So, Mr Finch, what's your view on racism and prejudice?
A: Well, everyone is definitely entitled to their own opinion. However, I myself try not to be prejudiced against other people just because of their skin colour or background. For example, I wouldn't judge the son of an infamous murderer by his father.
That's the thing all people should do. But more specifically, what do you think about the way people are racist here in Maycomb?
A: Like I said earlier, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I hope that my children will adopt their own attitude towards life, and not be influenced by everyone else to become racist. Racism is a horrible thing. The blacks are not that much different from us, we are all human after all.
Well said. What do you hope your children will become when they grow up?
A: They can be anything they want. I won't try to force them to become, say, lawyer, but as long as it is a respectable profession and that they enjoy it, I won't disaprove.
What do you think you can do to change the mindset of the people of Maycomb?
A: It;s up to them to change themselves. If they want to continue to think like that, it's their own loss.
Why is your character so different from that of other people in Maycomb?
A: It was probably my upbringing, coupled with studying law at Montgomery. I had experienced interaction with blacks and found out that they are not as bad as everyone makes them out to be.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Civil Rights Movement Poster (TKAM)
This is my poster for the Maycomb Civil Rights Movement. Click to enlarge.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
+rolleys and stuff.
Today, there was an article on the front page of Straits Times (home) that talkied about how more and more cases of trolley theft are occuring, up to more than 200 a month. The article listed some ways that supermarkets have tried to prevent such thefts, and so far none have been effective. Apparently, now NTUC Fairprice is going to change tactics, focusing on public education which aims to deter people from such thefts rather than try to prevent the people from stealing the trolleys.
I feel that this is actually a smarter way than outright forcing people not to take the trolleys. After all, if you really want to steal a trolley, no one can stop you. Whether it is remotely locking the wheels of the trolley, or making people deposit money in for the trolley, if a person has intent to take the trolley...he'll just take it, deposit or no deposit. The new method to be addopted actually makes the people not want to steal the trolley in the first place.
The difference between the two ways of reducing trolley loss can be likened to, say, a man with a knife who wants to kill another man. If you take his knife away and bind him in chains to prevent him from doing so, he will simply find a way to break free of the chains and buy another knife, than proceed to exterminate his target. However, if you somehow make him think taht killing another man is the wrong thing to do, he will simply put down his knife and walk away, never to even entertain thoughts of doing such a thing again.
Obviously, binding the man in chains and taking away his knife is akin to remote wheel locking, etc, but changing his mindset is the same as...changing the mindset of the inconsiderate shoppers.
While this new move by NTUC is to be applauded, I feel that there are some other measures that can be taken to reduce trolley theft as well. For example, since one of th emain causes of people not returning trolleys is laziness, NTUC could put more trolley stations further away from the main store itself, or station some employees a distance from the store to collect the trolleys from customers as well as to help out in carrying their groceries.
...
Yup.
I feel that this is actually a smarter way than outright forcing people not to take the trolleys. After all, if you really want to steal a trolley, no one can stop you. Whether it is remotely locking the wheels of the trolley, or making people deposit money in for the trolley, if a person has intent to take the trolley...he'll just take it, deposit or no deposit. The new method to be addopted actually makes the people not want to steal the trolley in the first place.
The difference between the two ways of reducing trolley loss can be likened to, say, a man with a knife who wants to kill another man. If you take his knife away and bind him in chains to prevent him from doing so, he will simply find a way to break free of the chains and buy another knife, than proceed to exterminate his target. However, if you somehow make him think taht killing another man is the wrong thing to do, he will simply put down his knife and walk away, never to even entertain thoughts of doing such a thing again.
Obviously, binding the man in chains and taking away his knife is akin to remote wheel locking, etc, but changing his mindset is the same as...changing the mindset of the inconsiderate shoppers.
While this new move by NTUC is to be applauded, I feel that there are some other measures that can be taken to reduce trolley theft as well. For example, since one of th emain causes of people not returning trolleys is laziness, NTUC could put more trolley stations further away from the main store itself, or station some employees a distance from the store to collect the trolleys from customers as well as to help out in carrying their groceries.
...
Yup.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Blog about blogs
So, blogs.
What makes a successful and interesting blog? It's not really as to how skillful the blogger is at weaving words together to create a coherent post, but more on what he has to blog about, the range of experiences he...experiences.
