Essay Homework #2 - 21st Century

I think there's every reason this 21st century will be much happier. 

-Dalai Lama

As we move into the 21st century, there's what the Bible calls a 'quickening of the spirit.'

-Neale Donald Walsch

It is now 2013. Not a few more years and a decade had humanity celebrated its two thousandth year of existance. Another beginning of the century has brought great motivation for humanity to develope itself. Possessing a constantly curious and progressive nature, humans created expectations to themselves of more accomplishments. And as the century moved on, there showed much more indications and allusions of new changes.



One of the major changes which happened in the 21st century was the advance in daily technology. Merely fifty years ago, people didn't imagine more than 80 percent of us would use something called computers and cell phones. Nowadays, computer companies plan to create touch-laptops and artificially intelligent computers which can be easily used by the handicapped. Televisions are now almost all colored and contain much more channels with the development of satellites. Robots which resemble limbs now support the dismembered or carry out dangerous works in factories. As such, technology is now progessing to the fullest, and thus will achieve facilities in the society while providing greater qualities of life.



Meanwhile, there were greater advance in scientific and medical field of technology. In 1999, NASA reported that by 2020, humans will have advanced enough to make 'real space travels', by 2025, create technology which enables humanity to be able to survive in another planet, and by 2050, people could go to outer space for a honeymoon. Moreover, an American science magazine, the Popular Science, stated that the extensive meical research such as stem cell research will significantly increase the human longevity up to 150 years only by 2040. With this speed, the human population will be able to spread elsewhere in space while also increasing in lifespan.



Finally, the enhancements in technology has brought a society which is dependent upon the internet and the cyber space. One of the significant difference is the economic use of the internet. Online payments occur regularly, and people are able to freely shop inside their homes while their orders are delivered by the internet. Moreover, SNS such as Facebook and Twitter allows the whole world to be connected by a single media source. Furthermore, superficial surgeries and medical information are planned to be provided by the net so that citizens do not have to wait desperately in an emergency. Other services such as food delivery or music are already in use. The significance of this cyber society is that everything has become fast. New and improvised services are provided in a very short time, while the quality of life enhances even more with the development of technology. However, nobody can predict the future. There is likely to be objects, systems, or materials that will later be invented, created, discovered in the future. It is only the beginning of the 21st century, and yet humans have advanced in an amazing pace. Like such, the rest of the century is a mysteriously bright ray of light to humanity.

Nacirema?? - Perception

Perception

"...The Nacirema have 'private-mouth-rite(s)' which involve putting hog hairs into their mouths...revolting..."



"....Nacirema men appear to cause hurt to their faces daily."



"...Nacirema women have been observed to 'bake their heads in small ovens', 'four times during each lunar month'..."

Strange rituals, right? You might believe these people may be crazy to practice such weird ceremonies. However, you should examine the descriptions extremely well. What the previous statements actually mean are brushing teeth, shaving, and getting the hair done. Moreover, 'Nacirema' actually means 'American', but only spelled backwards! But don't worry; more than ninety percent of people would also think of some uncivilized people making strange, ridiculous rituals when first reading this article.

When I first read this writing, I was also interested by the somewhat strange culture of some weird tribe. It only seemed like an uncivilized culture of some native American community. I thought the article truly represented the culture and rituals of a totally different group of people, separated from the modern world.




However, I was absolutely amazed and shocked by the fact that I saw such simple things human do in real life as something revolting from a different point of view. It was very interesting, that so many people would delude themselves just because of the writing style. Actually, it was such a simple thing that it made me feel stupid. (But Mr. Menard told us that it was very normal of us to feel so.) However, the use of rhetoric is ever so brilliant that a lot of people are simply fooled.

Meanwhile, it made me think deeply about how the way we perceive things in the world can make something simple look so different. Never did I imagine that 'perspective' took such a big part of how we take in the world. It made me think, 'perhaps, we all are looking through this translucent glass'. Perhaps, we all have a certain type of 'translucent glass' that makes us take a look at objects with certain perspectives. That would be the cause of discriminations and prejudices which happen in the world.

For instance, Koreans - they eat dogs. (Of course, as the years passed, Koreans started to think of it less a culture, but it is still practiced in many regions and causes issues) And what do other countries think about it? They consider it rather disgusting and uncivilized. However, for Koreans, the way they eat dogs is just the same as eating chickens, cows, or pigs; they consider them domestic animals. Moreover, in Switzerland, it is considered okay to spit in the streets, while in Korea, it is considered very rude to do so.

As such, it seems that Horace Miner wanted to reflect how people and nations had certain views, or perspectives in other matters, and how it made them see things differently. Personally, I hope the readers who had read the 'Nacirema' text would try to change the way they observe other nations and understand the cultural differences.

Illuzionzlll

ILLUZIONZ

Just a little post that only contains photos of illusions.
They trick your eyes. Observe carefully.

The arm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invisible Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hairy dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headless

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S curve

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Age of STUPID

 

"Almost everything that distinguishes the modern world from earlier centuries is attributable to science, which achieved its most spectacular triumphs in the seventeenth century."

