The World is Flat, yo

Before anything else, Valenth.
Uraraka, Freddie, Abigail, Talstag, Silent Rose, Phoenix, Izo. Just click on links to feed.



When I picked up this book, I figured that it would be just another boring book about world economics and how to benefit in this world. I found exactly what I expected and much more. Thomas Friedman’s book enlightened me about the world as it is today: not as it was as I expected in Globalization 2.0, but in the grips of Globalization 3.0. Even though many of the business and economic concepts in the book are foreign to me, I realized that I am vastly undereducated in acquiring a job in a flat world. Science and technology will be the new platforms on which the future rests on, as well as individuality. I witnessed this effect for myself while reading this book.
This winter break, I took a trip to Suzhou, China to visit my family. My cousin had worked for a government firm that required financial management skills. Once he became adept at his profession, he quit the company and started his own business. He is now the financial advisor of my uncle’s steel factory and outsources grunt work to people on the other side of the globe. Ten years ago, my cousin’s destiny was probably set as just another agrarian farmer, but with the enhancements in technology and communications in Globalization 3.0, the world has been flattened and my cousin can now command a business from the laptop he carries around with him. All he needs are the imagination and the skills to put that imagination to use. As his business expands, he tells me that he plans to expand his services not only to local firms, but to companies across the globe.
This fact makes me ponder just what the right type of education these days is. The self started businessman and technology worker described in the book cannot be for everyone as there will simply be not enough demand for these services. While most of the population must and will go into the grunt jobs of data processing and number crunching, it makes me wonder if we are being educated in the most efficient way. Should my occupation be set in stone before college so that I can receive the best possible education for my future job? This would allow greater specialization of the individual so that the lower and upper level jobs can be more quickly and efficiently. Yet if this is done, people like Mimi Shirazu-Hiza would have never come to the front picture and her research would have never happened. Such is the gambit the government must take if it would vertically upgrade the labor in the nation.
I also realized that there is a wealth of information out there and that it’s mostly in books or educated online resources. It really surprised me that my friends would rather watch Glee or Korean dramas on an internet site than sit down and read a juicy book. As the internet grows, it will attract more and more of the younger generation into mindless activities that eat up time. I think that without internet, I may lose the connectivity with the world that everyone else is enjoying, but in its place I gain a working environment like no other: one free of distractions and full of information from paper. While current, updated news is beyond my fingertips, reliable information is still available to me. Friedman also notes that reading more will help one to write better. While in our English curriculums we read notable works of literature, often it is not enough to encompass the wide variety of knowledge in the world. As I wander the Iolani library, many books lay waiting on the shelves. Yet many of them will never be touched by students, who spend their time browsing a different shelf, the internet. I am afraid what will happen to us Iolani students as we graduate into a world that is increasingly favoring those with the right kind of knowledge.

My Poor Lunch

Before anything else, Valenth.
Uraraka, Freddie, Abigail, Talstag, Silent Rose, Phoenix, Izo. Just click on links to feed.

TURN THE SOUND UP.

As we all know, my luncheon diet consists of two musubis and a bottle of V8. But these are no normal musubis. Within are contained rice, cheese, spam, kim chi, and an occasional dash of mustard. While the contents may seem convoluted (especially the cheese), the musubi on the whole is actually quite succulent.

Ocean Science Bowl is an event that I partake in every Thursday with Secret Operative 1, Secrete Operative 2, and Secret Operative 3. Meetings are at the secret OSB headquarters that nonmembers are not allowed to breach without permission.



Isn't Secret Operative 2's laugh cute? Or is it evil?

While at headquarters, I discovered a sizable hole in one of the transport carts that was just large enough to accommodate one of my musubis. Yet to my surprise, the musubi fell through. The weight of the musubi pulls it down, and since there is no cart part under it, there is no normal force. Therefore the net force is down and the musubi accelerates downward. The musubi does not fall immediately as the kinetic friction between the plastic armor and the side of the hole absorbs energy, making the fall slower. When the musubi is struggling though the hole, it has gravitational potential energy that is converted to kinetic energy as it falls. After the musubi falls to the second level, I have to do work by lifting the musubi up to the hole again, thereby repeating this gruesome phenomenon.

Just Another Link

Dhur

So once again, Richard and I decided to go and ravage doc!'s room Saturday afternoon. We actually got more done there than before, and the Androoh had to come and ruin everything. So when we were done doing all the work we could have done, we needed to call our parents. But the batteries in our phones conspired against us and went dead at the same time. Therefore we needed to use the dreaded pay phone. Obviously, Androoh was forced to pay and call my parents. So after calling, we forgot to put the handset back onto the receiver, so it was left hanging (no pun intended).

Hao Chen's in love! (not with richard or androoh)

Um. So the cord and the receiver are experiencing both uniform circular motion and simple harmonic motion as it is traveling in a circular path with a net force directed radially inward of magnitude mv^2/R and the restoring force is gravity. The receiver has the maximum velocity at its equilibrium position: the lowest point of the swing. That's it for now. These weeks are so abnormal its insane. If you read closely, you'll see what I mean.

Like a Drospohila

Yesterday afternoon, I stayed after that horrendous test (R^2 people!) to go to that presentation by Iolani alumnus Mimi Shirasu-Hiza. While all that lecture about circadian rhythm and immunities relationship went over my head, I did pick up several helpful hints about life.
Mimi eradicated many of the awkward assumptions of what a scientist was. A scientist can be short. A scientist doesn't have to be obsessed. A scientist does not have to be an old geeky man without any outside interests. And the fact that your life can take a totally different path from what you expect. When Mimi was in high school, she wanted to become a writer. But a summer research program that doc! sent her to changed her life.
I suppose that even though I have no idea what I will do in the future, I should not pressure out so much. Especially for those of you who think that you have no passion, there is still plenty of time to find something that you really enjoy. Try new things, take a risk. Because discovery is immortality.

Oh look! A 3and 1/2 of hearts! WHUT!?!?!?









On a lighter note, thanks to the efforts of one of the semi-homeless, it is snowing in doc!'s room! Preposterous, you say, but this is the kind of weather that the mainland has been experiencing since October, for some people. I say semi-homeless because she has not yet to date stayed until the homeless shelter closed. They're so lovely!

Burgers

Not too long ago, I was sitting at autoline waiting for my parents to pick me up, when some people drove up in a red car and handed me a bag full of burgers from McDonalds. Being the bored little child I was, I ate six burgers and piled the remaining three on my physics paraphernalia. And look! The stack is in static equilibrium as it does not move anywhere. The net force in the x direction and the net force in the y direction are both zero, as well as the net torque. A passerby flailed in amazement at the awkward position of the burgers and their mind was blown by the amazing physics behind the concept. I hope you are not. By the way, I ate all those burgers afterwards, so none for the freeloaders.

It's Over!

So this Tuesday, we had our final marching competition for the 2009 season. Now I won't have to lug that noisy podium that Cole needs to fix to all the rehersals. Sadly, when we went to competition, we did pretty well, even though we practiced about a fourth of the time the other people did. The only bad thing was watching Moanalua pwn everyone with their show.

Part of a marching band is the color guard, which are a group of people who use their dexterity to manipulate flags, rifles, sabers, and such to the amazement of the audience.

Look at that salute. Isn't it sweet?




Here is a video of part of the Mililani High School Marching Band- "Trojan." The color guard is on the left side, and the twirling of their flags exhibits uniform circular motion. The axis of rotation is the hands of the person holding the flag and the radius of the circle. Ignore the commentary. It's mostly Ashley and Freddie.

Some idiots (Richard and Andrew) managed to sneak past the security guards with food and sat with the band, an illegal action punishable by 15 years in prison.




























What a poser...















Make sure to persecute them next time you see them.