That said, my blog would be preety much horrible, since I'm after all only a student and don't really go through all that much every day, and haven't lived as long as some prominet bloggers, like Mr Brown. It's preety much routine: go to school, go home/go for CCa, homework, sleep. Rinse and repeat. The only variation to this pattern would be during the weekends, where one can engage in a large variety of activities and outings. It's usually things that are out of the ordinary that give me inspiration for my posts.
Anyway, blogs can also become famous by others linking to a particularly interesting or controversial post of theirs on a web forum, such as STOMP. The news of the blog will spread and people will follow it, checking it from time to time whenever there has been a new post.
Another easier way, besides having good quality posts, is to blog about popular things, such as hobbies or games. People interested in that particular subject (example, Gunpla) will do searches online, and the blog may come up. Of course, you either have to be really good in that area or frequently post updates and pictures on the news on that topic to get readers, and to ensure that they continue to follow your blog.
Thus concludes my forth ever post on this (fail) blog of mine.
What makes a successful and interesting blog? It's not really as to how skillful the blogger is at weaving words together to create a coherent post, but more on what he has to blog about, the range of experiences he...experiences.
That said, my blog would be preety much horrible, since I'm after all only a student and don't really go through all that much every day, and haven't lived as long as some prominet bloggers, like Mr Brown. It's preety much routine: go to school, go home/go for CCa, homework, sleep. Rinse and repeat. The only variation to this pattern would be during the weekends, where one can engage in a large variety of activities and outings. It's usually things that are out of the ordinary that give me inspiration for my posts.
Anyway, blogs can also become famous by others linking to a particularly interesting or controversial post of theirs on a web forum, such as STOMP. The news of the blog will spread and people will follow it, checking it from time to time whenever there has been a new post.
Another easier way, besides having good quality posts, is to blog about popular things, such as hobbies or games. People interested in that particular subject (example, Gunpla) will do searches online, and the blog may come up. Of course, you either have to be really good in that area or frequently post updates and pictures on the news on that topic to get readers, and to ensure that they continue to follow your blog.
Thus concludes my forth ever post on this (fail) blog of mine.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Judo Competition
Okay, so I'm in the CCA judo. Judo is basically a martial art where you try to throw someone who you're fighting, then armlock/choke/pin him on the floor.
From an untrained observer's perspective, judo seems easy. There are two parts to judo-tachiwaza and newaza. Tachiwaza is the main part of judo, where you stand up and grapple with the opponent and try to throw him. when (if) you succeed,and then you enter into newaza, where you try to pin the guy. Chokes and armlocks are also allowed, but only from 15 years old and above. :(
Anyway, I took part in a judo competition just yesterday. My current belt in judo is yellow, which is the 2nd lowest. My first opponent was a white belt, the absolute lowest rank you can go. However, he was also about two heads taller than me and 10 years older. I'll give you one guess as to who won.
It was me!
...
Nah, just kidding. I lost the first round, and also the repecharge. Unsurprising really, given that I'm one of the worst in our whole judo club. Seriously. I'm not trying to demean myself or anything (well, fine, actually I am, but what I say is the truth).
Now, to describe my fight in simple language. He grabbed me. He threw me. he pinned me. I escaped. He threw me again. The time ended. He won.
If you couldn't understand that, then...you're either really young, or really dense.
Anyway, I was actually expecting at least a bronze since there were only six people in my category, Junior Middle (weight). That means out of 6 people, only two would not get a medal. 2/6 chance of not getting amedal, and I took it. Swell. Just goes to show...something. I'm not sure what, but hey.
Goodnight.
ZY
From an untrained observer's perspective, judo seems easy. There are two parts to judo-tachiwaza and newaza. Tachiwaza is the main part of judo, where you stand up and grapple with the opponent and try to throw him. when (if) you succeed,and then you enter into newaza, where you try to pin the guy. Chokes and armlocks are also allowed, but only from 15 years old and above. :(
Anyway, I took part in a judo competition just yesterday. My current belt in judo is yellow, which is the 2nd lowest. My first opponent was a white belt, the absolute lowest rank you can go. However, he was also about two heads taller than me and 10 years older. I'll give you one guess as to who won.
It was me!
...