-Bertrand Russell

 

 

 

 

 

 Teh Age of SutipD     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            ...The Age of Stupid

 

 

  

Probably just a few wouldn’t know that Neil Armstrong was the first mankind to set his foot on the moon. Meanwhile just a few would know that about 5000 people die around the world each day due to the pollution of water. It is remarkable that humans know a fact about a planet which is more than two hundred thousand miles away from us while they do not know what is going on in their own.

We, the people in 2013, live inside what we call ‘the modern world’. Nonetheless, in this ‘modern world’ and the ‘great technology/science’ we are living in, humans may be facing their worst barrier yet, the environmental contamination created by their own actions. ‘The Age of Stupid’, directed by Franny Armstrong, explains how humans feel and behave towards climate change. According to the movie, the Earth may extinct by 2055 if we do not show any actions to preserve the environment from climate changes. The excessive uses of valuable resources only led to fatal damage to the nature. The movie further elaborates about people’s perspectives about the changes, how they live and what they do during these changes occur. Furthermore, it suggests what and why problems occur due to people’s actions.

 

 

 

Of course, many people are aware by the media that they are facing a serious issue. However, the main problem is that first, they do not think it is emergent. The remaining resources are only usable for a few decades but do not seem like an immediate danger. For instance, about seventy percent of Americans believes in climate changes, but fifty eight percent did not think that it was a threat to them. Moreover, merely a thirty two percent believed their actions could slow climate changes and only fifteen volunteered to do so.

 

 

The second problem is the wrong distribution of resources. For instance, Nigeria is one of the mainstream oil producing countries, where about 2.53 million barrels of oil is produced each day. However, the profit is lost between the political corruption and the precious resource enters the hands of other modernized countries. About fifteen percent of it is then used to create cheap plastic toys, encase them with plastic packages, and sold inside of plastic boxes. Every two days, thousands of them are broken and carried away to the dumping ground to decay there for five hundred years. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, seventy percent of its citizens live on less than one dollar a day while only seventeen percent of the country’s oil is used for the citizens. Hence, the waste of resources caused even more pollution and exploitation of countries for an addition.

Also, relating to the first problem is the Not-In-My-Backyard syndrome. Many people do know about environmental problems, and many people do think they are serious. But when it comes to actualizing the resolutions, then people’s thoughts change. For example, in the ‘The Age of Stupid’, people did think that climate changes were serious and they must do something in order to help the world, but on the other hand, they refused to install wind turbines in their area just because they ruined the view; or more like they looked bad. Moreover in Korea, the citizens’ recognition quotient of climate changes was about seventy points while their behavioral quotient only reached thirty. As such, it is perhaps the biggest problem that people do perceive the problem, but not willing to resolve it themselves.

 

 

 

Climate change. It is undoubtedly a serious problem in the current society. Disbelieving attitude is merely neglecting the truth and refusing to ameliorate the situation. It is said that we must stabilize the amount of resources by 2015 in order to reset the climate change. It is no longer a time to ignore the problem while it worsens. Now we must see the truth, the problem, and seek solution. Just as the movie says, we must escape ‘the age of stupid’, where we do nothing while seeing the fatal consequence creep towards us, as if trying to commit suicide. It is time to recognize, to resolve the troubles humans ourselves have made.

 

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

-Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

    *Resources*

http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-pollution

http://environment.yale.edu/climate/publications/Climate-Beliefs-September-2012/

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/fewer-americans-say-their-actions-can-slow-climate-change/

http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=NI

http://xtopaz.blog.me/47713133

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/28/us-climate-opinion-idUSBRE91R10220130228

 

MEN

Men are like chocolate bars.
They’re sweet and smooth but head straight for the body.

 

...I think you know what I mean.

 If you're a man, too.
 

 

 

 

FOR A START, this article will be about men. You might think it's stereotypical, but it's more or less true. I assume what I say will be correct for more than 80 percent of the men.

 

So straight to the points. First, let's see this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Did you see the King Kong? I did, and I'm definitely not lying :)

 

 

 

Alright, it is normal that each are attracted to the opposite sex, but it has been proven that for men, this happens a lot more. According to the theory of masculinity and femininity studies, men are a lot more attracted to the visual parts of women's body because the sense of sight is highly developed in men's case. (In women's case, the sense of hearing) Relating to Darwin's evolution theory, men seek for women in order to create a relatively stronger, healthier, and better offsprings. Thus, as an automatic reaction to their sense of vision, men eventually look for the better appearance in bodies of the opposite sex. In other words, it is not at men's faulth that they prefer women with better appearance and of course...body.

 

However, the most important thing is to be manly about this fact. All men must not be ashamed that they are interested in these things. Scientists claim that the difference in period of sexual characteristics causes men to be more interested in sexual relationships. Thus, it is very natural for teenage boys to be excited and curious about those stuffs, and it is certainly not abnormal to be interested. What matters is that they must not be embarrassed about it, because it is only a natural instinct and the basic character of a man itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...But then agaiiiiiiiiiiiin, you shouldn't be perverted, riiiiiight?  ;)

 

 

 

Got three right, check yours.

 



Personal Narrative Speech - My Story

Personal Narrative Speech

My name is Yeong Won Jeon, and this is my personal narrative speech.

I’m not going to try to give you some good, motivational speech. Actually, I hope you all don’t fall asleep while I use my five minutes.

Anyways, a personal narrative speech is something meaningful that happened to one’s life, right? But I didn’t have an event that is fantastic or long enough for our valuable five minutes, so instead of talking about one subject, I decided to tell you various stories of my life.

Stories that relate to one of the most important values in life.

Stories of courage.

I will tell you about its various perspectives based on my stories.

For example, my first time drinking alcohol. I was only six years old when I did.

At that time, I believe most of you did what I did, which is pouring water into those little glasses of soju and mimic adults drinking alcohol. But one day, while pulling those silly tricks, I dared to drink a real glass of soju as a bluff in front of my cousins. So that day I went home drunk, waving my arms, and puked in the bathroom. And I never repeated that childish act ever again.

On the other hand, there’s the time when I was about thirteen years old, living in Canada, and was addicted to doing dares with my friends. At first, they were not extreme. They were simple things, such as eating a pepper, or standing up in the middle of the class. However, it was different when my home-stay family, their friends and I went camping to a cabin. It started off with putting matches on your skin after just blowing them out. I won’t get into the specifics; at some point of the game, the house was almost set on fire.

Like this, foolish or inadequate courage leads to problems or mishap.

And another common subject regarding courage is first love or confession. I assume many of you have read or seen, or maybe even experienced how courage is important in these situations, but I just want to tell you what it’d been like for me, and what you and I must do later in the future. And this is also what I mainly want to tell you.

It was my third grade in middle school. There was a transfer student in my class. I don’t want to mention her name, so let’s call her A. This A, she was beautiful without make-up, was kind to everybody, and studied well, too. It was a matter of time that she soon became famous in our class. I also talked with her various times and sometimes studied together for exams during class. It wasn’t much after that I realized that I liked her. However, we did not really stay close or play with each other so we simply stayed as far-but-not-so-far friends: the kind that greets each other but doesn’t really talk, and mostly communicates through KakaoTalk. Mainly we were just a bit close because we sat near each other. But on my birthday, she gave me a big box of chocolates and candies. This surprised me a lot. Then, my friends around me urged me to confess, telling me that she might like me too. So one day, I decided to do it, and I bought a large teddy bear to give her. I decided to wait a month and do it at the end of finals, so that I wouldn’t bother her studies. And so I waited and waited for that date. However, when the awaited morning finally arrived, I realized I couldn’t do it. It embarrassed me to think of the consequences. Also, my parents’ nagging about being in a relationship discouraged me. About how you cannot study with a girlfriend, and that you’d always have one in universities, blah blah blah...Now I know that’s all a whole bunch of lie; It will always be hard to get a girlfriend for me. Anyways, in the end, I left the doll inside the closet again, and the teddy bear is still there, well hidden from my parents’ view.

After graduation we separated, me to KMLA, and A to a normal high school. A few weeks ago, during a conversation with her, A announced that she had a boyfriend.

Now I regret, and wonder what would have happened if I had not given up the last opportunity I had. It was kind of a lesson for me, and I hope you don’t do the same too. When you see an opportunity, do not be afraid; Always pluck up the courage to use the chance and be the winner.

Use courage well. Take your chances.

Thank you.

 

Personal Narrative Essay

It was a few years ago when I went to study abroad with my mother and brother. When my mother decided to give us money every day to eat lunch from the cafeteria instead of preparing lunchboxes, I was not happy about it; I was in the track-and-fields team plus an active teenage boy, while the cafeteria food was known to be little. But I took it because my mother once fainted from overwork. Although the money was insufficient for more than a sandwich or two, we didn't complain; The school expenses were costly and we were not exactly the richest people. Moreover, she gave me a bonus; Just a little more than my brother so that I could afford to eat something after school. Also, after a few days, my brother was all satisfied about how good the cafeteria food tasted.

With the small amount of money I received, I tried to use the best out of it. I normally ate a cheap sandwich from the cafeteria, no drink, and after school a donut, muffin, or a small bag of chips to eat on the bus after the track-and-fields activities ended. It was not a lot of food, but I could live with it. As long as I could sustain my body, I'd try to use the less amount of money as possible; My family was not extremely rich to let us study abroad.

However, beginning from a week or two after starting to use the cafeteria, my little brother grew a habit. He would steal my snacks that I'd buy after school, and I hated it. It was when we'd meet in the school bus every day. As soon as he found me eating something, he'd shove his head in front of whatever was in my hands and take a bite. Sometimes it irritated me a lot when I was really hungry. He always complimented about how good the cafeteria food was, but then why did he have to eat my food every day? But I had to endure it for it was my little brother.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned this during dinner. Only then, did my brother laugh and tell me why he was always hungry after school. He actually didn't eat lunch. My little brother, he was so concerned about our expenses that he was actually skipping every lunch to save that little bit of money.