It's raining words.

Smart Searching! 09122011

2011-12-08T16:57:00.001-08:00

Learning Intentions
- To understand how to do smart searching.
- To comprehend how to do research.

Success Criteria
- To be able to concentrate and be on track whilst researching.
- To be able to obtain relevant information in a short amount of time.

What is Boolean Search?
Boolean Search is a search technique which narrows down what we want to obtain. There are four major techniques:

And- When you search for Volcano AND Earthquake, pages with both these two terms present will only appear.
Or- When you search for Volcano OR Earthquake, pages with one of these items will appear. This allows you to search for two different things at once.
Not- When you search for Volcano NOT Earthquake, pages will exclude Earthquake and those only with Volcano present will appear.
"..."- When you use quotations marks "Volcano and Earthquake", this will refine your search into articles with the full phrase. This is very useful when you are looking for quotes and titles.

Why is it useful?
This techniques are very useful because it definitely refines our search. It filters the pages that are going to appear on our Google Page. This saves a lot of time because we do not need to manually filter it. With this, we can do so much in a little amount of time.

Example of questions:

Vandalism as an art NOT crime
Street art NOT vandalism

Team Strengths

2011-11-15T17:48:00.001-08:00

Our team strengths are quite evenly spread as out of 8 key areas, our team members have covered 6 with the exception of Coordinator and Shaper.

With 2 plants (Carlos and Azzah), we can trust them to come up with great ideas which are creative and innovative! For example, Azzah came up with the idea that we actually seek permission from the city council to vandalise a wall in KL to record down general views of Malaysians about vandalism. This can be compared to the reactions with other people all over the world.

We have 1 teamworker, who is Bryan, whom we can trust to be supportive at all time. An important trait of a team worker is that he/she must be sociable, which Bryan demonstrates.

Next, we have 2 Complete-Finishers (Nicole and Bryan) who are highly motivated and very task-focused. They will ensure that the work will be done on time and will be less prone to distractions and going off track. This can be seen from their willingness to set deadlines and ensure that everything is done by then.

We also have 2 Monitor-Evaluators (Nicole and Bryan) who are cautious and and take everything into account. Monitor-Evaluators are very critical minded and before accepting a given idea, they would question the sensibility/ different aspects of the idea. This would ensure that our work is of standard and we do not include unnecessary things in our outcome.

We have 1 Implementer, who is Nicole. An implementer is important because he/she is very systematic and organized. This was demonstrated throughout the mock group project through updates and minutes of the mock project agenda.

We are missing Cordinators and Shapers but after reading the criterion of those two personalities, we discovered that these 2 traits are quite similar to Complete-Finishers and Implementers so Bryan and Nicole can cover the other two traits, with help from Carlos and Azzah.

We have quite a dynamic team here but we must work on not to overplan and do research on unnecessary information in our real project.

It's time to reflect!

2011-11-12T07:05:00.001-08:00

The Group Work

What have I contributed to the group project?

First of all, I have been updating the agenda of all our meetings as well as recording down the homework for each of our team member. Besides that, I was also in charge of researching about a world without oil. I felt that the National Geographic scenario planning videos helped me alot. It was particularly difficult for me to imagine living in a world without oil as from my research, I found out that everything we use everyday relies heavily on oil. Whether we know it or not, our lives are fueled by oil. I found out about different renewable resources that we can use, sustainable agriculture, or cutting down our dependency on oil right now so that we can soften the impact of a post-peak oil world.

Also, I recommended a few of the outcomes that we could do. After several discussions with my team members, we have decided to present our findings through a mockumentary. An advantage of a mockumentary is that we can keep the audience entertained without compromising any of the relevant information that we want to convey through our video. Moreover, I have also helped my team members create a Gantt Chart which helped us in organising and delegating our work as well as making sure that our project would be completed in time before the deadline.

What would I do differently next time? Why?

I would definitely make sure that we, as a group do not over plan. Over planning wastes time and might kill our ideas for the mockumentary as well. We fumbled too much on how we should present our information as well as the information that we are including in the mockumentary. This process was too lengthy and unnecessary so I would make sure that this does not happen again in our real Group Project. Also, in dealing with passive group members, I should be more engaging and inclusive at every part of our discussions. As a group, I feel that we should not leave anyone out and we must ensure that everyone clearly understands everything before moving on.

What have I learnt about working together?

I have learnt that in a team, there is no 'I'. We must always listen to what others have to say and at the same time, cannot be shy or hesitant to pour in any ideas/ recommendations for the benefit of our group. I have also learnt that we must be frank to voice out any problems we see in the project or any problems that we are facing. By voicing it out, our team members might actually have the ability to help us. Effective communication is what keeps a team going. And without communication, there is no team.

What has been good/challenging about working as part of a group?

Working in a group has its advantages. We can effectively share the workload and discuss our ideas together before presenting it. For example, in our group, our brainstorming sessions made me realise the different ways/ perspective that we can use to interpret a situation. It gave me new insights to how different things can be viewed in different ways. Working in a group also hones up our teamwork and leadership skills, which is not possible in our individual project. We learn how to become better leaders and team members.

However, working in a team is also challenging in the way that we must ensure that everyone understands and reaches the same ground before proceeding. This is quite difficult because everyone has their own views. But of course, we must learn to persuade others as well as be willing to compromise to create a win-win situation for our team.

What have I learnt doing the project?

What have I learnt about;

deciding on and planning a project?

Deciding a project is crucial as we must ensure that each of the team member is passionate about the project in order to make 'our project' work. Planning is also essential as well because before anything can be done, we must all sit down and plan our project. Without planning, everything will go haywire and they might be a big possibility that nothing can be done. Planning helps us define our goals, stay on track, and lists down everything that needs to be done in a particular timeframe. Planning is the skeleton of our project.

planning and producing research?

Planning research is perhaps one of the most challenging part of being in a team. This is because while researching, we must ensure that no repetitive data are researched because it wastes alot of time. And sometimes, we might not know that we are researching on the same things. With GoogleDocs, this is no longer a problem because we can clearly see what each of us are doing and prevents researching about the same things. I easily get off track while researching, given the amount of information that are available through the internet. I have leant that I must shortlist and be selective of the sites that I want to obtain information from. This by to done by making sure that the site/ information provided is reliable and not biased in any way.

reading and presenting my ideas?

