We are in the 21st century and globalization is on the rise. Globalization brings about a wave of innovation, advancement in technology, more entrepreneurs setting up businesses and barriers in communication being broken down. There will be greater competition between countries and cities. It will be a no holds barred competition. Whichever country that retains its competitive advantage edge will survive.
Knowledge and innovation will be important. The recent development of a computer programme called Deep Blue which beat Gary Kasparov in chess was a great achievement in human innovation. Companies use the latest technology that is available to them to their advantage and organize themselves in a way that their workers can use their creativity in order to accomplish their task. In this way, they can be more competitive and survive for a long time.
Our future will be a changing one. There will be rapid changes. New technology will come and go at a blink of an eye. The cycle will continue until the world cease to exist. As these changes can be unpredictable we must prepare ourselves for the future.
An Education and training culture must be created for us to prepare for the future. How countries and communities will distinguish themselves from the rest will be how well their citizens can learn and adapt to changes. Therefore the main task of education is to provide the fundamental skills and knowledge for our youths to survive in the future. It is also to help them to cultivate the habit of learning and how to be more creative.
Some people are more creative than others. The same goes with intelligence. People with good imaging abilities tend to be more creative. In being creative, people can be good at solving problems. There are various ways in solving problems. One of the common ways in solving problems is by trial and error. In an era of high speed computers, many trial-and-error solutions are best left to machines.
Another way of problem solving is by understanding the problem. Even if one discover the general properties of a correct solution, it is still not enough to guide further action. It could be followed up with other methods of problem solving like trial and error methods.
Some people solve problems by recollecting pass solutions. They have insightful knowledge on how to solve the problem. Therefore the ability to remember is very important. One good way of developing a good memory is by doing mind mapping. By mind mapping the solution you will be able to recollect how to solve the problem in the future.
The saying easier said that done is quiet true when it comes to problem solving. Some people have problems in problem solving. The problems are due to emotional barriers, cultural barriers, learned barriers and perceptual barriers.
Emotion barriers are inhibition and fear of making a fool of one self, fear of making a mistake, inability to tolerate ambiguity, excessive self criticism. For example, an architect is afraid to try an unconventional design because he or she fears that other architects will think it is frivolous.
Some people hold certain values like being playful which is only meant for children. Pleasure and humour are bad or have no value in serious business planning. Therefore when a corporate manager wants to solve a business problem, he becomes stern and angry when members of his marketing team joke playfully about possible solutions.
Learned barriers. They are conventions about users, meanings, possibilities and taboos. A cook doesn’t have any clean mixing bowls and fails to see that he could use a frying pan as a bowl. Their thinking is fixed. They cannot find alternatives. This is bad for problem solving. There must always be alternatives to problem solving.
Some people have habits that lead to failure to identify elements of a problem. For Example : An artist concentrates on drawing a vase of flowers without seeing the empty spaces around the vase are part of the composition.
Children with high IQ are considered to be smart, socially matured and well –adjusted. They tend to be very successful in life. However, most do not make genius-level contributions because these depend on a combination of intelligence, creativity and motivation.
Some research emphasizes the role of training and hard work to achieve eminence, but many theorists are reluctant to dismiss the importance of innate talent.Even the brightest may make wrong decisions. This is due to his or her experience thinking rationally. Their emotional intelligence is low. Some people might be high in Intelligence quotient but low in emotional quotient.
Thinking schools need to be developed in order to educate these youths to be leaders and harness their intelligence. They must learn how to put their intelligence into good use.
To learn something and applying it to life are two different things. Schools must develop future generations of thinking and committed citizens, capable of making good decisions to keep their country vibrant and successful in future.
Schools must develop a curriculum where thinking skills and learning skills are more emphasized. Students and teachers must spent more time doing more projects in order to help them develop these skills.
Lessons must be taken beyond the class room. On the job training is required for the students to gain insightful experience. Getting good grades in school is one thing but if they graduate with good grades but are unable to think and make good decisions than they might as well not study. In reality we only use 15% of what we learn in school when working in the outside world. The rest is by gaining experience by making good decisions and on the job training. Thinking schools must encourage more innovation.
A country must be a learning nation in order to cultivate a learning culture in the country. It must go beyond schools and educational institutions.
Learning goes beyond simply maximizing an individual’s potential. A nation’s culture and its social environment will shape what learning means. Environment does play a part in developing one’s own intelligence.
The other part is heredity. Researches have done experiment on the intelligence on identical twins. They have discovered that identical twins that develop from the same egg have identical genetic inheritance. Therefore if IQ is influenced by genes than the identical pair should have similar IQ compared to fraternal twins.
