My Life, My Passion

The modernization of today is bringing along many benefits and advantages to its people. However, some side effects can also be seen from the effect. In this blog post, I would be analyzing how modernization can bring about both benefits and disadvantages to people.

Modernization of today’s world is bringing about much better efficiency around the world. Travelling from Singapore to China used to take months of travelling now took hours. Messages that used to take weeks to be sent out now took seconds. It can therefore be seen how the modernization of our world bring about efficiency to our world, resulting in a faster paced world, without wasting long amounts of time for information and people to be transported from 1 place to another.

As a result of the efficiency of our growing world, the economic status of countries is rising rapidly, with countries becoming richer. This would hence improve the living conditions of people living in these countries, which would overall help everyone’s lives to be better.

However, though urbanization brings about much advantage and benefits, there are also considerably severe disadvantages and impacts caused. One example of this is the pollution of the environment due to this. With the urbanization of the world, more and more fuel would be burnt, which releases greenhouse gases and contributes towards global warming. This is only one reason how modernization can damage the environment.

Another disadvantage of modernization is that our younger generations may soon lose the important communications skills needed in life, and spend more time on social website and instant messaging on the internet. This would hence result in the loss of communications skills among people, a severe consequence indeed.

With this combination of advantages and disadvantages, what is it that we are aiming for? Is the current situation what we wanted? Is the advantages worth going for while considering the disadvantages? These are some questions that are highly debatable and there is really no definite answer.

It has been a long time since I have posted a post on this blog! I would be continuing the blog posts on this blog =D Stay tuned!

Task 2
Complete the template provided in Annex A, focusing on (1) Point of View; (2) Situation and Setting; (3) Language/Diction; and (4) Personal Response, and post your response to Task 2 on your blog. This template is based on John Lye’s ‘Critical Analysis of Poetry’, and you can make reference to this in Annex B when in doubt.

Point of View:
The point of view of this poem is of an intellectual one. This type of view allows the reader to view the situation as a whole. In this case, it shows the cruelty and impact that the Americans had caused to the people of Vietnam. There is evidence of this from “Generations untold WILL pay” Also, in this poem, it is written, in a point of view that somehow blames American leaders, for having the war with Vietnam and causing harm to the Vietnamese, which would last for generations to come due to the Agent Orange herbicide. The speaker is an American soldier who fought during the Vietnam War, and faced the situation of death and cruelty.

Situation and Setting:
The situation and setting, is of the Vietnam War, where many people were dying of the herbicide, Agent Orange. The herbicide, was part of the “Rainbow Herbicides” This can show the different coloured herbicides used, which was stated in the first stanza, “Green, pink, purple and other colours death potpourri!” This shows the high use of these “Rainbow Herbicides” and the many deaths, with the use of the word potpourri.
Potpourri: A combination of incongruous things (http://www.thefreedictionary.com )
This shows that there were many deaths, with the combination of the many colourful herbicides.

Language/Diction
This poem had combined some well combined words to make this poem more colourful. For example as already stated, the use of potpourri was very well used. Potpourri, means a combination of incongruous things, which in this case would represent the different colours of the “Rainbow Herbicides” used in the war. Also, with the different herbicides known as “Rainbow Herbicides”, the word rainbow was used as the title of this very poem, “Rainbow Death”. The title already suggests the cruelty of the war, by relating the herbicides to death.

Personal Response
I feel that this is a very well written poem, with good choice of words, which provoked my emotions. I was definitely shaken by this poem. War, definitely is very cruel and death is inevitable. In this poem, it highlighted the use of herbicides in modern warfare, in the Vietnam War. I feel that the Americans, though understandable, in their desperate attempt to win had used a very despicable way of killing: Rainbow Herbicides. This poem had raised the issue of the impact of these herbicides to the innocent people and the soldiers. These herbicides would impact the people for generations. This herbicide, as stated in Wikipedia, had resulted in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. This is a very serious casualty indeed.

Rainbow Death
America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread!
Nefariously America was led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!
Hubert Wilson

Task 1
Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2. Be sure to include your references and credit your sources.

