Liquid air 'offers energy storage hope'. By Lim Kay Kiat

For full article click here!Recently Engineers have found a way to store the excess energy from renewables. Energy produced from wind turbines in the night can be used to freeze air. This reduces the amount of energy wasted as the wind turbine can be used even in the night. The liquid air can then be vaporised to air when the need arises to power turbines which in turn generate more electricity. This reduces Wrong-time electricity and increases efficiency without causing harm to the environment.
In my opinion this is a great step into protecting our badly damaged environment. Oil and fossil fuels which is currently our main source of energy in many countries. These forms of energy are not green and produce much harmful wastes and gases which harm mother earth. Burning of fossil fuels for example produces methane and carbon dioxide, two very harmful green house gasses which cause global warming. Thus with this new finding, we can now rely on another source of energy which is capable of producing electricity and yet not harm the environment. Furthermore, oil and fossil fuels are not everlasting, so one day we will use up all of it. Thus it is important we find new ways to produce electricity so as to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and oil.

Movies are entertaining but have no real value. By Lim Kay Kiat

Movies are just for entertainment.Movies today encompass a huge variety of genres, from horror to action or even comedy. Comedy movies for example, are solely meant for entertainment and have no educational value in them at all. An example of a comedy movie that was pretty well rated is Ah Boys to Man. The show had many great jokes, but there was little value in it. Furthermore, some action movies contain violent scenes and are overly bloody. Research has shown that people who often watch these forms of movies tend to have tendencies of violent or even try to harm others. (EXPLAIN) Thus movies are entertaining but have no real value.
However, some people disagree. They believe that some movies do have value in them, SUCH AS THE like Titanic and Saving Private Ryan. These movies have much educational value and after watching these movies one may feel more enriched.(EXPLAIN IN WHAT WAY) For example in the movie Men of Honor, viewers can learn from the lead character, Carl Brashear to be persistent and never give up in the face of difficulties. Thus movies do have real value and are not purely for entertainment. 

Is violence in the USA to be blamed on parents,Tv or gaming?

Teenagers and children these days are getting more violent. Cases of children hitting their own parents are on the rise. Although the main causes of these problems are usually blamed on violent games or Tv shows, there are always other reasons why teenagers learn violent acts at young ages. I believe that the main causes of violent acts are due to the wrong upbringing by parents. Though violent shows and games cause violent acts, parents are at fault for even exposing their child to these types of negative media. Parents these days are so lenient to their kids that these days, they would even buy Nc16 or M18 games and shows for their children.
 Furthermore, as young kids are generally not as good as older kids at those overage games and movies, they tend to get frustrated and angry during gameplay. Parents WHO that let these bad habits continue would result in CAUSE THEIR kids TO becomE easily agitated and violent on a daily basis. In conclusion, EVEN THOUGH event with modern games and media havE a negative influence oN children, I believe that it is because of the irresponsibility of parents that these negative effects were ARE allowed to take effect of ON children nowadays.

Honey bees' genetic code unlocked. By Lim Kay Kiat

Scientists from UK and Australia have recently managed to unlock the secrets of the Honey bee's high sensitivity to its environment. Scientist believe that this breakthrough will help us understand these bees better, and thus possiblY givE a solution to problems like Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes mass bee deaths globally. Furthermore, this breakthrough will also help US to understand how bees react to the type of food they eat.
In my opinion the unlocking of the honey bee's genetic code is a huge step towards solving the many problems Honey bees face. Furthermore, through this we can now better understand how bees behave and grow with respect to its environment. Bees are insects that play a very important role in the life cycle of flowering plants. Thus it is very important that we solve the many problems which are killing huge number of Honey bees worldwide so as to prevent the disruption of flower's flowering cycles.
For full article click here!

Reservoirs can make local flooding worse, says study. By: Soon Qi Wei

The scientists found that rain patterns around bodies of water in Chile were much higher than in similar areas without them. This "lake effect" could overwhelm flood defenses which are often built without taking it into account. The study has been accepted for publication in the journal Hydrology. Chile has a large variety of climates ranging from areas that get 0mm of annual rainfall to places that get more that 4,500mm. The scientists found that the most intense rainfall was measured at weather stations located near water bodies, especially in drier climates.

I believe that this is a very important discovery as this would help plan suitable locations for more builds of reservoirs in the future. Even with latest and most advanced technology in dam making, with local reservoirs placed closely to places that would likely flood, flooding would still occur. Furthermore, engineers are the people who get blamed for flooding due to bad designs, some engineers also got fired. However, this is not the case as even with the greatest designs, the impacts of the nearby dams are just too great. This discovery might help clear up some questions on why constant flooding happens. To read more, click here! 

