staffs' lack of vigilance.
Vandalism destroys the aesthetic beauty of something. By vandalizing, these people are being very inconsiderate. There are many other people using the MRT train. Should these vandals not think about the users? Besides, there vandalism would mean that the train company have to spent money and resources clearing up the mess that they made. When the train is pulled out of service for cleaning, if the company does not have another train to replace the one out of service, then it would cause a lot of trouble for the commuters.
These vandals do not understand how the electronics work. When they trespassed and vandalized the train, what if they had damaged a piece of important equipment. If that happened, it might put a lot of people in danger. If the train malfunctioned, it might cause a tragedy, leaving many injured or even worse, dead.
The MRT staff should also be blamed for this incident. When the vandals had trespassed, why didn't they notice it. If those who had trespassed were not vandals but terrorist, they could have planted a bomb and the consequences would have been disastrous. Also, the staff did not notice the vandalism for two days. The train went in and out of the station and none of the staff noticed it. I feel that the MRT staff should be more alert and aware of their surroundings. This incident has shown that the staffs were not vigilant enough. This time it is vandalism, who knows what will happen the next time due to the staffs' lack of vigilance.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Deterring a Dirty Bomb
In an article, Sharon Begley of newsweek discussed the importance of protecting nuclear materials so that terrorist groups would not be able to get these nuclear materials to create nuclear weapons. She also shared with us the many ways to track these nuclear materials.
Many countries are turning to nuclear energy as a source of energy because it is known as a form of green of energy. Thus, these countries are thinking of many ways to guard their nuclear waste from theft especially from the terrorist organizations. However, many of the countries have never thought about nuclear forensics and how it would benefit them.
I agree with Sharon Begley that we should start focusing on nuclear forensics now. Nuclear forensics is something that we have not really been doing much research about. With further and more in-depth research on nuclear forensic I believe we would be to prevent nuclear attacks be terrorists on our country.
It is definitely important to research more on nuclear forensics to protect our countries however, perhaps we should still place our main focus on increasing the security at nuclear facilities so that terrorist would not even be able to steal the nuclear materials for their nuclear weapons. If we are able to secure the nuclear materials, we may not even require nuclear forensics to protect ourselves against nuclear attacks.
Many countries are turning to nuclear energy as a source of energy because it is known as a form of green of energy. Thus, these countries are thinking of many ways to guard their nuclear waste from theft especially from the terrorist organizations. However, many of the countries have never thought about nuclear forensics and how it would benefit them.
I agree with Sharon Begley that we should start focusing on nuclear forensics now. Nuclear forensics is something that we have not really been doing much research about. With further and more in-depth research on nuclear forensic I believe we would be to prevent nuclear attacks be terrorists on our country.
It is definitely important to research more on nuclear forensics to protect our countries however, perhaps we should still place our main focus on increasing the security at nuclear facilities so that terrorist would not even be able to steal the nuclear materials for their nuclear weapons. If we are able to secure the nuclear materials, we may not even require nuclear forensics to protect ourselves against nuclear attacks.
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