Sunday, September 02, 2007
Post 6...
China and Its Goods
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/206244.asp
China, as we all know, is a rapidly growing country and has risen becoming stronger in the global arena. The fact that, China produces more than half the world’s goods already shocks us at how much impact it has on the world today. Yet many complaints have arisen about the quality of goods produced in China, by China. From the many experiences I had with China goods and other stories from other people, thus I developed a dislike towards these.
As Singaporeans, we cannot resist a warehouse sale, so can’t businessmen, investors and entrepreneurs resist cheap labour. The large amount of people looking for jobs is enough to cause labour costs to stay so low. People may feel that the low quality of the goods produced there, are not up to standard safety measures. However, these factories and Chinese workers are not totally responsible for these problems. I believe it is the company’s responsibility to ensure the quality and safety of their product. The materials of the products would have been decided by the companies, and therefore the blame should be on them. Yet we also cannot ignore the unseemliness of the factories. A certain degree of cleanliness should be observed in all factories.
An example, which just came out on the news a few weeks ago was a boy and his mother was walking down the street one fine day when their clothes just started to burst into flame, it was said that their clothes were made in China. I feel that this is very serious, it has a very high risk on the people who purchase these products. Therefore I felt that this should be brought up.
It is gratifying to hear that there are efforts made to improve this situation. As China’s top troubleshooter has started to see into product quality and food safety, I hope the same would be done for other goods. Companies should also be encouraged to raise their quality and safety checks before releasing a product. It’s better to be safe than sorry, having more checks would definitely be beneficial. I feel that factories in China should take more pride in the increasing number of products carrying the “made in China” mark.
Looking on the brighter side, making all these changes will definitely change the perspective of people towards China’s goods and it might even have a positive impact on to economic point of view. To boost China even higher up the world stage, even a simple thing like observing cleanliness would be greeted with great appreciation by consumers all around the world.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
T E R M 3 B L O G P O S T
Taken from The Straits Times, Sat, 23rd June 2007. Saturday Section Page S10.Although this article was a few months back. I felt that since that it is really happening even till today so its quite important.Recently, there has been an increase in gaming addiction among teenagers. Especially those who are often bored because they're not very involved in other Co -Curriculum Activities. This can be seen by the many counselors who have seen and up rise in youths seeking help for gaming addiction. According to experts, this is a worrying trend because they worry of the potential harm these games may cause to the children.One of the main worries about these interactive games is, children may meet the wrong kinds of people. Being young at inexperienced, children may pick up many undesirable habits from them. The most common would be the learning of vulgarities and using them in their everyday context. Some parents might be surprised that their kids are using vulgarities at such a young age. These words are used so often, it has been universally accepted among gamers. Not surprisingly, kids will think its acceptable to use profound language in their daily lives, because the influence “gaming” gave them had “brainwashed” them.Another common worry is that, when kids become addicted to online gaming, their social life takes a major step back. They start to neglect their studies and avoid outdoor activities. Relationships with their loved ones will be greatly affected. This is because, these handful of kids only think about their game and the characters and stuff. Physically they may be present in school. But their mind might be drifting off to their cyber world, thinking of ways to play the computer as soon as possible.I feel many kids even turn to online gaming not only because its fun to play, but also because gamers will accept them for their ability not their physical appearance. Taunting and teasing in schools are common among kids. Some may be more sensitive to it, therefore feeling like society does not accept them. Hence, they turn to online gaming, where nobody can tease them about their appearance. These kids are not treated as how they might be treated in their daily lives. That might be why online gaming is so addictive and luring to our kids these days.I do believe that online gaming is most appropriate for kids to play. However certain good gaming habits must be practiced to ensure that its safe for youths to play with. A way is for parents to limit the playing time, and have a timetable set up. Homework, sports and aesthetics should be of utmost priority, which will limit the time spent in front of the computer screen. Gaming should never exceed more than 1 hour daily. Furthermore excessive gaming might even lead to health problems, such as myopia and even back problem, these health problems can be very severe and thus should not be taken lightly.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
English Article 4.. phew
Parents, Beware the EMO kids
Article from the Straits Times 19/3/07
(Sorry this was taken from so early in this year but i believe that this has to be brought up because of its strong influence.)
