ANGUS' BLOG

Green HIS

2009-04-23T21:48:00.003+08:00

After reading the article, Yes, They Could. So They Did by Thomas Friedman, I started to think about how could HIS become more ecological friendly.

In fact, HIS is already a pretty green school. As we are a one-to-one laptop school, we hardly use textbook. We learn information and knowledge online. Therefore, we are using less paper and cutting down less trees than other schools do. Even the school news letter is digital. The one-to-one laptop system really saved a lot of trees. However, there are more probable ways to make HIS a greener school.

Green roof is one of the ways that could work for HIS. The campus was built two years ago. There are still lots of empty spaces on the roof that has not yet being developed. Right now, there is nothing on the roof. So we might be able to plant some trees and grass on the roof to turn it into a green roof.

Also, since Hsinchu is known for its windiness, we can install wind turbine for electricity. So we can use electricity generated from the wind turbine instead of the electricity from the electricity company, which will definitely reduce huge amount of carbon footprint.

Moral or Not moral... That Is the Question...

2009-04-23T20:22:00.011+08:00

Is it okay to kill one man to save several?

1. According to this section of the podcast where could morality come from?

You are born with morality. As you gain more experiences, you the morality that is hidden in you will come out. Or morality comes from your parents. Some argue that parents are your role models. You develop your morality and sense of right and wrong through how parents present themselves.

2. Bleachers Morality (what do they mean by this?)

Bleachers morality is just as the devil and the angel in your mind. The devil say, "It is okay to kill." The angel say, "It is not okay to kill." As they are fighting against each other in your brain, your sense of right and wrong is being developed at the same time.

3. Is morality based on biology?

Josh Greene says that morality is based on biology. Morality is embedded on our brains.

4. What do scientists say about this?

In the podcast, the scientists argue that morality innate within us and that morality is based on biology.

The Inner Chimp
1. What was the point of the chimpanzees experiment?

The chimpanzees experiment showed that we human are not so much different from chimpanzees. Chimpanzees share and collaborate with each other. It is also very sarcastic because we human are slowly becoming "individuals". Everyone cares about himself or herself only. People stopped to share and collaborate with each other.

2. How is being humane connected to evolution?

We, human, evolved from chimpanzees and shared same action traits with chimpanzees. Chimpanzees, just like us, are also displaying the characteristic of humanity. They share blackberries with other and collaborate with each other just like human do.

Would you kill the baby?
1. Describe the experiment conducted by Josh Green

Josh Green told the villagers that if their baby have the potential to destroy and kill the entire village and asked them if they would kill their babies to safe the entire village. Over 50% of the villager said they would kill the baby if that really is the story.

2. What are the consequences of the 2 brain areas that are mainly used when humans contemplate difficult questions of morality.

However, I feel that the result of the experiment might not be the same if the scenario is actually true. If the scenario is true, i believe that a lot of people who said they would kill their babies would change their mind, because when they were making the decision of killing their babies, it was all based on their moralities. However, when you are facing the "real" situation, much more than morality would affect your decision such as your emotion.

When does is it start?
1. When do humans begin to get a sense of right and wrong?

Judy Smitona said that humans begin to get a sense of right and wrong when they are at the age of 3 or, more reliable, 4.

2. “Happy victimizer vs empathy” What is meant by this?

Happy victimizer vs empathy is the process when the kids are forming the sense of right or wrong. It is when they started to think in other people's shoes. For example, they started to think that if they hit someone, that person would hurt.

Moral Obligation
1. Describe the 4th grade simulation game “Homestead”

Homestead, a simulation game, is a game to test people's reaction when they are bearing pressure or holding authorities. You are assigned a character and a plot of land. There will be one person who is the most powerful person in the game.

2. What does the following quote refer to: “I don’t want that feeling again”

"I don't want that feeling again", said Dale.

This quote was said by Dale after an accident happened to his friend. When his friend was hit by the car, he did not help his friend, instead he got on the bike and rode away from the accident scene. He felt really bad afterward and was questioned by his friend after he told his story to his friends. This accident changed the way he handle things. If his another friend needs help, he would do anything to help him, because he does not want that feeling of guilty again.

Transition to Openness

2009-04-23T13:13:00.012+08:00

When you were walking into Hsinchu International School (HIS) on February 11th you would be astounded by what you were seeing. The gender binaries were blurred in HIS. Our masculine basketball players shaved their hairy, masculine-symbolizing legs, dressed in mini-skirts, tank tops and put on ear-rings, make up; on the other hand, our girls put on jeans, loose clothes and acted all manly. What was going on in HIS? The truth is that the Student Representative Council threw an event called spiritual week and everyday in the spiritual week had different themes. The theme on February 11th was cross-dressing. In Global Ethics class, Ms. Murthy raised a few interesting questions.

Could playing with cross dressing be healthy and why?

