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!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
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.
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!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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!
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.
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.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Musical b.
Maycomb, the prejudice place to blacks
Maycomb, the place of courage
Maycomb, the best and worst place to be
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
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.
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