[Week XI] Argumentative essay - it is better if you turn off your television

Almost everything in the world has its own good and bad effect in the different point of view. This pros and cons things also occurs on the impact of watching television. In this text I'm going to share my opinion about this issue.

Before i cut to the case, I have to admit that television is a great invention that has been used in people's daily life since the late of 1930. We can actually watch many things and activities in the different moment and place through this invention.

But in my opinion, watching television actually bing more harm than good effect for people. My main reason is because the power of television that can trap us to watch them regardless of the contain and lose our priceless time.

There is a term called orienting response, which refers to the response that grabs attention of sudden move which some living things has, including human. So, television basically has its power to amazed us by transmitting its flickering, ever changing colors and shifting contras which in fact, also plenty of sudden moves. And this seems to be the reason why we easily want to keep watching television for so long, even we didn't plan it. This actually gives us more disadvantages, because we would not even care of its content anymore.

TV also decreases one's attention span and weakens one's imagination. It weakens our attention span because we grow used to quick, short bursts of information. As a result, we grow impatient if it takes a while to make a point. TV weakens our imagination because everything is portrayed for us. All we have to do is sit back and observe someone else's imagination. Books are just the opposite. They increase our attention span and help to develop our imagination.

TV also has another bad effect to us, which is draining off our energy instead of reenergizing it. This happens because of the orienting response and swirling TV images that I mentioned earlier result in information overload. This over stimulus of the brain sucks the energy right out of us. Compare this with going to the gym for a workout after a tiring day at the office. Instead of growing more tired, we become energized. So, if you want more energy, far better to engage in some activity than to plop down in front of a TV.

Well, I'am not saying that you cant watch your television at all, i mean sometimes they have some useful show , but now days as I can see there are less useful program as not television invented to be. So it is better to get some activities instead of sitting in front of your TV screen and use your other devices like laptop or phones to access some information that doesnt have much flickering screen like TV does.

[Week XI] ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

“In expanding the field of knowledge, we but increase the horizon of ignorance (Henry Miller)“

A constant or rather an exponential growth of technology substantially increases the field of knowledge. The term global village itself shows how the current technology enables information revolves quickly around the world, as if America is just a neighbouring village of Indonesia. The essay will examine the effect of the swift expansion of field of knowledge to the horizon of ignorance and discuss the possible sources of the ignorance.

There are many values that classify knowledge, including the focus of study and the knowledge quality itself. It is very dependant on how far one can justify the knowledge or how critical the knowledge has been analyzed. Positively thinking, an expansion of the field of knowledge indicates the advancement of the world. However, to counterclaim, the expansion of the field of knowledge, especially the rapid rate of the growth considerably affects the quality of the knowledge, in such that the current society often find it hard to decide which knowledge should be believed. The ‘information overflow’ elevates negative issues such as the production of abundant false information, thus affect the reliability of the knowledge obtained. However, the horizon of ignorance is intangible and bears different categorizations which include the unintentional ignorance and the acknowledged ignorance.

The case of subliminal or unintentional ignorance can be illustrated through a figure of an expert. An expert, by the word itself, indicates that the person specializes in one small range of domain, yet he or she is capable of knowing the information within the domain deeply. However, an expert in most cases is completely oblivious to the knowledge outside one’s domain range. The unintended ignorance, correlated to the example of an expert, is a type of ignorance which apparently does not increase the level of ignorance of a person as he or she is completely unaware of the knowledge initially. Being unacknowledged of a certain fact in the first place can often comes from a number of factors, both internal and external. An internal factor includes the necessity of acknowledging the information, while the external factor, for instance, can take in a form of the working environment where one works. The requisition of certain knowledge varies from one to another, thus one often obtains knowledge which the subject prefers or needs. This eventually leads one into the state of being unintentionally ignorant. A person, being subjected to many limitations, especially time, often uses his or her reasoning and senses to deduce and decide which knowledge the subject should or should not be focused on. This eventually leads one into the state of being unintentionally ignorant. It does not increase the level of ignorance even though he or she is using senses and reasoning to ignore the unnecessary facts because basically, the subject, being constrained by many limitations, is simply trying to choose the best information perceived to expand his or her field of knowledge. The working environment or the surrounding where one lives is another big factor that directs one to the state of being unintentionally ignorant.

