Maori Culture-Ritual/Ceremony Part 2

Maori-Haka Dane

Politics - The Iraq War

The war in Iraq has been going on for a very long time. The war began on the 20th of March 2003 and is still in operation till today. Iraq was invaded by a multinasional force led by the troupes from United States and also United Kingdom without any declaration of war. The US military referred to it as Operation Iraqi Freedom.


The reason for their invasion is the thought that Iraq is in possession of WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction). Although the United Nations weapon's inspector found no evidence of WMD in Iraq, the US government stated that " diplomacy has failed " and decided to go to war.



Besides that, some US officials accused Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting Al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist group. However, there is also no evidence on this statement. Other reasons for the invasion as stated by US officials include Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi government human rights abuses and an effort on part of the coalition forces to spread democracy in the country and region. Some also admitted that Iraq's oil reserves were also the factors of invasion, but they later denied the statement.



The invasion led to the capture of President Hussein, who was later executed by the new Iraq government. Violence against coalition forces and among sectarian groups led to Iraq insurgency, strife between Sunni and Shia groups and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq. The number of citizens killed during the 2007 war is estimated to be 85000 civillians minimum to 1000000 people. UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) eatimated that 4.7 million Iraqis were found, 2 million of whom fled to neighbouring countries. In June 2008, US Department of Defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and fragile gains. Iraq was fifth on the Failed States Index in August 2008.











The war brought many sadness and disadvantages to the country. There has been many deaths, children, adult and the elderly all included. Those that survived lived a sufferable life, everyday they need to protect themselves and also their families from the terrible attacks. They are deprived from their homes and most of the time suffer great famine. Furthermore, the education of children have to be halted and many of their buildings are destroyed. A lot of money are spent in trying to provide for the citizens needs, but it is not enough. Truly, their sufferings cannot be understood by those who led perfect lives to this day.




However, the coalition started to decrease beginning 2004 when 9 countries, including Spain, pulled out their forces, and later withdrawals have continued leaving US as the sole country with troops on the ground by mid-2009. In the late 2008, the US and Iraq governments have approved a Status of Forces Agreement which is effective until 1st January 2012. Besides that, the Iraq parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with US to ensure cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrance, education, energy development and other areas of concern.



In late February 2009, the new US president Barrack Obama, announced an 18 month withdrawal window for "combat forces", leaving behind 30000 to 50000 troops to "advise and train Iraqi Security Forces" and to provide intelligence and surveillance. General Ray Odierno believes that all of US troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, although the combat operations ended on April 30,2009. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, supported the accelerated pullout of US army. In this situation, it is hoped that the people of Iraq will finally achieved a state of peace after being in war for so long.

Vocaloid,the new generation of the music industry.

Vocaloid is a musical synthesizer application software developed by Yamaha Corporation this enables users to generate sounding singing by just having to put in lyrics and melody.

The history of Vocaloid is just a recent one.It was developed by the ever so famous Yamaha Corporation.The development of Vocaloid was announced in the year 2003.On the 15th January,the first Vocaloid products were launched.The products were given the name of Leon and Lola.Years later on January 2007,Vocaloid2 was launched.Vocaloid2 is a better and improved version of Vocaloid1.Following their successful launch,Yamaha introduced the English version and it goes by the name of Sweet Ann.

These are some examples of the characters developed by Yamaha for the Vocaloid product.

SWEET ANN is the first virtual singer based on Vocaloid2. She has as if cross sitches on her neck but it is actually her choker.This programme was released on June 29,2007.Her voice is inspired by a female pop singer.

MEIKO's voice is completely computer synthesised.Thus causing the programme to sound less smooth and a bit rough.She was first introduced into the market on November 5,2004.She is able to sing any type of genre which expands from hip-hop to rock.Her voice is based Japan's pop songstress Meiko Haigo.Her trademark is her red dress and she holds a microphone stand. PRIMA is apart of the newly improved programme Vocaloid2.This programme was relaesed on January 14,2008.MIKU HATSUNE is the most popular among her vocaloid members.She was released on August 31,2007.Due to her popularity,these character had been immortalised into comic books which she stares as the main character.The sampling of her voice comes from a Japanese singer called Saki Fujita.Moreover,high demands for this character had made producers create several songs under this character.She is able to sing from all sorts of genre but she sings mainly J-pop. LUKA MEGURINE is the third release apart of the Vocaloid2.Her released date was on January 30,2009.She is able to sing in Japanese and English.The main reason for her creation was to break all language and cultural barrier.She has a moody but husky female voice.Shortly after her release,she was a bigger hit and still is compared to Miku.MEGPOID is a cute character known for her famous character item which is a carrot.She was released on June 25th,2009.She is voiced by Megumi Nakajima.Due to being only recently released,not much feedback is known about her.

GACKPOID was released on Julu 31,2008.For this creation,actor and musician Gackt lent his voice and stage name.The other name for this character is Kamui Gakupo. REN AND LEN KAGAMINE is the second installment of the Vocaloid series.Although they share the same family name but they are not brothers and sisters but reflections of a mirror.For this programme ,there are two voice banks that can be used.The programme is sold at the same price as Miku eventhough there are two voice banks.

Communication Skills In The Workplace

Communication based on wikipedia online is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". Communication can be perceived as a two-way process in which there is an exchange and progression of thought, feeling or ideas towards a mutually accepted goal or direction.


Communication is very important in the average people's lives. People communicate with each other every day,from little things like asking the time to big things like discussions. Communication began from when we are children, and develops as we grow up. While basic communication skills are easy to obtain, not many know how to communicate professionally with others, especially with those whom they first met. These type of situations are often seen in the workplace. Good communication skills can help create a happy atmosphere in the workplace besides making a task easier to complete.

Here are some tips to good communication skills in the workplace :




1. Personal Contact
People relate to one another better when they can meet in person and read each other's body language. What's more, people can feel the energy the connection creates. A powerful connection can be created by just smiling or shaking someone's hand when you meet them.


2. Develop A Network
No one achieves success alone. Success in any company requires team effort. Therefore, make an effort to know your manager and employees in different departments within the company. Try to meet new people in professional organizations. Furthermore, be active in your company and join in their events like family day to strengthen the bonds with co-workers.




3. Always Be Courteous
Courtesy lets people know that you care. Words like 'thank you' lets people know that you appreciate them. This is important because if people know you are grateful, they will be more eager to help you another time.




4.Be Clear
Since people often hear things differently, it is important to speak fluently and with the correct pronounciations of words. People may hesitate to ask you to repeat what you said if they didn't hear your words properly. Therefore, you should ask, "did i explain this clearly?" after you end your talk or speech to confirm that people understood you.



5. Compromise
You can decrease the tension associated with conflicts if you always ask, "what is best for the company?". This gives people a different perspective on your requests, and they will be less likely to take any conflicts personally.



6. Be Interesting And Interested
Even though most of the work place communications will be about business topics, it is also important to share your personal side. Talk about your interests and your family to other co-workers and ask them about theirs. Telling a few short personal stories about your interesting experiences will make your team members feel more connected to you as a person. Read the newspaper or watch the news on television daily to know what's going on with the world and what personal concerns your members may have about them.




7. Listen
Listening attentively to what others say demonstrates respect. Listening properly is not as people's mind tend to wander to other topics. To help concentrate on your talker's words, keep a good eye contact, without staring and ask questions about the topic being discussed.


Improving communication skills is a process that increases gradually over time. However, there is a way to speed up the learning process. At the end of each day, take some time to review your communications during the day. Take note of what was effective and what wasn't. Learn from mistakes and continue to learn and also improve your communication skills.

Tan

Black Metal Culture

Black metal have become a popular trend in some country. Black metal is actually a type of music genre. It is an extreme heavy metal music that is typically abrasive and characterized by the use of fast tempos, high-pitched electric guitars often played with tremolo picking, high-pitched shrieking vocals, and unconventional song structures.

Blast beats, high shrieked vocals (as opposed to the more guttural growls of death metal) and heavily distorted walls of guitar are all common motifs, but the form has evolved since its inception. While there is much debate amongst fans about what does or does not constitute black metal, many bands have taken the sound in a more progressive direction or combined it with other elements to make strange hybrid styles.

The first bands to set the trend were mostly thrash metal bands that formed the prototype for black metal in the early 1980s. They are referred collectively as the First Wave, and consist of a few bands. Some of the bands are Venom, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost and Bathory. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a Second Wave emerged, primarily of Norwegian bands like Burzum, Mayhem and Darkthrone. Although there is no well-defined Third Wave, modern black metal bands have incorporated new musical and lyrical trends into their music.

Black metal’s beginnings can be traced back to the early 1980s when a number of European bands, including the likes of England’s Venom, Sweden’s Bathory and Switzerland’s Hellhammer (who would later mutate into Celtic Frost) took the nascent thrash metal blueprint and twisted it into ever darker and more extreme shapes.



