A time to relax a little

Now that school holidays are around, it is time to relax a little. Just a little, not too much, or you will have problems re-adjusting back to school life when the next semester starts.

Time for a Breather

While it is good to be consistently studying, there must also be short break periods to relax. Here are two video clips for you to enjoy.

Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D (rock violin - duet)


(rock violin - solo)

Officer Cadet School (OCS)

Our son completed his OCS on 19 Dec 09 and was commissioned an officer in the SAF.









Related News
More than 500 SAF cadets commissioned as officers

SINGAPORE: More than 500 officer cadets were commissioned as officers at the SAFTI Military Institute on Saturday evening.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean reviewed the commissioning parade for 402 Army, 52 Navy and 50 Air Force officer cadets.

The parade marked the completion of 38 weeks of rigorous training, during which the officer cadets were put through realistic training scenarios to develop their combat, planning and leadership skills.

The newly commissioned SAF officers will assume operational, instructional or staff appointments.

Addressing the graduands at the parade, Mr Teo encouraged them to take responsibility of the training, morale and discipline of their men to ensure that they were operationally ready at all times.

"As their commander, make good soldiers out of them... win over the hearts and minds of your men, for it is the resilience and fighting spirit of our people that will ultimately make the difference," said Mr Teo.

Education Minister and Second Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen, Members of Parliament, senior Ministry of Defence officials and SAF officers, as well as families and friends of the newly commissioned officers also attended the parade.

- CNA/so

Nobody Video Clip

Now that PSLE is over, it's time for some light entertainment.

A funny video clip about mom's advice that you should always check what you need before doing things. That aside, it is a popular video clip judging by the ratings it scored and the number of views it recorded.

Nobody But You Full Music Video - Wonder Girls (HQ)

Mothers know best

Got this video clip from an ex-P6 student. She emailed it to us.

Mothers are designed all to be the same so that children will all grow up to be the same.

Hormat Senjata in 2 moves

Our son completed his BMT today and what a difference NSF is today compared to what it was years ago.

For those who have done NS in the early days when the AR-15 (assault weapon) was in use, you’ll be amazed at how quick the hormat senjata can now be done - in just 2 moves – all because the clumsy AR-15 has been replaced by a shorter weapon.

Watch this video how clean and neat the hormat senjata is done – as compared to the old way.


Take note (picture below) that even in senang diri position (note the feet apart), the weapon is still slung over the shoulder – unlike the AR-15 that has to be put on the ground. This means that the soldiers can now hormat senjata from sedia position, and not from sedia, then rusuk senjata, then hormat senjata.

How things have changed.

Appeal for Aid on behalf of war victims

http://www.dec.org.uk/item/200

The situation

After an 18 month blockade of Gaza and three weeks of heavy shelling the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now completely overwhelming.

- Thousands of people are struggling to survive with many having lost their homes and most down to their last supplies of food and only limited amounts of fresh drinking water.

- Just £25 can buy warm blankets for 8 children

- Just £50 can provide a Food parcel for a family for one month

Electricity - supplies to Gaza are erratic at best with 75% of the area cut off completely. There is a significant public health risk arising out of the almost collapse of Gaza’s water and sewage system, the running of which is dependent on electricity.

Water - Around 500,000 people are without running water with 37% of Gaza’s water wells not working effectively and fuel reserves depleted due to restrictions on access and damage to pipes.

- At least 412 Children have been killed and 1,855 injured

- 60% of the population is living in poverty

- 1.1 million people are dependent upon aid to survive.

Health - The capacity of the health system has been significantly reduced due to the damage of at least 21 clinics. Ten primary health care clinics are functioning as emergency clinics and hospitals and intensive care units continue to treat the mass casualties.

http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/

http://www.dec.org.uk/faq/

Vocabulary – Satire

Satire: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

A picture is worth a thousand words. A video clip is worth a million.

Below is an example of satire. Today is US President GW Bush’s last day at the White House. Observe the sarcasm and ridicule played out.

