Carved out of the southwest coast of Africa, where the mouth of the Orange River meets the waters of the Atlantic, is a rectangular strip of desert known as the Sperrgebiet: the forbidden territory. It is an inhospitable place, encompassing 10,000 sun-bleached square miles of sand. Thanks to an accident of geology millions of years ago in which masses of rough diamonds were transported from South Africa by the Orange River and deposited within its borders, the Sperrgebiet has become one of the most protected stretches of real estate in the world. There are only two ways in and out: a single two-lane highway and a small, dusty airstrip. Diamonds have been pulled from the riverbed here since 1908, when the country was a German protectorate known as South West Africa. De Beers has controlled the area since 1920; in 1994, after the country gained its independence as Namibia, De Beers formed the Namdeb Diamond Corp., a fifty-fifty partnership with the new government.
On a sweltering morning last October I found myself in an eight-seater Sikorsky Seahawk helicopter as it lifted off the runway of Namdeb's airport and climbed 1,000 feet above the desert. The helicopter flew over a solitary patch of green: Oranjemund, the town adjacent to the Namibian diamond mines. Then it headed out over the Atlantic.
I was encased in a tight-fitting wet suit and a yellow life preserver (a safety video had informed me that the helicopter would float if it crashed). A red speck emerged in the distance, then gradually materialized into the Debmar Atlantic--a diamond-mining and -processing plant in the guise of a large ship.
The Seahawk landed on the ship's helipad. Feeling a bit like Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever, I sprinted away from the helicopter's spinning blades, peeled off my wet suit, and descended a steep ladder into the bowels of the ship. For the next two hours, I was given a tour of one of the technological marvels of the diamond world: deep-sea mining.
As the once fertile beaches along the Namibian coast dry up, De Beers is placing its bets on the Debmar Atlantic and seven sister ships. Last year the company's marine division recovered more than 570,000 carats of high-quality diamonds from the waters off the Namibian coast. The process is remarkable. Special drill bits, 23 feet in diameter, burrow into the ocean floor, releasing a mix of diamond and ore that is sucked through 300 feet of tubing to the surface, where machines separate the diamonds from the surrounding material and pack them, like chunky soup, into aluminum cans. For security reasons, no human comes into contact with the diamonds until the cans have been sealed. Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the ships cover 1.2 square miles of ocean annually. No patch is left untouched.
De Beers had invited me to Namibia, along with the diamond editors of four American jewelry trade magazines, as part of a tour of the company's operations in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and the war-torn jungles of Angola. Over 14 days, 16 flights, and countless meetings with senior De Beers personnel, we were subjected to an endless sales pitch about Supplier of Choice and the new De Beers.
When it launched Supplier of Choice last July with a PR barrage, the once media-shy company got exactly the reception it wanted: "After a 60-year effort to hoard every diamond on Earth, De Beers decides to open the market," reported Time. DE BEERS TO ABANDON MONOPOLY, AIM AT NEW ROLE IN DIAMONDS, pronounced the Wall Street Journal. DE BEERS HALTS ITS HOARDING OF DIAMONDS, declared the New York Times.
My trip to Africa was meant to be the clincher, a demonstration of the new, transparent De Beers. But as I witnessed first-hand the company's sprawling empire, heard about its many expansion plans, and experienced its unrelenting focus on secrecy and control, I came to a different conclusion. As it implements its new strategy, De Beers is hardly abandoning the tactics that have defined its corporate culture for more than a century.
Prior to my James Bond-like adventure on the Debmar Atlantic, the sheer magnitude of De Beers' African operations had already overwhelmed me. At Orapa, a Grand Canyonesque pit in northern Botswana, Caterpillar trucks with 20-foot-high wheels and beds that carry nearly ten million tons of diamondiferous ore a year seemed more like Tonka toys, their tonnage dwarfed by the scale of the world's second-largest diamond mine. At Namdeb, I had watched giant bucket-wheels the size of Ferris wheels scoop out 65 feet of sand to expose diamond-encrusted bedrock so that miners in sand-covered overalls could vacuum the diamonds off the rocks.
The company's expansion plans are equally outsized. A proposed $300 million extension will double the capacity of the Premier mine, located just an hour from Johannesburg. A sparkling, largely automated recovery plant being built at Orapa will double that mine's output of nearly $1 billion per year. And De Beers is aggressively pursuing diamond properties around the globe. Last July, precisely at the moment it was proclaiming an end to its monopoly, De Beers launched two hostile takeover bids. The first, a $205 million offer for Winspear, a mine in Canada's Northwest Territories, was approved last August. The second, a $389 million bid for Australia's Ashton Mining--and its Argyle mine--was held up by the European Union's antitrust commission, so Ashton accepted a lower offer from a competitor.
De Beers was even making forays into Angola, albeit carefully. For more than 25 years Angola has been locked in a brutal, debilitating civil war. Begun as a struggle against the Portuguese occupation, the war has most recently been fought over the country's vast natural resources, chiefly oil and diamonds. Angola mines between $600 million and $800 million of diamonds each year, making it the fourth-largest producer, by value, in the world. One-fifth of that production comes from the country's only mine, Catoca. The rest is scattered in alluvial (surface) deposits.
The old De Beers prospected for underground deposits in Angola. And in its effort to control the world's diamond supply, it also bought lots of alluvial diamonds--both from the Angolan government and from areas controlled by rebels.
By 1998, De Beers' Angolan adventure threatened to become a PR nightmare. The nongovernmental organization Global Witness publicized the atrocities that rebel forces in Angola and other African countries were committing to gain access to their countries' diamonds. The phrase "conflict diamonds" entered the lexicon; the United Nations passed resolutions calling for a boycott; and U.S. Congressman Tony Hall sponsored a bill that called for an embargo against diamonds not certified by the governments of Sierra Leone and Angola. Fearful of a consumer backlash, De Beers closed its buying offices in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Moments after De Beers shut its doors, Angola awarded the marketing rights for the country's diamonds to Ascorp, a state partnership with Lev Leviev, a Russian/Israeli diamond manufacturer and former De Beers sightholder. As a result Leviev now controls one of the largest sources of diamonds outside De Beers.
Despite its new, supposedly open mindset, De Beers is hardly comfortable ceding control over such an important producer of diamonds. So it is maintaining a presence in Angola, though a low-key one. Its representatives continue to negotiate with the government, it has just recently finished construction on a 12-story sorting house in downtown Luanda, and it still spends about $8 million a year prospecting in the Angolan jungles.
