November rain reflections

Click HERE

A good example of writing reflections in ur daily journals.....focussing not so much on what happened, but ur FEELINGS and THOUGHTS on what happened....

Today's armies are still fighting World War I

Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE

Note some of the positive impacts on life that emerged through the WW:
And while air, sea and land saw the fundamental advances, there were also remarkable improvements in medicine (blood banks, antiseptics, plastic surgery); communications (radio signals for combat movements); sensors (ultrasound and primitive sonar); and materials (synthetic rubber).

Qn: Examine the extent to which expenditure on arms and the armed forces is justified in the modern world. (Cam. 2014)

Straw wars: Campaign to ban straws at NUS hits road bump

Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE

Note the backlash in THE WAY the campagin was carried out and the inconvenience resulted, esp to the elderly and the handicapped.

Note also the example of the youtube video clip of the turtle with a straw stuck in its nostrils, that gave impetus to the plastic straw ban.....

In search of AI - Artificial Intimacy

Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE

Interesting BANG!:
The recent wedding of a Japanese man to a hologram created a buzz worldwide. In the age of Siri and growing numbers of lonely singles and elderly people, will robots be adequate life companions?

Here comes the robot, there goes the job? Not quite

Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE

Qns:

1. In an age of rapid technological advancement, is a single career for life realistic? (Cam. 2018)

2. Do handicrafts still have value when machine-produced goods are so readily available? (Cam. 2018)
3. People today do not work as hard as they did in the past.’ How true is this of your society? (Cam. 2018)
4. To what extent has technology had a negative impact on the skill levels of people? (Cam. 2010)
5. Does modern technology always improve the quality of people’s lives? (Cam. 2006)

Workfare and the Singapore approach to tackling wage inequality

Click HERE

Qn.     In your society, how far is equality for all a reality? (Cam. 2012)

Constant worry will help us improve

Click HERE

Useful for 2018 HCI prelim compre AQ on perfectionism...

founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had rated his own happiness at five out of 10 when he was prime minister, and six after becoming minister mentor, adding: "Nothing would take me to nine... Then I would be complacent, flabby and walk into the sunset."


With the world mired in much uncertainty today, our state of mind should be that of perpetual worriers, ever dissatisfied with the status quo.

Qn: Is pressure a motivating force or a cause for unhappiness? (Cam. 2018)

K-pop boy band BTS booted off Japan TV show over atomic bomb shirt

Click HERE

Useful BANG!

Qn:     The way we dress reveals who we are. What are your views? (Cam. 'O' lvl 2013)

Recovering India's stolen art pieces

Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE

Syrian antiquities were found to be smuggled through these networks and the proceeds were used to fund the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria terror group.

artefacts are better looked after in the West than in ill-equipped museums in the country of origin.

Britain's opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that he will order the British Museum to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece if he is elected prime minister. These sculptures were taken from the Parthenon and Acropolis.

The view is simple: history belongs to its geography


Qn: ‘Works of art which have been removed from their country of origin should be returned.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2018)

Govt agencies initiate action over article linking PM Lee to 1MDB

Click HERE

"Facebook cannot be relied upon to filter falsehoods or protect Singapore from a false information campaign."

"The modus: It appears in obscure sites and then gets picked up by mainstream media to make it look real.

"So the natural question is, why did they publish these falsehoods, probably knowing that there is no basis? It is obvious also to anyone who publishes them that the allegations will seek to damage the Prime Minister and seek to damage Singapore.

Qn:  Is regulation of the press desirable? (Cam. 2017)

Not possible to end all inequality

Click HERE

Note the use of figurative language:

A Chinese proverb states that a sharp awl in a bag of tools will easily pierce through the wrapping. Much as we may wish, not all the tools in any bag are sharp. In fact, some are forever quite blunt.

Society must make sure that everyone has the opportunity to develop his inborn talent, if he so wishes. But not everyone has the same type of talent to the same degree.

To delete all inequalities is as ridiculous as an attempt to reduce all mountains to a vast plain.

Note how the closing BANG via a figurative language echoes an earlier reference of the same figurative language used:

Our greatest concern should be that none of the sharp awls in our bag is buried so deeply that it has no chance to pierce through.

Qn: In your society, how far is equality for all a reality? (Cam. 2012)

Paralympian is Lancome's new face

Click HERE

See also commentary article on the above HERE:
Yip Pin Xiu, the cosmetics star: What a beautiful notion
(If can't access above link on commentary article, click HERE)

Paralympian swimmer Yip Pin Xiu is the latest face of French cosmetics house Lancome, becoming the first person with a disability to be featured in its advertising campaign here....this is the first time they have seen a major beauty company engage a brand ambassador with a disability to front its advertisements here.

At the age of 16, Ms Yip won Singapore's first gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. She now has four Paralympic medals - three gold and one silver.

"It's rare to see a person with a disability in a beauty ad. However, I think more people are starting to look beyond the disability and truly see someone for who they are," 

It's very uncommon for brands in Singapore and Asia to feature someone with a disability."

"The universal definition (of beauty) is that you must have a perfect face and body and not have any blemish,"

Beauty is the subject at hand because Yip is helping redefine it with Lancome. Beauty, after all, is Lancome's business and by signing a disabled swimmer, this maker of cosmetics is suggesting that even brands can help us expand traditional boundaries.

perhaps this advertisement will provoke discussion on role models, on those we wish to admire in a society and hold up as worth emulating. In sport the classical hero who uses his sculpted body to overcome rivals will always endure, but there is a growing space for the classy hero who overcomes her body to sculpt success.

if we wish to exist in a grown-up world, then prejudice needs to be dismantled and inclusion has to be demonstrated. Piece by piece, act by act. When Nike recently signed Justin Gallegos, the runner who has cerebral palsy and who finished a half-marathon in 2hr 3min, it sent us a message: Sport belongs to everybody and talent lives in every body.

Qns: 

1. What is your idea of beauty? Describe some people, places or objects that you consider to be beautiful. (Cam. 'O' lvl Specimen Paper)

2. Assess the view that attempts to combat discrimination can never be truly effective. (DHS Prelim 2018)

'Dark tourism' can bring light to realities

Click HERE
If can't access above link, click HERE

Note concept of 'dark tourism':
"dark tourism": tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy.
Some examples include visitng slums in India, concentration camps in Europe, the killing fields in Cambodia, Fukushima in Japan.....

As the website www.dark-tourism.com makes clear, dark tourism does not include anything voyeuristic, nor does it involve "war tourism" (travel to current war zones) or disrespectful tourist behaviour, such as taking selfies at sites of tragedy.

The killing caves had invited tourists to gawk at a morbid slice of history, and whoever was in charge of curating the site had made little effort to educate the visitors, or to respect the victims.

If a tour, museum or a memorial site is curated carefully and with the right intentions - to educate and inform, rather than to shock and entertain - there can still be value in "dark tourism".


For qns on the educational values of tourism, and whether we can learn from the past...

Qn: ‘We travel a lot but learn very little.’ Is this true of tourism today? (RI Prelim 2018)