Conversation

Scenario: Two guys in a warplane, getting ready for war.

A: I’m scared, really

B: Come one, stop being a coward, stay positive, we are going to win a hell out of it.

A: Oh yeah? You think so? China’s army is extremely strong in their manpower and weapons, their soldiers well-known for their loyalty and sacrifice to the country.

B: You meant we doesn’t? Come on, put what you learn into good use today, bring honor to our country, and I bet with you the rewards will start coming in from the President

A: I just wish I could come out of this alive… I have a family to account for..

B: That’s why I choose to be a bachelor, no worries, no trouble, no anything.

A: Hey, remember to cover me later on, ok? I’m still lacking in the military training.

B: Yeah Yeah, let’s just go there and have fun, woah, I’m so excited right now that I just want to pull that bloody trigger
A: God bless me…

B: Have faith in yourself, and believe in our country, we definitely have the capability to own China, look at their outdated weapons !!

A: Oh no, we have arrived

B: Let’s go, before we get spotted…

Casey Anthony

I think that the public should show mercy by accepting the court decision and leaving her alone. This is because the court had already proven her not guilty and we should give her a chance to turn over a new leaf, and let her repent herself if she had really killed her daughter.
The public should really give her a chance. Regardless of the fact that whether Casey Anthony had killed her daughter, I bet she had already felt bad enough from such responses from the public, such as the “ I hate Casey Anthony” Facebook page. We should thus stop such childish behavior when we ourselves are only assuming of her crime. We should instead let Casey Anthony repent on herself, as we are in no position to criticize her.
Lastly, we should believe the court’s fair decision, as we should have faith and trust in the court’s fair judgment. Since the court is selected to handle this case, we should believe in them. Furthermore, there’s also no direct evidence to prove Casey Anthony guilty, thus we have no proof and rights to assume her crime. Therefore, we should believe in the court’s justice, supported by the lack of evidence to support her crime.

Online Lesson 11

Theme: Racism

Racial Harmony Day does not do enough to sensitize students to racial issues. Recall your experience in Racial Harmony Day. After the event, are you more aware of the current racial issues? Does it further enhance your knowledge of racial issues? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Recall the activities in Racial Harmony Day. The bazaar, auditorium performance and the Indian dance. These activities, in some way or another, taught us the importance of racial harmony and to be fair and equal even to people of other races. We learn the Indian dance culture, and through the auditorium performance, we saw how united and cooperated people from different races could be, through the dance. However, this is only the basic level. The school needs to do more than just educating to us the obvious. We need to know the racial issues globally, to understand the issues and to identify the solutions and cause behind it. Only through then can we keep abreast of the current racial issues, and truly understand the meaning of “Racial Harmony” by applying what we have learnt to come up with solutions for the racial disputes.

Rethink about it. Do you really think that the current programmes for Racial Harmony Day are sufficient to sensitize students to racial issues? Or is it just teaching the obvious – to be open to friends of other races, not to be prejudiced against them, and learnt more about their culture. The real problem here is not that students do not know what racial harmony is. The real problem lies where the students have little or no idea to the current racial issues, which is very important for us, the next generation of leaders, to prevent such mistakes from happening. It is therefore important to enhance our knowledge about the current racial issues, so that we could get an idea of the consequences when racism is present, and know about the current situation in the world. Therefore, a possible suggestion is a discussion about the current racial issues. The school really needs to do more to sensitize us to racial issues. Thank you.

Strauss Kahn case

I think that it is not fair for the media to form a premature opinion about Strauss Kahn’s innocence. This was because there was no solid evidence to prove that he was guilty. Furthermore, we should also give him a chance to turn over a new leaf, and there’s also conflicting evidence.

First of all, we do not have solid evidence of Strauss Kahn’s crime, therefore it would be wrong to even accuse him in the first place, as it would give people the impression and image that he was guilty, and no matter how he explained himself afterwards, nobody would trust him anymore. Thus, the accusation could lead to Strauss Kahn’s doom, and should be considered before accusing him.

Secondly, there’s also some conflicting evidence recently that prove that the prosecutor might not be entirely truthful. Thus, it showed that Strauss Kahn might be innocent, and not as guilty as what everyone accused in the first place. However, as I stated in the first point, people might already have a bad impression on him since everyone accused him, and it’s very hard to lift off that image, even if he’s proved innocent. Thus, it was not fair for the media to accuse him immediately.

Lastly, we should give Strauss Kahn a chance to turn over a new leaf and explain himself. He might have his own reasons, and not comfortable of saying, thus we should always see two sides of a story, and look at it at a different point of perspective, before accusing him guilty.

Private commercial space travel

I think that the private commercial space travel is a bad idea. This was because it could cause a lot of havoc if the security is not strict, and it is also a waste of resources.

The private commercial space actually allows anybody to go to space as long as they have the money to purchase the ticket. Therefore, it would be dangerous if some of the people went to space with a negative mindset and goal. For example, a spy from a certain country could go to space, disguised as a normal passenger, and find out exactly where the enemy’s satellite are located, and maybe even sacrifice himself to destroy the satellite. The passengers might also pollute the outer space, just like how they polluted Earth with all those rubbish. Therefore, the purpose of a trip to the space can be different according to different people, some with good intentions while others bad. This will definitely create havoc and chaos.

Also, the private commercial space travel is wasting the resources. By right, the spaceship is to send astronauts to space to input satellites, research about other planets and how to improve people’s life. However, the passengers now are actually wasting the resources when they just flew to the space and have a look, without much of a help when it comes to improving people’s lives and the research, observation done. Thus, a lot of money and resources is wasted.

However, the private commercial space can actually help to broaden one’s knowledge about space, especially when they see it for themselves. However, the broadening of one’s knowledge could also be achieved through online research and reading. The waster of limited resources and the possibility of havoc is of a more dire situation. Thus, the private commercial space travel is a bad idea.

Based on Bassanio's arguments, will you lend him money?

Based on Bassanio’s argument, I would have loan Bassanio the money. This was because based on Bassanio’s argument, he would have returned the loan without fail and because of his use on the money too. He had also explained to me his situation, and I would have help him without fail.

Bassanio gave the example of losing his shafts, where he shoot another and got back both. This always happens to him, and it illustrates that I would get back both my sum of money, represented by arrows. Thus, based on this childhood proof, I would loan Bassanio the money as he would have return both my sums of money, like how he found both arrows when he was young.

Bassanio had also explained his purpose of loaning the sum of money- to suit Portia, a very rich lady. If sum of money I lent Bassanio will aid in helping Bassanio suit Portia, no doubt I would get my loan back and probably even more, out of gratitude from Bassanio, as Portia would have afford that effortlessly.

Last but not least, Bassanio had already admit his mistake, that he was a spend thrift. It had probably dawn on him that he was wasting unnecessary sum of money as he had probably knew his mistakes. He had even turned over a new leaf, forced to become thrifty. Thus, it had probably suggests that Bassanio was serious this time round and I would help him, in assisting him in suiting Portia.

MOV difference from movie compared to book

In the movie, there were a few scenes from the book that was removed, and as such, it changes some of the characteristics of the characters in the book. For example, most of the conversation between Antonio and Salerio and Solanio were removed. As such, from Scene 1, we could not possibly know much more about their characteristics. This was the same for Gratiano, and this might cause the perception that Antonio was not as good terms with them compared to Bassanio.

When Bassanio wanted to lend money from Antonio in the movie, it seems very easy. Antonio just had to listen to Bassanio’s explanation and went to write the cheque immediately. However, this was not the case in the book. In the book, Antonio seemed much more hesitated to lend Bassanio’s money, and this stressed the dire situation Antonio is in, without money as his ships were all on sea. Bassanio thus had to assure Antonio by bringing out examples when he was young, like the loss and return of arrows. However in the movie, this whole negotiation part was removed, and this would create the perception that Antonio was kind of rich, to be able to lend money without hesitation. This would probably create confusion when later on, Antonio panicked because his ships had not returned.