Well, I feel that the most important part to this element is to present logical and relevant ideas to our team members with justification. The other members might not be familiar over what we have researched about so clear explanations really helps to clear up confusions and misconceptions.

time management?

Everyone is different so how we spend our time is also different. Team time management is very different from an individual's time management. To me, time management is detrimental to working in a team because if one in the team does not manage time properly, then the progress of the whole team would be disrupted.

What would you do differently to develop these skills?

I would be more thorough in my research. Sometimes I tend to go off-track while researching so I would definitely make sure that I do not waste time doing unnecessary research.

How did I approach my individual contribution?

I did all the work allocated to me and I also contributed my views as much as possible. I also accepted feedbacks and criticisms about my weaknesses and worked hard to improve them.

What are the most valuable points I have learnt? Why?

I have learnt that being in a team, I must be voluntarily active. Besides contributing ideas, I must also listen to others for they might have better suggestions and ideas. I have learnt that communication is very important when working in a team. Time management is also crucial because the rhythm of the team will be disrupted even if one member fails to keep up with deadlines.

Gantt Chart

2011-11-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Gantt Chart (noun)
- a chart in which a series of horizontal lines are used to show the amount of work to be done in a period in time.

This also shows us the dependency relationship between each tasks as well as the time frame where the whole event would be completed. This is particularly useful because big events can be broken down into smaller tasks and everything can be done efficiently. This enables better planning.

In our example Gantt Chart of building a house, a 26 weeks task became a 19 weeks task with Gantt Chart planning. So as shown in that example, by using a Gantt Chart, we can save time because some tasks can actually be done simultaneously.

Top tips for creating a Gantt Chart:
1. Before starting a new Gantt Chart, first list down all the tasks that you'd want completed and the proposed time frame for every task.

2. Colour code each of the task according to each person's responsibility.

3. Ensure that each bar is labelled clearly.

4. Lastly, it is important to ensure that everyone knows how the Gantt Chart works before using it for your tasks! (if not it'd be useless to have a Gantt chart)

Group Mock Project Reflection 20.10.2011

2011-10-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

For this two weeks, we have been working hard on coming out with an outcome of our Group Project. But before choosing a suitable medium, we narrowed down our different aspects that we can look at peak oil to the social, political and economical impacts in a post peak oil world. The reason to doing this is because these three aspects are interrelated.

Thus, we that in mind, we decided that we will be producing a mockumentary. At first, we wanted to produce a serious documentary, History Channel style. But we realised that it would be more interesting to produce an end-product which will gauge people's attention, especially when our goal is to raise awareness about peak oil. And comedies work all the time, given that it's not too cliche or lame. So we decided to switch out focus a little and come out with a mockumentary.

Over the past 2 weeks, I think we have been working quite hard as a group. Right from choosing the aspects that we would want to focus on to looking for a suitable end-product, we have actively participated and discussed about different ways of producing our end-product.

We have came up with a checklist which hopefully can be done by tomorrow. It's all filming.

Fishbone!

2011-10-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

Our fish bone diagram.

3.10.2011 Reflection (Peak Oil)

2011-10-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

We read all the articles and watched all the videos provided in KN individually. We decided to do this instead of reading the articles and watching the videos together because we do not want to be influenced. In this way, we can form our own views and have a personal response towards this issue.

We also did the fishbone diagram. This was done by separating the workload into 4 main sections namely, personal, national, global and future. This was more efficient as we can work on the diagram simultaneously. Also, we allocated the specific roles according to their specialities. For example, Bryan and I have lived in Malaysia pretty much our whole lives so we did the national perspective of peak oil, a section that is closer to heart.

We are a pretty close-knitted group so it wasn't really difficult to work in a group. I personally find it more interesting to work in a group because there are more views to a certain topic.

Independent Project Wall Display

2011-09-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

A photobooth blurry product.

Reflection and Sharing

2011-09-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

I have FINALLY completed my first independent project.

What have I found easy about IP?

I found it easy as I already have done a similar one in my mock IP. So what I did in my current IP was to specify and narrow down my topic (by a lot), looking at abortion.

What have I found difficult?

Finding a medium to present my view of different levels. It would be dull and boring if I were to present everything in a word document. Thus, I have chose to present my findings in unique and different ways. For example, I used a recipe book, a diary and an iMovie. For the iMovie especially, I was pretty lost at what should I include and how should I film my video. In the end, I used graphics and I did a voiceover.

What problems did you encounter? How did I overcome this?
To obtain Malaysia's statistics on abortion. I overcame this by looking at different sources and googling A LOT of reliable sources. At some point, I felt like I was going out of the topic and at some point, I felt like I was making absolutely no progress on my project.

BUT I AM GLAD THAT I WAS ABLE TO COMPLETE MY PROJECT WELL BEFORE THE DEADLINE.

Tata,
Nicole.

Traits

2011-07-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

Trait 1: Implementer

I do have common sense, have self-control and discipline.

Trait 2: Monitor-evaluator

I do prefer accuracy over speed. For me, quality is more important than quantity.

Trait 3: Completer-finisher

I get panicky when things are not done on time. But I remain my steadiness and calm even under pressure.

Teamwork 01

2011-07-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

1. What do you think you are good at?
- Coming up with good ideas
- Making sure people do their work on time
- Include everyone during a discussion
- Meeting deadlines
- Working with other people
- Communicating

2. What areas do you think could be an issue?
- Ensuring that everyone is updated on the issues
- Making sure that everyone meets the deadline

Vandalism

2011-07-05T02:15:00.000-07:00

Nicole Lee
Bryan Chen
Maxwell Lim
Stephanie
Carlos
Terry

Teamwork:
- equal amount of inputs.

Our team has:
- has a great mixture of gender and nationality.
- We live in different districts. Thus, we can compare the rate of vandalism.
- We have considerable chemistry.

A successful team:
- can work with each other, cooperate and communicative
- mutual understanding and respect
- equal distribution of work
- inclusive

Expectations:
- To be able to finish our work on time
- Make sure that everyone is involved
- Respect each other's views
- Be organised
- Be communicative, no arguments!

The greatest insult to human civilisation and intelligence

2011-05-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Why are we humans?

2011-05-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

What makes us humans?
We have emotions and feelings. We feel anger, humiliation. We have imagination. We believe. We are unique. Each one us us are different, none of us are the same. We can make judgements, we know how to differentiate the right from the wrong. We are conscious of the implications of our actions. We are more intelligent (but I doubt that we are smarter than our fellow aliens from Mars). We empathize. That's why we are humans.