In this newspaper article, the latest teenage craze of being “emo” has been greatly discussed. “Emo”, short for emotional, is an angst-filled culture of youths which is characterized by them wearing dark and undersized attire with sneakers. With long hair that cover almost half their faces. Such teens are full of apparently, "sad" emotions and often have a negative view of their own life and some of them even putting their own bodies to harm by cutting themselves with knives. This is indeed a growing concern as such cases of self-mutilation amongst teens are ever-increasing in today's society. That is why I feel that this issue is very important and parents especially should indeed take note of it.
This new “culture” today brings out a key problem in our society today. Namely, how great negative influences make an huge impact on youths.
The first influence would definitely be peer pressure. There was a report stating that a group of primary school girls gathered together and cut themselves by carving words using pen knives on their forearms. Such a masochistic act would be largely due to the fact that many teens these days suffer from peer pressure and succumb too easily to "following the crowd" and not be the only one left behind and being the odd one out.
The second would be that of the media. Many teens have fallen to the "emo" fad after listening to music of bands that endorse the “emo” culture, that is the promotion of ideas of rejection torment and sadness in life, resulting in teens blindly following them just to be "in". Parents of such teens have to take the responsibility of cultivating strong values in their children, and have to take action if their children are going out with bad friends. Parents ultimately have to guide their child in the right path. Kids should also be responsible for themselves. Whilst listening and idolising such music is not wrong, kids have to know where to draw the line and not exaggerate their actions in attempts to be like their idols.
However, there are assumptions and exceptions which may have overlooked. Not being "emo", I really cannot attempt to empathize with a self-proclaimed "emo's” troubles. Some of these teens may come from broken families, face a lot of stress in school or suffer emotionally from many different reason altogether. They may be outcasts and seek solace only in cutting themselves to attract attention or to be noticed.
I feel that “emo” culture is acceptable as it just another culture to follow. However, I strongly believe that one should not go too far as to inflict pain on oneself. If so, parents should be aware and send them for counseling. Teens themselves also have to make sure they do not blindly follow the wrong influences. As long as this culture stays as a fad and not a path to follow. But I believe that being “emo” should not be encouraged, it put the mind in another state and would thus pull you away from the outside world or reality.
PS. Mrs Nathan, Sorry if i was late...
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Newspaper article number 3
Prosecutors want MySpace sex offenders exposed
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1922970.htm
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Reading the article, it did not surprise me. But the problem is, why has nothing been done before the problem even surfaced? Why was it not fixed?
I remember my parents always tell me not to talk to stranger, with the fear that one might get kidnapped or hurt. But I believe that the biggest problem regarding this issue, talking to strangers, is sexual harassment rather than kidnapping or rather child-trafficking.
This article tells us American prosecutors are urging a “friend-making” website MySpace to help detect and stop the acts of harassment. These type of harassment usually happens without even the victim knowing it until too late. The prosecutors are asking them to find the profiles of the sexual offenders who “prey” on children by the means of MySpace.
In the United States the sex offenders have to register their address before being released and have to continually update it. This would help detect the crimes committed by them and also help track them down if they even try to do so. But even so I believe that if it was being tracked trough e-mail address it would thus be much harder to stop them. This is because the anyone could have more than one e-mail and not restricted to any number. Furthermore e-mail can be created in a mere two to three minutes and its totally free.
MySpace came up with an idea of simply banning them whenever they create accounts based on their IP address. The host of this website have got a program to start checking their own pages to match the profile of any know sex offenders. This tells me that MySpace has taken the imitative and thus will not tolerate the abuse of the accounts for sexual harassment.
