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| First, it was the "Boomz" interview that got many Singaporeans laughing and teasing about; then the controversial credit card fraud that she committed, which led many more Singaporeans to give her a thumbs down to her dream of contesting in the Miss World 2009 Pageant. Though it is certainly not right for her to commit such an offence, same goes to any individual out there, but I don't think we should put her down any further. Some sites like have been very good "breeding-grounds" for many hate-postings of Ris Low, cut back on it! Ultimately, the issue here is not just about Ris contesting in Miss World 2009 or not, but how is she going to cope with so much flak fired at her.
It is a pity that this few years Miss World Singapore pageants have degraded from an event that is hugely anticipated on television screens every year to an event that is very much closed-door, hidden from the eyes of the general public. If you would to ask me whose fault was it to have an unpopular Ris Low as Miss Singapore World, I would say the fault lies in the organisers of the event. Apparently, the event is not getting the right calibre of Singaporean ladies just because it has lost its former glory of being a largely televised event in Singapore for many years. The seemingly died-down event has also led the general public to seem oblivious to who has been chosen to represent Singapore, so much so that when a largely unfavorable contestant is chosen, everyone just seems to be shooting at her and requesting her to step down. If you want Singapore to be represented by the best, the pageant just has to be the best around.
Let us face it, everyone makes mistakes right? So why brood over it? Don't talk about her Miss Singapore crown just yet, I think it is more important for Ris to be able to step out of the foolish things that she did in the past and be given the chance to turn into a new leaf. Brooding over this may add unnecessary pressure and stress to the already largely-criticized Ris Low. She has accumulated so much more pressure than any other people who may have committed the same mistakes that she has done, with the media attention on her and all these negative remarks made about her has really made Ris famous for the wrong reasons. I feel that it is very unhealthy for her and her correction process to be faced with such pressures all day, so please throw aside all your angry comments about her, forgive her for such she has done and give her a second chance to make that change in life.
I seriously think that some sites have been rather nasty in their reports and interviews of Ris Low, sites that poke fun about Ris and her "boomz", sites that interview the Singaporean girls on the street and hear their very cocky comments made about Ris - they are so highly unnecessary and down-right awful! Put yourself in the shoes of Ris for a moment and reflect on what you have done about her. I am not trying to protect her, I am just being objective. Why should some of you be so biased against her? It is not entirely her fault that she was chosen to represent Singapore, she is seemingly the best in this year's line-up of contestants. To those ladies who think they may be better than Ris, why weren't you contesting in this year's pageant? Try your hand next year please, prove yourself. Cut back on all those negative comments, they are not needed and not constructive at all.
I am not going into the debate of whether to send Ris to represent Singapore in the Miss World Pageant or not. However, I think there should be given an opportunity for her to prove herself (talent or skill) and be able to gain a sense of achievement from it, rather than how she gained her sense of achievement in the past from the thrill of stealing stuff - changing the perspective would greatly help her get out of her bipolar disorder. Give her a second chance and allow her to fully close this fateful chapter of her life, don't run her down any further people - she has a dignity! No one likes to be remembered for their past mistakes in life, so forgive and forget, and give her that chance to change for the better. Remember the Yellow Ribbon Project and allow ex-inmates and the people who made mistakes in life to make up for what they have done and no longer look down on them for what they have done in the past.
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| Today was somewhat another day that I had to delete all the junk from my Facebook account's notifications box, SuperWall and other applications within Facebook that often accumulates in junk - lots of it!. Most of the junk I receive are chain mails, irritating notifications and other friend requests that I get - some of which are strangers whom I don't know of who added me. Let's now talk about chain letters, don't you find it just so irritating that these people whom are called your "friends" are the ones that keep on sending such mails to you that spam your email inbox until it is almost about to explode? I find it a fuss always to delete such mails all the time, in the end, I start blocking several of my friends (those who send chain letters too frequently) from sending directly into my inbox. "Into the trashbin you go!"