Reflect

2011-04-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

Purpose: To reflect what I have done for the unit on law and criminality
Target audience: anyone (learners, teachers)

1. Content

I have learnt that in order to persuade the jury, we have to produce evidence to disprove the prosecutors.
I did not know that Holocaust also refers to the genocide in Rwanda et cetra. I thought that Holocaust ONLY refers to the mass extermination of Jews ordered by Hitler.

I learnt to listen to the witnesses' accounts very carefully and pick out points that they are vague on.

I find the different findings provided by the Amnesty International and the Chief Finance Officer on the total amount of money used to execute someone very confusing. Both have provided different findings. This is because contradicting information should definitely be counter-checked before presented in the trial.

2. Court Case and Legal Preparation

As a team, we were well-researched. We also helped everyone and made sure everyone was well-prepared. The cross examiners and witnesses also practiced, as well as the people giving the opening and closing speech.

During the trial, we were able to keep calm. Cross examiners were also able to ask good questions when cross examining the opponents' teams. We also demonstrated teamwork in our team, especially when we helped each other out when listening to the witnesses.

I did my research fairly well. I also communicated with my team members on any arising problems. I were also very confident about the questions that I was going to question the witnesses.

Target for group: run through all probable questions before the real trial.

Target for self: Take on a role which enables me to talk more.
Preparation: To research even more to clearly know opponents' stance
Presentation: Speak more.

On the whole, I have learnt a lot on law and criminality, especially on death penalty. This is a very interesting yet sensitive subject as it involves humanity, politics and religions.

For/Against Death Penalty- pick your choice (:

2011-03-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hey geeks 8)Maxwell and I worked together to research on our death penalty piece. Anti Death Penalty

View more documents from GP10.

PRO Death Penalty

View more documents from GP10.

Please comment. Thanks! (:

Nicole X

12 Angry Men

2011-03-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

This is a movie about people's perspectives can be easily influenced; proof is never always right (sometimes interpreted wrongly); and when someone's life is in your hands, you must not just dismiss and deny the right of the guilty to live. Also, never give up hope even when you're the loner- you must be patient and insist- trust your intuition, it will bring you where you want to be.

I like the part where the old man in the jury related the simple and natural habit/ action of the man in specs (which is massaging his nasal bridge) to the woman who claimed to have witness the crime. Again, observance is extremely important at this point and habitual actions, though easily overlooked, it can coerce the jury into wrongly sending the boy to die.

My favourite jurors were the man who firstly defended the innocent boy and the old man with white hair.

I live in a century where action-packed movies or soapy romantic films rule and dominate, so this black and white movie was definitely kind of boring- especially the introduction. Also, the introductory part was a little too long and mundane. Perhaps they can go straight to the point, and that'd have captured the attention of viewers faster. The setting is boring because they never leave the meeting room which is locked and ever so stuffy. One thing that abhorred me was the men's sweating armpits marks on their shirt. That is just plain unhygienic and disgusting and it ruins my viewing pleasure.

3 stars I'd say. Original and interesting storyline but the setting somehow ruined it. Yet again, I contradict myself. If it ain't in a meeting room, how'd they sit down and listen to each other's views about the case? Perhaps a nicer room would settle my complaints.

This is definitely not a insipid movie, but outlined with many many interesting points. This movie is not jejune at all, it's more to meet the eye. I'm highly impressed with how a stereotypical boring meeting can turn out so interesting and colourful with a rich and diverse mixture and clash of personalities and emotions.

A CASE STUDY

2011-03-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

Cyber-bullying. In relation to the rather serious cyber-bullying case in our school where two students were suspended, we had at least two talks regarding cyber-bullying. One was conducted by Mr. Steven in which the talk featured some wonderful videos about cyber safety, while the other was conducted by a rambunctious teacher from Singapore which lightened up the tense atmosphere in the theater by talking about Facebook and Formspring, which we can easily relate to.

The case study is a concocted story that Ms Suzy made up. This is a pretty good job as it made me realise that cyber-bullying is the last thing that you'd want to be involved in.

1. Who is the perpetrator in this case? Who is the target?
At first, Nazar was the perpetrator as he manipulated others into 'unfriending' Chong Wei. However, Chong Wei was in the wrong later on when he created a facebook group 'Why I hate Chong Wei' and accused him of things that CW never did. CW never knew the existence of this site yet. When this launched a heated debate among their friends, their friends who made their own accusations and suggestions on how should Nazar should be treated was also involved in cyber-bullying as well.

2. What acts of cyber-bullying has happened? How serious would you rank them?
CW: engaged in singling and excluding
Nazar: Why I hate CW- harassing and targeting
Accusations about CW- insulting
Other members: suggestions- insulting

I think I would rank Nazar's actions as the most serious as he engaged in many cyber-bullying acts. He did not just stop after creating the group. He continued to insult and post fabricated shocking 'revelations' about CW without his permission or knowledge. CW would come in the next as he pressurized others in unfriending Nazar. The last would be the other members who participated in and was aware about what was happening. They shouldn't join in the conversation and make 'incredible' comments and suggestions about how Nazar should deal with CW.

All in all, I think CW bears the same responsibility as Nazar because he initiated this whole terrible event. A domino effect it seems, as Nazar won't commit into cyber-bullying if CW did not pressurize others into unfriending him. This is wrong and nobody should do that.

We live in a world where technology rules all. For the better or the worse, cyber-bullying should be last in the list to restrict our internet, social networking sites in particular. We live in a digital world, make it civil.

Nicole

Rank 'em

2011-03-16T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Geeks,

1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate
2 = Possibly wrong, but no action needs to be taken
3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action
4 = Wrong, and civil action could be taken by the target or the target’s parents
5 = Wrong, and criminal charges should be pressed

1. A student posts a negative review of a concert given by another student’s band. The review focuses on the band members’ skill as musicians and the quality of their music.

1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate

2. A student posts a story making fun of a teacher, suggesting that he is unqualified to teach. The teacher’s name is not used, but he is clearly recognizable to anyone who knows him.

3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action

3. A student uploads to YouTube a video of his band performing a song that makes fun of teachers. No specific teacher is named or is identifiable from the song.