In the meantime the company is happily reaping the PR benefits of being able to call itself a "conflict-free" supplier. Diamonds that carry its new Forevermark are guaranteed to be conflict-free, and the company says that any sightholder caught handling conflict diamonds would be excommunicated. And last August, De Beers and other industry leaders formed the World Diamond Council, whose mandate is to eradicate conflict diamonds from the rest of the world's supply.
While the company seems to be winning this particular PR battle, its uneasy effort to tiptoe through the Angolan minefield exemplifies the problem De Beers faces as it simultaneously tries to open up and to wield the monopolistic powers of the old De Beers. Throughout my trip to Africa, I was confronted with evidence of this schism. Even as the company openly exhibited its expansion plans and granted access to its mining operations, it displayed the secrecy and stifling control for which the old De Beers was famous. Every minute of every day was rigidly scheduled. There was little room to escape, to veer from the confines of De Beers' yellow-brick road and seek the company behind the curtain.
But we didn't need to veer too far. Signs of the old De Beers were everywhere: At an orphans' village in Gaborone, Botswana, where De Beers had taken us to illustrate the company's commitment to social causes, even though the village's leader admitted, reluctantly, that Debswana, the partnership between De Beers and the government, contributed only $14,000 (about 2% of the annual budget)...In a seedy bar in Oranjemund, where one of Namdeb's miners complained, "The security for the diamonds is 110%; the security for us is not so good." Everything about the place, he said, can be summed up by the food, which "looks great on the outside but tastes like shit." The only thing left to do here, he said, staring at the label on his beer, "is to empty the bottle"...And even in the posh confines of the De Beers guesthouse. On our last night at Namdeb, I asked Alan Ashworth, the mine's manager, why we hadn't been able to see the "recovery area"--the part of the mine where the final separation between diamonds and ore takes place. "It's a question of security," he replied. Earlier that day at the mine, even though none of our group had come within a hundred yards of a diamond, we had all been X-rayed. (Employees are X-rayed every two weeks; Namdeb was in the process of implementing a low-dosage machine called Scannex that will allow it to X-ray all of its employees daily.) "How do we know that one of you wasn't recruited by some international crime syndicate?" Ashworth asked, his pale, mustachioed face reddening with anger. True, Namdeb is an alluvial mine that experiences a higher level of theft than De Beers' other operations. Still, Ashworth's response seemed paranoid. After all, for every 270 tons of sand they move, Namdeb's miners recover less than a handful of diamonds. Many miners work their entire careers without once seeing a diamond.
video on inefficiency in monopolies. similar to what we covered in lecture IF you still dont get it. :) i think this guy is quite clear :)
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anw, for yall to DESTRESS :D more microsoft stuff :)
Open Microsoft Word and do the following: 1. Type in upper case Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers . 2. Highlight the Q33 NY. 3. Change the font size to 48. 4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS...
see what happens :)
<3shinyi>
p.s: i think when we post econs stuff, label it as econs so mrs tan can just click on the label and she'll see JUST econs stuff :)
I know this is long overdue .... :)) from stj. man was the food good. erm didn't rotate the green tea macha pic so it looks like it can defy gravity. -kyna.
Monday, 28 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 22:32
HEY 75 ( :
1. Confirmed Class theme for Fac Outing. Masculinity. Basically means nothing with a skirt/dress (for the babes), but come in jeans/pants and a checkered/manly top with a belt. Please try to go attired in this outfit as it'll look pretty as a clss photo :D Possible combinations of clothes could be:
LOL okay so you have a visual image in your mind. SET TO WORK IN FINDING YOUR NICE OUTFIT :D PLEASE BRING 16 bucks for fac outing latest on tuesday. bye and have fun!
love, val.
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HandWritten on; 19:44
Is Monopoly Bad? This video explores the pros and cons of monopoly. the lecturer is quite cool, but of course not as lovely, engaging and intelligent as our dear Mrs Tan. yep some of the related videos there may be quite useful, they are pertaining to deadweight loss/price discrimination that were covered in lectures/tutorials. enjoy!
Please remember to do Econs tutorial question 1 a b and c. For Section c only case study 1 is required. =D
Hope all of you will have a wonderful weekend!
Beatrice
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HandWritten on; 19:12
Hi 75,
29th April 2008 Tuesday is Ben & Jerry's annual free cone day! Basically people can go to any B&J outlet and get free scoop of ice-cream. You can get 1 scoop of any flavour and you can just go and queue up AGAIN to get a second one. Cool?
So, anyone interested in having a class outing on that day? It's CSM anyway on Wednesday...so can you all please DAO work for half a day and we go out? We could also catch a movie or something after stuffing ourselves with ice-cream. How about that?
(The closest B&J outlet is probably the one in Suntec City Mall. Just a bus ride on 174 from HC and a short walk.)
Friday, 25 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 23:38
Dear 08S75,
Oon and I are sorry for ponning Math today,
resulting in the class having to write an essay.
But don't worry because both of us will tank the essay.
----
tard (on behalf of oon)
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HandWritten on; 22:53
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HandWritten on; 00:44
`anzai =DD
Thursday, 24 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 21:04
heyyyy for our apollo fac outing theme, we haven't really decided right! so here're a few suggestions
1. hollywood (ew) 2. futuristic (ew) 3. royalty 4. sleepover (hahaha pyjamas :D) 5. yellow (apollo!) 6. retro 7. masculinity (which means all the girls will dress up as boys and the boys remain as boys -.-)
love, jiamin
Wednesday, 23 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 22:07
`anzai
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HandWritten on; 19:48
Hey 75, can all the PW group leaders please collect 3 sets of sample GPPs each from me tomorrow? Thanks!
Also a little reminder that GPP drafts are due on Friday (25 April)
Your friendly PW rep.
Tuesday, 22 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 22:40
hello:) this article was in today's Straits Times Review section..relevant to econs + good for general knowledge too! :D
WORLD FACING HUGE NEW CHALLENGE ON FOOD FRONT Business-as-Usual Not a Viable Option Lester R. Brown A fast-unfolding food shortage is engulfing the entire world, driving food prices to record highs. Over the past half-century grain prices have spiked from time to time because of weather-related events, such as the 1972 Soviet crop failure that led to a doubling of world wheat, rice, and corn prices. The situation today is entirely different, however. The current doubling of grain prices is trend-driven, the cumulative effect of some trends that are accelerating growth in demand and other trends that are slowing the growth in supply.