Nah, just kidding. I lost the first round, and also the repecharge. Unsurprising really, given that I'm one of the worst in our whole judo club. Seriously. I'm not trying to demean myself or anything (well, fine, actually I am, but what I say is the truth).
Now, to describe my fight in simple language. He grabbed me. He threw me. he pinned me. I escaped. He threw me again. The time ended. He won.
If you couldn't understand that, then...you're either really young, or really dense.
Anyway, I was actually expecting at least a bronze since there were only six people in my category, Junior Middle (weight). That means out of 6 people, only two would not get a medal. 2/6 chance of not getting amedal, and I took it. Swell. Just goes to show...something. I'm not sure what, but hey.
Goodnight.
ZY
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Gunpla, teachers and a whole lot of off-topic-ness.
For those of you who don't know me that well, you'll probably be surprised at the fact that I've spent some thousand dollars on Gunpla. What is Gunpla, you ask? I honestly don't know how to explain to you without sounding like an idiot, so I'll shamelessly give you the 'official' definition from Wikipedia.
"Gundam Models refers to plastic and non-plastic model kits depicting the mechas, vehicles and characters of the fictional Mobile Suit Gundam universe. These kits have become popular among anime fans and model-lovers, especially in Japan and in other nearby Asian countries since 1980s. The popularity of Gundam models increased in the 1990s with North America and Europe being exposed to Gundam through television, video and manga. These Gundam Models may also be called Gunpla (ガンプラ, Ganpura?), a portmanteau of "Gundam plastic model". "Gunpla" more commonly refers to the practice of building Gundam models, rather than the models themselves."
Sounds much more impressive than saying:"It's building small models of robots which are ridiculously expensive", isn't it?
Anyway, during Christmas, I netted about five such models from various people. Last time, I used to just break the parts off the runners, and just snap em' together. Now I actually use clippers to cut the parts off, and paint the models so that they look more like their animated counterparts. I (used to) fix about one body part everyday, so I estimated that I would finish building everything by the end of January.
Well, it's the end of January, and all I've built so far is a model with half it's body missing. It's all because of the HOMEWORK. It's increased by about 100% at least, compared with what we got in Secondary 1. Especially maths.
Thanks to my homewrok, I've got almost zero time left to concentrate on Gunpla. Some might think it's a waste of money, and some, like my mum, think that they all look the same.
To all those people, I have one thing to say: at least it's more healthy than computer gaming.
After a whole day spent at Orchard road shopping for New Year clothes with my mum, my writer's block hasn't gotten much better.However, I did see a decent bit of recently released new Gunpla's at Ngee Ann City, such as PG 00 Raiser (this REALLY AWESOME model that costs like 530 bucks), Nebula Blitz and some others.
After writing all this, I realize that all I've really done is copy an article from wikipedia, and rant about homework and not having enough time for Gunpla. It's actually kind of hard to teach something to someone who practically knows nothing about it at all, and still try to make it interesting. If there's something that's come out of writing this admittedly pointless post, it's learning that teachers have a much harder time teaching than most think. Hopefully this rather late resolution will help me appreciate teachers more.
...this post has gone off topic in ways I never imagined. Honestly, how did I get from talking about scale models to talking about teachers?
Since I can't think of a poetic and eloquent way to end off this post, I'll just
end.
"Gundam Models refers to plastic and non-plastic model kits depicting the mechas, vehicles and characters of the fictional Mobile Suit Gundam universe. These kits have become popular among anime fans and model-lovers, especially in Japan and in other nearby Asian countries since 1980s. The popularity of Gundam models increased in the 1990s with North America and Europe being exposed to Gundam through television, video and manga. These Gundam Models may also be called Gunpla (ガンプラ, Ganpura?), a portmanteau of "Gundam plastic model". "Gunpla" more commonly refers to the practice of building Gundam models, rather than the models themselves."
Sounds much more impressive than saying:"It's building small models of robots which are ridiculously expensive", isn't it?
Anyway, during Christmas, I netted about five such models from various people. Last time, I used to just break the parts off the runners, and just snap em' together. Now I actually use clippers to cut the parts off, and paint the models so that they look more like their animated counterparts. I (used to) fix about one body part everyday, so I estimated that I would finish building everything by the end of January.
Well, it's the end of January, and all I've built so far is a model with half it's body missing. It's all because of the HOMEWORK. It's increased by about 100% at least, compared with what we got in Secondary 1. Especially maths.