Playing cross dressing could actually be healthy because it not only opens up people's mind but also put them in other people's shoes. When I was cross dressing, I understood that being a girl is actually hard. For example, I dressed in mini skirt and tank top on the cross dressing day. Mini skirts and tank tops are feminine clothes. Although they help girls to express their feminineness, it is actually VERY uncomfortable. When i was in mini skirt, I actually needed to be girly because if I am manly [as usual], I will actually expose myself. Therefore, cross dressing is actually healthy because it makes us understands the situation other people are in. It also makes us respect other people more.

Is cross dressing more difficult for boys or girls and why?

Personally, cross dressing is more difficult for boys, because boys are generally bigger [size] than girls. It is harder to find boy size's girls clothes than girl size's boys clothes. Also, boys are used to big actions such as running and jumping without worrying about exposing themselves; therefore, when boys are in girls' outfits, boys need to be more careful with what they do.

Can gender binaries be blurred? And if so, what are the consequences?

Nowadays, societies are not as conservative as before. People are more and more open to new concepts and ideas. People are becoming more and more open to boys dressing as girls or girls dressing neutral. Gender binaries can be blurred, because people will no longer be blamed for being different. There are positive and negative consequences for blurred gender binaries. Positive effect is that people are more open to new ideas and the society will become fairer for those who are different. In contrast, the negative consequence is that the people's value might be mixed up. People might no longer be able to know what is right or what is wrong since they are so open to other things.

Civic Responsibility

2009-02-22T23:08:00.003+08:00

Education is not only about teaching facts but also developing students into well-rounded thinkers. Part of being a well-rounded thinker is to develop the sense of civic responsibilities. However, the task of implementing democracy in schools is not easy, because the values of civics and the sense of “good” citizens differ every generation. So what exactly is a “good” citizen and how do we incorporate democratic values in traditional academic? The article, Educating the “Good” Citizen: Political Choices and Pedagogical Goals, written by Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne, analyzed values of civics in instructional organizations.

So what exactly is a “good” citizen? A good citizen is someone who tries to make a difference. Someone who tries his or her best to change the world and contributes to the society is considered a "good" citizen. Although how powerless people may feel, they can make a big difference if they simply refuse to give up.

However, the article has different interpretations of “good” citizens. The article says that there are three kinds of citizens. Different kinds of citizens serve different functions in the society.

The first kind of citizen is the personally responsible citizen. This kind of citizen acts responsibly to community by contributing back to the society, for example, volunteering for community service. This kind of citizen is the most common citizen in the society.

The second kind of citizen is the participatory citizen. This kind of citizen participates in as those who actively participate in the civic affairs and the social life of the community at local, state, and national levels. By participating in social affair and organizations would help solve particular community problems or opportunities. It also develops relationships, common understandings, trust, and collective commitments.

The third kind of citizen is the justice-oriented citizen. This kind of citizen has strong sense of right and wrong. They display strong sense of justice. When something in the community is against what he or she believes in, then he or she would tries to address the issue in public and, possibly, do something about it.

Ideas for Innovation

2009-02-08T23:59:00.000+08:00

An excerpt, Ideas for Innovation, from the reading, Enlightened Self-Interest, provides six strategies that could work for superintendents to develop schools into more innovated environments for all students, educators, and administration.

The first strategy is to spur greater parental involvement. The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America believes that the key to foster academic learning and strengthen social capital is through encouraging more parental involvement. However, I disagree with the concept, because I believe that this will only temporarily bring up the students’ academic achievements, but not learning attitude. The academic achievements might be raised because students are forced to study; however, once parents stop forcing their children to do work, students will stop working. I believe that the key to foster academic learning and strengthen social capital is by letting students know how important for them to study and make them study because they actually want to.

The next strategy is to make school smaller to maintain students’ confidence and provide more opportunities for students to shine like a star. I have been to both kinds of school – small school like Hsinchu International School and big school like Sang Ming Local School in Hsinchu, and I totally agree with this strategy. Before coming to Hsinchu International School, I was just a number in Sang Ming Local School in Hsinchu. Nobody cared about anyone. Only thing students do there is to study. Everything changed after I came to Hsinchu international School. A small school, such as Hshinchu International School, encourages students to speak up about different opinions and pursue different experiences. After studying at Hsinchu International School, I became much more confident about myself. Most importantly, I learned more than just how to take tests and memorize facts. I learned how to be a leader, a community contributor and a questioner.

The third strategy is about utilizing community service to foster civic engagement. I believe that utilizing community service is going to raise civic awareness to students. By doing community service, students have the chance to see the reality. By going to places such as hospital allows students to appreciate what they have and furthermore, raise civic awareness to students.

The fourth strategy is teaching civics effectively in schools. They believe that civic skills and civic knowledge are powerful determinants of long-term civic participation. They also believe that civics can be taught; however, teachers should incorporate more activities in the civic course, because civics can be learned by experience.

