Thursday, June 12, 2014

MIND MAP ON JAPAN FUKUSHIMA - HIDDEN TRUTH

BRIEF SUMMARY OF JAPAN FUKUSHIMA - HIDDEN TRUTHS OF RADIATION CONTAMINATION DUE TO NUCLEAR PLANTS THAT WERE DESTROYED BY THE 11 MARCH 2011 (311) TSUNAMI







Some friends forwarded youtube links which I find interesting. You may also like to view it?

http://tinyurl.com/FUKUSHIMA-VICE  (13mins)

http://tinyurl.com/FUKUSHIMA-FARMERS-ANGRY (9mins)

http://tinyurl.com/FUKUSHIMA-TOKYO-DOCTOR

http://tinyurl.com/FUKUSHIMA-TOKYO-DOCTOR-WARNS

It really motivated me to do a simple mind map using my iMindmap software to summarise what really happened since the 11 March 2011 tsunami that struck Japan.

Well, I thought I could do a bit of research on the internet so as to add a few useful write-ups and video interviews from experts both within and outside of Japan, to say something about what is really happening to the nuclear disaster and the subsequent cleaning up operation that is still taking place under lots of secrecies. It seems that many millions of innocent people are still visiting Japan...... apparantly being not aware of the health hazard.

To add salt to injury, Japan just pushed through a Secrecy Bill that "...journalists and whistle-blowers can go to jail for reporting what the government doesn't want the public to know....". Is Japan hiding something? You may read all about it from William Pesek's Bloomberg View article:

http://tinyurl.com/JAPAN-SECRECY-BILL  

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Update: The secrecy bill has become part of Japanese Law as of 10 Dec 2014. To a layman like myself, I would interpret it that we should be aware of what you say, write or do with reference to any Japanese Government Policies in Japan. Does it violate the secrecy bill? Beware......! If it does, you may find yourself jailed up to 10 years. Haha. Do you find it curtailing the thoughts and creativity of the human mind in the areas of government policies? Would it lead to improvements? Would bad practices and wrong policies be swept under the carpet? etc........!
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Decide and judge for yourself. To visit Japan or not? Remember radiation stays for hundreds of years...... Google for the tons of information....and....if, after all the news/research about the dangers of fukushima radiation which Japanese scientists found, one still wants to visit Japan, then, there is nothing that the mind could not creatively think or find a reason to do so!

Frankly, I think, one may not find out about the radiation sickness until it probably affect the second or third generation in one's family. By that time, it is obviously too late.... as one may not even be around. It is quite sad.....especially since it is something that is preventable, if one knows about it. Right?

A friend jokingly threw me a challenge that he is willing to sponsor my trip to the land of the rising sun -- first class all the way.....but, I declined to give him an answer. He should know my answer just by reading/viewing the above interesting links - The second video is much longer (38mins) and gives quite a complete summary from the beginning of the tsunami that struck on 11 March 2011 (311) till today.

 http://tinyurl.com/FUKUSHIMA-BREAKING-NEWS

Please enjoy and have fun analysing the mind map!

Hope it helps to throw some light of what is happening, in Fukushima, .....in Japan and ....in the world today! How the radiation contamination could affect the world food chain.

Are there any suggestions that we could give to the Japanese Government to help in the radiation cleaning up operation? ABE hopes to clean up by "TOKYO 2020"!  .... But....., Where are they going to dispose/hide the tons of radiated Fukushima top soil? How are they going to contain the radiated Fukushima cooling water that is seeping away into the Pacific? How transparent is Japan in her responsibility to warn visitors about the radiation? What is the possible TRUE extent of the radiation effects on the people of Japan and the world? Can we trust the Japanese government to give an HONEST report?......because, the real truth may create a panic??

You decide......! Thank you.

SOME NOTES ON THE MIND MAP:
The mind map that I drew above definitely violated one cardinal rule in mind mapping. If you have seen my mind map on the "LAWS of MM" you would have noticed that I used many words in one branch instead of one word per branch in some areas. Why is this so?

The purpose is to help readers to quickly understand what I was trying to say in my blog than to figure out the keywords that I used for each branch. Why? The answer lies with the brain. Each of us associates differently with each of the keywords used. Thus to make my mindmap "readable" to a wider audience, I add more words per branch for some areas, and in others, I maintained the one word per branch rule. Hope it explains my deviation from the norm.

AFTERNOTE:
After writing the above, I recalled reading Singapore's AVA Media Release that imports suspension for the following food stuff - " para. 4 - fruits and vegetables, milk/milk products, meat, green tea and green tea products, and rice" have been lifted from Fukushima in Japan with effect from 31 May 2014. It also added that the following food products - " para. 6 - seafood and products from the forest as well as agricultural produce from demarcated areas and the control zone (close to the nuclear power plant) in Fukushima prefecture are not allowed to be imported"......and also added that the same products "from the prefectures of Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma will still require pre-export tests".

