Exams

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The most dreaded time of the year for student is here.


 

Error in UOL Subject Guides

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Found quite a number of errors while reading through UOL's Subject Guides.

Language Error?

"This is a long question and it is quite difficult, so do not panic."

I do not have a good grasp of English language either but I reckon there is something wrong with the meaning the author is trying to convey. My attempts.

1) "This is a long question but it is quite easy, so do not panic."
2) "This is a long question and it is quite difficult, so do panic."

Comments?

More Errors

 

UrbanContent

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UrbanContent is a collective of individuals who believed that life is made beautiful by everything around us. Even the most common, everyday objects can turn out to be a stunning mixture of art and design if one looks hard enough. Through these, they hope that you can find your little oasis of joy amidst all the cosmopolitan rush.

Live the way you want it. Life. Play. Design.


 

Economic Stimulus Package Passed by Congress

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Since last Friday, you have been seeing a lot of headlines about the gigantic $787 billion economics stimulus package after it has been approved by the Congress, finally.

What does that package actually do and what impact will it creates? A site which I frequently visit has a good, nice, simple and clear explanation of the package.

Credits to About.com.

The plan has seven components:

Immediate Relief for Families

This will cost $260 billion over 10 years.
  • Cut taxes by $400 for individuals and $800 for families.
  • A payment of $250 to recipients of Social Security, veterans pension and SSI benefits.
  • $70 billion to continue the AMT tax shelter.
  • Greater access to child tax credit for working poor and expand earned-income tax credit to families with three children.
  • A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
  • $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers in 2009.
  • Car buyers could deduct the interest on new car loans.
  • Extension of unemployment benefits and suspension of taxes on those benefits through 2009.

Modernize Federal Infrastructure

  • $46 billion for transportation and mass transit projects.
  • $31 billion to modernize federal buildings.
  • $6 billion in water projects.

Increase Alternative Energy Production

  • $17 billion in renewable energy tax cuts.
  • $5 billion to weatherize homes.

Expand Health Care

  • $24 billion to subsidize COBRA benefits for laid off workers.
  • $87 billion to help states with Medicaid.
  • $10 billion to National Institute for Health
  • $17 billion to modernize health information technology systems.

Improve Education

  • $54 billion to school districts and states.
  • $21 billion for school modernization.
  • $17 billion to boost Pell Grants.
  • $13 billion for Head Start.
  • $12 billlion for special ed programs.

Invest in Science Research and Technology

  • $10 billion for science facilities.
  • $4 billion to increase broadband infrastructure.
  • $4 billion for physics and science research.

Help Small Businesses

  • $54 billion to help small businesses through a variety of tax incentives and write-offs.

Obama increased spending from the $190 billion plan he proposed earlier, after realizing that dramatic and aggressive action is needed to stem the economic crisis. Some components of that plan, such as enacting a foreclosure moratorium, have already been implemented by Fannie Mae. Others, such as eliminating taxes for seniors making up to $50,000, are still part of Obama's economic agenda elsewhere.

Obama's biggest challenge is to create enough of an economic stimulus to soften the recession, but not big enough to create further doubts about the ballooning Federal Debt, now over $10 trillion. In fact, the package includes legislation to raise the debt limit to $12 trillion.

How Will the Plan Work?

Obama's tax rebates will encourage consumer spending, although many doubt that it is enough. The stimuli for businesses will help revitalize the economy, especially helping small businesses. The state aid will help keep them from having to either raise property taxes or cut needed services. The public works construction will retain or add 3 million jobs, and lower transportation costs. All incentives should be removed once the danger is over to reduce the deficit and avoid future inflation.

 

Universities publish grade profiles as guide for course applicants

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SINGAPORE: The days when junior college and polytechnic students engage in the guessing game - will they or won't they get a place in a coveted varsity course - may be over.

For the first time, all three public universities - Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU) - have published their lists of "grade profiles" for A-level students and "grade point average (GPA)" for polytechnic students to help them assess their chances of getting into the various undergraduate courses offered by the universities.

For example, for NUS' 2008 admission exercise, students who were offered places to its law and medicine faculties generally scored 4As for three H2 and one H1 subjects.

The move comes following calls by various quarters in recent years for the universities to be more transparent about their entry requirements.

Students interviewed by TODAY welcomed the publication of the lists - but some wondered if even more information could be released.

Second-year polytechnic student Gerlynn Chan, 18, said: "The universities should have done this a long time ago. However, certain courses like the Mass Communication course from NTU also require you to take several tests and interviews ... so I think they should provide more of such information regarding such aspects."

JC student Chua Han Wee, 19, who is waiting for his A-level results, feels that "grades should not be the only consideration".

"Consistency of a student's performance in co-curricular activities (CCAs) should also be taken into account." he added.

Mr Alan Goh, SMU's director of undergraduate admissions, said the grade profiles are meant to be "an indicative guide". All applicants are assessed on "SMU's holistic selection process, which includes their academic standing and CCA achievements".

An NUS spokesperson said: "The exact requirements will vary depending on the specific course and is ultimately determined by the strength of the applicant pool each year."

The publication of grade profiles has made students such as 18-year-old Khalid Khan realise that they need to study harder if they want to earn a place in the university.