Hubert Wilson
Hubert Wilson, (1968-1972) was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. He, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads were anticipating to being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang, an Agent Orange hotspot in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron. But what eventually it was, was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang. His health problems started with unexplained headaches and limb pains. For four years his central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. The most probable guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Rainbow Death
This poem speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering, not only to the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”. Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War.According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange, dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. This poem may remind us that wars aren’t over when the wars are over.

reference: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Rainbow

18 facts that we should know:

1. According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, average temperatures have climbed 0.8 degree Celsius around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades.

2. The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.

3. According to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004, the Arctic is feeling the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average


4. Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.

5. Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.

6. Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent. Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as sea temperatures rise.

7. An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat waves, and strong tropical storms, is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.

8. Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it.

9. These gases persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning that even if such emissions were eliminated today, it would not immediately stop global warming.

10. Some experts point out that natural cycles in Earth's orbit can alter the planet's exposure to sunlight, which may explain the current trend. Earth has indeed experienced warming and cooling cycles roughly every hundred thousand years due to these orbital shifts, but such changes have occurred over the span of several centuries. Today's changes have taken place over the past hundred years or less.
11. Other recent research has suggested that the effects of variations in the sun's output are "negligible" as a factor in warming, but other, more complicated solar mechanisms could possibly play a role.

12. Sea level could rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 to 59 centimeters) by century's end, the IPCC's February 2007 report projects. Rises of just 4 inches (10 centimeters) could flood many South Seas islands and swamp large parts of Southeast Asia.

13. Some hundred million people live within 3 feet (1 meter) of mean sea level, and much of the world's population is concentrated in vulnerable coastal cities. In the U.S., Louisiana and Florida are especially at risk.

14. Glaciers around the world could melt, causing sea levels to rise while creating water shortages in regions dependent on runoff for fresh water.
15. Strong hurricanes, droughts, heat waves, wildfires, and other natural disasters may become commonplace in many parts of the world. The growth of deserts may also cause food shortages in many places.

16. More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans. The ocean's circulation system, known as the ocean conveyor belt, could be permanently altered, causing a mini-ice age in Western Europe and other rapid changes.

17. At some point in the future, warming could become uncontrollable by creating a so-called positive feedback effect. Rising temperatures could release additional greenhouse gases by unlocking methane in permafrost and undersea deposits, freeing carbon trapped in sea ice, and causing increased evaporation of water.

Adapted from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming_2.html

Write a poem on the Tom Robinson Trial / life in Maycomb/ any other incident.

Tom Robinson Trial

He who was innocent

Was wrongfully charged

But there was no search

And got sent to prison

She who was guilty

Had did an awful sin

She had no choice

But to push the blame

He who had ordered

Had forced her to lie

For the sake of his face

For the sake of his position

He who had helped

To let justice prevail

But his effort was fruitless

Because of the prejudice within

He who had judged

Had no choice but follow

The racist jury

Who had voted for the kill

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This is the graph of my MI intelligence. It was different from last year's one but I find this more accurate, so I will be using this result for this task. As you can see in the picture, the yellow bar, Interpersonal is the highest! Yay! When I did the test last year, I had a very high score too. I think that my Interpersonal skill is overall quite good. I am good at understanding others and I am sensitive to their feelings. Therefore get along well with others. I think that this is quite a useful skill as it is important to understand others, and communicate with them well. Last year, I was selected for a talk by Dr. Braton Shearer where he developed more on the M.I profile. According to him, suitable careers for a person with high Interpersonal Intelligence is a psychologist, or any career that requires us to persuade or counsel. This, I think is quite useful as there are many job sectors requiring this. He also mentioned that this skill is very important for leadership too. As a leader, we serve others. We have to understand others and their needs to be a successful leader and be able to serve effectively. Hence, I feel that Interpersonal Intelligence is very important for my leadership skills and future.

Another intelligence I am good at is Musical. This is quite surprising for me! Last year's test showed that I scored very low for music. I am not skilled in any kind of musical instrument. I am also unable to read music scores. I do not think I am very musically intelligence. Different points of view maybe?

As expected, my Visual Intelligence is the lowest. I find it quite hard to visualise an object I have seen before. Although I remember what the object looks like, I am unable to make myself visualise it in front of me. This is a physical type intelligence. Looks like I am not very physically intelligent.

I am not very satisfied with the results, although most of them are better than expected. I feel that my Logic Intelligence is too low, lower than I expected. But, we must not lose our faith over a test. We must learn to trust ourselves.

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