Competitive Sports Should be Compulsory in Schools

The smell of winning in the air gradually inches closer as you race towards the finish line. One mistake, one minute error, one fault, is all it takes for others’ to finish a step ahead of you. Around the world, many children are trained to be professional athletes. The competitiveness in competitive sports is so intense that it’s not just about physical skills, but also about mental abilities. Life, after all is a game about survival of the fittest. 

Whilst some kids are not born athletes, naturally in their minds they would like to participate and ultimately to be a winner; it is only human nature. In sports, unfortunately there is only one winner - and it is in every human's blood, to be the only one standing on the podium, cheered by the crowds.

First and foremost, participating actively in any competitive arena forms a strong and concrete foundation for physique, cognition and mental infrastructure. With a solid mental training simultaneously built - one can keep their minds calm under intense pressure, which will enhance the performance of the physical side. 

Furthermore, it is unanimous that everybody loves to win and take pride in beating other people, and they certainly enjoy all the benefits that come along with it - fame, pride, honour, monetary gains, self-esteem, etcetera. Inarguably, winning is one of the best satisfactions of being human because it can enlarge an individual's power and in the animal kingdom it could mean territorial rights. Take for example tigers, they fight for territorial rights among each other because naturally, the one with power will be the herd leader and dictates over every other tiger. Professional athletes are not simply trained because of the sport itself, it is their job to be excellent, and in order to be the herd leader like the tigers, they indeed have to go through intense training, hard work, dedication and commitment so that they will be the only one to win. Only the number one spot can give them all the benefits that have been described above. 

Compulsory competitive sports also mimics competition in the real society - where everybody is fearless and is contending for the same thing. For example, people compete for promotions, money, fame, power, self-interest, etcetera. These kinds of competition are no different from competing in sports. They have to go through all the challenges and obstacles in order to achieve their desires. Therefore developing at a young age a strong mental, physical and emotional attitude is crucial for their forthcoming societal needs. They need to be prepared for the intense competition when they become grown ups. On a bigger context, a society without competition will be a society that is not advancing, and we would never be able to live in a better society as time prevails. 

Taking all of the above into account, compulsory sports can enhance people's’ attitude towards their life, as well as their physical, mental and social attributes. Therefore the importance of competitive sports should be acknowledged within schools and be mandatory. 

Internet - Impact

With the invention of the Internet, the speed of communication has speed up drastically that people from the last era could not have imagined. In the old days, it will take a letter a week or 3 weeks to its destination. Now e-mails has taken over the old form of letter, and to receive an e-mail it will only take nanoseconds. 

The speed of the Internet not only has improved in communication between friends and families, it has affected people in all different occupations such as business, retail, students and teachers, scientists, photographers, artists, musicians, etc. In the olden days, business’s were conducted through signing contracts face to face. All we need to do now is send an e-mail and reply with an agreement, and there you have one business transaction complete! 

In the old days, if you want to see or locate someone it would take days or weeks. With the introduction of the Internet, basically you can locate anyone anywhere in this world instantly. 

The most common way, and possibly the only way to locate people through the Internet is via social networking. Common social networking sites amongst people are Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Skype, MSN, etc. The advantages of social networking sites are that you can meet new people, chat to friends or colleagues whom you have not seem for a while, and maybe possibly connect with family members that you thought did not exist! 

Nowadays you can basically find anything you want to know on the Internet, anything. In principle, anything you want to learn, to clarify, to read, to teach, to watch, etc. You can find it in detail. In the old days it is almost impossible. You would have to go to an library to find out just one specific topic, and that would take you ages. 

The introduction of the Internet has also promote the introduction of the e-book, which has drastically minimized the cost of reading to readers. And purchase of books have now become eco-friendly as no papers are involved. You can now store up to thousands of books because of the computer. Whereas in the old days, you would need a big room to do the same thing. 

The above are only subtopics that I have touched a little on. The subtopics are mainly about how the Internet has changed the way we live. In the bigger picture, it has changed all facets of this world, including medicine, arts, history, wars, politics, philosophy, science, etc. It will take pages to describe the effects of this invention that has affected all the above. 