The world has not experienced anything quite like this before. In the face of rising food prices and spreading hunger, the social order is beginning to break down in some countries. In several provinces in Thailand, for instance, rustlers steal rice by harvesting fields during the night. In response, Thai villagers with distant fields have taken to guarding ripe rice fields at night with loaded shotguns.
In Sudan, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), which is responsible for supplying grain to 2 million people in Darfur refugee camps, is facing a difficult mission to say the least. During the first three months of this year, 56 grain-laden trucks were hijacked. Thus far, only 20 of the trucks have been recovered and some 24 drivers are still unaccounted for. This threat to U.N.-supplied food to the Darfur camps has reduced the flow of food into the region by half, raising the specter of starvation if supply lines cannot be secured.
In Pakistan, where flour prices have doubled, food insecurity is a national concern. Thousands of armed Pakistani troops have been assigned to guard grain elevators and to accompany the trucks that transport grain.
Food riots are now becoming commonplace. In Egypt, the bread lines at bakeries that distribute state-subsidized bread are often the scene of fights. In Morocco, 34 food rioters were jailed. In Yemen, food riots turned deadly, taking at least a dozen lives. In Cameroon, dozens of people have died in food riots and hundreds have been arrested. Other countries with food riots include Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Senegal. (See additional examples of food price unrest.)
The doubling of world wheat, rice, and corn prices has sharply reduced the availability of food aid, putting the 37 countries that depend on the WFP’s emergency food assistance at risk. In March, the WFP issued an urgent appeal for $500 million of additional funds.
Around the world, a politics of food scarcity is emerging. Most fundamentally, it involves the restriction of grain exports by countries that want to check the rise in their domestic food prices. Russia, the Ukraine, and Argentina are among the governments that are currently restricting wheat exports. Countries restricting rice exports include Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Egypt. These export restrictions simply drive prices higher in the world market.
The chronically tight food supply the world is now facing is driven by the cumulative effect of several well established trends that are affecting both global demand and supply. On the demand side, the trends include the continuing addition of 70 million people per year to the earth’s population, the desire of some 4 billion people to move up the food chain and consume more grain-intensive livestock products, and the recent sharp acceleration in the U.S. use of grain to produce ethanol for cars. Since 2005, this last source of demand has raised the annual growth in world grain consumption from roughly 20 million tons to 50 million tons.
Meanwhile, on the supply side, there is little new land to be brought under the plow unless it comes from clearing tropical rainforests in the Amazon and Congo basins and in Indonesia, or from clearing land in the Brazilian cerrado, a savannah-like region south of the Amazon rainforest. Unfortunately, this has heavy environmental costs: the release of sequestered carbon, the loss of plant and animal species, and increased rainfall runoff and soil erosion. And in scores of countries prime cropland is being lost to both industrial and residential construction and to the paving of land for roads, highways, and parking lots for fast-growing automobile fleets.
New sources of irrigation water are even more scarce than new land to plow. During the last half of the twentieth century, world irrigated area nearly tripled, expanding from 94 million hectares in 1950 to 276 million hectares in 2000. In the years since then there has been little, if any, growth. As a result, irrigated area per person is shrinking by 1 percent a year.
Meanwhile, the backlog of agricultural technology that can be used to raise cropland productivity is dwindling. Between 1950 and 1990 the world’s farmers raised grainland productivity by 2.1 percent a year, but from 1990 until 2007 this growth rate slowed to 1.2 percent a year. And the rising price of oil is boosting the costs of both food production and transport while at the same time making it more profitable to convert grain into fuel for cars.
Beyond this, climate change presents new risks. Crop-withering heat waves, more-destructive storms, and the melting of the Asian mountain glaciers that sustain the dry-season flow of that region’s major rivers, are combining to make harvest expansion more difficult. In the past the negative effect of unusual weather events was always temporary; within a year or two things would return to normal. But with climate in flux, there is no norm to return to.
The collective effect of these trends makes it more and more difficult for farmers to keep pace with the growth in demand. During seven of the last eight years, grain consumption exceeded production. After seven years of drawing down stocks, world grain carryover stocks in 2008 have fallen to 55 days of world consumption, the lowest on record. The result is a new era of tightening food supplies, rising food prices, and political instability. With grain stocks at an all-time low, the world is only one poor harvest away from total chaos in world grain markets.
Business-as-usual is no longer a viable option. Food security will deteriorate further unless leading countries can collectively mobilize to stabilize population, restrict the use of grain to produce automotive fuel, stabilize climate, stabilize water tables and aquifers, protect cropland, and conserve soils. Stabilizing population is not simply a matter of providing reproductive health care and family planning services. It requires a worldwide effort to eradicate poverty. Eliminating water shortages depends on a global attempt to raise water productivity similar to the effort launched a half-century ago to raise land productivity, an initiative that has nearly tripled the world grain yield per hectare. None of these goals can be achieved quickly, but progress toward all is essential to restoring a semblance of food security.
yo 75. this is an article with alittle relation to kyna's post :D its about "Singapore not imposing price controls despite rising food prices" HERE! <-- click to read. cause theres some copyright issue so i dare not post here. :)
anw, we seem to have a DRQ for econs on 5th may :)
YO PEEPS!!!!!! bet you all heard about the rising food prices, especially necessites like rice. here's an article about it .. it's damn long, so i chose excerpts. scroll down for short review.
Brian McCartan 31 March 2008 The region takes a battering as agflation hits its staple food Although Asia’s farmers and exporters ought to be laughing all the way to the bank over the rapidly increasing price of rice, they aren’t. All sides – producers and consumers – are suffering and governments are struggling to cope, and farmers in Thailand, the Philippines and other countries are guarding their fields at night to prevent theft.
The price increases have forced rice-exporting countries to put the brakes on exports to keep domestic prices down and curb inflation. The rising price of rice is part of a global trend in rising food costs, with wheat leading the way, up more than 180 percent on the year, soybeans up 82 percent, soybean meal up 67 percent. But it is rice, with its fundamental place on the plates of Asia’s consumers, that is worrying governments. A year ago, rice was trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at $10.08. It has gone up to $20.175.
