(04) Saffron Lim Poem Recitation

https://drive.google.com/a/s2016.sst.edu.sg/file/d/0B5Jog3oKRyRDRno0cVhmSkRxSTg/view?usp=sharing

Independent Learning Log 5 by Saffron Lim

Date:

9/06/16

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160408-this-is-how-far-seas-could-rise-thanks-to-climate-change

What I did:

I came across an interesting article on the rise of sea levels due to climate change.

What I learnt:

1. Scientists first realised that sea levels were on the rise during the early 20th Century
2. Tide gauges are instruments along coastlines that measure sea level. Reliable tide gauge data existed for about 100 years, and during that time, the sea level was rising. Now, tide gauge data is considered unreliable.
3. Thermal expansion through warmer ocean waters was the largest contributor to global sea level rise over the past century.
4. There might be a total of 2m of sea level rise by 2100

Summary:

This article is about the causes of the rise in sea level and how it can be prevented.

Independent Learning Log 4 by Saffron Lim

Date:

8/06/16

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160606-there-are-weird-bursts-of-energy-coming-from-deep-space

What I did:

I read a BBC article on radio waves coming from deep space.

What I learnt:

1. Fast radio bursts “shine” for only a few milliseconds, and in that moment, they release about a million times more energy than the Sun. They were discovered in 2007, and since then, astronomers have found fewer than 20 from outside our own galaxy. However, telescopes typically observe small patches of space at a time. If they could extrapolate (meaning: Extend the application of a method or conclusion to an unknown situation by assuming that existing trends will continue or similar methods will be applicable) to the entire sky, they estimate as many as 10 000 bursts everyday.
2. Astronomers have no idea what radio waves are. Some ideas are neutron stars, exploding black holes, snapping cosmic strings, and even aliens.
3. These bursts capture information about intergalactic space since they are like lasers that shoot across the universe, encountering magnetic fields and other things along the way.
4. Pulsars are rapidly-spinning neutron stars. These city-sized stars are as dense as an atomic nucleus and spin more than a thousand times per second. As they spin, they swing a beam of radiation around, producing radio signals that appear as pulsating blips. The signal was so bright that it saturated the electronics in the telescope. The signal was dubbed the Lorimer Burst.
5. When radio waves travel through the Universe, they interact with electrons in plasma along the way. These interactions cause a delay, the length of which depends on the radio signal's frequency. Higher-frequency radio waves arrive a hair faster than low-frequency ones. By measuring this delay, astronomers can calculate how much plasma the signals had to go through, which gives an estimate for the distance travelled.
6. Black-hole- powered objects called quasars produce prodigious (meaning: remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree.) amounts of energy, including radio waves.
7. “Cosmic strings” are defects in the fabric of space and time that stretch across the universe. According to the hypothesis suggested in 2014, these strings might snap occasionally, exploding in a burst of electromagnetic radiation.
8. Young pulsars are neutron stars that can spin as fast as once every millisecond. Over time, pulsars lose rotational energy and slow down.
9. Highly magnetic neutron stars, called magnetars, produce bursts through a process similar to the one that generates solar flares. As the magnetar rotates, the magnetic fields in its corona, the wispy outermost layer of its atmosphere, rearrange themselves and become unstable. Eventually, the field lines snap like a whip, unleashing a torrent of energy that accelerates charged particles, which then emit radio bursts.

Summary:

This article is about what fast radio bursts are, and how they could be created.

Independent Learning Log 3 by Saffron Lim

Date:

06/06/16

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36439260

What I did:

I went to BBC to look for some interesting articles to read and I came across an article on how a gene editing technique could transform the future.

What I learnt:

1. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, pronounced as ‘crisper’) is a biological system for altering DNA.
2. When a bacterium comes under attack it produces a piece of genetic material that matches the genetic sequence of the invading virus. This piece of material in tandem with a key protein called Cas9 can then lock on to the DNA of the virus, break it and disable it. Scientists are now able to deploy the same process to insert, delete or repair DNA.
3. Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA10), is a rare retinal disease that causes blindness. The gene mutation causes the gradual loss of photoreceptor cells in the eye.