Whenever I receive a chain letter, it will always get broken, not because I want to settle with the curse that it was stated with, but I do not feel the need to pass on such trash to anyone else and I do not believe or receive the curses as mentioned in such mail as a part of my life. Rejecting its contents and making them null and void in the Name of Jesus.
I am also rather shocked to see some people that I know (whom are my very dear Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ!) passing it along to me like nobody's business! I am not going to mention their names, but I hope they will know who they are and when they read this post, I pray that they will at least understand my point of view and perhaps know what the point of view a Christian should be and what could have been done when dealing with such matters that often leaves you in a dilemma whether to send it or not... Let me give a short story below: (Please take time to read the entire post, it will take around 5 minutes if you are fast, 10 minutes should be more than sufficient!)
"There lived two people, Alice and Betty, and they are both young teenage Christians. One day, Alice receives a chain-letter, she happily reads it until when she reached the bottom of the page, when the smile from her face suddenly drops to a frown. She saw a curse at the bottom of the page to her love relationships for the next 10 years if she does not pass this on to another 10 people/friends within the next 10 minutes. She desperately searches through the list of friends she has and clicks on the first 10 friends that she can find, one of them is Betty, and sends this same letter in a rush, makes it below 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, Betty was just checking on her email inbox when she bumped into the mail Alice has sent her. She takes a brief look at it, swipes down to the bottom of the page and saw that it was some stupid chain-letter and immediately reaches for the "Delete" button on the same page to erase the mail. She bows down and say a short prayer, asking God for forgiveness for reading the mail, and rejecting the curse that the mail has mentioned to those who break it powerless, null, void and useless in the Mighty Name of Jesus. She sits up straight with a smile on her face and continue working on what she was doing earlier."
I do not see the reason why Christians have to live under that fear of being affected by some dumb, old chain letter when God has sent His only, begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for our sake so that we can be cleansed by His blood that was shed for us once and for all, and ordains us to become part of God's family - Oh come on! What's there to be afraid about when Jesus has already gone to the extent to bear all the sins, diseases and infirmities of this World that all these should no longer affect us? What Betty did was right, and should be encouraged among all Christian online users. However, what Alice did... was wrong.
The reason why Alice was wrong was because by forwarding the chain-mail to more people, this act of hers can be seen as acknowledging what was said within the chain-letter as something will happen in her life and listening to what it instructs somehow shows that she was more resigned to the fate that she chose to take which was mentioned within the letter, rather than following what God has to say for your eternal destiny. It is like "bowing down" to the chain-letter and whatever it says, and "throwing aside" all that the Bible has mentioned about our eternal destiny and all the promises that God has for our lives. Whatever Alice wanted for her love life might not be what God has for her, so she might lose what God has for her if she does not recognize the mistake she made in the chain-letter and asking God for forgiveness for this act.
Another thing that Alice did was wrong was the fact that she has transferred a bondage from herself to another 10 persons! Let me give another analogy:
On one particular day, when Linda was just dismissed from school, was on her way back home. While going home, she made a usual peep in her house's letter box to see if there is any mail that she could collect, she peeps in, saw something, and decided to open it. From her letter box, she took out a beautifully-wrapped parcel with her name on it, so she brought it home with her, hoping to open it once she has finished taking a bath.
After her bath, she took a pair of scissors and neatly cut away the scotch tape used to wrap her gift. To her horror, she saw what used to be a very beautiful Barbie doll, was now a mauled-up, chewed-upon, burnt and disfigured doll (was tortured before) that looks rather horrific and scary. Quickly she screams and hurriedly chugged it back into the box.
After a moment of crying and weeping, she came to a point that she has to certainly get rid of the doll... but what should she do? Should she...
A) Conceal it in a bag that no one will ever be bothered to open and throw it away.
B) Wrap it nicely into the same box, make it as presentable as before, and decide to dump it at any of her peers' letter boxes or one of her enemy's letter boxes as a form of revenge?
Let us continue with the story...
She decides that if someone was to destroy this poor dolly - it shall not be her, as she was scared and afraid that it may have been some demonic doll used for occult practices and destroying it may have some adverse effect to the person whom this doll was referred to and she does not want to be a part of it. She does not want to responsible for its destruction, properly dumping it away is as good as destroying it and she fears that the person who destroys it might have to pay the consequences. Thus, she decides to ride by her friend's house and dump it along the sidewalk for her to pick it up.
She shouldn't have passed it on! What Linda has done, was wrong! She should not have passed the curse on to the next person! In the earlier analogy, Alice should have broke the chain, ask God for forgiveness and rebuke the curse - Just like what Betty did! Don't think that by meeting the requirements of what the letter instructs is "playing safe" so that the curse will not affect you. It may not, it still may, but are you sure you want your life to be like what the chain letter has said and forsake all that God could have prospered you with for your future?
To those of us who have unknowingly and perhaps playfully passed on the chain letter to the next person, just some food for thought - think it this way: If you pass on the chain letter to the next person, (e.g. Person B) and the next person (Person B) somehow is unable to fulfill what the letter orders him to do, he may or may not have known God yet and he did not know that he could rebuke the curse, so he decides to come to terms with the curse and make do with it... He resigns to the fate that the letter has for him, not knowing that God has a way for him, isn't it sad? Somehow or rather, you are responsible for the curse that is upon his life, because you are the one who spread it to him!
If you remembered of such an incident and are feeling
sorry for doing so, please follow me in prayer:
"Dear Heavenly Father, I am sorry for what I have done
in sending chain letters to ______________ (friends' names).
I know what I did in that moment of mischief/fear/ignorance may have
caused those who have received the letter I forwarded to them to stumble.
Lord, I am sincerely sorry for my actions, and I am here to ask You for Your
forgiveness. Please forgive me of my past misdoing. And Lord, to those whom I
have sent the letter to, Lord, I pray that You would help free them from the
bondages of the chain letter, and please lead them and guide them to the destiny
that You have in their lives. I commit them unto you this day, O Lord, that
if any of them might not have known of the saving knowledge of Your Son,
Jesus Christ, and what He did on the Cross. Lord, I pray that you would pave
the way ahead in their life and bring them into Your Kingdom, that they will
one day know and understand what You have done, giving thanks and accept
Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Saviour of their lives.
All these I pray, In Jesus' Name. Amen."
If you are a Christian and do not know what to do to
reverse the chain mail's curse, follow what Betty did
and do what is right! Pray with me:
"Dear Heavenly Father, I am sorry for opening and reading the contents of
this chain letter. Lord, I pray that you would forgive me of this sin. Lord, I do
not accept whatever (you might want to state) the chain letter has said and I
render it powerless, declaring it null and void, it has no hold over me. Jesus, you
reign in my life as Lord, King and Saviour. I rebuke what the chain has said over me,
and declare from now onwards, that it has no longer any hold over me, in the Mighty
Name of Jesus! Amen."
God has a purpose for each one of our lives, so don't let things like chain letters put you down! Pick yourself up and aim to please God alone and glorify Him in whatever you do! I sincerely hope that you, the reader, has benefited from this session. Do share your comments (if any) regarding this post, if you want to add any more to what i have said. Thank you for your time and may the Lord bless you!
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| Just finished doing the Impact Youth Group Banner for its group in Friendster. My motive for creating this new banner is to give the youth group more identity with its calling to impact the world, but to first be impacted ourselves.
This is a screenshot of what I have done:
Click here to get to the group now!
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| As you know, Al Gore (ex-US Vice President) has tried to bring awareness to the world these few years about global warming, climatic change and the cautioned the dangers of frequent natural disasters that may hit many countries across the globe as a result. I know that he is doing all this for a good cause, but I have this bugging feeling that it may work out. Though it is important to keep dear Earth alive and not deteriorate it further by polluting and dumping of waste hazards around the world, I admit that it will take quite a long time before nations will make a commitment to make that change now... Why must we save the Earth?