The most important strategy I thought would be the fifth one - fund extracurricular activities. Funding extracurricular activities gives students opportunities to explore their hobbies and even passions. Students often get valuable experience from extracurricular activities that normal school courses cannot provide.

The last but not least strategy is to model a high school on a community. I totally agree with the last strategy of using peer pressure to trigger improvement. Peer pressure is the strongest force at teenage. However, it could bring both positive and negative effects. Using peer pressure positively will engender great improvement.

What are positive and negative impacts of globalization?

2009-01-21T22:59:00.000+08:00

What is globalization? Globalization is the process of transformation of local phenomena into global ones. It is when different countries start to connect together as a whole. It has brought both negative and positive impacts to the world. Therefore, in this essay, both positive and negative impacts will be presented.

First of all, let us look at what impacts globalization brought to the global economy. Globalization connected the global economy together. For the negative impacts, since the markets are all globally connected together when one market falls, the world’s economy collapses. Let us take the United State financial crisis that is currently happening for an example. The US market turned into a disaster because of sub-primary mortgages and the products derived from them. Financial companies started to give out mortgages without checking people’s credibility. Therefore, people who could not afford mortgages also got mortgages. Eventually, the crisis started because people could not pay for the mortgages anymore. Banks and financial companies have all these houses that people would not buy because no one has the money to afford a new house. Finally, banks and financial companies went bankrupt. US stock markets collapsed. Other countries got affected because the world’s biggest buyer, United State, suddenly stopped buying. World’s economy slowed down and, eventually, the market collapsed.

The second negative effect is an environmental effect. After global economy rose, corporations started to produce more and more, because people started to ask for more. However, in order to produce the most in the shorted amount of time, the factories would have to break the environmental regulations and, of course, care less for the workers. Globalization brought up the global economy and made the corporations have to do things that are immoral and unethical. Most importantly, it is hard to find someone to be responsible for the consequences, because the globe is connected together and “everyone” should be blamed for the consequences.

However, the effects of globalization are not all negative. Globalization has brought up the world’s economy. Countries trade goods with each other. It hastened the trading rate. By trading with each other, knowledge and technologies exchanged and was shared among countries; therefore, the world innovated and improved faster. Globalization not only exchanged ideas and knowledge but also created positive competition between countries.

Finally, I would like to end the essay with some hope. The globe has globalized. There are both positive and negative impacts of globalization. Why not use the positive impacts to try to defeat those of the negatives. Since the global is all connected together, the countries have the advantage to share ideas and solve problems together. The countries could use the connectedness to share knowledge and ideas to solve major environmental and global problems that no one country can solve alone.

In conclusion, I believe that globalization is overall good the world. Although there are some negative impacts; however, the positive impacts could overcome those negative impacts and make the world a better place.

Organic?

2008-12-01T22:36:00.006+08:00

When I was reading one of the chapters, Big Organic, in the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, I asked myself a question. What is up with the word, organic? A lot of people are obsessed with organic products. Everything with an organic title is good: organic vegetable, organic meat, organic soap, and even organic underwear. The price does not matter anymore, in fact, the more expensive, the better. But people are missing the point. What is the purpose of being organic? Are the organic foods all truly organic? In this entry, I would like to discuss about these two questions.

First of all, what is the purpose of being organic? The purpose of being organic is that it is more environmentally friendly and more sustainable. I disagree with this philosophy, because organic foods are not more environmentally friendly. Let us take organic meat for an example. The way to produce organic meat is by raising animals in comfortable environment. But it does not make the process more environmentally friendly. Instead, producing organic meat consumes more energy and uses up more space. The only way to make producing meat more environmentally friendly is to not produce as much meat as we produced. It is all right to eat meat; in fact, we should eat meat. It is part of food chain; however, human have been eating way too much meat that we are actually breaking the food chain.

Secondly, are the organic foods all truly organic? When I was reading a chapter, Big Organic, in the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, I thought of the Enron Scandal. Mission Ranches and Tanimura & Antel are doing exactly the same things as those of Enron. They all lied to the customers. Yes, it is true that Myra Goodman incorporated organic farming into these two farms and started to industrialize. His farming practices, which are resistance and avoidance, strictly controlled different methods to prevent poisonous pesticides and diseases. But the truth is that it is not really environmentally friendly and sustainable, because of energy consumption and cheap labors. Not only that Goodman uses cheap Mexican labors to work but also that the energy consumption for producing organic products is excessively high. Mission Ranches and Tanimura & Antel lied to their customers that they are organic and environmental is just as Enron lied to the shareholders that it is making money but, in fact, losing money.

The article made me re-think about the sustainable business (Yogi House) I researched. I wonder if it is as Mission Ranches and Tanimura & Antel. Maybe they are not truly organic.