Summary:

This article is about CRISPR, gene editing and the ethical concerns of gene editing.

Independent Learning Log 2 by Saffron Lim

Date:

06/06/16

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160526-the-organisms-that-glow-brighter-than-any-other

What I did:

I was browsing through BBC and I came across an article on organisms that emit light

What I learnt:

1. Bioluminescence is caused when the light emitting pigment, luciferin undergoes a chemical reaction, generally triggered by an enzyme.
2. Some of the brightest bioluminescent creatures are jellyfish. The crystal jelly produces a unique green fluorescent protein, which biologists use as a research tool.
3. A giant siphonophore is one of the longest animals in the ocean and glows blue when disturbed. A siphonophore is actually a colony of thousands of individuals called zooids. Each specialises in a particular function, from propelling the colony through the water to lighting up.
4. Ostracods, also known as ‘blue tears’, produce one of the most concentrated and bright lights that appear in the coral reef environment in the Caribbean. Ostracods emit light to defend themselves against predators or during mating.
5. Glowworms are not worms, they are the larvae of different insects including flies, gnats and beetles.
6. Fireflies are not flies, they are beetles in the family Lampyridae. The larvae glow to warn off predators and the adults emit lights to coordinate mating.

Summary:

This article is about some of the most light-emitting organisms on Earth.

Independent Learning Log 1 by Saffron Lim

Date:

3/06/16

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36357501

What I did:

I decided to read up on news regarding space. I read an article on BBC about the Alma (Atacama Large Millimetre Array) telescope.

What I learnt:

1. Based on the article, I learnt that Alma is

• the most powerful radio telescope in the world and the largest astronomical project in existence
• composed of 66 high-precision antennas of up to 12 metres in diameter, located at a 5,000m altitude on the Chajnantor plateau
• An international partnership between Chile and European, US, Canadian, Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean space and scientific organisations
• The dishes work in unison, detecting radio waves from outer space. The waves are converted into data by a super-computer, as powerful as three million laptops, and that data is sent to Alma's operations centre down the mountainside

2. Optical telescopes can only be used to detect light waves from a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. (an electromagnetic spectrum is a collective term for all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object has a different meaning, and is instead the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object. Taken from Wikipedia) They are fine for looking at bright things such as stars but are not so good at looking at the darker parts of the universe.

3. Binary star systems contain two suns rather than one.

Summary:

Alma (Atacama Large Millimetre Array) is the most powerful radio telescope in the world and is located at the Andes mountains, close to the borders of Argentina and Bolivia. Alma consists of 66 dishes in total. The dishes work in unison, to detect radio waves from outer space. These waves are converted into data by a super-computer, and that data is sent to Alma's operations centre down the mountainside. Alma has recently been used to measure the mass of a supermassive black hole 73 million light years from Earth. It also detected sugar molecules in a gas surrounding a young star similar to our Sun, which suggests that other solar systems might be able to support life.

Draft 2 Email Writing by Saffron Lim

Blk 2 Holland Ave
Singapore 234234

5 April 2016

Dear T'suen Wei

How are you and your family? It's been three years since I've last seen you, and I am delighted to know that you and your parents would be visiting Singapore! I can't wait to see you again! 

As you and your parents would like to learn about Singapore's culture, I highly recommend visiting Chinatown and Little India. Chinatown is a must-go due to its beautifully restored shophouses and colonial buildings. By taking a trishaw ride around the vicinity, you would be able to see how the area's modern buildings show a stark contrast to its historic buildings. You can learn about Singapore's fascinating culture by visiting religious landmarks of different faiths, where you can also learn about the main religions in Singapore.  

Little India, with its multi-coloured shophouses, is one of the most colourful districts in Singapore and a spectacle worth seeing! You can walk into the gaily painted shophouses selling traditional Indian apparel, gold bangles, spices and other exotic wares. By walking along Little India's roads, you can learn a lot about Indian culture just by looking at how people dress and the numerous roadside stalls. One of Little India's specialities, such as the fish head curry, will give your tastebuds a treat and is definitely a must try!