2 = Possibly wrong, but no action needs to be taken

4. A student writes a letter to the school administration stating that a teacher has used improper discipline in class.
1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate

5. A student finds that photos of her, which were taken by her (now ex) boyfriend have been uploaded to his Facebook page. Then they were copied and reproduced in many more places, including photo-sharing sites. Her ex-boyfriend says that he is not responsible for what was done with the photos after he uploaded them.
3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action

6. A teacher asks students in her class to help write holiday greetings in a variety of languages for the school’s Web site. Without the teacher’s knowledge, one of the students’ contributions is a false and insulting statement against another teacher.
3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action

7. During an instant messaging session with several participants, a student accuses her boyfriend of cheating on her.
1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate

8. A student creates a Web site in which she criticizes school policies and suggests that several teachers, whom she names, are overly strict in their discipline.
3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action

9. A student creates a Facebook group in which he states that one of his teachers is a space alien who is scheming to abduct students and take them to her home planet.
1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate

10. A teacher discovers that students are being pressured by a popular student to remove an unpopular student from their Facebook “friends” lists.

2 = Possibly wrong, but no action needs to be taken

Nicole (:

Eye of an eagle, perception of a human

2011-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

1. We are humans, thus we are definitely not perfect. We make a considerably amount of mistakes, whether we know it or not.

2. This brings me to my point that well, unfortunately, witnesses's witness on a particular event cannot be trusted entirely.

3. The reasons being:
(a) ENHANCED by drugs, regular exercise, chilli, coffee, sleep, binoculars, glasses, electronics etc.
(b) DISTRACTED while we focus on something else.
(c) MISTAKEN as we are humans and have our own prejudices.

4. Yes, I do admit that a lot of factors influence our perception, but they cannot be not trusted completely. This is because eyewitnesses' witness are at time in certain cases are the only evidence thus it help polices to narrow down their suspects. Yet again, our perceptions vary too much to be taken in account and they do result in innocent people being dealt with instead.

5. Therefore, I would like to say that we cannot altogether trust eyewitnesses account. We cannot use eyewitnesses as a concrete evidence to prove someone guilty. We need to have concrete evidence that cannot be biased in any way or other in order to prove that someone is guilty.

Selectivity Perception
A child dying in poverty as seen by a doctor, economist, a social worker, the child’s father.

Doctor (Nicole) : Inability for medical aid to reach poor people.

Social worker (Kai Song): We should help those who do not have the ability to support their child/ family. We are responsible to bring them up maybe in orphanages.

Economist (Maxwell) : Economic gap is getting bigger and this is not a healthy thing for a society. We should try to find out ways to improve the social and living condition, by providing mor job opportunities.

Child's father (Bryan): I think that it is very sad o see my child dying in front of my eyes but I really do not have the ability to provide him with what he is entitled to. I felt sorry but I too hope that there will be aid from the society to help the poors.

A sunset as seen by a religious figure, a physicist, an artist, a farmer.

Religious figure (Bryan): Nothing is eternal. Everyone will die one day, no matter how healthy you are, how wealthy you are. Like the sun, it will set one day. Pray, listen to God, and you will have a wonderful life after death.

Artist (Nicole): This is a perfect opportunity for me to express the beauty of nature.

Physicist (Kai Song): *Cough* Listen carefully, this is caused by the earth rotating around the axis. Isaac Newton has discovered gravity.... bla bla bla bla bla

Farmer (Maxwell) : End of a day, I can finally go home, what a hard day!

A tree as seen by a biologist, a logger, an environmentalist, a native from Sarawak.

Logger (Nicole): The forest is a gold mine.*sings* "Money money money, must be funny, in a rich man's world"

A biologist (Bryan): To the logger, please stop cutting down tress as they lock up carbon dioxide.Without tress, there will be a rise in the earth's temperature..... *Continues the 30 minutes lecture*

An environmentalist (Maxwell): We borrowed nature from God and we owed it from the future generation.

There you have it. Our very argumentative group with two distracted souls. The other two are sane, at least. Or not? Who knows.

Tata,
Nicole.

The MOORS Murderers

2011-03-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge. (:

Inhumane or Justice? -Death Penalty::The timeless question.

2011-03-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

Centuries ago, the prevalent rule of thumb was an eye for an eye, or in some cases, a life for a life. So the question becomes have we advanced far enough in our social and political structures to ban the death penalty? Or when is the death penalty justifiable? Is the death penalty appropriate for an accidental homicide? How about for a mass murderer?

Death penalty is still practiced in 58 countries, and our country is one of them. Some view it as inhuman, some view it as it should be practiced. In this post, I will be exploring the for and against arguments about death penalty.

Why Death Penalty?

(i) as a means of retribution (ie they should die because they deserve to die);
(ii) as a deterrent to others;
(iii) to prevent any danger of re-offending.

First of all, death penalty is enforced to uphold justice. Some feel that justice means that good has to be rewarded and evil has to be punished.

If someone commits the most egregious of crimes, such as raping and murdering a child or a woman, the perpetrator deserves to be executed. If a murderer is executed, than he cannot commit murder again. No one can be harmed by that murderer again, so technically the death penalty saves the lives of the innocent.

Tools used to KILL (death penalty)

The history of criminal law has furnished a myriad of examples where convicted murderers were sentenced for a certain amount of time in prison. After the perpetrator got restored to liberty, he/she committed murder again. It could not be more obvious that such a criminal should NOT have been given a second chance. All of us have free will. Everyone can decide on their own whether they will muder innocent people or not. Those that does not want the capital punishment being inflicted on them should avoid murdering innocent people. In this context, death penalty acts as a deterrent for those who wants to commit a crime.

A social contract should look like this - if you do not murder the innocent, we will not execute you. If you decide to take innocent lives anyway, you know the consequences, that is you will be executed.

Death penalty is supported because an adequate retribution for the most egregious crimes should be executed. Also, it protects the innocent population. With the death penalty, this also prevents the uprising of vigilante, which obviously causes social distress in a society. Without trust, nothing is possible.

If the whole world rescinds death penalty, it will foster egregious crimes and this will make the society more disorderly: there is no sense of security at all.

The death penalty is a kind of ancient penal code: it punishes the committing crime members.

NO to death penalty!

