祝你们：
新年快乐 恭喜发财 万事如意 步步高升 学业进步
(既然这是华人新年,我应当用华文来写.)
新年快乐！！！
希望大家有个美好的新年。我的这一个新年挺好玩的。只不过我有很多很多的日语功课。（大概有40页吧！）我有空时就必须拿出来做。
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Socio-economic Impact of the Three Gorges dam
The Three Gorges Dam is an engineering marvel. It is 2335m long, 101m high and 115 m thick at its base. it is the largest hydro-electric dam in the world and it costs 180 billion yuan to build.Pros
The Three Gorges Dam can produce enough electricity to reduce the coal consumption by 31 million tonnes per year, cutting the emission of 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas millions of tonnes of dust, sulfur dioxide, Carbon dioxide and mercury. We can see from this that the it can protect the enviroment by cutting the amount of coal burned.
The dam also prevents flooding downstream of the dam, which had been a major problem before the dam was built. In the past, floods caused thousands of people to die and billions of dollars of damage. With the new dam, floods are less likely to occur.
Cons
The 600 kilometer long reservoir has or will flood some 1,300 archaeological sites and alter the appearance of the Three Gorges as the water level rises over one hundred meters at various locations. Cultural and historical relics are being moved to higher ground as they are discovered but the flooding of the Gorge will undoubtedly cover some undiscovered relics. It is very saddening to see artifacts which have survived thousands of years submerged in a few weeks.
The dam's reservoir will collect a lot of silt in the years and the construction of the dam caused more erosion and deforestation. The water downstream will be more polluted as the river's flow slows down. In turn, many people would be affected and wildlife would slowly die out.
The construction of the dam has relocated many living upstream of the dam. Reports claim that many of the people are not getting the compensation and help they need to rebuild their homes due to corrupion.
Do the Pros outweigh the Cons? Is the building of the dam worth it?
Friday, January 16, 2009
Today's Current Affairs Discussion
Today's current affairs discussion was very interesting.But i feel that we did not really touch on the point of " economical development always outweighs enviromental conservation" . Everybody was only talking about the pros and cons of land reclaimation in Singapore but fail to realise that this isn't really the question at issue.
In my opinion, land reclaimation is only something that Singapore and a few other countries do to increase their land little by little and it does not really affect the enviroment.Although the representitive of the fishes says that land reclaimation destroy their habitats and ultimately kill them, global warming is what destroys the most coral reefs. Scientists say that even if the global temperature rises just 3 degrees, many coral reefs would be destroyed.
Deforestation, pollution and desertification are more serious problems which affect us and the Earth. The rate of deforestation and desertification has been increasing at an alarming pace in the last few decades. This causes habitat lost for animals and in the case of desertification, there is less farming land as the land is changed in deserts. P
ollution has also affected a lot of the world population eg. people who rely on water from rivers which are polluted may get diseases from drinking polluted water. I feel that these topics should have been discussed and not land reclaimation.
In geograhpy lessons, I have learnt about man-land relationships. Everything that we do affects the Earth, which in turn affect us. So if we chop down more forests to build more factories which produces lot's of greenhouse gases, the temperature will then rise, the coral reefs will be destroyed and many fishes would die so we would not have fish to eat and we would not have enough nuitrition. (that's a lot in one sentence)
Thus I feel that the motion of today's debate is not correct. Enviromental conservation has the upper hand.
Samuel
In my opinion, land reclaimation is only something that Singapore and a few other countries do to increase their land little by little and it does not really affect the enviroment.Although the representitive of the fishes says that land reclaimation destroy their habitats and ultimately kill them, global warming is what destroys the most coral reefs. Scientists say that even if the global temperature rises just 3 degrees, many coral reefs would be destroyed.
Deforestation, pollution and desertification are more serious problems which affect us and the Earth. The rate of deforestation and desertification has been increasing at an alarming pace in the last few decades. This causes habitat lost for animals and in the case of desertification, there is less farming land as the land is changed in deserts. P
ollution has also affected a lot of the world population eg. people who rely on water from rivers which are polluted may get diseases from drinking polluted water. I feel that these topics should have been discussed and not land reclaimation.In geograhpy lessons, I have learnt about man-land relationships. Everything that we do affects the Earth, which in turn affect us. So if we chop down more forests to build more factories which produces lot's of greenhouse gases, the temperature will then rise, the coral reefs will be destroyed and many fishes would die so we would not have fish to eat and we would not have enough nuitrition. (that's a lot in one sentence)
Thus I feel that the motion of today's debate is not correct. Enviromental conservation has the upper hand.
Samuel
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Speech Against Whaling in Japan
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, 
I am a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The purpose of my speech is to raise awareness of the cruelty towards whales.
Firstly, whales are killed unnecessarily. The Japanese kill large whales for research programs to establish the size of whale groups. But experts say that these information can be obtained from their tissue or faeces, both of which does not involve in killing whales. So actually, scientific whaling is just a cover for commercial whaling.
Whales are killed at sea often using explosive harpoons, which puncture the skin of a whale and then explode inside its body. Anti-whaling groups say this method of killing is cruel, particularly if carried out by inexperienced gunners, because a whale can take several minutes or even hours to die. This is very inhumane!
About 10 species of whales are endangered and many others dependent on conservation efforts. Still, the Japanese kill whales and sell them in markets all over Japan.
There are many ways the Japanese can save all these whales. Firstly, they can hunt whales in moderation and only use them for research so that whale populations can grow. They should also not use such cruel weapons to hunt whales. Perhaps they could use nets so as to reduce the suffering of whales.
