Response about : "U.N.: Diseases spreading faster than ever"

The article is taken from:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/08/23/health.un.reut/index.html

I don’t see anything cheerful in this news. Almost every sentence expresses pessimism, which is not good for me actually. Disease has emerged oddly more quickly than previous years. Whether that the new diseases really emerging more rapidly, or maybe our medical technology has improved so much until we can find and even differentiate diseases that we knew before even more. But overall I agree with the news featured in this article. This article shows us the imminent thread which has been hiding for a period of time could explode and become a new epidemic. It’s important for us to know about this news, so that we may be even more prepared and not surprised if the worst really happens

Transportation is a double-edged sword. We can go anywhere we like in a matter of hours even minutes. The same goes with diseases. After a person got a disease in a certain place, it got carried away together as the person travels. SARS in Singapore is transported from Hong Kong in similar way. Since diseases now have chances to spread faster geographically due to travels made by humans, it’s necessary for us to take precaution before diseases could have a chance to become a global epidemic.

Many cause altogether which makes new diseases and also the eradication of diseases. Virus and bacteria adapt and evolve for their own survival against drugs we use to counter them. These newly breed organism which is immune to certain drugs could be exposed to more mutations, which as a result, the born of new disease. The act of cutting down large rainforest and also expansion of human population are some of the factors. Unknown viruses which previously out of human reach, hidden in the woods or deserts, became exposed after the urban growth took place, removing forest and claiming new areas. These viruses can become lethal to us, and can be the culprit of the next epidemic.

Attempts have been made, for example immunisation and education. I hope that these actions could play an important role in this race against pathogens. There’s a high risk that SARS, Ebola, or other highly contagious disease could emerge again. But, humans also have the capability to adapt and to learn. We surely won’t let these diseases struck us twice, causing casualties. There’s a hope for us to win the never-ending battle against disease. As for me, being optimistic is the good start. Our emotion also plays a part in our health. By having a good and healthy mind, it affects our body as well.

Response about : "There are calls for more schools to allow children to wear cheaper "off the peg" uniform."

The article is taken from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6958858.stm

Can your attire be a problem? I think majority answered yes, especially for women. Picking the right dress for a party could take quite a long time to finish. Dressing neatly for business meeting is important since your dressings reflects your attitude. But is it the same for uniforms? I suppose uniforms are meant to make everyone looks somewhat equal in their levels. It doesn’t really matter from which brand it came from or the cloth’s quality. When I was digesting this article using my belief, I’d rather puzzled and shocked. This article shows to us indirectly that there is no country in this world not affected by some minor yet complicated issues. I say this because I consider this uniform problem is simple, since the source and the problem itself is clear enough, but complicated altogether, since the problem has spread out rooted deeply inside the school’s system in UK.

The way uniform used to drain the newcomers is actually legal. The problem is that many parents felt choked as when they paid the uniform bill. The way of squeezing out their money is legal, but it’s not ethically OK and not competitive. From my perspective, this practice makes a stain in UK’s education, and most probably many countries experienced the same thing. Children going to school are to pursue their studies, regardless their background whether you come from an elite or a poor family. The purpose of wearing uniform is to cover these gaps between the rich and the poor so that they may look and dress equal while they’re studying. From this argument I believe that the price of the uniform should be as low as possible, so that it’s affordable for those poor families.

The survey conducted by Citizen Advice Bureau is rather staggering. The number of schools applying this method is numerous. Parents forced to buy their children’s uniform from the designed supplier, or maybe from the school itself. It’s common that the suppliers or the school itself stacks a higher price than average, since the parents have nothing else to choose with. I support the action which has been taken by Office of Fair Trading, but I’m afraid whether it gives effect or not. The OFT must take their action immediately as a proof that there’s a commitment in exterminating those practices. This policy will stick unless the government takes a concrete action.

Not only parents who get the bad impact, the retailers which sell uniform also get. Although they sell uniforms far cheaper compared to uniforms which are sold by schools, they still experience huge deficit because of lots of reasons. 87 % people still buy from specialist supplier, which leaves only 13% buying from these retailers. The limited costumers results in a very tight competition which sometimes could become unhealthy. The consequences could ruin the carrier of these retailers

Uniforms are meant in upholding ethos in schools. Since it’s so, it’s the schools’ responsibility to make it not too expensive to buy

School Say iPods vecoming tool for cheaters

This article is taken from: http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/04/27/ipod.cheating.ap/index.html

People say human always learn from their mistakes. This article shows us that the saying is absolutely correct (in negative perspective). Students learn to adapt with condition that surrounds them. They (or I can say we) easily can find another way to cheat where the traditional ones are known by the teachers. By cheating, students can achieve a good mark without even struggling to learn. This may be the most favorite way, but there’re lots of disadvantages of cheating. Cheating won’t make us learn. Only our grades are improving, but our knowledge not.

The advance of technology is like a double-edge sword. At one side, technology makes the process of learning easier. Laptop, projector, flash disk, etc are some of the examples. Teacher can present their materials easily by projector and power point, and student can store their data in flash disk instead than books. But here, technology is used by students to cheat. Handphone for communication; communicate to exchange answers. Ipod for storing notes which later be used in exams. Computers are used to find information about the test which going to be given soon. And there are more examples. Is technology beneficial for the development of a pupil? Or technology’s can backfire to them?

What a pity that students always become creative when dealing with bypass / cheating. It’s strange that human tends to cope better if he/she is dealing with prohibited matter. People can steal better than search, take better than give, and cheat better than study. Students who cheat showed his/her ability to look for surroundings and take a precise and safe measure to achieve the goal. Students that can only cheat aren’t completely stupid. They have potential, but the problem is they can only use it during cheating period. If only they can unleash their potential, they will realize that without cheating, they can achieve their dreams.

The problem is getting worse if they become an addict. It’ll be harder to release them from temptation. They keep trying. Although they get caught, they resist for doing it. These are the people that should be given attention from the school. They have potential also. School’s attempt to breed the top-level students will fail if it doesn’t give any attention to these people. If they can free these people, the graduates will later lead a worthy life.

This problem should come out first. Look at the quality of the graduates later! Is the school going to let them having a miserable life in adulthood? In the place where less people cheating, and more people become honest, world surely become a better place. Corruption, bribe, nepotism, etc will become a rare occasion. But dream will only become a dream if we don’t act. Do what we can do, playing our part. Be honest person and avoid the temptation. Let the utopia become reality.

Life in the fast lane 'speeds up'

This Article is taken from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6614643.stm

This article is very intriguing. What are the effects of this "swift walking" behavior to our society? Modern era demands total commitment of a person in order to follow the pace of this community that has been increased lately. Are humans evolved to work more effectively? But basically, life itself that causes humans to do this habit. One very major factor is technology. Communication has shortened distance and time. Live broadcasts give to us the recent news happening at real-time. As everything speeds up due to technology (esp. communication), society must cope with it so that the world won't left them. This "instant" technology has driven us to think that everything must happen right away. Let's focus to Singapore. Singapore as the fastest cities must have some factors that have influenced it. Of course as a metropolitan city, residents in Singapore is tied with rush hours (for father), shopping lists (for mother), and also tons of homework (for the child). For addition the stress of work, family routine, etc; can make the situation even worse. This destructive habit is shown by fast-walking as a general symptom. The mind of people in Singapore recently has been shifted to task - oriented. Their purpose of life is to finish their task as quickly as possible, so that they may have additional time to finish their other task. The problem gets worse if they didn't spend enough time for their spiritual needs. What about family time? Break? Going out? Not only these behaviors could have bad impact to our health, but also to our personality and mind as well.

This habit tends to happen in the "urban society" and "developed countries". The sign is that this habit usually happens in the community where time takes charge. Because people are being controlled by time, people can’t enjoy their life and pursuit happiness. People tend to their works and finish it. They have forgotten that the main objective in life is to be happy, not wealth or status. Let’s look at those countries. Middle East is the slowest. Where Middle East is rather undeveloped region (except Qatar, Uni Emirates Arab, and Saudi Arabia), people control time instead. They don’t have high goals that need to be fulfilled. They enjoy their life, and later benefited from it. Middle East has low GNP (Gross National Product), but it does have high GNH (Gross National Happiness).

The development is getting faster, and the working rate is getting more efficient. If we think about the consequences, walk quickly gives lots of bad impacts also. It clearly depicts that us are inconsiderate, time-minded, and also unhappy people. If we can change this, make people to become more relax, the world would be a better and happy place. But, it’s impossible. The only thing that we can do is to prevent this behavior for getting worse. Becoming a happy and relax person, start by walking slowly. Enjoy your life, and time that has passed away

Response about: Keeping kids safe from the temptation of the net

Keeping kids save from the temptation of the net. Lots of parents don’t understand the most effective way how to keep their children “safe”. Some assumed that the Internet mostly gives bad influences to their children, but I think that it’s not always right. Lots of useful information can be found in the net. I always use the net to find many sorts of information which is needed to do my schoolwork. After all, Internet is a form of informative technology

Based on my opinion, I completely agree with all the suggestions that the author gives to all her/his readers. Parents shouldn't give their children tensions so that the children won’t open the prohibited sites. They should act as their children’s peers, understanding the mind of their kids. Let them learn by themselves. Children still have a majority emotional side than rational. If they’re angry of somebody, or dislike someone, children tend to avoiding them. The children will have a mindset that their parents cannot understand them. By using questions instead of scolding, children can use their logic, so that they know by themselves that surfing too long or opening non-responsible sites can give bad implications to themselves. If we support them at whatever they do, children would come to us whenever they have problem

I've been taught that the best way to counter temptation is by faith. Teaching religious values to children can improve their faithfulness. Faith can broaden their minds about the world. From faith also, children can learn whether this is a good decision or a bad one, because all the values which every religions taught to their followers can strengthen their soul. Parents should introduce the good values of faith in their children’s early ages, so than that values would be rooted firmly in children’s soul.

Faith only is not enough. Logic is needed. They’re definitely can think for their own benefits. But most importantly don’t let they experience it so that they can get their understanding. Becoming a supportive parent is sometimes hard to practice. Bark to them isn't advisable. Sometimes to understand children, act and think like them is the best way. Doing what your children do isn't a bad idea, so that we may have a clear image about what children like.

Faith, support, and logic are the three key points to keep children/teen save from the temptation of the net. What the parents have to do just make sure that the teens/children know what they’re doing, and also have controls in it. If the children are facing the net like that, there won’t be any reasons for parents to be worried about their children.

Because I also a child of my own. And also I won’t make my parents disappointed of me

Keeping kids safe from the temptation of the Net (Source 2)

Taken from : Digital Life (page 13), February 13, 2007 , The Strait Times

Response about : A shade too opaque for comfort

Pornography still ignites controversy in Indonesia. Some radical religion movement mentioned that pornography is against the religious values that the majority believes. But the other group states that pornography itself still doesn’t have any visible “boundaries” and their opinion that what they’ve done is another way to illustrate an art.

Actually according to my personal opinion as an Indonesian, pornography has disturbed the public since Playboy has issued its first copy. It seems like they accuse Playboy as the “founding father” men’s magazine in Indonesia.

The fact is that’s not true at all. Lots of other media that depict clearly about women’s body which have published long before Playboy itself. This is the problem that needs to be criticized. Why just after the Playboy published the first copy, the Indonesians started to strike for pornography?

It seems like Indonesian-version Playboy is the pioneer for all the pornographic media in Indonesia. The truth is that Playboy just followed the success of its rivals which have been published in Indonesia, like Maxim, FHM, and Male Emporium. Moreover, Indonesian
Playboy seems softer when dealing with the depictions of women if we compare them with other similar magazines. Not just that it’s worse if we compared with cheap tabloids which are sold freely in the interchange kiosk in Jakarta.
The rejections tend to be radical with sweeping without permission letter to kiosks and bookstores and also burned tabloids or magazines which they assume to be “pornographic”.

Anti-pornography law, especially about soft-pornography still becomes a polemic for us. Breasts, hips, and buttocks aren’t allowed to be shown fully or partially. Fine will be placed onto the offender as to be mentioned in the article. If this law applied, what would happen to indigenous tribes in Papua who don’t wear clothes (men and women) only koteka for man and grass skirts with no bra for women to cover only their primary genital parts. Do they have to be given fine for their cultural habits? What about dancers in Bali? All these are Indonesia’s national wealth. Would it be nice if indigenous tribes and dancers are being forced to wear “proper” garments? Things like these are the same as destroying Indonesia’s culture.

Furthermore we face a farcical paradox. Some group speaks for the Parliament to legalize the anti-pornography law. But the same group often practices polygamy. If there’s a law that manages pornography, it should have also a law that deals with polygamy. It’s because both pornography and polygamy are dealing with the women’s rights. It seems like they pointed women as the scapegoat for the temptation of their faith just because their attributes as a women. This shows us about how they treated women, not only as their partner, but also a threat. Women in Indonesia are being exploited by the men both with polygamy and pornography. If there’s a law about pornography and there isn’t a law about polygamy, this would tell the incapability of Indonesian law-makers to establish justice.

A shade too opaque for comfort (Source 1) Cont . . .

Second section

Taken from : Review (page 19) , The Strait Times Monday, February 12 2007

A shade too opaque for comfort (Source 1)

First section

Taken from : Review (page 19) , The Strait Times Monday, February 12 2007

Few words of introduction

I'm focusing about the things that are happened in my home country and also about our environment (Yaaa, global warming. What did you expect from me?). So...... please forgive me if anything has been wrong, or the articles are laim, or anything worse that you guys (and you Ms Kuang) can imagine.><


Aaaah, by the way. . . . . . . . . . .
Don't mind about the title. It's quite strange for most of you.

Hello

ehm.. Hello
My name is Theo, as you can see, and (as most of my friends know about it) a clumsy boy
I tried this thing named blog
What is blog? I don't know first at the beginning, and also haven't known about it since the beginning.
I thought it was kinda like e-mail or something or centralized notice board or something or anything that is not important. But now, I've changed my mind.
This freakin thing become very important to me because, as you can see in the title, english portfolio.
I am a new guy here, in Singapore. A scholar who doesn't know anything about the world or even about his own hometown.
So, here I am.
Trying to learn English
Trying to speak properly and act well-mannered
Trying to be the best I can be (I hope so)
And also trying to type this thing a little bit faster (34 backspaces)