(i) killing someone is always wrong, and two wrongs can never make a right;

(ii) there is in fact no evidence of a deterrent effect;

(iii) life without parole is just as effective a way to prevent someone reoffending as executing them;

(iv) saving money can never be a justification for taking someone's life;

(v) mistakes are bound to happen, and that means people being put to death for a crime they didn't commit (imagine if that were you or someone you loved).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights thereby states in Article 3 that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. So there is indeed no reason for death penalty to stay.

"MAYBE THIS WILL TEACH YOU THAT IT'S MORALLY WRONG TO TO KILL PEOPLE!"
- HOW IRONIC

And statistics have shown that death penalty has no deterrent effects at all. The main reason that people commit crimes is due to financial reason. Another main contributing factor is that many people are uneducated, thus unaware of the crime that they are unconsciously committing. Crimes happen because of poor law enforcement. Death penalty is not a solution to crimes. To solve the problem, we have to review the causes that people commit crime.

I quote the great Mahatma Gandhi, "AN EYE FOR AN EYE MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD BLIND". Indeed, by fighting violence with violence will just encourage violence. On top of that, it is BARBARIC!

In the 10 Commandments, it also states that "Thou shalt kill."

So isn't it clear enough? Death penalty should definitely be abolished.

However, I only would inflict the death penalty on those who commit the most egregious of crimes because there is a difference between murder and murder. If someone commits murder for material gain, for example rapes and kills a child/ woman, death penalty would definitely suit the murderer. But if, someone is caught up in a situation where he/ she is constantly being terrorized, and resulted in killing someone else in self defense, that would definitely not be in the criterion of death penalty. For example, in a situation where a pedophile father constantly rapes his own child and this resulted in the death of the father by the child, death penalty shouldn't be executed. The child should only be given a mild punishment/ punishments as most legal systems have mitigating factors for crimes, in this case, provocation and self defense.

All in all, discretion should be used in this matter. Whilst I cannot agree on the total abolishment of death penalty, I propose that amendments should be made to improve the legislation of the death penalty.

NICOLE X

Define.

2011-03-03T02:47:00.000-08:00

1. What crimes did they commit?
2. How many people did the criminal kill/ harm?
3. How were the criminals charged?
4. What was the charges given?
5. Did they have real intention with the crime?
6. WHY ARE THEY FAMOUS?

I choose the Moors Murderers.

Nicole X

To Punish or NOT to Punish?

2011-03-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

We feel that the punishments posed in Malaysia is quite moderate. After all, punishments are performed to teach the criminals a lesson and to prevent them from doing it again. Although we practice death penalties for more severe crimes, but all in all, it's quite moderate. We also feel that the courts and the prison services are quite moderate as well. To our knowledge, prisoners don't often get abused in prisons.

lawlawlaw

2011-03-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

24.02.2011
The visit to Palace of Justice was indeed an eye-opener for me. I got to understand the different judicial systems and the types of courts here in Malaysia. For me, courts are places where lawyers wear their white wigs and long black robes and have civil verbal fights with one another to defend/ sue their client- while the Judge, will be listening intently and decide, upon the knock of the hammer. For me, the hammer symbolises the authority and the strictness in court and that no nonsense is tolerated in court- plain like that. All in all, hammer means no laughter/ giggles/ lame comments/ lame attitudes.

The most interesting part was when we got to actually go inside a court and attend a hearing. It was pretty impressive. The way the documents are prepared for reference to fight for just one case is incredible- it was so thick. I was dismissing this idea when we were told about the helpers helping the Judges to locate pages having in mind that "can't they just flip it themselves"but when I actually saw the document all heavily binded, my jaw dropped. I didn't at all expect it to be so thick and imagine what the lawyers had to go through when preparing the whole document to fight the case as well as for references for the Judges.

The language used in court is definitely not casual, but I also don't think that the formality in court is as petrifying or nerve wracking as in a SERIOUS MUN conference. As long as you refer to your Judges as M' Lord and do not attempt (any at all) to intrude and cut in when's he's speaking to you, I think you're fine. A Judge has a HUGE responsibility to uphold as the result of the case rests directly on their shoulders. One waver or one wrong interpretation might just kill the innocent.

24.03.2011
Mr. Ramesh was kind enough to grace our small event in school and he did gave us a lot of insights into how being a lawyer is like and he was kind enough to enlighten us on the rungs to become a lawyer. His speech was quite informative and he was willing to share. He even told us about the ethics of a lawyer, which I (personally) feel that it's contradicting. I particularly like the part where lawyers wear the wig and the long robe to 'disguise' themselves which also brings out the fact that they themselves as a person is totally different and separated from their profession as a lawyer.

In conclusion, the two days were rather informative and I enjoyed it very much. I hope that we will have excursions/ speeches just like these in the future. (:

Nicole X

Of the most critical things I think of-

2011-02-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

2 June 2010
Kuala Lumpur

IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the public can depend on his police force as he reminds them that their job is to protect and assist the public and to behave themselves at all times.

He said 7,402 officers who were previously assigned for office duties have been deployed to the ground to do patrol duties since January this year. Assistant Superintendents and Inspectors are doing investigative work and over 5,000 lower rank officers are performing patrol duties and intelligence gathering.

This re-deployment exercise conceived by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak targets to achieve a police to population ratio of 1:300 from the existing 1:500 figure.

7,000 more have been deployed to work at 14 police contingents covering 147 district police headquarters and 757 police stations across the nation. 500 people will be recruited as sergeants who will do police investigations only.

Musa said with the larger police presence, the public feels safe when they go out and can expect cases to be resolved faster.

Agreed

Disagreed

Crime stats as gathered from 2001-2006

So basically as shown in this graph, robbery involving firearms have dropped drastically (definitely a good thing!), while the others fluctuated.

In this graph however, motorbikes' thefts have rose while thefts in general have escalated. Snatch thefts escalated as well, while motorcar thefts had rose a little.

Yes, it differs. Although I am aware that this stats is rather outdated, but nonetheless I was never aware that motorbikes are among the most things stolen. I stand corrected.

But anyway, this is rather outdated (as I have tirelessly pointed out), and in general I would say that crime rates have increased over these few years. For more information, perhaps you geeks can visit this site http://asme.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/crime-rate-in-malaysia/.

In Japan and Singapore, littering is illegal I believe, but here in Malaysia, you can easily find chewed/ hardened chewing gum under seats in the library/ LRT/ on streets etc. See the whole contrast?