Higher fuel costs, with crude soaring above US$100 a barrel and threatening to stay that way, have partly been blamed for making fertilizer more expensive, raising the cost of growing rice as well as increasing transport costs. In Southeast Asia, disease, pests and a 45-day unprecedented cold snap from China down all the way to Vietnam in January and February that hurt harvests has also been blamed. Flooding in the Philippines and Vietnam has also contributed to the growing crisis.
Part of the problem, however, has been caused by ill-advised government programs. Economically disastrous subsidized biofuel programs intended to ease global warming in the United States and Europe have caused a precipitous decline in the amount of agricultural lands planted for other food sources such as wheat and soybeans. Some 16 percent of US agricultural land formerly planted in soybeans and wheat is now being planted in corn, according to the US Department of Agriculture, most of it being used for biofuels. More corn – 86.7 million acres (35 million hectares) in 2008 – is being grown in the US today than at any time since World War II ended 63 years ago. A full 600,000 acres (242,800 hectares) more are in corn now now than in 2007. Given the heavy energy inputs that go into biofuel production, the Union of Concerned Scientists has warned that the production of the fuel itself, ethanol, may not help lessen climate change after all.
Vietnam reduced its rice exports by almost a quarter last week, ordering authorities to not sign any more rice export contracts and capping exports at 3.5 million tonnes for this year, down from 4.5 million in 2007. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was quoted in a government statement as saying the cut was to stabilize prices and curb inflation. Consumer prices rose by 20 percent in Vietnam in March, the highest in 12 years, with rice prices rising by 26 percent so far this year.
On the same day as Vietnam's announcement, India raised the minimum sale price of rice exports by more than 50 percent. The move effectively ended overseas rice sales except for only the highest grades of rice. Tax incentives for non-basmati rice exporters were also scrapped. The move is also seen as an attempt to keep domestic prices down and combat inflation. India's wholesale price inflation rose to a near 14-month high amid a slowdown in economic growth.
Cambodia, suffering from spiraling costs, also announced a two-month ban on rice exports last week. Prime Minister Hun Sen said on 26 March, "It's a temporary measure. But it is to ensure food security." In a country where a third of the population lives on less than US 50¢ a day, Cambodians are hurting from a doubling in the cost of cooking gas and a rise in the price of most staple goods.
Indonesia, traditionally a rice importing nation, is also reportedly considering a ban on exports to secure its domestic stocks. Although Indonesia expects a bumper crop this year, the increased output combined with a decline in domestic prices has r Rising rice prices have governments worried about domestic supplies as farmers become increasingly interested in selling to the export market in order to make larger profits. Governments fear not having enough rice for local consumption and having to spend more on imports driving the price of rice up. Domestically it means that farmers are forced to sell at artificially low rates because they are denied export markets for their crop.
Vietnamese rice harvests were down this year due to a cold snap in January and February in the north of the country that destroyed 100,000 hectares. The crop was also hit by the tungro virus and an infestation of the brown planthopper insect. Despite the bad harvest, Vietnam exported 859,000 tonnes of rice in the first three months of this year, which represents a 5.3 percent increase over last year. Expecting further price increases, Vietnam's farmers and exporters have been stockpiling the grain, thus contributing to reduced supplies on the domestic market and raising prices at home.
Thailand is trying to keep domestic prices down through government distribution from its own stocks. Thailand's Commerce Minister announced that 300,000 tonnes of white rice stocks will be given through bidding to millers this week in an attempt to limit an increase in domestic prices. The rice is from a 2.1 million-tonne stockpile from the 2004-2006 harvests. Rice from the program will be sold 40 percent lower than the current price. Bids from millers will be accepted only if they pack the rice in 5 kilogram bags for the domestic market. Thailand's government stockpile is estimated to be good for only three months, then it will have to buy on the local market to replenish stocks.
The volatile rice prices have not been a boon to exporters. The common practice is for rice exporters to sell forward at fixed prices and then buy rice on the common market to meet orders. This has resulted in problems across the region as rapidly rising prices leave exporters losing money due to having to buy rice at prices that are much higher than what their export contracts were agreed for when signed several months ago. Exporters who insist on the previous price are finding it difficult to source enough rice to meet orders, forcing delays or even defaults on orders. ----> price ceiling?
FACTORS OF DECREASE IN RICE SUPPLY - 1. Land diverted for growth of biofuels - related back to our syllabus, this means that biofuel crops and rice/etc crops are IN COMPETITIVE SUPPLY! hence, increase in quantity supplied of biofuels results in decrease in q-s for rice crops. once again linked back to profit maximisation ideal of suppliers. 2. - in singapore, many people hoard supplies as they expect prices to increase/supply to drop. this is actually bad!!! because the surge in demand exerting upward pressure on price, hence prices will go up even further.
HELLO! Remember Mr How mentioned something about Cartel today but he said he'll cover it in the next lecture? Here's a video which can explain it briefly. BUT apparently this only describes the housing sector.
Bet everyone is mugging bio! xD And as usual, i'm the only one thats free enough to post something thats as random as this...
Anyway, as you people are mugging bio, do you all know exactly how much bio are you all mugging? If you don't, here are the calculations:
Okay, starting off with the no. of pages of the 6 chapters we have to mug for tomorrow's test, we have...
Total no. of pages : 164
Now, we then make a gross understimation of the average no. of words that we need to memorise in each page...say...50. Then we'll have:
Total no. of words to memorise : 8200
but usually, 50 words only constitutes a paragraph or around 2 points on a page, hence, we make a less gross underestimation of say 150words/page. This will amount to:
Total no. of words we really have to memorise : 24,600
Here, i would like to pause for a while and pat Oon Ming Liang (and all those who memorise the notes front to back, word for word) on the back, for its really quite an achievement, to memorise so many words, and then to forget the same amount a minute after the test tomorrow.
Now, lets take into consideration the time taken to mug those words. Assuming we only take 1 hour to mug, we have to memorise 6.8 words per second to sucessfully finish mugging. This is usually impossible. Thus, lets make a more logical assumption of memorising 20 words/minute...This alone, we will need a stunning 20.5 hours to memorise every single word. Considering the fact that 20word/minute is too fast, and some can only memorise 10 word/minute, that will double the time to 41 HOURS!!
Now, that certainly shed some light to Oon Ming Liang and Soon Yu Ming's erratic actions these few days.