Can you imagine having just one day of not having any Internet? People of today must have Internet, if not there would be severe consequences. Business would take months to complete transactions, banks would take ages to process, friends inability to find long-lost-friends, it would be like going back to the dark-medieval ages. 

Rugby World Cup 2011

As you may be able to tell from the title, yes it is the Rugby World Cup '2011' and now it is 2012. But nevertheless, I thought I would include this short research paper I did in class.

What is the game of rugby about? Originating from the 19th Century, rugby football is a branch of football. Rugby was first developed in England. Rugby has developed from being an local sport into an internationally celebrated icon. Rugby is not a common sport played amongst Asian people. 

During the 19th Century, there were no regulations for rugby. You could have 2 people, to up to 100 or more attendees. Thus making the sport a contact sport where many get injured. 

“Rugby is one of the largest international sporting competitions in the world”. The Rugby World Cup is held every 4 years, where many countries compete over who should be the right host. Fortunately, New Zealand will be 2011’s Rugby World Cup host. 

At 41º South of the equator is a country made up of 203 small islands inhabited and uninhabited. 20% of New Zealand is mountainous. The highest place you can get in New Zealand is Mt. Cook 3754m. Latitude: 43º35’44.69”S Longitude: 170º8”27.75”E. There are 3 main islands: North Island, South Island and Stewart Island. 

On a map, New Zealand lies far from the equator, but has a temperate weather. Temperate weather climate zones are the most comfortable to be in. 24ºC average in summer and around 9ºC in the winter of Auckland. Temperatures in New Zealand vary from the North to the South Islands, 16º to 10º during spring, which is an excellent climate to be doing active outdoor sports such as rugby, football, rock climbing etc. 

	Summer Average Weather	Winter Average Weather
New Zealand	24º	9º
South Africa	26º	7º
Japan	27º	0º

Since only 20% of New Zealand is of mountain ranges, it is a good place for growing crops and agriculture, as well as for farming and sheep herding. Most New Zealanders are relocating or are already located in Canterbury (Christchurch), Bay of Plenty (Tauranga), Waikato and Otago. Many New Zealanders have relocated from Auckland to places such as the above. 

New Zealand’s population as of now is 4,290,347 approximately. New Zealand is the 126th most populated place on Earth.

	Population
New Zealand	4,400,000
South Africa	50,004,031
Japan	127,960,000

The capitol Auckland, is the most populated urban area in the country, with 1,354,900 residents; one third of the countries population. New Zealand is not known for its own cuisine, since they do not have their own type of cuisine. Instead they use diverse cultured foods such as British, Mediterranean and Pacific foods all in one. Auckland is a extremely low crime-rate city, in fact New Zealand is 52nd overall compared to other countries around the world. 

People all across New Zealand are all friendly and highly intellectual. 

Because of the small amount of population, there is no problem in traffic congestion. Since Auckland has a very convenient subway system, this makes Auckland the perfect spot for hosting big major events such as the Rugby World Cup. 

Giving all the benefits of this country. No doubt this is a great choice to be hosting major events such as the Rugby World Cup. 

With all the positive attributes of New Zealand there is no doubt that the “International Rugby Board (IRB) have selected New Zealand as the host country instead of Japan or South Africa.” 

Works Cited

http://www.allcountries.org/maps/world_map_menu.html

http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/weather-and-climate.html

http://www.emigratenz.org/MovingToNewZealand.html

http://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/?titleid=83&xid=idh185804920_0099

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10712838

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081210195700AASbXVc

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nz.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/99/99ap22.htm

The World is Grey - Values

Here is a speech that I wrote for class. The speech talks about fairness - thus I titled it 'The World is Grey' since it represents the middle, between white and black. Sort of 'good & evil'. I used an example from the Justice lecture presented by Harvard University about the car track as part of my speech.

Quite often, I hear people complaining that’s not fair.

To be quite frank with you, the world was never fair, and never will be. People try and make it as fair as possible, but never can make fairness. People can only make the world fairer.

Fairness also is determined by how you define ‘fairness’. Being fair to yourself does not necessarily mean you are being fair to others. Fairness would mean for everyone to be equal. Does the world function on equality? Certainly not, and neither do we want it to function on equality.

