Jez's Blog

Based on a few chitchats with some girlfriends of mine, I know that many people who are looking for a relationship are not necessarily looking for their "love of life." Many people just want to have a company who knows him or her well, and who he or she can share everything with. As a result, breakups and heartbreaks are very often seen. However, I am not suggesting that everyone should be looking for their "love of life" when searching for a relationship. No, that might give the relationship too much pressure. What I am suggesting is that everyone should cherish each and every relationships, even just friendships, that one had or have, with those that he or she loved or loves. Like how Matthew cherishes his relationship with Sabrina. Sabrina died in ten days after the ceremony, and Matthew was by her side.

Reference:

- http://www.astantin.com/sabrina-parker-and-matthew-scozzari-astantin-20101221/sabrina-parker-and-matthew-scozzari-photo2-matt-scozzari-and-sabrina/ [Image. Sabrina Parker And Matthew Scozzari Photo 2. Wifh Love, Sabrina Parker and Matt Scozzari Face a Deadly Diagnosis. © 2008 - 2010 Astantin.com]

Anyhow, the "myth" in which tables have their own souls helped to create my respectful personality. Also, the belief in magic contributes to my imagination. Moreover, though Santa is not real, according to the Yahoo Lifestyles article, studies shows that belief in Santa encourages imagination, kindness, and co-operation; promotes family bonding; and increases the awareness of needs of others - children's letters to Santa often contain wishes for someone else, including the poor and the sick. Before reading to this point, I thought I would never let my children - if I am going to have any in the future - to believe in Santa.

Reference:

- http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/parenting/santa-article-k8ja.html

Looking at the poster above, "here's the rest of your fur coat," how do you feel? It is obvious anti-fur ad. As people who are interested in fashion, and keep track on the latest fashion trend, we know that fur products has returned as a major trend in this season. However, look at the ad above again, even if the coat is absolutely fashionable, and gorgeous, wouldn't you feel any guilt for buying the coat, killing, or even murdering all those poor animals who have their skin, now, on you? Well, you wouldn't have to if you also look at the other side of the story.

According to the Yahoo News, Fur makes a comeback - with more humane claims, "some top labels including Chanel, Nina Ricci, put faux fur on the runway that was indistinguishable even by trained eyes from the real thing."Also, rabbit fur and lamb shearling that are used by accessory brand Be & D are byproducts of the meat industries. Though, Adam Roberts, the executive vice president of the animal deputy nonprofit Born Free USA is skeptical about the claims of fur only as byproduct of meat industries. "I think a lot of shoppers want to justify their chices They want to feel better about buying one product instead of looking at the industry holistically," says Roberts. I personally disagree with his opinion.

Sure, as he suggested, that there couldn't possibly be enough rabbit eaten in the US to meet the fashion industry's demand. However, those rabbit fur may be imported from other countries or, if the demand of fur products increases so dramatically that the company could no longer afford it (which I think is likely impossible), the company can always promote a seasonal collection which is only available for a limited period of time. Furthermore, Steve Dumain, Be & D's founder and creative director feels that "fur really goes back to protectivewear." He mentioned the hunter-gatherer period of our, evolution, the evolution of human. When humans were still hunter-gathers, the primary function of fur was only to keep ourselves warm during cold weathers. Today, in many places, especially places that have harsh winters, fur is still maily used in clothing for its warmth.

Finally, I agreed what Sasha Iglehart, the deputy fashion director at Glamor says, "wearing fur is a personal choice, but weather you prefer faux or real fur, it's a fashionable way to stay warm." I think as long as you have at least a little understanding about the background of where the fur came from, and as long as you accept it, fur is just another material that we ues from simplely clothing purposes or otherwise, for fashion purposes. Besides, don't we have the same "humane claims" about meat consuming? Keeping oneself warm is just as important as keeping oneself healthy. Like choosing to be a meat eater or a vegetarian, one can choose to wear faux fur, real fur, or no fur at all. The point is that no one has to become Curella in order to wear fur.

Last year in Anthropology class, we have learned that chimpanzees are our closest relatives among all primates. There were studies, and experiments that show the similarities between humans and chimpanzees' behaviors. It is especially obvious when comparing a human child (around 3~5 years old), with a young chimpanzee. This is because that despite the advanced feelings and thoughts that we develop as we grow older, many of our, the chimpanzees and ours, initial abilities are very similar, or even the same. We seek for what we desire, and what we need.

30 minutes ago, I had an argument with my father. He assumed that I would need advices about college from a friend of him who scored above 600 (almost a full score) in his TOEFL test. However, I had, and still have, no idea about what I am going to talk about with my father's friend. And so, the problem is that my father is offering me "help" when I do not need it. The argument immediately reminded me of a video which I watched in Anthropology class last year. The video is a document of an experiment, which tests chimpanzees' resorting ability. In the experiment, if I still remember, the chimpanzee would have to remove a heavy weigh in order to get the fruit underneath it. The weigh is too heavy to be removed by the chimpanzee alone. The chimpanzee realizes this, so he seeks for human, the instructor's help. With the instructor's help, the chimpanzee successfully get the fruit he wants. And so, when the experiment is repeated with the same method, the chimpanzee does the same thing all over again. The result supports that chimpanzees will seek for help if they realizes that they need the help in order to achieve their goals (to get the fruit in this case).

If humans and chimpanzees are so much alike, then I believe that we will also seek for help when we know that first of all, we need help, and secondly, that with the help, we will be able to achieve our goals. So, I will seek for help if I need it, and if I know it can really help me. This is not being stubborn or being immature. It is just a matter of evolution. Besides, why helping someone who does not need the help? Thanks, but saving the time and the awkwardness may be more constructive.



Reference:

If you have watched or read Harry Potter, you will then know the invisibility cloack which Harry recieves as a Christmas present in his first year in Hogwarts. According to BBC News, Invisibility cloak closer with flexible 'metameterial', scientists in the UK have demonstrated a flexible film that represents a big step toward the "invisibility cloak," made famous by Harry Potter. The film contains structures that form a "metamaterial," an artificial material engineered to provide properties which may not be readily available in nature, which can manipulate light to make objects invisible.

A metamaterial usually gain their properties from structure rather than composition, using the inclusion of small inhomogeneities (having a various structure throughout) to enact effective macroscopic behavior. The research in metamaterials involves such fields as electrical engineering, electromagnetic, solid state physics, microwave and antennae engineering, classic optics, etc.

In a work of metamaterial research, demonstrations of invisibility have occurred in light waves with a much longer wavelength -- a far redder color -- than we can see. This is considered as the most striking demonstrations of invisibility. However, this requires metamaterials with relatively large structures, which makes it easier to construct. Hense, the chanllage of creating a demonstration of invisibility for far shorter waves that we can see is that a metameterial requires its nanostructures - structures so tiny that they make manufacturing very difficult.

"The first step is imagining fist of all that this could be done," said Andrea Di Falco of St. Andrews University, the author of the New Journal of Physics.

Ortwin Hess, a physicist who recently took up the Leverhulme Chair in Metamaterials at Imperial College London, called the work "a huge step forward in very many ways". "It clearly isn't an incisibility cloak yet -- but it's the right step toward that," Hess told BBC News. He also added that the next stept woild be to characterise the way that the material's opical properties change as it is bent and fold; if the properties were sensitive to movement, the films may be useful for next-generation lenses; otherwise, if the properties were inpervious to bending and motion, then the film might be useful in contact lenses. "Harry Potter has to wait still - that's the huge goal," he said.

After reading the article, I have come up with two conclusions: first of all, it is that sometimes what matters is not the result in the end, but what may be gained through out the process of approaching the final goal. We do not know if an invisibility cloak could be actually invented, but at least we know that the film may be useful for several other things in the future.; and second, it is that we might not need to travel in the speed of light to be invisible.

"Life will be so much happier if we grow younger each year!" I have heard this several times from either the same person or others. I wonder where did they get this thought. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie about a man who was born old, and the reason for his unusual birth is unknown. People thought that he will die very soon, but they are eventually proven wrong. Benjamin, the old baby, not only didn't he die early, but instead, he grows younger and younger each year.

While watching the movie, I caught the line which Caroline, Benjamin's girlfriend, said to him, "we will all end up with diapers anyway," after she asked him how is it like to be growing younger, which he did not respond. This made me ponder, perhaps to be growing older and to be growing younger does not make a lot of difference after all. It is like looking at a rope from the end to the head, and from the head to the end. The ends are still the ends. The rope is still a rope. Life is still life. We experience, we learn, we make mistakes, and we live through these mistakes. Then, in the end, no matter we are growing younger or growing older, our abilities decay. In either end, the youngest or the oldest, we will end up forgetting things that we have remembered, and losing things or even people that we have loved.

