Penang Street Art (PSA) - Children in a Boat

Such creativity.. Well done Ernest!

Children in a Boat is a mural painted on the wall of the stilt-house belong to a family,in Chew Jetty, George Town. Jt was painted by London-trained Lituaninan artist Ernest Zacharevic in conjuction in 2012 Goerge Town Festival. The mural depicts two chidren, a boy and a girl, playing on a berthed sampan by the shore, with a pet cat. As part of the preparation for this mural, a overhanging platform was erected at ht ebase for Zacharevic to stand on. The photograph is then projected onto the wall for the artist to trace over. The result is a mirror image to the actual shot.

Penang Street Art (PSA) - The Old Man

Is he holding something?....Cool

The Old Man is a giant mural on the wall of a shophouse facing Armenian Street, in George Town, Penang. the painting, which appears somewhat incomplete, depicts an elderly man who appears to be preparing a drink for himself. Jt was painted by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic for the 2012 George Town Festival. The "This Old Man" mural required the scaffolding to be erectedd on the wall for the artist to work. Jt is one of the two larger-than-life murals that Zacharevic worked on, the other being "Little Girl in Blue". note that all names for murals are provided by other artists, and the murals themselves were not named.

Penang Street Art (PSA) - Little Girl in Blue

Is she going to stay at her position for years?

"The Girl in Blue" shows a little girl lifting herself up on both hands. Jn the original photograph, the little girl has her hands on the side of tables, but in the mural, she is perched over the two windows. 

"The girl in Blue" is one of the two larger-than-life murals created by Zacharevic for George Town. the other one is "This Old Man" on Armenian Street. Note the names given here for the murals are descriptions; the actual murals do not have names.

Penang Street Art

Making strolling through Georgetown’s streets just a little bit more exciting, in 2012 Penang’s municipal council hired London-trained Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic and charged him with breathing new life into some of the atmospheric Chinese shop-houses around the inner city. An effort to spawn awareness of the rich history of the streets, the project was a success with Zacharevic turning certain areas into thriving tourist destinations that also became the much-talked about object of attention among locals. His artwork is spread out across Penang’s city centre, along roads like Muntri Street, Weld Quay, Lebuh Leith, Armenian Street, Ah Quee Street and more.

Ernest painted seven murals that were inspired by

the surrounding, history and culture of Old Town.

Zacharevic’s street art is pretty impressive: the most widely known is the 20-foot high ‘Little Girl In Blue’, a mural of a young child dressed in ocean blue pyjamas flanked by the two real windows of its ‘canvas’ – a building along Muntri Street. Found just down the road from Eastern & Oriental Hotel, right next to this giant painting is a concentration of brightly-coloured trishaws just waiting to take you to see some of the more obscure artwork around Georgetown. Prices start at about RM80 for a one-hour ride but you can whittle it down to a mere RM40 for a 30-minute journey.

Alcohol Addiction

Drinking alcohol is like taking a drug. It is a form of drug abuse, and drug addiction. This is a worldwide problem that many people are involved in. There are good effects of alcohol if it is in small amounts, and in moderation. On the other hand there are bad short and long term effects. The effects that a person will get are all based on certain factors like, how much and how often alcohol is consumed, the age of the person, when the person started and how long they have been drinking for,  gender, their family history and last but not least based on their health.

Having a pint of beer daily can reduce the risk of heart diseases

Lately scientists have been saying that a little bit of alcohol with dinner is not only okay but it is also good for you. This is true in moderation.  They say that if you drink a small amount of alcohol it will help you sleep. Also if you drink a moderate amount every day it can help your health in the long run. A moderate amount is considered to be 1 drink for women daily and 2 drinks for men daily. This can help bring your HDL level up, which helps protect your heart against disease that causes heart attacks. Also a moderate amount of alcohol everyday can lower your risk of developing diabetes by increasing your insulin sensitivity. It can also raise ‘good cholesterol’ levels. In the long run they have said that for women it helps keep the mind sharp in later years. Now when they talk about having a helpful amount of alcohol they mean small doses of it a day with a meal, so that the absorption rate is slowed down. Now this doesn’t mean that a person should start drinking for the benefits that it gives, it just means that if you drink in moderation already it could be slightly helpful to you in the future.

If you take advantage of that and drink in excess there are effects that you should be aware of. Contrary to some beliefs, alcohol is a depressant. This is the opposite of a stimulator, meaning that it calms you down, and slows down some organs in your body. Alcohol therefore has short term effects on your body. Some other short term effects include blackouts, where you can’t remember what happened, and insomnia, where you can’t fall asleep. While you are drinking you will be less alert, less aware of your surroundings, have difficulty walking, have blurred vision, and have slow reaction times. This can lead to accidents, injuries, and death. If you are not careful with the amount of alcohol that you drink you can get some bad side-effects.

Over-consuming alcoholic drinks may lead to serious health problems

Once you start to become addicted to alcohol you are considered an alcoholic. There are many long term effects that come along with drinking lots of alcohol for a prolonged amount of time. Drinking alcohol like this will damage your organs, like the brain, liver, stomach, intestines, and heart. The brain is affected, because brain cells die which leads to memory loss, confusion, learning difficulties, problems with attention, and brain disorders. From prolonged drinking you can have a stroke, or have heart failure. Impaired vision can also be a result of this type of drinking. 

Alcohol also affects your health. One reason for this is because alcohol is high in calories which can lead to obesity. Another reason is that poor nutrition normally comes side by side with lots of drinking. This could be because the alcohol interferes with the absorption and storage of the vitamins you get. Some other less serious effects of prolonged drinking are vomiting, profuse sweating, hallucinations, tremors, and sleep disturbances. All of these problems can quickly lead to injury to oneself or to others, violence, and death. Also it leads to a loss of employment, and a loss of family life. If you are addicted to alcohol or drink a lot of alcohol for a long period of time you will shorten your life span by about 12 years, and get a lot of serious side-effects. 

In conclusion alcohol can affect your life in a good or bad way depending on how you drink, how often you drink, and how much you drink. It is better to drink in moderation, and responsibly. This normally means drinking only 1 to 2 glasses a day with a meal, and to also have a healthy diet that goes along with that. Otherwise the health benefits of drinking alcohol are gone, and replaced with some horrible side-effects. Everyone can make their own decision on what drinking in moderation is and what drinking responsibly means, but everyone should be informed with the facts. 

Benefits of Exercise

Webster's dictionary defines exercise as bodily activity for the sake of health. Many people in today's society are health conscious. They know that exercise will help their body feel better. It will also enhance someone’s health. This article explains the benefits of regular exercise. 

It was shown in one study that individuals who ran more than 50 miles per week had significantly greater increases in HDL cholesterol (the good fat)

Regular physical activity can help the body maintain, repair, and improve itself. Coronary Heart Disease is one of the leading problems for most people. If brisk walking, running, cycling or swimming is done, it can help to increase muscle strength of the heart. A study of 40 older male runners showed that many of them had heart rates to that of a 25-year-old runner. 

As a person gets older, the bones begin to get weaker and this leads to osteoporosis. Regular exercise can keep the bones strong and allowing for new bone growth. Many of the patients at hospitals encounter bone loss because they are confined to bed for a long period of time. However, bone mass can be regained with exercise. That is why it is important to have Physical Therapy as a part of long hospitals visits. 

According to research, with age the body loses its ability to consume glucose properly, which result in diabetes. With regular exercise the body will be able to control the sensitivity of natural body made insulin. This help keep glucose levels at a normal range. 

Study shows that people who work more than 11 hours per day are 67% more likely to have a coronary heart disease than those who work the standard seven or eight hours.(Sigh..)

People nowadays are workaholics which spend more time in working than exercising and can easily suffer from obesity. With a regular diet and exercise, a person can lost weight in a month or more. In order to keep the weight off, a person must to exercise daily and stay on her diet. Research shows that a brisk walk of a mile burns 100 calories. Therefore as a person gets older, they must curve their exercise so there will be no injury as a result of losing weight too fast. 

These are just a few benefits of regular exercise. Every person has his or her own individual exercise routine. Some may not require but a 15 to 30 minutes-exercise session, some may require more time to burn more calories. However, each exercise program is important for a better and healthier life. 

Disciplinary Problems in Schools

Over the past several years, incidents of school violence have intensified. Disasters like the bullying at schools are not unheard of, and precautions for school safety are on the minds of numerous communities. When examining school violence, researchers have begun to investigate how society has redefined violence as normal and acceptable, claiming that this is the root of the problem. In addition, I have considered other factors that lead to violence in schools. As violence increases, pressure for safe and orderly schools does the same. I feel that the first step to ensure school safety is to work with the students themselves to establish a safe school. Therefore, schools need to make an improvement in a rapid manner by providing a faster and efficient corrective action plan for the problem and by implementing new regulations on the problem.

First of all, teachers and counsellors are important keys in the hard job of decreasing the disciplinary problems in schools. Teachers can start a reward and punishing system. In short term, students may work to effect singular change. Students looking for stickers or grades may perform a task to amass more rewards or better grades. Students punished for not doing homework may indeed do their homework. This brings all plus, no minus.

Children nowadays are exposed to violence

Also, violence cannot be tolerated in schools. Rules that involve bullying behaviours should be clearly posted. School districts should work with mental health professionals and utilize them to speak to students about bullying and how it affects the victims and the perpetrator. In the classroom, all teachers should openly discuss bullying. Even some teachers are bullied by students, and programs should be implemented to help this situation as well.

There are no quick fixes. True success requires extensive coordinated efforts of school programmes to help children grow up free of violence in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Schools need to make sure there is enough adult supervision at school to lessen and prevent bullying.

As a conclusion, we should try to be disciplined from the early stage of life. Both at school and at home they should be made to follow the rules of discipline. Parents, teachers and elders have significant role to play. A student should always learn good habits. This will lead to the formation of a good society and nation as well.