Gut Feeling

Reader's Digest 2008 - May 2008 Pg 50 - 55

I must applaud the author, Lynn Sherr, for her bravery in overcoming colon cancer and her ability to share her near death experience with readers. The independence she portrays in her determination to triumph over colon cancer should well be a motivation for other cancer-stricken patients to be optimistic about their own situation and not give in to the virus. Her goal was that simple- To be a normal person living normal life- and she achieved it because she kept fighting.
I am flabbergasted by the insensitivity and irresponsibilty of the doctors and fellow medical personnel who treated Sherr. She had that gut feeling that something was wrong with her and it was not appendicitis as the doctors thought. The use of the word 'thought' already shows the uncertainty of Sherr's situation. The dagger-like pain to her gut had left her gasping and it was a sign it was worse than appendicitis. The feeling she had was partly attributed to her husband's death to cancer, yet, despite insistent questioning, the surgeon could still say that he thinks Sherr did not have cancer. Even if there was a possibility, it would be only a small chance and insisted it was appendicitis. In my point of view, I think that doctors and surgeons alike should leave the word 'think' out of their vocabulary when dealing with patients. It only gives patients a sense of doubt and leaves them in worry. This also leads to suspicion of the doctor's capability. They should always give confirmation and not compromisation, not assuming or inferencing situations. Health is key in life, and worrying alone deters a healthy life.
I guess the doctors were surprised by Sherr as well, because she was right, it was not appendicitis. It was something more serious. She must haved proved them wrong and thus they hesitated to reveal her state. Again, doctors should not hesitate to reveal the truth unless they are very sure the patient will not be able to take the blow. In this case, Sherr lives a very professional life. She was likely to be able to handle the situation professionally and not freak out. This shows the lack of communication and information between the doctor and the patient, which is essential in gaining each other's trust.
Upon knowing her situation from her sister, Sherr was not shocked. In fact, she was determined to learn everything she could about his assault on her life. I am impressed by her initial reaction, because hardly anyone could handle a life concerning situation with such calm attitude. She could even joke about her sickness, singing her e-mails with a semi-colon. Such optimism deserves commendation. If I were to be in her shoes, I would probably be 'boasting' about my health and have everyone pity me. Not a good example, obviously, but Sherr's keep-fighting attitude eliminates such thoughts.
She was on the right track. Her situation got better by the day but she had to decide whether or not to have chemotherapy. Colon cancer was known as a silent killer, so that dagger-like pain she felt saved her. She was lucky. As she wanted to be a normal person living a normal life, she decided to take up chemotherapy. When she saw people who were in much worse conditions than her, it must have motivated her to go forward in life. However, when she found at there was a risk of recurrence, she burst into tears. This is natural, having led quite a normal life for quite awhile and then taking another blow. But another motivation came- two baseball players who were in the same condition and all of them acknowledged how this brush with death changes their perception of the world. To them, it's about being alive.
In the end, Sherr passed the recurrence mark and would only need to be checked in a year. She felt great to be considered normal again. This article teaches the importance of optimism. Imagine you were the author, could you have taken this situation into good hands? For me, I possibly could not have. Lynn Sherr is definitely a role model for everyone. Her never-say-die attitude certainly deserves applaud.

Done by: Bernice (3)

The Rise of Cyber Bullying

Over the years, technology has improved greatly. The Internet have made things alot more convenient and has also benefited us in many ways, but it has brought us more harm than good. Cyber bullying is one example, cyber-bullies are making use of information and communication technologies to harm others intentionally.

Most of the consequences leading to cyber bullying are bad, with some victims going to the length of commiting sucide due to the continuous harrasments of their peers. In my opinion, cyber bullying is a scandalous act and should not have been present. Cyber bullying not only hurts the victim deeply but also leaves a permanent scar in them, together with all the negative memories.

As it is hard to identify bullies through internet, they would have the mentality that no matter what they do, they would not be exposed. This had give cyber bullies better conditions and confidence to bully their victims much harsher than the conventional way.

One possible advantage for victims of cyber-bullying over traditional bullying is that they may sometimes be able to avoid it simply by avoiding the site/chat room in question. Unfortunately, this obviously does not protect against all forms of cyber bullying; publishing of defamatory material about a person on the internet is extremely difficult to prevent and once it is posted, millions of people can potentially download it before it is removed.

In conclusion, I hope that cyber bullies would truly know the consequence of their actions and stop their bullying act.

Done by:( Benjamin)

This article, "Searching For Marita" is about a woman, Susana Trimarco of Argentina who set out to find her missing daughter. Instead she discovered a shadowy world of human trafficking and forced prostitution. Her daughter, Maria de los Ángeles Verón had been missing since April 3, 2002.

Reading this article arouses mixed emotions in me, that of anger and admiration for Susana Trimarco. I think that she is a very brave woman and a very good mother. Looking at how determined Susana is to find her daughter, I find that her daughter is very fortunate to have such a good mother like her. I am not saying that my mother is bad but it is just that not all mothers will do what Susana did.

It is rather surprising that even now, in this modern society, things like forced prostitution and human trafficking still exist. The reason behind all these hideous crimes is believe is because of those dirty old 'tek ko peks' who often patronise brothels. If they do not patronise brothels, brothels whold not have existed and therefore, prostitution will be wiped out. Even if there is brothels, woman should not be forced into them. This action is inhumane and barbaric.

However, the senario of prostitution being wiped out is rather impossible as nowadays, many girls, including well-educated ones, think that there is nothing wrong in resorting to prostitution to satisfy their materialistic cravings. I do feel sad for some of these girls as they betrayed their body just to get money for their materialistic cravings.


On the other hand, Susana exemplies bravery and initiative in helping those kidnapped young prostitutes. She opened the Fundacion Maria do los Angeles Por la Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas in Tucuman and Buenos Aires in October to help victims of sex trafficking to get medical and psychological treatment besides providing food and shelter for such victims.

The Rise of Cyber Bullying

     Although the internet and communication systems may be blamed right now for what it has been believed to cause, they are not entirely at fault. Predators who started to cyber bully others have been caused by several factors. These predators, majority of which are students and young teenagers, have faced many situations and problems they are unable to overcome. In school, peer pressure and mocking may have caused mental turmoil and psychological harm towards the victim, and the victim, unable to retort or retaliate, will start to accumulate his animosity. Over time, when he is unable to take it any longer, he will vent it out, not physically in reality, but psychologically and virtually.

     At the point of time where the victim starts to cyber bully others, he turns into a bully as well, continuing and seeing no point in stopping when he is being tormented in reality as well. This is when he falls into a deep obsession in cyber bullying, and starts to cross the borders and limits of harassments. He will find it a ludicrous to see others shrivel in pain psychologically, ignorant of the feelings of the new victim and the grievance he has inflicted. This starts another chain effect where the new victim himself, starts to rebel and vent his anger, taking it out on others through the cyber world. Repeating its cycle, this system will soon become a trend. I am inclined to think that cyber bullies not only work alone, they usually form groups such as cyber gangs and clans in order to team up against each other. This is an utterly foolish act as both sides will end up with emotional wounds, and I find it very brazenfaced of them to seethe over such feuds.

     Nevertheless, actions have been taken to stop these cyber bullying. For example, in Singapore, chat rooms, forums and e-mails have been moderated by junk or spam filters, word filters, and people themselves as moderators, these will help to reduce the transmission of bad and unwanted messages. Also, the media filtering, such as the MDA (Media Development Authority), prevents users to access or upload sites that present rude, violent or hurting acts, such as mocking and insulting videos, pictures or even sounds. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, also have their own parent filtering. I feel that this attempt towards preventing cyber bullying and other forms of offence has greatly improved the security and privacy of many internet users, and I sincerely hope that cyber bullying will be nullified and voided like the epidemic of SARS, and break the chain effect of cyber bullying soon enough.

     However, with the latest and advanced technology, computers and their systems are brought to a certain level that these cyber bullies take advantage of them, to keep anonymous and unidentified. Examples are internet proxies where these bullies are able to access into communication systems anonymously and start to act towards the victims, with them being unable to trace back the into details of the bullies. Such acts indubitably show how immoral and malicious the teenagers of today can be.

     The impact of cyber bullying has created many problems in the victims. Examples are the two cases of suicide by the 13-year-old boy whose psychological strength broke down when he was unable to cope with his friend's online mocking, and the 15-year-old girl who received relentless silent prank calls which lasted until the middle of the night when her limit was crossed and took her own life. These two, alone is already traumatising enough to display the intense effects of cyber bullying.

     I believe there are already many laws put up against cyber bullying and it is deemed illegal. Nonetheless, one should never neglect what we have learnt through lectures and talks. There are several ways to deal and not to deal with cyber bullying. Firstly, we should not get involved in cyber bullying or retaliation. "Laugh at it and you're part of it", that is what yp.direct.gov.uk quoted. We should never laugh or encourage any form of offence or threat sent through the cyber world, as we may soon get involved. We should put ourselves in the bullied's shoes, and think how would we feel like if we were aimed at instead.

