Monday, February 21, 2011

Punishment For The Criminals!



1. Driving under the influence of drugs
2. Drink driving
3. Shouting racist abuse
4. Breaking into a car
5. Shoplifting
6. Being sold alcohol in a bar whilst under the age limit
7. Solvent abuse
8. Doing a paper round at the age of 11
9. Picking a fight
10. Urinating against a wall

Jacelyn and I have ranked the offences from 1 to 10 according to the severity of it, with 1 being the most serious and 10 being the least serious :P

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Which of these are crimes?
Technically all of them.

Which of them, if any, are victimless?
Solvent abuse (technically) because the only victim is yourself.

What kinds of punishment would you give to these offences?
Urinating against a wall 
- community service and pay fines (depending on the owner of the wall)

Driving under the influence of drugs 
- prison of up to 30 years (depending on the level of intoxication and the number of fatalities eg: banging somebody and killing that person or just crashing into a pot of plant)

Shoplifting
- for kleptomaniacs, probably seeing a psychiatrist and going for counselling.
- for a normal person, depending on the value of the stolen items eg: for a piece of gum probably just pay back the original price of the gum and apologise to the owner, but for expensive jewelry, jail sentence

How should repeat offenders be dealt with?
Generally, increasing the severity of a punishment to repeated offenders. However, depending on the situation/crime, rehabilitation would be an option.

teehee,
Wen Wen (:

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Law and Criminality!




Law.
A simple 3 letter word. Yet it brings about so many different meanings.
Ever since the birth of the universe, there has been a multitude of laws, fundamental principals that make the universe what it is. The law of gravity, the law of thermodynamics, the law of motion. The unalterable laws that bind us together.  It allows everything in the universe to run smoothly without much hiccups. Without it, planets would collide, stars would explode, and Earth, our precious Earth, would cease to exist.


Back on our humble planet, we need rules and regulations too. In order to keep order and maintain peace, laws are necessary. Therefore, we humans have come out with a set of laws for other humans to follow and not cause chaos. According to wikipedia, 
Law is a system of rules and guidelines, usually enforced through a set of institutions. 
Most laws are just plain common sense, there to protect us from ourselves, such as traffic laws. Do not speed, follow the traffic lights, do not drink and drive. What would happen if we did not follow these set of rules?


We would go *bang*, *crash*,  *BOOM* and die. Not only that, we might also bring others down together with us. In this sense, humans are so dumb, that we require a set of rules to remind us not to kill ourselves. Funnily enough, it has never crossed our minds what would happen if we were to lose control of the car. On the other hand, we're always worrying bout getting caught by the traffic police and having to pay the fines. Ironic, isn't it?


"Reason is the life of the law, nay the common law is nothing else but reason." 
SIR EDWARD COKE, Institutes: Commentary upon Littleton
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The law also prevents people from doing things that harm other people, such as murdering, obviously, and stealing, and smuggling, and raping, and the list goes on and on. Imagine if there were no laws, people would be free to do anything they want and I do mean anything!  What then, would happen to our rights and equality? If everybody were allowed to steal, and there's nobody to catch them for it, then everybody WOULD steal. And if everybody steals, then who is there to actually work hard and earn money the right way? No one! At that time, the concept of money would be totally useless, because there are no goods to buy them with in the first place, because everybody is busy stealing money! The world will become a place where the most successful person would the best thief. And at that, since nobody is working or doing something other than stealing, the world will not progress. And as our food supply and resources start to deplete, humans would still be too selfish to actually start planting crops because they know that it will only get stolen away! And soon humans will die out, starving one another because of our unwillingness to do things the right way. Animals, without humans oppressing them, will rule the world. Okay I know this is kinda exaggerating, but you get my point right? You do right? Do you?

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Well, the idea of law is nice, very nice indeed. Through laws our rights are preserved, justice is served. It punishes those who have wronged, and protects those who are innocent. However, is it all what it seems? There are people out there who do not like laws, they feel that through laws, they are restricted, their freedom limited. Take skating in the corridors for example, it is not in the law, but I bet schools have that rule, don't they? So why don't they let students skate in corridors? Hmm, I'm not sure really, but I think it would be because the school is afraid of students skating and knocking over other little students. Well, anyway, the students will think that this is unfair, as what are the chances of them knocking down some little kid? This would be a case when a rule can be arguable, and there is actually no right or wrong.


"It's arguable that even if legislation is enacted beginning in October, it may be too little, too late for a couple companies in this group, ... bogged down in all the political battles that are undoubtedly going to be held on the drug debate."
Charles Lynch

The implementation of the law I would think, is the one that would truly determine justice. But who determines what the law should consist of? Who defines what is right and what is wrong? Who decides the severity of the crimes? Different people have different views on what is they deem good and bad. Examples to ponder on:
  1. Human sacrifice - Is it right, when you are taking somebody's life? Is it wrong, when you do it for your religion?
  2. Slavery - Is it right, when freedom is taken away? Is it wrong, in a world where the strongest rule?
  3. Cannibalism - Is it right, when killing is involved? Is it wrong, when there are no other alternatives?
  4. Prostitution - Is it right, when it goes against ethics? Is it wrong, when it is done willingly?
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It seems like "the person" who controls the law will be like God on earth. Through law, he is given the power to punish. And if the person controlling law were to be let's say, corrupted and selfish? Laws passed would be unjust and only serve the purpose of that person. This would be very very unfair. But because it is law, you have to follow it, or suffer. Is this justice? Does it create peace? Does it protect our rights? No.


"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."
Mohandas Gandhi
When people think of law, they usually think of the court. And I must agree, that justice is usually determined within these walls. But the jury are still humans, and we humans, being complicated creatures, take into account every factor that could be used to our advantage. Thus humans' sense of judgment is usually affected, whether they like or not,  by emotion and prejudice. This causes them to give unfair judgment. And also, in court, both sides are represented by lawyers. So does it mean that if a murderer gets a really really good lawyer, and the court decides he is not guilty, is he really not guilty?

