3rd Day in IBP

QI have come to the third day of the IBP module. Naturally, it is nowhere as comfortable as home. Then again, nowhere is as comfortable as home. However, I view this as a good learning experience. This is one of the rare opportunities that I am taken out of my comfort zone for such a long period of time. Hopefully this experience with bring me a step closer in preparing for National Service. Fortunately, my roommates have been very nice greatly improving the quality of my stay in the boarding school. Nevertheless, I am greatly looking forward to this Friday!

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.