Other experiments were done on twins that were reared with different backgrounds. One being looked after educated parents and the other being looked after the orphanage. It was discovered that the one who was looked after by educated parents had greater IQ than the other one. I would say that genes and environment both are responsible for one’s intelligence.
A learning nation must begin by recognizing that education is a continuum, starting with the early pre-school years and continuing throughout life. Research on brain development in the last decade indicates that the early years in a child’s life are critical for developing the foundations of future intellectual and social development. The nation must train parents to provide their children with rich experiences to help them develop during their initial pre-school years.
There must be innovation at every level of society. Companies need to encourage innovation.
If students are encouraged to innovate in schools and later join a company that encourages innovation, they can apply their knowledge in innovation. It is a win-win situation. We acquire more skills and the company prospers.
Governments must get companies to be more involve in the educations of the young as part of a total environment. Many of the leading American companies have invested significant amount of their professional employees’ time in educational outreach activities – taking students from schools and giving them hands-on experiences and interesting them in real world technologies.
In encouraging creative thinking, we can change our mindset that only the top should be thinking and the job of everyone else is to do as told. By applying creative thinking to our work, we can do our job better. We can always think of improvements and better ways to accomplish our jobs.
Therefore developing one’s own intelligence and thinking is very important. It would lead to innovation and we will be to able adapt with society better. We as humans are constantly learning. Our brain is continually developing and growing more neurons!
Intelligence and creativity can be developed. We need not have to be born with it but those are that born with, well, it is a blessing. With the right teaching policies we can develop our intelligence and creativity. Therefore I hope all of you out there will use your intelligence and creativity more often.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
HACKED BY A USB THUMB DRIVE
Scenario
ABC company is a top-notch car-making manufacturer. Recently they came up with plans to create a car that can think, talk, jump over a truck and many more incredible feats that a normal car cannot do. They were on a blink of success and were ready to launch their super car in June 2004. Unfortunately a rival company, DEF, outsmarted them. They released the same kind of car that ABC had designed in May 2004.
Just imagine the look on the management staff when the car was released. All department heads were taken to task. The CEO shouted“ HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO US!!!! OUR DESIGN IS EXCLUSIVE!!!” HOW COULD ANYONE GET HOLD OF OUR BLUEBPRINT!!!”
Even the CIO was puzzled. He was wondering how such an unfortunate event could happen. They had a top-notch internal and external security system and they were right. ABC ranked no 1 in computer security and was the most difficult company to hack. They had a good and sound security policy. The CEO instructed the CIO to solve the problem and if he did not come out with an answer in two weeks, he would be FIRED!!!
Out of desperation he hired a detective to solve the problem. The detective managed to infiltrate the rival’s company ( how? I do not know, it’s their job anyway) and discovered that a former disgruntled employee of ABC had stolen the designs by storing them in five USB 2.0GB thumb drives!!!! Apparently he was the first person to design the blue print but it was given to somebody else to complete the job. He was not given the due recognition for his design.
Some organisations have no policy in place for detecting USB drivers or regulating their use. It is relatively easy for a visiting customer, technician, consultant, disgruntled employee, or anyone clever enough to gain access to a PC. Then they can plug a USB drive into any USB port and download dozens or hundreds of files at one go when nobody is watching. USB drives have surpassed 2GB of storage and are still growing. They are easy to hide as they are tiny. You can put it in your top pocket of your brand new shirt.
Another threat is that files infected with virus can easily be transmitted into networks through USB drives, completely bypassing anti-virus gateways or e-mail servers. Hackers can store a bevy of sophisticated tools on these tiny devices, including port scanners, spyware, password crackers, and keyword loggers.
A hacker can then use social engineering techniques to gain access the company and access a computer that has a USB drive to do all kinds of sinister attacks. Lastly, if any of these devices are lost by staff members, anyone who find it has easy access to all the stored files.
Preventions
1. Educate the staff on the proper and improper use of USB drives.
2.Have a good and sound security policy on the proper and improper use of USB drivers.
3.Permission needs to be asked first before the usage of USB drives
4.Store USB drives in a safe place.
5.Have a sign in and sigh out book for the USB drives.
6. Make sure all files store in the USB drives are encrypted. Therefore when any of the drivers are lost and found by someone else. The files would not be able to be accessed.
7. Make sure the screen-saver password-protect feature are implemented on all PCs. Locking out PCs when not in use after 3 to 5 minutes.
8. Set up anti-virus system to scan all drives and removable media for viruses and other malware. Confirm that the scanning takes place or run a manual scan before transferring files to the desktop.
9. Disable USB ports. You can do so via the system BIOS settings, which can be password protected.
10. A keep text file with the user name and phone number should be kept on the USB drives. This file need not be encrypted. To be access by anyone who has found a USB drive and return it to a appropriate owner. Extra information Third party utilities are available for locking a desktop.
