Changes to My Blog

Hi guys,

Now I will be posting on how my blog has improved over last year's. I admit that my

previous blog was a little plain, boring and dead. So that is why I want to prove to you that my blog is better now!

(Firstly, if you happen to think that this is my personal blog, you are gravely mistaken. :D Do not take me as a "mugger"!)

Blogskin

I have adopted a new blogskin because many of my classmates feedback that the old Blogger blog template was too plain, boring and not eye-catching enough. This new blogskin features a interesting image in the background of the Earth being submerged/drowned. My world is now drowned in many things, whether good or bad. I want to share my thoughts in this blog, hence the cool new image.

I also like this blogskin because:

1. the font is not too small
2. The picture is not behind the words, thus it does not cause difficulty in reading
3. There is a clear colour contrast--Black background and white words
4. there is a large enough sidebar to fit my widgets

These improvements will be especially valuable to my blog because, though most of us do no believe it, we DO judge a book by its cover. The first impression one receives when he/she enters the blog is the blogskin. With this cool new, exciting blogskin, I am sure that people will be more interested in my blog.

Widgets

There is not much change to the widgets, except the change of music and the change of the blog visitor counter.

I changed the music to feature livelier songs that I think will help "hype-up" my visitors. These songs are not so common on other people's blogs because they are not that famous songs, but still quite nice.

The new blog visitor counter allows me to check my daily visitor traffic. This will help me better know when to write new blog posts, check back for comments etc.

Blog Slogan

I have already posted on this issue, which is available under 'older posts'. However, I wish to clarify that my blog slogan is my ASPIRATION, not what I already am.

I did not like my blog slogan (These words will change the internet) because it sounded very egoistic and proud. This new blog slogan is a little more humble, I would say. I chose to put an aspiration because I do not want to remain at what I already am, but rather I want to continually improve myself, climb higher than the highest peak!

PS. In case you have not realized, my blog slogan is an awesome alliteration!

Blog Content

I am still working on this but, I will try my best to post about things that are fresh and new, such as SLC. I try not to post about cliche topics like inconsideration on buses, what I did for the weekend etc. (If you really want to know about these topics then go visit some other boring blog.) I will also add more picture onto my posts to make my post more eye-

catching.

What I Plan To Do?

Well, I aspire to be the best I can, so no blog post about how I have improved is complete without how I will continue to improve, right? From another perspective, no reader actually would like to know how you have improved, since the end result is already right before their eyes. But rather, they would like to know how you would be in the future, and this part of my post is specially dedicated to that.

I will try to find a better font such that the paragraphs do not seem too cluttered. The current font is a little messy. I will also include more humour in my post, as well as videos to captivate visitors.

I will try to find more interesting issues to talk about, as well as decrease the amount of bias in my posts. This will be important as I want my blog to be as reliable as possible, though I do admit that there is no such thing as 'zero' bias-ness.

Is there anything else I can improve on? Please comment.

Why I LOVE IT Home Learning

Hi,

Well, as most of you probably know, next Mon and Tue will be our IT home learning days. Yes, that means there is no need to go to school! All our work and lessons will be prepared by our teachers and posted on the internet, and we have to finish it by a given time.

Personally, I like this method of teaching because I would have the opportunity to learn for ourselves, instead of having a teacher teach me everything. This will train my self-discipline NOT to play games, watch anime etc. during the Home Learning period.

On a usual day, where I have to wake up at an insane 6am, I would have lost my concentration by 11am. Hence, I would be nodding off to sleep during the second half of the day. The good news is that we only have to wake up at 8am during the two IT Home Learning days. (I know most people will just sleep two hours later, right?) This is really, really important because only then will I have the energy to work. The end result of this extra boost will be increased efficiency during my studies.

To some people, learning from the internet is easier and more efficient than learning from a real life teacher. I do not know why, but somehow an inanimate object can answer their questions and teach them better than a real-life teacher. Perhaps its because they prefer anything that is related to technology and computers. (I do)

However, everything has two sides of the story. (quite sad, huh?) There is this dark, looming, sinister temptation that threatens to seize you anytime during those two days-- Electronic Entertainment. Almost everyone in the world can be distracted with games, songs etc available in the internet. Even when in school, many people use their laptops to access Facebook, Youtube and computer games, sometimes during lessons. This problem will be worse when students are at home without the watchful eye of teachers, and are required to use the computer throughout the lesson. Work done might not be of top quality.

Also, we cannot clarify our doubts with teachers in those two days. questions directed through the forums will only be answered a few hours later. By then, student will be late for their submission of homework. There is also the possibility that students may not get their doubts clarified on the day itself and forget about the issue when he returns to school.

