Beauty

"Beauty is only skin deep". It means that physical beauty is superficial; existing on the surface. An interpretation of the phrase is that a person may look good on the outside appearance, but actually he/she is maybe an unpleasant or cruel person at heart.

Now let me explain the phrase and its meaning:

• Beauty is only skin deep. Because you can only tell whether a person is beautiful or not on the outside (which refers to the skin) thus the phrase's meaning.



• Like I mentioned in the above point, you can only tell whether a person is beautiful or not on the outside. Therefore, you cannot tell whether a person is beautiful on the inside (basically means the person's character; whether it is good or not).

The phrase "Beauty is only skin deep" has a meaning somewhat like the phrase "Do not judge a book by its cover. Be sure to "not judge a book by its cover" because "Beauty is only skin deep"!

F1 Race

I'm sure you know what is an F1 Race. It is just many cars speeding at like, 200km/h around a track, right? Personally, I feel that there is more than meets the eye about these car races. To share with you more about that, below is a story about a fictitious F1 racer:

Jack was an F1 racer. He spent his days entering races and competitions, sometimes for charity. But how did he begin his journey of F1 racing?
Since young, Jack had always been fascinated with cars. His first toys were miniature racing cars and car models. Then, as he grew older, he began to watch car races on television. By the age of 12, he had entered a go-kart competition for kids and achieved second place. Motivated by this, he set a goal: to become a F1 racer.
After completing university, he applied for a car racing academy and continued his dream there. Through hard work, he finally graduated as a fully-fledged F1 racer.
Jack won quite a few races because of his sheer determination to win and of course, his dedication to F1 racing. He is proud of his capabilities, despite not being very well-known.
Now, he was at the starting point of a racetrack. Memories flooded his mind as he thought back to the past. Jack had applied for a race, in order to win a much coveted cup.
The race was about to start. Jack tightened his grip on the steering wheel and his foot trembled above the accelerator. This was to be his greatest race in his whole career, thus it was no surprise he was nervous.
Before he knew it, the race started. All the race cars accelerated in a huge cloud of dust and the frenzied cheers from the supporters could be heard. Jack forced himself to focus. He could not afford to let his mind wander, or else it would all be over.
Jack slipped past two race cars easily through the bend in the track, as he was an expert in turning round a corner. Now he was in fourth place, quickly gaining on the third-placed racer. He stamped even harder on the accelerator, forcing his car to give all it had.
Many laps passed. The cars continued to circle the track. Finally, the last lap emerged for the racers together, as it was a close competition.
Then came the dilemma for Jack. He lost concentration for a second, and suddenly his car slid onto the side of the track and grazed the borders. Sparks flashed and bits of metal tore away. Jack thought frantically,"Oh no! This is bad. The crash in the wall has momentarily thrown the car off track and now all the racers have gone past! What am I going to do?"
He struggled to keep the car on track again and tried to get past the last few racers. However, they were smart in blocking every space there was, disallowing Jack to get past. Jack started to panic when the last quarter of the race track came into sight. Suddenly, he saw a gap in the race cars ahead. He grabbed that opportunity and swerved past the sixth racer. Now he was fifth!
Jack dashed past the fourth and third racer with ease. There were only two more racers ahead of him. And there was only 300 metres more before they reached the finishing line! In desperation, Jack pushed his car further and miraculously, gained second place! The only obstacle left in this race was the first car, just barely a metre in front of him.
There had to be a way to beat him! Now the driver of the leading car was using tactics by anticipating Jack's swerves and blocking his advance. Jack tried every move he knew to breach the leader's defence, but to no avail. The last 100 metres closed in and there was still no luck for Jack. I cannot just lose like this, after all I've been through, Jack thought. He gave a last burst of speed to try and overtake the racer in front of him.
In the drama and tension of the moment, Jack's car flew past the other race car and was now in first place! The rest of the race was over. Jack covered the last few metres with ease and won the race.
......................................................................................................................................................

Now have you better insights on F1 racing? It really requires lots of determination and a calm mind during racing.

Organs for Sale

This should be my second post on organ trading. Unlike the first post, which is on whether organ trading should be legalised or not, this post is actually kind of supporting organ trading (although it is not 100% supporting). In this post, I will be discussing the sale of organs, achieving a win-win situation.
Reasons why sale of organs achieve a win-win situation:

1. The organ donors get to earn money.
2. The organ recipients get to have a chance of health, though there are chances that it might be risky.
3. Those honest doctors who perform the transplant also earn some money (I am only supporting this point because I assume the doctors are honest; do not overcharge. For those dishonest doctors who overcharge the recipients, I have nothing to say).

Isn't this a win-win situation? All parties gain.

Gambling Addiction

Lotteries have been called a tax on the poor. Ultimately at only a dollar or two a ticket, anyone can play the lotteries. However, many people become addicted to buying tickets and they can cause family or marital problems. In the rest of this discussion, I will be condemning gambling.
"Often, the people who really suffer from problem gambling aren't the gamblers" - this is a quote from the Anti - Gambling Television Commercial of Singapore. Yes, it is true. The people who suffer the consequences of gambling aren't the gamblers themselves, but their family mostly. Usually, when the gambler runs out of money to gamble, he turns to his family members for more money. Then after many times of asking for more money, the gambler's family will start to refuse. That is when either the gambler will become violent and hurt his family just for the money to gamble, or he will try to steal their money to gamble. Gambling is basically like drug addiction; it makes you do not want to stop.
Let's now discuss about buying lottery in Singapore. Buying lottery is not illegal, but it may become addictive for most Singaporeans - like gambling addiction. In fact, lottery is also a kind of gambling. Yes, the lotteries are cheap - only one or two dollars. However, one may think it is so cheap that he starts to buy more and more tickets! Lottery tickets nowadays are bought by not just men, but women too. In some cases, based on Youtube and NPR presentations, in some cases, people even lose their family, all their money and the lives they once knew.
Another thing is, the casino being built in Singapore is supposed to be a money-maker and job creator. However, many people have spoken against it. Why?
It is basically because many Singaporeans, not only tourists, will swarm there once it is fully completed and thus Singaporeans may become addicted to gambling there. Once again, I will condemn its construction and ultimately the hardships it will cause in Singapore in this second part of the discussion. A quote in an NPR presentation said that if the casinoes are non-smoking areas, then smoker-gamblers might stay home instead, thus reducing the number of gamblers.
Well, I kind of disagree with this point because smoker-gamblers might not smoke in the casino, but after that, they would go outside and smoke for all they like. This does not really affect the population of gamblers, does it?
"The winnings I was getting wasn't enough, so I wanted more". This is a quote from a NPR presentation - an interview on Jonny W. In the interview, he said that h

Oxymorons

What a funny name for a word right? What it actually means is a figure of speech or expressed idea in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. It basically means that the phrase has words which oppose each other.
Here are a few oxymorons and their meanings:

1. A fine mess - a mess is bad but a fine mess is worse than that.
2. Deafening silence - silence that is so great that it almost feels resounding.
3. Big baby - a baby that is larger than average/heavier than average.

The above are just a few examples. There is still a long list of examples:
e.g. dirty white,
accurate rumour,
act naturally,
alone together,
bad luck,
bittersweet,
burning cold
etc.

Fun, are they not? Go try to construct some of your own oxymorons!