Is Cultural Diversity A Strength Or Weakness?

WHERE IS YOUR POST KAYKIAT?

Talking elephant mimics Korean with help of his trunk...

YOU MUSNT RECOPY A PREV POST - REDO PLS 
An elephant living in a zoo in Asia, learned to mimic human speech (in Korean) and had astounded numerous scientists.The elephant named Koshik, placed the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transformed his natural low rumble into a convincing impression of a human voice. A limited but diverse number of species are capable of hearing a sound, copying it and then reproducing it. The elephant is one of the species which is able to produce it. Scientists say that understanding how and why some animals make sounds could help us to understand how speech evolved.
I believe this new discovery is a stepping stone for mankind as who knows, elephants would might be able to communicate and cooperate with us.This enables us to do many things that humans are not capable of doing so, like lifting big objects.(pls write 5 sent para)

Is it a waste of money for Singapore to invest in sports? By Lim Kay Kiat

It is important that the Singapore government invests in sports. There has been an increase in the number of people who watch sports as a form of leisure. For example, every four years, it is estimated that more than 3 billion people views the Olympics throughout its 17 days. Thus, the Singapore government should invest in sports as it is a great platform to let Singapore showcase its talents in sports to the world. Furthermore, studies have shown that by investing in elite sports, governments have successfully been able to interest the citizens in a certain sports their country excels in, thus increasing the number of people who participate in that particular sport. This in turn leads to a healthier nation, and a larger pool of talents to pick from for the future. Thus, it is not a waste of money for the government to invest in sports, as it would encourage more Singaporeans to do sports.
However, some people think that the Singapore government should not invest in sports as it is a huge waste of resources which could be better spent somewhere else. In Singapore, most people lead hectic lifestyles which do not allow them to take part in sports on a regular basis. For example, recent studies have shown that 17% of Singaporeans spend more than 10 hours for work outside work hours and more than 50% of Singaporeans spend 5 hours for work outside work time. Thus they would prefer to spend the little free time they have to rest and relax rather than engaging in sports. Furthermore, these people think that the government should use these resources to solve problems that are of greater importance like an aging population and the rising cost of healthcare in Singapore. Thus, these people think investing in healthcare is a waste of money.
EXCELLENT WRITING !! - Mrs Teoh

Swimming robot reaches Australia after record-breaking trip. By: Soon Qi Wei

The record-breaking 9,000 nautical mile (16,668km) trip took the PacX Wave Glider just over a year to achieve. The drone weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination in Hervey Bay. In my opinion, this is a huge scientific breakthrough as this might just prove that in the near future, boats and other vehicles might actually be able to auto-pilot, just like in many movies. I also find it very amazing that such a small drone was able to brave the seas and travel over 9000 nautical miles. This just shows how technology is advancing and how we might be able to accomplish great feats in time to come.  To learn more, click here!

Avian pox spread to UK by insects. By Lim Kay Kiat

A new virus which affects many birds has been spreading rapidly in the United Kingdoms. This deadly virus has caused many birds to die. The cause of the spread is currently unknown, but scientists suspect that an insect like the mosquito could be responsible for this viral outbreak. However, scientists have also found that some birds were able to recover from this virus.
In my opinion, I think that this virus is very dangerous as If huge numbers of one species of birds are to die from this virus, they could very likely face a huge drop in their numbers or even extinction. Furthermore, this virus is a different from the one found in Europe. This shows that this virus mutates quickly and could pose a huge threat as the virus would quickly mutate to obsolete vaccines. In my opinion, I think that environmental agencies world wide should put in measures to increase the people's awareness of this virus so that people would report sightings of birds with this virus. This will in turn greatly decrease the number of birds with this virus and thus reducecing the speed in at which the virus is spreading. Furthermore I think that if this virus is not properly taken care of, it might mutate to infect humans like the bird flu virus.
Read the full article here!

Is cultural diversity a strength or weakness? By Lim Kay Kiat

Cultural diversity is a strength as these diversities complement one another. In Singapore there is a huge cultural diversity. This cultural diversity has greatly enriched the lives of Singaporeans. For example, in Singapore we have a huge variety of food ranging from Mee Rebus, a Malay dish, to Roti Prata, an Indian dish, to Lor Mee, a Chinese dish. Furthermore, this cultural diversity has also allowed people of different races in Singapore to know more about the traditions and the culture of other races. Through this multicutral understanding, Singaporeans have developed racial harmony. This has also helped local investors communicate well with their foreign partners from all round the world. Thus cultural diversity is a huge strength.

