Referral link for MQ

Hi all,

For anyone planning to play MechQuest, pls use this link to create an account:
http://www.mechquest.com/mq-landing.asp?referral=2403579

Thanks =P

xXdaSimXx

Xianz......

Zzz... that irritating teacher dragged the whole EXCO back to school today and held an 8hr long meeting...now I feel like dozing off and I still have to do stock check for the badges he didn't give out (a.k.a. about 500~1000 badges I think)


Signing off,
xXdaSimXx

Daily Digest 02/09/2008 *wait a second who am I kidding? Daily?*

I had my first Japanese lesson at the JAS today (oh well its more like a revision to what I learn at MOELC last term), and the trip there was awful. First the person i contacted to enquire about the shuttle bus service misunderstood me, so I ended up missing the shuttle bus. Then when I went to take a cab the driver kept dragging for time and went the wrong way. I ended up 1/2 hr late for the lesson but well at least I didn't miss out much-it was self-intro in that period of time. Zzzz tomorrow I still have a CCA course to attend and probably have to get up at 5am, so I'll stop here for now.

Signing Off,
xXdaSimXx
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
2140hrs

Homework Post: Random Issue-Robust training system key to long-term success in sports

Despite the fact I would really prefer to write a Daily Digest instead of doing this tiring essay for homework now, I guess it wouldn't help to put it off any further, especially since it is already late. Mrs. Nathan, once more I seek your understanding in the delay in my post.

Channel NewsAsia, Singapore News

Robust training system key to long-term success in sports
By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 31 August 2008 2053 hrs

SINGAPORE: Time, talent and a system to groom athletes were key factors that led to Singapore's success at the Beijing Olympic Games, according to the president of the Singapore National Olympic Council, Teo Chee Hean.

Mr Teo, who is also defence minister, added that Singapore has always been an immigrant nation and citizens cannot close themselves off to foreigners.

Speaking to the media at the sidelines of a constituency event on Sunday, he stressed that long-term success in sports does not depend on foreign players alone.

"What we want to do for a lasting legacy is to have a system in place. So even those who have come in here, say the table tennis team for example, they would not succeed if we did not have in place a good preparation and coaching system.

"So whether you're Singaporean or somebody from outside Singapore who wants to be a Singaporean and be part of the Singapore dream, we'll have a system which will bring you up, bring you to the peaks of excellence," he said.

Article extracted from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/372920/1/.html on 1/9/2008, Channelnewsasia.com


MY REFLECTIONS

It is indeed a good thing to see Singapore finally winning at the Olympics, especially as many say, 'after a long 48 years', and is cause for celebration, as I believe Singapore has done. However, in the eyes of some citizens, this victory was not claimed by a true Singaporean, and as such is nothing to rejoice about.

I agree that it is not entirely due to the efforts of Singaporean-born Singaporeans that we have our success today. Singapore, to quote the Defense Minister Mr. Teo, "has always been an immigrant nation and citizens cannot close themselves to foreigners". Take for example, Lee Jia Wei, our star ping-pong silver medalist. She, for one, is China-born. Yet, she would probably know more about Singapore in comparison to some locals. My main reason for claiming this―the government has taken care of citizens like plants in a greenhouse over the years, and our people may possibly have become overly pampered.

Once again, there will be those who disagree, but look around us. Many examples present themselves before us how foreigners have claimed the top seats in Singapore. For one, Singapore hires Gurhka mercenary forces to guard our key installations, along with some other more important duties. Even our NS training regimes were formulated by Israeli invited by the Singapore Government as part of an exchange programme. Why all foreigners? Simply put, these foreigners know more and have far more experience in these fields than we do, and we need this knowledge to protect ourselves.

Take this from another aspect of Singapore. We are an island nation which mainly relies on trade to sustain itself, even during the British times when Sir Stamford Raffles just founded Singapore as a British colony. Even now, a portion of Singapore's economy comes from international trade. Being a nation without natural resources, we generally require foreign investors as well to keep the economy going. As can be seen, Singapore would have gone into non-existence if it had not relied on foreign 'assistance'.

Yet, all these 'assistance' would be irrelevant if we did not have our locals to sustain the basic framework. Without the government and the citizens, before and now, there would still be nowhere for any foreigners to come in to provide their services. Once more, I quote from the article, "whether you're Singaporean or somebody from outside Singapore who wants to be a Singaporean and be part of the Singapore dream, we'll have a system which will bring you up, bring you to the peaks of excellence", as spoken by Mr. Teo. I thus conclude my case that Singapore may not have been the product of Singaporean hands alone, but it definitely started with Singapore-something that every citizen here should be proud of.

And with that, I conclude the end of this assignment. I will try to post a 'Daily' Digest tomorrow, so here's a poem for now. To my classmates, see if you can guess who it is.

He is THE three-ear.
He has no face nor a mind.
He is real sour.

Enjoy the haiku =P

(Note to reader not in my class: if this description resembles you I really have no comment)
(Note to reader in my class: if this description resembles you, have a nice time fuming. This is revenge what you did to me for the S.S. project=P) *ROFLMAO*


Signing Off,
xXdaSimXx
Monday, 1 September 2008
2250hrs

Daily Digest (xD this is so not daily)

YARRRGH!!! Tomorrow I've got three assessments in one single day. Maths TA, Physics Quiz and Bio Prac Test. WAH!!!!! The bio prac test nid to memorise so much stuff xD. Anyway, I've juz managed to rush out my RE report with Mark juz in time for mr. Tan tmrw. Well its late already, so I apologise for the horrible grammar here. I'll try post again tmrw.


P.S. I've been going on a Rockman craze= =|||


Signing Off,
xXdaSimXx
2341hrs
Tuesday, 05 August 2008

Blog Assignment Term 2 (EL-SS) NOTE to Mrs. Nathan: here's your essay=D

Hi all,
this post is a continuation of the assignment from my previous post. Attached below, is my essay for grading for English. Shout-out to Mrs. Nathan: Here's the essay, and it's not late



**************************Essay start****************************

Democracy is an idealism originating from ancient Greece. The concept is that everyone is equal and should be given equal rights, whether it is human rights, voting rights and so on. In Singapore, the government claims that we practice democracy here. In my opinion, it is a mix of authoritarian capitalism and democracy we practice here, mainly due to a few distinguishing factors.

Authoritarian capitalism is usually practiced by single-party nations. Here, the PAP wins in numbers since the other parties usually have insufficient members to take the majority of the parliament, even if they did garner the support of the public. This form of political control also involves a lot of intervention in the economy and reliance on overseas economies. The main sources of trade in Singapore are controlled by government agencies and usually are more of import/export trade, which mainly relies on international trade. Singapore’s economy is able to survive on this type of free trade only because its geographical location gives it a perfect advantage as a stopover and a ‘middleman’ for trading, even in its early years, where Sir Stanford Raffles used entrepot trade to attract passing ships to stop at Singapore. This trade is mainly dominated by the Port of Singapore Authority nowadays.

Singapore also controls the law, and in doing so, the media. Although we often speak of democracy and equal rights in voting, the laws are often created and put in place by the government, claiming to be for ‘communal good’. Although it is true, it creates the illusion that we are given a choice in the matter when the contrary applies.

However, we cannot call Singapore’s government as complete authoritarianism, mainly because there is no such thing as political murders or disappearances, but in my opinion, there are no needs for such things—the people usually take the government for granted and give them full control.

Furthermore, we cannot completely exclude elements of democracy that have been put in place in Singapore’s political environment. We are given equal rights, regardless of race, language or religion, and the government has made some effort in gathering public opinions before making decisions on some matters, and it is on moral grounds that the judicial system usually metes out punishments, not by public appeal.

Thus, I find there is the importance and need to differentiate between democracy and authoritarian capitalism, and the political system Singapore practices.

************************Essay end*****************************


Signing off,
xXdaSimXx
Frisay, 30 May 2008
2052 hrs

Discussion: Blog Assignment: Social Studies-Democracy

Hi all,
this particular post will be dedicated to my school assignment on Social Studies-a discussion on democracy. In this particular post, I'll be be placing part of the discussion our Chinese scholars in class had earlier this morning. For anonymity purposes, I'll be calling them HJ and YJ.

Our statement of discussion: 'Democracy creates stability in a society'

HJ: I think that first of all, we need to specify what kind of democracy we should be discussing about. What is democracy, and what is stability? In my opinion, our main focus should be about representative democracy, which is most widely used all around the world.

YJ: All right. Since we know that U.S.A. is most renowned for its democracy, let's begin from there first.

HJ: I don't like to talk about specific countries, but I agree with the point that democracy creates stability. Democracy is always associated with elections and so it provides people with chioices to choose their leaders or policies. This gives people more freedom and thus the leaders elected would satisfy more people. Since most people are consented, conflicts will less likely occur.



To my classmates of 3J, please do add on by commenting on this post.
To Mrs. Ong, here's the discussion. Do follow up here when you need to (oh, and you're most certainly welcome to join in the discussion too=D)


Signing off,
xXdaSimXx
Tuesday, May 20 2008
2058 hrs