One modern aspect of Singapore would be the Singapore flyer, which sticks out among the skyscrapers in the Singapore skyline. This is the place to go for the most spectacular and panoramic views of the city. While taking a spin on the Singapore Flyer, you can take delight in a scrumptious meal while enjoying great views of the city. Another modern aspect of Singapore would be the Gardens by the Bay. This sprawling garden in the city provides mesmerising waterfront views across the gardens which would take your breath away. A must see are the super-sized trees which are between nine to sixteen stories tall. They are truly a sight to behold! 

Singapore is well known as a food lover's paradise as it has a wide range of delicious foods. It would be hard to resist our local fares such as laksa, oyster omelette, mee siam, rojak, Hainanese chicken rice, nasi lemak and chilli crab. These gastronomical delights are uniquely Singaporean dishes and must try! You wouldn't know what you are missing out on if you don't try these foods!

I hope that the itinerary sounds exciting to you. I can't wait to see you in three week's time! Have a safe flight!

Bye for now
Saffron 

Creative Writing 4 by Saffron Lim

        After a night of howling weather, I went out early just to see the devastation left behind by the storm. I expected to see battered trees and the fragments of shattered glass lying on the ground and road signs pushed over by the strength of the wind. The storm drains overflowing with rapid rivers of water.

Instead, I found a clear blue sky, with golden sunlight filtering through the leaves of the trees seemingly untouched by the storm. The houses were still aligned in their neat rows, with a thin layer of condensation on them. 

I heard the birds singing a beautiful song while perching on a branch in an oak tree, the distant sound of cars in the city and people even though they could not be seen. There was a little girl's voice singing ring-around-the-rosies over and over again as if she was in a trance.

Feeling like having a nice, warm cup of tea, I walked slowly back home.

Visual Text Analysis by Saffron Lim

Image:
The poster shows two mechanics in a workshop trying to "fix"a tiger and the words "extinction can't be fixed"

Linguistic features:
This advertisement is trying to tell the viewer that unlike a machine, once extinction takes place it be fixed or reversed.

Textual features:
There is little focus on the text, this is to draw more attention to the image and its message.

Typographical features:
The font size is small, so that less attention would be drawn to the text.

Layout:
The tiger is in the middle of the image, with the mechanics next to it. One of the mechanics is shining a light at the tiger, trying to examine it and think of ways to "fix" it. The lights shining at the tiger show us that it is the main focus of the poster. There are several pieces of machine parts in the dark, showing that they are of no use to "fix" the tiger and its extinction.

Colour: 
The colours in this poster are very dull. This shows that the extinction of the tiger would be a sad event and that people would feel regret for not trying to save the tiger sooner.

PACC
Purpose: The purpose of this advertisement is to encourage people to do something about the tigers' soon-to-be extinction and to tell us that extinction cannot be
reversed.
Audience: It is aimed at everyone
Context: Extinction cannot be fixed unlike machines
Culture: It is applicable to the public

English Level Test corrections by Saffron Lim

English Level Test 1

Saffron Lim (04)

When I was in Primary School, I did well in Mathematics, English and Science. However, it was my Chinese that was the problem. I would rarely pass my Chinese and would often fail. This caused my parents extreme worry as they were fearful that my Chinese would pull my overall grade down in my Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). They decided to hire a Chinese tutor to push my grade up.

    Every Monday and Wednesday, Madam Li would come to my house, and we would sit at the table on the front porch. Sometimes, my eyes would drift away from the multiple assessment books laid out in front of me, and I would watch the late afternoon sunlight stream through the gaps in the leaves of a nearby tree. Whenever this happened, Madam Li would call my name sharply, yanking be back to the present.

