ACE Blog Post 2: Australia Decides! Australian Election 2010

Australia is facing the problem of a hung parliament after having the most closely fought election in more than 70 years today, in 2010.

In June, Kevin Rudd was ousted by his own party, completing an astonishing fall from dizzying heights of public popularity. He's been replaced by Australian first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, who's going to be facing off against the pugnacious Tony Abbott.

Just yesterday, the two party candidates were making last minute rallies, visiting old folks home and neighborhoods.

Speaking to supporters in Melbourne late Saturday, Prime Mister Julia Gillard described the outcome as 'to close to call", quoting former US President Bill Clinton, saying, 'The People have spoken, but its going to take a while to determine exactly what they said."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard may be facing the problem of being the Prime Minister in the shortest amount of time, after just taking over from former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

With the voting being taking place in New South Wales and Queensland, along with Melbourne, Sydney, only time will tell what will be of Australia new government, a hung parliament, or will it?

ACE Blog Post: LATEST NEWS: Van Gogh Painting of Poppy Flowers stolen from Cairo Museum!

Earlier Egypt's culture minister Farouk Hosni said an Italian couple had been arrested at Cairo airport, and the small canvas found. The painting, worth at least 32million pounds was still missing, unlike first reported. The painting was cut out of its frame and this is the second time the painting has gone missing. The painting is very valuable as it is said that the painting was drawn a few years just before his death, where he suffered from seizures. First stolen in 1978, it was later found in Kuwait in 1980. Poppy painting was important as this represented a change in the style of Van Gogh's painting style. Investigations are underway in Cairo, Egypt

Self Written poem: Chemicals

The following is a poem which I had written myself, based on chemicals and their symbols and reactions. This is meant to be a humorous poem.

When you have some phenol,

You will get a C6 H6 O,

Argon is Ar and Oxygen is O2,

Whereas bromine is Br2.

Methane, Ch4

Nope, you don't want to smell them anymore

They start to stink, more and more,

Worse than a sweaty person's skin pores!

Methylbutane,

Dimethylbutane!

Methylpentane!

They are Alkanes!

Aluminum in Bromine,

Not too long, darkness looms,

Nope, there's no warning sign

Very soon, theres a Boom!

There it is, Aluminuim Bromide!

In the test tube, right inside!

Ethanol, Methanol,

Pentanones,

They are Phenol and Cresols

And Alkanones

Chemicals are interesting,

Thats for sure,

We are finally done with creating,

Let's get some beer!

Yeast and Alcohol,

All form beer.

I am very sure,

The future is no where near!

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The story starts off with a murder, by a mysterious man, sent to kill a family. Unfortunately, he failed, haveing failed to kill the baby. The baby was later raised by ghosts in the graveyard and was named Nobody Owens, after Mr. and Mrs. Owens decided to raise him. Also known as Bod, he wandered around the graveyard and hoped that someone will play with him. His guardian, Silas, was one of the person in whose presence, felt comforted. Silas is neither dead, nor alive and was the one who would get food and necessary supplies for Bod.

Later, a girl, named Scarlett Amber Perkins arrives at he graveyard to play and meets Bod. Her parents think Bod is her imaginary friend but that wasn't the case. Later, at 15 years old, she returns and encounters Jack Frost, who was the mystery man which killed Bod's family years ago. Now, Bod has powers similar to that of a ghost and with the help of his friends in the graveyard, he takes out the man Jack, and becomes the master of the Sleer, which is a massive creature guarding a secret.

Poems

The poem I chose is: Three or So by Berlie Doherty

Is the girl in the snapshot me?

The little girl in the woolen dress

By a broken door in a tiny yard

She's shy and laughing and ready to run

And shielding her eyes from the morning sun

I've forgotten the dress, and the colour of it

I've forgotten who took the photograph

I've forgotten the little girl, three or so

She's someone else now, to be wondered at

With my mother's eyes and my own child's hair

And my brother's smile, but the child who's there ----

The real soul of her -- fled long ago

To the alley-way where she mustn't go

Through the broken door in that tiny yard

Rough men on motorbikes, not to be looked at

Scrawny cats scratching, not to be touched

Down to the railway line, never to go there

Nor up the road where the traffic rushed

Stay closed in the yard with the sun in your eyes

Come and be still for your photograph

I can hear now the drone of those bikes

And the loud dark voices of the men

And the howl of the tomcats on the prowl

I can hear the scream and shush on the train

And the whooshing of traffic on the road

But the summer buzz in that tiny yard

And the child who laughed with her best dress on

And the voice that told her to stand in the sun

And the click that pressed the shutter down

Have gone

As if they had never been.

