Lower productivity, more sick leave expected during World Cup

During the World Cup, productivity is lowered. I think it is very natural. This is because world cup is worldwide festival and all most every people interested in it especially the countries which participate in world cup. In Korea also, all people crazy about world cup so they always talking about it and check the result of every match. Not only employee but also employer consider about it. Even the exchange rate changes according to result. I think it is better that show the game in the workplace and then go back to work. In any case, people only concentrate on worldwide festival and give something a lick and a promise. It would be better not to do it at all than to do it that way.

How the soccer craze impacts productivity in the workplace?

Most countries would find that soccer craze is a negative impact to the productivity in the workplace. This is true as employees who are soccer fans would most likely turn in late for the night just to watch the soccer matches, especially for those countries whom they support or which would put up a good match.

This would definitely affect productivity in the workplace. Employees tend to come to work with tired and sleepy faces due to lack of sleep the night before. They would not be able to focus and give their very best at work hence, not being able to meet deadlines. Other employees who are not able to make it for the next day at work would just simply take days off or sick leave. Thus, employers would face a lack of manpower at work.

Many employers are bound to get irritated with this situation which is under control.

However, I believe that cases such as the one in China, whereby Zhang Huiquan, an editor of a Wuhan-based sports website, demonstrates his passion for soccer by holding up a sign that reads: "I will quit my job to watch the Worldcup." is rare. Many employees are bound to be aware that it is not easy to find a job these days, as the economy is just starting to recover from the recent financial crisis. Therefore, though they might go to the extent of sacrificing their sleep for the sake of the Worldcup, they would not resort to extremes such as quiting their jobs.

To resolve the problem of the soccer craze affecting office productivity, employers should look on the bright side and take this as an opportunity to build goodwill with their employees. Hence, employers would be able to communicate better with their employees and this would minimise misunderstandings. Employers can also use this as a platform to promote creativity, innovation and teamwork among the employees. This could turn out to be a good way to increase productivity in the long run.

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression

What I discovered, analyse and observed are that humans nowadays have grown to become an impatient people that won’t tolerate even the littlest thing. It’s hard to find people who are sincerely kind and helpful without any conditions attached or should I say their own selfish world cravings. Most of the people won’t really care much of what happens in this world or even towards other people that are affected because of their selfishness and stubbornness of wanting to get what they want.Like what this one article says about the recent findings on Singaporean behaviours:

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/06/02/singaporeans-slammed-for-being-rude-in-australian-newspaper/

and do please read over more than 3000 feedbacks on this findings. It sure is interesting with that big amount of comments cum feedbacks at the same time try to reflect ourselves also on it, whether it's totally true or you totally object to it.

1. Self-reflect on conserving and protecting the environment

Honestly, as I’m writing this blog, I’m really upset and my heart hurts as I ponder how people have change so much in this era to someone.... that’s really evil and will do anything only for his or her own survival and of course for money too . It made me sad even more and the feel of crying was nearly came upon to me but I brave myself not to, as this is my self-reflection as I’ve watched Michael Jackson Earth music video on what we humans ignorantly and selfishly damage this world. These will not only be my self – reflection but I want it to be everyone’s too as I believe that there are people who will read this blog and I want to take the advantage to spread the message. The world would come to an unpleasant end if this goes on.....

From watching the Michael Jackson earth song I have somewhat come to realize the importance to conserve and protect this world and the environment. To that I would also like to share with everyone on the true meaning of life which is by cooperating and understanding to live in harmony.

Another picture for self reflection on the environment issues......



2. Weightage on Mother Tongue

My reflection on the topic of the government reviewing the mother tongue system will be a good idea as the future generations will benefit from it, for the world will eventually speak in English. On the topic of self reflection independently leading to depress creativity is that it may be true as there have been many examples of them, like music artist, fine arts students, scientists and writers as they find their materials from them.