Enron: The Stupidest Guys in the Room

2008-11-24T22:34:00.005+08:00

After watching the movie, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and understanding what Enron was doing, I found the title incredibly ironic. What Enron did was surely not the smartest, instead, the opposite, the stupidest. Enrons who committed minor crimes ended up losing their jobs, and Enrons who committed much more serious crimes were imprisoned for over twenty years. No one in Enron had a good ending. The traders lost their jobs and they probably will not find other jobs because of their bad reputations. Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm that faked the accounting fraud, bankrupted. Kenneth Lay, the founder of Enron, died of heart attack before scheduled October 23rd sentence. Jeffrey Skilling, the CEO of Enron, was still imprisoned for his twenty-four years and four months sentence. Looking at the consequences of those people, do you still believe that Enrons are the smartest guys in the room?

Hubris in definition means excessive pride and self-confident. This is what caused the Enron debacle. Enron over-confidently believed that the market will regulate itself. They started to work with Arthur Andersen and fake their accounts, so the investors thought that they were doing incredibly great with energy trading when, in fact, they were losing huge amount of money. Unfortunately, in a free trade market, the market will not regulate itself. Eventually, Enron collapsed.

After Enron collapsed, the price of its stock dropped significantly. What stroke me the most was what Enron did after the whole thing break out. They froze the market to stop the stock price from dropping. No one could do anything to the money in the market except the key players of Enron. Then the key players took their money out from the market! ‘Everyone’ was losing money except the ones who committed crime? I have always stood on the corporations’ sides, because I believed that there ‘must’ be some good corporations; however, I was unable to do so this time. When some of the investors were losing their life savings, the key players were still thinking about their own money?! I would say this was the darkest day in human history. Dark side of human-being was exposed completely.

I am depressed; however, I am more determined. I am more determined about pursuing business career in the future, because this movie made me realized how much a good or bad corporation could affect so many people. I want to be a good businessman. I want to start a good corporation that would actually be beneficial to the world.

Barack Obama Acceptance Speech

2008-11-08T13:39:00.022+08:00

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House. And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics – you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to – it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers – in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

William McDonough & Paul Hawken

2008-11-07T23:27:00.004+08:00

After watching the William McDonough’s talk and reading the article, The Opportunity of Insignificance, from the book, The Ecology of Commerce, which was written by Paul Hawken, my brain cell started to sparkle and make connections again.

In the talk, William McDonough talked about designs. He gave examples of design ideas that could be executed creatively and innovatively: city planning and green roofs. He presented his ideas of how cities should be planned the way that use resources the most effectively. He also has an awesome idea of building farms on roofs, so that roofs become green roofs that help Earth to restore. These original design ideas are astounding and it reminds me of what I learned during the Nike internship experience and the problem that was bothering me when I was in the French world forum. When one of my mentors, Shirley Van, was talking about the history and background of Nike, she told me that one of the most important elements to success is to think out side of the box and creatively, furthermore, most importantly, take actions. However, William McDonough is like the businessman in the French world forum. They all have great ideas of how to change the world but they never actually take actions. The maxim of the French world forum is “Think is good, Act is better”. I really hope that those creative ideas could be well executed in the future.

The article is basically about what a business requires to become a sustainable or a restorative business. Since my senior project is to model a sustainable or even restorative business model in the clothes industry, I found this article would be a very useful reference. The business requires six approaches to be a sustainable/ restorative business.

1. Use locally or regionally products
2. No more companies can say “I am not responsible for the consequences” – Every company is responsible for the consequences
3. No need for government support
4. Do not waste resources
5. Sustainable productions
6. Through education rather than through advertising

After reading this article, I realized that it is not that easy to start a sustainable business and it is very hard to obtain a restorative business.

Qué Recuedo Del Año Pasado?

2008-11-06T15:14:00.001+08:00

La presentación era sobre lo qué recuedo del año pasado. Yo era responsable por hablar del uso del pasado, del vocabulario de la ropa, y de la cultura de Ecuador. La presentación era muy difícil para mí porque necesitaba hablar en español durante la presentación.

Compuse una canción de amor en Español sobre lo que aprendí el año pasado. Pensé que iba a ser muy fácil, pero era muy difícil porque el ritmo y la letra tenían que corresponder. Substituí mi letra en español en una canción francesa. Aunque era difícil, era muy divertido cantarlo delante de la clase.

Why Psycho Geography?

2008-11-06T09:01:00.005+08:00

The article, Why Psycho Geography?, is mainly concerned with the idea of how environment, both constructed and natural, could affect people and the society. Karrie Higgins, the author of the article, gave example of how city planning caused isolation between people. He also mentioned that the environment around us changes the movement and the behavior of people.

When I first read the article, I was on the opposite side of the argument. I believed that the designs and the planning were preventing the society turning into a total chaos. However, after I further investigated in the article, the environment is indeed changing and affecting human movement and behavior.

Can any place be new? Can any place be liberated? My answer for these inquiries in the article would be it is possible but very hard, because I think it is hard for people to not have some kind of prejudice or stereotype to the environment. Whatever the psycho geographers do to the environment, people will always be affected and changed.