However, some people think that cultural diversity is a weakness as it brings instability and unhappiness. In Northern Ireland for example, the long fight between the Catholics and Protestants has caused a great suffering in Northern Ireland. Many lives have also been lost due to the existence of cultural diversity in Northern Ireland. These people think that cultural diversity brings about differences in the way people in society behaves. This causes people who are intolerant of these differences, to complain, fight and even riot. This causes instability and bring unhappiness, thus, these people think it is a weakness.

Rat's heart cells help create bio-robots. By: Soon Qi Wei

Recently, a group of USA scientists managed to implant heart cells of a rat into a small robot. The small robot, with a long leg and a short stump, would move every time the heart cell beats. Although the scientists do not have full grasp of the control and movements of these bio-bots, they say that if this project is successful, these bio-bots would be very useful in the scientific field. They could be used in many different fields like medicine and sensors. So far, the bio-bots have managed to move in a straight distance of 4mm per second.Personally, I believe that this is a huge scientific breakthrough as such if this project works out, robots that would could help carry things or detect unknown items in the ground might be created, making life much easier for us. Furthermore, these new inventions could help society greatly and in my opinion, these should be a technology that is worth researching. To read the full article, click here!

Printed books and magazines are no longer relevant for teens today. By Soon Qi Wei

Personally, I believe that printed books and magazines are no longer relevant for teens today. As we are in the technological age, social media has a huge impact on the lives of the new generation. Teenagers especially are always using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to search for latest trends and news. Furthermore, these websites are free of charge, unlike hard copies of books and magazines that have to be brought from stores or borrowed from the library. Thus this shows that printed books and magazines are no longer relevant for teenagers today.

However, many people still believe that books and magazines are still very relevant these days. For social media sites, the internet is required to connect to them. (keep your focus on books & mag, pls add 2-3 sentences)) As for books and magazines, they can be carried all around with you and it is very convenient to read or use. Even with latest technology like 3G or LTC, which allows a user to connect to the internet from anywhere, many people might not have it. therefore, books and magazines are still one of the most efficient ways of learning and are still indeed very relevant.

News Review : From Britain to Australia, but not on a plane

(QinYi  your post is all wrong. pls remove & pls go to my wikispaces site or refer to the other posts to see how its done) 
Friday, November 16, 2012. The Straits Times / Home / (pls 

From Britain to Australia, but not on a plane.

Australian Joshua Crook, 24 has been travelling over land for the past four months from London to Singapore here are the 21 countries he's been to :

England

France

Belgium

Luxembourg

Germany

Czech Republic

Austria

Hungary

Romania

Bulgaria

Turkey

Georgia

Russia

Kazakhstan

Mongolia

China

Vietnam

Cambodia

Thailand

Malaysia

Lastly, Singapore

Started in England on July the 14th 2012 

His budget was $22,000 of his savings from various jobs for his travels.

He also learnt Shaolin gongfu for close to four weeks in an academy in eastern China.

Should social media be carefully censored by parents

             Firstly, social media are rarely controlled.is currently not censored. Therefore, any sorts of things can be viewed online. There children surfing the net can pick bad habits online, such as using abusive language.They might also be able to interact with strangers. As a result, there strangers might influence them to do horrible things such as smoking, taking of drugs and all shorts(??) of other unthinkable things. Hence censorship by parents will help children to keep safe while using social media.

            Secondly, children are often being immature and inexperienced. Children might post ridiculous photos of themselves online and it might bring nasty comments by whoever that sees it online. As a result it would bring down their self-esteem and it would impact their character development. Therefore, when any child is using the social media it should be carefully censored by their parents.

The roles that parents and friends play in a teenagers life

                     The role of a parent is to give correct advice to their teenage child. Being  immature and inexperienced, a teenager would meet with a lot of difficulties in the course of their his life. They  Teenagers would need someone to pour of their questions to and the best person to do it to is their parents as they are closer to their parents compared to anyone else. A teenager would see their parents more then anyone else. As a result a parent can greatly influence their child to do the either the right or wrong thing.
              The role of a friend is being to be a pillar of support. Besides a parent, a friend is the second person a teenager would see most.  When a teenager is on bad terms with their parent, their friend would be the only person they would turn to to pour out their anger and frustrations. Beingfr A friend they must be able to give the right support and not influence their friend to do the wrong thing to lighten their anger.