3. Plagiarism

On the topic of plagiarism, because of the rise of the new technology students have become more bold to cheat and less afraid of being caught.
4. How to make Singapore younger

On the recent post about “how to make Singapore younger?” had make me feeling doubt about the quality of my content that I wrote about in it. The one that make me doubt was the foreigner part, where I said that the Singapore government should follow the footsteps of Malaysian Government on curbing the Malaysian employers to take on too much of foreigner workers.

There are something that is amusing and can ponder on too:-

My definitions of self-reflection and aspirations :
Self –reflection usually make one person realize on the mistakes that they have done throughout their life. As for me, every time I do self –reflection on my life it will only end with sadness, regret, crying, disappointment and the near pathetic life that I’ve gone through. Honestly, I will always try to avoid as it always a very painful thing to reminisce on. Most of the time I would think on why I’m the chosen one to be a late bloomer in studies and also slow in churning out the info for me to really understand and eventually accomplish it and other sad things.....

How I wish that I could turn back the time, then I could amend the unpleasant things in my life and this world or might be that I can get the chance to stop the unwanted things from happening. Or maybe that will just be my wishful thinking though..... It won’t and impossible to be a reality.

To me when I tried to self –reflection on myself most of the time I get stress and depressed from it thus to alleviate them I tried my best not to think too much on it and instead I will try to come up or create new ideas or imagination on how to solve my problems with of course better and more of a happy ending stories. Maybe at this point of time where people (I think this applies to poor people that can’t afford to buy happiness) will try their best to avoid on the unhappiness in their past life they will also unknowingly try their best to be creative at solving their problems? This is just my part of assumption so I think this couldn’t really be the official evidence.

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression


Self-reflection refers to the act of pondering and reflecting on one's self, actions, thoughts or emotions. It is good when we are able to think creatively and generate ideas or when we are able to introspect ourselves and change for the better. For example, people normally self-reflect when they think they have done something wrong. By self-reflecting, they are able to identify the problem and come up with a solution to solve the problem. Hence, self-reflecting promotes creative thinking and can be considered to be a good thing.


We can look at it in another way too. Some people self-reflect on themselves during their leisure time. They introspect themselves to see if they can change and improve themselves for the better. However, self-reflection might lower one's self-esteem as they might find flaws in themselves. They might get troubled and depressed thinking of it thus, causing depression. This would happen if they are unable to look on the bright side and think of a solution to change instead.


Depression, can be looked at from a few angles too. Depression can have both positive and negative advantages. When one is depressed, they tend to think creatively and generate ideas. Some people also work better under pressure. On the other hand, depression can also affect one mentally. But, this does not necessarily mean that self-reflection is sure to lead to depression.


Hence, self-reflection should be encouraged in some instances as it would benefit us.

'I need to score full marks!'

Regarding the article, it is shocking to hear that some children are pressed with the highest pressure from parents in Singapore. More than 50% of patients are primary students who went for checkup at IMH - Institute of Mental Hospital and were found to have problems such as learning problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders or unable to control their emotions. It becomes a worrying cause for the IMH.

Although we view the “99 marks” as being good works, some students and parents do not find it satiable at all. If they score 99 marks, they will still be scolded severely by parents. It is an unfair treatment and is different from other parents who will praise their children for the “99 marks”.
Even I find “80 marks scored” as “It is at least A which is good enough”.

Nowadays, we can understand that our world is a fast-paced society and moves by the mindset “Whoever has the greatest knowledge, will get a good job and pay too.” Many will try to get the highest education as possible as they can.

It also applies to parents who are not being considerate of their children’s hard efforts and emotions. They should learn to give the right treatment to their children such as treating them with whatever they want if they can get good result. Unlike the treatment where parents will keep pressuring their parents to get full marks despite getting a good result. If their children cannot a prefect score, they should accept their children’s abilities and view it as a good job the children did.