Waste Not?

2008-10-06T21:41:00.011+08:00

When I was asked to make connections between the article we read, Waste Not, and my senior project, I was overwhelmed. Waste Not not only connects with my senior project, but also connects with everything we have learned from the very beginning of the Global Ethic course, ranging from the article about Eastern Silicon Valley to the movie Corporation.

Waste Not mentioned how much waste we actual create and also how we waste natural resources. As I mentioned before, my goal for my senior project is to model an environmentally-friendly and sustainable business, or even restorative business. It tights with my senior project because producing products creates tons of waste. How to reduce waste as much as possible becomes one of the most important issues that I need to put into consideration.

Eugene, Dennis and I are thinking to start a sustainable business in the clothes industry. When factories are manufacturing shirts, it will definitely creates wastes. So Dennis' and my parts come in when we need to negotiate with the factory about how they could possibly produce less waste. For example, they could follow the three environmentally approaches, reduce, reuse, and recycle, to lessen the wastes created.

Also, we are thinking to doing everything electronically. For example, instead of having an actual store, we will take pictures of the shirts and put the pictures online. That way everyone could see our production online, and he or she could order the shirts online. So we will reduce the waste we create by using paper to advertise and to do all the filing.

A Thought Provoking Question

2008-09-25T15:47:00.006+08:00

The reading, The Silence of Silicon Lambs: Speaking Out Health and Environmental Impacts Within Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, and the movie, Corporation, unveiled the hidden truth of the business communities' impact on the environment. The reading and the movie also triggered me to further explore my inquiry expedition question, "Is it possible for the business communities to benefit to the society without damaging or causing any negative effects on the environment and the employees". The reason that I wanted to explore the question is my ambition of becoming a businessman. I have always wanted to become a "successful" businessmen who earns a huge amount of money and owns tremendous respect from others. However, having the chance to further explore the environmental impacts which are caused by business communities makes me to hesitate going into business career.

The Concealed Truth

2008-09-15T21:38:00.014+08:00

After reading the article, The Silence of Silicon Lambs: Speaking Out Health and Environmental Impacts Within Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, which was written by Shenglin Chang, Wenling Tu, and Hua-mei Chiu, I was astonished and at the same time depressed. I was shocked because for seventeen years, which is how long I have lived in Hsinchu, I always thought that Hsinchu is the best, safest, and cleanest city I can ever find in Taiwan. However, after reading the article and finding out all of the concealing truth about science park, Hsinchu is apparently not "that" safe, good and clean anymore. Other than the astonishment and naivete of science park and Hsinchu city, I was depressed. The reason I was depressed is that I always wanted to be a "rich" businessman in the future. Nevertheless, the rich companies in the science park and their misdeed made me hesitate about becoming a rich businessman. The article drove me to re-think about the possibility of becoming an "environmental-friendly" businessman, because it seemed to me that it is impossible.

After talking about the surprise, naivete, and depression I experienced after reading the article, I am going to talk about the actual article. Despite all of the pollution and harm the science park has done to not only the environment but also the employees, the government policies impacted me the most. knowing all of the the harmful and hazard damages science park has caused, the government not only did not stopped the companies in science park from hurting both the environment and the emplyees, but instead supported the companies and tried to conceal the truth to the Hsinchu citizens. The most sarcastic part is that the reason for the authorities to hide the truth is that the huge amount of capital the porfitable companies brought to the country and Hsinchu.

The second argument that impacted me is that the reticent employees. There are two kinds of employees. One of the kinds is the well-paid engineers who get high salary and additional stock shares at the end of the year. The other of the kinds is the factory workers who are not very well-paid. Both of the kinds know that they are exposing themselves in a very dangerous and hazadous environment. However, neither the engineers nor the workers are willing to reveal the truth and change for the better. The engineers are not willing to expose the mistakes the companies made is of course because of the high salary. Exchanging health with money to me is the stupidest thing ones can do to themselves. I do not mean money is not important, but the deal is just not a very fair one to make. On the other hand, the low-paid factory workers are also unwilling to lay the truth all out front is because they do not want to lose the job. I never been in a situation where I need to do jobs that I need to expose myself to hazadous chemicals to make money to raise my family, so I am not going to judge. However, it seems to me that it is a common sense that "if" the workers accidently get infected or poisoned by the poisonous chemicals in the labs, and unfortunately died, the family would not only lose a person in the family to make money, but also lose a person who they all loved very much forever.

In conclusion, the article suggested solutions to the problem. However, I am not sure if it is going to work, especially the one that the companies have to obtain environmental friendly rule. I was wondering if the companies are willing to give up profits just to follow the environmental rule and how much less the companies in science park is going to make if they really follow the rules. I really want to explore deeper on the topic in the future.

Ways to Get Rich!

2008-05-13T20:20:00.008+08:00

When ones first came into contact with stock market, ones most likely would be confused by various investing ways like I did. Therefore, according to the famous saying, "Before you want to run, you must learn how to walk." I decided to investigate in different methods of managing money in stock market.

First of all, individual stocks, is probably the most well-known and frequently heard by investors. Individual stocks are possessions of company's capital. A company needs huge amount of money to be able to operate. However, a individual do not have enough money to keep a company running; therefore, he or she needs to go out to look for other people's financial support. When those shareowners have enough money to keep the company operating, they will print their capital into unlisted stockholders and divide them into equal amount of shares for each shareowner. The shareowners can sell the unlisted stockholders they got for the capital to individuals. They also can public their shares into the market. After they give out shares to the market for public to trade, their company became listed company. The listed stocks are what most of the investors own and manage.

ETF, exchanged traded fund, is like mutual fund. The difference is that ETF contains the index companies. For instance, in Taiwan, there is an ETF contains all of the companies that is rated top fifty.

Mutual fund is a collective fund from investors, and the brokers will use the fund to invest in different
types of industries. Investing in mutual fund is less risky than investing in individual stocks, because the fund is separated into different industries. If one industry takes a battering and price suddenly has a vertical drop, the other industries are still up high. The damage is much less than just investing in individual stocks of the industry that had a vertical drop.

Individual Bonds is when a company wants to expand the company; however, they do not have enough fund for the plan. Therefore, they borrow money from the public. For the investors who lend money to this corporation will get interests for the money you lend.

Economic Class Tip No. 1

2008-04-15T19:17:00.008+08:00

Hello! Welcome to Angus's investment class! In this class, I will be teaching you important tips that I learned in the economics class. The tip I am going to teach you today is the timing for buying and selling stocks.

I like to describe investing in stocks as studying psychology, because the rise or down-fall of the price depends on other people. When a lot of people think the the stock price is going to go down, they will start selling stocks, and the stock price will go down. On the other hand, when a lot of people think the stock price is going to go up and start to buy stocks, then the stock price will go up. So investing in stock is like psychology. Understanding of what people are thinking will allow you to get the timing of buying and selling stocks right.

However, you do not buy stocks when other people are buying stocks, instead, you should try to buy stocks when other people are selling stocks. You should try to predict when will the stock price bounce back. The stock price will not always be down; it will bounce back up when the time comes.

Although you know the timing of buying and selling stocks, the final prediction of when will the stock price goes up or down still need to be determined by you. Knowing the tips and making the right decision will help you earn money when people are losing money!

"A stock broker has to be good with numbers and good with people" - The Pursuit of the Happyness.

Grizzly Man

2008-03-16T20:49:00.008+08:00

Timothy Treadwell was an environmentalist who loved grizzly so much that he even wanted to become one of the grizzlies. For thirteen years, he went to Alaskan wildlife refuge on Kodiak Island to protect grizzlies. When he was around the grizzlies, he tried to be part of the grizzlies family; however, ,in the grizzlies' eyes, was he part of the grizzlies family or he was just a game for them?

While I was watching the movie, there is a thing that stroke me. Through Timothy Treadwell's action and monologue in the movie, he seems like a crazy man that totally lost his mind. Because it's almost impossible for a man to become part of the grizzlies. There are people think he was crazy and totally out of his mind. However, nowadays, how many people are willing to give up their jobs, comfortable life and go into the wild life to protect the animals? How many people are willing to sacrifice their lives for the animals? And how many people actually feel for the animals and get so crazy on the swearing words. Timothy Treadwell, a benevolent brave man, who was able to understand the current situation we are in now and react to it. Although the consequence was a terrible tragic... He was definitely a man who deserve to be memorial.

Arctic Tale

2008-03-12T09:57:00.006+08:00

Arctic Tale, a movie that brings all of us back to the reality. The filming crew spent fifteen years to film Nanu's (a polar bear) lifetime. Through the movie, one can see the disastrous consequences (Global Warming) human had caused. In the movie, there are few things that strike me strongly.

The first thing is the passionate filming crew. The directors, Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson, and the filming crew spent fifteen years for this documentary movie. And the purpose of this documentary movie is to make people be aware of what we are doing right now not only destroy our own living environment but also other species' living space. The movie reminds me that I need to be aware that there are other species that live on this planet. Since everything is interconnected, destroying the environment will also affect other species. What there were doing was like what Jane Goodall was doing. They are trying to let other people be aware of the situation we are in right now. The dedication they put into this film is beyond words.

The next thing that strikes me the most is the effects we have on other species. The movie documented that the polar bears were dying because of global warming. Global warming made the ice milt; the strong ice cubes became not as strong as before. So when the polar bears are hunting, the walrus can see exactly where the polar bears are. On the other hand, the walrus drowned because there is no strong enough ice cube that could hold up the entire walrus population. We want a comfortable and convenient life style, so we do what ever it takes to have a perfect life style. However, because of what we want, we attempt to ignore other species that share the same planet with us and do whatever we want. We not only destroy our own environment but also destroy other innocent animals' living space. Why do they have to take the consequences that we caused? They do not deserve to take this horrible situation!