One may read about the full detailed announcement from AVA's website: "AVA EASES RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORT OF FOOD FROM JAPAN" at http://www.ava.gov.sg/ .

The above news was also reported in an Online news website. The first paragraph of the news from AVA Singapore that was reported gave one an impression that "....food from Fukushima prefecture, is being eased.....! However, it is ONLY upon reading the full text of the AVA Media Release that one will fully understand the entire scope of the lifting of food suspension from Fukushima as I have quoted.

COMMENTS:
1. Please read the full scope of AVA's Media Release document on the lifting of food restriction before you start consuming something that even the Japanese AND Locals living in Japan are afraid of taking it?? Haha.

http://tinyurl.com/FUKUSHIMA-FOOD-SAFETY

2. I suddenly felt that the online news that was reported by a quite reputable News Online website should have been more responsible to report the FULL extent of the lifting of the food suspension rather than leaving it to the reader to open AVA's Media Release pdf document. Para 4 tells of the lifting of some food products....BUT, para. 6 tells of some food imports (from Fukushima) restrictions that still remains.

3. Although AVA wrote that they "...like to assure the (Singapore) public that food imported from Japan that is available in the (Singapore) market is safe for consumption", I still remain sceptical about consuming any Japanese food, drinks, etc...... for now and a few hundred years. We all know, radiation in food that we consume, accumulates in the body over time....!  

You have to decide - to consume or not! Good luck and thank you for reading. 

Sunday, June 08, 2014

MIND MAP on CPF CASE - FOR or AGAINST - 7 JUNE 2014

"CPF - FOR or AGAINST" DEBATE


As a Singaporean, I read and viewed many postings in ST, CNA, various blogs etc..... on a very recent topic of public interest, i.e. our Central Provident Fund (CPF).

Gathering the facts and trying to get an overview of what the arguments are all about, could be quite difficult as each side tend to offer their side of the story.

I quickly drew a simple Mind Map using my iPad's iMindMap(PRO) software to list some key points "For or Against" CPF while it is still fresh in my mind. I noted the growth of the CPF from 1974 to include lots of amendments and additions as Singapore changes. Wouldn't it be interesting to draw a giant CPF Mind Map on the purposes for its formation/evolution, from birth till this present age?

Notice that the mind map is an extremely useful compact tool to brainstorm and analyse the pros and cons of a very controversial topic. We should judge every debate to provide information/data as delightful and interesting......if not, it would be very difficult to keep focus.

Please enjoy and have fun analysing the mind map!

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

REVISION MIND MAP for CHAP 2, 3 and 4 (ENGRG MATERIALS)

MIND MAP REVISION OF CHAP 2, 3 & 4 ENGINEERING MATERIALS (Photo credit: Muhammad Nur Azhari B Md Ishak, LN12)
ANOTHER REVISION MIND MAP on CHAPTERS 2 to 4 (Photo Credit: MUHAMMAD SYAHIN, LA34)

As there was time left after completing my lecture on Chapter 5, I quickly did an "interactive" mind map revision with my students on Chapter 2, 3 and 4.

One of the strongest advantages of mind maps is that one can do a fast summary and yet, at the end of the mind map, you get a feeling of completeness or a sense that you have made quite a good overview of the topics that you have taught.

Afternote:
Notice I added another revision mind map that I did for another class. Basically the main branches, key words and graphical pictures used are the same except for some minor additional branches. Why? These extra branches comes from questions prompted by the students themselves. See how easy it is to take or make notes in a mind map format?

Please enjoy and have fun analysing the mind map!

Sunday, June 01, 2014

MIND MAP SUMMARIES of ENGINEERING MATERIALS (CHAP 3 & 4)


CHAP3 PCS - NOTICE HOW I LINKED BRANCHES TO KEY WORDS LIKE, HARDENING, NORMALIZING, EUCTECTOID, EUTECTIC, ETC. (Photo Credit: MAI SHUN HAN)








NOTICE HOW CHAP3 INFORMATION IS LINKED TO CHAP4? THE NORMALISING, HARDENING, FULL ANNEALING, PROCESS ANNEALING, SPHERIODISATION ANNEALING PROCESSES AS WELL AS THE TEMPERING AND COOLING RATES OF VARIOUS QUENCHING MEDIA IS SHOWN. (Photo Credit: LIU CHAO)


The above postings reflect just one of my different styles of teaching engineering materials to my students. It is so different from the way I remembered how my professor taught me this very important subject during my undergraduate days. At that time there was no powerpoint slides - only OHPs, his voice and the blackboard. He seldom used the board and frequently read the notes from his textbook.

I hope, many of my students find the above graphical illustrations useful and that they find it easy to digest the important key points that will help them remember.

One may wonder why I posted these illustrations as Mind Maps. I regarded them as Central Images for the various Chapters that I am teaching. The branches that "comes" out of the picture provided the necessary association and hence, enable my students to remember useful key information easily. 

Please enjoy and have fun analysing the mind map!