ARTICLE - Child Poverty BBC News

Source: Child Poverty : Definition could include family breakdown
Recent figures showed fewer children in poverty but largely because falling wages have narrowed the gap between the poorest and average earners. Measuring income alone does little to represent the experience of those in poverty. A child is considered to be living in poverty if their household income is less than 60% of averages wages. It is said that life is unchanged for these children and a broader definition of child poverty would be needed. This would be one that looks at joblessness, educational failure and family breakdown as well as income. Building more affordable homes and reducing childcare costs were the keys to reducing child poverty, the charity added.
I believe that this matter is very worrying as it is very saddening to see children of very young age suffering due to family finance problems. Children especially of young age have the rights to have a carefree life whereby in which all they do is to eat, sleep, and play without any worries. However, if this child poverty continues, young children in the future would not know what 'real' childhood means. For this not to happen, i think that parents should work really hard to prevent their own child from suffering when born. 

ESSAY - The use of social media should be carefully censored by parents. Yes or No?

I personally believe that social media should be carefully censored by parents especially when it is young kids are using them. we are talking about. Even if it's a teenager, parents have the rights to keep a lookout of what their child is up to. The content of social media is not and are rarely censored. This would harm teenagers as if they who post careless messages on Twitter or Facebook. It will remain there forever even if he/she deletes it from their account. This would allow strangers or hackers to know what was posted. Also, personal information would allow strangers to know about them and might send spam emails to them which would not do them good.

Another reason is that social media has easy access to strangers. whereby Teenagers can go to online chatting websites and chat with strangers whom you do not know of. This is dangerous as you do  not know what these strangers are up to. Once you get "closer" to the stranger, he/she would threaten you to send him a photo of yourself and you would not know what he might do with that picture. For example, a 16 year old girl, named Amanda Todd, who made friends with a guy through an online chatting site and sent him a photo of her chest which the stranger sent to all her friends and even made a FaceBook group using that picture as the display photo. He followed her to wherever she went, and about a month later, she committed suicide. Hence social media needs to be censored to keep teens safe.

Printed books and magazines are no longer relevant for teens today? By Lim Kay Kiat

Printed books and magazines have been outdated by the technology age. They are no longer relevant to teens today as technology allows a better way of transferring information other than books and magazines. Books and magazines require a lot of work to produce and to be distributed and need a lot of space to store them. However in today’s context; teens prefer to have all these information stored in a small device called smart phones. Furthermore, it is much easier to transfer this information via smartphones as all it takes to pass this information to thousands of people is a simple click. Thus, books and magazines are no longer relevant to teens as technology has improved.

However, some people think that books and magazines still play an important role and are still relevant for teens. Books and magazines have no other functions besides being used for the transfer of information, unlike smart phones. This reduces the chances of teens getting distracted while wandering off while reading. Smart phones on the other hand have numerous uses and these act as distractions which cause teens to be unable to concentrate on reading. For example, teens often are unable to resist the temptation of games. Thus, a book or magazine is still required to help inculcate the habit of reading. if the teen reading the book or magazine does not want to get distracted by all these other functions of a smart phone. So, magazines and books are still relevant for teens today.

SPY CAMERA By Lim Kay Kiat

FOUND IN BBC NEWS 

A new form of technology has recently been invented for cameras. This new technology is a camera in a shape of a ball; this camera allows the user to take photos in all angles. This allows opens up more possibilities, police can now use this to check rooms or fire fighters can use it to search unreachable locations in the rubble for survivors.

In my opinion I think this is a great invention as this ball is compact and small thus allowing it to reach places which are too small for a human to get into. This allows people to search in places once deemed as impossible. It also speeds up the process of rescuing trapped victims in disasters as rescuers can now use these to search for victims rather than digging aimlessly in search for victims. However I think that this technology if in the wrong hands can also be very dangerous, terrorist can now use this to gain information in restricted areas as this camera is small and hard to detect. On a lighter note, the paparazzi can also make use of such technology to spy on celebrities, thus compromising their privacy.