The last thing that strikes me the most is the part where male polar bear attacked female polar bear. What it showed in the movie is totally different from what I read in the book "When Elephants Weep". In chapter four of the book, the author said that the animals also have the feeling of love. The author also argued that the animals mate not just because they want their genes to be passed down. However, in the movie, the male polar bears attack the female polar bears, but when it's the mating season, the male polar bears will stop attacking the female polar bears instead start mating with them. In Jack's reading, the author said that the animals would not attack the same species. Mr. Loken also mentioned that some of the animals would kill their own children for no reason.

Fast Food Nation

2008-03-10T18:07:00.002+08:00

There are two parts of the movie that stroke me the most. The first is the part where the workers peel of the skins of the cows alive. This part of the movie stroke me the most because that actually happens in the real life. I’ve seen a movie that shows the workers in China beat up martens and throw the martens around like the martens are their toys. And the workers peel off the martens skin alive like what the workers in the movie did; I can even see the martens were crying. The reason why the workers in China peel off martens’ skin is because there are people think marten’s skins are beautiful and the warm, and they are willing to buy it from a high price. In comparison, the workers in the movie kill and peel off the cows skin because there are people who like to eat beef. And this group of people is exactly like the people who likes the martens’ skin. Ironically, I am part of this group of people who likes to eat meat. This part of the movie really get me to reconsider about does it worth to kill those innocent animals because I want to eat meat. The other part that stroke me the most is the part about the illegal labors. In the movie, the company used cheap, illegal labors to work for them. The lives of the labors were not ensured, the rights of the labors were not protected, and the amount of the money the labors were being paid was very small. This remind me of the movie “Wal-Mart”. In the movie, Wal-Mart also paid the labors very small amount of money just to declined the price of the products. This also made me rethink about does it worth to sacrifice the poor labors just because I don’t want to buy the fast food in a high price. Overall, the movie was good; however, I would like to watch the other movie that is made by the other side of the people. (The side who support the fast food.) So that can give me different aspect of things we’ve been discussing.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

2008-03-10T18:05:00.003+08:00

The movie, God Must Be Crazy, is based on the comparison of everyday life of the takers and the leavers. The movie starts with an indigenous family live harmoniously. Although they hunt animals for food, they always apologize after they kill the animals. There is no distinction between animals and the human in their culture; they even talk to the monkeys. There is no argument between the family. They don’t even have the word guilty in their language, whereas, the takers that live six hundred miles away from the leavers are being captured by the civilized society. The takers have to start being busy at eight o’clock, stop being busy for fifteen minutes, start pretend being busy again after fifteen minutes. This relates to the concept of captivity in Ishmael. In Ishmael, Ishmael talked about the takers are captured by the survival. The takers have to do what people expected they to do or else they cannot survive in the civilized world. This connection made me think of what we talked about in the class. If Mr. Loken has the ability of sending us back to the leavers’ life, will I want to go back to that time? By watching the movie, I decided I will eject for the offer, because after the indigenous people lost the bottle, the emotion they had on their face, made me felt I will feel the same way too. After using all the high technologies (Laptops, Cellphones, Basketball, Air Conditioner), I will feel so bad when I do not have those technologies that give me a lot of conveniences. Another connection I made while I was watching the movie is the myth Ishmael talked about in the book. The myth of the takers are the best, the takers are different from other creatures that live in this world, the takers are mean to control the world, and the takers are make for saving the world. In the movie, the indigenous people seem do not separate themselves with other animals. When N!xau was talking to the monkey, he doesn’t separate him with the monkey. The indigenous people always follow the law of A’s, B’s, and C’s. They hunt some animals for food, but when they see lion, instead of trying to kill them, they will escape because lions are not their games. Another example of the myth is when N!xau was trying to shoot the animals in the national park. He was arrest for killing the sheep, because the sheep are OWN by the takers. The sheep are the TAKERS’ SHEEP.

Reflection on Wal-Mart

2008-03-10T18:02:00.002+08:00

After I watched the movie, I have few thoughts about it. First of all, I felt I was cheated. Before I watched the movie, I always thought Wal-Mart was so nice and cheap. However, after I learned what we have learned in Global Ethic class, it changed to a totally different view. I never thought of that all of the cheap products were came from all the cheap labors, bankrupt supermarkets, and polluted environment. When I saw the scene they showed about how Wal-Mart polluted the Earth, it made me thought of the Jane Goodall’s TED TALK. In Jane Goodall TED TALK, immoral companies tried to destroy the environment and other indigenous people’s living place because the great amount of the profits from oil. On the other hand, Wal-Mart is the immoral companies who was trying to gain profits from the environment, cheap labor. Wal-Mart used cheap labors so that they can lower the price of the product to make consumers has cheaper products to buy. However, when the consumers were buying products, they never thought of that the low prices were came from thousands of poverty, or even death.(Labors who cannot afford payment from everyday life.) They also lower the price by destroying the Earth. The consumers didn’t realized how much they damage the Earth by buying all the cheap products from Wal-Mart. Therefore, we should really think about how much price were paid for these cheap products in Wal-Mart and does it worth to sacrifice the labors and environment for the low price products?!