Fairness does not equal equality. We are all equal because we are humans. But at the same time it is not fair, because we are all born in different sizes, different intelligence, different social levels etc. For example, nepotism exists in this world. It is only natural. If I were a doctor, would I make my father wait in line? If I were a concert manager would I give priority tickets to my friends?

I would.
You would, everyone would.

As a conclusion, let me post you the following scenario: You are a driver of the train, and you come to a fork in the train track. You can either turn left, or turn right. If you turn left, you will kill 5 people. If you turn right, you will kill 1 person.

What would you do?

Is it fair?

IS IT FAIR?

Math - Laws of Indices

As I stated before, my school is quite slow at teaching Maths (at least thats what I think). Currently in Year 9, we have started algebra - 2 unknown variables. We have learnt the Law of Indices application is very important, not only are its uses limited only to scientific notation, but it also extends to algebra.

Here are the rules for the 6 different laws of indices.

Rule 1: a^m x aⁿ = a^m+n 

The first rule implies when two bases are the same, but indices are different. This cannot occur when the bases are different. The rule for multiplying is to add the two powers together, and not multiply the bases. 

Ex.1) 9² x 9⁵ =9⁷

Ex.2) 7⁶ x 7⁹ = 7¹⁵

What not to do: 4³ x 4⁶ = 16¹⁰ 

Rule 2: a^m ÷ aⁿ= a^m-n

The second rule implies in division, the bases must be the same but indices may be different. When dividing similar bases with different indices, you subtract indices. 

Ex.1) 10² ÷ 10⁷ = 10^{-5 =} 0.00001

Ex.2) 8⁹ ÷ 8³ = 8^{6 =} 262144

What not to do: 9⁹ ÷ 9⁴ = 1⁵ 

Rule 3: (a^m)ⁿ = a^mn 

For this rule, do not times the number in the brackets by the power. You must first times the power inside the brackets by the one on the outside. After multiplying the powers, then you may multiply the base by the power.

Ex.1) (7³)² = (7)^{6 =} 117649

Ex.2) (3⁷)² = (3)¹⁴ = 4782969

Rule 4: a⁰ = 1 (a≠0)

This rule is simple, whatever number the base is does not matter. If the power is 0, the base is out of the equation. The answer to any number to the power of 0 will be 1. 

Ex.1) 9998324230948324⁰ = 1

Ex.2) 5⁰ = 1

Rule 5: a^-m = 1/a^m

This rule implies whenever the power is a negative number. Simply put the base to the power over 1.  

Ex.1) 5^-3 = 1/5³ = 125

Ex.2) 8^-6 = 1/8⁶ = 262144 

Warning: Do not put the negative sign in front of the power.

Rule 6: a^1/m = 

The last rule implies when the power appears in a form of a fraction. 

Ex.1) 9^1/2 = 2√9 = 3

Ex.2) 125^2/3 = (³√125)²  = 5² = 25

Justice

What is justice? What is the right thing to do? Do we always have to put moral and ethics in front of us? The video explains a Harvard Professor lecturing students about what the right things are for certain scenarios.



You don't need to watch the whole thing, but just go through 10 minutes of it. After watching the 10 minutes, come back here and post what you would do in the scenarios that were provided.

Personally, there would be 1 scenario I would do differently to everybody else in the lecture. If the cart could be stopped by me pushing a big (no offense intended in anyway) man to say 5 other people, I would certainly push the man down. My reason being would be, because if I could save 5 man for sacrificing 1 it saves more people. But if I save the man who is next to me, I would feel guilt for knowing I could have saved more lives if I pushed him down.

Whereas on the other hand, if you were to ask me to do the same thing in the doctor's scenario, I would not possibly do that. I would be violating the law to take one healthy person (who is only here for a checkup)'s life, to save 5 others' I would not be able. Unless the one healthy person agrees to sacrifice his life to save the other 5.

Comments are appreciated.

PSE - Introducing our planet Earths so called different 'Relationships'

On our planet Earth their are so many different types of relationships, for example - girlfriend/ boyfriend, friends, family, pets, animals, etc...

