Login/Join

Posts by

A Plot in the Korean Gardens

Discussion by: sng on Wed, 2010-05-26 18:40 with 0 comments

The Kissena Corridor Park is located at the heart of a residential area in Flushing, and very close to the larger Kissena Park and the Botanical Garden. The Kissena Corridor Park is spacious and contains a large amount of trees. Within this park are also several playgrounds. Across the East West School of International Studies, where is park is located, one can see directly into the many basketball and baseball courts and a big track field. One can also walk along the park's borderline as one walk across Colden Street. There is also a community garden inside the park, and where elder people plant a variety of species used in popular cuisine. 

 

A Review of Evoke

Discussion by: sng on Thu, 2010-04-29 20:38 with 0 comments

 

A few weeks ago, I became an agent

on in a global network of social innovators. Urgent EVOKE: A Crash Course in Saving the World opened on March 3, 2010. It’s supposedly a game, a social network of innovators, and a open forum for ideas, all in one. It was designed and is directed by Jane McGorigal for the World Bank Institute.


The Beginning of a New Game

A comparison of Civilization IV with Ayiti-"he Cost of Life"

Discussion by: sng on Fri, 2010-02-12 10:59 with 1 comments

Civilization IV is a strategy game where the player has  the opportunity to create a civilization and dominate the world through a variety of ways. The game-play is interesting and sophisticated. For example, the player can choose from dozens of civilizations to start with and then found new cities in a map. Then, one must build its civilization from scratch by developing new technologies, organizing an army, build important infrastructure in cities, explore the map, make diplomacy with neighbor civilizations including trade bargaining, develop own territory and exploit resources. But at the same time, one needs to manage the economy and political system of the civilization as well as determining religion and social practices, and prevent barbaric invasions. There are even corporations and espionage practices.

2010 Haiti Earthquake

Discussion by: sng on Mon, 2010-01-25 11:04 with 0 comments

Recently in English we've been studying about the 2010 Haiti 7.0 Richter-scale earthquake that devastated the country. At first, I thought that the earthquake was not very serious and that the Haitian government would be able to handle it successfully. However, soon I learned that I was utterly wrong, especially after the discussion in class, where some videos from the website democracynow.org were shown to us, and the images were shocking. The reality was so tragic and disastrous. When I saw the report from democracy.org, I witnessed death and chaos. I have no words to express the disaster I perceived at the time, but I surely felt I deep and tremendous sorrow, not only for the Haitians that were facing such a fretful tragedy but also for humanity ongoing suffering and struggle.
In the image below we can see houses totally devastated by the earthquake. The shabbiness of the houses made the situation worse.

 

Is freewill an illusion?

Discussion by: sng on Sat, 2009-11-28 02:20 with 0 comments

Behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner have once shocked psychologists around the world with the argument that freewill is an illusion, or the idea that we are not masters of our mind. Skinner published his argument in a book titled "Beyond Freedom and Dignity," where his ideas are supported by landmark experiments on animal behavior and which were generalized to support claims on human behavior. Skinner argues that human behavior is governed by conditioning and the effects of reinforcement. This also conform the basis for the once leading field in psychology, behaviorism. However, recent advances in imaging technologies and the studies revealed by neuroscience gave rise to a renewal on theories about consciousness, which are totally contradictory to those of behaviorism.

The claim that human behavior is all the consequences of precedent events is really a painful point for most people as it throws away the meaning of decision and control. Actually, this view must be wrong because there are things that cannot be defined correctly and satisfyingly as associations to past events.

Response to the Podcast "In Arizona Town, Main Street is a Border Crossing"

Discussion by: sng on Mon, 2009-10-19 20:53 with 0 comments

  What I noticed most about, " In Arizona Town, Main Street is a Border Crossing," was the continuous and rigurous inflow and outflow of Mexican immigrants. Everyday a lot of Mexicans enter and leaves the United States as if they were just going to the corner of their neighborhood to shop in the supermarket. Also, this inflow of immigrants provides the region's job supply, which is almost exclusevely dedicated to agricultural labor.

   When the podcaster said, "When I'm 12 years old, my mom, she send me to buy, like, beans, like, potatoes that she pulled in the United States," I thought it was very nice that someone can go to another country to buy trivial things such as food for cooking; it should be a good experience for him to do that.

What is the Universe In Reality?

Discussion by: sng on Sat, 2009-10-17 23:18 with 1 comments

Today, even a 5 years old kid knows about the universe. Everyone would agree that the universe is the space outside our planet, for some it is just the stars and the darkness in the sky. Yet, we know so little as to what the universe is in reality. Physicist around the world theorize that the universe is expanding, that it contains something called black energy, and that we might live in some giant void, but what is the meaning of all this with relation to the existence of the universe? What is the true nature of the Universe? This seems simple questions that someday some astronomer would come to answer, but they are not simple at all and the answer is beyond the knowledge of any living human in the present and in the past.

Korean Gardens Interview Activity

Discussion by: sng on Wed, 2009-10-14 10:18 with 0 comments

Students from East West School of International Studies went on to document Korean Gardens in Flushing, NY. They were able to make some interviews on the people working there. The objective of the interview was to practice interviewing people in the neighborhood and to take pictures of the place. Most students did a very good job getting to talk to the people there and asking them questions. I was in a group with three other people, and I was the photographer. I took a lot of pictures of the surroundings. This project was based on the neighborhood, a preparation for a bigger project called Mapping Main Street.

Syndicate content