But the problem arise when we next consider the probability of getting an A, or even B grade for Biology tests in HwaChongInstitution. which is onli a miserable 0.667% (2 out of 300 get B or above for the last test)
Hence, is it still worth the time and effort? Do you really care about the 24,600 words that u have to memorise? Those are perhaps, the questions we have to think about when we stare blankly at some randome DNA double-helix structure...
zz...ran out of crap to write...so thats all for now!
tata! coolsh!t
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HandWritten on; 13:17
Hey y'all, taking a break from Econs: 小学生造句 1.题目: 原来 小朋友写: 原来他是我爸爸。 老师评语: 妈妈关切一下
Haha random, hope that manage to relieve some of the mugging stress((: Jiayou all! <3 ming.
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HandWritten on; 12:50
The dollar touched an all-time low against the euro on Monday, extending its biggest three-month decline in three years. The slide comes as investors worry about the outlook for the U.S. economy. Just what’s behind the Great Dollar Decline? What does all this mean for U.S. consumers? And what happens if the dollar keeps sliding?
In the best of circumstances, the floating value of the global currencies helps grease the wheels of commerce and balance economic growth. The key word here is “relative.” Changes in the dollar against other countries’ currencies can be good or bad for different parts of the economy. But the impact can be mild or serious depending on how far apart currencies drift or how quickly things change.
In one sense, the value of the dollar is determined by a massive, multi-trillion-dollar, minute-by-minute popularity contest made up of various players in the financial markets — from people who trade currency directly to those who buy or invest in anything priced in dollars. (Central bankers like Ben Bernanke and his Fed colleagues can weigh in — just like Simon, Paula and Randy "on American Idol" — but the audience gets the final vote.)
As the currency of the world’s largest and most powerful economy, the dollar rises and falls based on the strength of that economy — and the confidence investors have in its future. With other economies in Europe and Asia growing more rapidly and the outlook for the U.S economy slowing, the dollar has been weakening.
U.S. interest rates can have a direct impact on the dollar’s value. If interest rates fall, investors who buy Treasury bonds priced in dollars get a lower return. So the dollar is worth less to them. The recent drop in interest rates here is part of the reason for the dollar’s fall.
Other countries with large central banks use interest-rate policy to “manipulate” the value of their currencies, too. If the European Central Bank wants to tame the Euro, it can flood the currency markets with more of them — or buy dollars. Some countries prefer to simply “peg” their currency to the dollar — essentially riding on the back of U.S. monetary policy (for better or worse.)
A weak currency comes with a very important trade benefit, however; it makes everything based on that currency much cheaper in the global marketplace. Whether you’re buying a condo in Florida, or a share of IBM stock, or a ticket to Disneyland, everything is on sale here if you’re paying in, say, Euros. That tends to help American companies sell more of their products, which boosts the U.S. economy. That, in turn, should create more jobs. In theory, all that expanded economic activity helps strengthen the dollar — which is why floating currencies tend to have a self-regulating effect.
The flip side is that a Hamburger in Hamburg will cost you $50. And if Americans buy more stuff from other countries than we sell to them, the weaker dollar raises the net cost for a typical American’s shopping basket. Paying more each year for the same basket of goods is the textbook definition of inflation. So a weak dollar could push U.S. inflation higher. (That’s one reason higher rates can help tame inflation.)
Eventually, all those dollars we’ve sent overseas to buy cheap clothes and big screen TVs have to come home; they’re not doing any good sitting in foreign banks or other countries’ treasuries. If too many of those dollars come home at once, and there aren’t enough things to buy with them, the value of each dollar declines.
For now, countries with extra dollars have been happy to lend them back to us — buying up hundreds of billions worth of government IOUs (aka Treasury debt). And since we’re not willing to raise taxes or cut government spending to balance the federal budget, we’re churning out plenty of Treasury debt. It’s one of our most popular exports.
All this is fine until those overseas buyers lose interest in our Treasury debt. If you can get a higher return on a Eurobond, why buy a bond from Uncle Sam? To keep those investors buying, the Treasury pays higher interest rates. And that raises the cost of all forms of borrowing for Americans.
Selling all this debt to foreign investors and governments doesn’t necessarily pose a direct threat to national security: It’s not like they can demand their money back all at once. (The Treasury’s IOU specifically says they have to wait until the bond matures.) True, if everyone sold their bonds all at once, that would sharply weaken the dollar. But that kind of massive selloff would be like a rush to the jailhouse door: If a government started dumping U.S. bonds abruptly, the value of the rest their unsold holdings would plummet.
read this in msnbc. quite interesting :D
jianrui!
Saturday, 19 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 21:15
PARADE Magazine's What People Earn 2008 Where the jobs are
Dottie Martin, 36, who made $83,600 as an editor for an entertainment Web site last year, loves her job. Her words confirm what many we spoke with say–that, in any economy, the best jobs provide emotional as well as financial rewards. "Although I've been doing it for almost three years now," says Martin, "I still pinch myself because it essentially doesn't seem like work." GOOD JOBS FOR RIGHT NOWIn a struggling economy, some jobs are more recession-proof than others.
Energy: Jobs related to oil, gas and nuclear power remain essential and in demand. Positions range from scientists to engineers to rig and well workers.
Security: The Defense and Homeland Security departments are attempting to fill 83,000 civilian jobs, from auditors to program analysts.
Accounting: Managing corporate finances is especially important during lean times. "Job-board sites list more than 325,000 accounting and finance openings right now," says Rick Moore of Volte Services Group.
Wireless support: With a mobile work force, companies need professionals who can maintain wireless networks and protect information security.
Database administration: As companies become more reliant on data for research, sales, and marketing, there is an increased need for database administrators. GOOD JOBS FOR THE FUTUREMany of the fastest-growing, best-paying jobs are in new media, law and information technology
Information technology: In an economy reliant on technology, professionals who can design, develop and maintain computer systems are crucial. Chief information officers are commanding salaries of more than $200,000. Systems analysts can make more than $91,000.
Law: Lawyers are in high demand in areas including intellectual property, corporate law and litigation. First-year attorneys are starting out at $72,500 in small firms and as high as $137,000 at large firms. Legal-support workers are finding jobs plentiful and salaries healthy too. Legal librarians make as much as $69,500 a year, while calendar clerks can earn up to $46,750.
New media: The rapid growth of the Internet is fueling a boom in online media jobs. A creative director, responsible for website content and presentation, can attract a salary ranging from $80,000 to $120,000. On the business side, advertising salespeople are earning up to $103,500.