A Little Breather

It is good to relax for a few moments and take a breather at this stage. 

In May/June, our family took a 2 week break in Canada. I posted a few pics then. Here are a few more shots and a couple of short video clips. 

Niagara Falls!

In Canada, like the US, it is left-hand drive. 

More Holiday posts.

Vocabulary - illusion ; allusion

What's this video clip have to do with vocabulary?
Play the clip and read later.



Illusion -
1. something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.
2. the state or condition of being deceived; misapprehension.
3.an instance of being deceived.
4.Psychology. a perception, as of visual stimuli (optical illusion), that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality.
5. a very thin, delicate tulle of silk or nylon having a cobwebbed appearance, for trimmings, veilings, and the like.
6. Obsolete. the act of deceiving; deception; delusion.

Most students do not have problems understanding what "illusion" is.

"Allusion" however, has a different meaning -
1. a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare.
2. the act of alluding.
3. Obsolete. a metaphor; parable.

As an example, the video clip above is taken from the 1996 movie, "The Thing That You Do!" It is a fictional movie about a boy-band group set in the 1960s.

What is obvious is that the movie (and the boy-band group) is an allusion to the "Beatlemania era" of the sixties.

Beatlemania is a term that was used during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy (particularly demonstrated by young teenaged girls) directed toward The Beatles, particularly during the early years of their success. A portmanteau of "Beatles" and "mania", it is claimed to have been coined in 1963 by Andi Lothian, a Scottish music promoter, although the first printed use of the word is in The Daily Mirror 2nd November 1963 in a news story about the previous day's Beatles concert in Cheltenham. Many fans across the world were known to have Beatlemania (and were thus known as "Beatlemaniacs") which hit the United States hard after The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. 'Beatlemania' was characterised by intense levels of hysteria demonstrated by fans both during the actual concerts played by the band (during which the level of screaming was often so loud as to completely drown out the music) and during the band's arrivals and travels to and from locations. One can envision the dimensions of the original Beatlemania during its peak year in 1964 by looking at the unprecedented sales figures caused by it. During 1964, The Beatles sold over 30 million records in America alone, at one stage holding the top five positions in the singles chart.

Tips on PSLE English (Oral)

A video clip produced by Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary).

Water freezes below 0 deg Celsius

Interesting video showing water freezing in Newfoundland, Canada. The waves freeze upon impact!

Has the Mystery of Stonehenge been solved?

Watch this incredible video of how one man moves tons of blocks and created a mini Stonehenge in his backyard. The simplest of tools and knowledge of science were used - levers and gravity.




The topic of Simple Machines is taught in Primary 5 Science. It is a PSLE Science Topic.

One of the machines in the P5 Science syllabus is the lever. One of the functions of the lever is to help us move heavy objects. When the fulcrum is placed nearer to the load, compared to the effort, only a small effort is needed to move a larger load.



The video is a testimony that a small force can move heavy objects with the help of the simple lever.

Note that in the "see-saw" scene, which uses the lever principle, a small load is added on one side of the beam so that one side of the beam tilts towards the ground. The builder then raises the fulcrum and the beam is hence, raised.

In the scene where the beam is raised vertically, again, a small load is placed on one side of the beam, causing it to tilt towards the vertical position. Again, the principle of the lever is used.


In an earlier early scene where the builder moves the block in a circle, the principle of the lever is used yet again. He places a rock (the fulcrum) near the centre of the block (the load). In this case, the load is in between the fulcrum and the effort, unlike the other two examples, where the fulcrum is in the centre.

Again, note that the distance between the load and fulcrum is still much smaller than the distance between the effort and the fulcrum, enabling a small effort to move a much larger load.

An illustration is shown below.




Some information about Stonehenge.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stonehenge

Stone·henge
a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, consisting of a large circle of megaliths surrounding a smaller circle and four massive trilithons; dating to late Neolithic and early Bronze Age times (c1700–1200 b.c.) and believed to have been connected with a sun cult or used for astronomical observation