This is a letter to give a brief knowledge of relationships on our Earth. This was meant to be a letter to write to Aliens assuming they have never came to our planet Earth.

4 April 2011

Aliens from Mars,

Aliens,

Somewhere in Mars, 

Milky Way, Universe

Dear Aliens,

I have heard that many of you are interested in visiting our planet ‘Earth’. And on our planet earth there are a few things that may be of importance to you. One important quality on earth that is existent on earth and not mars is relationships. You might be thinking, ‘what are relationships?’ well, relationships are the connection between people. In simpler words, how well people get along. For example, me writing this letter to you is a form of relationship. 

But there are at the same time many complicated and sophisticated relationships. Such as marriage and divorce. How marriage and divorce occurs is when 2 people have interest in each other, and start spending time together, and this can be called love. But not all people marry because they love (but I’ll get to that later, just to keep things simple for now). And as time goes on, some will choose to get married, which means to be legally announced husband and wife. But also, there could be a negative outcome where people can breakup or divorce. Currently the divorce rate is 50% in the US. 

Other reasons why people would marry (putting aside love), is for money. A main concern for a lot of human beings on this world is money, money is the key to surviving. There was a documentary on National Geographic about a wife murdering her husband just to claim his life insurance. Another troublesome part of divorce is if you have children, the jury decides on which party should have custody over the child, and also the act that one party will have to split half the money to the opposing party. 

If you are interested in coming to our planet earth, one thing you might want to consider knowing about is how to form good relationships. As relationships are very useful and can play a big role, such as finding a job. The best way to have a good relationship is to be neutral, and to not know everything about the other person. Also find a person who has the same personalities and qualities that suite you. 

Best of luck on our planet ‘Earth’.  

Sincerely yours,

Fung

Appreciating Music

Lots of modern day teens like to listen to music such as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Beyonce etc. And that is truly not called music. Music has changed from a wonderful art to something that is garbage (not trying to offend or insult nowaday music but it is just my opinion). I have a music example of what true music is, and not only is the song a work of art, but the way Larry Carlton plays the guitar with such emotion. It almost feels like he is playing the guitar and making sounds that feels like he is crying.



Hope you enjoyed the music of the 70's-90's era!

Narratives, Newspapers, and Novels

It has been 1 month into my summer holiday already, and I've been reading quite a few books. So far my summer holiday has been a time to take a rest from school holiday, time to sit, chill relax that sort. But anyways, I've had a whole pile of books stacked on top of each other right next to my bed. And I've read down until there is only 2 left. But I find that there are a lot of books or novels, that I have read are really boring, not eye-catching at all, thick, long, small-fonted etc.


So I want to relate this post to the post 'Features of a Newspaper' that has a list of what a Newspaper has.


What is the purpose of creating narratives, newspapers, novels? There could be quite a few reasons, making money, entertaining the audience, just for the sake of fun, its a wild adventure to write one. There are probably millions of reasons to become a writer, journalist, or a poet etc.


But to become a good writer you have to have good quality of writing, but also you have to make the book/ novel, narrative, newspaper etc. appealing to your audience, or else they will simply not pick it up. So I've returned 3 books that were written by Robert Ludlum just because the book cover, was too dull and boring (plain grey). The thickness of the book bore me to death, and lost my motivation for me to read it, and also the font size was too small so I couldn't read it.


So it relates to the South China Morning Post because there are elements that you would need to insert in your writing to capture your audience, make puns, jokes that are suitable for the age group etc.


Anyways, hope you all enjoy your summer holidays!

The Mountains Run Along The West - Drew Carver - Peterson

The Mountains Run Along The West is a poem about nature, by Drew Carver - Peterson. In Art I chose to make a collage about my interpretation of this poem:

The mountains run along the West,
The rivers whisper as they flow,
The valleys are green down beneath,
The waterfalls crash as they go.
The rainforests? roofs are quite tall,
The lakes are incredibly wide,
The hills are glowing as they roam,
The plateaus have no place to hide.

We created our own abstract collage of our own interpretation. We were also required to make our own version of our interpretation of this poem. And mine this was my version:

The West they flow on.
Habitats they pass, rivers,
valleys, they keep flow.

Passing and tumbling, thriving to push through,
they plunge vigorously to the
icy cool, cool but not frozen.
Into the cool waterfall. . .

Through the night they flow,
through to the morn of light,
Say 'Hello' to the bright of tomorrow.
And say 'Good night' to the present.

Cause' there lay your mountains,
swooshing water, passes through the forests.
Where trees are high, reaching up into the sky.

Then we lay down our human foot,
tearing down rivers
valleys, and forests for paper.

Will we have mountains,
Will we have mountains, that say untouched?
Will there lay a habitat untouched?

As the mountains run along the west,
we run,
we run and chase.
Chase along the whole globe.
Cutting rainforests,

But the mountains, will still run along the west.

Another version I have written:

The sun rises on the east hiding at noon in the west, 

Running along with the mountains as the rivers drift in peace

Going down an emerald valley,

Changing into a gushing stream, crashing into bends and curves.

The rainforest high above with canopies in the clouds.

The lakes down beneath is boundless space,

As the hills reflects light as they travel along the mountain sides,

The plateaus far away from the shaded tree showing off their freedom space.

Extreme Sports

Today in English class, we started a new topic about extreme sports. According to my teacher extreme sports is sports such as: Surfing, mountain biking, snow boarding, skate boarding, kayaking, parkour etc.

One question asked to the whole class was what sports do you like? For me, I love sports, and I can play anything. In primary school I used to always be on the school team. No matter from Football, tag-rugby, hockey, basketball, running etc. So to me it varies.

And another question was, what makes extreme sports 'extreme'. Well, extreme sports already gives itself its name. In many of the sports that are so called 'extreme' is because its man vs. nature. And the consequences are bound to happen, but its because the person thinks nothing will happen. Another reason why people love to do 'extreme' sports is because it gives them an adrenaline rush to put their own lives at stake.

What about you, what sports do you like?

Learning and 'Never Giving Up'

Have you ever wondered to yourself: What motives you to learn? I understand that it is a odd question to ask. But have you ever thought about it?

Just today, whilst at home doing my homework. I received a survey from a classmate, and there were only a few questions. But hard questions. Obviously, one of them including 'What motives you to learn?'

What makes me want to learn and become hardworking. Is simply the fact that I do not want to waste my parents money that they spend for me to go to school. If I don't try hard, that means all the money is wasted. So why not, be happy and appreciate what you have. This also brings me to the topic of appreciating. Many people do not appreciate what they have today.

People who can see this post by me should be thankful, not because I have made my blog, not because you are reading this. It's because you are lucky enough to have a laptop, and spend time to read my blog.

There are many people who are less fortunate than we are. Take a look at Libya, they are going on an outrage, they are fighting against each other. They are having war. But what about us? We our not in harms way. Therefore we should thank and enjoy every moment we have. Look at Nick Vujicic, he has no hands, no legs 'No arms, no legs, no worries'.

Growth Through Adversity

Today we are starting a new unit in English class and it is the Significant Concept Of Growth Through Adversity.

Growth Through Adversity means:
Growth= Physically and Mentally developing
Through= Going to one and another
Adversity= Misfortune, bad luck
Oscar: Having bad experiences when you are young and using those experiences to become a better person.
Fung: To experience bad things, and try to overcome them. And teach others to try and avoid. Also to change the way of others thinking. E.g. If you were a parent, would you put your child through Bad luck? Also having parents who are poor, may lead to adversity, but it can lead to a big dream.
Elspeth: Its when people grow up with misfortune or with difficulties
Maddie: When people grow up and achieve things through their misfortune

Guiding Question: How do we form & shape our Identity?
Oscar: We form & shape our identity is out of our actions and choices.
Elspeth: We form & shape our identities by our surroundings and the people around us
Maddie: We form & shape our identity by our looks, personalities and feelings (You have no control over your identity)
Fung: We try to change our personality, but it is hard to change. E.g. If you are talkative, you can't change that. (At least it is hard to). But we try to change little things such as our attitudes and our mood towards other and things in our surroundings.