The polytechnic student in media and communication said: "I'm now coming to year 3. This means I've got only a year to get a minimum of GPA 3 to have a higher chance of entering any of these local universities."

For more information, visit the universities' respective websites. - TODAY/fa

Source.

Nice move, more transparency makes the competition harder and soon you will see every Singaporeans study like mad (like those Koreans). And soon you will see almost every Singaporeans aiming those US ivy universities (like those Koreans).

 

Ah Beng - NEW STUFF

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Ah Beng bought a new mobile.
He sent a message to everyone from his Phone Book & said
"My Mobile No. Has changed..
Earlier it was Nokia 3310Now it is 6610"
====================================
Ah Beng : I am a Proud, coz my son is in Medical College.
Friend: Really, what is he studying.
Ah Beng: No he is not studying, they are Studying him.
=============================================
Ah Beng : Doctor, In my dreams, I play football every night.
DR: Take this tablet, you will be ok.
Ah Beng : Can I take tomorrow, tonight is final game.
===============================================
Ah Beng : If I die will u remarry?
Wife: No! I'll stay with my sister. But if I die will u remarry? Ah Beng :
No, I'll also stay with your sister
=========================================
Ah Beng : People consider me as a "GOD"
Wife: How do you know??
Ah Beng : When I went to the Park today, everybody said,
Oh GOD! U have come again..
===========================================
Ah Beng complained 2 Police: Sir all items are missing,
Except the TV in my house.
Police: How the thief did not take TV???
Ah Beng : I was watching TV news...
=========================================
Ah Beng comes back 2 his car & find a note saying "Parking Fine"
He Writes a note and sticks it 2 pole "Thanks 4 complement"
-------------------------------------------------------------
How do you recognize Ah Beng in School?
He is the one who erases the notes from the book when the teacher erases
the board.
----------------------------------------------------
Once Ah Beng was walking he had a glove on one hand and not on other.
So the man asked him why he did so. He replied that the weather forecast
announced that on one hand it would be cold and on the other hand it would
be hot.
-----------------------------------------------------
Ah Beng in a bar and his cellular phone rings. He picks it up and
Says "Hello, how did you know I was here?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah Beng - why r all these people running?
Man - This is a race, the winner will get the cup
Ah Beng - If only the winner will get the cup, why others running?
*****************************************************
Teacher: "I killed a person" convert this sentence into future tense
Ah Beng : The future tense is "u will go to jail"
****************************************************
Ah Beng told his servant: Go and water the plants
Servant: It's already raining
Ah Beng : So what? Take an umbrella and go.
******************************************** *********
A man asked Ah Beng why Ahmad Badawi goes walking in the Evening and not
in the morning Ah Beng replied Ahmad Badawi is PM not AM

 

WBA 2 - 3 Newcastle United

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President Obama Speaks to House Democratic Caucus: "The American people are watching"

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Once again Mr Obama delivered yet another remarkable speech to show his anger to answer the critics of his Administration's "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act".

Quoting one of his sentences in the speech, "But what I have also said is – don’t come to table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped create this crisis.", Mr Obama clearly leads by example doing the "CHANGE" that he preached so often during his election campaign and the one which partially led to his election victory.

 

S'pore boy writes app

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WHILE most children his age sketch on paper with crayons, nine-year old Lim Ding Wen from Singapore, has a very different canvas - his iPhone.

Lim, who is in fourth grade, writes applications for Apple's popular iPhone. His latest, a painting program called Doodle Kids, has been downloaded over 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in two weeks, the New Paper reported on Thursday.

The program lets iPhone users draw with their fingers by touching the iPhone's touchscreen and then clear the screen by shaking the phone.

'I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw,' Lim said. His sisters are aged 3 and 5.

Lim, who is fluent in six programming languages, started using the computer at the age of 2. He has since completed about 20 programming projects.

His father, Lim Thye Chean, a chief technology officer at a local technology firm, also writes iPhone applications.

'Every evening we check the statistics emailed to us (by iTunes) to see who has more downloads,' the older Lim said.

The boy, who enjoys reading books on programming, is in the process of writing another iPhone application - a science fiction game called 'Invader Wars'. -- REUTERS

Source.

Be amazed not because hes talented but because hes a Singaporean! And is he lying on a table? lol

 

A mosquito that my mum recognised

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Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Yes, this was the mosquito that my mum said when I showed it to her, "就是这只肥蚊子"! (Its this fat mosquito)

It was happily sucking blood out the hell out of my family, Bella (*saiyang*) included. Please do click on the image to see how much and thick was the blood. (but please don't photocopy my thumbprint!) I reckoned it was too heavy to fly with the amount of blood that finally made it easier for me to slap it.

 

William Bernstein

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Most investor believe that they can time the market, or worse, that by listening to the right guru, they will be able to. I have a fantasy in which one morning I slip into the Manhattan headquarters of the major brokerage firms and drop truth serum into their drinking water. That day, on news programs all over the country, dozens of analysts and market strategists, when asked for their prediction of market direction, answer, "How the hell should I know? I learned long ago that my predictions weren't worth a darn; you know this as well as I. The only reason that we're both here doing this is because we have mouths to feed, and there are still chumps who will swallow this stuff!"
- William Bernstein