The Legendary Electric Supercar

More details have been released about the famous Porsche 918 spyder. It is the world's first environmentally supercar with its groundbreaking speed and at the same time its small petrol consumption. Hard to believe such a car exists. Exactly because it does not.

Yes, the Porsche 918 spyder will be produced and it is without a doubt fast with its rumored 708bhp engine. Yes, it also has an electric motor which helps save fuel. However, speed and good fuel consumption do not co-exist. The 918 has different modes. Basically there is a mode when you want to move slowly and be environmentally friendly and there is a mode when you want to move fast and well, environmentally unfriendly. But let's not kid ourselves, who is going to switch to the fuel-saving mode when firstly, you have the money to buy that car and secondly, you have the ability to go much faster?

The 918 may seem like a wonder to be able to save petrol and at the same time go fast but the truth is, you cannot do both at the same time so it's just like any other car, really.

The fight between the kings

In the car industry, the most infamous fight between luxury brands would be the fight between Audi, BMW and Mercedes. BMW and Mercedes have been fighting for a long time now for the throne and the joining of Audi has made it ever so slightly more intense. Audi has entered very strongly with numerous advertisement. This is obvious even in Singapore with Audi heavily investing in numerous advertisements in the media.

Audi has been successful this few months with their launching of many new models coupled with their numerous advertisements. However, I feel that this is short-lived. Audi's way of attracting customers is simple - with their gimmicks. Examples are their LED day time running lights which look stunning on the road and is sure to catch anyone's attention. This explains why their customer base is more of a younger more modern group of people. However, evidence has shown that these do not last. For example, Audi's premium SUV, the Q5 has been the top-selling premium SUV in Europe with its gimmicks and new technology. However, the moment BMW launched its new model that X1, it overtook the Q5 to be the top-selling premium SUV. This shows that BMW's group of customers are a more stable people who are not taken in by the gimmicks but instead look for the true quality.

Do not get me wrong, Audi do make very good cars. I am just not sure that without the fancy new bodys and cool new technologies, they are able to fight with the big boys.

Emily of Emerald Hill - Is Emily a victim or survivor

Emily tries to portray herself as a victim in the play by carefully selecting her memories to share with the audience. Has she succeeded?

Emily was abandoned by her mother at a very young age. However, instead of looking at it with bitter thoughts, she looks at it positively and uses it as a motivation to be a better mother. From this, it can be inferred that Emily is of a strong character and therefore theoretically should be a survivor and not a victim.

Emily is smart and manipulative. She controlled the entire Gan household. This can be supported by her small actions like making quilt covers for the entire family making them sleep under them every night. This symbolizes her control over the entire family. She also controls her husband, Kheong. She used Kheong's vainest to psycho him into becoming the Legislative Council's Councillor. Furthermore, when Kheong moved in with his mistress, Diana Lee, she continued exercising her duties as a wife by bringing him his favorite food and clean clothes. She does this hoping to get sympathy from the audience and be seen as the victim in their relationship. However, another point of view would be that she was merely trying to continue to control him and stay in power in the Gan Household. In other words, she was merely being selfish. Furthermore, she was the one that caused Kheong's infidelity with her controlling ways. Another evidence of Emily's manipulative character would be when she used reverse psychology to make Richard continue studying law in the University. She told Richard that it did not matter how much she suffered, what mattered was that he did not destroy his future. However, the truth was that Richard was the one suffering and that he was perfectly happy working in the horse stable. Furthermore, Emily's reason for doing this is questionable. She could have done this solely for the status of being the mother of a successful son and not for the good of her son. From these evidences, it can be seen that Emily is more a survivor.

An argument as to why Emily was actually a victim would be how she tragically lost her son and husband. Richard committed suicide while Kheong did want to see her even at his death bed. However, my reply to that would be that Emily was the cause of her own plight. Of course Richard's reaction was very extreme but Richard committed suicide only because Emily crushed his dream and controlled him completely. This is also the same reason why Kheong did not want to see her at his deathbed.

Therefore, I feel that Emily is more of a survivor than a victim in the entire play.

Limited Editions car made for China

Nowadays, China is where the real money is. This caused many car manufacturers and tuners to launch their new models in China as statistics have proven that there is a market for high-end luxury limited edition cars there.

A recent example would be the BMW M3 tiger edition. This is launched by BMW themselves and plans to release it in the China market. Being the 25th anniversary of the legendary BMW M3, BMW has decided to make this special edition calling it the tiger, considering that this year is the year the tiger in the Chinese calender.

Other examples include cars that are made specially for the China market, such as the BMW 5 series long wheelbase which has been extended from the normal car specially for the China market with the knowledge that China prefer bigger cars.

$1 million dollar speeding fine

A 37 year old Mercedes SLS Amg driver has been caught for speeding at close to 300km/h on the A12 motorway in Switzerland. This has been the record as no one has been recorded to have ever traveled at such a great speed in the entire country.

He managed to run several speed cameras of an older technology as they were not capable of capturing vehicles travelling at speeds beyond 200km/h.

In Switzerland, fines are given based on income. After collecting a series of 300 days fines, he managed to accumulate the maximum amount of fines - 650,000 pounds or about US$1,001,400.

I feel that this is too severe of a punishment. A heavy fine is definitely justifiable considering the speed he was travelling and the danger he posted to himself let alone the other drivers. However, a US$1 million dollar fine is too extreme regardless of the income of the driver.

Children in the Darkness Poem Task 2

Point of View: The children dyeing is a sad and meaningless activity that should not happen.
Evidence: Back into the darkness. From which there is no flight. Back into the darkness. Into which there shines no light
Elaboration: By saying “back into the darkness”, the writer implies that the vicious cycle of which the children are killed is a meaningless dark cycle that “shines no light” and should not happen.

Situation and Setting: During war time
Evidence: Or will a war consume them
Elaboration: By saying “or will a war consume them”, it implies that war was one of the reason for the killing of the children

Language/ Diction: Solemn
Evidence: Could we simply light a candle. Could we give them half a chance. Could we teach.
Elaboration: It uses repetition to emphasize on the seriousness of this situation.


Personal Response The poem uses a solemn and serious mood to tell us about the the seriousness of the children dyeing, wasting their life before they have even experienced how life actually is for no good reason.

Children in the Darkness Poem Task 1

Children in the Darkness

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light
Henry M Bechtold

The Poem talks about how some children are hidden away and shun from society. It shows how some of these children know nothing about the real world and are therefore used by other people for their own needs.
The Poem tells us how these children cannot escape this terrible life no matter how much people try to help them. At the end, war will “eat” them alive and kill them letting them die for no good reason nor use. This Poem tells us that the children dyeing this way are a vicious cycle that will never end. It exaggerates how sad and meaningless these children dyeing are.

Last Day of school

Yesterday was the last day of school for term 1 signaling the start of the March holidays! The main difference between term 1 and term 2 was the adding of the Malay and thinking subject and the removal of Music.

To be honest, when I first joined Hwa Chong in secondary 1, I was stunned. There was a hugely drastic change between Primary 6 and Secondary 1. Everything seemed much more difficult. I suddenly felt as if I had to decide everything myself and I had to get everything I wanted unlike in primary 6 where everything you wanted was given to you. The most obvious change, is of course, the sheer size of the compound of the school. My primary school, being Ai Tong School, with no secondary school, the compound was very small. Therefore, when I first came into Hwa Chong, I often got lost. My bad sense of direction was not really helping either.

However, after 1 year, I have finally sort of got used to it. I finally know my way around Hwa Chong and am starting to get use to the learning methods and understand that we are expected to study independently. I hope that my results would improve together with this!

