1980s vs 2000s

Well most people would say that there are great differences of the life in Singapore in the 1980s and in the 2000s. I have not expeirenced the differences but have heard of some like how neighbours used to cook an extra portion of food for you and how neighbours left their door open. ( You will certainly not see those now)


Well a simple test on the expectations of parents then and now might show some light. And so I will be sharing what my parents expectations of me and what my expectations of my children are. Firstly, my parents expected me to work hard when I am young and be successful in the coperate world. They want me to be outspoken and not be afraid to share opinions and ask. A good learning attitude and having a high aim is something that they expect from me and is what they think that is essential in learning new things.


My expectations of my children are quite similiar. I want them to be acceptive, have perserverance and be determined when learning things. My children are expected to work hard when they are young so that they are able to take life slowly when they are old. Also, my children must dare to try new things and dare to take risks that will benefit them. Thriftiness must be present and also being humble is important. I hope that my children will have the goal to suceed in everything that he does. Lastly, he or she must have compassion care for the unfortunate.


As you can see, both the generations of parents have similiar goals for their children and this shows that although the generations are different, the goals and expetations of parents for their children are the same and that all parents want their children to be useful adults in the future. So after all, not all things are different in different generations of people.

Book Review 5 - Little Brother

Holidays are here !! And that means homework!! Yes that is what teachers always say and you may get irritated sometimes. But this is not the case for my book review assignment. And so this holiday, I read a book entitled Little Brother, which is a work of Cory Doctorow. Do not be mistaken and think that this book is about some kinship story,or problem with family ties. This is a book about technology and terrorism.Weird title...








Well as said in the previous paragraph, this story which is about technology is quite profound for me as I am not really 'in' to technology and stuff. Ask me about computer systems and codes used in computers, you know the answer that you will get. Anyway, here is what the story is about. It is about a seventeen year old boy Marcus who was known as w1n5t0n (winston) fighting against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It all started with Marcus escaping school with a group of friends to go and play Harajuku Fun Madness, a Japanese game in which you have to solve clues and find things.






Marcus was no ordinary boy as he knew how systems work and how to work them. Smart, fast and wise to the ways of a networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy suveillance system. He has the gadgets that are able to make himself invisible to the surveillance system. Library books are dangerous to him as they have Radio Frequncy ID tags that allow librarians to check out books by waving them over a reader and lets a library shelf tell you whether books are out of place. It also allows the school to track where someone is. Bad news for someone who wants to escape from school. At the time that that Marcus wanted to escape, his friend who was also escaping had a library book.The clever seventeen years old knew how to solve the problem. And that was to place the book in the microwave oven and let the waves destroy the ID tags. Marcus also had many hacks and illegal softwares that allows him to hide from things that are able to track what you are doing.






And so after escaping from school, Marcus went to meet up with his friends Van, Jolu and Darryl before going to Harajuku Fun Madness. When they were there, they enthusiastically got their clue and started playing. While finding the things, a group of girls, also playing the same game took a picture of Marcus and threatened to send the picture to truant watch unless they his group gave up and let them find the thing they were searching for. Gangsters.

Just then, the ground shook and panic filled the air. Everyone thought that it was an earthquake but earthquakes often started quietly, and this time, there was an incredibly loud bang. It was an explosion. Terrorists had blown up the Bay Bridge. In the midst of escaping, Darryl got slashed and was injured. The four of them got to a street and tried calling an ambulance that would go by every now and then, but to no avail. Getting frustrated, Marcus stood in front of a coming veicle hoping that there will be someone would bring Darryl to the hospital. The people came out, hooded Marcus and his friends. It was the Department of Homeland Security. All of them had been suspected of being involved in the bombing. This is because Marcus had some soft wares as said earlier that are capable of helping him hide from security cameras and others and thus provides evidence against him. The four friends are whisked to a secret prison, where they were mercilessly interrogated for days. The police were still suspicious of Marcus and told him that he was a marked person. When they were out, California had changed into a police state where everyone is treated as a terrorist and everywhere are security cameras. (Darryl was not released for some reasons) And everyone's whereabouts are being tracked by the cards that they were using to pay for things








Marcus thought that this was an infringement of privacy and that why should they have to tell them where they were. However, the public thinks that this was for safety reasons and felt that it was okay. Some groups of people were with Marcus. And so he decides that he should fight the DHS. Marcus burned a software called the Xnet and distributed it to friends and they did the same. The Xnet allowed them to have privacy and no one knows what they are doing on their computer. But soon, the police had checks on who were using Xnet. This leads to Marcus finding an alternative solution. He then organised a meeting in which the people who had Xnet were to create a web of thrust and that was to make sure that no one within them was a spy. At the meeting, Marcus met a girl named Angela and dated her. Also, at the meeting, Jolu, an African American decided to stop helping Marcus in his planning of such 'against the police' activities as whatever punishments that the whites get, he will get double.






And so, Marcus decided to go and tell a reporter what had happened to him when he was in the secret prison. Darryl’s father had also gone to tell his story of how he had spent his life thinking that his son was dead.






Peace was restored when the matter was known and it was taken to court. Marcus was asked to give a speech and that went successfully. Here comes the happy ending. The DHS would hold a closed military tribunal to investigate the possible errors in judgment committed after the bombing of the Bay Bridge. The tribunal would use every tool at its disposal to ensure that criminal acts were properly punished.. In return, control over the DHS operations would have to go throught the State Senate, which would have the power to shut down and inspect or reprioritise all homeland security in the state.


Reflection : From this story, I learned that there are many things that can cause disorder in the country. Firstly, there is terrorism. Terrorists are everywhere. Anyone of us might be one or may be one in the future. They cause great destruction and fear in the people. Extreme thinkings or beliefs are causes for this. Recently, there is a news article on some teenagers wanting to commit suicide because of their extreme beliefs in their religon. Religons are ment to help to shape the well beings of  a person. But anything that comes in extreme, becomes bad. 


Secondly, it is how a particular organisation, in this case the Department of Homeland Security does things. The DHS is doing too much to protect the people. I admit that too much camera suveillence and security checks makes me feel uncomfortable. Wherever you are, someone knows. What ever you are doing, someone also knows. There is no privacy at all. Luckily there is no such organisation yet in Singapore and it is good that terrorism has not entered our home land.


To end it off, here is a link that you can watch to know the story visually. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAT4Nm9gZjE&feature=PlayList&p=F30EE9004FBEB048&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2