Article review

Article
Typhoon slows down Internet

SOME Singapore Internet users may be experiencing slowdowns on the Information Superhighway, especially when trying to access websites hosted in the United States and Taiwan.

Typhoon Morakot, which has triggered Taiwan's worst flooding in 50 years, has damaged the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 submarine cable system through which bytes of information travel.

This means that people trying to connect to gaming servers in the US or trying to instant message friends overseas may find it difficult to connect.

A SingTel spokesman said that restoration works on the cable system have begun.

'Our engineers are in the process of diverting Internet traffic to other cable systems. We expect the situation to return to acceptable levels within the next 24 hours,' he said.

The last time a major outage happened was in December 2006, when quakes off Taiwan severed several cables at once, causing the Net to go down.

Review

The typhoon at Taiwan is very serious and has caused many lives. Now, the typhoon has even caused the internet to slow down due to the the damage of wires. I think that the wires at the Taiwan area should be more well protected as Taiwan is a earthquake and typhoon-prone area and damage are often caused to these wires. This will be a big influence to the world, by letting the internet go down at United States and other countries because of a natural disaster at the other end of the world.

I have a few suggestions to prevent this problems from occurring again. They can protect the wires by either enhancing the covering of the wires or adding additional wires somewhere else, to let diverting of the signals fast if something happened to the others. They can also change the place where these important wires are situated, like changing them to places where natural disasters are rare, so that the chance of damage to them can be minimized. Although the damage this time is only slowing down the internet, the last time in December 2006 has caused the net to go down.The next time, the same thing may happen, or worst, something worse may happen.

Favourite Food

Ramen

Ramen, is a type of Japanese soup noodle originated from China. The noodle is often topped with seaweed, sliced pork or corn. The reason why Ramen is my favourite food is because of its fragrance, taste and its delicious noodles.

The smell of the ramen itself is enough to let you drool. The pure fragrance of the miso or soya soup from afar is still as rich as ever and would taste even better than you smelled it.

The soup is so rich and well-flavoured that it would still leave the rich taste in your mouth even after hours. I like the soup even more if it is made from pork bones and is cooked slowly fors hours into its rich taste. You would surely remember the so fragrant taste 0f the soup.

The noodles are so chewy and has absorbed the rich soup into itself and contains the richness of the soup. The noodles can be drawn into various sizes and my favourite is the straight, where the noodles has the best texture and taste.

These are the main reasons why I like ramen so much and why it is my favourite food. I will add some pictures on the ramen.


picture sources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

Elearning 31/7

3. Why is it important for students to keep up to date with the news? Share some tips on how students can keep up with what is happening around them and around the world.

What if one day, a mutated H1N1 virus has been discovered. It spreads through any body contact and is lethal. We would NEED to know right? But without a clue of this, we will still go through body contact like shaking hands. Without knowing it, you may be infected. This is an example on how important keeping up to date with the news is important.
Keeping up to date with the news is easy. Just spend maybe half an hour reading today's newspapers and know of of the world's news. Or you can watch the daily news telecast on television.

Elearning 30/7

2. What are some tips you would offer fellow students to stay healthy?

Hi guys. Nowadays, lots of people are getting sick, and H1N1 virus is spreading like wildfire. In fact, my class was one of the few where we are suspended from school. Now that that the situation is so serious, we must contribute by keeping a clean and hygienic environment. Also, protect your self from getting sick. Here are some tips:

1)Avoid crowded areas
2)Cover your mouth when sneezing/coughing
3)Where a mask if feeling unwell or has flu-like symptoms
4)Do not go out of you are feeling unwell or has flu-like symptoms
5)Drink lots of water and stay healthy!

Elearning 29/7

About:
1. What are your thoughts about home learning? Is it more effective than learning in school?

Home learning, it is as stated, learning from home. Home learning may sound fun, staying at home, but it can be tiring too. You have to continue sitting on the chair in front of the computer, for straight 6 hours or so. Even though there are time for breaks, the thought of returning to the computer is...bad. But opportunists will take the time to slack off, or play computer games while doing at the same time. Discussions are mostly empty, with uncontactable people busily enjoying themselves.
I think that learning at home is not as effective as learning in school. In school, the teacher can specifically explain the questions that we do not understand. However, at home, all we can do is email the teacher and have a written and unspecific explanation. Also, as stated before, the students will take the opportunity to slack and play computer games. No one will know if someone is not doing their work seriously.
Conclusion: It is better to learn in school, with approachable teachers and watchful eyes, better than at home slacking the time off.

Lesson 3: Analysing and Composing a poem

Analyze this:
The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa'at


My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something
At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A's
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper
In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed

Analyze:

This poem is a free verse poem. It has no regular rhythm or rhyme, which makes the poem sound more natural. It some gives the reader and author more freedom, where the reader can choose how to read and the writer will not be restricted to a rhythm or rhyme only, which will let the the writer express more on the topic.

Lesson 2

Kay Ryan

Having won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union League Poetry Prize, the Maurice English Poetry Award, and three Pushcart Prizes and work selected four times for The Best American Poetry and was included in The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997, this amazing poet has written staggering amounts of beautiful poems. That is the reason why Kay Ryan in July, 2008, the U.S. Library of Congress announced that Ryan would be the sixteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress for a one year term commencing in Autumn 2008, succeeding Charles Simic. Said Dana Gioia in is blog: "Over the past five years no new poet has so deeply impressed me with her imaginative flair or originality as Kay Ryan."

Dissertation of Kay Ryan...


I find Kay Ryan simply an amazing poet. Her wonderful poems are recognized by the public which allowed her to shoot to fame. Though her poems are often short, but all of them contains rich meanings. I think Kay Ryan writes poems to express her thoughts of her life. Now lets look into the Biography of Kay Ryan. She born in San Jose, California and was raised in several areas of the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert.She attended Antelope Valley College and received bachelor's and master's degrees in English from University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1971, she has lived in Fairfax, California, and has taught English part-time at the College of Marin in Kentfield.
Three poems by this Kay Ryan is:

1)Home to Roost
2)Nothing Ventured Patience
3)The Edges of Time

They are very nice!
Check http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/352 to know more about her and listen to her poems.

Source:http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/352
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Ryan