Thanks to my homewrok, I've got almost zero time left to concentrate on Gunpla. Some might think it's a waste of money, and some, like my mum, think that they all look the same.
To all those people, I have one thing to say: at least it's more healthy than computer gaming.
After a whole day spent at Orchard road shopping for New Year clothes with my mum, my writer's block hasn't gotten much better.However, I did see a decent bit of recently released new Gunpla's at Ngee Ann City, such as PG 00 Raiser (this REALLY AWESOME model that costs like 530 bucks), Nebula Blitz and some others.
After writing all this, I realize that all I've really done is copy an article from wikipedia, and rant about homework and not having enough time for Gunpla. It's actually kind of hard to teach something to someone who practically knows nothing about it at all, and still try to make it interesting. If there's something that's come out of writing this admittedly pointless post, it's learning that teachers have a much harder time teaching than most think. Hopefully this rather late resolution will help me appreciate teachers more.
...this post has gone off topic in ways I never imagined. Honestly, how did I get from talking about scale models to talking about teachers?
Since I can't think of a poetic and eloquent way to end off this post, I'll just
end.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
To start the day...
Yes, I understand that it is already 4.30 in the afternoon and not a start of the day by any measures.But I couldn't think of a better title, so live with it.
Well, for lack of a better or indeed more interesting topic to talk about, I'm going to reflect on the start of the school year, or any significant events that happened since then. The first day of school went as I expected, with plenty of talks, briefings, etc. But it was when lessons started that I got a really rude shock. Yes, I did expect some homework, but not the torrential cascade of Chinese and Math. Most of the teachers seem nice enough, but I s'pose it's only a matter of time to get used to the others.
Oh, and I suppose I should give some introduction to those reading this who don't already know me. (Unlikely.) Oh well. I'm called XXX XXXXX XXXX from XXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX,( don't know if we're allowed to reveal the school name yet, or indeed our own.) from the CCA judo. 4 days of training a week. Tough, but it could be worse...or so I'm told.
THe two good things that did happen is that I managed to get in a project group for our annual Project Competition, and I'm not the leader, so I won't get blamed if anything goes horribly wrong. The other great thing is that I finally got myself a very cool HP Mini netbook, which I'm using to work on this blog post. I'm quite satisfied with how it's performed so far. However, I'm looking to upgrade the OS, which is quite limited. For example, you can't even change the wallpaper. I recieved mu netbook only yesterday, and this is only my second time using it, so you'll forgive me if there're any typos.
Oh, and in addition to all that, my tooth just broke off on Friday. More on that later. I hope.
Well, that's my very first blog post(on this one, at least.) Hope you didn't fall asleep. Hopefully future entries will be at least marginally more interesting.
~XXXXX XXXX(What, you didn't think I was going to fall for that, did you?)
Well, for lack of a better or indeed more interesting topic to talk about, I'm going to reflect on the start of the school year, or any significant events that happened since then. The first day of school went as I expected, with plenty of talks, briefings, etc. But it was when lessons started that I got a really rude shock. Yes, I did expect some homework, but not the torrential cascade of Chinese and Math. Most of the teachers seem nice enough, but I s'pose it's only a matter of time to get used to the others.
Oh, and I suppose I should give some introduction to those reading this who don't already know me. (Unlikely.) Oh well. I'm called XXX XXXXX XXXX from XXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX,( don't know if we're allowed to reveal the school name yet, or indeed our own.) from the CCA judo. 4 days of training a week. Tough, but it could be worse...or so I'm told.
THe two good things that did happen is that I managed to get in a project group for our annual Project Competition, and I'm not the leader, so I won't get blamed if anything goes horribly wrong. The other great thing is that I finally got myself a very cool HP Mini netbook, which I'm using to work on this blog post. I'm quite satisfied with how it's performed so far. However, I'm looking to upgrade the OS, which is quite limited. For example, you can't even change the wallpaper. I recieved mu netbook only yesterday, and this is only my second time using it, so you'll forgive me if there're any typos.
Oh, and in addition to all that, my tooth just broke off on Friday. More on that later. I hope.
Well, that's my very first blog post(on this one, at least.) Hope you didn't fall asleep. Hopefully future entries will be at least marginally more interesting.
~XXXXX XXXX(What, you didn't think I was going to fall for that, did you?)
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