Newspaper article review

China not main enemy: Ma 10 min-->
TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S President Ma Ying-jeou said on Tuesday that forces of nature rather than China might be the island's main enemy in the future after Typhoon Morakot killed more than 120 people.
'In the future, the armed forces of this country will have disaster prevention and rescue as their main job,' he told reporters.
'From now on, disaster prevention and rescue will be taken into consideration when the military drafts its military strategy, manpower structure, budget, and equipment.'
'Now our enemy is not necessarily people across the Taiwan Strait but nature,' Mr Ma said.
Mr Ma made the remarks amid public anger over the government's slow response to the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot after it struck on August 8.
Taiwan and China are still technically at war despite a dramatic improvement in cross-strait ties after Mr Ma came to power last year.
Mr Ma announced that his government would purchase 15 rescue helicopters at a cost of US$300 million (S$435 million) to boost the rescue capabilities of Taiwan's airborne police unit.
He said the money would come from the budget originally set aside for the army, which calls for buying 60 UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters to replace its aging UH-1H fleet.
The president said he had decided to create a national disaster prevention agency to take over crisis management, replacing the National Fire Agency.
He also said the military would undertake intensive disaster response training. -- AFP

Based on the article above, I have wrote a review.


Review:
This article is based on the recent Typhoon Morakot that occurred on Taiwan. Quoting from the President, Mr Ma Ying Jiu , “forces of nature rather than China might be the island's main enemy in the future”. Due to the recent natural disaster, Taiwan has finally realized that the main enemy of Taiwan is not China but natural disaster after Typhoon Morakot killed more than 120 people.
Taiwan has been at war with China for a long time due to the fact that Taiwan had once been part of China until it decided to be independent , thus most of Taiwan’s money had been focused on war machines and training soldiers, leaving nothing for other purposes such as training rescue teams and buying equipment for rescue missons.
I feel that a country can never really be independent but interdependent as no man is an island and must receive help from other people sometimes. Thus, I think that China and Taiwan should sign a peace treaty and stop war as it will only hurt their relations even more. Signing a treaty with China is also an advantage to Taiwan as China is now improving rapidly.

My Favorite Food

My Favorite food:

My favorite food is chicken wings, especially homemade ones. At home, my mother makes the chicken wings with lots of corn flour, thus giving it a crispy texture which I like the most. She sometimes also cooks spicy chicken wings, much like those from Pizza Hut, only that it tastes better and is still steaming hot instead of the cold chicken wings they serve in Pizza Hut. The color of the chicken wing is also appealing, with its light brown hue and some darker parts that were overcooked, I simply could not stop salivating upon looking at it. Combined with the aroma that wafted into my nose when the dish was being cooked, I could almost taste it.

Unfortunately, my mother does not cook this dish very often, about once a month, so I have to turn to other alternatives. The alternative is McDonalds. McDonalds’s chicken wings or Mc Wings also has a very crispy texture, even more crispy than homemade ones but their exterior skin hides the little meat that they contain, which is not as appealing the ones my mother make. KFC or Kentucky’s Fried Chicken is the next in line but even though it is supposed to be renowned for its fried chickens, I find myself hating its chickens as they are not crispy even though the chickens they serve are bigger than that of McDonalds.

http://images.google.com.sg/images?hl=en&q=chicken+wings&cr=countrySG&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=3k-LSvivC6OG6APNy4ClDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4

Why keeping up with news is important

Have you ever been slow on getting all the latest trends? Ever wondered why? That is because you do not keep track of news!

Although the consequence of not keeping track of the latest fashion is not fatal, not keeping track of current news will. As everyone knows, H1N1 is roaming about now and people are dying so what if one day MOE asked everyone to stay at home for fear of flu transmission? You may not read the news and continue to go out, thus putting yourself in danger.

Reading the Smb is also in a way reading the news, thus it is also important to read the Smb daily. Not reading the Smb will not only cause trouble for yourself, it will also cause trouble for others. Imagine this scenario, you have to bring your thermometer to school, you forget and then you will have to go down to a station for teachers to take your temperature, and so wasting both the teacher's and your time.

What if the school closed down and you did not read the news or Smb? You would still come to school the next day and as Hwa Chong is not a neighbourhood school, many people live far away from it, so what if the person lived in Johor Bahru, he would have wasted his time and money. So i urged everyone out there, reading the news if important and be sure to read it everday.

Tips to stay healthy

Since the H1N1 virus is running free now, everyone needs to stay healthy to prevent oneself from dying so how do you stay healthy? Let me tell you.

Firstly, wash your hands before and after every meal, thats the most basic thing. However, i am sure not everyone pays attention to these. The hand hides a lot of germs as i touches the mst things daily, tus it is very important to wash them.

Secondly, Eat more fruit and vegtables. Since everyone knows this, i will not elaborate further.

Thirdly, stay away from crowded areas since the H1N1 virus is contagious and can be transmitted via a sneeze or cough.

And these are my tips for staying healthy! Hope you stay healthy!

Thoughts about home learning

Personally, I do not think home learning is effective at all as we cannot ask. Firstly in school when we have questions, we can immediately ask the teacher face to face. Some people may argue that we can use MSN to ask the teacher but we will be more likely to learn something if we ask face to face. Secondly, students may slack at home instead of doing their homework by just finishing the whole weeks work in one or two days. Some teachers might post their homework a few hours befor but only some teachers do that. Lastly, students can just copy answers from each other in subjects such as math where there is only 1 correct answer. The teacher will not suspect a thing and the student would have learnt nothing. So to conclude this, home learning is not good.

Poet of the Month - Mark Strand

Mark Strand was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

His collections of poems include:

• Dark Harbor (1993),
• The Continuous Life (1990),
• Selected Poems (1980),
• The Late Hour (1978),
• The Story of our Lives (1973),
• The Sargentville Notebook (1973),
• Darker (1970),
• Reasons For Moving (1968),
• and Sleeping With One Eye Open (1964).

He has also published a book of prose, entitled The Monument (1978). His books on artists include William Bailey (1987) and Hopper (1994). His translations include two volumes of the poems of Carlos Drummond de Andrade. He has also published three books for children and has been the recipient of Fellowships from the Ingram Merrill, Rocke.

He has been awarded the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (1979), a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award (1987), the Bollingen Prize (1993), and has served as Poet Laureate of the United States (1990). He is currently the Elliott Coleman Professor of Poetry in the Writing Seminars at the Johns Hopkins

Quote:
"Each moment is a place you've never been."

If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda


I want you to know

one thing.

You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window,

if I touch

near the fire

the impalpable ashor the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,

if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

But

if each day,

each hour,

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine



In the above poem, every aspect of figurative speech was used, Hyperbole, Simile, Metaphor, Personification, except Symbolism



Hyperbole-From ah my love, ah my own, it can be seen that the writer wishes to exaggerate that part of the poem.

Simile-The writer used fire to describe the love process going on between the man and woman

Metaphor-The writer used metaphors thrice in the story, once saying that everything that exists were little boats sailing to his lover's isle, once describing phases of his life as winds of banners and another time when he says he would move on if his love forgets him by saying his roots will set off.

Personification-The writer described a flower climbing up his lover and his love feeding on hers.

The reason I like this poem is because this it captivates my attention and it uses a lot of metaphor, all the while describing the love between two people who break up then get together again, to sum it up it is like nothing I have ever read. Everything from the gist of the poem to the feel of the poem is a totally new experience.

THE PHAROAH CURSE!!!

Have you ever heard of the pharoah's curse, where people die mysteriously after uncovering hidden tombs? Well, what do you think about it? I personally think it is poisonous fungi spores in the old age tomb which cause the deaths but there are some incidents which cannot be explained like how some people mysteriously dissapear or die in their sleep even though they are just 30 over years old with no dieseases. There are warnings outside tombs but people think it is just for scaring tomb robbers, what do you think?

Sorry

Sorry for not blogging for so long, i was a little busy. Dont worry, i will constantly update about weird stuff bermuda triangle etc. Do look out for my next post, the pharoah's curse.

Photo Montage

Ending rewrite

Composition format

"The cars all seem so small from the 5th storey"Phillip thought as he stood on the ledge. The strong wind blowing rustled his hair as he glanced down the building, thinking of ending it all. All the lies he said and the actions he did ran in his mind as his body began to sway. He closed his eyes and let his momentum carry him down. The last thing he heard was a shriek "NO!" before he took the plunge. Phillip woke in a bright white room, for a moment thinking he was in heaven.
The sight of his parents and friends crowding around him woke him from his trance.

Everyone upon realising he was awake, began bombarding him with questions but he was only focused on one thing: Who saved him from death? As if reading his thoughts, Mrs Malloy spoke: "It was a good thing Miss Narwin saved you or else you would......"Hearing Miss Narwin, Phillip's lies and crimes began replaying in his mind as he glanced towards the window, watching Miss Narwin standing there alone. Looking at isolated Miss Narwin, Phillip felt immensly guilty and remorseful. Then without a warning, Phillip knealt down in front of Miss Narwin and kept on repeating "i am sorry". Everyone was shocked beyond words as Phillip than started kowtowing
to her. Finally everything ended when Phillip fainted, lacking the stamina to continue. Everyone immediately rushed to the doctor after recovering from the shock. Only Miss Narwin remained, her face solemn but in her heart she knew she had already forgiven Phillip.

Newspaper format

Hi, I am Gerald Fam from rainbow stations and breaking news had just reached us. As everyone knows, the Harrison School incident has stirred up much trouble but did you know that Phillip was actually lying? This fact has been clarified and comfirmed leaving citizens both angry and confused. "It had reached a point where nothing else could solve this" so says Phillip when he was interviewed.

Phillip Malloy, student of Harrison school was rejected by his dream CCA, track when his English teacher, Miss Narwin failed him in his English test. This caused Phillip to detest his teacher and tried to get her in trouble by lying. When interviewed, Miss Narwin stated :"I dont hate Phillip, I only want to know why he hates me."

IQ Test

Below is a website for an IQ test. I scored 149, lets see how much you score.
http://simple-iq.com/

Blog Prompt

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today i am going to give a speech on why animals should not be hunted for their body parts as medicinal ingredients. Firstly, people believe animal parts can cure them of some illness but do you know that animal parts have absolutely no medicinal value?In fact, people who eat rhino's horns are in fact eating compressed hair.Secondly, animals are also living things.We cannot just kill them for their medicinal parts as they also have feelings.Thank You for your time and i hope you would refrain from buying body parts of animals so as to discourage this the dealers.

Blog Prompt

I am here to represent my group,Learners for Life,as a representative. We have invented a device which we would like to name the L.I.V.E, an acronym for Latest, Intergrated and Virtual Electronic device.This device can create a virtual enviroment which can allow students to learn at home.By placing this device on yheir heads, students would be able to enter a virtual world and be able to see and hear everything the teacher teaches from home!

A few extra features of this device are it is voice activated and doubles up as a dictionary, computer, textbook and workbook!In this way, students can immediately search for words which they dont know and reduce the level of stress put on their hands. This device can also be supervised by parents when their working by just accessing our website and typing in your L.I.V.E.'s code.I hope this device can be approved by MOE as it benefits students greatly.Thank You for your time.

Secret Code:HCI Rocks!

Current Affairs

Blog promt 1:

Dear audience,

I am here today to give a speech regarding the cruelty of whaling in japan.There are four main points why humans should not fish for whales

• Overfishing fishing of whales has caused the whale population to diminish greatly and now the whale population is endangered.
• Humans often kill whales faster than they can reproduce.
• Virtually every whale part utilized in the past can now be substituted by some product that would not require the killing of an animal.
• Whales are like humans, they can feel pain and have every right to be free.

To conclude my speech, i ask of everyone to imagine yourself as a whale, swimming freely in the ocean.Suddenly, you found yourself trapped in a net with nowhere to run. Then without warning, a few harpoons fly through the air and pierce into your body. You feel pain and try to call for help, but no one comes. Then, you just feel a pang of pain and you black out, never to wake again.

Imagine this and you will feel what whales today feel when they are captured by humans and slaughtered.This ends my speech, thank you.

Are Egyptians and Mars related?

A few years ago, in 1976, a satellite sent to the mars by America to report on its landscape sent back images which distinctively shows a Sphinx positioned on a rock.Further investigations reveal that 9 km away from the sphinx, there were a few pyramids lined side by side! At first, scientists thought the sphinx and pyramids were just natural occurences, but after much calculation, the scientists discovered an extraodinary secret: the sphix was built exactly according to scale and it even had its pupils carved in! Next, the satellite sent back more photos and the scientists surprisingly discovered that there was not only one spihx, but more of them on other parts of the planet! After the much more investigations, scientists dicovered that the sphixs and the pyramids were over 500 000 years old!

I personally think that Mars looked like Earth over 1 000 000 years ago(since scientists also said that Mars might have supported life). Also like Earth, the "Martians" became highly advanced and one day, pollution completely destroyed everything on Mars. Looking for a better place to live, the "Martians" migrated to Earth, but in the process, some important information was lost and their technology had to start from scratch.

A few hundred years down the road, the Egyptians (former Martians)retrieved their data and went in search of a new place to live, to live their lives without anyone knowing of their exsitence or their high tech items and that place is the Bermuda Triangle.(follow up on Are Egyptians and Bermuda Triangle related?)

Are Egyptians and The Bermuda Triangle related?

As everyone knows, the egyptians died out years ago, or did they?If u watch cartoons about egyptians, they would picture the egyptians to be a highly developed civilisation with mysterious magical powers.So how could a highly developed civilisation just dissapear like that?There must be a reason.

Many people think that the egyptians were conquered by another civilisation and after a long time after another's rule,they forgot their own culture and tradition.That explanation is acceptable but i have another thought, what if the egyptians moved to the Bermuda Triangle?

i know this is unbelievable, but this is the only thing that can explain the pyramid that was found underwater a distance away from the bermuda triangle.Maybe the whole bermuda triangle was an island and the egyptians moved there to escape another civilisation's rule and they try to destroy everyone who passes through their teritory to avoid being found out by the outside world.Then suddenly one day,there was an earthquake and the quake caused part of the island with a pyramid on it to sink in the ocean, and that is the exact pyramid found by man centuries later!

The Bermuda Triangle(my thoughts)

i think the Bermuda Triangle is where the Earth's magnetic field is concentrated,causing all electronic items to break down or lose control.

Another theory of mine is that other life forms live there, Aliens or any other things and they keep a force field which kills life forms within range(boats that enter the bermuda triangle have been found moths or years later with no passengers on board). If anyone reading this message has read Artemis Fowl, they would know there a bomb called the bio bomb which kills all life forms within its explosion but leaves all inanimate objects intact. This force field also has a special effect on people who are near it but not exactly in its range and the effect is -slowing his life processes to a crawl. Although this may sound far fetched, but there was a newspaper article about a fisherman in Peru who went fishing near the Bermuda Triangle for three days, he thought. However when he came back to Peru, his children were all grown up, his friends were all old and without him knowing,thity years had already passed for everyone but for him,only three days had gone by.

Lets run fast

The new year has just started and everyone must be under some stress by the longer and even more difficult lessons in school.i encourage everyoneone to adapt quickly to these situations and lets dash towards our goals