     We should also talk to someone we trust about the matter, like our parents or teachers, and should not keep it to ourselves or deal with the problem alone. Being unable to cope may lead to further problems which may be harder to solve. Also, revealing too much personal information can cause our identities to be leaked over the net and cyber bullies may easily locate and act towards their targets.

     In conclusion, although cyber bullying may be a form of illegal act, there are many ways to prevent it and deal with it. We should never get involved in cyber bullying in any way, for it is hard to shun, as every action has its consequence. If we stay out of it, we will not become a victim of it, or a predator. My opinion on it: Mind our P's and Q's.

Lloyd Teo (41) 3D

Rising of Cyber Bullying

Over the years, IT has developed very fast and IT is totally different from now and then. The Internet benefits us a lot and brings a lot of convenience. For example, many people used the Internet for the convenience of their jobs.
As online shopping becomes more and more popular, people does not even have to step out of their house to buy anything and also the product can be delivered to your house. But looking at the bad side, the progression of IT have bought more harm than good and cyber-bullying is one of the problems that has spoil the image of IT. As more and more people use the Internet, there tends to be some black sheep that take advantages of the Internet. As more and more people used the Internet, there tends to be more black sheep’s. This factor has caused the number of cyber-bullying to increase drastically, and even worse, cyber-bullying has caused deaths of many teenagers. An example is the recent case of a 15-year-old British girl named Gails Jones who committed suicide after she received many prank calls for almost 30 minutes on her mobile phone. We may think that receiving prank calls may not have a link with cyber bullying but the reason behind the prank call is that this girl had disclosed her personal information on the Internet. Cyber-bullying can be done in many different ways. From sending insulting messages to posting insulting video footage on the Internet are just some of the examples of how cyber-bullying is conducted. Youngsters ranging from 13-19 are mostly the targets of these cyber-bullies as they are heavily active in social networking and online communication. The reason of the severe damage done by cyber bullying is because many people will have access to all this insulting videos and photos once it is being posted on the Internet. This will cause extreme stress to the victim, who will cause severe depression or even death is the problem is not being treated. Curing the psychological wound is easier said than done. It requires a lot of effort and support from the victim’s family as the support will let the victim have the courage to overcome the psychological barrier. As the Internet is available every seconds, it explains the frequency of cyber-bullying.
Cyber bullies never show their identity when online. Thus, they will tend to do things that they want to do in real life but they can’t. These people are perverted and sick in the mind. Research has shown that quite a handful of cyber bullies has been bullied in real life. Usually, they don't dare to retaliate. Therefore, they will go into the cyber-world to experience the life of being bullies. After doing it, they will have a sense of satisfaction. These are acts of a coward. Additionally, it is also suggested that cyber-bullying may be influenced from videos uploaded in Youtube and Metacafe, which contain offensive materials and acts of bullying. Although many countries have taken action to deal with the offenders, it proves to be ineffective as the number of cyber-bullying cases reported is still increasing. In my opinion, I think the best solution is to exercise self-control. Do not chat with strangers online frequently and avoid meeting with strangers when they requested it. The most important thing is not to disclose your personal information to anyone on the Internet no matter how close you are with him or her.

DONE BY : Desmond

The Rise Of Cyber Bullying

What is meant by cyberbullying we may all wonder. Well, "Cyberbullying" is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. Cyber-bullies may disclose victims' personal data at websites or forums, or may attempt to assume the identity of a victim for the purpose of publishing material in their name that defames or ridicules them. Some cyber-bullies may also send threatening and harrasing emails and instant messages to the victims. The content in these messages are sometimes so strong that a victim may commit suicide.

There are two kinds of cyberbullying, direct attacks (messages sent to your kids directly) and cyberbullying by proxy (using others to help cyberbully the victim, either with or without the accomplice's knowledge). Because cyberbullying by proxy often gets adults involved in the harassment, it is much more dangerous. Examples of direct attacks would be Instant Messaging/Text Messaging Harassment, Stealing Passwords, Sending Porn and Other Junk E-Mail and IMs, Impersonation. Cyberbullying by proxy is when a cyberbully gets someone else to do their dirty work. Most of the time they are unwitting accomplices and don't know that they are being used by the cyberbully. Cyberbullying by proxy is the most dangerous kind of cyberbullying because it often gets adults involve in the harassment and people who don't know they are dealing with a kid or someone they know.

We may womder why kids cyberbully each other? When it comes to cyberbullying, they are often motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. Sometimes they do it for entertainment or because they are bored and have too much time on their hands and too many tech toys available to them. Many do it for laughs or to get a reaction. Some do it by accident, and either send a message to the wrong recipient or didn't think before they did something. The Power-hungry do it to torment others and for their ego. Revenge of the Nerd may start out defending themselves from traditional bullying only to find that they enjoy being the tough guy or gal. Mean girls do it to help bolster or remind people of their own social standing. And some think they are righting wrong and standing up for others.

We should prevent cyberbullying by educating the kids about the consequences and teaching them to respect others and to take a stand against bullying of all kinds. Parents need to be the one trusted place kids can go when things go wrong online and offline. Yet they often are the one place kids avoid when things go wrong online.

I hope that the cases of cyberbullying would decrease and i pray that teens should mind their own business online and not interact with unknown strangers.

Done By: Valencia Sim (18)

Loose Nukes

As time passes, the advancement in technology increases, so do the rise of terrorism. In this era, advancing technology has brought about nuclear technology, which can create nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are dangerous and cause a lot of damage, even after the explosion.
However, there is this disturbing fact that it is not very hard for terrorist to lay hands on nuclear weapons. Imagine the damage that would be done. Within a fraction of a second, the ground could be heated to 100 million degrees centigrade, melting all surrounding matter into formless plasma.
This is not an opinion but a fact that is backed with concrete evidence. Nuclear weapons can only be made with refined Uranium or enriched Plutonium. Although refining Uranium or enriching Plutonium is difficult and terrorist does not have the technology, there are many other sources.
Some countries like Russia has around 600 tons of weapons-usable nuclear materials spread around its country, guarded by poor security procedures and ramshackle infrastructure. Terrorists can easily steal some of the materials to create their own nuclear weapons. There are also research reactors, all around the world, which contains nuclear materials. These places are also located in places not conductive to high security, such as schools. These can also become targets of terrorist to obtain nuclear materials.
Although there are measures taken to an international extent, there are still some countries such as Iran which are reluctant to cooperate. It is very worrying to find out that the World is unsafe yet there are countries which are unwilling to help and put themselves in danger. It is just unbelievable that there are such selfish people.
If you balance out the points on both sides yourself, you will find out that there are more possibilities for the terrorist to obtain nuclear materials than the pre-cautions taken to keep the nuclear materials away from the wrong hands. This is something that will make us feel insecure as who knows what will happen if the terrorist obtain nuclear materials and construct their own nuclear weapons.
It is also quite suprising to find out that such an advanced country like Russia still lacks security on some parts. This shows that it is not easy to govern a big country. Thus, it is also hard for us to achieve world peace unless everyone work together and aim for a similar target. It will be just as hard to secure the nuclear materials from the terrorist.
Just as the article state, "With the age of terrorism threatening becoming an age of nuclear terrorism, there would be sacrifices, but none as great as losing a city." We will need to make sacrifices to achieve our targets, and I believe the United Nations will do a good job in securing the nuclear materials and making the right choice of sacrifices. This way, i will feel more reassured and less insecure.

Reader Digest May version Pg 28
Lai kunxian (33) 3D

From Sip To Slip

By Norman Swan (Reader's Digest June 2008, pg 113)
In this article, the issue discussed is how alcohol is bad for health.
During these years, more and more people are indulging themselves in large quantities of alcohol. The reason for this, as stated in the article, is that people are "deluding themselves".
There was a research some years ago which showed that small quantities of alcohol is good for the heart. Thus, this became an excuse for people to drink alcohol. Furthermore, many people think that since a small amount of alcohol is good, a large amount would be better. This is wrong. Everything, even vitamins, are bad for health if taken too many. "Too much of good is bad".
However, this is not the only explanation given. The author believes that the key to this problem lies in the research taken. How was the results obtained? Who where the ones that were tested on? Are there any other alternative explanations for the results?
The answers to these questions are important, especially the last. According to the author, it is impossible to eliminate all the thingies that could be alternative explanations and introduce bias into the results. Examples are being richer, better-educated, non-smokers and generally healthier to begin with. This was the reason which led to wrong results for the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) story. Thus, since nobody has ever done a randomized trial of alcohol in preventing heart disease,
the only thing we can be sure of is that people from the same group have the benefits.
Thus, not all results are accurate, and that we should not just take their word for it and drink to our hearts content.
However, it turns out that there is little truth in drinking helping to reduce heart diseases. Perhaps one of two standard drinks a day does not prevent heart diseases at all, though it does no harm either. Anything above that would be bad for health.
Furthermore, alcohol can be considered to be a damaging drug. Alcohol consumption is strongly associated with fatal and non-fatal injuries, domestic violence, dependence, liver disease and depression. Therefore it would be important too to control this drug.
Delaying first alcohol consumption is a key goal, as it prevents further addiction to alcohol. Ways to do this, as mentioned in the article, is to raise the price of alcohol through taxes. However, the alcohol industry would suffer, thus this would not happen in the near future.

Done by : Quek Jie Sheng (37)

June Edition- A Healing Fire

The Story

This article features the life of a man, Sokreaksa Himm. He led a very happy childhood with 11 other siblings, in a small village in Cambodia. However all that ended when he was 11. The Khmer Rouge came into power on April the 17 1975, their reign had turned the whole country into a terror state. Many were driven from their homes and sent to work at labour camps including Sokreaksa and his family themselves. Over the years, the family was subjected to constant beatings and torture. Just when it could not get any worse, what termed as a "Doomsday" caught up with the family.

It was a November morning in 1977. Sokreaksa father was arrested by the a Khmer rouge agent, known as a chlop. Together with those of his family members living with him, including the author himself, they were all sent for execution as they were suspected of having conspired with the Americans, as being enemies of the Khmer rouge. They were then driven by ox carts to the execution field, the exception was his three other brothers and older sister. His father was the first to be killed. Following that, the children were hit from behind and they all fell into the grave. They were then finished off but the author survived. His mother was later executed after he escaped; he wanted to try to save her but somehow could not do so.

He was then welcomed by the villagers when he returned instead of getting the cold shoulder from them as he was previously accused of being a rebel towards them, he was then known as the ”only lucky one”. Soon later when the Khmer Rouge were driven from power, he went to live with his sister. He later joined the police force as he wanted to avenge his family members. One chance came by but he failed, filled with misery and guilt, he fled to a Thai refugee camp to listen to the Christian meetings, however he was not inspired by them and soon later, he migrated to Toronto, Canada. He got his bachelor and master’s degree there. He too made a good friend known as Chuck Ferguson. Chuck led him to God, told him more about God and also gave him a bible, praying for him so that God could bring healing to him. Soon he settled down well enough and even opened a cleaning company, which was pretty successful.

However despite all that he still was filled with such emptiness, everyday he dreamt of torturing his killers. Fortunately, over time, God managed to touch him and deliver him from all these evil doings. A chance came along and it was a request for Christian teachings in Cambodia. Sokreaksa took the chance and went to bring healing to the people there. His other objective was to meet the killers of his family and forgive them. Finally he managed to bring himself to forgive those killers and after which, he was filled with such freedom as if a heavy load was taken off him, God had finally healed him completely.

Reflection

The first thought which came into my mind after reading the story was simply: “Wow, just how this man did did it.” I’m a Christian myself however I’m really, really amazed by his actions, how could one man be so strong in spirit as to forgive the people whom wiped out his entire family, especially his parents. I would not be that strong.

On the other hand, I am just simply glad that the Lord, Jesus has healed him and delivered him away from that entire evil works. I feel that it was rather of a blessing that he could not bring himself to kill the people whom brutally murdered him family members. If he did that, he would probably be in a prison now and not sharing his story with Reader’s Digest. His whole life would be ruined. Overall, I am so glad that he could be miraculously touched by God and that God could perform such a miracle on him, Simply Amazing!

Nonetheless, I indeed feel a deep sense of sadness for both Sokreaksa and his family members who perished under the hands of the Chlops. They died so wrongfully, they were executed for just merely accused of being an enemy of the Khmer Rouge. One perfect family could be just brutally wiped out in just mere hours, their wonderful lives ended, everything ended. Hence every time when I read about these people from these Third world countries, I would always give thanks to God for putting me in a place like Singapore, in the right time. Where in this era, our country has such fair justice and an efficient law system, hence I am glad to be a Singaporean.

Also from Sokreaksa, I have indeed learnt some precious lessons. Firstly, I should really treasure my life, where I am right now. I should stop whining about Singapore’s scorching heat and much rather appreciate the kind of safety the government had provided us. Secondly, I must really learnt to forgive others, if Sokreaksa can forgive his family murderers, why can’t I simply forgive my friends after an argument. I feel that I should really learn to get closer to God and appreciate life more, treasure my loved ones as life is fragile, which are none other than my family members.

Reflection by Jing Ting

Searching for Marita
(by Daniel Rome Levine, Reader’s Digest May 2008 pg 90)

This article is about a woman named Susan Trimarco, mother of Marita de los Ángeles Verón, who has been reported missing since the 3rd of April 2002.

It talks about how Susan bravely went in search of her missing daughter in parts of Argentina, such as Tucumán and La Rioja. It began when Marita did not return from a doctor’s appointment. As days went by, Suasan and Marita’s husbad, Daniel, grew increasingly concerned. Usually, Marita would call and inform them if she was going to be late. However, Marita had not done so. After searching for Marita in the hospital and around her neighbourhood, they still could not find Marita and filed a missing persons report with the local police.

The pair, not faltered by the lack of cooperation from the police, organized a search party consisting of some 50 friends and family of Marita. They handed out homemade posters with photographs of Marita and some contact phone numbers all over Tucumán.

Susan, worried for her daughter, started taking action. Disguised as a prostitute, she would talk to the girls in decrepit bars and asked for information about Marita.

Sadly, they have not found Marita, but, Susan’s courageous act led to some 200 girls being set free from the shadowy world of prostitution and human trafficking.

Susan has shown immense valour. Despite several threats from panders or their underlings, she did not give up and persevered on to help complete strangers who were forced into prostitution.

I believe that such acts truly deserve praise. Not many people would commit such a dangerous act, even for a loved one. It is also appalling to know that even in this day and time; such inhumane crimes (i.e. forced prostitution and human trafficking) are still carried out. Honestly, these people have no consciences. However, if no customers patronized the bars and brothels, nobody would kidnap the poor girls because there would be no profit in it. It makes me wonder, why is prostitution still legal in some countries? Is there that much profit in the trade that people are willing to risk committing such crimes and abusing humanitarian right? I hope that this will change somewhere in the near future. Though, I do not think it is very likely. I hope that Susan’s effort will be rewarded someday by the return of her daughter and like Condoleezza Rice said, “ Your brave fight makes me proud to be a woman.” (I’m still a girl but you get the point.)

Reflection by Tan Jing Ting (20)

The Rise of Cyber Bullying

To start off, the two cases of suicide of the teenagers, respectively a 13-year-old boy Ryan Halligan and 15-year-old girl Gail Jones have showed everyone of the devastating effect of cyber bullying, though the extreme side of the effect.

The advancement and improvement of technology has nevertheless brought sizable benefits to many of us, be it in medical advancements, communication and even household appliances. However, it is distressing that many people, especially teenagers, misuse the advanced and easily accessible communication tool, the Internet.

From the initial purpose to serve as a communication tool or even a tool to provide people with readily information and knowledge, the Internet has actually became another ‘advanced playground’ where anonymous bullies are found and may cause an even grave impact to the victims of the bullies. Though the suicide of Halligan and Jones are the extreme cases of cyber bullying, it is possible that the number such cases would rise and become common if nothing is done to curb the problem of cyber bullying.

Numerous people have access to the Internet anytime and anywhere, and it is the ability to reach more people and the always-on culture of it that can have an even more detrimental effect on the victims of cyber bullies. Furthermore, the choice to be able to remain anonymous and the dispensable need to face the victim face by face gives cyber bullies better conditions and confidence to bully their victims much harsher than the conventional way.

In my opinion, cyber bullying is definitely a notorious act and should not have been present. Cyber bullying not only hurts the victim deeply but also leaves a permanent scar in them, together with all the negative memories. Serious cases may even result in suicides when victims could no longer take the stress or pressure of the bullies, for example Ryan Halligan and Gail Jones. It is miserable; especially for the parents of children like Halligan and Jones to lose their own child as a result of cyber bullies and I really do hope that all cyber bullies would stop their act upon knowing the result of their actions.

I believe that anyone of us here might have bullied someone before while in chat rooms, instant messaging or gaming, either purposely or unintentionally, or even not realizing that we ourselves had bullied someone. Similarly, some might have unintentionally bullied someone and turns into a cyber bully, while the rest of the cyber bullies are perhaps feeling bored and wanted to joke on someone, being influenced by peers and starts to be a cyber bully or due to the inability to cope with stress from studies or family problems and resort to cyber bullying as an escape for them.

Therefore, to curb the problem of cyber bullying, we should start by dealing with the root of the problem leading to cyber bullying. We could raise awareness on actions that are being considered as bullying, such as sending threatening messages and posting embarrassing video footage and photos on the Internet. Also, we should instill good morals in teenagers to reduce them in the possibility of involving in cyber bullying and lastly, encourage those who are stressed to have a talk with their true, good friends or approach their teachers or school councilors or have a good talk with their parents.

In conclusion, I hope that cyber bullies would truly know the consequence of their actions and stop their bullying act. In the example of the scandal involving the circulating of nude photos of Hong Kong star Edison Cheng and several female artistes, the circulation of the photos on the web has brought devastating impact on the Hong Kong star and the chastity of the female artistes. Thus, if cyber bullies have that moral to think about the impact of their actions, I believe that the number of cyber bullies would certainly reduce and in turn provide a safe and good environment for the users of the Internet.

Rise of Cyber-bullying

Throughout the years, the information technology has advance and develop. Using the internet benefits us by bringing convenience. For instance, companies nowadays are mostly computerised and manual labour is no longer necessary. People also need not go to shopping centres to buy their essentials, instead they can simply go online and shop for what they wanted.
On the other hand, the IT advancements have also brought harm, cyber-bullying is the major problem. Cases of cyber-bullying has increased over the years and have even cause death to many teenagers. For example, in Britain, a 15 year old girl named Gail Jones committed suicide after receiving many silent calls on her mobile phone very 30 minutes.
Cyber-bullying can be performed in many ways. Sending threatening messages, posting embarrassing photos and video footage on the internet are just some examples of cyber-bullying. Usually, teenagers who are actively involved in social networking and online communication are targets of cyber-bullies.
The impact of cyber bullying is so drastic because that many people will have access to it and the embarrassing videos and photos will be publicised. This will cause distress to the victim which will lead to depression or even death if the problem is not well-managed. Healing a psychological wound is easier said than done. It requires a long time and effort and the support of the victim's family to aid the victim to recover. In the cyberspace, it is available 24/7, 365 days a year, thus it explains the frequency of cyber-bullying.
Cyber bullies often stay anonymous when online. Thus, they will tend to do stuffs they usually don't dare in the real world. These people are usually sick and sadistic. A handful of them might have been bullied before in their real life. Usually, they don't dare to retaliate. Therefore, they will go into the cyber-world to experience the life of being bullies. After doing it, they will have a feeling of satisfaction. These are acts of a coward. Additionally, it is also suggested that cyber-bullying may be influenced from videos uploaded in Youtube and Metacafe which contain offensive materials and acts of bullying.
Although many countries has taken action to deal with the offenders, it proves to be ineffective as the number of cyber-bullying cases reported is still increasing. In my opinion, I think the best solution is to exercise self-control. Do not chat with strangers online frequently and avoid meeting with strangers when they requested it. Prevention is better then cure.
done by: sherman

‘ I hunted down the woman who stole my life’

Karen Lodrick’s identity had been stolen. Having her identity, the thief opened credit cards in Karen’s name so she could scam thousands of dollars more. As the credit cards were under her name, the creditors for the thief transactions pursued Karen. Karen decided to close her accounts, however, the criminal crack opens the new ones she had opened and drained those too. Unfortunately, the banks and police could do nothing to salvage the situation.

Using her identity, the thief dipped into her accounts like they were her own. The thief had used Karen’s house phone to order the debit card. It seems that, the thief had stolen two debit cards envelopes and two that provided the debit cards PINs envelopes from Karen’s mailbox. Within a few days, her bank account had been emptied and her life was reeling out of control. With no money, she could not pay her bills, rent and even her daily necessities.

Hopefully, the bank called and told her that they have the surveillance video of the thief. There was a big dark hair woman in a suede coat and a designer sunglass at an ATM in that video.

Meanwhile, the thief took her identity card for granted. The thief used her Social Security number and other information to obtain a counterfeit driver’s licence with the thief’s picture and Karen’s licence number. With that and her Social Security number, the thief is able to reopened accounts that Karen had closed. Karen placed fraud alerts with the credit reporting agencies, but to no avail. The thief continued to open more accounts in Karen’s name. The whole cycle was never-ending and she was at wit’s end.

Strangely, Karen’s bank informed her that she had left her driver’s licence at a branch on Market and Church streets, which she had never been there before and that her real driver’s licence is in wallet.

The next day, Karen waited at Starbucks for the bank on Market Street to open. While waiting, she saw a large woman in jeans and Gucci glasses, carrying a brown suede coat and a Prada purse at Starbucks, who look likes the woman in the surveillance video taken at an ATM. Karen decided to call the police and continue watching her. She thought that that woman must have came to retrieve back the licence.

The large woman sitting at a corner kept stealing glances at Karen and is looking nervous. She got up and out of the café. Karen decided to follow her with the hope of ending her bad dreams. The chases began.

While the woman turned a corner, Karen phone rang. She believed that the woman called and wanted to check if Karen was on her tail. Karen called the police again while chasing the woman. The woman was turning back every now and then to look at Karen. At 158 centimetres, Karen Lodrick was small compared to the nearly 180-centimetre woman who stole her identity. The thief threw away her wallet and flagged down a taxi. Yet, Karen managed to stop her. She also managed to prevent the thief from getting up a bus. With determination, Karen Lodrick pursued the woman for half an hour. After losing her, Karen lost hope and stop chasing.

To everyone’s surprise, the woman was smoking between a car and a building. Maria Nelson, the identity thief’s real name, had at least 60 prior arrests and was indeed on probation. Although the thief was caught, Karen was still receiving phone service and items she did not purchase. She feared that her ID might have been sold on the black market.


After reading this article, I realise the importance of safekeeping my things. When it is misplaced the person who got hold of it, may misuse it. For example, Karen lost her identity card and Nelson went to empty her accounts and make many transactions using her credit cards. A leopard will never change its spots, how true this is as after getting at least sixty prior arrests, she still did not learn her lessons and went on to steal Karen’s identity. I think that she was wasting everyone’s time to track down the criminals. Although she managed to steal many identities, I think that she was a failure as each time she steals; she was caught in the end. She too, give way too much clues as when she went to retrieved back the forged identity card from the bank at Market Street, she was wearing almost the same clothes as when she went to withdraw the money the last time, causing Karen to recognised her. Since she is already rich by stealing Karen’s money, I think that she should wear a different clothing, to be less suspicious.

Even though the Starbucks café was big, Karen is observant enough and manages to spot Nelson at the café. I think that it is too coincidence that Karen is able to spot her identity thief after a few months her identity is lost. I sympathise with Karen for what she had gone through those few months, as she could not even afford to buy basic necessities, such as groceries, when her bank is being drained. I hope that people may learn a little lesson and not be a spendthrift as, when there is an emergency, there is at least some money saves aside to resolve the problem. I feel that Karen have a lot of courage as she is wanted to chase after the thief who stole her identity. At the same time, I think that she should not take the matter into her own hands as it can be quite dangerous if the thief carry any weapons by her side.

I thought that the banks and the police service were quite a disappointment as they took quite sometime to act quickly in response to the request made by Karen. Although the information provided by the passer-by is true, I think that Karen is right in not believing him, as he might be her accomplice. I think the purpose for throwing Nelson’s wallet into the trolley is to make Karen distracted and lost her, however, Karen did not stop and continue chasing her.

I think that Nelson take things for granted as after draining Karen’s account, she made a driver’s licence with her licence number. I hope that she would turn over a new leaf and earn money with her own hands. I think that the ending is ironic and that Nelson is silly as she could hide in one corner and smoke calmly when she knew that Karen is still finding her. As what Karen has says, she should have kept running. I hope that people should think carefully before doing things that might hurt people, such as putting themselves into their shoes, so that both parties will not be hurt.

Done by: Goh Guan Hui (4)

What do you do when the mother you love is no longer of sound mind?

No one will know what happen after we make a decision. The outcome of it may not be what you want to see so we could not decide on whether this decision is a good decision or a bad decision. To determine whether this decision is a good decision or it is bad, we have to think of what happen after this decision and look at the outcome from different point of view. I think what Josephine did really help her family a lot. Her father can do what he wants and does not need to take care of his wife while his wife can live inside a palliative care with people taking care of her. If they really did not send her to palliative care, her father really could not take it any more. Her father was not young; he is already 78 years old! It is hard for an old man like him to take care of her wife that has Alzheimer’s disease. Even Josephine could not take care of her, how could her able to take care of her for his rest of his life. As time passes, her father will become weaker and weaker. At that point of time no one could take care of Josephine’s mother again. Sending there, Josephine’s father could have more free time, he can do what he wants to do and enjoy his rest of his life. Although it is difficult for them to part, Josephine’s father really could not take care or his wife so he has no choice but to bear the pain and send her there. This decision could be the best for everyone. If we look at this matter from the other point of view, if her mother was to get separated with her family, her health may worsen. If this happens, I think the decision that Josephine made maybe a wrong decision. From this article Josephine’s mother tend to settle quite well in her new home, so I think the decision that she made did benefits her mother and her father. Although her mother could not see her family for the whole, she is still able to see her husband frequently, this may make her feel better after moving into her new home so her condition may not deteriorates. I hope that with special care from the people at palliative care can prevent her illness from deteriorates too quickly and with the love her family gave her, I hope she will be happy staying there.

Leung lai yin(07)

Reader's Digest Reflection

May 2008 issue
Searching For Marita

This article is about Susana Trimarco of Argentina, a 48-year-old grandmother set out to find her missing daughter, Marita, 23-year-old. After little help from the police, Susana and her husband decided to search for their missing daughter. She heard from others some information that her daughter may be caught and force to be prostitutes. Hence, to find her daughter, Susana had gone to brothel looking for her daughter. However, they met a lot of problems during the finding such as quiting her job, selling her house and cars. Her single-minded obsession in seraching for her daughter has results in separating with her husband. Even with some much stress and problems faced, Susana did not give. She continues to search for her missing daughter. While searching for her missing daughter, she discovered a shadowy world of human trafficking and forced prostitution.