Last day of Sabbaticals

Today is the last day of sabbaticals. My sabbatical has been great except for the last day where I had a test. I am sure this is inevitable. However, since this does not affect our marks, it brings no stress which is the most important. The test consisted of 40 MCQ questions which we were given an hour 15 minutes to do. We finished this earlier than expected and went for an early recess.

Upon return, we gave our group presentations about electricity which we were asked to prepare several days ago. This sabbatical, infuse electrifun has been great fun and purpose for me. The power of electricity has been thoroughly exhibited to us shocking us all. Electricity, like fire, is a great servant but a bad master. Therefore, we must always be careful while handling electricity.

After sabbaticals, we met up to rehearse for our performance in the old folks home on founder's day. We had to sing numerous chinese songs and recite several poems. Predictably, the class was in chaos and could not be controlled making the rehearsal unsuccessful. However, I am sure we would get it done.

I feel that this is very meaningful. The old folks in the home definitely deserve our sympathy and attention. All of them are in different situations. Some are those whose children are actually cruel enough to desert them, while others may not have any children and money to take care of them. This visit would not only cheer them up but also make them feel better about their stay there and look at things with a more optimistic opinion, I really hope.

Porsche Going Green!

Porsche surprised everyone at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show with their 918 Syper Hybrid concept car. Their idea - a supercar that has the fuel economy of a compact hatchback and the performance of a, well yes, a supercar.

The car is powered with a 500 bhp V8 gasoline engine together with 2 electric motors with 218 bhp bringing the total to 718 bhp - an incredible performance. However, the unbelievable part is that despite this mind-blowing performance, it has the fuel economy of a toyota hatchback - 78 miles per gallon.

This all sounds too good to be true. Sadly, because it is. Its claims are - Having a top speed of 198 mph, 3.2 seconds acceleration time yet a fuel economy of 78 miles to a gallon. However, there are 4 different driving modes, each made for these different purposes.

There is the E-drive mode, a fully electric mode in which the 78 miles to the gallon is achieved. However, the range is only 16 miles in this mode. In the hybrid mode, power is modulated between the gas engine and electric motors in some thrifty but largely unexplained manner. The performance in this mode is not given. The Sport Hybrid mode produces more power, but with torque vectoring, and a power-biased rear-wheel. Last but definitely not least, there is the race hybrid mode, where full power is used making the car able to achieve the crazily high numbers of acceleration and speed, but this mode can only be used with a full charge of battery.

Therefore, from this, a lesson is also learnt - When something is too good to be true, it probably is.

The Ultimate Aston - 177

The Aston Martin 177 is finally out. It was and is expected to set a benchmark for hypercars. Aston Martin has been making sport cars that compete with Bentley for years but has never stepped to this level of pricing before. The Aston Martin would be going for US$1.896 million dollars in the United States. The price is hard to imagine if it comes to Singapore together with all the taxes. Then again, they will only produce 77 of this ultimate hypercar.

As for the specifications - The Aston Martin 177's 7300cc V12 engine produces 700 bhp making the car get from 0 to 100km/h in just 3.5 seconds - an incredible feat. However, at a fraction of this price (US$480,000), the 670 bhp Mercedes Mclaren SLR 722 gets the same kind of performance. Obviously, the Mclaren does not have the dropdead good looks of the Aston but is that really worth US$1.42 million dollars?

If you really have to blow that kind of money on a car, there are also many other choices. There is the Ferrari 599 GTB, the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and many other mind-blowing cars. Well, I guess different people have different opinion. We will just have to wait and see how well this special Aston sells!

Sabbatical Week - Science Center Visit

Yesterday, we went to the Singapore Science Center for more information about electricity and also a live, actual performance. Before I even go into detail, the experience was simply ecstatic.