They are :
1 TopLang Software’s Desktop Lock
2. Ixis’s PC Lockup
3. Spytech Software’s SpyLock
4. Tomorroware’s StayOut.
Provide users with secure USB drives. Media JumpDrive Secure is a USB flash drive with built-in password protection. SanDisk offers CruzerLock software with its USB flash drives, letting you password-protect and encrypt individual files. Sony offer products with fingerprint authentication.
SecureWave’S SecureNT lets you control end-user access to any number of I/O devices including USB flash drives, by using an access control list of company-approved devices, deny access to devices not on the list, and monitor the use of all such devices.
ABC company is a top-notch car-making manufacturer. Recently they came up with plans to create a car that can think, talk, jump over a truck and many more incredible feats that a normal car cannot do. They were on a blink of success and were ready to launch their super car in June 2004. Unfortunately a rival company, DEF, outsmarted them. They released the same kind of car that ABC had designed in May 2004.
Just imagine the look on the management staff when the car was released. All department heads were taken to task. The CEO shouted“ HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO US!!!! OUR DESIGN IS EXCLUSIVE!!!” HOW COULD ANYONE GET HOLD OF OUR BLUEBPRINT!!!”
Even the CIO was puzzled. He was wondering how such an unfortunate event could happen. They had a top-notch internal and external security system and they were right. ABC ranked no 1 in computer security and was the most difficult company to hack. They had a good and sound security policy. The CEO instructed the CIO to solve the problem and if he did not come out with an answer in two weeks, he would be FIRED!!!
Out of desperation he hired a detective to solve the problem. The detective managed to infiltrate the rival’s company ( how? I do not know, it’s their job anyway) and discovered that a former disgruntled employee of ABC had stolen the designs by storing them in five USB 2.0GB thumb drives!!!! Apparently he was the first person to design the blue print but it was given to somebody else to complete the job. He was not given the due recognition for his design.
Some organisations have no policy in place for detecting USB drivers or regulating their use. It is relatively easy for a visiting customer, technician, consultant, disgruntled employee, or anyone clever enough to gain access to a PC. Then they can plug a USB drive into any USB port and download dozens or hundreds of files at one go when nobody is watching. USB drives have surpassed 2GB of storage and are still growing. They are easy to hide as they are tiny. You can put it in your top pocket of your brand new shirt.
Another threat is that files infected with virus can easily be transmitted into networks through USB drives, completely bypassing anti-virus gateways or e-mail servers. Hackers can store a bevy of sophisticated tools on these tiny devices, including port scanners, spyware, password crackers, and keyword loggers.
A hacker can then use social engineering techniques to gain access the company and access a computer that has a USB drive to do all kinds of sinister attacks. Lastly, if any of these devices are lost by staff members, anyone who find it has easy access to all the stored files.
Preventions
1. Educate the staff on the proper and improper use of USB drives.
2.Have a good and sound security policy on the proper and improper use of USB drivers.
3.Permission needs to be asked first before the usage of USB drives
4.Store USB drives in a safe place.
5.Have a sign in and sigh out book for the USB drives.
6. Make sure all files store in the USB drives are encrypted. Therefore when any of the drivers are lost and found by someone else. The files would not be able to be accessed.
7. Make sure the screen-saver password-protect feature are implemented on all PCs. Locking out PCs when not in use after 3 to 5 minutes.
8. Set up anti-virus system to scan all drives and removable media for viruses and other malware. Confirm that the scanning takes place or run a manual scan before transferring files to the desktop.
9. Disable USB ports. You can do so via the system BIOS settings, which can be password protected.
10. A keep text file with the user name and phone number should be kept on the USB drives. This file need not be encrypted. To be access by anyone who has found a USB drive and return it to a appropriate owner. Extra information Third party utilities are available for locking a desktop.
They are :
1 TopLang Software’s Desktop Lock
2. Ixis’s PC Lockup
3. Spytech Software’s SpyLock
4. Tomorroware’s StayOut.
Provide users with secure USB drives. Media JumpDrive Secure is a USB flash drive with built-in password protection. SanDisk offers CruzerLock software with its USB flash drives, letting you password-protect and encrypt individual files. Sony offer products with fingerprint authentication.
SecureWave’S SecureNT lets you control end-user access to any number of I/O devices including USB flash drives, by using an access control list of company-approved devices, deny access to devices not on the list, and monitor the use of all such devices.
The uses of slang terms
The uses of slang terms in society have been common since modern man began speaking. The usage of slang terms have been so common that it has been taken for granted. The degradation of one has been ignored when a slang term is used to describe or narrate one’s activity in life. For example, the use of the word Niger to describe a person of black ethnicity used to be an offending word. It is now more acceptable among the younger generation but the older generation still finds the word offending. During the apartheid days, blacks were separated from the whites. Lines were drawn to designate where blacks could or could not roam. The most common slang term to describe them was Niger. It was used by the whites to discriminate against the blacks.
The use of slang terms also describes whether one is a minority or a majority in society. In this instance, those that seldom use slang terms are thought to be educated and refined. The opposite is also true. For example the use of the word "pop” to describe a birth process. The word pop means to appear suddenly. It hardly describes the giving birth process of a human being. To the blacks, this word may be offending as it describe them as being of low class and hence giving birth out of wedlock. To some it is offending because to have a baby involves an intimate human activity and child is a symbol of love so therefore to use the word popped to describe the birth of the child means that their child was unplanned or it could have been conceived out of wedlock. One may argue, that some births are conceived out of wedlock, however, as humans we must always respect the integrity of the birth process of a human being.
Seldom do we notice slang terms in the press. Even if it use, it is in inverted commas. It is to indicate that slang terms is no part of the English Language. Journalist and Editors stand ten poles away from slang terms because by using them it would degrade their status. One of the main objectives of the press is to protect those that own the means of producing news and the media industry on the whole. Even governments fear the use of slang terms. In Singapore, there was a trend to use slang terms after Gurmit Singh, actor from the sitcom Puah Choo Kang popularized it. Instantly, our Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew mentioned the disadvantages of using slang terms as it would degrade the status of oneself and one country. However, Gurmit Singh was defended as being a person in having the right to use slang words because he was educated. The underline meaning of the defense comes in two folds. One is to protect the image of the media industry which is under the control of the government and to minimize the degradation of the status of an educated person if he accidently uses a slang terms. The non – educated is however not protected at all. The government knows that the eradication of the usage of slang terms in Singapore is totally impossible. So in order to minimize any damage, it is better to protect the elite than the non – educated Singaporeans. First impression last.
The use of slang terms is acceptable if it used appropriately. We must however use our discretion in using them. Some words may be insulting to different people of different races, religion and ethnicity. Some Governments use the power of language to protect the status quo through the power of the press. I do hope that Singaporeans do continue using “Singlish” but do so with restraint. Take care and have a good day.
The use of slang terms also describes whether one is a minority or a majority in society. In this instance, those that seldom use slang terms are thought to be educated and refined. The opposite is also true. For example the use of the word "pop” to describe a birth process. The word pop means to appear suddenly. It hardly describes the giving birth process of a human being. To the blacks, this word may be offending as it describe them as being of low class and hence giving birth out of wedlock. To some it is offending because to have a baby involves an intimate human activity and child is a symbol of love so therefore to use the word popped to describe the birth of the child means that their child was unplanned or it could have been conceived out of wedlock. One may argue, that some births are conceived out of wedlock, however, as humans we must always respect the integrity of the birth process of a human being.
Seldom do we notice slang terms in the press. Even if it use, it is in inverted commas. It is to indicate that slang terms is no part of the English Language. Journalist and Editors stand ten poles away from slang terms because by using them it would degrade their status. One of the main objectives of the press is to protect those that own the means of producing news and the media industry on the whole. Even governments fear the use of slang terms. In Singapore, there was a trend to use slang terms after Gurmit Singh, actor from the sitcom Puah Choo Kang popularized it. Instantly, our Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew mentioned the disadvantages of using slang terms as it would degrade the status of oneself and one country. However, Gurmit Singh was defended as being a person in having the right to use slang words because he was educated. The underline meaning of the defense comes in two folds. One is to protect the image of the media industry which is under the control of the government and to minimize the degradation of the status of an educated person if he accidently uses a slang terms. The non – educated is however not protected at all. The government knows that the eradication of the usage of slang terms in Singapore is totally impossible. So in order to minimize any damage, it is better to protect the elite than the non – educated Singaporeans. First impression last.
The use of slang terms is acceptable if it used appropriately. We must however use our discretion in using them. Some words may be insulting to different people of different races, religion and ethnicity. Some Governments use the power of language to protect the status quo through the power of the press. I do hope that Singaporeans do continue using “Singlish” but do so with restraint. Take care and have a good day.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
My Eating Habits
If anyone knows me, they would know that I love eating hence the reason why I am plump. Eating has always been my favourite pass time. If I have the time and sufficient expenses to spare, I indulge in occasional fine dining. Yet there was a time that I refuse to eat. Surprise? This essay will be on how I developed my eating habits.
When I was around six years old, my parents realized I had a difficulty in eating. I refused to have lunch or dinner. Even during breakfast time, I would try to hide my bread or throw it away. Whenever I was caught red-handed, they would either scold or cane me.