Susana's search started receiving media coverage. Feeling the pressure of publicity, the police stepped up raids on bars and brothels. With the bar owners and traffickers feeling the heat, a campaign of intimidation began against Susana. Some prostitutes who had escaped went to tell Susana their life as being forced to be prostitutes and clues of Marita. She also take care and help them. Growing media converage of Susana's efforts began forcing Argentine society to confront the long-ignored issue of sex trafficking and the official corruption that facilitated it. Mothers whose daughters had been kidnapped were calling Susana instead of the police. She also received an International Women of Courage Award and had help many victims to regain their freedom. Her name had been an icon in the fight against human trafficking.

In my opinion, i think that Susana is very brave that she gave up so many things just to find her daughter. Other than that, she is also very helpful that she help other victims while searching for her daughter. Furthermore, she also gain the trust of other victims' families and had been supported by some government. She wanted to help out other victims and not only her daughter. I really supported her to continue finding her daughter and helping other victims although i think that she is a bit too reckless that she gone to brothels. As i think it is very dangerous but i admired her strong will to find her daughter. I think that all mothers should also be as worried as her when their daughter is in danger. This make me think that we should really care and try not to worry our parents. I really hope that she could find her daughter soon and human trafficking will not happened again.

Reader's Digest ; The Rise of Cyber Bullying

Nowadays, Internet can be easily access at home or anyone that has a computer and an Internet connection. With that, it gives more opportunities for people to use the Internet, especially children and teenagers these days. It seems like without a computer with Internet access for a kid, it is very hard to survive. And with that, the word cyber bullying comes in to mind of anyone who uses it. With Internet usage increasing, so has cyber bullying as studies reports shows. And there are much more people invading into the life and privacy of their friends or classmates.
News of teenagers taking their own lives with examples such as Ryan Halligan and Gail Jones have shown just how horrific cyber bullying can turn out to be. But still, this terrible thing still continues, even now, people all over the world are facing this. Not all of them, but considering that there are computers and Internet everywhere in the world, there will be quite a lot of people who are being harassed by this. People who are the bullies of these victims are usually their classmates, friends or even their very closed ones such as their siblings. And since the bullies always appear anonymous, the victims do not know who they are and thus is unable to sue them. And the victims are unable to avoid such things as they need to use the computer almost everyday. The computer is like their heart to them. Without it, they are unable to survive.
My heart really goes out to all the victims of this cyber bullying as cyber bullying is much worse than playground bullying. Because for playground bullying, the bully and its victim will have to come face to face for the bully to bully its victim. Thus the victim will know who to bully after that. But for cyber bullying, it is impossible to avoid everyone as you will still need friends. But for these victims, they will have lost trust and confidence in their friends as they do not know if their friends are the ones bullying them online.
To me, bullies are the most coward people living in the world. Why do they need to bully their victims or pick on the weak ones when they have not offended them in any way? I do not see any pleasure in seeing them do so. But unless they themselves have a very big problem, which is to see their victims suffer in agony and they enjoy the process of it. And now, in the world of bullying comes something even worse and much more horrific, that is cyber bullying. In cyber bullying, you will never know who your bullies are. Like i said, bullies are already the most coward people and to add on now, cyber bullies are far more cowards than the normal bullies. This is because they hide behind the computers and start bullying their victims like no ones' business. If they really want to bully, why not bully them right in their face? At least the victims know who they are facing with. Adding on to the victims' stress, the cyber bullies are much more cruel in their words teasing and making fun of them. They even start swearing at them too. But there must be a reason why the bullies want to make their victims suffer in such a terrible state.
The bullies should know their limits or they should just stop this nonsensical act of theirs. I really feel that bullies are around because they themselves are either scared of the one being bullied or they face so problems or troubles and wish to let off their stress in such a way. If that is just so, they should just keep a clean sheet and not create so much trouble and unhappiness. And I feel that the victims should learn how to cope with the stress if they want to continue using the computer as they do not want to lag behind as the computer is one of the most hi-tech communication around now. If they do not know how to cope with this cyber bullying, they should just not even touch the computers so that they will not take their lives away. Every life is precious and no one should take this for granted.

Accomplished by : Clarissa Ng (13)

The Rise Of Cyber Bullying

In this modern era , the Internet can be easily accessed at home , cyber-cafes or at shopping malls.Internet is a beneficial technological breakthrough that allowed most of us to communicate with each other regardless of our location or how far are we away from each other.This has paved the way for cyber-bullying which can be done anonymously, thus anyone can cyber-bully anyone just by a click of a button, causing physical or psychological damage to the victim.

A organization , which is researching the extent of damage done by cyber-bullying, has discovered that cyber-bullying has affected more than half the students surveyed, on both sides
of the issue. Their latest assessments surveyed more than 1500 students ranging from fourth to eighth grade across the country.

The range of effects of cyber-bullying and the damage caused by it is very huge.Ranging from simply causing a bad mood in the victim to injecting suicidal thoughts into the victim's mind.It may also cause the victim to have psychological problems when they grows older.The duration of the damage may be temporary or could be permanent.

Although actions have been taken but i believe its not enough as now , there are only unofficial groups taking actions against cyber-bullying but due to the fact that they are powerless , nothing much can be done except for them to educate parents and minors alike ways to prevent them being a victim of cyber-bullying.I feel that the relevant official government departments should take actions against cyber-bullying , enacting laws to protect and to prevent people to fall victim to cyber-bullying or fining cyber-bullies. I believe thats the only way to curb cyber-bullying once and for all.

I also feel that students should receive more education on how to protect themselves against cyber-bullying and ways to deal with cyber-bullying if they became a victim of it.I believe with the proper education , suicides or other psychological cases related to cyber-bullying could be reduced to a minimal.

The Rise of Cyber Bullying

Following the technological advancement of the Internet, people are now able to communicate at a level never previously attained regardless of physical distance from each other, because the Internet is available to most of us cheaply.

People can now communicate with friends, relatives and strangers through the Internet. We can make connections based on our interests, and not just by our social ties or proximity with others. This causes the status boundaries to be torn down, as people are easily found, identified and approached which allow them to exchange ideas and interests beyond the control of their local authorities thus having more freedom to enjoy the benefits we get from the Internet.

However, the abuse of this freedom has lead to the rise of cyber bullying, making use of information and communication technologies to harm others intentionally. Victims are mostly children or teenagers as they are not matured enough to have the ability to handle it and most bullies think that they are teasing instead of bullying thus the bullying usually won’t stop until a third party revealed it.

It is also hard to identify the bullies as through internet, they are able to stay anonymous. The bullying also get even worse due to the anonymity as the bullies can do whatever they want without being identified. This led to many victims choosing suicide as a way to relieve themselves from the agony being mentally scarred.

Actions must be taken to prevent further tragedy to happen. Parents can help by keeping a lookout for their children for any sign of unusual depression or mood swing as victims tend to keep the bullying to themselves because of fear and spend more time having a talk with your children in a nice tone to understand their problems.

Teenagers must also learn to seek help if bullying happens to them. The mindset of the victim plays a crucial role too as they should never give in to the bullies, thus allowing them to achieve their ultimate aims. Cyber bullies more often than not want victims to feel bad and victimized by them. Therefore, to prevent such happenings, victims of cyber bullying should always maintain a positive outlook, and not be the least affected by doings of the bullies they encounter. If they are able to achieve this point, what the bullies are doing will have no effect on them. However, if they have a negative mindset, it will most probably cause psychological hurt and trauma.

DONE BY: LOWPEISI JOLENE(11)~

The Rise of Cyber Bullying
As the usage of the internet increases, so too will the rate at which cyber bullying will occur. There are mainly two types of people using the internet:the bullies and their victims. The victims are usually the ones victimized by the bullies and end up getting hurt mentally.
Most of the consequences cause by cyber bullying are worst than you think, with some victims even going to the length of commiting suicide. But one good question about cyber bullying is that what do cyber bullies get from bullying people on the internet? Is it the sadistic pleasure of seeing the victim squirm and struggle behind their computers? Or do they get some sort of twisted joy by bullying others and seeing them suffer? Only those bullies themselves can answer these questions.
Though they might be bullies on the internet, they might not be bullies in real life. Instead, they might even be the victims of other bullies! That's why they resort to bullying others on the internet to make themselves feel better. Another reason that contributes to why cyber bullying is so rampant throughout the world wide web is because the chances of them getting caught is lower and they can fulfill their sadistic needs without getting caught.
There are a few precautions that teenagers should take when using the internet.
Firstly they should not talk to strangers on the internet unneccessarily as they never know the person that they might be interacting with and what might happen next.
Secondly, they should not enter any websites that might give their enemies a chance to attack them.
I think that the government should step up on their efforts to ensure websites that requires anybody to disclose their personal information is fully legitimate. Parents should also block out any websites that might be a potential threat to their children as they might not know the extent of the influence the website might have on their children.
Lastly, this is a message to those cyber bullies: Is what you are doing realy what you want to do? Does watching other people suffer because of you give you pleasure and is it really necessary to do that in order to live?
Done by:Chua Yi Cheng(29) using hai jin account

Reader's Digest Reflection

May 2008 issue

Jump for your life

This article which I had chosen relates about a terrifying experience of a snowboarder named Tom Murphy.