When we reached there, we were given an hour to tour freely. We went to the different exhibits. Honestly, the Science Center's exhibits are quite boring except for a few after you go there for more than 7 times. However, there a few minor new exhibits here and there. For example, the staircase is lined with pictures with optical illusions which do not get boring even after looking at it several times. The optical illusions make the pictures seem like they move, rotate and do other things which is not actually happen.

We had 2 shows at the Science Center. The first was on sound energies. It was obviously meant for kids that were aged from 6 to 8 seeing that the room was filled mostly with toddlers. Therefore the show, as expected, was quite childish. The 2 presenters were getting quite annoying and we were laughing. However, there was some use in watching the show. Their second last presentation was helium. One of them actually sucked in the helium gas and his voice was very amusing. Their last performance was even more amusing. They had a special equipment which they lighted with fire. When sound energy was pushed through the pipe, the fire would 'dance' like those you see in music machines. The fire actually moved together with the beats. It was amazing!

However, the main attraction was the final show. They had an electrical machine known as a van de graff generator creating out 4 million volts of electricity which actually exploded the ballons placed beside it, literally into a ball of flames. It was really shocking!

Sabbatical Week

Today is the second last day of sabbaticals. I joined infuse electrifun. My teacher is Mrs. Ke. On the first day, I felt that the sabbatical was going to be boring after seeing numerous slides on the powerpoint presentation and leaving for competition after that. However, I could not have been more wrong.

On the second day, we did an extremely fun experiment. We were supposed to touch a big metal ball that was charged with electricity. Once we did, our hair stood up. It was hilarious, especially Xuan Yu's, because his hair was totally flat. There is a picture above. After seeing this, I was awed the moment I saw this. I never knew that electricity could cause such a big effect on us. The explanation then followed - the electrical charge could pass through your body as the body is charged with a negative charge causing no effect in the body until it reached the hair.

Today, we learnt more about lightnings. The lightnings we saw were simply out of this world! They were totally different from Singapores'. The lightnings were as often as 8 strikes a minute continuously for up to an hour. Furthermore, all the lightning strikes were huge and reached all the way to the ground. The pictures and videos themselves were unbelievable.

Musical b.

Maycomb, the prejudice place to blacks
Maycomb, the place of courage
Maycomb, the best and worst place to be

Lingustic 4.

Good afternoon students of Hwa Chong Institution,

I am Jem Finch, the son of Atticus. I am here today to give my point of view on why I think Maycomb is a good or bad place.
I think Maycomb, like all other places, has bad points and good points. I will start by sharing the good points. In this small town Maycomb, everybody knows everybody. However, I would like to emphasise on 2 particular people which gives me great courage. They are Atticus and Mrs Dubose. Atticus, being my father, is definitely my greatest influence. I am sure everyone would agree that he is a very brave person. He is the only person in Maycomb who dares to protect and stand up for an innocent, helpful black man, Mr. Tom Robinson. Another incident is when there was the mad dog, Tim Johnson. Everyone suspected that the dog had rabis and nobody dared to approach it. However, Atticus approached it and shot it with a rifle.
Mrs Dubose is another person that I really respect. She has shown great courage especially in the last part of her life. Due to her medical condition, she was going through extreme pain and had to resort to Morphine. When Atticus knew of this, he made use of the incident where I destroyed her flowers to give her reading sessions as a punishment. What I did not know is that Atticus was actually doing this to prolong the time that Mrs Dubose needed to take Morphine to ease her pain.
However, there are some pad points for staying. For example, there is great discrimination in Maycomb. They all discriminate blacks which I feel is a very cruel thing to do.

Thank you
Jem

Multiple intelligence test

I feel that the multiple intelligence test is a one of the most useful online quizzes. The questions are logical and useful, leading to accurate results. This test allows you to be able to choose courses or work in the future wisely.

For example, being kinesthetic intelligent, it is ideal to take up a course involving a lot of handwork like engineering. Being interpersonal intelligent, it is ideal to take up something involving sales. Therefore, this test is very useful because it is accurate.