- The temperatures are rising rapidly due to Global Warming.
- Ice caps in the Arctic and the Antarctic will gradually melt.
- Global sea-levels will increase, massive flooding of coastal communities and islands.
- The percentage of land left on Earth may strink from the current 30% to a miserable 15% by 2060 or even earlier.- Coral Reefs are threatened to be completely wiped out with the rising sea temperatures and the increasing sea depth.
- Global climatic change is posed to occur in later stages of global warming, the Sahara Desert may start snowing and the Amazon may dry up into a desert by then.
- It is possible for humans to relocate and migrate to an environment suited for them, but it is impossible for wildlife to relocate from their natural habitats which they lived for hundreds or thousands of years. If the climatic change is too sudden, the wildlife may be entirely wiped out together with their habitats.
- Weather patterns throughout the Earth will be very irregular. Whatever the weather might be - rain or shine, each and every one of them may be the most adverse, most extreme kind ever seen on the face of the Earth. Imagine the temperature of the day reaching to higher than 40 degrees celsius and dropping all the way to 10 degrees celsius at night, rain storms that never ceases for a long time, snow storms that bring hail along as well, thunderstorms that stall power stations. What is the price I need to pay to save Earth?
- The usage of biodegradable materials, avoid buying/using products or materials made from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
- Avoid usage of products that emit carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases in the air.
- Switch from conventional vehicles that emits exhaust smoke to hybrid vehicles that emits less smoke, or consider switching to a fuel cell car, a hydrogen-powered car or an electric-powered car.
- Reuse items like bags for your grocery shopping.
- Reduce the amount of trash you dump per day.
- Recycle products like glass, metal and paper. Don't throw your glass bottles, empty cans and newspapers away! Send them all to a nearby recycling company.
- Do not waste electricity, though I know that you can afford to pay for your monthly utility bills. By wasting electricity, you cause the power stations to burn more fuel to provide that amount of energy, that goes to waste in the end. What is the price governments need to pay to save Earth?
- Issue a ban against felling of trees.
- Issue subsidies for companies who practises measures to curb the amount of carbon dioxide gas release, uses solar panels for electrical/heat energy.
- Stop burning of fossil fuels in electric power stations, switch to other renewable sources of energy like water currents (build hydroelectric dam), light energy (build solar panels), wind energy (build windmills) and wave energy (build waveflux powerstations).
- Issue massive fines and penalties on any offenders who attempts to clear forests by felling the trees or burning the forest down.
- Encourage citizens to make that switch to biodegradable products; switch to vehicles which taps on renewable energy sources; reuse, reduce and recycle.
- Change all of the countries mode of transport: change the buses that run on diesel into buses that uses hydrogen cell, change trains that run on electricity tapped from turbine windmills or solar power. Why are most governments reluctant to change?
- Banning or curbing of felling of trees can adversely affect the nation's economy, especially for developing nations, as the wood-related industries will be shut down.
- Many of the changes governments are to accept in order to save the Earth, may pose a threat to their economies.
- Many countries are not ready to fully accept such technologies like the tapping of wind energy for electricity or the tapping of wave energy for electricity because some feel that they might not be as reliable as what they were claimed to be. Others feel that the costs to build such technologies in their countries are very costly thus aren't ready to do so yet.
- Since their economies are so important to them, they rather gain profits from the economy so as to beat other nations' economies rather than making a stand to save Mother Earth. What are the possible problems/solutions faced when countries decide to switch?
- Being an oil-rich nation does not matter anymore, countries in the Middle East region and other oil-rich nations may face little or no crude oil exports which will adversely affect their economies, since their oil exports constitutes the major contributing factor to their economies.
- Some countries might while in the midst of the switch, have their economies dropping drastically due to several new policies they could have decided on which affects investors' trust and many industries. This will prove to be the fact most nations are trying to avoid the switch as they do not want to lose out to other economically-competitive countries.
- If this switch was to ever happen, it will be known as the "Energy Shift" or "New Energy Revolution", it will definetely provide renewable sources of energy for many generations to come. Thus, prolonging the time for life to exist on Earth many hundred times.
- We make this Earth a healthier place to live in with little or no emissions of greenhouse gases, poisonous or hazardous gases. This will definetely enhance the lives of people on Earth as the air we breathe will be fresh and clean as before, back in the time when our ancestors were the ones roaming the Earth.
- What many countries do not know is that, for a moment of slowdown in the economy after their switch, they are actually doing something good that will last for a long time, something meaningful that guarantees the existence of us humans for a longer period of time. They can start introducing incentives after their switch to attract investors back again. Investors will continue to invest in the industries in that specific country as it free from any restrains like rising oil prices, high inflation rates. Relying on renewable energies is a good strategy as it guarantees that degree of efficiency and the degree of development that country possess which also attracts many investors and businessmen there. In conclusion, our Earth is precious and dear to us. If we do not make an effort to save it, if a community do not make an effort to save it and most importantly, if governments do not take that daring step to start saving Earth, it may prove to be too late and all that is with us may be lost in the end. In the Bible, God states that the Earth will one day come to an end. I do not know if Global Warming will cause it in the later stages. If so, that will mean that many governments around the world will remain unwilling to the switch and indeed the world shall end. Whether or not, we might be able to prolong Earth for a little while more, Earth will no matter what, still be destroyed. Though it is sad to see the passing of the current Earth, you should see what the New Earth have in store for us! On the other hand, God promised us a new Earth, a place where Man will live with Him in unison, never separated; no more suffering, sadness, hatred and death. A place where Man will live forever with God and His Angels and all the other created beings. A beautiful place, as if Heaven and Earth was of one. A place unlike the current Heaven and Earth which are separated. A place that only admits people who believe in God, who believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour who died for our sins while He was on Earth that we might attain eternal life, reconciled back with God after many years being separated from God right after Adam took a bite out of the fruit. The New Earth is a place not accessible by any means of space travel, it does not exists in any other galaxy in space, it exists in the Spiritual Realm, a realm unseen yet true. Only through believing in Jesus can we get back to God and enjoy the paradise God has made for those who love and believed in Him. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light. No one comes to the Father, except through Him. | | |
| Was busy for the whole three weeks on my current Primer Two Project. My model in still in the making and I think it will take some time for it to be completed. After doing several study models, five in exact, I finally reached one that I really like and it works! Sigh... I am very tired after so many days of experimentation, now I am left with more documentation to do and the final model to complete. I can say that the Architecture course in Singapore Polytechnic is great. Though at some point of time it may tax you alot on your time and energy, but I believe that at the end of it, all your hard work and effort is worth it when you manage to come out with an award-winning model or a model that appeals to all your lecturers. I believe it will be the kind of work, an architect will receive when in the workforce, project after projects. Architecture is really not an easy course to take in Polytechnic. With all the project works all lined up for you all throughout the entire year, don't expect to be able to really rest well in-between the projects, be prepared to start the next one! Muhahahaha... Well, all I can say that I really enjoyed myself in this course after a few months into it. Hopefully, I will be able to go through this entire course smoothly, and enter University right after the Army when I reach 22 years old. Speaking of which... Omigosh! I'll be 24 years old by the time I leave University with a Degree in Architecture. I'll be 26 years old by the time I leave University with a Bachelor in Architecture. I'll be 28 years old by the time I leave University with a Master in Architecture! Wow, I will be so old by then, if I decide to go for a Master. Before my thoughts stray any further into the future, I'll better do my best in my current course first. Stop worrying about the future anymore. I will end my post here. "See you!" Derek Chua signing off... | | |
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