There might be more but Imma stick with this first to investigate how different mentalities can affect the types of crimes people commit.

Ta-ta,

Nicole X.

Crime

2011-02-20T01:21:00.000-08:00

Crime is a wrongdoing which is punishable by law. A crime is breaking the law.

Cool stuff for geeks:

One in every three Australians is a victim of crime.
Two-thirds of the world's executions occur in China.
Saudi diplomats have 367 unpaid parking fines in Britain.

I find them interesting because I don't think Australia has a very high crime rate and yet 1 in every 3 Australians is a victim of crime. As China overtook Japan in the world economic ranking recently, it's very surprising to find two-thirds of world executions that occur in China. And the last is just very surprising!

In my opinion, crime rate in Malaysia is quite high. The most popular crimes in Malaysia are:

Snatch-theft

Kidnapping

Others include:

Rape

Murder

Stealing

Counterfeiting

Those are very terriblestupidnonsensehorribleyuckydisgusting crimes, so make sure you dont indulge in them.

I think that crime in Malaysia is rather high. Although our country is quite safe, but this doesn't mean that our country has a low crime rate. Snatch thefts costs a lot of lives in Malaysia. There was a case where a pregnant woman died after the incident of snatch thefts. In that incident, both the mother and her baby died. And this is only one in a million, possibly thousands of millions in Malaysia's snatch theft incidents.

Kidnapping is equally as bad. In Malaysia, kidnapping cases are quite serious.

2007- Nurin Jazlin got kidnapped when she went to the wet market. When found, she was murdered.

2008- Sharlinie got kidnapped when playing in a playground. She is still missing and NOT FOUND.

So as you see, there ain't any major differences. In fact, my views were quite similar to Jasmin's. I don't find these two activities extremely difficult because as long as I am able to justify why I made my choice, I find my reasons valid.

The most difficult choice we had to make as a group was the one on shoplifting. Zahir thinks that shoplifting should be ranked third, while Jasmin and me think that it should be ranked sixth, the reason being shoplifting rarely kills. Zahir ranked solvent abuse at sixth, but we feel that solvent abuse can lead to abnormal and dangerous addiction, which is quite harmful to our human body, thus it should be higher than six. That was one dilemma we faced as a group.

Which of these are crimes?

- driving under the influence of drugs

- drink-driving

- breaking into a car

- shoplifting

- shouting racist abuse

Which of them are victimless?

- solvent abuse

What kinds of punishment would you give to these offenses?

- rehabilitation

- fines

- community service

- educate them about the consequences

- deterrence

- incapacitations

How should repeat offenders be dealt with?

They should be warned and given 2 chances. If exceeded limit, heavy fines with requirement of community service should be imposed and dealt with seriously, depending on its severity.

Nicole X

Law and Criminality

2011-02-12T01:22:00.000-08:00

Law is a double edge sword: it can kill you; it can save you.

Law is a set of rules to make sure that people do not commit crime. At most times, law is somehow related/ linked to crimes. In fact, law is the answer to crime (though sometimes not a perfect answer, but how can we get perfect answers in life? and so on. You get the point.)!

I think that crimes are problems in the society, and by enforcing laws, we can make sure that people do not commit these crimes. But I don't think that laws should be too restrictive to the point that human rights are overlooked.

Law also serves as a protection for us. It protects us as 'victims' and demands compensation from the 'attacker'. Law protects us from unseen dangers. This is indescribable because not all dangers are seen, some are well, abstract.

Let me give you an example where law protects you. Imagine you are a worker and you are often abused by your employer. You want to leave, but you are bound with a contract. Helpless, you can't leave. What can you do? This is where law comes in to protect you from your abusive employer.

If now I have planted the mindset on you that Law is heaven where equality and fairness is finally counted, then well, it seems a little harsh to say this but you are wrong.

Law is not as perfect as I narrated. Yes, it upholds justice but at times, law itself ain't fair. Why again? you ask. Well, nothing in the world is fair- that's a fact. We are humans, and no matter how many times we revise laws, it isn't going to be perfect and it obviously doesn't have the magical ability to please EVERYONE in the world. But what we can do is to try to make it as fair as possible.

And with the implementation of law, freedom is gone. Not completely gone but it depends on how you look at freedom. If freedom for you is to go out and unleash your inner violence with random children/ people on the street, then well, law prevented this catastrophe from happening. Good for the law. If freedom for you is to enjoy your life and do whatever you want with it, as long as it's not illegal, then law doesn't forbid you to do any of those.

Some people also says that law is what makes us civilised. I can only partially agree (though yes, without laws, we MIGHT be barbarians, but we don't know, so how can we assume?) but let me stress that law is not the bedrock of a cilivised society. Law does contributes a little but that is not the essence of civilisation. Law is just a teeny-weeny section of our civilisation, as our mindset and our habits and our technological advancements play quite a great part in civilisation.

Dear geeks who think that law makes us civilised people (such as but not limited to Maxwell and the rest of the people/ world who stands on his side),

Is law the reason that we are civilised? I have been pondering on this question for quite a few days and I'm glad to say I have reached a point where I can form a rebuttal in response to those who disagree with me.

First of all, I admit that law do makes a civilised. In fact, law really does play a part in civilisation, but I'd say that the part law plays would be rather minute.

When I say civilisation, images such as we, humans not living in caves, not wearing any clothes except a small leaf/ cloth to cover our private parts, not being babarians who eat up other humans, we wash our hands before we eat and after we do our business, we coexist harmoniously, we say please and thank you, we have languages (speaking English now), we are not rude people etc etc etc etc.

And how many of those I mentioned above is stated in the law?

1. Is cannibalism ILLEGAL?
- fyi, it was legal in Mexico last time, but to my knowledge, not many countries have definite rules to address the issue of cannibalism.
2. Is wearing a piece of cloth only covering your private parts AGAINST THE LAW?
- yes in some Muslim countries due to their religious beliefs.
3. Is living in caves ILLEGAL?
4. Does law require us to wash our hands before we eat and after we have done our businesses?
5. Does law make us coexist harmoniously?
6. Does law require us to say please and thank you and have an appropriate moral conduct?
7. Does law tells us to converse in languages?

Do you see? I bet you have some answers to my questions but do you get the whole picture and the point that I'm trying to proof here?

Yes, law does play a part in civlisation but I have to say hat law is not the essence of civilisation!