Tom, in search of excitement, ignored warning notices and went off-piste on a mountain which was covered in thick snow. Soon, he found himself in an avalanche which carried him hundreds of yard away from his original position. Knowing that there was already no way he could go back, and spotting a road at the bottom of the valley, he decided to take the plunge and accelerated down the steep slopes of rocks and snow.

Tom then came to a ledge and slid to a halt, after much thought, he came to a final statement - It was to jump or to die. Tom chose to take the risk and jumped. He landed on a protruding rock and sustained serious injuries,Tom then struggled to get the attention of drivers down the road, but to no avail. Fortunately he managed to get in contact with his friend using his mobile phone and convinced his friend that he was not joking about being stuck on a mountain.

Soon after he was finally rescued. Tom realised that the reason why he had the courage to jump down the cliff was because he wanted to see his loved ones so badly at that very moment.
To jump down an extremely steep cliff and facing plenty of obstacles while accelerating down is sure horrifying and many would have lacked the courage to do that,I think it was very brave of him to do that despite knowing that he was likely to fall to death or sustain serious injuries. Fortunately lady luck was on his side, he survived the terrible fall and was soon rescued.It was his determination that saved him.

If I were him, I would have did the same, by jumping down the cliff I could quickly get help from the people if I manage to survive the fall since there is a road just down the valley. Staying put and waiting for help to come to me would just allow wild thoughts to run through my mind and make me feel as if I was waiting to freeze to death, furthermore, help may not be able to come in time as it was unlikely for people to track my footprints.

In the first place, Tom should not have ignored the warning notices and went off-piste just because it was more fun and exciting. He should have informed someone of his route or location before setting off and checked the weather and snow conditions before setting off , especially checking for avalanches.He should also have ask his friends for help through the mobile phone when he find himself lost in unfamiliar terrain.

After that frightening experience, I am sure that he would never dare to ignore any warning notices while snow boarding in the future.

ang jia pei

The rise of cyber bullying

As technology is becoming more advanced, there is no doubt that internet usage would increase as more youngsters would want to keep up with the times lest they are neglected by their friends and being seen as somebody who only knows nothing but study. But as internet usage increases, it also means that cases of cyber bullying would increase too.
Most of the consequences leading to cyber bullying are bad, where some victims of cyber bullying have even committed suicide because of the continuous harrassment their peers are giving them. What can these people get from bullying poor and innocent people online? How will they feel if they were the ones being bullied instead? Fancy putting up videos on net that would embarrass their friends or classmates is deemed as a childish and harrassing way to invade other peoples' privacy. Imagine what the child would be facing every time he or she steps into the school. Nobody would like the feeling of being pointed at by hundreds of fingers or teased and laughed by their schoolmates. What tempts these bullies to find their way of bullying people online is due to the advantage that they would not be discovered compared to playground bullying. They can bully their victims in whatever way they want to and see them suffer without being caught. therefore, i urge that immediate action be taken to reduce such tragedies from happening.
Firstly, as a teenager, he or she must learn to exercise self control. They should know what website they should not be entering so as not to give cyber bullies a chance to attack them. It is unecessary for them to talk to strangers online as they may never know the people they are interacting with online could be their enemies with a motive to embarrass them and make their lifes miserable.
Secondly, parents should take a part in helping their childeren cope with school problems and understand what they are going through in school. They should spend some time with their children and hear the problems their children have to say. they can also try to consult their chidren's school teacher for information on how their child is doing in school. Parents should also monitor the websites their children are surfing and block out those undesirable websites which may bring about harm and bad influence for their children.
Teachers can also keep a lookout for any students who seem to be having problems with school life and monitor how the student is being treated by their classmates. The school should take action if any of their students are leaking out any undesirable information on the web of their schoolmates and punish them if there is a need to. Websites that offers people to disclose any personal contents should be banned as these may give rise to more cyber bullying cases.
One should know not to disclose any of his or her personal information on web and they should learn to be more forgiving and ignore insults.Their classmates are saying it deliberately to make them fell uncomforatable. Try to keep yourself occupied and ignore what others are saying about you. It wil not do anyone good if the insults are taken seriously. It would only make you feel worse.

May Issue 2008
Medical Breakthroughs

With all the medical breakthroughs by doctors and surgeons, thousands of lives can be saved. Just like those drugs being discovered to safe keep our mind and memories. This can help fight the effects of Alzheimer's which affect many people. It treat memory losses and other symptoms.

Another discovery is the liver tumor killer. It can destroy the tumor inside the body without damaging the neighbouring tissue. This is done with the help of nanotubes. Experiments are first done on rabbits where such tubes are implanted onto its liver tumor. Then the rabbit is exposed to radio waves. The tubes then produced heat and the tumor is destroyed. Since it works on rabbit, this should be able to work as well on humans, and hopefully this method can work for other tumors on other parts of our body.

As symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague, many women die of this disease as it is not detected during the early stages. However, researchers found out that ovarian cancer can be detected during the early stages through the test of the urine. With the help of this discovery, lives of many victims can be saved.

Many senior citizens suffer from heart problems due to their old age, but with these invention, the Chronicles Implantment Hemodynamic Monitor (IHM), stays alert on the patient 24/7. it is very effective for those who suffers from congestive heart failure and other cardiac conditions. If anything happens, the machine will alert the doctor immediately through the internet, who can adjust your treatment accordingly.

As technology advances, even blood can be converted from one blood type to another. For the past few years, many deadly accidents happen because of the many mistakes made when sorting out the different blood types. O blood type is the common and can be used on all patients, thus it is always in demand. But with this new technology, all blood types can be converted to O, which can be used for all, and will hence reduce the high demand of O blood type blood.

Lastly, the invention i think can help and saves lot of lives is the invention of an artificial lung. It is not easy to find a suitable lung for every lung transplant patient. But with the help of this, it can help the patients waiting to find a suitable lung, and at the same time, it can enable the patient to stay at home instead of staying in the hospital. Even if the patient is not able to find a suitable lung, they can still live and depend on the artificial lung.

Despite all these new inventions, not everyone can afford the cost of these technologies. Thus, researchers can try to research and invent one that is cheap and effective.

done by: alexia lee [o6]

Issue on June 2008
Running for his life,by Robert Kiener

Article:
The tragic story began when Ryan Farrington was about five years old.He felt numbs and pains on his body one day and his worried mother brought him to the hospital for a checkup.The doctor who examined Ryan could not figure what actually happen to him so he just put him on a morphine drip.When Ryan was seven,the same yet different thing happen to him.That evening,his mother Lisa heard another scream coming from his room.Indeed,when she rushed there,Ryan was lying on his stomach,violent spasms wrenching his back with what looked like snakes twisting and turning beneath his skin.Doctors again could not do much but just put him on a morphine drip to deaden the pain.Finally,when Ryan was seven,a specialist confirmed that he had dystonia,a rare condition similar to parkinson's disease.This disease affected much of his body;left leg,back,hands,and even his face.There was no cure and the older he gets,the worse it became.
With this disease,Ryan was not able to do simple things like tieing his shoelace or even holding a fork.One day,the doctor told them that the only thing they can do to stop the pain is numbing his nerves;which meant that he could never walk again.Ryan objected to the suggestion strongly.
He went to a rehabilitation centre hoping that he could walk normally again.To many people's surprise,his condition improved tremedously and he could even run faster than a normal person.He is now the Britain's top ten sprinters for his age group. Although his illness will often relapse,he did not give up.He said,'I don't know what's going to happen with my disease.So i have to hurry.'

Reflection:
I admire Ryan farrington's courageousness and determination.He became an athlete in spite of his incurable disease and faces life positively even though nobody knows when his illness will relapse and take him away.It is not easy for a normal person to become an athlete because not many have the potential and stamina to do sports,much more a half-cripppled person.From the article itself,i can feel the hardwork Ryan has put into the rehabilitation sessions in spite of the hardships and pain he had to bear.This itself takes alot of courage and patience to be done.I think Ryan is also fortunate to have supportive family members cheering him on and giving him full support in whatever decision he makes.Furthermore,it takes alot of courage for his mother to deal with this alone as she and Ryan's father had divorced.There is also one special person that i think has helped Ryan fulfil his dreams.Its is his coach,Frank Gardner. He helped Ryan realised his potential and make full use of it.Now with his talents and his coach's patience and guidance,he can achieve more than anyone can expect from a half-crippeld person.
It is Ryan's enthusiastic spirit towards life in spite of his disease that made some of us here feel ashamed of ourselves.Many of us here have a perfect body health but we refuse to make full use of it.
Most of the people who read this article,when faced problems,would run away,fearing that he or she would get hurt.They refused to face their problems and chose to hide from reality.So i think there is one most important thing we can learn from Ryan Farrington.It is his willingness to face reality and stand up on his feet again in spite of the challenges and obstacles surfaced as he goes on with life.When a normal person is down with such an illness,they will often choose to die instead of trying hard to make achievements.In conclusion,i will like to ask,even a person down with an incurable disease can stand up and make miracles happen,why can't we?