Here are the steps to read a poem:

Step 1: Forget what the poem may or may not mean, or what it may be about.

Step 2: Look at the title and jot down half a dozen things that it suggests to you. Give literal meaning as well as other associations.

Step 3: Read the poem once quickly and then several times more slowly. Try to hear the poem aloud in your head

Step 4: Make a list of all those things which force their attention on you or which catch your interest for one reason or another. You might jot down unusual/ odd/ striking words, rhymes or repetition/ patterns/ contrasts etc.

Step 5: Look at and list any features of languages used in the poem, eg.

No capital letters; no full stops at all line-end; presence/ absence of adverbs/ adjectives; all verbs are active/ passive; tenses - all past except in the last line, etc.

Step 6: Try to find groups of words ( thematic boxes) eg.

(a) All similes make reference to animals/ death/ plants etc.

(b) All the first words of lines are conjunctions etc

* Don't worry if your group of words seem silly or improbable. Look at what you have observed and ask yourself what is its significance

Step 7: Look at your lists, notes and groups. do you see and pattern taking shape?

Step 8: Read the poem again and try to make intelligent guesses of what the poem may mean

Step 9: Answer the following questions:

(a) Who is 'speaking' the poem? Is it the poet or the persona?

(b) Who is the poem 'spoken'? Is it a particular person, to the poet himself (reflective) or to the public in general?

(c) What is the speaker's attitude towards that audience? Is it angry, sincere, joking or teasing?

(d) what is the speaker's attitude to his audience?

(e) Why is this poem organized in the way it is?

(f) What is the effect of all the things you have noted at steps 2,4,5 and 6?

Step 10: Now if you wish to, or have to ( because of an exam), you can write a critical appreciation of that poem

My Answers:

Step 2: Something small

Something Young

Something that cannot be decided

A number around 3

A age of someone

Something very little

Step 4: snapshot

soul

scrawny

drone

prowl

buzz

click

Step 5: Missing full stops at the end of each sentence

Some dashes in words, possibly a pause

Step 6: (a) scrawny, men

Step 9: (a) It is the poet himself

(b) It is to himself (reflective)

(c) It is sincere and thoughtful

(d) He is rather straightforward in his thinking, making it easier for his audience to understand

(e) It is arranged chronologically

(f) It is what makes a reflective poem, and consists of all the elements of a reflective thought

Finally, What I think of the poem is that it is a reflective thought of the persona the poet has formed and the persona once lived in a poor conditions and in danger. They were probably poor as well as the persona only had one photograph to refer to and the mother was calling her to come for her photograph, which meant that maybe it was such a rare opportunity to have their photo taken that she wasn't willing to let her child run off and play. It also describes briefly where the author stayed, dangerous places with rough men, scrawny cats and also near a city district, as there were busy streets with many cars.

Limerick

Here is a interesting limerick I found off the internet

There was an old lady from Clyde
Who ate forty apples and died
The apples fermented
inside the lamented
and made cider inside her insides

Lamented - Usually a way to describe the deceased

Some Interesting Limericks - Page 1

Here is the link

E-Learning

The poem I chose is: The Road Not Taken-By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Hyperbole- Oh, equally, and, as far, all

Personification- Two roads diverged

Metaphor- and, just, could

Simile-as, and

Why I like this poem is because there is a meaning in it, a meaning that sounds like it is part of Life's Journey. If you are normal and take the path always taken, you will be normal. However, if you choose to take the path less taken, like how other people have done before , you will stand out as someone more special, unique and useful o the society. These people will eventually go to a special place led by the path, while the people who take the normal path will go in the same direction as where normal people go. This poems seems to be an inspiration for us to take the road less taken, and be a important person in today's society.

URBANIZATION ARRIVES IN THUL!

It is 19th September, 1981. The villagers of Thul, old and young are going about their daily lives. The old are resting under trees, fanning themselves with fans made out of fallen leaves. The young are playing, wandering about the village. Playful children splash about and play in the water. The older ones, teenagers, are going to school, the girls are at the markets, buying supplies for home. However, far away, kilometers away, many trucks are headed for Thul.