Some nice quotes I grabbed off the internet!

And the BEST for the LAST!

Sometimes, I couldn't agree more. (:

Law-ing,

Nicole X

PS- By the way, if you have any interesting answers to my question, please tell me by commenting below. I don't know everything, but perhaps you do have an answer. Please do comment. (:

Guess what? It's better than Titanic.

2011-02-11T02:30:00.000-08:00

HEY YOU geeks out there.

That was the video we made for our Feedback tips. (:

Well, yes I admit that it ain't as great as Titanic, but don't you think Bryan is pretty good with iMovies? After all, we are all amateurs! It was pretty ingenuous of Ksong to copy and paste the front part of our iMovie, don't you think? We wanted to create the effect that was pretty suspenseful with the eerie music in the background as you slowly go into the house which seemed like a murder scene- and turns out to be MAXWELL in the cupboard looking as if he's suffering from some serious emotional problems, in which he introduces you to the topic.

The reason we chose to use real case studies instead of virtual ones is that we want our audience to be able to relate to what are considered good and bad feedbacks. For those who are interested, you can access the blogs in the video to look at the examples we used for your own reference.

One thing I thought that we could have improved on is the timing of our presentation. As we didn't talk through the presentation before this, our timing weren't really good. For parts that we thought that we could have covered with our speech, it was too long and I guess audience will lose their attention span. Also, we should've zoomed into the typing texts because many audience failed to notice that it was typing. We should also have sped up the typing speed by at least 5! When presenting, only did I realise it was just too slow, as slow as a snail's pace!

So geeks, what do YOU think? (:

Ta-ta,
Nicole X

TQVM

2011-01-28T03:52:00.000-08:00

THE CHOSEN GEEKS.

YOU have been chosen to do this nicenicenice survey. (:

Nicole X

In which it's commented

2011-01-26T06:18:00.000-08:00

Yo Geeky GEEKS.

Feedback are comments or constructive criticisms used for improvement (in this case, our learning). It is very crucial because well, none of us are perfect and we have our flaws. And sometimes, you don't really notice these flaws, unless someone points it out to you: this is where feedbacks come in handy.

Good feedbacks are not necessary feedbacks which make people feel good. Good feedbacks are feedbacks and comments that people can learn from. And by making good and productive feedbacks, this may help your peer to improve. And who knows, it might help you too.

Bad feedbacks doesn't really help someone improve their learning. Some are just random statements which, well are very useless. And there's absolutely no point for putting in bad feedbacks because it just wastes space (internet virtual space) and wastes time for the learner to read the useless comment.

Blogs are a good way to give feedback because it's virtual and the comments can be reviewed. Feedbacks can be done on a blog and it is certainly a positive reinforcement. Critiques can also be made and it helps students to improve. Also, it is a great and easy platform for students to exchange views on their work and communicate different ideas. Besides that, blogs are a great thing for people who are too shy to comment or critique about someone else's work. It can be a viable substitution for students who prefer not to give critiques in front of the other learners.

Generally, I have been giving rather constructive comments (although there were a few useless stupid ugly sad comments). For example, after my comment on Zahir's very short first post, he posted another post entitled "Response to Grumpy People", which was of course more well explained than the first post. Clickkie here to see his nice post after I gave him a nice constructive critique. I have learnt that by giving people proper comments, regardless whether the learner would treat it as a tip to improve (which most of them will), unconsciously, I am also helping other people to improve too.

This is a good feedback that I've made. This is a good feedback because aside from telling the learner what I think was good about his post, I've also pointed out what could be improved. This comment can help the learner to improve on elaborating more about the stated points.

Nicole X

Lemme ask you this

2011-01-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.- Zig Ziglar

The Questions
1. Do you use water-saving bathroom equipments at home (eg low flow shower head, dual flushes toilet) If not, are you willing to spend some money to install these features?
2. Do you use showers or baths more often?
3. What do you do when you brush your teeth?
4. Do you insulate your water pipes?
5. Do you monitor your water bill to check for leaks in the house?
6. Other than used toilet paper, do you throw any other rubbish into the toilet bowl?

Bryan the Abandoner replied via Skype

"Your questionnaires are fine, but for Question 3, you should add some responses to it. Not yes/ no responses, but for example like 1- Use a glass 2- The tap just runs etc etc. "

Maxwell the Dinoboy replied via Skype

"For Question 6, it's too personal. What if people didn't just throw toilet paper in? What if they flush other things in? What if it's too personal to be revealed?"

Zahir replied via Skype

"For Question 6, what if they threw other stuff in too? And for your responses, you should let respondents to state reasons for their choice."

I agree with them. Yes, in a respondent's point of view, Question 6 would definitely be a little touchy and some people might not feel very comfortable about this question. However, as surveys can be anonymous thus I don't think respondents will really mind to answer the personal Question 6. But all the same, I tried to rephrase my questions so that the survey would be more effective and it doesn't intrude other people's privacy (I'd say).

Questions. Leave it after my speech (:

2011-01-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

Yo geeks.

A questionnaire is very useful because it is simple to administer. Anyone can create a questionnaire. Besides that, they are very simple for respondents to complete. Just a few ticks which takes up maybe less than 1 minute: you have a questionnaire done. Simple as that. Also, some respondents may not be very comfortable around perky interviewers, so questionnaires can definitely substitute those irritating interviewers. Not just that, as respondents are not required to give in their replies immediately, those who want to have a think over the questions may do so, before submitting their replies. Questionnaires are very versatile, and it suits people of all ages, anywhere, anytime.

Top Tips on creating an awesome questionnaire

1. Have a good introduction

This is very important because your introduction in your questionnaire tells people your objective of having their views and what are you going to use it for. A good introduction should also be attention grabbing, maybe as attention grabbing as this:

so that your respondents will be like this:

and thus you can achieve maximum results with your questionnaires.

2. Put your questions in the order of importance

In online surveys, there are huge chances that your questionnaires are too redundant and seem very unimportant so respondents decide to well, abandon it. To avoid this, put the most important question as the 1st question in your survey and leave those demographic/ unimportant-but-required questions at the very end of your survey.

3. Use easy words

In a questionnaire, you do not need to show off your language, just like how peacocks struts and shows their beautiful feathers. (Males, I repeat, only MALE PEACOCKS do that.) Keep it simple and plain and do not use jargons. Respondents might feel that you are trying to show off or trying to imply that they are ~~stupid~~ not as smart as you- and feel offended and abandon your survey. Again, keep it short and to the point and simple.