In the movie, as he keeps growing younger, Benjamin eventually forgets his wife, and as well as the life that he used to have. What can be worse than forgetting the person who you have loved so much, and who has always been loving you? What can be worse than forgetting the entire life that you have had, including all the best moments to be thankful for, and the worse moments to laugh about? So will life really be better if we all grow younger each year? I'd say no, and neither will it if we all just stays growing older. But this is how it should be. How life should be. Nothing lasts, and that's the beautiy of life. This is how we learn to cherish, how to regret, how to make and prevent mistakes, and finally, how to let go.

"Every solution creates another problem." I remember hearing this from my former biology teacher, Mr. Gumbay, and I even have it written on my notebook. "You can never make everyone happy." This is something that I've realized, and learned from experiences of being a SRC member. I remember these because I think they are so very true.

I was talking to a friend yesterday. She is the same age as me, 11th grade. She is an artist wannabe, and I am also interested in art, so I suggested her that traveling might help her to prepare for her portfolio. She agreed with me. Then we started to discuss which countries are worth to visit. She suggested Egypt. I suggested some countries in Europe. Then she asked me about my trip to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) in this summer. "Have you seen people's lifestyle there?" she asked, "were they poor? Did you get to have direct contacts with the them? With all the diseases, life must be really difficult for them huh?" I expected every single question that she asked. It's because I've already been asked the same questions for a several times since I'd come back from the trip. However, I did my best to answer, and explain everything to her.

Yes, I have seen how people's lives were in Kenya. Generally poor, which I felt sorry for, but at the same time I was also impressed by the fact that they were still able to survive even thought life is hard. And because life is so hard for them, their view of values are very different from ours. They only get things that they need, not things that they want, but complete useless. I have learned this from a hotel manager's sharing of her own experience of opening a hotel in Tanzania. She is British (I figured it out based on her accent). She said that people's view of values are so different from hers that sometimes it made it difficult to manage them.

"With all the diseases, life must be very difficult for them huh?" Yes, even though life is already hard for the majority, the diseases has made it worse. HIV/AIDS, and malaria are fairly common in Kenya. 7.1 ~ 8.5% of the adult (age above 15) population in Kenya has HIV/AIDS. It is not rare for people to die from HIV/AIDS. Therefore, there are many orphans caused by HIV/AIDS deaths. I remember seeing a women sitting under a tree beside the road, with her likely-4-year-old daughter standing beside her, in her last stage of HIV. She was as thin as a skeleton, and the fact that I know she was dying broke my heart. We visited an orphanage called Nyumbani, which means "home" in Swahili. The orphans in Nyumbani are all HIV positive, and are all complete abandoned. I was lucky to have a chance to talk to the druggist who worked in Nyumbani. Through the conversation with the druggist, I was informed that the drugs have kept the children alive for much longer than the children before, when there were no drugs to help them yet. This gave me the weirdest feeling ever. I pity these children, yet they all seem so happy to be alive that made me feel like I shouldn't feel sorry for them.

"So... after the trip, do you want to become a doctor to help those people?" My friend asked me at last. I told her that I would if I am capable of doing it, but I'm not confident enough to say that I shall save a million lives from HIV/AIDS in the furure. If I'm not mistaken, I heard that there is now a posibility to figure out a cure for HIV/AIDS. However, a problem that came into my mind when I hear about the possible cure, is the problem of overpopulation. This might sound immoral, but in Kenya, families believe that the more children you have, the richer you are. It is not unusual to see a family with 5 children in Kenya. And so, will the cure of HIV/AIDS in Kenya lead to another problem, which is worsening the problem of overpopulation? Or maybe causing a high population density in Kenya, which may effect the wildlife with various reasons? As I said, every solution creates another problem, and I don't think people will be happy if they cannot continue to "be rich".




Reference:

When we are asked about how technology is hurting our environments, how many of us think of cellphone? In the CNN news article: How to make your cell phone greener?, by Amy Gahran, CNN notes, "cell phones have become one of the most ubiquitous hallmarks of life in the 21st century, but they aren't necessarily good for the environment."

According to the author of How to make your cell phone greener?, the materials used to produce cell phones, from plastic to rare, powdery metal tantalum, which is now known as a conflict mineral due to its causing of local exploitation and violence in Central Africa (where the mineral is primarily mined), present a variety of environmental, and even human right issues. Further, energy is needed to charge cell phones, and also to transmit calls, texts/media messages and data across wireless carrier networks. Such electricity consumption adds up to greenhouse gas emissions.

Personally, I think cell phone is one of humans' greatest invention. It allows us to communicate, and to hear each others' voices no matter how far apart we are with the person in the other side of the phone. Communication has definitely become easier and more efficient with cell phones. However, like any other new technology, the industry of cell phone is hurting our environment. This has brought us to the question: how do we protect our environment while still being able to enjoy the services of cell phones? Here are some ways that are informed by How to make your cell phone greener?. Some of them I have never hear of, however, I think it is quite important for people to know them:

1. keep your cell phones out of landfills

2. sell or reuse your used cell phones

3. buy an used cell phone rather than a new one

4. choose cell phone models that claim to be greener than most; choose cell phones that are made of recycled or recyclable materials

5. text -- texting is the most energy-efficient communication option

6. call from an old-fashion land line, which uses less power to transmit calls

Save the Earth from that "one missed call"!




Reference:
-http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/09/24/greener.cell.phones/index.html CNN Environment: How to make your cell phone greener? CNN© 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.]

"A woman has been arrested in America after footage was found on her mobile phone of her two-year-old daughter apparently smoking marijuana" -- Telegraph.co.uk

What the heck? This was the first thing came up in my mind when I saw this on the news. I was too shocked to realize what the mother has said in the video. However, as I watched the video again on YouTube, I caught the words "don't blow on it," and "bad". Also, I caught the mother's laughter, sounded satisfied and proud. I felt disgusted then. What is it to be proud about if your 2-year-old daughter smokes marijuana? What was the mother thinking about?

"It is everyone's first time to be a parent," a friend of my parents told me when I complained about my parents to her, "they've been trying their best to do it right." Her words made me stop complaining because I know what she said was true. I found a book called How to be a Parent on my father's bookshelf before. I thought it was funny, but I was also touched because I knew he bought the book because of me. He wanted to be a good parent, and he wanted to do it right, which was why he needed a book to teach him, that's all. However, because of this memory, it has become more confusing that a mother would teach her own daughter to smoke marijuana -- an action which may cause various health problems, such as heart attack and lung infections. I do not see how it is "trying to do it [to be a parent] right".

I have noticed the dressing of the little girl and the house in the background while watching the video. The little girl's dress seems too big for her, and the house seems dark, small, and unadorned. It is quite obvious that it isn't a wealthy family, and as most of us would agree, that poverty causes the lack of education, which causes recklessness in people's behavior. Perhaps, this is why the mother teaches her 2-year-old daughter to smoke marijuana. She might not know how dangerous marijuana could be when inhaled to one's body. I don't know... I really don't understand what the mother was thinking when she gave her daughter marijuana. Somebody should teach her that this is not right!

Last night, while I was trying to finish my humanities homework, I found myself rather moody. There was nothing else but all these homework piling up on my desk, which I thought it might help reminding me how much work I had to do, and so that I had no time to be whiny and emotional. However, it was useless. I could not concentrate at all. Therefore I gave up trying to work, and decided to take a break. Then, as I dazed, a friend called. What a perfect timing? I thought. And so we started to chat.

I planned to mutter through our entire conversation, but apparently he was planning to do the same thing; and as tradition, when one complains, the other one automatically became the listener. In this case, I, the quiet one, became the listener as a matter of course. So I listened as he complained. He complained about all kinds of things in his life. It was too much to remember all of them, but I do remember one of them.