As compared to the subliminal ignorance, the acknowledged ignorance can be deciphered as a type of ignorance which results in the increase of the horizon of ignorance. Defining from the word acknowledged itself; one who is in the state of acknowledged ignorance has already known the truth, however, he or she does not give any reaction into the information obtained, no matter how biased or blurred the information is. The acknowledged ignorance is most likely to increase due to the rapid expansion of knowledge in the world. A person who has already have the knowledge that a certain issue is too biased or farfetched, often put small effort in giving more analysis of the knowledge obtained, and thus as a result, expanding knowledge, in the above case, increases the horizon of ignorance. The use of deductive logic is essential in many cases; however, overly-deducted information eventually degrades the reliability of the information. Knowledge, on the other hand, is the justified true belief, thus believing in an overly-deducted theory without involving enough justifications is actually another form of acknowledged ignorance.

In conclusion, expanding the field of knowledge often leads to the increase of horizon of ignorance when it is done without deeper attention on the knowledge obtained. It does increase the horizon of knowledge until the extent where one actually has acknowledged that the information is too vague, yet he or she does not dig deeper to analyze and justify the information further. The four ways of knowing, especially the sensual perception and reasoning are very essential in obtaining knowledge as far as reliability or the truth of knowledge is concerned.

[Week XI] Argumentative Essay

Should We Abolish Death Penalty?

Death penalty is an execution to a person that breaks the law and many countries have used it as a form of punishment since ancient times. Countries that still use death penalty for example are USA, China, and Indonesia. Nowadays many countries started to reject death penalty as a punishment for a crime because of various reasons and decided to abolish it. Is this really the right thing to do? There is also a debate whether to abolish death penalty or not. The ones who wanted to abolish death penalty are usually called as abolitionists. In my opinion death penalty should not be abolished because it is still effective as a crime deterrent and punishment.

Crime has been a part of the society and it is impossible to completely suppress it and make it gone. There are various crimes ranging from the minor ones to big ones such as mass murder. Death penalty should be used for punishment in big crimes. Some people would say that death penalty is inhumane and should not be used. If the death penalty is not used the criminal would think that he won’t die no matter what if he commits crime and just be sent to prison. This is why we need death penalties for crime like this. In countries that use death penalty the crime rate is lower than countries that do not use death penalty.

Many abolitionists claim that death penalty is just a cruel murder and not punishment. However, this is not true because nowadays death penalty is carried out with a quick and painless method such as shooting the heart or lethal injections. This is different than ancient times where the method used was painful and slow. Other reason is because death penalty only be carried out to severe crimes and there is a law that regulates it.

The opposing arguments said that death penalty does not bring the murdered victim back to life. However, this is not the purpose of the death penalty. Its purpose is to make sure the crime ended right there and to put an ease to the victim’s family that the criminal has been properly punished.

Some people also said that everyone should be given a second chance and death penalty prevents this. This is true, however people who were put in the death row usually commit a severe crime. Criminals who commit mass murder or other severe crimes usually are not sane anymore and impossible to make them change to a better person. If people like this are released to the society they will just commit more crime and will endanger a lot of people. So it is better if they are just executed because of their crimes.

Opponents of the death penalty point out that there is a possibility of wrongly executing an innocent man. Of course, there is a possibility of wrongly sending an innocent man to prison, or wrongly fining an innocent man, but they contend that because of the finality and severity of the death penalty, the consequences of wrongly executing an innocent person are much more wrong. There has never been any proof of an innocent man being executed, although there are some studies that show in a few cases, there is a possibility that someone was wrongly executed. To avoid this before the criminals are going to be put in the death row, they have to follow a complex process which consists of series of trials to determine if the criminals are guilty or not and if they are deserved to be executed. This way no innocent man will be executed, at least it will decrease the chance of it.