However, it came to a point that they realized that I had an eating problem. Therefore they made an appointment for me to meet with a psychiatrist to solve my problem. On the day of the appointment, they did not tell me that they were going to bring me to see a psychiatrist. One reason is that I was always afraid of hospitals. I viewed them as morbid institutions associated with death and sufferings.
After I was aware where I was going. I started crying and began to throw tantrums in the car. My dad shouted at me and at once I kept quiet. We walked silently towards the psychiatric clinic. In the meantime, my imagination was going wild. I thought my parents were going to abandon me. Tears flowed down but my mother comforted me and wiped away my tears. Somehow I always felt safe in my mother’s arms. I did not like the psychiatrist. He looked very stern. He is someone who you would not want to meet in a dark alley.
The psychiatrist just wished me good morning and told me to follow him. I looked at him in a daze. I refused to move an inch. My parents decided to follow me. I walked very slowly with my parents beside me. I felt like a condemned man meeting his end. The psychiatrist brought me to a children’s ward. The children looked very under nourished, like they were from some refugee camp. I was shivering with fear. The psychiatrist then spoke. I said to myself “Oh WOW!!! He could speak!!!!”. He told me that if I continued not to eat my meals I would have to stay in the ward for sometime. At once the thought of staying in this ward scared the hell out of me. I told my parents that I would start eating. This was the define moment that started my love for food.
I went home and started eating my meals. However, the meals that I ate were hawker food and I began to love them!! My parents thought that I would love eating hawker food like hokkien mee, fried kway teow, chicken rice, kway chap, fried rice and etc. They were not wrong. I grew very fond of this kind of food. My weight started to increase. My mother use to take me to hawker centres to eat hokkien mee and kway chap. These dishes were her favourite as well. My dad took me out to eat wanton mee, fried kway teow and chicken rice mostly. My dad and I also started an eating competition whereby we would see who could eat the most food. My mom did not like the idea and always chided my dad for initiating the competition. Therefore, everytime I went out with him I ended up eating more then one kind of food. However, there were consequences.
As one problem was solved, another one was created. I began to dislike eating home cook food. I only liked hawker food. Even at weddings or parties, I did not like to eat the food that was prepared. I began to reject the food my mother was cooking also. Some of you may be surprised that I would reject my mother’s cooking as my mother is rather known to be a good cook herself. To rectify the problem, I was prohibited from eating hawker food for two months. I hated it. I would sulk during lunch and dinner. The only thing that made me eat the food was the fear of being caned. Gradually I began to like home cook food and started to appreciate it. My parents were delighted and my mother always made a point to cook the food that I like.
I am going to side track a bit and write about how I got to like durians. At first, I hated them because of their smell. However, one fine day in Malacca, my dad forced me to eat a durian seed. Up till today, he considered what he did as one of his biggest mistake in life. Why? Well because I got to like it so much that at every durian season I would demand for durians.
My appetite kept on improving but I still stayed away from fast food as I only liked to eat Chinese hawker food. I only began eating fast food when I was in secondary one. I presumed I was getting more matured and was getting less fussy with food. As time went on, I became more adventurous in trying various kinds of food. I began to look forward towards going out with friends and relatives to try various kinds of food cuisines. For example, I love going to out to eat seafood with my food eating kakis. One of the best seafood restaurant I have been is Jumbo and for western food Morton’s gets my vote.
My favourite food cuisines are Chinese, French, Japanese, Indonesian, Korean, Indian, Eurasian and Brazilian. I will give a write up on the various kinds of restaurants I have visited and the various kinds of food that they serve in my next post. I do not intend to give my food tasting adventurous so for the meantime to all food lovers out there, be merry and keep on eating. Of course look after your health and weight also. Pot calling the kettle black.
When I was around six years old, my parents realized I had a difficulty in eating. I refused to have lunch or dinner. Even during breakfast time, I would try to hide my bread or throw it away. Whenever I was caught red-handed, they would either scold or cane me.
However, it came to a point that they realized that I had an eating problem. Therefore they made an appointment for me to meet with a psychiatrist to solve my problem. On the day of the appointment, they did not tell me that they were going to bring me to see a psychiatrist. One reason is that I was always afraid of hospitals. I viewed them as morbid institutions associated with death and sufferings.
After I was aware where I was going. I started crying and began to throw tantrums in the car. My dad shouted at me and at once I kept quiet. We walked silently towards the psychiatric clinic. In the meantime, my imagination was going wild. I thought my parents were going to abandon me. Tears flowed down but my mother comforted me and wiped away my tears. Somehow I always felt safe in my mother’s arms. I did not like the psychiatrist. He looked very stern. He is someone who you would not want to meet in a dark alley.
The psychiatrist just wished me good morning and told me to follow him. I looked at him in a daze. I refused to move an inch. My parents decided to follow me. I walked very slowly with my parents beside me. I felt like a condemned man meeting his end. The psychiatrist brought me to a children’s ward. The children looked very under nourished, like they were from some refugee camp. I was shivering with fear. The psychiatrist then spoke. I said to myself “Oh WOW!!! He could speak!!!!”. He told me that if I continued not to eat my meals I would have to stay in the ward for sometime. At once the thought of staying in this ward scared the hell out of me. I told my parents that I would start eating. This was the define moment that started my love for food.
I went home and started eating my meals. However, the meals that I ate were hawker food and I began to love them!! My parents thought that I would love eating hawker food like hokkien mee, fried kway teow, chicken rice, kway chap, fried rice and etc. They were not wrong. I grew very fond of this kind of food. My weight started to increase. My mother use to take me to hawker centres to eat hokkien mee and kway chap. These dishes were her favourite as well. My dad took me out to eat wanton mee, fried kway teow and chicken rice mostly. My dad and I also started an eating competition whereby we would see who could eat the most food. My mom did not like the idea and always chided my dad for initiating the competition. Therefore, everytime I went out with him I ended up eating more then one kind of food. However, there were consequences.
As one problem was solved, another one was created. I began to dislike eating home cook food. I only liked hawker food. Even at weddings or parties, I did not like to eat the food that was prepared. I began to reject the food my mother was cooking also. Some of you may be surprised that I would reject my mother’s cooking as my mother is rather known to be a good cook herself. To rectify the problem, I was prohibited from eating hawker food for two months. I hated it. I would sulk during lunch and dinner. The only thing that made me eat the food was the fear of being caned. Gradually I began to like home cook food and started to appreciate it. My parents were delighted and my mother always made a point to cook the food that I like.
I am going to side track a bit and write about how I got to like durians. At first, I hated them because of their smell. However, one fine day in Malacca, my dad forced me to eat a durian seed. Up till today, he considered what he did as one of his biggest mistake in life. Why? Well because I got to like it so much that at every durian season I would demand for durians.
My appetite kept on improving but I still stayed away from fast food as I only liked to eat Chinese hawker food. I only began eating fast food when I was in secondary one. I presumed I was getting more matured and was getting less fussy with food. As time went on, I became more adventurous in trying various kinds of food. I began to look forward towards going out with friends and relatives to try various kinds of food cuisines. For example, I love going to out to eat seafood with my food eating kakis. One of the best seafood restaurant I have been is Jumbo and for western food Morton’s gets my vote.
My favourite food cuisines are Chinese, French, Japanese, Indonesian, Korean, Indian, Eurasian and Brazilian. I will give a write up on the various kinds of restaurants I have visited and the various kinds of food that they serve in my next post. I do not intend to give my food tasting adventurous so for the meantime to all food lovers out there, be merry and keep on eating. Of course look after your health and weight also. Pot calling the kettle black.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
The Plight of The Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church has for decades been rocked with scandals of sexual abuse. It has been faced with criminal law suits. These scandals have deeply damaged the creditability of the church. However, as an open institution the Roman Catholic will always be open to scrutiny. It has to maintain it’s creditability as a Holy Place of Worship. Most scandals relating to the Roman Catholic Church were sexual abuse cases against minors.
Here is a list of sexual abuse cases committed by Priests around the world. The list is not exhaustive.
1. May 2009 – There was a report that priests abused children for decades in Catholic run Institutions.
2. Nov 2009 – There was a report on child abuse cases in Dublin from 1995 to 2004. The Church Authorities covered up the cases of child abuses until the mid 1990’s.
3. Feb 2004 – Independent researchers said 10,667 people accused US priests of child sex abuse from 1950 to 2002. More than 17% of accusers had siblings that were abused.
4. Germany – More than 250 people in Germany were abused at church – run schools in past decades.
5. Switzerland – The Diocese of Chur in Eastern Switzerland was investigating around 10 complaints of abuse cases committed by at least 3 monks. No action was taken.
6. Netherlands – 3 priests from Salesian order abused pupils decades ago at a boarding school near Dutch – German border.
7. Austria – A wave of reports of child sexual abuses were reported in Austrian Catholic Institution. The arch – abbot of Salzburg’s St Peter’s monastery in March admitted to sexually a boy 40 years ago.
8. Mexico – Legionaries Of Christ founder was discovered to be a sexual molester. He fathered atleast a child with his mistress.
Some of these cases were unreported to the civil authorities. Some of the offenders were reassigned to other locations at which they again had contact with minors. Psychiatrists believed that people with pedophile behavior can be cured through counseling.The Church has compensated in monetary terms to those that were abused. The Vatican have asked the Church in US to Institute reforms to check on the backgrounds of priests, church employers and volunteers.
These reforms should have been implemented along time ago so that child sexual abuses might not have occurred. It has been very unfortunate that the Church has to face such scandals. However, I think these scandals are not only confined to the Church. It can happen at any organization. There have been cases of sexual abuses at child care centers as well. However, as the Roman Catholic Church is a symbol of place of Worship, the impact face by the church would be greater than other organizations.
The media also gives extensive coverage on such cases. This aggravates the damage done to the Church’s reputation and creditability. One of the reasons why priests sexually abuse children is due to the strict code of celibacy observed my them. It is believed that Priest would be able to live a life celibacy through pray and the trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Though this practice sits well with most priests, there are some priests that may be exceptional to the course. Priests are after all human. The temptation of the flesh would definitely affect them. As many priests are assigned to orphanages and catholic run child care centers, young children are their easiest target to relieve their sexual attention.
Covering up of child sexual abuses by Priests that hold high ranking positions can occur just like in any organization. If this cover up goes undiscovered, it will be detrimental to the reputation and creditability to the Church. It is good that reforms have been implemented to curb sexual abuses from occurring but it will not eradicate the problem totally. Why? Because, humans are a difficult subject to study. We cannot know a person in a few days. It takes months and years to study a person’s behavior.
There is a substantial amount of people that are very angry with the church for covering up child sexual abuses for a very long time. Due their anger with the church, some have left the catholic faith or wish not to be associated with the Catholic Church. They have blame the way Bishops are appointed in the church as a factor to the occurrence of child sexual abuses.
As the Pope appoints who is to be a bishop, there is no check on the Bishop’s background and behaviour because he has been with the church for a good period of time. They feel that the public should vote the appointment of Bishops. However, would it solve the problem of eradicating child sexual abuses? I do not think so. How would you know that the Bishop chosen by the people is not a pedophile or a homosexual. Humans can easily hide their behaviors. For example, gays nowadays portray normal heterosexual behavior in public as not to be discriminated.
Some of the child sexual abuse offenses occurred long time ago. I feel it is because that the catholic community were not prepared to face such circumstances that they were greatly shocked when child sexual abuses were made known publicly. The fact that it is still occurring makes one lose further confidence with the church. The Catholic Community ask questions like how could the church let such offenses happen? Have they learnt their lesson and have measure been implemented to prevent these offenses from happening?
The Catholic Church is doing their best to stop these offenses from happening. They have implemented measures like doing background checks on their staff and volunteers, however, whether these measures are carried out is another question. There are so many Catholic Institutions around the word. Whoever is running these institutes must be responsible in implementing the measures passed down ny the Vatican. Integrity must be observed. It is like what is happening in China. The central government can pass laws and reforms but the country is so huge. It is up to the officials in the other states in China to carry out the laws and reforms properly. However, this is not done so.
Now is the time for us as Catholics to unite and preserve the good name of the Catholic Church and spread the Lord's word. We should not abandon the church just because of the set back's that it is facing. These set back's are just cause by a few rotten hats. In which organisation are there no rotten hats? Do you just abandon the church because of these set backs? Where is our faith and loyalty towards the Catholic Church? If Jesus was around, he would be very sad and he would all want us to support him in his grieve.
Let's look at the Catholic Church in totality. It has done more good than bad. The goodness that it has done outweighs the plight that it is now facing. I think Catholics can contest to that. We need to continue be good catholics and defend the name of the Catholic Church whenever we are called upon. I have made with so many good and warm friends at the Catholic organisations that I have joined. One of them is called Choice. By joining these Catholic Organisations, my faith has also grown. I do agree that asians tend to place greater importance towards their catholic religion then westerners. Just go to the Catholic Churches in Asian countries and compare it to the western catholic churches and you will know what I am talking about. The congregation at Asian Churchs are usually alot but in Western churches it is only a handful. Even so, I think we must never stop losing our faith and keep on defending the Catholic Church's name.
On this note, I wish for the lord the always look and shower his blessings upon you and you family.
Here is a list of sexual abuse cases committed by Priests around the world. The list is not exhaustive.
1. May 2009 – There was a report that priests abused children for decades in Catholic run Institutions.
2. Nov 2009 – There was a report on child abuse cases in Dublin from 1995 to 2004. The Church Authorities covered up the cases of child abuses until the mid 1990’s.
3. Feb 2004 – Independent researchers said 10,667 people accused US priests of child sex abuse from 1950 to 2002. More than 17% of accusers had siblings that were abused.
4. Germany – More than 250 people in Germany were abused at church – run schools in past decades.
5. Switzerland – The Diocese of Chur in Eastern Switzerland was investigating around 10 complaints of abuse cases committed by at least 3 monks. No action was taken.
6. Netherlands – 3 priests from Salesian order abused pupils decades ago at a boarding school near Dutch – German border.
7. Austria – A wave of reports of child sexual abuses were reported in Austrian Catholic Institution. The arch – abbot of Salzburg’s St Peter’s monastery in March admitted to sexually a boy 40 years ago.
8. Mexico – Legionaries Of Christ founder was discovered to be a sexual molester. He fathered atleast a child with his mistress.
Some of these cases were unreported to the civil authorities. Some of the offenders were reassigned to other locations at which they again had contact with minors. Psychiatrists believed that people with pedophile behavior can be cured through counseling.The Church has compensated in monetary terms to those that were abused. The Vatican have asked the Church in US to Institute reforms to check on the backgrounds of priests, church employers and volunteers.
These reforms should have been implemented along time ago so that child sexual abuses might not have occurred. It has been very unfortunate that the Church has to face such scandals. However, I think these scandals are not only confined to the Church. It can happen at any organization. There have been cases of sexual abuses at child care centers as well. However, as the Roman Catholic Church is a symbol of place of Worship, the impact face by the church would be greater than other organizations.
The media also gives extensive coverage on such cases. This aggravates the damage done to the Church’s reputation and creditability. One of the reasons why priests sexually abuse children is due to the strict code of celibacy observed my them. It is believed that Priest would be able to live a life celibacy through pray and the trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Though this practice sits well with most priests, there are some priests that may be exceptional to the course. Priests are after all human. The temptation of the flesh would definitely affect them. As many priests are assigned to orphanages and catholic run child care centers, young children are their easiest target to relieve their sexual attention.
Covering up of child sexual abuses by Priests that hold high ranking positions can occur just like in any organization. If this cover up goes undiscovered, it will be detrimental to the reputation and creditability to the Church. It is good that reforms have been implemented to curb sexual abuses from occurring but it will not eradicate the problem totally. Why? Because, humans are a difficult subject to study. We cannot know a person in a few days. It takes months and years to study a person’s behavior.
There is a substantial amount of people that are very angry with the church for covering up child sexual abuses for a very long time. Due their anger with the church, some have left the catholic faith or wish not to be associated with the Catholic Church. They have blame the way Bishops are appointed in the church as a factor to the occurrence of child sexual abuses.
As the Pope appoints who is to be a bishop, there is no check on the Bishop’s background and behaviour because he has been with the church for a good period of time. They feel that the public should vote the appointment of Bishops. However, would it solve the problem of eradicating child sexual abuses? I do not think so. How would you know that the Bishop chosen by the people is not a pedophile or a homosexual. Humans can easily hide their behaviors. For example, gays nowadays portray normal heterosexual behavior in public as not to be discriminated.
Some of the child sexual abuse offenses occurred long time ago. I feel it is because that the catholic community were not prepared to face such circumstances that they were greatly shocked when child sexual abuses were made known publicly. The fact that it is still occurring makes one lose further confidence with the church. The Catholic Community ask questions like how could the church let such offenses happen? Have they learnt their lesson and have measure been implemented to prevent these offenses from happening?
The Catholic Church is doing their best to stop these offenses from happening. They have implemented measures like doing background checks on their staff and volunteers, however, whether these measures are carried out is another question. There are so many Catholic Institutions around the word. Whoever is running these institutes must be responsible in implementing the measures passed down ny the Vatican. Integrity must be observed. It is like what is happening in China. The central government can pass laws and reforms but the country is so huge. It is up to the officials in the other states in China to carry out the laws and reforms properly. However, this is not done so.
Now is the time for us as Catholics to unite and preserve the good name of the Catholic Church and spread the Lord's word. We should not abandon the church just because of the set back's that it is facing. These set back's are just cause by a few rotten hats. In which organisation are there no rotten hats? Do you just abandon the church because of these set backs? Where is our faith and loyalty towards the Catholic Church? If Jesus was around, he would be very sad and he would all want us to support him in his grieve.
Let's look at the Catholic Church in totality. It has done more good than bad. The goodness that it has done outweighs the plight that it is now facing. I think Catholics can contest to that. We need to continue be good catholics and defend the name of the Catholic Church whenever we are called upon. I have made with so many good and warm friends at the Catholic organisations that I have joined. One of them is called Choice. By joining these Catholic Organisations, my faith has also grown. I do agree that asians tend to place greater importance towards their catholic religion then westerners. Just go to the Catholic Churches in Asian countries and compare it to the western catholic churches and you will know what I am talking about. The congregation at Asian Churchs are usually alot but in Western churches it is only a handful. Even so, I think we must never stop losing our faith and keep on defending the Catholic Church's name.
On this note, I wish for the lord the always look and shower his blessings upon you and you family.
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