Going Green, So Late?

Category: Environmental Issue
Article: "Big Businesses Go Green"
From: Straits times 3 Feb 07
Many have heard of the phrase "a stitch in time saves nine" it applies to many divers context in life, I can make a connection between the article and some Singapore scenarios: Casino opening, gaming what they all have in common is addiction, and that if we do no quickly cease that addiction we might fall into a trap that we may never get out of, basically these things will contribute to social problems and they will have a chain reaction of effects such as broken families or even bankruptcy.
This article that I have read I from the pro-green activists point of view, and that the assumption is that our world is slowly dying hence the combined effort of big corperations. This article is part of a full report on climate change that affects our lives where the forecast is extremely bleak. The big companies have pledged to remove all green house gas emissions from all of their products. By doing this i am sure that Nike would suffer a loss of profit maybe due to poorer quality products because they have to watch out for the green house gases. I think that monetary incentives should be given to these companies to encourage more campanies to cut down on their carbon dioxide output that is if we are looking at it in a novel way.
I feel Singapore is very deprived of natural sources hence, we do not feel the full blow of global warming, we do not have corals nor Dolphins or even snow to see it deplete slowly before our very own eyes so we feel that the world is doing fine but in fact it is not; and the fact that I am barely fifteen years old and have not seen much of the world, I am no doubt very angry with them for not thinking thoroughly and not considering the consequences of emitting so much carbon dioxide into our beautiful world.
Everyone has a part to play when it comes to fighting global warming; it simply boils down to every single citizen of the world. The situation has worsened to such an extent that the world's largest corperations are banding together to conserve the environment.
I believe that the only reason they are doing this is because the human existence is at stake, I feel that humans naturally have to be stricken with fear before we actually begin to do something constructive for the world but unless that happens we will only care for nobody but ourselves.
I myself have to start doing something for the world , last year in Singapore the temperature was never this high before and this year Singapore has had the worst flood in decades and this happens to coincide with the report, so it makes me feel scared and think whether i will be able to live to a ripe old age.
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"Singlish" Asset or Liability?

Category: Societal issues
Article:"I'm a "Basket" Case"
From: "Today" 3 Feb 07
According to Neil Humphreys, Singlish vulgarities is a real asset (in an ironic form) in foreign land. The fact that he knows that he is protected because many foreign people do not know the language, so he gets the pleasure of ventng his anger and/or insulting someone and getting away with it. This tells me something dark and shadowy about being a human and our ways, using a language that someone does not understand on him for ignoble purposes. From my past experience from traveling so many times to Jakarta , because my father is a Singaporean PR(Permanent Resident), I realised that the worst insult i know that can really make somebody there really mad over ther is the word "Monyet" which means Monkey in English.
Most of the expletives in Singapore are in Hokkien which makes me wonder, are Hokkien people more vulgar than let's say compared to a Malays or Indians? I am not to sure about that but it seems most deemed decent terms are in Malay such as "longkang" which means drain; however i think if a surevey is carried out to Russians, Japanese.etc i am quite sure that most vulgarities would fall under a certain category for example wanton love making or an illegitimate child or perhaps male or female sex organs, most likely every known tongue has an equilivent word.
The Australian expatriate's point of view , I feel, is not attacking Singlish although he only remembers the ugly side of Singlish yet those expletives have sentimental values and it is the only way he can bring back memories of Singapore and it looks like he is very much gleeful that he can use them.
On a side note, the creators of "Phua Chu Kang"television sitcom is responding to the debate whether Singlish is good or bad and "Ang Moh" would not fully appreciate the beauty of Singlish uttered jokes.
Now, i will end off with a question for you to ponder over, if Singlish is bad, why did "Phua Chu Kang" television sitcom did not fail but became a national icon of endearment?
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