Done by:Poh Jie Ying(15)

june edition-what di you do when the mother you love is no longer sound of mind?
pg:65

This article is about josephine, who received a call from her father, for help. Her mother had been suffering from alzheimer;s disease and her father had been mother's care giver for the past four years since her diagnose.

Josephine responded to her father by arriving in South Africa to help him. She saw that her father was worn out after the stress ,due to taking care of mother.

Mother's condition was serious. She could not remember or do anything by herseld except getting in and out of chairs, beds and baths. Father needs to pay attention to mother twentyfour-seven, in order to prevent mishaps. Once, father fell asleep and found mother , looking confused,defecating on the floor on the lounge-room floor.

Josephine decided that putting mother in the lodge was the only way to release father from stress. After a long time of hestitation , father accepted her decision. Josephine then sent father on a holiday while she prepared for the admission to the lodege, taking care of mother at the same time.Only for a week , she collapsed, looking at father from another point of view.

Mother felt discomfort fot the first few days at the lodge but with Josephine and father's constant visits she adapted to the lodge. Sadly mother's health deteriorated and became frail...

reflection.
Life is so unpredictable. Sometimes, it is filled with imperfect decisions that we have to make and choose from. I agree with josephine's decision of putting mother in the lodge.

Life has to go on for father and josephine even after mother fell sick. The world does not stop revolving! Putting mother in the lodge is the only way to release them from the stress of taking care of an elderly, struck with alzheimer's disease.Besides,there would be professionals taking care of mother at the lodge, taking care of her not only mentally and physically but medically as well.

Josephine's father is aged. Taking care of mother will cause his own health to deteriorate. It was already beyond his means to continue taking care of mother , showering her with constant attention,twentyfour-seven.

Humans are bound to age and bodies are bound to malfunction as time passes. i believe that the length of our lifes are not as important as how fruitful we live it. Josephine's mother lost her quality of life after being struck by alzheimer's disease, staying at home will only cause father to lose his as well

I believe that with their constant visits,showering mother with love and the constant care from the nurses at the lodge, mother's condition will improve.

done by: loh qiwen angeline(10)

Reader's Digest May 2008
Searching For Marita

Susana Trimarco of Argentina set out to find her missing duaghter, Marita. However, she discovered a shadowy world of human trafficking and forced prostitution.

She first realised that she was missing after she did not return from a morning doctor's appointment. When her husband were told by a girl that Marita was seen in a brothel in Ra Rioja, they went to the police, seeking help. When the police conducted a raid, Marita, however was not found. A girl stepped out and told Susana and her husband that someone had tipped the owners off about the raid as Marita had been whisked away shortly before they had arrived with the police.

Susana then knew that she had to find her daughter on her own, so she quit her job and began crisscrossing the country, looking for answers. She was often disguised as a prostitute herself, going into seedy bars to engage the girls there into conversation asking about her daughter, whether they know where she is and whether they had seen her. I think that she is a determined mother, most people would just let the police handle it, but to find her daughter, she separated with her husband, used up her savings and sold her house, Marits's house and two cars, I think that she will never give up until her duaghter is found. Although local police and officers with barking dogs tried to stop her on the bus, she never gave up.

A year has gone by, and her search started receiving media coverage and she was interviewed. Due to pressure of publicity, police also stepped up on raids on brothels and bars.

With bar owners and traffickers feeling the heat, a campaign of intimidation began against her. She got threatening phone calls and text messages and had several hit-and-run cases, and she is not afraid at all. I think that she is really brave, however she should be more careful too, if something happens to her, Marita might not be found forever. I really admire her strong will and peseverance.

As the raids continued, many girls soon came to seek help from Susana. One of them was Andrea Darrosa, she went to the police who arranged an meeting with Susana. She recounted her life as a prostitute and after hearing all the cruel things that the owner did to girls, Susana was even more determined to find Marita. She also declared that she will do everything she can to help these girls.

I feel that she is a very noble and courageous, as she was awarded an International Women of Courage Award. She also opened the Fundacion Maria de los Angeles Por la Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas in Ttucuman and Buenos Aires, which helps victims of sex trafficking by giving them medical and psychological treatment and job trainings as well as to provide food and shelter for them. I feel that this is very nice and good of her to help there girls who are not related to her at all.

All in all I think that she is a noble, courageous and a determined person as she never thought once about even giving up on her search for Marita. She is also very kind to help all those victims of sex trafficking. I believe she loves her daughter very much. I really admire her and i aspire to become a strong-willed person like her.

The Rise Of Cyber Bullying

As time passes, we have experienced many changes in our lives. The great improvement in technology has led to the rise of the computers, which has brought great convenience and is of a big help when it comes to work. Computers, mainly a tool for working purposes have been turn into the ultimate gaming machine by teenagers nowadays. However, for some children, it may be a living hell. With the increasing amount of cyber bullying cases, many innocent teenagers who are unable to cope with the stress either suffer mental breakdown or choose to commit suicide, leaving their loved ones behind to mourn for them. Cyber bullying is very popular nowadays as one can torture ther victims and not get found out. Unlike playground bullying, cyber bullying focus on causing psychological pain instead of inflicting physical pain. As we all know, psychological pain is the toughest to cure as it does not require only medicine, the victim itself must also be very strong mentally to overcome this barrier. The worst thing about cyber bullying is that the bullies may be your very best friend and you still treat him very well. The reasons for Cyber Bullies atrocious and recalcitrant behaviour is because they can get away with it. The victims absolutely have no idea who the bully is and cannnot do anything. The consequences of being bullied on the net is not a matter to be taken lightly off. Many victims suffer from depression as a result because they keep mostly everything to themselves and not speak to their parents. It is very sad to see a healthy child suffering from depression. To avoid more and more teenagers getting bullied on the net, we must tackle this problem and find a solution. Teenagers nowadays are very mindful of what others say of them and believe whatever their friends tell them. Thus, on the net, they cannot take the insults from bullies as they believe it is true. This leads to low self-esteem. Their grades would drop as they cannot concentrate properly in class. Needless to say, their character would change a lot. I would urge parents to keep a closer eye on their children and interact with them more often so it would be harder for them to get bullied via the internet. Teenagers also need to not take insults seriously as most of them are fakes. They should just forget about the insults and take it as nothing happened and carry on with their own life.

Done By: Chiang Hai Jin(26)

May 2008 issue- Cyber Bullying

Technology has improved greatly in the past few years. These improvements have undeniably made things more convenient for us, but there are an increased in number of cyber bullying. It had got to the extend of people giving up their precious life to run away from threatening messages, private messages and posting emdarrassing video and photos.An example from the article is Gail Jones, who committed suicide after receiving 20 slient calls every 30 minutes. this shows how bullying also cause a lot of stress to the victims. Many of them end up resorting to suicide.

In fact, there has been many forms of bullying, such as playground bullies, road bullies and loan sharks harassing innocent households. But i believe that cyber bullying has most impact on the victim. It was because of the potential to reach the larger audience and more get to hear about it which increase the impact on the victims. Also, cyber bullying are hard to be discover as the victim are unlike to report them for fear of embarrassment and parents overreacting. It is through the internet which anyone can enter and use false identity to post anything. Thus, people find it difficult to solve the problem and time consuming for the victim to recover from the trama. In my opinion, the victim has taken the problem too seriously, for Jones case, if she could have just ignored the calls, she will not end up killing herself. It all depend on the individuals no matter if cyber or other forms of bullying happen to them.

Unfortunate things will happen to victims who cannot take the stress. For example, they end up sufffering in depression, some even end up taking their life. Bullying has existed for a long time in many different forms. But people had never end up doing drastic acts when they are being bullied? I feel that perhaps it is because people nowadays are being pampered too much, they was not able to handle stress and obstacles well and end up making the wrong decision by ending their life. I strongly believe that there are ways to prevent Internet users from cyber bullying and other forms of bullying from taking place. But people should be taught more on how to deal and cope with stress as stress can be in all forms and not only from bullying. Even if there are no bullying in any form, they will still face stress from work in the future and they will still end up doing drastic when they cannot cope with it.

Name : Nicole Tan Ming Min (21)Class : 3D

I did not attend the english remedial thus Vanessa has given me permission to use her account to post this entry.