"My aunt once told me, 'imagine that you have a bag to put everything you have in it; and how heavy the bag is, is how heavy your pressure is,'" he said, "and everything includes your family, friends, school, job, books, clothes, and etc... it's everything." I loved this saying. It is basically saying that the more things you care about, the more responsibility you are taking. Yet you can never make everything all right, and that is where pressure comes from. However, before I could relate myself to the saying, he started to tell me how it relates to him. His bag is heavy because of it has his family in it. He told me how close everyone in his family is -- from his grand parents, to his aunts, uncles, father and mother, to his cousins and him -- and how this fact bothers him. "Everyone puts their attention on you," he said, "it's kind of stressful sometimes." Yeah, I agreed. I have a very big family on my mother's side, and I am the only person in the family who goes to an international school. So everyone has been quite curious about my future. They have been asking my mother about me, and of course, my mother always keeps them updated. This gives me a feeling as if I'm on a stage with a thousand audiences watching me. It enlarges every mistakes that I make. And so I'd have to be very careful of everything I do. Stressful, sometimes.

I have a discrepant mind. Thus, as I thought further of the saying, I thought that sometimes, on the other hand, what if there is nothing in the bag for you to carry? ". . . how heavy the bag is, is how heavy your pressure is." If you empty your bag just to avoid the heaviness, would you feel a since of emptiness? Could it be the more you are able to carry, to handle, the stronger you get? Like weight training -- the heavier you can lift, the stronger you become. Maybe it could be nice to have your "everything" after all. Besides, things that you would put into the bag are all the ones that you love, aren't they?





-http://www.selectism.com/news/2009/07/22/capsule-ny-shades-of-greige-bags-for-spring-2010/ [Image. Copied by Jez. 12 Sep. 2010.]

CNN reports, 30 year-old Chris Keith was 12 when he learned that his family didn't die in a car accident in 1985. Chris was explained, by his grandparents, that his father suffocated his mother, shot his brother, Mikey, in the back of the head while he slept, and the worse of all, before he committed suicide, Chris' father, shot Chis in the forehead. Medics had declared everyone in the house dead.

"It was almost like going through it again. I started feeling all these feelings again, of anger, of betrayal, of feeling like nobody wanted me. I was angry at the world, and mad at my grandparents for waiting so long to tell me," said Chris, ". . . . my own dad tried to kill me, so who am I supposed to trust?" These words struck me while I was browsing through the article. How would I feel if the person who I love, and that I trust, tries to hurt me? Shocked, angry, betrayed, and lost perhaps.

According to Chris, incident such as the one that Chris has experienced in 1985 still happens. For example, the resent case in South Carolina where a mother is accused of suffocating her two boys before putting them into their car seats and letting the car roll into a river. Why would a parent try to kill their own children, their own flesh? Chris wonders these questions as well.

Looking at news and stories like this makes people frown. Also, it may cause people to wonder about the morality of our society. What happened to morality among people that is causing parents to kill their children? However, fortunately that in Chris' case, he is able to bear his sorrowful memory, and stay positive about his life. "Doctors don't know why I'm alive. . . . I have a second chance in life, and I just want to make the most of it, and maybe help others who are internally suffering," he said to the CNN reporter. Chris married young, at the age of 19, due to his longing for a family. He believes that his 6-year-son is the proof of that good can come from evil. Now Chris tells his story to youth groups at juvenile justice centers. He tells struggling youth that they are not alone. "Even when we feel we have no inner strength left, you can make it," he says. I'm impressed by Chris' positive attitude toward his unfortunate past.

He's got many goals in life. At the top of the list: "To not end up like my dad."



Reference:
-http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09/03/survivor.family.massacre/index.html#fbid=cxFA5Zf2tbH&wom=false [Picture, CNN News Article: My own dad tried to kill me. Copied by Jez. 04 Sep. 2010]

Few years after Captain Corelli leaves the island, he comes back to the island for Peligia. Things have changed since Captain Corelli leaves. First of all, Lemoni has grown into a fine young lady for no doubt. Further, no one have been seeing Mandras after the same night of Captain Corelli's departure, where Mandras last talked to Peligia. Some say he died of a broken heart. Yet others say he has started a family in Crete, an off-shore island of Greece, and is now a father of three children. The only person who knows the truth, perhaps, is Mandras' mother. However, she remains silent to any question about her son. Finally, The injury from the massive post-war earthquake that hits the island in 1953 slowly blinds The Doctor, Peligia's father. And so Peligia takes his place as a successful doctor of the island. Peligia is surprised to see Captain Corelli's returen. She is overwhelmed with joy. The couple realize that they couldn't live without each other. That night, Captain Corelli plays his mandolin to Peligia until she falls asleep on his shoulder. Then on the same day of the following week, they get married, and Lemoni makes a perfect made of honor.