Monday, July 27, 2009 - 7:49 PM
H1N1 flu virus
Sitting here at home, I am quite bored. Yesterday I reached the trigger temperature of 37.9°C and was sent home before I could sit for my English class test. Just what I needed. Another missed test. What's worst, the doctor has given me a three day Medical Certificate(MC)which stated that I will not be able to attend th next three days of school, meaning I will be missing my make-up math, English, science and music(no complaints there) tests. Right now I am feeling OK am I really want to get back to school, but I have to follow the MC as stated in the SMB. It is really uncomfortable wearing the mask 24/7 and really inconvenient for my family members. Furthermore, I am quite worried that I had cuaght the H1N1 flu bug, although chances are quite slim.The papers reported the fifth H1N1-related death yesterday. Apparently, a woman with leukaemia had passed away with underlying H1N1. Many others have been identified with the H1N1 flu virus and around 11 of them are in the Intensive Care Unit(ICU). The papers are saying that the flu virus in Singapore is still considered a mild one but nevertheless, they are warning us to go seek treatment early if any of us find ourselves with H1N1 symptoms.
I think that although H1N1-related deaths only occured to those with medical conditions, we should not take this as a lightly matter. In other countries, there have been many other deaths and the casulties do not all have medical conditions. It is important that in this epidemic that we keep ourselves clean and be wary of our own condition. Should we feel feverish, the clinic would be the immediate answer.
Monday, July 20, 2009 - 6:43 AM
Terrorism- An Unfotunate resurgence
Last weekend, two prominent hotels in Jakarta were bombed by terrorists. Casulties were immense. The pungent smell of death and blood was thick. It was very likely that the terrorist attacks were targeted were aimed at the Caucasions, because the bomb went off where a large group of powerful Caucasion executives were lunching. There has been many speculations over the reasons for the bombings. Experts believe that it may be due to the outcome of the recent presidential elections. The JI had been blamed for this terrible incident. I cannot help but think back to a few years ago, when one of the two hotels invovled was destroyed by a car bomb. The thing is, the government blamed the JI too. I am not standing up for the JI and I will never stand by their agendas. It's just that I thought that after the Mumbai attacks last November, they would have stepped up their precautions against terrorism. I hope that this would serve as an urgent wake-up call for the countries. This is not an individual responsibility, though. We, the citizens of a country, are responsible for our well-being. We cannot rely totally on a government... based on past events.
Many people say it's because of religon. Blinded devotion to a higher power. I personally feel that although religon is splendid in a sense that it gives people a motivation in life, those who don the unforgivable mask of a terrosist seem to claim religon as their driving force. I mean religon is OK and all but crossing between devotion and blind devotion is just senseless. No offence, but I am a free-thinker and do not understand the whole concept of the christians, muslims, catholics and the rest of them. People think, don't they? I can hardly bring myself to believe that anyone who devotes themself to religon lack the primary instinct to think for themselves. Terrorist who use religon as a reason for their actions are insulting the term "religon".
Terrorism often reveals itself suddenly and in an unexpected manner. It is impossible for us to stop every suicidal maniac or clear off every unidentified object. It is possible, however, for us to be on the alert every moment and keep an eye on our surroundings. "Be vigilant. Stay resilient." Out of Singapore's numeous cheesy quotes, I think that this one is quite sensible.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 7:51 AM
We never know and we never will
I was flipping through the newspapers on Monday. Normally, I would not even bother to open the Chinese newspaper but I was fortunate that I did. In an obscure section of the paper, I found an article related to Tae-Kwon-Do. Mildly interested, I scanned down the columns and to my surprise, found a pile of unpleasanties lumped together in a disturbing article.It reported that the day before, the Singapore Tae-Kwon-Do Gymnasium had organized a competition for its members. In the very first opening match, a 15-year old green belt aimed a kick at a 17-year old blue belt's neck and knocked him out. The blue belt staggered, struggling to pull himself together. The next moment, he lay crumpled on the floor, under the sea of horrified spectators, unconcious. Since then, he has been in a coma and shows no sign of recovery.
Seeing this article, I fail to recognize why such a mishap would happen with the officials present at the incident. The only sensible reason would be that the referees were not clear of their delegated tasks. I mean, seriously speaking, the referees are in charge of the situation. They are responsible for the fouls commited by the competitors and it is their job to watch over the match and step in if necessary. However, it still did not prevent the accident. Perhaps the referees were complacent and, doubting that a big issue would arise, chose to stand aside to allow the participants to do as they please. They may not have anonounced the tournament rules beforehand or did not take their job seriously.
On that day itself, I was also taking part in a Tae-Kwon-Do tournament. I shudder to think what would happen if misfortune setteled itself in our midst. Luckily for me, I escaped unscathed, albeit some minor bruises. However, this has let me to realise that misfortune does not play by the same rules as we do. It does not have a fixed timetable to follow. It strikes anywhere and anytime. Most fail to make themselves impervious to the threat, due to the many flaws in human nature- Complacency, arrogance and so on. We must remain vigilant, even in the brightest of day, because we never know when tragedy might arrive in its black carridge, and we never will.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 - 5:51 PM
A casino? No way!
I am sure that by now we are all aware of the government's plan of building a casino to make money and open up more jobs. Some have stood up for this while others have spoken against. When completed, there is no doubt that it will bring in cash for the country. However, what are the bi-products of a gambling industry?Personally, I think that the presence of a casino in Singapore is not very appropriate, despite the large sums of money it draws in. I am saying this because of the fact that gambling will run rampant alongside this development. Singapore itself already faces addiction problems without the casino. Now, with the casino being built, I doubt that the lust to gamble can be contained.
Why do people gamble? They are either poor and think that they can become rich by winning a "big one" or they are professinal gamblers. Proffesional gamblers , of course, gamble for a living, so gambling is just a job for them. The former, however, are gambling because they are too poor and fail to notice that they will lose more in a casino than any where else. Putting aside proffesional gamblers, I think that ordinary gamblers can get easily addicted to gambling, because they are under the false impression that one win can cover all the over losses. It's something like a lottery, you know. Once you become addicted, you become a compulsive gambler. This, as stated by the NPR, results in low productivity, inability to operate at your best, etc.
Many people will undoubtly drop by the casino for a game, and after their first try they will keep on gambling and gambling until...... Let's just say they won't know how to stop or wouldn't want to stop because of the fifty-fifty percent of chances of making big money. If this goes on, Singapore will soon become a sloppy country who knows only to take risk without knowing what is ahead and this may make us earn less than we are earning today.
In conclusion, I condemn the construction of the casino, the final destination for amateur gmablers.
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