In this article on page 10, it talks about how the amount of business in Holland Village after the opening of the Holland Village MRT, has not increased but in fact, decreased. Though many people came to Holland Village, only a small number were shoppers. Some shop owners even felt that due to the initial surge of people that came to Holland Village, their regular customers were scared off as they did not want to compete with them to shop there. Shopper say however, that the limited variety of shops and hawker centre stalls are the cause of its decrease as well.
I feel that transport routes are increasing in Singapore and it is easier for us to get around to places. However, because of that, the competition between different shopping areas and eateries are in turn, getting more competitive. People would rather go to a further place with a larger number of shops and stalls that cater to their needs compared to a nearer place where shops are limited and they are unable to get what they want. The transport in Singapore allows them to get to a further place with convenience though it may not be as fast as going to the place that is nearer. But there are downfalls to this system as it would cause more crowds in that area and lead to a traffic congestion due to the amount of cars travelling on the same road.
A wide transport network may be good or bad for a city, it's just the level of importance that you place each benefit or problem.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Communications
Communication
Over the years, the level of technology is getting more and more advanced. People are developing new ways to keep in contact with one another through the social media. Technology has broken down the barriers to communications globally, also allowing communication to take place in a fraction of a second. There are many impacts due to this advance. People who use the internet excessively will suffer from the inability to focus on an activity for at least 15 minutes and it can even cause depression.
Transport
The transport system in the world is also becoming more advanced. For example, in Hong Kong, there is a underwater tunnel known as the Cross-Harbour Tunnel that crosses the Victoria Harbour and other tunnels can even go through a hill. In a busy city like Singapore, transport plays an important role in our daily life, be it for the running of businesses or simply just to go from one place to another. When a problem in a transport system occurs, many people will be affected. This was what happened when the circle line in Singapore was disrupted at 6 am on a Wednesday, affecting roughly 1,400 passengers. Buses were deployed to lessen the impact of the train disruption, but commuters say that the situation could be handled better as the bus drivers were not told on where to drive the affected commuters.
I feel that as the improvement technology makes things more convenient for us, we must not rely on them too much as there is always a weak spot in a transport route or negative impacts of using communication networks excessively.
Is transport and communication just playing a part in our lives and making things more convenient for us or are we getting lazier and relying on it too much that we make transport and communication our life?
Over the years, the level of technology is getting more and more advanced. People are developing new ways to keep in contact with one another through the social media. Technology has broken down the barriers to communications globally, also allowing communication to take place in a fraction of a second. There are many impacts due to this advance. People who use the internet excessively will suffer from the inability to focus on an activity for at least 15 minutes and it can even cause depression.
Transport
The transport system in the world is also becoming more advanced. For example, in Hong Kong, there is a underwater tunnel known as the Cross-Harbour Tunnel that crosses the Victoria Harbour and other tunnels can even go through a hill. In a busy city like Singapore, transport plays an important role in our daily life, be it for the running of businesses or simply just to go from one place to another. When a problem in a transport system occurs, many people will be affected. This was what happened when the circle line in Singapore was disrupted at 6 am on a Wednesday, affecting roughly 1,400 passengers. Buses were deployed to lessen the impact of the train disruption, but commuters say that the situation could be handled better as the bus drivers were not told on where to drive the affected commuters.
I feel that as the improvement technology makes things more convenient for us, we must not rely on them too much as there is always a weak spot in a transport route or negative impacts of using communication networks excessively.
Is transport and communication just playing a part in our lives and making things more convenient for us or are we getting lazier and relying on it too much that we make transport and communication our life?
Friday, April 6, 2012
The Exam Paper - with regards to esther/jessica's post
I was browsing through everyone's blogs when Esther/Jessica's reflection on the exam paper caught my eye.
Here is the link to their post : http://www.geoggies-in-trainingestherandjessica.blogspot.com/2012/04/exam-paper.html .
As mentioned, the examination was indeed a test of how much we understood and how well we could apply the knowledge learnt so far, instead of how much one could regurgitate from her memory. There were some unexpected moments such as when the paper required of us to illustrate population pyramids and a settlement type.
Ms J provided great advice when she asked us to focus on population pyramids and to know it well, however, I felt that I overlooked the depth of how much we needed to know about population pyramids. I studied and understood population pyramids as a graph, in an analytic manner. However, I never expected to be asked to draw it. It is not something way out of our capabilities or a task too much to ask from us, thus I feel really regretful and complacent about not learning how to actually draw a population pyramid. Out of the 2 marks, I can only hope I earned 1 sympathy point for the columns and numbers I drew from my vaguest of memory.
Still, the biggest question that was boggling the entire Secondary 2 level in general was the last question. Esther/Jessica stated it was something along 'why farmers diversify their crops'. However, if I recalled correctly, the question asked for the ways in which and why farmers diversified agriculture/farming. To put it simply, we had to explain how farmers categorized agriculture/farming types, and why they did so.
My answer was that farmers did this to differentiate the various farming styles across the world so as to allow for proper planning before beginning on a certain type of crop cultivation, and they accomplished this by identifying each farming technique's purpose, input and output. I was rushing to complete my paper and thus I don't recall the full answer, but I continued explaining on how when farmers understood the different types of agriculture, they could select a specific farming style to follow based on their purpose and one that was within their budget/capabilities. The farmers would be able to gather needed resources and labour to begin his farming project as well.
This is a wide question that is sure to have many varying answers, thus I feel that it is open to one's own opinion. My answer might not be 100% correct, it is just my point of view on why farmers diversified agriculture.
Whatever it is, I hope that the test paper had sent many questions running through your minds and had ignited your curiosity to find out more about geography. It certainly taught me how there is really so much more to Geography than just a textbook/test paper, Geography has no limits and is all around us. Memorizing facts won't help, embracing the understanding Geography has brought to humanity and applying it to real-life situations is what lies in these type of questions (the question mentioned above) that sift out people who memorize texts from geoggies who understand the meaning behind those words. There is a difference.
Here is the link to their post : http://www.geoggies-in-trainingestherandjessica.blogspot.com/2012/04/exam-paper.html .
As mentioned, the examination was indeed a test of how much we understood and how well we could apply the knowledge learnt so far, instead of how much one could regurgitate from her memory. There were some unexpected moments such as when the paper required of us to illustrate population pyramids and a settlement type.
Ms J provided great advice when she asked us to focus on population pyramids and to know it well, however, I felt that I overlooked the depth of how much we needed to know about population pyramids. I studied and understood population pyramids as a graph, in an analytic manner. However, I never expected to be asked to draw it. It is not something way out of our capabilities or a task too much to ask from us, thus I feel really regretful and complacent about not learning how to actually draw a population pyramid. Out of the 2 marks, I can only hope I earned 1 sympathy point for the columns and numbers I drew from my vaguest of memory.
Still, the biggest question that was boggling the entire Secondary 2 level in general was the last question. Esther/Jessica stated it was something along 'why farmers diversify their crops'. However, if I recalled correctly, the question asked for the ways in which and why farmers diversified agriculture/farming. To put it simply, we had to explain how farmers categorized agriculture/farming types, and why they did so.
My answer was that farmers did this to differentiate the various farming styles across the world so as to allow for proper planning before beginning on a certain type of crop cultivation, and they accomplished this by identifying each farming technique's purpose, input and output. I was rushing to complete my paper and thus I don't recall the full answer, but I continued explaining on how when farmers understood the different types of agriculture, they could select a specific farming style to follow based on their purpose and one that was within their budget/capabilities. The farmers would be able to gather needed resources and labour to begin his farming project as well.
This is a wide question that is sure to have many varying answers, thus I feel that it is open to one's own opinion. My answer might not be 100% correct, it is just my point of view on why farmers diversified agriculture.
Whatever it is, I hope that the test paper had sent many questions running through your minds and had ignited your curiosity to find out more about geography. It certainly taught me how there is really so much more to Geography than just a textbook/test paper, Geography has no limits and is all around us. Memorizing facts won't help, embracing the understanding Geography has brought to humanity and applying it to real-life situations is what lies in these type of questions (the question mentioned above) that sift out people who memorize texts from geoggies who understand the meaning behind those words. There is a difference.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Central Provision Fund
In lieu of managing Singapore's aging population, instead of just learning about the surface facts of various methods used to tackle this problem, I decided to find out more about one particular measure in depth. This simple yet effective scheme aims to encourage financial planning in Singapore - the Central Provision Fund (CPF).
CPF, in a nutshell, helps people save up money from the moment they have a stable income, such that they will have enough money for their retirement and other expenses (resulting in the government having to subsidize less people). However, there is much more than that. How much one contributes to CPF varies with age. An employee 50 years of age and below contributes 20% of his monthly income and gradually reduces to only 7.5% of his salary once he reaches 65 years old. For employers, they contribute 16% of their income and gradually reduces to 6.5%
CPF is a stat board which can be split into 3 different categories : Ordinary account, Special account and Medisave account. The ordinary account of CPF can used to purchase houses and for investment purposes, the Special account is reserved for old age and retirement while the Medisave account is used for hospitalization expenses or medial insurance.
The interest rates for ordinary account is 2.5%, 4% for special account and 4% for medisave. This shows that the government prioritizes adequate money for health care and retirement over investments. In my opinion, it is reasonable as more money is needed for retirement to ensure that the elderly of Singapore are independent, living blissfully without having to worry about their houses not being fully paid for. In addition, as people get older, visits to the doctor will increase and so will hospital bills. The higher the interest rate allocated to Medisave accounts, the more money is saved and reserved for medical expenses, thus reducing the amount of funds the goverment directs to help the needy/elderly with subsidies.
I have noticed that there have been quite a few negative reactions to the scheme, especially towards the fact that when one uses money from his ordinary account to invest, the profit earned + the original amount withdrawn all goes back to CPF. In other words, the money will be 'stuck' under CPF until one reaches the age of 55, when a certain amount of money can be withdrawn. Or, at 62 years old, the government will allow a certain amount of money to be withdrawn monthly to prevent people from splurging/gambling, using too much money at once and having no savings left for necessities.
CPF, in a nutshell, helps people save up money from the moment they have a stable income, such that they will have enough money for their retirement and other expenses (resulting in the government having to subsidize less people). However, there is much more than that. How much one contributes to CPF varies with age. An employee 50 years of age and below contributes 20% of his monthly income and gradually reduces to only 7.5% of his salary once he reaches 65 years old. For employers, they contribute 16% of their income and gradually reduces to 6.5%
CPF is a stat board which can be split into 3 different categories : Ordinary account, Special account and Medisave account. The ordinary account of CPF can used to purchase houses and for investment purposes, the Special account is reserved for old age and retirement while the Medisave account is used for hospitalization expenses or medial insurance.
The interest rates for ordinary account is 2.5%, 4% for special account and 4% for medisave. This shows that the government prioritizes adequate money for health care and retirement over investments. In my opinion, it is reasonable as more money is needed for retirement to ensure that the elderly of Singapore are independent, living blissfully without having to worry about their houses not being fully paid for. In addition, as people get older, visits to the doctor will increase and so will hospital bills. The higher the interest rate allocated to Medisave accounts, the more money is saved and reserved for medical expenses, thus reducing the amount of funds the goverment directs to help the needy/elderly with subsidies.
I have noticed that there have been quite a few negative reactions to the scheme, especially towards the fact that when one uses money from his ordinary account to invest, the profit earned + the original amount withdrawn all goes back to CPF. In other words, the money will be 'stuck' under CPF until one reaches the age of 55, when a certain amount of money can be withdrawn. Or, at 62 years old, the government will allow a certain amount of money to be withdrawn monthly to prevent people from splurging/gambling, using too much money at once and having no savings left for necessities.
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