Show me the chocolate!!

(Based on LRD 24/2)

After reading the article on chocolate together from page 6 of this week's LRD, we found out that chocolates and chocolate products now cost more than they did last year. For example, a 1kg chocolate cake at Keng Seng Confectionery costs $3 more than it did last year. The cause for this price hike is low supplies from the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which are places in Africa.

We also discovered that a lot of chocolates were bought for Valentine's Day. In total, for 2008, 35.4 million kg of chocolate were imported into Singapore.

Which is better, to have a little of the best chocolate, or to have lots of not so good chocolate?

When asked if it was better to have a little of the best chocolate, or to have lots of not so good chocolate, 29 out of 40 of us thought that it was better to have a little of the best chcolate. As Jiexin says, "If we buy one bar of good chocolate, we can at least taste that it's nice and good. You will be satisfied easily so you don't need to buy so many chocolate bars to satisfy yourself, rather than buying a lot of not so good chocolate which will cost a lot of money."

What do you and your classmates think? Is it different from our class?

Done by 4 Joy

Budget 2009

You might have heard your parents talking about the 2009 Budget over the last few weeks. However, what is this budget that they are all talking about?

A budget is the amount of money that you plan to spend on something. For instance, if you have a budget of $2 for lunch, that means you only intend to spend a maximum of $2 for lunch.

Each year, the Singapore government announces what it intends to spend for the year in its budget. People want to know how much the government is planning to spend and what it is spending on in the coming year as it might help them plan their businesses and make better choices in the year ahead.

What the government spends on can help businesses and families in need.

For example, in the 2009 Budget, the focus was on jobs. Because of the current economic recession, many people have lost their jobs. To try and persuade less companies to retrench their employees, the Government has introduced a Jobs Credit scheme. Under this scheme, the Government willl give companies some money if they keep their workers.

What is very special about Budget 2009 is that it is the very first time that the Government is taking money out of its Reserves, which is like our national piggy bank. For many people, this shows how bad the current recession is.

As primary school children, you may not be earning money yet, but how has this knowledge about the 2009 Budget changed your view of spending?

More details about the Singapore Budget 2009 can be found at http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/key_initiatives/index.html

The Breakdown of the Singapore Flyer

Where is the Singapore Flyer?
The Singapore Flyer is located at 30 Raffles Avenue. From City Hall MRT station, it would take you about 10-15 minutes to walk to it. It is the largest observation wheel in the wheel at 165 m tall and is capable of seating up to 784 passengers.

What happened?
On the 23rd of December 2008, the Singapore Flyer broke down because of a small electrical fire. In all, 173 people were left stranded in the Flyer, most of them for over six hours.

Who was affected?
Apart from the people who were stuck in the Flyer, the breakdown of the Flyer on the 23rd of December also affected other groups of people.

Firstly, it affected Singapore's tourism industry. The Singapore Flyer is a major tourist attraction so when it was shut down for a month after 23rd December, tour operators had to find other places that they could take tourists to, which would probably have cost these operators more money. Singapore's reputation for efficiency has suffered too as a result of this breakdown.

Secondly, it affected the business of the shops that are located at the Singapore flyer. Less people went to the Flyer's shops while the Flyer was closed so many tenants complained that they suffered losses. They were so angry that many of them asked the people in charge of the Flyer (called the management) to compensate them. This means that they wanted the management to give them some money to make up for the sales that they have lost.

It is hard to imagine that a 6-hour breakdown can affect so many people, but this shows that we are all interdependant on each other.

Why is this important?
Singapore attracts millions of tourists each year, and if more incidents like these happen, fewer tourists might want to come to our country. If this happens, many people who depend on tourism for their jobs, such as travel agents, hotel staff and store operators at tourist attractions, will suffer.

When did the Flyer resume operations?
The Flyer resumed, or started operating again on 27th January 2009, just in time for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

How does the management of the Flyer intend to prevent such an incident from happening again?
During the closure, the management installed a new back-up system in the Flyer and had international experts certify that it was safe to ride on. They hope that an incident like what happened on December 23rd will never happen again as a result of this new system in place.

What are your thoughts about the December 23rd breakdown? Leave a comment!

If you want to find out more about the Flyer and its breakdown, one website which contains videos of people being rescued manually from the Flyer is http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2008/12/24/RTV3608108/

For other information about the Flyer, you might also want to visit its official website at http://www.singaporeflyer.com/

This is a video of part of the construction of the Singapore Flyer. As you can tell, it took a lot of effort and skill to construct it!



Construction Of The Singapore Flyer (Stop Motion Video V1.0) - Funny bloopers R us