This is called cow economics.Source from Internet,no offence.
Belgium: You have one cow. The cow is schizophrenic. Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish. The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow. The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk. The cow asks permission to be cut in half. The cow dies happy.
China: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.
France: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. You go to lunch. Life is good.
Germany: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they: live for 100 years eat once a month milk themselves are all blond drink lots of beer give excellent quality milk and run a hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.
Great Britain: You have two cows. Both are mad. You feed them warm beer. Unexpectedly they produce milk not tea. You turn the paddock into a cricket pitch. Life is jolly good.
Iraq: You have two cows. They go in hiding. They send radio and video tapes of their mooing.
India/Hindu: You have two cows. You worship them.
Israel: So, there are these two Jewish cows, right? They open a milk factory, an ice cream store, and then sell the movie rights. They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors. So, who needs people?
Italy: You have two cows but you don't know where they are. While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman. You break for lunch. Life is good.
Japan: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school. You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them world-wide.
New Zealand: You don't have any cows. You have a hundred million sheep. That one on the left is kinda cute...
Poland: You have two bulls. Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.
Russia: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have 5 cows. You have some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. You produce your tenth 5-year plan in the last 3 months. The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.
Switzerland: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for storing them.
Taliban: [although not exactly a country, right?] You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which is two. You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts. At night when no one is looking, you have sex with both of them. Then you kill them and claim a US bomb blew them up while they were in the hospital. You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.
Friday, 18 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 19:38
too tired...well just enjoy and see they are crazy. By Li Jing =)
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HandWritten on; 16:18
Action to meet Asian rice crisis Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao said food inflation was the country's most "prominent" economic problem and urged efforts to boost grain output. Food prices in China have risen more than 20% so far this year. Manila, meanwhile, has banned all future conversion of farmland for uses other than agricultural production. Social unrest There have been warnings of dire economic consequences for developing countries across Asia and increased social unrest in wealthier nations should food prices continue to rise at their current rate. The wholesale price of rice, a staple product for more than 2.5 billion people across the continent, has more than doubled in the past three months, while global supplies have fallen to a thirty-year low. Against this backdrop, the UN's World Food Programme has said it will cost an extra $160m (£81m) a year to feed Asia's poorest people. Reacting to the spiral in food prices, the Chinese Premier acknowledged that food costs were "high" and said controlling prices should be a priority for the government. However, he announced no specific measures to increase farm output, instead reminding administrative regions of the need to follow government directives on the economy. The Philippine government, on the other hand, is acting to protect farmland by indefinitely ring-fencing it for agricultural use. Agriculture Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said the move would stop the "unabated" transformation of farmland into residential property developments. The Philippines is struggling to grow enough rice to provide for its 90 million strong population and is heavily reliant on exports from Thailand and Vietnam. Ministers recently pledged to spend $1bn to become self-sufficient in rice by 2010. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7352038.stm Analysis: We have observed a sharp rise in prices of staple food in Asian region. This is a result of both a fall in quantity supply in this region as well as a rapid rising demand for it. First, the demand factor can be attributed to the recent rise of oil price. The oil price has hit up above US$100. The rising cost of using oil as fuel drives people to find alternative energy resources. It is proven that ethanol can be a cheaper substitute when made from wheat at current price. Thus, large amount of wheat was exported and used for ethanol production instead of entering food supply market. Second, the recent natural hazard in Thailand has led to sharp decrease in rice supply. The shortage in supply also drives price of rice in neighboring countries up. As there is no data showing the impact on equilibrium quantity consumed, we cannot determine whether demand factor or supply factor affects the price shift to a great extent. However, the trend of rising demand comes before natural hazards happened in food-producing countries. The prices of staple food started to rise before those hazards came as seen in high inflation rate in Asian region last year. Thus, we can partially conclude this is a demand-driven inflation. The supply shortage only worsens the situation. Facing the same food crisis, Chinese government decided to implement price control policies whereas Philippine government decided to increase productions. Normally, a price control policy such as a price ceiling will cause a loss in total social welfare, however, China has sufficient food reserve, and the unreasonable rise in food price can be viewed as an externality. Price control policies thus become one possible way of creasing the price bubble. For Philippine’s case, as a rice-importing country, Philippine’s rice supply mainly comes from Thailand. The natural hazard in Thailand will cut its root of supply. Thus, increase domestic rice production has to be done to solve the problems in long term. Li Jing
Thursday, 17 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 20:56
Title says it all: YOUR PIs ARE DUE TMR!!! (April 17 2008) Hand in to Mrs Tan during PW tutorial. And don't forget the GPP presentations...
Wednesday, 16 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 18:13
One of the worst economics policies:
Agricultural subsidies
In modern industrialised economies, farmers often fail to reap the economic benefit. As incomes rise people don't want to buy more potatoes. If farmers increase supply, through better technology, it merely serves to create a glut in supply and a collapse in price. Lower prices do not help farmers - people don't want to eat more potatoes just because they are cheaper. Therefore, governments have often felt obliged to subsidise farming; however, the method that they usually choose has merely reinforced economic inefficiency.
The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union(EU) guaranteed Minimum Prices for farmers. By giving farmers a guaranteed minimum price encouraged them to supply as much as possible. This led to:
Increased use of chemical fertilisers, causing damage to the environment. It created oversupply of food produce. Thus the government were forced to use taxpayers money to buy food nobody wanted to consume. This led to huge oversupply of foods, the butter mountains, wine lakes e.t.c. The EU then decided to "dump" alot of this excess supply on foreign markets. This might be good for consumers of food, however, it is very bad for foreign producers of food. Because of the extra supply from Europe, prices plummeted, putting many farmers out of business. High tariffs on imports of food. To make matters worse, the EU needed to place tariffs on the import of food, to make them as expensive as the artificially high EU products. Tariffs caused economic hardship for agricultural exporters, leading to retaliation on EU exporters.
The net effect of these agricultural policies was:
Higher prices for consumers Cost up to 60% of EU budget to buy surplus. Farmers in developing countries adversely effected by import tariffs and lower world prices from dumping of excess supply Environment affected by encouragement of intensive farming. High tariffs have been a stumbling block to world trade.
US agricultural policy has been little better. In the US, the added twist is that the government has often been subsidising the production of sugar and corn starch. In effect they have been subsidising unhealthy foods. Contributing to America's poor diet.
The objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) were: 1) to increase productivity, by promoting technical progress and ensuring the optimum use of the factors of production, in particular labour; 2) to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural Community; 3) to stabilize markets; 4) to secure availability of supplies; 5) to provide consumers with food at reasonable prices.
Not economic efficient: Only 5% of EU's population works on farms, and the farming sector is responsible for less than 3% of the GDP of the EU. Yet it costs much of the EU budget to buy the surplus.
An inspirational video that kept my spirits up during the stress of competitions. I know Nicholas enjoyed the morale boost very much too. Just to share with the rest of the class. Enjoy!
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HandWritten on; 21:03
if you think the previous video wasn't enough (scroll down), check this out!
TOP 10 Reasons to study Econs!
1. Economic Forecaster.
As an economist you can make a living from predicting future economic events. The key to being a good economic forecaster is to use a mixture of dice and lottery numbers. (some economists make the mistake of using just lottery numbers, but this can lead to really bad forecasting) If this method fails just use the statistics from the previous year; they are always more accurate than the actual predictions of economists.
Note: Economists have successfully predicted 10 out of the last 2 recessions.
2. You can always give Advice.
When the economy enters a recession, you will be able to tell everybody why the economy is in a recession. Also, you will be able to suggest several conflicting reasons as to how we can get out of a recession. This will simultaneously, both confuse and impress everybody; but it doesn't matter because nobody ever listen to economists.
3. Diminishing Returns.
When you get ill from drinking 10 pints of beer in one night. You will be able to impress your parents with the knowledge that the law of diminishing returns is actually perfectly correct. As a side effect, you may also learn about opportunity cost:
Spending £40 on drink equals hangover.
4. Rational Behavior.
Economics assumes people are rational. Economics assumes that people choose the activity which optimises our utility. When people want to buy a season ticket to watch Leeds United, you can tell them this is irrational behaviour. The Leeds United supporter will definitely appreciate the cogency of your economic reasoning and will, more than likely, start supporting Doncaster Rovers with immediate effect.
5. Economics is a very humorous subject.
Did you know that you can rearrange Economics to get "comic nose". If, this alone, was not sufficient proof of the hilarity endemic in the subject of Economics, try these economics jokes:
How many Free Market economists does it take to change a light bulb? None, in the long run, it will change of its own accord. How many Marxists does it take to change a light bulb? None, smash the light bulb, a light bulb is a mere representation of the capitalist ideology that gives a feeble light, rather than the True source which is the sun.
6. Economics gets you a high paid job.
Actually, this is the only reason people study economics. Unless of course you have a strange desire to be an economics teacher; in which case you will enjoy your students repeatedly asking you the question; "Why didn't you get a proper job in the city, Sir?"
7. It's better than studying Geography.
True, but purists may argue this doesn't prove very much.
8. Economies of Scale
When you forget your wife's / girlfriends birthday you can say that you were merely seeking to maximise economies of scale and productive efficiency, because you are waiting to get her a really big present at Christmas. This always goes down very well.
(In the incredibly unlikely event it doesn't, don't forget to also check out: www.nofriendsandsingleconomist.com)
9. However - On the Other Hand
Economics is the only subject where contradicting yourself is seen as a highly desirable attribute. To double the mark on your economics essays, just say after each paragraph: however, on the other hand this is probably not true at all...
10. You will Know Why you are Unemployed
When you are standing in the unemployment queue, you will be able to tell everyone the type of unemployment they are suffering from. This will greatly endear you to the ranks of the unemployed; who will definitely not, sarcastically, ask you;
"If you know everything, how come you haven't got a job then?
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HandWritten on; 21:02
Tomorrow please do not dally after morning assembly, HEAD STRAIGHT TO THE HALL. This is because we're gonna have a Q&A session with the Presidential nominees/elects. The Q&A session is only for 1 hour, so WE'RE HAVING PE=>NAPFA 5 items! JIAYOU ALL(((: --ming<3
found a vid on the parody of the basic fundamental economics concepts. its quite funny if u can actually hear what the speaker is trying to say!
anywayz, this is just for laughs and to encourage more participation of the posting of econs related stuff! (if not my participation points will be deducted...)
so yeap! POST ECONS PPL!
Monday, 14 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 23:51
my smartness for the day:
WHY IS ORANGE CALLED ORANGE AND APPLE NOT CALLED RED AND BANANA NOT CALLED YELLOW
or else, APPLE + BANANA = ORANGE :D
<3shinyi :)
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HandWritten on; 21:04
ok reminders for 16 apr wed, csm events we'll have are long jump, jav, polevault, 200m for both genders =D all these events start at 3.15pm
for javelin, we have pohting, jiayee, shinyi, audrey, jiahui, kyna, nick 200m we have ur dear pe rep me =D thats it lol those who are free just go join long jump or 200m for fun lar, wednesday anyway slack day confirm no homework =D so bring ur pe attire or sth so u can just sign up for long jump and just get participation =]
and updates or our ct points, so far for hurdles boys i have 3rd position so thats uh 6 points, then faith and beatty ran hurdles too, not sure of their position but i'm quite sure we have some points from them =D rock on judo girls lol and sadly i see timing for 100m wrongly so liangsai went late and didnt make it.. sorry 75 man my bad T.T k then highjump no one went =/ if any girl just went it would be an easy 3-4 points lor.. shot put girls we have beatty and estelle, so theres at least 2 points from them.. inter ct boys, we didn't rally enough guys, so we pulled out, our girls got 4th for inter ct girls i think, so thats 5 points, we pulled out of inter ct mixed
so roughly, we should have like near 20 points? thats not bad liao ok jiayou 75 man if we just participate in 1 more event, thats 26 more points liao, we have 16apr and 25th and 28th apr to do that. so lets rock =D
cya all tml -anzai
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HandWritten on; 20:51
Hey 75! If you want to submit another draft before submitting your final PIs, the due date is tomorrow morning. Please either leave the draft in Mrs Tan's pigeonhole (Mrs-Tan Foo Mei Ching) or pass me your PI draft before 8am tomorrow and I'll drop it off at Mrs Tan's pigeonhole. If you can't hand up before 8am you gotta hand it up to her yourself as I'll be leaving school early for competition again. Ok work hard for your PIs and GPP! And add oil for everything else!
En Yi
Sunday, 13 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 13:21
"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquerer outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?