I strongly urge you not to eat whale meat and discourage others from consuming them too. This way, we can prevent whales from becoming extinct and repopulate our oceans with these magnificent giants.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Other sites you may want to visit: National Geographic article on whaling in Greenland
Monday, January 12, 2009
Two Men Arrested For Protest
Today, Two men were arrested for staging a protest outside the Ministry Of Manpower Building in the CBD. Seelan Palay and Chong Kai Xiong were protesting in support of Myanmar nationals allegedly being forced to leave Singapore for involvement in political activities.
For more information on this incident, please go to http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_325174.html
My opinions
I feel that the two Singaporeans are really very caring. They defended and protested in support of the Myanmar nationals.
Most Singaporeans look down on foreign labourers. I think that they too deserve respect. Without all the foreign construction workers, Singapore may not have so many tall skyscrapers or even HDB flats. We too must remember that Most of our ancestors came to Singapore as labourers too. The Myanmar nationals had their work permits terminated because they were caught protesting against their country's ruling junta. So we can say they were protesting for a good cause, just as these two men, Seelan Palay and Chong Kai Xiong, are.
The Ministry of Manpower should renew their work permits. If they have to go back to Myanmar, they would not have enough money to support their family. Some people may say "it's only a few foreign workers." but if you were their family members, you would probably be starving already.
There is still one thing I still don't understand. It is illegal to hold a public gathering of five or more people without a police permit in a public place. But why are 2 Singaporeans arrested?
Samuel
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Melamine Food Scandal
Recently, there was a melamine food scandal. Melamine, a toxic chemical, was added to milk powder, chocolates, biscuits, animal feed and many other items. As a result, 4 babies in china died and thousands of other people became ill.
Countries all over the world recalled all China-made products and tested them for melamine. All those found to have contained that chemical were immediately burned. In Singapore, quite a few products were found to contain melamine, and for awhile, most Singaporeans avaoided buying China-made products.
Despite a nationwide campaign to raise food safety standards and reassure consumers, China's broken-down food safety inspectorate still failed to catch and report lapses in standards when they happened.So, people were cautious about buying China-made products. Nobody really trusts China-made things like before.
Now,I don't trust China-made products a lot. But I still have to use/eat them as most things are made in China nowadays. I hope that China would have learnt its lesson and it will not have anymore scandals. Consumers trusts' are recovering slowly but if there is another similar incident, I fear that faith in China-made propducts will be so shaken that no one will dare to buy thier products.
Will there be another scandal? Will people still want China-made products? Will history repeat itself?
Nobody Knows.
I flew away...
Samuel
Friday, January 9, 2009
10 Things That Happened in The First Week of Secondery School Life
In my first week of secondary school life ......
1. I was almost late because of a traffic jam
2. My friend had his handphone confiscated
3. I tried high jumping for the first time in my life
4. I created this blog so that the world can enjoy it
5. I had my first lesson on computer programming
6. Cheered untill I had a severe sore-throat
7. I never missed a meal
8. I had already decided on what EP3 I wanted to join
9. Sprinted around Hwa Chong
10. I have been to many "haunted" places in Hwa Chong
But I Still Survived My First Week in Hwa Chong!!!
Samuel
Sec 1 Orientation
I just had my sec 1 orientation a week ago.
The orientation was extremely fun and wild, but at the same time exausting. At the end of the 2 days of orienatation, almost everyone had lost their voices or had sore-throats. This is because the "Buddies" in charge of each of the groups were very, very, very, very keen on cheering! Everywhere we went, everything we did, we had to cheer. No wonder so many people lost thier voices!
Personally, I don't find cheering loudly very important. My buddies explained that cheering was the best way to show the "Hwa Chong Spirit". All you have to do to have the "Hwa Chong Spirit" is know and admit in your heart that Hwa Chong is the BEST!!! But I do agree that cheering is a good way to show others we Hwachongians Rock!
The sec 1 cohort also had a mass waterbomb game which ended in a free-for-all waterbomb war! There was total chaos (although it was fun) and everybody threw waterbombs at anybody!
Even the buddies join the game and pelted each other with the waterbombs. It was the most memorable game of the whole orientation.
As I glanced back, those two days seemed to have happened only a few minutes ago. All the memories of that orientation was still fresh in my mind. I don't think I'll forget them fo a long time.
I'm on my way to Mars,
Samuel
The orientation was extremely fun and wild, but at the same time exausting. At the end of the 2 days of orienatation, almost everyone had lost their voices or had sore-throats. This is because the "Buddies" in charge of each of the groups were very, very, very, very keen on cheering! Everywhere we went, everything we did, we had to cheer. No wonder so many people lost thier voices!
Personally, I don't find cheering loudly very important. My buddies explained that cheering was the best way to show the "Hwa Chong Spirit". All you have to do to have the "Hwa Chong Spirit" is know and admit in your heart that Hwa Chong is the BEST!!! But I do agree that cheering is a good way to show others we Hwachongians Rock!
The sec 1 cohort also had a mass waterbomb game which ended in a free-for-all waterbomb war! There was total chaos (although it was fun) and everybody threw waterbombs at anybody!
Even the buddies join the game and pelted each other with the waterbombs. It was the most memorable game of the whole orientation.
As I glanced back, those two days seemed to have happened only a few minutes ago. All the memories of that orientation was still fresh in my mind. I don't think I'll forget them fo a long time.
I'm on my way to Mars,
Samuel
My First Post
Hello everyone out there in cyberspace. Welcome to my blog. This blog is part of my ACE project in HCI and I will try to post something here everyday to keep the blog alive. If you have any comments, please feel free to write something down in the comment box. And do visit my blog often.
Regards,
Samuel
Regards,
Samuel
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