"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."  
Robert Frost

"Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." 
Eleanor Roosevelt 


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Humans have laws to keep order in the world, laws have humans to mess it all up again.




teehee,
Wen Wen (:

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tips For Giving Superb Feedback!



My handy hints for giving good feedback!
Hope it helps :D
Have fun giving good feedback :)

teehee,
Wen Wen (:

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Please Feed Me Back!



FEED.
It means to give food to, or to supply.

BACK.
It means the rear surface of the human body.

Put it together, thus you get FEEDBACK.
But what does it mean?
Does it mean: to give food to the rear surface of the human body?
Hah hah, common sense would tell you not. Everybody knows that there are no holes at your back so how can food possibly pass into it?

So,
What is feedback?

Feedback is information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc., used as a basis for improvement.
- Apple Dictionary

The purpose of feedback is to alter messages so the intention of the original communicator is understood by the second communicator. It includes verbal and nonverbal responses to another person's message.
- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcom.html

Feedback is expressing your opinion or view, whether through criticism, compliments, remarks etc. in response to something or somebody. It can be on anything, from a presentation all the way to one's choice of clothing.
- Wen Wen (:
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Now you know what feedback is. But why is it important? How does good feedback help us in learning?

People need feedback. Most people don't see themselves as others see them. For this reason, they often don't understand the impact their actions have on others. They have "blind spots." For example, people don't always know when their work is appreciated, and they aren’t always sure when they’re causing problems. Even well intentioned and hard-working people rely on ingrained patterns for success. Because they aren’t always conscious of what comes naturally, they may be the only ones who don't know that they’re adversely affecting the performance of their group. Feedback is essential to learning. If people don't fully appreciate their strengths, how can they use them to their advantage? If they aren't sure how their actions create problems, how will they know what to change, and will they have the motivation to improve?
- http://360fyi.blogspot.com/

Feedback can also be very motivating and energizing. It has strong links to employee satisfaction and productivity. People like to feel involved and identified with their organisation. Feedback can help achieve that state. Working without feedback is similar to setting out an important journey minus a map or signposts. You may have a great sense of direction but this may not be sufficient to keep you on track. When people receive little feedback they tend to either be overly self critical or self congratulatory. This is because they are relying upon events rather than specific feedback to measure their performance and impact. 
It is very difficult to be very self aware without feedback from others. Self awareness and monitoring provide a good platform but feedback from others informs us in ways that enriches our self knowledge. We no longer need to waste energy on explaining our behavior and people do not waste energy on trying to predict our behavior.
- http://www.fullcirclefeedback.com/

Feedback is very important because it lets the person know of other people's opinion and response towards the person's performance. That way, the person can know is he is doing well or not. Feedbacks would also point out the person's strengths and weaknesses, allowing him to work on his flaws and maintain his good points. Besides that, a good feedback would be likely to increase one's confidence as well and he will continue to try and improve himself and his work.
- Wen Wen (:
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Good Feedback vs Bad Feedback


Good feedbacks (Y) are very informative and helpful, it'll not only let people know what you thought about their performance, but it let's them gauge how successful it is. And through good feedbacks, they'll be more self-aware, thus work to improve and polish themselves. Although to give good feedbacks you'll have to go into great detail on everything, and even crack your head to figure out solutions to offer, your friend/family/colleague/person will definitely benefit from it.

On the other hand, bad feedbacks (N), no matter how much easier they are to give, are practically useless and sometimes even annoying. Imagine someone going to your blog and commenting:"This is a horrible post!" How will you feel? Enraged, miserable, annoyed, etc. Will you know what you did wrong? No. Will you know what you did right? No. Will you know how to make it better? No. Will you have gained or learned anything? No. Even if what the person is true, and your post is horrible not as good as it could be, chances are you will ignore the comment, assuming that it was just a mean joke and continue on as you did. Then you wouldn't improve, and your blog posts will be horrible not as good as it could be forever.

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Blogs are an awesome way to give feedback. Why, you ask? Well, because with blogs, it is online, and you have the luxury of spending every moment scrutinizing every detail before you give your feedback.  Also, when you comment on blogs you can choose to be anonymous. Thus, if your friend has just made a horrible not very good post, you can give unpleasant yet constructive feedback without your friend knowing it was you. So you wouldn't feel so bad.

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Okay okay, I will admit that I have NOT been giving good feedbacks.

Exhibit A:


Well, first of all, my feedback has little and almost nothing to do with Nicole's blog post. And it will not be beneficial in any way, just that she now know that I admire her maths skills, which isn't helpful really. It is just a random comment which might boost her self-confidence, not that it needs anymore boosting, but other than that, it's totally useless.

Exhibit B:


Here again, I was questioning Bryan's personal preferences rather than his content and presentation. Because where he puts his washing machine is totally irrelevant to what his topic is about, which is saving water. And the second part where "i agree with jia yi" is not helpful at all as I was merely agreeing with someone else's opinion, and not coming up with my own. Thus, he has gain nothing from my feedback. Another useless feedback.

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Let's give it another go, shall we?


Right, so I think I did much better on giving Kai Song feedback. As you can see, I complimented on the good points of her post and even gave her a thumbs up (Y). I also told her my opinion on her post, which would help her to understand what I thought of it. Other than that, I also gave some suggestions as to how she could improve it, with an example to help her understand my suggestion better. I believe that I gave a rather good feedback, as she would now know her strengths and weaknesses.

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So if you want to help me improve, do give me good feedbacks! As bad feedbacks are not helpful (;

teehee,
Wen Wen (: