Weiqi/Go

What is Go? Go is a board game for two players, noted for being rich in strategic complexity despite its simple rules. The game is played by two players who alternately place black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a grid of 19×19 lines.There are only two simple rules: capturing and ko. Capturing:When a chain of stones is surrounded by opposing stones so that it has no liberties, it is captured and removed from the board. Ko: Players are not allowed to make a move that returns the game to the position before the opponent's last move. This rule prevents unending repetition. See image. Weiqi's history Go is said to originate in ancient China more than 2,500 years ago, and although it is not known exactly when the game was invented, by the 3rd century BC it was already a popular pastime, as indicated by a reference to the game in the Analects of Confucius. The game is most popular in East Asia, but has gained some popularity in other parts of the world in recent years. The most powerful tree "kingdoms" that played weiqi are Japan, Korea and China. I enjoyed Weiqi as it was a simple but tactically hard game which requires complex skills and attention. It is the only game which a computer cannot beat human, as technicians are frantically trying to find a way. I spent about 6 hours a week as i learnt weiqi. Over the years, my skills have improve drastically and i am really proud of myself.

time table

Hi guys, i am back again. Just last week, during my school's assembly, we had a heated discussion of the school's time table. Recently, our school intellectually rearranged our timetable. The older timetable had a period of 40 minutes, with recess taking up a whole period. However, the new timetable had a significant change, with a period of half an hour. The most stand-out advantage the new time table has is that when the less-important periods like music stills occupies a new 2-period, the actual time increase. This can be helpful as our classrooms t the music room can be quite a distance(not a stone's throw away like some of yours) and there may be an insufficient time for lessons when pupils took their own time(much to the displeasure of the teacher) walking to the music room, doubling the time. However, the new time table had a really terrible disadvantage. Usual lessons like science which need practical experiments increase to one and a half. The lesson can really be laggy and boring, causing many to doze off or be half asleep. Hence there was a debate whether we should revert back to the old timetable. Many agreed, but not before our wise principle that mouthed his words of wisdom "Our problems are all man-made and surely could be solved partially. For example, many complain the insufficient time of art lesson. However, why not students just walk faster? Every timetable has its pros and cons, and there is no way that it can fulfil everyone. I believe what is the most important is the cooperation of teachers and students and all problems will be solved. " Soon, there was a never ending applause and everyone stood up to show the new-earned respect to our principle.

Patriotism

"For any nation to survive, its citizens need to develop a sense of identity and belonging with the country. This sense of national identity is often referred to as “nationalism” or “patriotism”. While Governments are often concerned with fostering a sense of national pride amongst its citizens, different groups of people will have different ideas about how patriotism should be expressed, about what is or is not part of the national identity, a debate that rests fundamentally on their view of what the nation represents and how its citizens should engage with it. "

Do Singaporean have patriotism? This is the question i want to discuss in my article today.

First, i would like to ask what define a Singaporean. In Singapore, it is a unique case. The government had emphsised racial equality. Hence, there is such a mix of culture and traditions that there isn’t one definitive style in which a Singaporean follows. The Chinese can celebrate Christian, the Christian can celebrate Chinese new year, etc. Well, maybe this is a distinguished trait of Singaporean.

Another distinguished trait of Singaporean is singlish. The 'ah' and 'la' are suffixes that are a fundamental part of spoken English in Singapore, these suffixes are the ones that make Singaporean English unique and impart a distinct character to it. The use of these words is what defines the very identity of Singaporean English and makes it different from the way English is spoken anywhere else in the world..

Do Singaporean have patriotism? Personally i feel no. Singaporean do have a sense of identity but not patriotism.

Pupils do not feel the surge of pride when singing national anthem, or saying the pledge. Some even make fun of the pledge. When people insult their country, Singaporean felt a sense of indifference.

Well, what do you think?