    With the PSLE Chinese paper drawing closer day by day, Madam Li became stricter and gave me more and more homework. I started to cave in the under pressure of my Chinese paper being three months away, and  I was still unprepared. Seeing me struggle, she decreased the amount of assessment papers and decided to make sure I knew all the proper vocabulary in order to pass.

    As the days flew by at the speed of light, my Chinese started to improve bit by bit. My vocabulary and my understanding of the language started to get better, and I was able to write even more interesting compositions.

    However, after I sat for my preliminary examination and received my results, I was extremely disheartened at the marks I got. even though the paper was hard, I expected to do better than a B-. When Madame Lee looked at my marks I could see the disappointment written all over her face even though she tried to mask it. With a concerned look, she explained all m y errors and told me where there were areas for improvement.

   Heeding to her advice, I started to work even harder. Finally, the day of the PSLE Chinese paper arrived. As I sat at my desk I could feel my heart beating in my chest, and I became nauseous with anxiety. Forcing myself to calm down, I started to complete my paper. Surprisingly, I felt that the paper was rather easy compared to my Preliminary Examination. When the time was up, I breathed a sigh of relief, having completed the paper. Now, all that was left was to wait for my results in November.

    On the day that I collected my results and I glanced at my grade, I could not believe it! An A for Chinese! I was jumping up and down, and I felt as happy as a lark. I immediately called Madam Li to tell her the amazing news. As I talked to her on the phone, I could hear the pride in her voice.

    Thanks to Madam Li's help and hard work, I was able to score an A for Chinese. I would not have been able to do it without her! I am extremely grateful for all that she has done for me and I hope that I would do as well in all my school's tests.

English Alternative Assessment corrections by Saffron Lim

Name: Saffron Lim (04)

Class: S1-03

Title: Faster Than Light (corrections)

   They heard light footsteps, followed by a heavier tread. A sonorous voice rang out, “ Miss Chara, we are here.” The staff of CERN*, the European Organization for Nuclear Research looked up from the four elliptical sweep of screens and panels. A herculean black man stood with his arms crossed.

      “Indeed, Mister Tyson,” said a timid voice. The staff turned to the voice and saw an elfin girl in school uniform. Two small black epaulets adorned her collar, a red ‘C’ on the left and a butterfly on the right.                    

     “Ongelooflike*!” murmured an Afrikaans accent, “ We have little particles and now little girls in CERN.”

    She looked like a Japanese child though the look in her eyes was older. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here? This is a high-security area that requires Level seven access,” snapped a woman.

    The girl swept her eyes around the space as if looking for a killer. She withdrew a rectangular object, smiling, “ Will this do, Dr. Sheehy?”

    Dr. Sheehy swallowed and looked at her colleagues. It was a Golden Ticket; a card encrypted to enter any office in CERN, NATO, the UN, IAEA* and the EU.

    “I am Chara from Contingencies. This is Mister Tyson, one of the Four Horsemen.” 

There was silence. This was a Contingencies agent with a Golden Ticket. And with one of the Four Horsemen. “Two days ago, a capsule appeared from nowhere on a French-built Mistral Warship in Marseille. Half of the six-meter capsule is still sticking out of the starboard hull.” 

    “I sense fear”, thought Chara. “Contingencies is interested. A beta version of the Hyperloop capsule rammed the vessel at light speed while the Alpha version is being still tested in California. The reduced pressure tube with pods driven by induction motors and compressors can theoretically achieve a maximum velocity of 1220 km/h.”

A spasm appeared on the South African’s cheek. He looked at Dr. Sheehy, who turned away. “There was a thin film of biological material coated inside the capsule. They were pulverised issue”.

     A few of the staff looked at Chara but what they saw was too frightening. Her kind was heard of but never seen – Monarch, the pin on her collar.

     “I can see your Tesla car remotes on the table tops and sense them in your pockets.” There was a general shuffling around at this. “ Tesla and Hyperloop – aren’t they the same company, Dr. Sheehy?”

    They were all on edge now, Chara bared her sharpened teeth, and they recoiled.

     “An organization had built a secret Hyperloop tube around the circumference of the Large Hadron Collider within an undeclared service tunnel. The passenger testing has been conducted with live subjects, probably refugees. Somehow the protons accelerated by the four boosters entered the Hyperloop. Hence, an FTL object was created accidentally or deliberately.”

“Hyperloop was never going to be a transport system. It was a railgun that could drive a capsule or a warhead to exceed c.”

     I am Chara; I am a Contingencies Agent.

     “We can’t change the history or causality created. We will continue this project you’ve started. We thank you.“

I close chapters to hide our futures and my past.

“Mister Tyson, they’re all yours.”    

His black suit heaved, split and a ball of white light filled the entire space.

                                      

*CERN: Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire (French)                            European Organization for Nuclear Research (English)

* Ongelooflijke ( Afrikaans ): Incredible 

* IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency 

Creative writing task 3 by Saffron Lim

          When I was a child, I well remember trying to arrange one of my dolls on a shelf and knocking my mother's favourite seashell off it. She was horrified to see the shattered fragments of the shell lying on the floor. She screamed at me for breaking it and sent me to my room. I begged and screamed at her but she would hear none of it. 

Instead of going to bed as I was told, I looked through the window and watched people carry on with their lives. To kill even more time, I decided to count the number of cars on the street below. I slowly got bored and looked for other things to do. The dark green cabinets housed nothing but clothes. I reluctantly decided to go to bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

When I woke up again, the whole room was veiled in darkness and only a sliver of moonlight filtered through the windows. As I became more aware of my surroundings, I felt a light hand in my hair. I did not know whose it was and I lay there, afraid to move a centimetre. When I woke up the next morning, I wondered who my visitor was. I was confused and puzzled and till this day, I am not sure who came to visit me that dreary night.

Saffron Lim (04) Creative Writing Task

Creative Writing Task 1

One of my earliest memories was of my father. Back then, he still had hair. He looked quite funny with his hair grown short, or maybe it was just that I’m used to seeing him bald. His face was usually shaved but with just a hint of stubble below his chin. He always wore simple clothes, a white Adidas shirt and a pair of black Adidas shorts.

    The place I used to play at was the playground right outside my flat, with its bright orange slide and a short, white wall made of some stone going around it. There was also a small hill next to the playground, with exercise equipment at the top. My friends and I would always balance on the roots of the many trees growing on the hill, arms outstretched and pretending that the ground was made of lava.

    I used to live in a three-room flat. The walls of the second bedroom were lined with bookshelves, and the afternoon sunlight filtered through the small windows at the side of the wall. There was a small desk in the room, with many papers and pens piled messily on top. The room smelled musty and of old books and there were many nooks and crannies in that room, created by the boxes piled on the floor.

    Those were some of my earliest memories. Of course, I had many more, but these were the few that I could find in the huge memory bank that was my mind.

    

Creative Writing Task 2

The deserted street lay before her, devoid of people and vehicles. A small breeze disturbed a piece of paper that lay on the dirty pavement. She drew her coat tighter around herself and looked wearily around. The streetlights were dim and one in the distance flickered before it went out. She heard a series of soft footsteps, barely audible, behind her and she quickened her pace. “It's nothing, you’re imagining things, nothing is going to happen to you,” she whispered quietly to herself.

    She turned around and saw a dark, fleeting shadow of what looked like a person walking into the alley. She froze for an instant and started to back away. She tripped over her own feet and fell to the rough concrete beneath her. She scrambled to her feet and felt her heart rate increase tenfold.

    She heard the footsteps again, but this time, they were louder. Not daring to look back, she walked even faster, hoping to get away from the person behind her. She could smell a faint whiff of cologne. She heard the blood pounding in her ears, and she ran. She ran like she was being chased by a cheetah, her trench coat flying behind her like a cape.

    As she ran, she wished she had taken up her classmate’s parent’s offer to drive her home, for who knew what dangers lay in the dark streets of Saint Andreas.

The True Me Poem by Saffron Lim