Last blogging

•What did you like about it? What didn't you like about it?


To know about other classmates' opinion was interesting, especially  some of them who I don't talk enough in the classroom. However, as the topics were usually related to the textbook, it sometimes sounded boring. 




•What did you learn from participating in this project?


The first thing I learned from this project is punctuality. Except first some postings, I've always posted late (even this posting too). Also, I learned it is important to understand others' opinions even if they are not on the same way of me. 




•Should marks be given to this project?


I think so even though I didn't expect good marks :P because this is the assignment we agreed to do at the begging of the course. However, if it is too annoying to check the number of individuals' postings, I suggest you teachers to skip it :-)

online games: 1st question

According to the article, there are a series of serious social problems for teenage online gamers. First of all, some spend more time in front of computers than in front of teachers in classroom because they are addicts and never leave their computer. Sometimes violence included in games makes teen gamers imitate violent or destructive behaviors, even murder or committing suicide. Moreover, they can learn anti-social behaviors through games such as stealing other players' items in the games because they don't regard it as serious as crimes in the real world.

Free posting: Last week

It is the last week in Montreal.
Times goes fast and everything looks new.
I don't think I would come back to Montreal again.
It makes me sad even though I'm going to return my country months later.
Anyway, I'd like to leave without any regrets.
I hope you guys would enjoy your life in your university after this course and dream come true. I say, as a undergraduate student, enjoy the first year :-)

Research Papers

1. How do you feel about your paper? Explain.
- I'm not satisfied with my paper because i didn't get to the goal I planned. I couldn't include every information I wanted to put in. However, the paper itself seems to be logical and well-explained (I hope) so it's all right. In addition, it was a good warm-up project for me because I'll go back to my university soon.

2. If you had a chance to start over, what would you do differently?
- If I had a chance to start over, I would find more information in depth to make the paper more reasonable and logical because it might be an unfamiliar topic to many readers even though the concept based on that topic, the global warming,  is quite familiar.


3. What are some skills you improved in while doing the paper? Explain
- Writing a paper about a specific topic is not new for me. While I was a member of an academic society in my university, I chose one economic topic and made a presentation with a report in front of the members once a week. However, it was the first time to write a paper in English. I still have some problems in writing so it was challenging. It was a good chance for me to improve my writing skills.

"Oh, Great Spirit, keep me from ever judging a man until I've walked in his moccasins."


This statement is warning the danger of prejudice. 

Every moment in which we face with others, we judge them by a lot of factors; appearance, race, sex, education background, experience, and so on. Those factors make people prejudice against others. 

In my opinion, prejudicing itself is not bad. The important thing is how we react to our prejudice or convert ideas into action. For example, if it were developed to the discrimination, it can make problems. On the other hand, if we don't discriminate against others even though we already prejudice them, there is no problem. 

In this world, discriminating against someone or specific group such as the black or the fat can be detrimental to one's own reputation because discrimination is sort of the absurd. Nowadays, whether there have been changed on people's mind, visible discrimination is decreased. I don't know whether this trend is good or bad. 

What I want to point out is that discrimination over prejudice will eventually come back to themselves in any form. 

Population

1. How many children did your grandparents have? What about your parents? How many children do you (want to) have?


- My grandparents on mother's side have four children. I have one sister. I want to have two children. No more than two because it's not easy to afford and look after them.




2. What is the population of your country? What impact does the population have on the quality of life the
re?


- The population of my country is almost fifty millions. We need more population to promote gross domestic product. The population itself is not problem except that but its distribution causes a lot of problems such as housing, congestion, and pollution. Around 25% of population is condensed in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.




3. Has there been a significant population shift in your country from rural areas to urban areas? If yes, what are the consequences?


- Until 1990's, the population of Seoul increased steadily and rapidly. It quadrupled from 2.5million to 10 million between 1960's and 1990's. The first reason people moved was to get better jobs or to provide better education with their children. Consequences? While the economy scale increased, the number of problem in the capital also increased as I mentioned. 

Lullabies for Little Criminal

What phase I liked was reading the book and analyzing it.

Even though I like reading whatever it is (except during the class), 

it is not always easy for me to read English novel and of course, 'Lullabies for Little criminal' was also challenging to read with a bunch of words I didn't know.

However, I found myself entering into the book while I was reading it. 
Moreover, it was interesting to share others' various opinions about the book, not only with classmates but also with readers around the world through Internet.
So, it is natural to realize that there can be numerous thought for one thing. 




+
In life, there are always ups and downs.
This is very simple, easy, and famous saying 
and also very hard to feel and understand the true meaning at the same time


This moving story reminded me of  another maxim, 'Carpe diem'  
from the movie, 'Dead Poets Society'. 

Research Topic

I'm thinking about the agreement among countries around the world to reducing the mount of CO2 commision as my topic. Many people seem to believe that this agreement is just for the conservation of our environment. However, many experts point out that there are other economical and political reasons why rich countries are strongly forcing other countries to join this agreement. I don't know exactly what they mean but I think it makes sense in a logical way and it's worth to find out what's going on globally.

I hope to find the answers of the following questions:
- Why do we have to reduce the amount of CO2 emission?
- Why do some experts think rich countries force the reduce of CO2 emission?
- According to those experts, what's the consequences of this agreement when it becomes a vaild one?
- What are advantages and disadvantages of this agreement for each country? (Especially North America and South Korea)?
- What are available alternatives?

Extended Definition of Happiness

Happiness is a state or feeling that includes contentment, satisfaction, or joy. Happiness is caused by some events which you want to do, hope to come true, or get unpredicted things that you thought it was impossible.

It is not possible to measure the amount of happiness. There is a famous story,"The Prince and the Pauper" written by Mark Twain, which says happiness is relative. Also, there is a famous saying, "Is the glass half empty or half full?", which shows whether you are optimistic or pessimistic. As you can see from those things, happiness is dependent on how you perceive your situation. If you complain about your situation or compare to other people who are in better situation, then the only thing you can get is depression. On the other hand, if you appreciate to what you have or where you are, you can be happy, even though both situation is totally same.

In short, what I want to recommend you is "Be optimistic". This is the fastest and easiest way to be happy.

Position to Skyscraper

For me, building skyscraper is not a good idea even though I live in kind of skyscraper in my country.
Of course, there are some advantages of skyscrapers such as saving land, comfortable to commute and energy-efficient.
However, there are many disadvantages more than advantages and they offset the advantages. For example, building skyscraper can cause a heavy traffic jam because a lot of cars come out at the same time. It is bad not only for residents of skyscraper but also for  residents of suburban. Moreover, skyscraper is not energy-efficient actually because it uses a lot of energy at the same time, which is the main cause of UHI (Urban Hit Island). Because of UHI, people in downtown tend to use air-conditioners more than outside of city.

How about your opinion, guys?

My reaction to the first unit I've learned

 Actually, I'm not interested in engineering subject.

(That's why I chose my major, Economics, which is not related to SCIENCE something)

However, it was a good chance to know about how they build a huge building like the Millennium Tower.

I've lived in 40th floor in such a high building in my country (not exactly like the Millennium Tower)

but I didn't know the core system when it was built. So I like that I know now.

The lesson I learned in this topic is (not from the textbook or the videos) that

it is good to live as low as possible in such a high building

because I don't like to live in which I can't open the window @_@