George Carlin"
koped from my snr's (terrance's) blog -anzai =DD
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HandWritten on; 10:33
DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters: DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters: BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER: When you rearrange the letters: MOON STARER
DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters: A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES: When you rearrange the letters: THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters: HE BUGS GORE
GAUTENG: When you rearrange the letters: GET A GUN
THE MORSE CODE: When you rearrange the letters: HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters: CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters: IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS: When you rearrange the letters: LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters: ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters: IM A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES: When you rearrange the letters: THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters: TWELVE PLUS ONE
AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE......
MOTHER-IN-LAW: When you rearrange the letters: WOMAN HITLER
Disclaimer: These were copied from an email, I did not come up with them.
.--- ....
Saturday, 12 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 23:28
YESYES THEY DO. and theyhave pretty guitar parts ( :
anyway REMINDER TO RESET YOUR GC for math test on mon! please go to SMB to check out details on how to.
btw on the same monday, reminder there's interCT relay and mixedrelay comp at 3.15 and 3.45 respectively. people running are
btw is there any team from our class who's participating in the VBC? please sound out thanks.
love, valoo (:
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HandWritten on; 08:05
still hungry? =P
Friday, 11 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 22:58
So many scandals in class. Which ones should we believe?
Thursday, 10 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 19:41
A cat which has lost an electron? [ this one is damn easy, even valoo guessed it lol]
Lalala i'm bored. anyway here are a few nice songs to please your eardrums.
Inspirational/calming songs- footprints in the sand - leona lewis angels - robbie williams your guardian angel - red jumpsuit apparatus angel in disguise - corrinne may closer - travis
emo songs - my happy ending - avril lavigne facedown/ your love is a lie - simple plan disenchanted/cancer/i don't love you - MCR! your call/vulnerable- secondhand serenade
songs to rock out to - ocean avenue - yellowcard misery business - paramore scars - papa roach
groovy/dancey songs- piece of me- britney spears the way i are - timbaland grace kelly - mika ETC!
Sorry, my knowledge of chinese songs is limited :(
Yay, if you want the songs i can send them to you. Add petrol for class tests and everything else!
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HandWritten on; 17:01
A duck walks into a restaurant one day, walks up to a waiter and asks “Do you have any Duck food?” The waiter looks down at the duck and says “No we have no duck food, you need to leave” so the duck leaves.
The next day the duck comes back to the restaurant, walks up to the same waiter and asks “Do you have any duck food?” The waiter looks down at the duck and says “I told you yesterday we don’t have any duck food, you need to leave!” so the duck leaves.
The next day the duck comes back to the restaurant, walks up to the same waiter and asks “Do you have any duck food?” The waiter looks down at the duck and says “Are you stupid? I’ve already told you WE DONT HAVE ANY DUCK FOOD, you need to leave AND DONT COME BACK!” so the duck leaves.
The next day the duck comes back to the restaurant, walks up to the same waiter and asks “Do you have any duck food?” The waiter looks down at the duck and says “I can’t believe you came back. WE DONT HAVE ANY DUCK FOOD DONT YOU UNDERSTAND! Look if you come back ask me again I’m going to nail your beak to the floor! NOW LEAVE” so the duck leaves.
The next day the duck come back to the restaurant, walks up to the same waiter and asks “Do you have any nails?” The waiter looks down at the duck and says “What the…... no i dont have any damn nails! what the hell kind of question is that?”.
The duck asks “Do you have any duck food?”
Tuesday, 8 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 19:41
Happy Birthday, Oon!
(though you will prob not see this ): ) may you score many many As (like you would usually do)and continue to empower the class with your gifted academically-inclined talents (:
btw i was so sad that waterpolo match ended half way. sigh. jiahui and i were cheering and jumping around madly. and my throat felt really raw but sucking honey is good. and nicholas played for a really short while. wished that we could see nicholas more in action haha. aiya. jiayou for math in class assignment tmr (:
love, valooo.
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HandWritten on; 18:23
I'm starting to like posting here (: Aren't all of you happy that I'm posting! (It wasn't a question.)
Mm okay, as usual I don't really know what to write here. Ooh, I need help in creating a scandal for either jianrui and zhian. It's not fair that it's mainly the girls with the FAKEscandals all the time you know. Hahaha.
Anyway, good luck for 2.4km run and all the upcoming tests and stuff. I shall go mug now.
<3estelle
Monday, 7 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 19:02
Get Well Soon MING :)
Anyway, everyone should eat 菜包! cause its the nicest 包 in the world. :)
<3 shinyi :)
Sunday, 6 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 17:28
Hi ppl...please remember to hand up your PI draft tomorrow. Don't worry this is just a draft copy. The final PI is due in week 5. Even then the final PIs to be submitted to MOE is some time after the school deadline, so we got a LITTLE of breathing space. But please don't slack too much k.
Ok, GP test is coming right up so yeah, decided to "upload" the globalisation PPT for ur reference. Its all published as pics below so just download or something. jiayou for the test :D
and good luck to nick and enyi for comp!
-JunioR
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HandWritten on; 10:42
hey 08s75( :!
Rgd the Waterpolo cheering session on tues, is there anyone who can't make it? apparently those with exra classes are excused. we have to reply the teachers by this sunday midnight our class's attendance and since yingming is kind of away due to Council camp, I'll help with the collation of attendance okay. (jianrui's prob away at another marathon too.)
so details rgd the tues cheering session: Board bus at tennis courts: 2.35pm Match time: 3.20pm-5pm+ Attire: PE tee, I<3HC tee or full uniform. Venue: CCAB pool (NUS law, just down the road) (no fac tees please, as you are supporting a team as students from Hwa Chong not so much the Apollo faculty)
so please sms me or call me by sunday 8pm okay to tell me if you can't make it. thanks and much love, valenciaaa( :
p.s. GAMBATTE NICKONG AND ENYI do US PROUD ( :
Friday, 4 April 2008!
HandWritten on; 23:20
Hey dudes/dudettes ( :
if you're really bored now/nth to do/finish darn PI, try this ( :
anyway Caffeine slows the dementia process MUAHA. random fact i found in the newspaper today. so maybe we should all follow jianrui and buy his nescafe everyday.
random photo superbly amusing!!!
coolsh!t and enyi : WO MEN SHI HAO BRUDDER : D
alright goodnight my darlingggs (in NMLO style), from the wonderful valencia ( :