This article is about the loss of a single mother suspected to be sold into prostitution andbeing tracked down by her mother who loved her very much. Marita, the womanmissing, had been abducted by two men who had forced her into their car as reported by an anonymous person. She had not attended her doctor's appointment on that day. It was suspectedthat she had was one of the many girls abducted and forced into prostitution as she had beenseen in a brothel by a young girl. Later, police raided a bar where Marita was suspected tobe held at but she was reportedly whisked off before they had arrived. Ever since herdisappearance, her mother, Susana, had taken matters in her own hands and started adesperate search for her daughter.
Susana would disguise as a prostitute and venture into brothels or bars to see if she wouldbump into her daughter or find out about her. This desperate search for Marita caused herto have financial problems, eventually leading to her selling her house and seperating withher husband which could not stand her obsession. However, she persisted on even with thepolice and the bar owners and traffickers intimidation. Soon, she started lending a ear towomen forced into joining the prostitution trade or had their daughters abducted and stoppedher frantic search for Marita in order to help these people. Her story was covered by the media and she became famous, with more people wanting to talk to her about their stories andshe even had important people praise her efforts. She never did find Marita, but she feltthat she had more important things to do, which were helping and protecting those who havebeen freed.
This story was exceptionally touching and made me feel much compassion and pity for Susana, who obviously loved her daughter a lot. It shows the love a mother feels for her daughter and how strong the love was. Susana could forsake her reputation and her money just to find the mother of her granddaughter and once again hold her daughter in her arms. That is enough to break everybody's hearts. She could give up everything, her husband, her house, just to feel her daughter's touch again. As for Marita's situation, I feel deeply sorry for her. She should not have been one of those abducted to serve as a prostitute. In fact, no girl should be in the trade willingly or unwillingly. The abductors of these young girls are really merciless and cruel to destroy the future that lies in front of these girls.
Marita was merely 23 years old when she was abducted. She still had a bright future lyingahead of her, yet she was robbed of that when she was forced into the trade. Although nobody can be sure of whether she had really become a prostitute or whether she was dead, her future was still ruined no matter whichever path she had taken. I feel very sympatheticfor her. Hopefully, she is still alive and will one day return to face her mother who hasbeen pining for her for such a long period of time.
I admire Susana's noble act and I know that it is rare for a vulnerable woman like herself to actually help with others' problems and protect them despite the many threats she had received by both sides of the law. Her advice and protection must have offered many girlsshe had helped a lending shoulder to lean on and to count on. They must have found muchcomfort by allowing her to know all about their problems. She served as a lending ear to them, one that had a similar experience like theirs. This action of Susana's must have helpedmany young women face their lives with the proper attitude, encouraged them and even leadthem in the right course of life.
In conclusion, Susana is a noble woman and her acts should not be threatened or intimidated by as what she is doing is a very admirable action. Her name has been exposed to the publicand in I hope that one day, Marita would return to her side and offer a lending ear to the woman who has been offering others hers and finally be able to rest.

May 2008 issue
-Loose Nukes

What's stopping terrorists from getting their hands on the materials to build a nuclear bomb?
The terrifying answer : not much .

This article is written by J. Peter Scoblic about the nuclear powers in the hand of the terrorists .
He drafted a detailed fictional but realistic scenario of a nuclear attack by terrorist organization .
It is about Brussels, a city in Europe, in ruins after a nuclear attack . Within a kilometre of the blast ,no structure is standing and no person is alive . For several kilometres beyond that , buildings are shredded. Fires burn everywhere, fuelled by ruptured gas lines and fanned by hurricane force winds the follow in the wake of the blast . Those not burned , crushed or suffocated must contend with the gamma rays and neutrons that fly from the Ground Zero , tearing apart living cells. In the first few minutes, 40,000 people are killed ; another 300,000 are injured .

He further described how humans felt after the attack ; like "panic quickly engulfs the survivors . Traffic clogs up the roads as people trying to flee the city. " . A drafted idea of the consequences and impacts of the nuclear attack were given . Economic consequences of the blast quickly spread across Europe and around the globe , which I think it is really true as the impact of nuclear attacks deals a huge blow on the economy due to the pythonic amount of deaths and commerce and activities that comes to a halt . The attack also disrupts the international trade and the death or incapacitation of thousands of people will cost hundreds of billions of dollars , shuttering businesses , jacking up unemployment and perhaps triggering a global recession .

Likewise , he articulates about creation of nuclear weapons and the international efforts laid by countries around the world . All nuclear weapons are fuelled by either plutonium or uranium, materials that are extremely difficult to make. Uranium mined from the earth has to go through complex refining and enriching process before it is "weapons-usable. And plutonium doesn't exist in nature - it is produced by only when uranium is run through a nuclear reactor ( the atomic reaction transmute one element into another ) . Further on with the tedious process organizations have to go through before getting their hands on the nuclear weapons . Countries like North Korea , Iran and Russia contains potential of fissile materials . I feel that , if any country takes a step back and gives up on their nuclear weapon research , then the world will have one less threat to face . After reading this article , I had understand more about the destructive force that nuclear weapons can hold . Well , there has been more international efforts put in now ; America has been helping Russia to secure it nuclear material . "Securing nuclear material may not be the sexiest foreign policy issue , but it is vital ." I agree with this sentence as every effort is deem important as it reduces the amount of nuclear weapons stole by the terrorists .

"With the age of terrorism threatening to become an age of nuclear terrorism, perhaps it's worth another look . There would be sacrifices , but surely not as great as losing a city . " This sentence is definitely veridical . Although there might be sacrifices that might come upon nuclear protection , it can at least save the world from being destroyed by these nuclear explosives , I suppose ?

Siew Yan (23)

Reader's Digest Reflection

Issue: May 2008
Article: The Rise Of Cyber Bullying

Through the years, technology has improved greatly. These improvements have undeniably made things more convenient for us, but there are an increased number of irresponsible people taking advantage of technology for undesirable deeds. Cyber bullying is just one example, and it has become a concern among many cyber users. It has even reached the extend of causing some to give up their precious life to run away from the cruel truth that terrible false information about them are being spreaded around on the Net. An example from the article is Ryan Halligan, who committed suicide after his classmates started spreading through Instant Messaging that he is a gay.

There are in fact many forms of bullying, such as playground bullies, road bullies and loan sharks harassing innocent households who did not even borrow money from them. Why is cyber bullying becoming more prevalent? I feel that it is because of the large audience the culprit is able to reach and also ensures that they will not be easily apprehended. Cyber bullying is also receiving a lot of publicity because of its accessibility. I strongly believe that other forms of bullying are also causing a lot of stress to the victims and many also ended taking drastic actions like committing suicide. It is because of the potential to reach the larger audience that cyber bullying is viewed as more serious than other bullying as more get to hear about it.

In my opinion, one should not feel that technological advancement is the sole cause of all these problems and poor victims taking their life because of cyber bullying. From the article, it is evident that some of the problems are also self-created. As long as there are irresponsible individuals, cyber and many other forms of bullying will happen. Unfortunate things will happen to victims who cannot take the stress.

Bullying in different forms has existed since a long time ago. Why do people living in the past not end up doing drastic acts like committing suicide when they are being bullied? I feel that perhaps it is because people nowadays are being pampered too much, therefore they cannot handle stress and obstacles well and end up making the wrong decision by ending their life.

Why shouldn’t we change our response to the situation, instead of trying to find ways to stop cyber bullying? Even if there is a definite way to prevent Internet users from cyber bullying, other forms of bullying will still take place. People should be taught more on how to deal and cope with such stress. In conclusion, I strongly feel that by helping to change a person’s mindset, it will do greater help than to try to stop cyber bullying.

Soon Min Jia Eunice (19)

Reader's Digest Reflection

Searching for Marita

This story is about a woman, Susana Trimarco, searching for her missing daughter, Marita. Susana realised that her daughter was missing after she did not return from a morning doctor's appointment.

Susana and her husband pleaded the police to help and they conducted a raid on a brothel where Marita was suspected to be held, but she was nowhere to be found. It turned out that someone had tipped the owners off about a raid.

Susana realised that she had to find Marita on her own. She quit her job and began searching the country. She often went into bars dressed as a prostitute to look for her daughter. I think that what she did was very brave. If I were her, I would have just relied on the police to help me search for my daughter. I can tell that Susana loves her daughter very much. She even separated her husband to look for Marita. Susana also sold her house and her two cars to pay for her investigations. I can tell that she is very devoted to look for her daughter, and will never give up.

Although local police often tried to stop her, Susana was not afraid and refused to give up. Soon, after a year, her search began receiving media coverage. Susana was interviewed by many radio stations. Police also began to increase raids on bars and brothels due to the pressure of publicity.

However, there were also people who did not support her, and instead started a campaign of intimidation against her. She had several hit-and-run attempts on her as well as threatening phone calls and text messages, however she was not intimidated and she did not give up. I feel that Susana is very strong-willed and she has very strong feelings of wanting to save her daughter. I strongly admire this aspect of her.

Soon many girls came forward for Susana's help. Andrea Darrosa went to the police who arranged a meeting for her. Andrea described to Susana about her life as a prostitute and asked if she could live with her. After hearing about Andrea, Susana was even more determined to find her daughter and she also tried her best to help each and every one of the girls that came to her for help. I think that Susana did the right thing and is very kind-hearted and thoughtful.

She declared that her mission is not just to search for her daughter but to also save those pitiful girls who have disappeared and to protect those who have been freed. I feel that she is a very noble woman. She have also received a n International Women of Courage award. She opened the Fundacion Maria de los Angeles Por la Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas in Tucuman and Buenos Aires. It helps victims of sex trafficking by providing medical and psychological treatment and job trainings as well as to provide food and shelter for them. I feel that this is very kind of her.

Overall, I think that she is very brave and devoted in her quest to look for her daughter. She did not even think of giving up and sacrificed much in order to look for Marita. She is also very noble to help those in need. I can tell that she loves her daughter very much. I strongly admire her and I hope to be able to be a woman as strong-willed as her.

(Miss lim, I was not added to the list of co-author for the Picture discussion and I can't post there... Can you please add me asap so i can post?)