World environment day 2010

The Earth, a beautiful and lush green planet that is inhabited by many different species of animals and plants alike that is shared with us humans. They have been built into the ecosystem of the planet so that every single one of them balances each other out to create a peaceful existence on Earth. Humans have also been part of this balance for many millennia, and yet recently many of us have been unknowingly upsetting this coexistence that has been created.

For a few years ago we have almost completely forgotten the responsibility that we have towards the Earth. The reason for that is that many of us just do know or do not take the time to know what is going on in our environment. Even if a child is taught at school or see an advertisement on the television he or she only see as a passing phase, that it does not have anything to do with them and will simply forget about it. The child may participate in environmental activities held by the school, but unfortunately for most of them, that will be it and they would not volunteer or bother with such activities when they grow up. Only a handful of the children would grow up to continue and help to take care of the planet for future generations, but this is not enough as there are more of us who blatantly continue to damage the Earth. Like the recent incident oil spill following a ship collision off Changi on May 25. People or beach-goers can't enjoy the water at Changi beach as usual. Not only in Singapore that has such kind of incident but in America also recently has, such as the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We can look at some of the pictures here as the incident had affect the animals there. Oil Spills Are Devastating to Ecosystems and All Life.

We need to really make everybody aware that the next generation of children may not be able to enjoy the natural wonders of the Earth, like a jungle filled with the sound of animals or a meadow with the forest creatures squiring about. The first step to make it a realization is to let them see for themselves what the state of the world is in now. For example the polar ice cap is melting away and the existence of the animals there like the polar bear is threaten because of the side effect cause by us humans, called global warming. They have also only recently realize through the studies it shows that on parts of the world there have been a rise in sea level and that some places have begun to be submerged underwater. The world needs to work together to create a solution for this problem.

Maybe this video can make the views and our responsibilities towards the world much clearer:-



Or maybe this video will make us realise to start saving the earth quickly into a reality :



The World Environment Day and Earth Hour are one of the steps taken to unite the people of the world in working together for a better future. On these days everyone, young or old are encourage to try and do something to save the environment, like switching off electrical appliances for an hour or recycling. Electrical cars and cars that do not give off those harmful fumes or hybrid cars have also begun to be sold around the world. People are also motivated to recycle the trash that they throw away or reuse those that can be used again.

The ever vast developing technologies in this world are actually having dangerously threatened the wildlife lifespan. We human might conveniently have been using and depending on the technologies nearly most of our lives but we unconsciously or maybe purposely being an ignorant person to ignore the other living things that actually live with us too in this world. Example like the animal, plants etc.





In some places they have begun to use wind and solar energy to generate electricity. This is a great step in helping to conserve the environment as these two methods are considered the clean way to generate power, as they do not produce waste of fumes of any kind. A dam is considered as a good method too but unfortunately not all the country and places in the world have such landscapes available to them.

Remember the late Michael Jackson song on earth and environment awareness? He's an influential celebrity that never stops or fails to effortlessly to remind other people about the welfare of this world through his songs. Michael Jackson has put his musical talents to good use and often participates in charity recordings and gigs such as Live Aid and The Green Concert.

Michael Jackson was not the only celebrity that have tried their best to increase the public awareness on environmental issues but there are other international celebrities too that are willingly to help such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio and the popular model Gisele Bundchen by trying their best in going green. Our local media and celebs have also recently collaborated to increase the public awareness with the logos and mastheads of MediaCorp's platforms adopt a green hue and the ad where celebs make bold statement on the endangered environment.

Other examples are you can also buy the environmentally friendly products for the households such as:

1. Products with refillable containers
2. Unbleached paper products
3. Recycled paper products
4. Phosphate-free cleaning products
5. Organically grown fruit and vegetables

• There are a lot of fun and inspiring things to do to save the earth as well as the environment. Here's a website that I chance upon that are targeted at the locals mostly, to start conserving the earth.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/savinggaia/

• Another article I chanced upon is the definition that I think will make people understand better on the importance of sustainable living by protecting the environment welfare.

http://www.ciel.org/Biodiversity/WhatIsBiodiversity.html

All of us want a healthy and peaceful world that we hopefully can live in, in a longer period that is free from major environmental issues. How I wonder whether this world will live longer than us or it might be that this `world' life span will be shorter than ours; us humans......

It would be impossible to turn yourselves into a vegetarian or someone who totally environmentally friendly in an overnight transformation but we have to start from the basics such as recycling and try to conserve the resources whenever possible. Every little things that we do, does counts on what the world will become. It's best to inculcate green habits from young in a green household such as start purchasing organic cotton clothes. Apart from that we would like to see a cleaner earth.

What I've realized and remembered was that the only one time the human start to realize the importance of protecting the world environment issues was when the unexpected and a big Tsunami that had swept away Aceh; Indonesia, Thailand, part of India and Malaysia where a lot of their beloved ones died swept by the big tidal waves just in front of them while watching helplessly. To that I think it triggers them to voice out on the environmental issues and start on conserving one. But, do we really need such a thing happen again just to make us humans back on our feet and start the action to protect our world and the animals that are naturally have always been part of our life, again?

Conclusion: We must look into what we have done for all this years.... as what it says in the Michael Jackson Earth song and lyrics.

Please donate your time to protect the environment. The earth is our responsibility and please don't ever forget that.

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression

This week’s blog article is blog article is about self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression.

Self reflections lead to creative behaviour because that is a way ideas are generated. When we reflect about ourselves, we would generate ideas in our head about what to do. For example, in class when a joke is let out and it accidently hurts someone else’s feelings; we reflect on the incident. A thousand thoughts streamed through the mind; generating ideas of what is to be done to fix the situation. That is how self reflections lead to creative behaviour.

According to the article, people that suffer from depression are more prone to have creative thinking. This is because, people when suffering from depression would spend some of their time not being able to do anything else but to reflect on self. By doing this, they generate ideas. Thus, this ‘disorder’ is regarded as a gift to those suffering from depression.

However, creative thinking does not lead to depression. Meaning if a person always think about creative thoughts, it does not mean that the person is suffering from depression. In other words, there is nothing much to worry about when it comes to creative thinking.

2010 Year of Biodiversity! & Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN!

Extinction is a huge problem. Many flora and fauna species are endangered due to various reasons, one of which is the change in climate and another due to human activities. Humans can take the initiative and responsibility to do something about the problem of extinction. For example, the article ‘2010 Year of Biodiversity’ stated that ‘They can cut down on their own CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions...’. If everyone were to play their part and reduce their carbon dioxide emission, this would greatly reduce the climate change and this could help prevent or reduce the problem of extinction. In this case, the government also plays an important role in encouraging the citizens to play their parts. The government will have to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss to human well-being.


Global warming is adversely affecting the Antarctic species as it increases the ocean temperature and causes loss of ice. These problems affect the habitat for these species and also its food availability. When there is a slight change in the food availability for one species, it indirectly affects other species as well hence, affecting the food chain. Just by doing our part, we can help to prevent this domino effect that would in turn affect us as certain sources of our food decline.


Global warming is not the only problem. Other problems that affect these species include the increase in carbon dioxide emissions, rising sea levels and increased storm activity. With the extinction of certain species, it would affect our rich biodiversity. The new generations would also be less informed of the existence of these species.

Hence, to prevent all this from happening, we have to be more mindful of our actions. Humans can cut down on their intake of fish and poultry and, increase their intake of vegetables. A quota should also be set for fishermen, to limit the number of fishes they take away from the ocean. In conclusion, we should start now and not waste any more time in preventing this extinction crisis.

Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

I feel that the governments of the world should do more to help this Environmental problem. As suggested in the article. Instead of fishing in the ocean, more subsidies should be given to fish farming as it will be a more environmentally friendly option. Also, fishermen who have caught smaller fish should let them back in the ocean to grow to bigger fish and have better fishing etiquette. With this, I think that the fish stocks in the world would recover faster and this would not pose a problem to us in the future.