Lastly, if students do not complete their work properly or are unable to learn effectively during the two days, teachers would have to spend more time correcting the students' mistakes in class or revise the topics. This will waste precious curriculum time.

Verdict

It is alright to have IT Home Learning for a week at most to ensure that the students do not forget their questions and have a chance to voice them out. Also, it allows students to get a first-hand experience of independent learning, and is long enough to effectively develop self-discipline. Students can play computer games if they want to, but they have to make sure that they do not neglect their studies. Those who do not finish the work assigned may be punished by their teachers in school. (It is also like a holiday for us students!)

However, students who are unable to learn well with this system will still exist. There is no avoiding it. However, I feel that they can consult their parents or tuition teachers to teach them about what is being taught, if possible.

I LOVE IT HOME LEARNING! (who doesn't?)

Happy Chinese New (torturous) Year

Hi Guys!

Firstly I would like to wish all of you a very happy Chinese New (torturous) Year!

I am sure many of you detest the large stack of homework that is on the table/in you bag right now. (yes, even the night before school reopens) Well, my teacher once forbad us to wish her 步步高生 because it sounded a lot like 簿簿高生。The first one means constantly improving but the second one means more and more books. In other words, she does not want more books to mark. Similarly, I also strongly dislike homework during the CNY holidays.

Here are some Facebook Updates I found:

"I am overwhelmed by the heap of things to do. 4 times I have tried to sleep, 4 times homework reminded me I cant."

" is trying to do homework and watch tv at the same time..."

"it seems that the long weekend wasn't long enough..."

These are just some of the many posts complaining about the not-so-long Chinese New Year weekend. This overwhelming amount of homework has DESTROYED our Chinese New Year!!! Well there is a deeper implication to this seemingly small issue- Should our present societal norms outweigh our culture?

This issue is rather prevalent in the world today. This is because in today's society, there exists one generation of people who grew up about 60-80 years ago, therefore are deeply rooted to traditions and culture. The younger generation in today's society live in a world where culture and traditions still play an important role, but modern trends/customs threaten to overwhelm them.

If you are still confused about what I am talking about, think of it as:

A Red Packet VS A Black Packet

The reason for the usage of red as the colour for a red packet is because red is considered an auspicious colour for the Chinese. However, some people give "red" packets of other colours such as pink, orange, brown, and worse of all, black because many of the younger generation feel that red is a little boring and want to explore different alternatives. Sad to say that the usage of Black is regarded as inauspicious, a total contradiction with Chinese traditions.

The question at issue now is whether modern customs should replace old traditions and cultural customs. Let us now look at both sides of the argument. (We will be using the Chinese New Year and homework incident as an example)

For homework:

- Termly tests are just around the corner, if students do not revise their work, they will fail.

- CNY is a long weekend. Students will lose out on a lot if no work is done.

- CNY is not all about celebrating There are times to be serious and do work too.

- This is today's society. There is no escaping from homework.

- CNY is just a celebration. It is not against the law to do homework during CNY.

Against Homework:

- CNY is for people to enjoy, meet up with relatives and friends.

- Students should not be bogged down with homework during a festive season as it will cause them not being able to enjoy the festive season.

So what do you think? Which one is more important? Comment!

End of part 1

SLC 4 Weeks down the Road

Hi Guys

Sorry for not posting for so long. I know this may sound like an excuse but I have been reaching home at 10pm for a few days already, and the rest of the days are 'homework-packed' days.

So far we have started on the publicity part of our work. We need to create a publicity video, a brochure and website. Our first proposal was rejected so we are currently working at 150% trying to come up with some more by next week! I am in charge of the video. I have to say it is one of the most challenging of all, mainly because it was started only this year. That means that there are no resources from past SLCs to refer to.

SLC so far has been a cross-country run. Long hours spent in school and at home trying to dig out new ideas has left me a little tired. But this is just the beginning, still 5 more months to go! Stop and rest, and the deadlines will catch up with you. (our OS will also get to us) This mere 4 weeks is like the run from the track to the JC for Hwa Chong's cross-country run.

Just like a cross-country run, it is not just torture. There is still fun and experience gained. Just as running improves your stamina, this SLC-run has given me valuable skills and experience, such as teamwork and punctuality. I have learnt many miscellaneous things such as formality for our product, video editing etc. I have no doubt that this will come in useful in the future.

Finally, every run cannot be successful without the help of the organizer in the background. Similarly, this 4 weeks would not have been possible without my teachers, parents and friends. Thank You for all your help, and I hope you will excuse me if I am unable to complete any work.

Samuel Ng

SLC Introduction

Hi all

Somehow its seems as if everyone has dedicated at least 1 paragraph to the new future school pilot programme. A little boring isn't it? I mean like, most of our blogs will be read by either

1)people from 2O1 or

2)people from Hwa Chong or

3) some random guy who happens to fall into our boring blogs by clicking "next blog" and leaves after finding out we are NOT celebrity bloggers though we want to be one.

(the sad truth huh?)

Who wouldn't know about it? Bad analysis of target audience or possible audience, I would say.

Today I am going to write about a topic none of you guys in the class will write for this year: My experience in the Student Leader's Convention OT. (SLCOT for short) Yesterday marked the official starting day of the SLCOT marathon, according to The teacher-in-charge of SLC. I was told that being a member of the SLCOT would be really tough (so don't expect me to be posting that much) but the fruits of our labour would change our lives forever.

Yesterday's meeting started at 7pm. No, that's not a typo-error. Its ended around 9.30p.m. Yeah! What's more, I was told that this first meeting was considered very early!!! (I bet you have those three letters Mr Dennis Ong mentioned)

First we went through some Icebreakers and the Organizing Secretary, Daniel, randomly forced me to do a forfeit even though no one called my name in 'Whacko'. Sort of unfair, I would say. So I stood behind him and shouted, " Daniel, forfeit!" Everyone likes to tease Daniel so they too wanted him to do a forfeit. Sadly, in the end I still did the forfeit.

Did I forget to mention that SLC was a collaboration between NYGH and HCI? Never mind it is not that important is it? It is? (I can see you wishing you were there) In my committee (logistics) there are 5 boys and 5 girls. Thus there is this school rule that we cannot meet in school (you know why but I don't, really!) so we have to meet at someone's house. (isn't that worse???)

Enough about them. Our seniors told us that the workload will be very heavy for SLC. there are meetings about 2 times a week at night because it is hard to find an afternoon where everyone is available. Meetings can easily last until 11pm. Plus there is a general meeting once every fortnight. Sounds pretty demanding!

I hope that SLC will not affect my school performance. I also hope that this event will change me into a better person and I will benefit greatly from it.

I cross my heart and hope for the best.

Samuel

PS. I did NOT join SLCOT to be with THEM.

Which is more Prominent in Singapore: Racism or Xenophobia

Hi all,

Welcome once again to my blog. Its the beginning of a new year (sorry actually its been more than half a month already) and I am very very very glad to say we have new literature books! (sorry for the propaganda too)

I have started to read To Kill A Mockingbird, a story about racism and racial inequality in America. The first time I read it it was boring boring and even more boring. To be honest, I could not even get past the first chapter. Now that I think of it, Animal Farm was much better. The story was quite easy to understand as a whole. The dynamic characters made it easy for the reader to sympathize with the mistreated animals. The relation to real life was very eminent throughout the entire story.

Now back to the point. I was like trying to remember all those projects that I saw last year to try to improve my own project. I randomly recalled one that had a twenty word title! Mind-blowing? It was something like: examining the extent of the xenophobic tendencies in Singaporeans; case study of the Serangoon Gardens incident... This surprisingly random topic caused me to think about whether racism or Xenophobia is more prominent in Singapore.

For those of you who do not know what is Xenophobia, it actually means "intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries". For example, many Singaporeans dislike Chinese nationals etc.

Note: This blog post is based on my own opinion, not on any statistics.

Racism

In Singapore, there is no laws to enforce racial segregation. However, racism is still prevalent, whether we want to admit it or not. Studies show that racism exists in the subconscious (surprise!). Some employers only want to hire people of certain races, for example. Even so, racism is less in Singapore than in other countries. This is because almost all Singaporeans were brought up in a multi-racial community, with government imposing national education to teach children about the importance of Racial Harmony. We are taught and conditioned to accept everyone as Singaporeans, not Indians or Chinese or Malay.

Xenophobia

Have you forgotten the meaning of this word yet? If you have not, then try saying "Carl's Junior Portebello Mushroom Burger" 10 times very quickly and you will forget. If you happen to still be able to remember then say it another 100 times.

Finished? Ok, let us continue. Xenophobia is a very pressing issue here in Singapore. Since we can't be prejudiced against other races (who are born in Singapore, of course) we sort of turn our racism into Xenophobia. Foreigners are often made fun of in school. Most of us in school hate International school children. We think of them as rich BRATS, who cut the queues in the canteen or even if they do not cut the queues, we blame them for making the queues so much longer.

This scene can also be represented in the Jobs scene. Foreigners are blamed for taking up jobs which the local Singaporeans desperately need. Foreigners are also associated with crimes committed in Singapore. For example: theft, rape, burglary etc. are thought to be common around foreign worker dormitories. Once some Singaporeans signed a petition to move a foreign worker dormitory away from their houses as they thought that having it nearby would cause their houses to depreciate in value.

Final Verdict

Xenophobia is seen more in Singapore than racism. But racism still exists, as part of human nature.

Amazing....

My Blog Slogan

Hi all,

I am posting two posts in a single day because today is the only day in the week that I actually have time to blog. I have two EP3s, Robotics and Fencing, Science Olympiad, Council Duties (Student Leader's Convention OT).

What's more, I am in the Future School Class, where the Just-In-Time Teaching Pedagogy is adopted. We have to read up on the topics BEFORE going to school. This means double workload!

An Acknowledged Alive Addicted Amazing Awesome Blogger

Coming back to the point, I will now be explaining my blog slogan. As most of you should be able to see, my blog slogan is actually an awesome alliteration. The slogan is actually the goal I set for myself as well as my blog. Now I will explain each and every word in the slogan:

Acknowledged

I want my blog to receive recognition as a celebrity blog. (or at least an effort to create one)

Alive

My blog will be alive with content and new viewpoints on current affairs.

Addicted

Now this is just a follow-up on my previous blog, in which the url is "iamnotablogaddict.blogspot.com" (the blog is not available now). Now I am addicted to blogging! I also want my readers to be addicted to reading my blog.

Amazing

I want to amaze people with my unique viewpoints.

Awesome

This word was our random tagline for all the buddies during Sec 1 Orientation 2010. When my readers leave this blog, I want them to shout the word "AWESOME!". If you cannot remember my entire blog slogan, just remember this one word: AWESOME!

Hope you find this awesome blog AWESOME!

Problem with Importing contacts from hotmail to apple address book

This is the export page from hotmail
Proof of download. Notice that it is a csv file
Open the Address Book to import contacts
Selection of the CSV file
Failure!

Is it the problem with hotmail or address book? How to I correct it?

New Macbook Laptop!

I am posting this blog post from my new Macbook! It's really great! After even touching this Mac, I do not want to use windows computers anymore.

Some features include:

1. Face detecting software that helps you sort out your photos
2. Website making software that you could use in your html lessons
3. Overall higher speed. (that means no more lagging like on a PC)
4. A better Microsoft office which is called iWork
5. Very impressive graphics in the entire computer
6. Fake thermal camera
7. A cool mouse I just bought yesterday that can scroll in all directions, not just up and down
8. 6-7 hour battery!

and many others...

I think I would not be using windows for a long time after this...
Most people think that a Mac is very incompatible but I find it absolutely great. All important applications such as office and adobe etc all have their Mac counterparts. What's more, Mac documents are compatible with windows documents. For example, A mac Keynote presentation can be opened in Microsoft office.

I also like the snow white colour of the Mac, the mouse and the power cable. If you look at them, they are really beautiful.

I recommend all those people who do not have a Mac to buy one. You will never regret it!

Casino in Singapore. Boon or Bane?

Yes, the casino is supposed to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and generate millions of dollars for the tourism industry. Many Singaporeans will be saved from poverty during this economic crisis. Visitors to Singapore will increase dramatically and children will have a new theme park to play in. As a precautionary measure to discourage Singaporeans from entering the casino, a fee of at least $100 will be charged. As you can see, there are many advantages.

However, I feel that the disadvantages are more. Firstly, I feel that the $100 fine is not an effective method to stop gamblers. Most gamblers go to a casino ready to win some money, possibly thousands. What is a hundred to them? Or maybe some have already lost a lot of money, losing a hundred more would not make a difference to them.

Secondly, a casino will cause many social problems. Addicts will become in debt and there may be broken families. As I mentioned above, there is an economic crisis. Perhaps a person who is unemployed wants to have a chance to strike it rich. He takes all his savings and gambles it all away in one night. In one night, his family has become bangkrupt. In the soundtrack on gambling addiction, Jonny W. lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, lost his job and got divorced. Another gambler, a woman, spent one year in jail for stealing money to gamble.

Thirdly, if many people in Singapore are addicted to gambling and lose a lot of money, the economic system of Singapore would be affected. Many gamblers who have lost money fall into depression and are unable to function at maximum capacity. As seen in a video, even famous people are not spared from gambling either. A well-known reporter neglected her child to gamble. If this addiction can affect even famous people, many not so well-known people will also fall into it.

Lastly, gambling is a habit that is impossible to erase completely. One gambler who had not gambled to 17 years could not resist the temptation and went gambling one more time. There is also and advertisment of a gambler who asks money from his children! Gambling brings out the worst in people. Thus, I do not think that a casino should be built.

My father also thinks that a casino should not be built. He feels that there are many more ways to generate revenue for the tourism industry such as theme parks, greenery and shopping hot-spots. A casino should only be used as a last resort.