A bigger earth discovered? By Soon Qi Wei

        Astronomers have discovered a new planet which lies 42 light years away from our earth. Although it is seven times the size of our earth, scientist say that it is highly possible  for water to be present there, which would also mean that it is habitable. This could be a new scientific breakthrough as it could mean having other living organisms populating that planet.
              Personally, I believe this is a very important piece of information. If anything were to happen to our earth in the future, instead of perishing together with the planet, we could use advanced technology to travel to other planets which have suitable conditions to sustain life. With global warming and other global problems on the rise, this is a research that is definitely necessary worth investing in. As our earth is already so damaged by man, other alternatives must be sought out to ensure our survival if anything were to happen on our planet. This way, if the many laws and rules fail to protect our mother earth, we would still have another alternative.   Click here to view full article!!

By Lim Kay Kiat What roles do parents and friends play in the life of teenagers?

Friends are often shape how a teenager grows up to be. Research conducted recently by a well-known institute has shown that teenagers who mix with friends who are more hardworking tend to achieve better grades. Furthermore, teens who mix with friends who are gangsters often pick up smoking themselves, get involved in fights and join gangs. This is because during this age teens are trying to find an identity for themselves. Teenagers often seek their close friends for support and help. Sometimes these friends might give the inappropriate form of support the teenager needs. For example when a teenager is feeling down or stressed, his friend might encouraging him to smoke or drink alcohol so as to get “high” or to drown his sorrows. This in turn might get teenager hooked onto alcohol or smoking which might become a habit which carries on to the teenager’s adult life. A teenager’s friends are like the molds which form the teenager.

One role of parents in the life of teenagers is that of providing a moral compass. (Topic sentence) Teenagers are most easily influenced during their teen years; mostly by their peers. Thus, it is very important that parents teach their teenage children the right values and lead them on the right path as parents are the ones who spend the most time with their teenagers. For example, recently the news has reported that illegal money loaners have exploit the naivety of teens and employed them to distribute flyers to promote their illegal money lending businesses. Besides, it is the duty as parents to impart the right values the child needs to learn so that they can grow up to be useful citizens and contribute positively to the society. Thus a role of a parent is to be the moral compass of teenagers.

What roles do parents and friends play in the life of teenagers? By Soon Qi Wei

One role of parents in the life of teenagers is that of providing a moral compass for the teenagers. As parents are the people teenagers see most of the time, they are one of the most influential people in the teenager’s lives. Recently, the straits times reported that loan sharks have recruited teenagers to help them distribute illegal flyers. This shows how naïve teenagers are and how they are not mature enough to make their own decisions. Therefore, parents have huge roles and responsibilities to keep their child on the right path. Furthermore, if a teenager builds up good moral values at home, in the public and in society, good moral values would come very naturally as it is well practiced at home.          

One role of friends in the life of teenagers is that of providing support and comfort to one another. Friends play an important part in a teenager’s life as friends are there to provide support when he is in need of help. When a teenager is discouraged by bad test results or poor performances in CCAs, friends are there to help cheer him up. However, it is not wise to rely completely on friends for support as friends might offer the wrong comfort. For example, many teenagers are led astray by friends who offer a cigarette or a cup of beer to relax him. This shows how friends can provide the wrong comfort to a teenager.

Talking elephant mimics Korean with help of his trunk

An elephant living in a zoo in Asia, learned to mimic human speech (in Korean) and had astounded numerous scientists.The elephant named Koshik, placed the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transformed his natural low rumble into a convincing impression of a human voice. A limited but diverse number of species are capable of hearing a sound, copying it and then reproducing it. The elephant is one of the species which is able to produce it. Scientists say that understanding how and why some animals make sounds could help us to understand how speech evolved.

I believe this new discovery is a stepping stone for mankind as who knows, elephants would be able to communicate and cooperate with us.This enables us to do many things that humans are not capable of doing so, like lifting big objects.

Argumentative Essay - Is multiracial diversity a strength or a weakness?

As Singapore develops further, there are more people migrating in because of the clean and green environment, great tourist attractions and many job opportunities. This leads to a multiracial diversity in Singapore. I believe that this is a weakness for the country. 

As there are more people migrating in, there would be more foreign talent in Singapore which would not be able to give Singaporeans a chance and opportunity to show and prove what they are capable of doing. Therefore, as time goes by, the country would have too many foreigners who have stable jobs unlike the Singaporeans. I believe that the opportunities should be given to the Singaporeans as citizens of the country. 

WHAT THIS BLOG'S ABOUT

This blog belongs to the students in Mrs Teoh's classes. This is our opportunity to tell stories about what happened on special days, both good and bad. It's also our opportunity to share our views on what we think of events and life around us.