Be Veg! Go Green! Save our Earth

Have you ever wonder whether the Earth is in danger or not? I can only say it that Earth is undergoing through the process of being in danger right now.


Summarizing from this article – “2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions”, it has a main problem which is global warming. Global warming is the increase in temperature of Earth’s near-surface air and ocean caused by the excess of carbon dioxide. We all know what is global warming but some are not sure what the main cause is. To say the true fact, Livestock (51% of global warming) is the main cause. Livestock industry produces more carbon dioxide than all the world’s cars, trains and Livestock raising drives 1/3 of the world’s deforestation. It uses up 3.4 billion hectares of land for animal gazing and for growing crops to feed the animals. Livestock’s gas and waste produces nitrous oxide and methane, which are 310 and 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide respectively.
Because of carbon dioxide, it affects ice to melt around the poles which in turns, affect the marina lives to decrease due to being unable to adapt to this “increasing temperature” in surrounding. It also causes the underground ocean where there is methane layered by frozen reserves. As the underground ice melt, the methane escapes to the air and is highly poisonous and dangerous to us if we breathe in some. It also applies to vegetation and marine lives.

In order to stop this process and save our planet, we have the power to do it and it is all up to us. It is to “Be Veg! Go Green! Save our planet” and in doing so, we can reduce the carbon dioxide from livestock. Being vegetarians, it benefits us and provides us with healthy lifestyle. If we all can act fast and start to change our way, our planet can be saved. Not only so, we can also save our loving marine lives who are suffering right now and stop the pain in animals’ hearts from being slaughtered for meats.
Being veg and go green, I can make a little difference to my planet. And you can do it too.

Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years

This week’s blog entry is about ‘ocean fish could disappear in 40 years’

This article is basically saying that the human race is consuming more fish than suppose to. This is due to demand. With more people wanting fish, the fishing fleets will catch and sell as much to obtain highest profit. This demand is the one that is causing the number of fishes in the oceans to go down.

Government subsidies to fishing fleets aroung the world, amounting to 27 billion, in my opinion is obviously not enough to make the fishing fleets fish less; this is because the total revenue by catching fish is 85 billion. That is a whopping 58 billion dollars worth of revenue to fish.

We as humans that roam the earth, should know our limits in what we do. Although we like blue fin tuna or rays, we should try our best to avoid these fishes. According to http://www.fishonline.org/advice/avoid/?item=9, these two fishes are two of the 48 fishes that we should avoid fishing. If we still choose to do so, a major catastrophe will happen, these fishes will be wiped out from our earth forever.

A little away from the topic, we are also encouraged to be vegetarians. This is because the process of moving the meat to the consumer causes global warming. According to the United Nations movement, Be Veg! Go Green!, if we do not adopt a meat free lifestyle, countries and glaciers would disappear in a few years time.

I suggest that we should think of what we are doing to our planet and stop the harm. Be Veg! Go Green!, eat less fish!

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offence that could be dealt with seriously. In layman's term,it basically means copying. Without realizing, we might have committed the act of plagiarism while completing our school work or projects. This happens when we do not include bibliographies,credits or acknowledgements to recognize the efforts of the rightful owner. By plagiarising, we are not respecting other people's property and are not giving them credit for what they really deserve. Students should be taught the importance of plagiarism and they should learn to acknowledge the rightful owner of their intellectual property.


Plagiarism also encourages students to be lazy as they can easily copy and paste someone else's work without providing their own opinions or views. They even make it seem as it is their own work.


Students should be trained since primary school to include urls or websites from which they got the information from. By doing so,they are giving credit to the rightful owner for the information they have provided online. This would be a good practice as throughout their whole schooling life,there would be many instances when they need to make use of the information available online.


Hence,actions should be taken against those who commit the act of plagiarism.