The trucks finally arrive in Thul. Many children gather around, curious of what was going on. One of the workmen asked them to leave but they were as stubborn as a mule and ignored them. They begin to unload what they had. Pipes, cement, metal wires, cranes. It did not seem to end with even more trucks arriving at night. This time they did their work peacefully without any disturbance. However, they are disturbed by the village drunkards coming home as they make a loud noise, smashing glass bottles and vomiting out what they had just drank. The next day, some of the villagers come over. They looked curious and they asked wether they would get jobs. They were promptly told that they would not. We caught up with Mr. Faaris and he said:" This is outrages! They are building factories in our little town but they even did not think about us! Where would we go after this? Where will we stay? What will we work as? This is madness. We are already deciding to go to Bombay and stage a rally there to object to the government's decision to build factories here if we are going to get nothing out of this!"

While it seems clearly that the villagers of Thul are angry, would they stage a rally like what Mr. Faaris said? We will be checking in daily with the news and be reporting.

The Harmful Effects of toddy

Hot toddy is a name given to a mixed drink, usually including alcohol, that is served hot. Hot toddies are traditionally drunk before going to bed, or in wet and/or cold weather. They were believed to help cure the cold and flu, but the American Lung Association now recommends avoiding treating the common cold with alcoholic drinks as they cause dehydration.

Alcohol, the most harmful compound in toddy is very addictive.Therefore, forcing many countries to impose age limits on which age must they be before they will be allowed to consume Alcohol.Alcohol is a psychoactive drug that has a depressant effect. A high blood alcohol content is usually considered to be legal drunkenness because it reduces attention and slows reaction speed. Alcoholic beverages can be addictive, and the state of addiction to alcohol is known as alcoholism.

It is also well known to hurt family relationships so people are advised to refrain from it in order to maintain a healthy realtionship

Beside being addictive, it will also damage your liver, as well as causing many new diseases. Such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia and diabetes. It will also lower the longevity so t is therefore considered harmful. Basically, there is nothing harmful in toddy except for alcohol.

E-Learning in School

Here are my assignments. I put them up late as I needed more time to make everything perfect!

The assignments are in the following posts!

LATEST NEWS- BUDGET DEBATE (ACE BLOG POST)

Singapore's budget is aimed at the long term, quoted Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's finance minister. What he said was that the major investment for this year's budget was to put Singaporeans on a path of superior skills, with quality jobs and higher income. Basically, there are 2 major themes in his response in accordance with the Budget debate.
- Investing in productivity
- Investing for inclusive growth

Now, in contrast with the resilience package last year, all companies, no matter how big or how small are investing in innovation and upgrading will benefit more.

• Focus benefits on growth- seeking businesses

"The measures this year aim to get businesses invest in innovation, and to upgrade their operations and develop the skills and potentials of their workers," said Mr Tharman.
With the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme, it will let businesses benefit, with profit and taxable income, but let growing businesses become profitable eventually.

• SMEs( Small Medium Enterprises)
  

The $ 300,000 for the PIC is aimed at making sure SMEs ( Small Medium Enterprise) benefit the most.


My take on the Budget Debate 2010:

What I think of the budget is that it is too company-centered and the government does not think of the workers and they still believe that the workers will benefit from the grant issued to the company. Although it is obvious that money is given to the companies, it is always the company that make the gains. Whether the employees or workers will get a pay rise depends on the companies.Although it is true that the Singapore government does help the needy by giving them at least some medical subsidies and temporary financial support in times of need. I feel that the Budget should have a equal and balanced focus on businesses and the citizens of Singapore.

To read about this budget debate, visit this link

The Lady And The Tiger by Frank R. Stockton

My compulsory 6th blog post...

My part of the story:

The moment had come. everyone had their eyes on the prince as he chose the door on the right, just as the princess had signalled. Just as he opened the door, there was the tiger, lying on the ground, licking itself contently. Everyone gasped. The tiger looked up to stare at the man. Then, at that moment, the tiger gave a big yawn and rolled its head back and started sleeping. Everyone was shocked by the tiger's actions. Why had it done so? Just then, the king flew into a rage and started screaming at the guard at the back of the door. It seems that the king's arena was always an unfair trial. Why? because the king would always signal to the assistant to choose what would come out of the door. why did the king choose that his daughter's lover be killed? Well, it seems that he had already found another suitor for her but she did not want to tell her in order not to hurt her feeling as she was the apple of his eye. But that also leaves another question unanswered. Why didn't the tiger pounce forward and devour the man, it seems that the king's assistant was not told of the trail and had fed the ferocious tiger before the trial. Therefore, the tiger was full and had no desire to be full again and then rolled its head back and fell asleep.

After the king had thrown his temper at the assistant, everyone was fuming as at least one of their relatives had been killed indirectly for the king as he was barbaric and uncaring. Therefore, the king was deprived of his position as the king and his daughter succeeded him. Because of the daughter's love for the young man, she married him and the young man became the new king of the kingdom and the both of them ruled the kingdom fairly and wisely and everyone was happy with what they had......

E-Learning

> Bodily/Kinaesthetic

Identify a person in a pose that represents how Patrick reacts in EACH of these instances in the story:
i. When he was about to open the door at 4:50pm
ii. When he broke the news of his extra-marital affairs to Mary
iii. When he crashed onto the carpet after being struck by a leg of lamb

You can use images, photographs or illustrations on the Internet. DO NOT USE SCREENSHOTS OF THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK TELEPLAY. Please remember to quote the source. Briefly explain what each chosen posture means and why you have chosen it.

My answers:
i. Hesitant. Patrick was hesitant to enter the door as he did not want to upset Mary’s feeling and he wanted to carry on with his life but then again, Mary was already pregnant and it would reflect badly on him as a honorable policeman if Mary found out that he had a extra-marital affairs and Mary could spread the word quickly so he did not want to risk losing his position in the Police station. Moreover, having a extra- marital affair is a crime.



ii. Worried. Patrick would be worried whether Mary would be hit hard by the news of his extra-marital affairs and the divorce. Although he has a extra marital affair, he should still have some feeling left about Mary. It is impossible that he should remain cold and unfriendly towards Mary forever.




iii. Pain. Patrick could feel pain in his head, like a hard and cold blow, followed by a sucking air pressure from the inside of his head. This should be after a loud "crack!" indicating that Patrick skull had broken and he will die soon. Therefore, there would be internal bleeding and this would be how Patrick would feel with all the blood building in his head, the pressure would be so great until he will slowly, in about 5 seconds, die.

My latest comprehension.

Hello Everyone,
In this post I will be writing about my latest comprehension on War. I did not do well in this Comprehension but I will still strive to improve myself and try to get better grades than this comprehension. I will learn from my mistakes just like what Mr Lundberg said.
In this comprehension about war, the first comprehension is about a war about ants. The second comprehension is about the Punic wars in Rome.

This comprehension practise, it requires a lot of critical thinking. We must infer and conclude for the facts available to us.

What about comparative questions? The three rubrics we must do are Identifying, Explaining and Examples.

That's all for now.
Bye!

How smart am I?

After taking the quiz,see the previous post. I found out that I am more kinasthetic(body Smart),Intrapersonal( Myself smart) and logical(Number smart) and Interpersonal(People smart.) Why must I post my results, well this is to let Mr Lundberg, my language arts teacher, know what type of assignment will suit me best when I will be at home doing my E- Learning. On that day, teachers are exceptionaly busy as it will be the Hwa chong education Conference but anyway, me and my 2 of my classmates still came to school to see our project's competition mentor. Well, what task did I get for E-Learning during 1/3 and 2/3, first March 2010 and second March 2010? check the post above to find out!
That's all.
You Quan

Blog Post on Mary Maloeny "Lamb To The Slaughter" by Roald Dahl

Hello Everyone. This my next blog post and it is my homework. We are supposed to post what we think Mary Maloeny would write in her diary after killing her husband.
This is my answer:

Dear Diary,
Whew! The police and detectives have finally left the house and they have even helped me get rid of the murder weapon unknowingly. It was simply hilarious watching them eat the murder weapon while they were discussing what was the murder weapon. One of the policeman almost got that the lamb they were eating was the murder weapon but fortunately, they did not take it seriously and left the house. Honestly, I felt quite bad when I killed Patric. I did it when I was in a daze. Then, I felt as if I wanted to faint or vomit and the whole house was tilting sideways. He had taken care of me for many years and the child i was carrying was his. I felt really bad when i realised that the child would not have a father when he was born and what would the child think when he was all grown up and finally discovered that his or her mother killed his father. What should I do? Should I own up and confess? I wish Patric was here, he always knew what was the right thing to do.Well, it's getting late and I need to sleep so I must stop writing now.

Yours Truly,
Mary

Lesson on Plagiarism

Hello everyone,

I am posting this about my first few Language Arts Lesson at Hwa Chong. On the First lesson, Mr Lundberg, our English teacher, told us about plagiarism and how to avoid it. Basically, Plagiarism is about "stealing" or copying other people's work and pass it off as your own work. This is unfair to the person who has put in lots of time and effort into the article as they don't get credit for their work when their work has been passed off as their own.

Mr Lundberg also brought us to a computer lab and showed us this website( http://is.gd/62Av6) to see what type of person I am or how smart I am. Check it out for yourself!

That's all for today,Bye
You Quan