4. Randomize the responses

Whenever possible, change the order of the responses in your questionnaire in order to avoid 'order bias'. Some random kids might be clicking away random on your survey, so in order to avoid that, randomize your responses.

5. No graphics, please and thank you

Imagine yourself having a hard day at school. And Bob, your best friend, asks you to do a survey for him. Being your best friend, you can't possibly say no. You access your mail- and mind you, the internet is horrendously slow. You open your friend's message, which takes you 5 minutes. You click on the link, which takes you another 10 minutes. You hate the internet and you're very frustrated. When the page finally loads, you find yourself staring at the left hand corner of the screen, saying 'loading 1 of 100 pictures'. ~~Damn it,~~ you close your laptop.

You see how frustrating it is to do a survey which takes a VERY VERY long time to load because of the useless pictures and graphics? Keep it clean, and graphics-free.

6. Thank you very much

Yes, the words behind the golden rule: thank you. Remember to thank them for their time and willingness to do your survey. After all, they are nice people who took the trouble to complete your survey.

Nicole X

A talk with Barack Obama

2011-01-24T21:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Geeks. How're you doing?
I've decided not to change my ideas because I'm fine with this topic. (:

Ideas for finding information about local views

Casual conversations/ chats
Brainstorm
Surveys/ Polls
Blogs
Interview some famous people (but definitely not politicians)
Reliable books and magazines
Use safe social networking sites to get views from the public

Well, I think that having surveys would be most effective because I can have unlimited responses. Polls would also be great because when you want to accumulate your results, it shows you a visual image of what people voted for- making the results clearer.

Nicole X

To decipher the magic of the Blue Liquid

2011-01-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

Yo Geeks.

Yes, the title says it all-

http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-save-water-in-the-bathroom-a54425

Very nice techniques but I think that they are not explained properly. .__.

Some parts seem very vague to me and being an absolute layman at these water saving tips and technologies, I couldn't understand some methods as proposed in the websites.

http://eartheasy.com

Cool techniques but it's too expensive! :O
It's not really practical unless you are some multimillionaire in which you are willing to and can afford to spend chunks of millions in your bathroom.

I find that some sites are probably biased because the techniques mentioned sort of advertises the products that they are selling. However, I stumbled across this wonderful site:

http://www.365waystogogreen.com/category/how-to-save-water/how-to-save-water-at-home/how-to-save-water-in-the-bathroom/

Okay, I ~~don't~~ admit. Though some of his ways are rather disgusting and unhygienic and unheard of and revolting and ~~not recommended for you~~, but some of his 'demonstrated' ways to save water are pretty effective and well, original. It is not any other sites which require you to buy their 'water saving products' in order to save water. His daily narration on what he did to save water and save Earth will perhaps inspire you to start a project just like his. So do look around in his pretty-~~delicious~~-awesome site. :))

Nicole XOXO

01 The blue liquid

2011-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

Hey geeks. :)

The Venn Diagram

How to save water in the bathroom?
Undeniably, the bathroom is the place where we use most of our water. Business done, toilet flushed; singing in the shower, come out an hour later; brush your teeth, tap is running. All these is done in the bathroom, and unconsciously, we waste more water than we can possibly use.

Do you know which action waste the MOST household water in our houses?

No, not doing your business, but the action all of us do AFTER that. Yep, it's flushing the toilet.
Right after that are taking baths and showers.

There are many ways to save water in the bathroom.
I'll start of from the toilet WC.

1. Get a toilet which has a half-flush and full-flush function.

This really does save a lot of water in the long run because we use the toilet at least 6-8 times a day. The full flush uses about 4.5 litres while the half-flush uses 3 litres.

Imagine you went to the toilet 7 times a day and used full-flush all day.
7 x 4.5 litres = 31.5 litres

Instead, with a dual flush toilet, you may need to use 2 full-flushes and 5 half-flushes.
(2 x 4.5 litres) + (5 x 3 litres) = 24 litres

31.5 litres - 24 litres = 6.5 litres

Yes, you save 6.5 litres a day per person. It many seem insignificant but on the long run, it definitely saves a lot of water.

Imagine 4 people lives in a house and used the toilet each 7 times a day, used 2 full flushes and 5 half flushes.

6.5 litres x 4 people x 365 = 9490 litres

In a year, the family can save 9490 litres of water and that will cut off much of the amount on their water bill.

Save water to save money!

2. Check for leaks

That's is very important because at most of the time, we are unaware of the leaks and the water just drips and drips and drips on unnoticed. Therefore, we must be very careful and keep an open eye on any leaks on our water devices. You can use your own water bill/ water meter to check for water leaks too. If you notice a sudden rise in water usage on the bill although you have not used water excessively, that suggests a leak- probably in your bathroom.

3. Turn off the TAP

Classic rule that still applies! Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and soaping up your hands. When washing your razor/ retainer, don't put it under a running tap. Fill up a container with warm water and wash your razor/ retainer there. It's just as effective!

4. Insulate water pipes.

Yes, undeniably, it costs quite a bomb to insulate ALL your water pipes but it really does saves a lot of water. I think you should start by insulating the pipes channeling to your bathroom. Insulating pipes can reduce time for water to heat up, and at the same time, prevents you from wasting water while waiting for water to heat up.

5. Install a low-flow shower head

Generally, low-flow means that it uses less than 2.5 gallons per minute. Also, shorten your shower time. Avoid singing in the bathroom because it is very likely for you to be so immersed into singing and forget about the time- coming out only an hour later. If you can, do use baths instead of showers because the baths prevents you from wasting as much water as showers.

6. Do not throw rubbish into the toilet

Rubbish ranging from cigarette butt, facial tissues, babies' pampers etc are often found flushed down the toilet. And because these rubbish are not supposed to be flushed down toilets, they are often stuck. As a result, more water is needed to flush these rubbish down. We have rubbish bins for a purpose and toilets cannot be substituted for rubbish bins. Every time you throw a rubbish into the toilet, it wastes approximately 5 to 7 gallons of water.

I have chosen to present my findings through Prezi because it would be easier for audience to access and it is more interactive. And if learners want to re-access my research, it can be done by looking back at my Prezi.

Loves,
Nicole. (: