By: Samantha Chow (M/6366)
In the first part of this short musing, I wrote about what led me to love books as much as I do now. A little disclaimer before I continue: I guess it would be wrong to say that I ‘love reading’ as I am choosy with my selections; I almost only read fiction novels and the occasional travel or goggle at little colourful gastronomically-delighting cookbooks. I never claimed to love reading thick serious historical texts, preferring to a ‘live reading’ (storytelling) by history enthusiasts like my dad. However I found out that one can always read fiction novels with historic themes such as Judith Kerr’s Jewish childhood narration ‘When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit’ or Reina James’ ‘The Time of Dying’ about the horrific influenza epidemic in 1918 London. Books that have won awards or were nominated are usually quickly recognised and automatically picked up to flip through.
But I digress. As promised, I will now share with you several methods of getting good reads for cheaper or even free!
Showing posts with label Opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opinion. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Paper and print: A tale of a Malaysian girl’s personal pursuit of distant dreams (Part One)
By: Samantha Chow (M/6366)
Books have always played a significant part in my life. They shape me into who I am today, one who constantly dreams of places I want to go, people I want to meet and things that I want to do one day.
Having being introduced to books at the tender age of seven when my mom first brought my siblings and I to the nearby Plaza Phoenix’s library, it wasn’t hard for me to quickly pick up on the one habit which I still practice up until today. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were my favourites, and I finished up the whole set in about a year. I remember that because not too soon after that the library closed down. Sadly I was too young to mourn the loss of the library membership as I didn’t know what I would miss in the coming years.
Books have always played a significant part in my life. They shape me into who I am today, one who constantly dreams of places I want to go, people I want to meet and things that I want to do one day.
Having being introduced to books at the tender age of seven when my mom first brought my siblings and I to the nearby Plaza Phoenix’s library, it wasn’t hard for me to quickly pick up on the one habit which I still practice up until today. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were my favourites, and I finished up the whole set in about a year. I remember that because not too soon after that the library closed down. Sadly I was too young to mourn the loss of the library membership as I didn’t know what I would miss in the coming years.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Saving Earth
by Samantha Chow (M/6366)
Earth Hour has passed and gone, but did it really achieve its purpose?
The point of Earth Hour is to spread global awareness about saving energy and at the same time, actually do some real energy saving.
It was a global awareness alright but did it achieve its other purpose? Did the people on earth really use lesser energy on Earth Hour or did the energy usage actually increase due to all the publicity, parties and concerts? (All in the name of Earth Hour pfft)
I'm afraid I have to agree with some people that Earth Hour was more like a publicity stunt (for sponsors like giant retailer Sears who 'proudly announced that they're a national sponsor of Earth Hour 2009', countless radio and TV stations who halted transmission for an hour, and Google etc).
Many people want to be known as environmentally friendly as it's a cool 'in-thing' but do you really stop to think of the extra energy used in countless (all forms of) adverts to promote Earth Hour? Is the energy saved from Earth Hour enough to compensate for it?
I think that Earth Hour was used by many as an excuse to party! And no, I'm not condemning it because it’s what we 'socialites' like to do nowadays. Find any reason to go out! Truth be told, I would've gone on the party that night at Capsquare, KL myself if not for my assignment and Grey's Anatomy.
That is why I do not think that the true noble point of Earth Hour has been achieved by the party itself due to energy spent on 'spreading awareness of the issue'.
Although, you can give justification for the parties and stuff by saying that 'spending all the energy now creates awareness in people so that they'll learn to save more energy in the future', and yes I agree! Earth Hour was done to spread AWARENESS and since this was done on a (somewhat successful) global scale, so congratulations!
Now it's our part as individuals to save energy as much as we can on a constant mode and not only give a blind 'show of support' for publicized events like Earth Hour.
God, even the people who started Earth Hour admitted that it was just a hypocritical campaign, and that we may have actually emitted MORE emissions instead!
So how TRULY environmentally friendly are you?
(Originally published at http://samanthacje.com/2009/03/hi-all-how-was-your-weekend-now-ill.html on March 30th 2009)
Samantha authors a blog at http://samanthacje.com
Originally published in the Malaysian Mensa magazine Triple M February-April 2009 Issue, page 14.
Earth Hour has passed and gone, but did it really achieve its purpose?
The point of Earth Hour is to spread global awareness about saving energy and at the same time, actually do some real energy saving.
It was a global awareness alright but did it achieve its other purpose? Did the people on earth really use lesser energy on Earth Hour or did the energy usage actually increase due to all the publicity, parties and concerts? (All in the name of Earth Hour pfft)
I'm afraid I have to agree with some people that Earth Hour was more like a publicity stunt (for sponsors like giant retailer Sears who 'proudly announced that they're a national sponsor of Earth Hour 2009', countless radio and TV stations who halted transmission for an hour, and Google etc).
Many people want to be known as environmentally friendly as it's a cool 'in-thing' but do you really stop to think of the extra energy used in countless (all forms of) adverts to promote Earth Hour? Is the energy saved from Earth Hour enough to compensate for it?
I think that Earth Hour was used by many as an excuse to party! And no, I'm not condemning it because it’s what we 'socialites' like to do nowadays. Find any reason to go out! Truth be told, I would've gone on the party that night at Capsquare, KL myself if not for my assignment and Grey's Anatomy.
That is why I do not think that the true noble point of Earth Hour has been achieved by the party itself due to energy spent on 'spreading awareness of the issue'.
Although, you can give justification for the parties and stuff by saying that 'spending all the energy now creates awareness in people so that they'll learn to save more energy in the future', and yes I agree! Earth Hour was done to spread AWARENESS and since this was done on a (somewhat successful) global scale, so congratulations!
Now it's our part as individuals to save energy as much as we can on a constant mode and not only give a blind 'show of support' for publicized events like Earth Hour.
God, even the people who started Earth Hour admitted that it was just a hypocritical campaign, and that we may have actually emitted MORE emissions instead!
So how TRULY environmentally friendly are you?
(Originally published at http://samanthacje.com/2009/03/hi-all-how-was-your-weekend-now-ill.html on March 30th 2009)
Samantha authors a blog at http://samanthacje.com
Originally published in the Malaysian Mensa magazine Triple M February-April 2009 Issue, page 14.
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