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Monday 29 November 2010
How capable are you to log off for the holidays? According to a survey done in New York, most people (Americans) cannot manage to take a vacation from their electronic devices on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other days off. A poll of 2,179 people by Harris Interactive in early November showed that more than half of American workers check their email on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and other holidays. About 6 in 10 working Americans check their email at least once during holidays, with 55% percent saying they do it daily, and 28% admitted to checking multiple times a day. Nevertheless, most "damningly," suggested by the survey, is that 1 in 10 respondents admitted to checking email at the dinner table, in the presence of family members. Moreover, the study also found that 67% of men logged on during the holidays whereas only 50% of women did so.
Personally, I think the study has smeared the situation in which many people seem to stay "logged on" during the holidays. I believe, as me, myself, is an example, that many people, particularly workers, would stay tune on their jobs through the internet even during the holidays. I am not yet a worker. However, due to our school communicate with students through emails, I check my email multiple times a day. I also check my email with the presence of my family members, but I am not discouraged by the words "the most damningly," which the study uses to describe such behavior. I check my email during holidays as well, maybe not as often as work/school days, but I do. Personally, I only think this as a doing my job of keeping track on my work. Sometimes I do homework on holidays, and I know that I am not the only person who does so. The reason for this, is not to avoid family times, well, not usually, but to use the time provided by these holidays to do things that only work/school days won't be enough time to get them done. Also, the fact that more men logged on during the holidays than that of women do may just because that there are generally more men are involved in business than that of women do.
Anyhow, the survey shows that 42% of respondents said they believed that "staying up to date eases their workloads once the break is over." But Mattew Ingram at Gigaom suggests that staying plugged in "can also suck you into a vortex of work that leads to even more emails." If you have a Facebook account, you might actually agree with Ingram's point. I had a basketball game against another school yesterday. Our team won the game, so everyone were all excited about it last night. As soon as I opened up my Facebook page, I got 3 notifications, all for the posts on the Girls' Basketball Team Group. I replied some of them, because I myself, indeed, was also very excited about the victory. Then, immediately, another 3 notifications popped up. This time, they are for the comments on my posts, and people liking my posts. This urged me to reply the comments, and so I did, commented back. Finally, I spent an extra 10 (or more) minutes on Facebook. I was drawn into a vortex of replying comments on Facebook.
As a result, "About 6 in 10 working Americans check their email at least once during holidays." So what? It is not the end of the world. It is just a trend in people's living style as more people put emphasis on their businesses and jobs. Besides, according to the survey, 19 percent of the respondents actually said that they were grateful for the distraction that checking email brought from family time. However, I do suggest us all to spend as more time with our family as possible because who knows when are we going to miss them eventually?
Reference:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20101126/cm_theweek/209679;_ylt=Al4F.x3F6kBoengBkpf_.br9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJoZmw1YmpuBGFzc2V0A3RoZXdlZWsvMjAxMDExMjYvMjA5Njc5BHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3doeWNhbnR3ZWxvZw- [Yagoo! Opinion. Why can't we log off for the holidays? Nov. 26 2010. Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc.]
Saturday 20 November 2010
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.
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.
Reference:
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fea_fashion_fur [Yahoo News: Fur makes a comeback - with more humane claims. © 2010 The Associated Press.]
- http://adland.tv/content/shock-tactics-big-picture [Image: Shock tactics, the big picture. © 1996-2010 Adland.]
Saturday 13 November 2010
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:
- http://www.thesharkguys.com/lists/top-10-pissed-off-primate-and-murderous-monkey-movies/ [Image: Chimpanzee. The Shark Guy. © Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada]
Thursday 4 November 2010
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.
Reference: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.
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11686303 [BBC News. Invisiblity cloak close with flexible 'metamaterial' BBC © MMX. Last Updated at 4 Nov. 2010.]
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