2017 Secondary 2 Week 2 Update

School has started in earnest now and both BB and GG have a full school week. On days when they have CCA, they are home only after 6 pm.

Later today, GG will receive her Edusave scholarship. According to her, she saw some document in school which shows that she came in third in the level,  missing the second position by a small percentage (actually a point percentage). So this has made her even more determined to do better her Sec 1 grades this year.

GG has her Singapore Youth Festival competition sometime in April this year and her CCA is going all out to practice. They will be wearing some kind of an ombre dress this year and GG says they will also be wearing formal court shoes with heels as part of the costume. Excited for them and hopefully, they get a Gold this year too….

BB did something new this year. On Friday when he came back from school, he told me he had to go back to school to present some dance as part of the environmental club he was in for he Sec 1 Orientation day. Since S was going to be working late, I decided to let him go to school and come back alone. This is a huge thing since they’ve not gone out alone after sunset before. He left around 6:15 pm and came back around 8:30 pm. I was worried and was relieved when he finally came home. Now GG is asking that she also be allowed to do the same thing. I’ve told her when the next opportunity comes, we’ll do it….All part of letting my chicks spread their wings and take tentative steps outside the nest….

All part of letting my chicks spread their wings and take tentative steps outside the nest….

Have a great Sunday folks!!

R.I.P Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011)

When you use your iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac today, take a moment to reflect on the genius that was Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, inventor and innovator extraordinnaire passed away early this morning (Singapore time). Now I am not a techie by any stretch of imagination and don’t even use an Apple computer, but I do use a iPhone and am very seriously thinking of buying the iPad 2 and that is the reason for this post.

The iPhone is so simple to use that even people like me can use them for so many things. I don’t think I can ever go back to using a normal phone! It has everything I need for my life right now, so thank you Steve Jobs. My condolences to his family, friends and loved ones. The world is indeed a poorer place today without you in it.

Here’s a video that’s been doing the rounds where Steve Jobs talks to the class of 2005 in Stamford at their commencement ceremony about “How to live before you die”

India-Pakistan Border seen from space

Here is a great view of the India-Pakistan border as seen from outer space! The border appears as an orange line in this picture, taken by the Expedition 28 crew on the International Space Station (ISS) on August 21 and released on September 04. The border, which is a highly lit up fence for surveillance purposes appears as this orange line. The Indian cities of Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir is to the left and Delhi is at the top centre while the Pakistani cities of Islamabad and Lahore appear at the bottom centre and at the centre near the border respectively. These are the bright spots seen in the photo.

The original picture and the captions can be seen here.

India-Pakistan border as seen from International Space Station

The World in Sixty Seconds

This amazing video which I got from the MSN website is a series of time lapse images taken from the front of the International Space Station at on it’s orbit around the world at night. The video, done by science educator James Drake can also be seen in his website Infinity Imagined. From the website:

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the Earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy.