E - Journal 8

World War III: a struggle for data

Often times, many Facebook users feel a sense of fear when a forgotten friend from their past suddenly appears on the friend suggestion box. How is Facebook doing this? Are they stalking their billion-something users? As suspicious it may seem, Facebook is simply making use of one of 21st century's most significant innovations: big data. Big data initially meant a mass of information too large and complex to process for not just people but also common softwares. However, with development in technology mankind now possess the ability to analyze this overwhelming amount of data to gain information such as behavioral patterns which helps predict future behaviors; and people have coined this technique "big data". Although, this Facebook uses this technique to figure out which user may know another, this is not all there is. Big data has already infiltrated into people's everyday lives as well as foretelling a future that will be helpful for mankind in areas regarding the government, businesses and consumers.

The public sector, also known as the government has the most information and resources to gather data, which also means that with the right big data method, they could easily organize their operation more efficient and serviceable. Regarding efficiency, with their ability to collect and process vast amount data, they could shorten the amount of time it takes for each different sectors to process their given tasks. For instance, repeatedly, citizens are required to fill out a form that they have already written down before in a similar sheet of paper. This is also the case for the government office workers. Many do not have access to the information that other government sectors possess, which naturally leads people to fill in similar information over and over again. Nevertheless, this hassle will be no more once the government creates a system where all the accumulated data can be collected as one, from which different divisions will find the information they need without having to unnecessarily duplicate the same form. Moreover, collecting and sorting out the information also means that the government has much higher chances at actually listening to what the public has to say. A model example of this will be the successful Obama campaign, which has taken advantage of the big data system to figure out the American voters at individual levels and how they reacted to the campaign. From this they analysts were able to discover which messages swayed the electorates more than the others. This was 2012, and now big data has become an essential tool in every political campaign. Like such case, the public sector can improve on their services as well as become more efficient with the introduction of big data.

However, to the economy unless a new technology is linked to philanthropic issues, it means nothing if it cannot bring in capital – fortunately, big data does exactly that. Before all else, it goes without saying that companies could also use some efficiency with the vast amount of data they use and exchange every day, which will eventually lead to a large decrease in operating costs. With big data they could also use customer purchase preferences, feedback or the overall pattern in ever changing trends to predict what the customers want or will be wanting in the future. Netflix is a typical example of such case. What they did was making use of the large information they had on what film their subscribers watched the most without dropping it midway, and which actor appeared the most in successful movies. The answers were "The Social Network" and Kevin Spacey, which resulted in the creation of the series "The House of Cards". Of course there were much more detailed analysis regarding the audience and the films' overall structure but nonetheless, currently, this series is facing its fifth season with about 5 million viewers. However, the number of views is not the main focus. The most crucial fact is that this allowed Netflix to attract more subscribers who are in the end another potential market of many other programs and films for Netflix. In other words, big data means money. With the right means of data analysis, any business could efficiently use their money and time to create a product that will at worst sell but not fail.

In hearing this, in the eyes of consumers, it may seem like companies or even the politicians are making profit out of their actions, but the society only works when there are profits on both sides. First of all, it is important to remember that if the government and producers are focusing on what the consumers like and want, that means that buyers will have a larger selection of goods to choose from, as well as public services that are constantly fixing its errors to the needs of its citizens. Here, public services do not just mean quickly fixing broken street lamps or filling threatening dents on the road; it also includes access to information regarding health or education that allows individuals to assess or learn themselves, as well as better traffic system according to busy hours. An even more surprising area of improvement is the work of the police. The government could detect words of distress from social network activities, or even swiftly give out information under emergencies and disasters. Plus, consumers can more easily be informed on information regarding greener companies before purchasing products. When in comes to businesses, people are already make well use of smartphone applications or online services that have implemented big data. This include the Google Map or the Naver Map which allows its users to reach destinations while avoiding traffic. Other programs include apps or websites that provides collective information on selective products such as plane tickets, hotels, restaurants and clothes, which compare prices from different sources. Such public and private services help consumers, in the end, make a better, efficient decision for themselves.

A mere Facebook friend suggestion is nothing to be surprised about when big data has and will improve people's lives in areas such as the public sector, business and consumption. Although there are still sensitive issues in regards to invasion of privacy, if these problems are to be secured, the future of big data seems infinite. Napoleon once said that "War is 90% information". If war equals winning and surviving, then the war of this and the future era will surely be fought with data. More the merrier; bigger the better. Big data is the modern weapon of success.

#3 Ways for a Sustainable Future

Plastic Society: a Murder-suicide

One million – this number is not a population of a city, or the amount of money a person needs to buy an apartment flat in New York City. One million is the estimated years it could take for a simple plastic milk container to decompose. In a world full of ephemerals this may seem like the best material to use on banknotes or to create phone cases. It certainly seems that way with almost all items in everyday use made of plastic, such as packaging, computers and even clothes. However, for the sake of convenience, people are slowly destroying the world through plastic. If mankind hopes to create a sustainable future, recycling is not enough; they need to stop abusing plastic, for it brings detrimental consequences to the environment, marine life and even mankind themselves.

In truth, people have long been aware of the fact that plastic has negative impacts on the environment. They have, for several decades, been educating people to “reduce, reuse and recycle”. However, what they need to know is the consequences of making plastics. The production of plastic spends a lot of oil – about 10% of all the oil produced, and since the creation of plastic in 1907, the use of plastic has increased over 3000%. This not only means that oil is becoming depleted at a faster rate, but also that the oil industry has partaken in increasing greenhouse gas emissions which are created during the production of plastic. In other words, plastic is polluting the air. On this matter, one may consider recycling as its solution, but they could not be more wrong. Not all plastics are recyclable, only type 1 and 2. Even those that can be recycled is only used for about 30% of the new plastic, the rest being completely remade. Another fact that should be brought to one's attention is what happens when plastics do not decompose. Apart from the fact that plastic buried underground will stay under for what may seem like infinity to an average human life span, it transmits its harmful chemicals to the groundwater and reservoirs, which in turn, naturally effects plant life. Moreover, not everybody throws away their plastics in the right places. Many tend to neglect their duty as a plastic user to keep their trash in the trash bin, but instead discard their plastic wastes wherever they may please. Eventually, these plastics find their ways into the Ocean. In fact, it has been discovered that in the middle of the Pacific Ocean there is a patch of plastics the size of Europe. This, like every other plastic waste, will release harmful chemicals into the water, contaminating one of mankind’s most important resources. Thus, it becomes apparent that plastic destroys the environment.

It would be as horrifying as it is with plastic devastating the environment, but unfortunately, plastic also destroys marine life. One of the ways that plastic tramples on the oceanic life is through fishing nets. These nets, like gigantic ice bergs, float around the oceans’ surface, while dragging its large body under water acting like a trap for marine animals as well as breaking off corals. The fishing nets, regrettably, continue to circulate the ocean current constantly choking the ocean floor. Another way plastic destroys marine animals is through plastic’s harmful chemicals. People are aware of how injurious theses chemicals can be. Hence, they choose not to eat plastic or drink hot water poured in plastic bottles. However, animals cannot choose. When plastic wastes are broken down by nature into tiny pieces, some even as tiny as plankton, they will and are being consumed by birds and marine animals. In case of birds, many have died due to guzzling plastic wastes, including baby birds that were fed with these synthetic materials. The situation is no different for the marine animals. In fact, pieces of plastic have been appearing in the bellies of fish sold in daily markets. In addition, earlier this year in Germany, the stomachs of sperm whales contained giant fishing nets, a car engine cover and many other plastic goods that should not be inside a living creature. Although this has not directly led the whales to their death, it is the unavoidable truth that marine animals and birds are becoming a victim to the convenient human life style of plastics.

Unfortunately, plastic consumption is not only entitled to marine animals but also people themselves. With marine animals eating pieces of plastics, some broken down into a molecular level, it seems obvious that people will consume plastic with fish or water as their medium. However, there are other means. One of the harmful chemicals of plastic is bisphenol A (BPA). BPA was at first created for birth control, but was deemed not effectual and thus, was shelved. However, with time it was discovered that the chemical had the ability to harden plastic. Since then, BPA has appeared in many plastic products. The peculiar fact about this chemical is that it can be absorbed through skin, receipt paper being one of the most popular BPA mediums. However, as a hormonal chemical mimicking estrogen, when BPA is consumed it may cause breast cancer, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. It is also considered as the reason for the faster development of puberty on children. Apart from BPA there are phthalates, vinyl chloride, dioxin and styrene which are all considered to be a possible catalyst in creating cancer, as well as disrupting the human reproductive system permanently. In other words, through contact or consumption of plastic materials, people can and will die.

In order for mankind to have a future, a sustainable one where nature, animals and their future generations can survive in, one of the very first acts they need to carry out is to stop depending on plastic. Forget recycling; they need to look for ways to successfully deal with the current amount of plastic circulating the world and replacements that is bio-degradable without harming the ecosystem. If they do not make an escape from the plastic society they live in and recognize the immediate issue regarding plastics at hand, they will not only end up suffocating the earth but also their own life. It will become a world-scale murder-suicide, a plastic bomb as the murder weapon.

#2 The Perfect Place to Burn Books

Streets filled with earsplitting horns and angry shouts are gone, only to be replaced by the deafening silence filled with nothing but pure white. Through the silence the skyscrapers are buried in snow, like monuments once worshiped for their glory. This is a scene from the apocalyptic disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow (2004). Unlike most big scale disaster films, instead of running away from the calamity, few of the main characters spend most of their time staying inside the New York Public Library. As horrifyingly boring as it may sound, this movie cannot be complete without the library as its setting, for it holds a certain significance in geography, its character and its implications.

In order to fathom the importance of the New York Public Library’s geographical factor, it is important to understand what kind of a disaster was unleashed in The Day After Tomorrow. In the film, due to Global Warming the polar ice had begun to melt, altering the North Atlantic current. This, in turn, brought abrupt climate changes including a giant tsunami in New York and a snow storm on northern parts of the earth. The storm froze everything in its path, also freezing New York with the flood. This was the start of a new Ice Age for the human race in the film. From here, it is crucial to note that an essential ingredient for large scale movies such as this needs to be bigger and scarier to heighten the apocalypse’s horror. Therefore, it is necessary for the disaster to strike a crowded city with tall buildings and iconic structures, so that the audience can watch their favourite monument fall onto the millions of people running away. In other words, what this American movie needs is a highly populated metropolis in the northern areas of US facing the Atlantic Ocean with a famous tourist attraction. If so, New York City is its perfect fit. The city, with its iconic Statue of Liberty, is currently the most populated city filled with 8.1 million citizens in the US. It is also decorated by skyscrapers that will help the tsunami look even more fearsome in comparison. Fortunately. New York City’s public library happens to be another iconic building in New York, maybe not at the right time but certainly at the right place.

However, one can question why it has to be the New York Public Library out of all the buildings in the city; and that is because of the characteristics the building holds as a library. First of all, in the freezing weather, fire power was the most important factor in survival within the movie. In a modern world without a flood that froze instantaneously, people can easily find heat wherever there is electricity and sunlight, but in this case that was not possible. What those survivors needed were  materials to keep the fireplace burning, and what can be better than books? As the fourth largest library in the world, it is plausible to say that the NYPL had more than enough books to burn. Secondly, with no cellphone service available in the city, the old library building built in the 19^th century had pay phones that gave one of the characters the chance to call for help. Moreover, with its old architecture design, unlike many edifices in the metropolis, it does not have walls made out of windows that loses heat or shatter easily compared to a thick stone wall. In other words, NYPL is a place that has fuel, a phone that works and protection from the cold – all three in one monumental building.

It is clear that the New York Public Building has the suitable geographical element and characteristics, but an even important factor to make this building significant is what it represents. One can say that library has records of the past, present and future of mankind. It tells the history of civilizations; about how they have constantly desired for more and developed as a result. Nevertheless, by scrutinizing the planet for their infinite greed, in the end they brought destruction upon themselves. Thus, in order to save their lives in this man-made catastrophe, they choose to burn the record of knowledge that men acquired through sacrificing the planet. This plays an ironic role in the movie. Men destroying their own history to have a future. In other words, the books in NYPL represents the greed of human beings, while the ritual of burning the books represents what those beings need to do to have a future – they need to put a stop to their selfish acts. It is time for them to start thinking of a way to coexist with the planet. This is whatThe Day After Tomorrow is trying to express to the audience by choosing a library among all the beautiful architectures in the city of New York.

In the motion picture, The Day After Tomorrow, the New York Public Library is not just a place to search for books but a perfect building in the right place, with the right characteristics and with the right significance to start and finish a story. The New York Public Library is no more just a place to read books but burn them – burn them into one’s memory. Read the mistakes to create a better future. It is now time to choose the first book to burn.

#1 As Selfish Beings - on Tourism

Oftentimes mankind is incapable of putting others before themselves even over their littlest comfort. This is especially true when their help brings no immediate changes or directly influences their community. Unfortunately, such ignorant and selfish acts have not only victimized their own kinds but also the world they exist in: the Earth. One of many ways that the human race has devastated the planet is through tourism. In their perspective this may be a means of entertainment acquired through sacrificing a fraction of their wealth, but in actuality they are sacrificing their own natural resources such as water, air and land.

 One might wonder how groups of sightseers on a tour can devastate one of the biggest natural resources, water. In truth, when a mass of population gathers at a single place it is inevitable for their garbage and the necessary accommodations to follow, which will, in turn, ruin the earth’s water supply. These accommodations include transportation. Apart from the amount of human waste sent into the sea that will increase with the number of tourists, transportation such as colossal cruise ships or tour ferries will add to the filth. Ships not only discard human waste but also toxic lubricants. In fact, the topic of water pollution caused by Antarctica tour ships is still an issue at hand. In 2007, because of the Antarctica’s peculiar icy climate, a cruise ship, the MS Explorer, crashed into an ice berg and sank. Inside the Explorer there were about 56,000 gallons of pollutants all together. This not only left the body of water in danger but also the 2,500 penguins who habitats the area. In the case of Antarctica, there were only penguins, but in the cases of thousands of already polluted beaches it is the people who will have to face the consequences. As tourism continues to grow more popular among people, water will no longer be safe or be available for the future generations.

Another natural resource in a dire situation is the air that people breathe in. Not surprisingly, many tourists prefer airplanes as their means of travel, since they are the fastest transportation available to the public. However, as planes burn fuels to fly, carbon dioxide is continuously emitted into the air, which is known to be the main catalyst for the Greenhouse Gas effect, which is regarded to be the cause of the many bizarre climate changes occurring around the world. In fact, the International Civil Aviation Organization stated that the number of international travelers is predicted to rise to 1.6 billion by 2020. In addition, planes are not the only transportation that tourists utilize. They also tend to take cars and buses to journey through cities and clusters of countries. In fact, according to Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 70 percent of all tourists use cars as transportation, while 40 percent of tourists use airlines. Thus, if such air-polluting tendency in tourism continues without an eco-friendly alternative, the atmosphere will only persist to become polluted along with shortening the life span of the blue planet.

With the downfall of water and air through tourism, the mother earth is also at jeopardy. First of all, in order to create more space for hotels and resorts or to support the growing number of population in the area, many forests are eradicated. Regrettably, as many are aware, vegetation not only plays a vital role in purifying the air but they also hold the soil together, preventing them from drying up and blowing away. However, once the hold is gone the soil is ruined and with a bit of rain or a quake, a natural disaster like a landslide can easily happen. Additionally, a healthy empty terrain can turn into a landfill overnight due to the growing number of populations; and the garbage at the site will take at least 100 years to decompose. Notably, Jeju Island, with its increasing popularity among tourists, it now has 10 landfills to match the incoming waste. In this regard, it is necessary to understand that the toxic waste from the dump locations can easily seep out into the ocean or even into the underground water that people use every day. In other words, the earth spoiled by tourism will eventually lead to influencing other natural resources mentioned previously. This is unavoidable for they are all part of the earth’s eco-system.

At the beginning, it was mentioned that tourists are not just sacrificing their money but also the natural resources – water, air and land. However, it is important to conclude from the points stated above that by being ignorant for the sake of pleasure, mankind is not sacrificing something else but, in fact, themselves. The environment may wind up with scars but it will be the human race that faces its own end. It is as the English author David Mitchell has said - “in an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.”

My Self-introduction for the Intermediate English Reading & Writing (01)

Hello fellow classmates, professor and possible internet strangers.

As you can see on the title this is supposed to be a self-introduction post, which I have no idea how to start or how to continue. So, for the sake of anonymity, know me as the Procrastinator.

Let me start this self-proclaimed self-intro from which point in life I am situated on currently. I am a freshman at a woman's university in South Korea but turning 22 this year in November. There were some complications in my life that had brought me this 3 year delay in entering a university, and unfortunately this is not the end. However, since I am very uneducated about the boundary of "too much information", I will not go further into my complications-to-be.

Anyway, one of the 3 years of delay was caused by my family and I leaving to a country called New Zealand in my 5th grade. Long story short, my father had a sabbatical year there, my mom and I liked the country, so us two stayed even after Father's sabbatical year was done. And of course, my father went back to Korea. However, after a while I realised how terrible I was in Korean in terms of writing, so after four years I decided to come back. Once back home, we were worried about my education, so instead of enrolling as a high school freshman, I enrolled in middle school third grade.

Next, my two years of delay was caused by me studying extra years after graduating high school to study the Korean SAT (is what I liked to call it). Those were some tough but worthwhile years.

Many people ask me if I regret coming back to Korea. And I would be lying if I said that I never regretted that choice. However, more often, I am glad that I came back here to find my true Korean colours. Or else, I think I would still be a kid in mind, just blindly following a path that I don't see. It's not that I'm all mature, already foreseeing a future that I want to lead; It's just that I like who I am becoming here, and enjoy just being able to see the next step I wish to take.

And that step is for me to read, write, experience and enjoy life. It sounds all blend and corny now that I have sugarcoated this post into some positive self-help kind of thing. Don't worry I have my dark sides. In fact, they are so pitch black that I'm practically bipolar. But as I mentioned before, I have no idea how personal this should be, so I will stop here. Just know that I am a girl who enjoys reading, writing, drawing, singing horribly, day dreaming, walking and being weird. I am always ready to meet new people and do strange things.

Nice to meet you and goodbye for now.