Reflection on Jane Goodall

2008-03-10T17:55:00.004+08:00

Jane Goodall started the Ted Talk by discussing a group of indigenous people she visited. This group of indigenous people lived in a place that is concealed from the civilized society. The chief of this village wanted to learn knowledge from the modern world. However, the culture and the environment to the companies were only the peripherals; the most important issue to the companies was the profit. This story reminded me of another Ted Talks we watched. Phil Borges and Wade Davis presented the Ted Talks. There are a lot of cultures that were being effaced by the civilized world. We need to be aware of what we are doing are causing a lot of negative effects on not only us, but also other culture and other species. It also reminded me of the wrongdoing the takers did. After the takers had agricultural revolution, they started to think they are better than other people and what they are doing is the only way of living. Therefore, they started to kill the leavers who were trying to live their own ways of living. Starting from the Fertile Crescent, the takers started killing violently. Until now, the takers are still killing the leavers, who are not living the way the takers want them to live.

The next thing Jane Goodall talked about is the chimpanzee she has been studying on. Her research makes me realized we are not that different from a chimpanzee. Love, a chimpanzee she studied on, shared the common behavior as of a human. Love doesn’t like to make mistakes, if she made a mistake, she asked for one more time to do it. It’s exactly the same behavior as human; we do not like to make mistakes, if we did make mistakes, we asked for another chance to change the result. For example, the Global Ethics homework, if we did not do well on the first time, we will learn from our mistakes and go back to redo it. Chimpanzees also shared other behaviors that human have. They have concepts of family, they love, they communicate, they hunt with high level of cooperation, they feel, they have sense of humor and they have different personalities. They express same behaviors with different type of actions. But overall, we are not that different from a chimpanzee. They also have languages or sounds that can only be recognized by them while they are communicating with each other. Her research makes me thought of the myth that mother culture that is humming in the background. The myth said that we are the best; we ought to control and rule over the world. However, we are not that different from a chimpanzee. Maybe, we are not the chosen one to control the world, we are not the one who can rule over the world, and we are not made for occupation.

The last idea that strikes me the most is all the negative consequences we had made to Earth. Jane Goodall mentioned that we abused our advantages of languages and intelligence to destroy, to harm the world. She also mentioned we were all influenced by the mother culture. However, I believe, we should take the responsibilities and use the advantages we got to save the world, let other people understand the results we had caused, and try to save the world. The reason I said use our power to save the world is not because of the arrogant idea of we are the best. The reason is we have got the power, we should use it positively instead of negatively and harm, the world.

Reflection on Ishmael

2008-03-10T17:53:00.003+08:00

The law in the book made me made connections with mother culture humming at the back and Adolph Hitler in the history. The law Ishmael was talking about created diversity and prevented war with each other in the world. However, the takers had broken the law and had faced consequences for breaking the law, death. In WWII, Adolph Hitler killed thousand of Jews just because he thought his is better than the Jews. It was exactly going against the law like what did the narrator say. The takers exterminate the competitors for their death, which has never done in the rest of the community. The takers had faced the consequences of waging the war between countries and further more it became a world war. The takers had also broken the law by taking more than enough. The takers investigated in agriculture and killed the games (Crops) for food and had killed everyone else (insects) that’s competing for the games as well. The law creates diversity, and the taker had broken the law and had shrunken the diversity. Further more, the takers might wage war between other takers for more land for more farmland and for more games. Another connections I made was the mother culture humming at the takers background. The takers investigated in agriculture and took more than what we needed in the past five thousand years. Best species and most intelligent species was what mother culture telling the takers at our background for the past five thousand years. However, having agriculture was breaking the law by taking more than what we needed. “Maybe” the others on the planet knew how to farm, knew how to plant food. They were just smarter than the takers, they don’t want to farm and break the law to balance whole ecological system.

Economic Class

2008-03-09T23:48:00.006+08:00

Started to investigate in Apple Inc (AAPL). The trend shows that, AAPL always has a huge crash after the Christmas, the hot buying season; however, after the huge decline, started from March, the stock would gradually rise up until the next hot buying season.

Solar Power
Since the energy resources had reached a point where we need alternative energy resources to sustain human lives, solar power is one of the hottest energy resources scientists are investigating in.

Steel
China and India are both developing countries. As countries are developing, they will need tremendous steel to construct infrastructures.

Apple Inc. (AAPL)

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