Although Venom’s dense, riff-driven rumble was arguably the furthest from the higher pitched tremolo picking and shrieking vocal approach that would come to define black metal through the 90s and beyond, the Geordie three-piece did bequeath the genre its name with their second album, 1982’s Black Metal.

Black metal has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the misanthropic and Anti-Christian attitude of many bands. This iconoclastic ideology is typical of black metal bands. Additionally, a few black metal bands have been associated with church burnings, murder, and National Socialism(associated with Nazi). Black metal is generally seen as an underground form of music, in part because it does not appeal to mainstream tastes and because it's musicians often choose to remain obscure.

Black metal is generally opposed to Christianity. Instead, some black metal artists promote atheism, antitheism, paganism or satanism. In short, they promote religions that are related with devils or the belief that there is no God. They also support individualism, which means that they avoid society at most times. Nevertheless, there are black metals that worship ancient gods such as those in the vikings,celt or saxons. Examples of these ancient gods are Odin, Loki and Thor. They support things that have connections with war or the warrior's spirit. This explains the bullets and also war equipments like gauntlets worn by most black metal artists.




In terms of fashion, their style of clothing had it's roots in biker, rocker and leather subculture. Their apparel usually consists of leather jackets, hi-top basketball shoes, blue or black skinny fit jeans, camouflaged pants or shorts, denim jackets or kutte vests. The jackets and bottoms are adorned with badges, pins and patches. They also put images of ancient religions such as celtic cross, vikings and Greek mythical creatureson their clothing. Accesories worn include studded bracelets, nose chain ring, bullet belts, spiked gauntlets and various chains and belts criss-crossed over one another. Besides this, black metals keep their hair long and paint their faces to make it look scary.

In today's world, black metal is mostly followed in sense of fashion only. People wear leather jackets and tight pants with studded bracers and spiked shoes. The fashion of black metal followed by the community are not as extreme as the real members of black metal. Some are also taken to the music, but they are limited to listening only and do not participate in forming a band. They are not involved in activities like church burning or national socialism.



Some, especially teenagers, like to wear clothings similar to black metals artists without knowing the actual meaning or symbolic traits contained in the style of clothing. It is alright for those who do not have a religion, but very dangerous for those that have one. Most teenagers have little education regarding their religions and often adapt certain styles without knowing the wrong of it. For example, a teenagers who is Islam but have no knowledge of the religion may be attracted to wear a black metal jacket that have a celtic cross design on the back. It is not wrong to wear clothings in the style of black metal, but it is wrong to wear something that have an image of other religions for muslims.

Ashreen

Demography of primary and secondary school enrolment in Malaysia

Demography in general means the study of the characteristics of human populations, such as size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics.




School enrolment is defined as the enrolment of the official age group for a certain level of education, expressed as the percentage of the population from the age group.



Our status of education between the year 1991 and 1997 is not well distributed.



Based on the graph, it is seen that from the year 1991 to 1992 there is an increase by 3%. In the following year from 1992 to 1994, the percentage of primary school enrolment gradually decrease by 1%. However in the year 1995, there is a sudden increase of percentage up to 4%. The graph plummeted from 99% to 90%. A year after 1996, the graph shot up 6%.

The graph of secondary school enrolment is much the same. The graph from year 1998 to 2001 is almost constant with slight increase or decrease. In the year 2002, the graph shot up by 9%, making it 72%. Later i the year 2003, there is also a slight increase from 72% to 80%. Overall, the graph increases over time due to certain factors which change throughout time.

Based on our discussion, one of the factors that effect the graph's increase is birth rate. The population of children aged 7 to 12 between the year 1991 to 1997 differ according to the economical status of parents. The second factor is death rate. Children may have died of various diseases due to weak immune system. Children may also be involved in terrible accidents like car crash.The third factor would be financial problems. Parents are too poor to afford the school fees and textbooks when their children enter secondary school.



Next is the factors for the increase in the graph. The first one is government. They are always aware of the importance of education and imposed a law that children must be sent for education at least at primary level. They also introduced the textbook loan scheme(SPBT) to help poor parents. The next factor is globalization. In the modern era, people realize that they need education because everyday life now is surrounded by technology. Requirements for jobs these days need good qualifications.



For our predictions in the future, there will be an increase in the number of students enrolled in schools because education guarantees a brighter future for them. The government will provide more support to the poor and unfortunate children to maximize the population of literate people so that they may be of use to the country.




In the early nineties, people in rural areas believed that children should be educated at home only. However, during the late nineties, the evolution of technology has caused people to realize the importance of education and prepare their children for the future. In the future, it is hoped that the graph will gradually increase over time.