The safety of children using the net is the most important factor at this point of time. I strongly agree that something must of course be done about this because of the sheer number of cases and stories that have been going around by word where men are using teenage girls. I think that MySpace has done the right thing and took a stand, the banning of these accounts of the abusers should be the first step on tackling this problem. But there are also other ways to solve these type of problem. An example is probably teaching the teenagers how to deal with this problem when confronted with. It would certainly teach them how to act towards the problem and most of all avoid this problem. I believe that MySpace should also consider taking off the accounts, because if mistaken, an innocent user would certainly face a lot of inconvenience. This is a big start in solving this particular problem thus I encourage that websites and programs such as Friendster. IRC should keep track of the problem, and do take up the precaution like what MySpace has done to prevent and avoid this crucial problem on the internet today.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Current affairs post number 2 yataaa!!!
http://news.asiaone.com.sg/st/st_20070304_96962.html my second post link
I choose this article because I felt that with this new policy of able to rent out flats, I think it would help both the economy as well as the civilians who have a low income and therefore would make a great impact on Singapore both economically and socially thus everyone should take note of this.
Based on the article it says that previously before the new policy came out it stated that those with high HDB (housing development board) loans would have to wait ten years in order to be eligible to rent out their flats to earn profit and five years if they are able to pay all their loans. This system I believe is not very effective because after ten years of paying off their loans they would have even bigger problems if they considered getting another flat and renting their present home to others due to their financial status.
Now with the new rule stating that those who have bought their HDB homes without and subsidy from the government, they can rent their house after just living there for three years. The new rule takes effect immediately and now 650,000 out of 800,000 in Singapore can be rented out to boost the economy of Singapore. I feel that this 650,000 is a really huge number and percentage of HDB homes in Singapore. The new policy can not only help with the growing economy of Singapore but also the fellow Singaporeans with economical difficulties. By renting out their HDB homes, hey can earn easy money from this rental income.
This rule has given many people around the island many opportunities in both economically and socially. For example, mainly for the elderly, they could easily move in with their children while earning rental income from their rented out flats. Now with the growing economy even a three room flat can fetch one thousand dollars a month. I believe that this new rules and policies can help Singapore in many ways, which I have already mentioned before, the civilians also gain through this process, thus it becomes a win-win situation where everyone benefits from the current situation.
Singapore already being a well-developed first world country is now improving to a utopia through these simple steps to ensure the country flourishes. I feel that with more of such policies much can be achieved. Thus ever Singaporean should help and contribute to the situation and show our enthusiasm in everything we do. If every aspect of the Singapore’s government are put together much improvement can be done to build up Singapore.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Current affairs post
My article is taken from http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_GEN_THAILAND_NUCLEAR_ENERGY_ASOL-?SITE=ASIAONE&SECTION=SOUTHEAST&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-06-19-32-12
This article concerns both the environment and economic growth. Its tells us, Thais are given a go ahead to build a 15-year draft energy nuclear power plant plan that would boost the country’s electricity demand growth and the economic growth by vast amounts. But upon hearing this many Thai environmentalists held up a public hearing on plans for nuclear energy. The angry environmentalists protested outside the Siam City Hotel and even forced the cancellation of a public hearing. They insisted that the 15-year draft energy plan be stopped because of the damages it would do to the surrounding environment and population.The ministry is considering nuclear power as one of its options in the 2007-2021 plans to meet growing energy demands in Thailand. As many options were proposed, the cost was not mentioned. The first was relying on nuclear power plants providing huge amounts of electricity, together with the already present electricity produced by coals and natural gas.The next scenario is building more coal-fired power plants as well as more natural gas plants to bring up the electricity supplied. This will cause many pollution problems and thus is not really reliable.I think this idea or improvements have both its pros as well as it cons. Firstly, with the building of the power plants, it will boost the energy and electricity produced, thus the lack of electricity at any time will not occur. This will also boost the economy in many ways. For example, with the abundance of electricity, more shopping centers will be built, thus adding onto the already soaring economic growth.But on the other hand, the new advancement can cause much damage to the surrounding air and environment. As we already know Thailand is not exactly a very clean country, this would therefore add to the pollution. These damages cannot be helped if the power plant plan continues. It would be a catastrophe to everyone and not a very suitable environment and surrounding to go there for a holiday or even to live there. The pollution will not only affect the country itself, but it would also disrupt the air of neighboring countries such as Singapore our homeland.These pros and cons have to be seriously thought through and be considered from both the investors as well as the environmentalists. I strongly suggest that everyone comes together and decide on something that both parties can agree on. Thus there will not be any disagreement or fights.