Death penalty is also cost effective because the government does not have to waste the resources taking care of the dangerous criminals. If a lot of criminals that commit severe crimes are being put to prison for the rest of their lives, it will waste the resources and there is a possibility that they will do the crime again when they are out of the prison, also it will not make the prison overcrowded.

In conclusion death penalty should not be abolished because of these reasons. In fact, it is better that a lot of countries legalize death penalty for the good of their people. This is good as long as the death people are being done to the right people and have clear rules that cannot be twisted and interpreted in different ways.

[Week XI] Argumentative essay- Gun Control

Should Guns be banned?

Nowadays, some people think that the world is quite peaceful compared to the ages when there are still kingdoms that always fought in wars in order to expand each of their territory, people had to obey what ever the king said, and many nations are still fought to gain their freedom. However, this time is actually more furious than before due to the fact that deadly technologies such firearms are spreading rapidly in the society. Although it is true that people get their freedom, but it does not mean that the use of guns is not limited, that is why not every nation allow the use of firearms in the society. For example, Australia allow their people to use gun, but the use of guns must have a logical reason such as hunting and target shooting, but self-defense is not acceptable to be counted as a reason for Australia to give the license of owning or using a firearm. On the other hand, there are also nations that do not permit people outside the military to use guns such as China, and there are also nations like the European union that adopted gun control laws to prevent the wide spread of guns. The matter of guns control is still debated by the side which support the use of firearms and the other side which oppose it. Even though both sides have good arguments to support their statements I think it is better to ban the use of guns because of the following reasons.

First of all, people ,especially the ones who own at least one gun, said that the use of guns actually decrease the number of crimes. Based on statistics, this statement is true, however what we should see is the number of victims not the number of the crimes. The number of victims of one crime is not the same with other criminal cases. For example, case A resulting 10 dead victims and only one victim from case B. The number of crime is decreasing, but the crimes that are still spreading are consuming many victims. In fact, the increasing number of access to guns actually brings many victim, more teens and children die from gun wounds. During a year, 5000 teen and children died from gun wounds in the USA, and in Great Britain, where gun ownership is very restricted, 19 teens and children died from gun wounds. We can see from the statistic below that the number of victims is influenced by the use of gun, and we can conclude that the spreading use of guns actually brings more victim.

Secondly, as we all know, guns are designed to shoot whether it is to shoot a living thing or a non-living thing does not matter, but it surely is a tool to destroy something. Well, yes it is true that the one that kills is the user and guns do not kill people, because guns are just dead tools, however, guns are the tools that trigers people to kill. Firearms also allow people to kill from a certain distance and it enable to kill more than one living thing in a time. When ever people see a gun, they think that this is the tool to defend themselves, and by defending means by shooting on the threat.

Finally, guns are not primary needs for people who do not have any relation to the military. Guns are not made for hands of amateurs, because if it falls to the wrong hands, unnecessary things could happen. From my point of view, the ones that need to use guns are people who are already trained and they use it for something with a good aim such as the military. In unwanted situation amateur people do not think clearly, panic,and frighten, and in this kind of situation, people with a gun will surely pull the trigger. For people like ourselves it is better to learn something else, there are many better ways to defend ourselves like using martial arts and we do not need to 'kill' the threat.

In conclusion, people only see the decreasing number of crimes, while what they really need to see is the increasing number of victims. Although the number of crime is reducing with more access to guns, but the number of victims that died because of gun wounds is increasing. Guns also a tool to 'destroy' something, and even though people who are killing people, guns are the ones which triggered people to kill by using it. Guns are not a primary needs for us, so it does not matter even if it is ban and we can live without it. To sum up, it is better to ban guns because it is not necessary and guns only bring more victims.

[Week XI] Argumentative Essay

As we know, our earth is getting hotter and hotter. Experts that said our earth temperature increased 0.18°C per year since 20-th century. We caused all of them so if we don't want start to prevent global warming our earth will lead into bigger disaster. There is a quotation that represent what we can do for our earth and it sound “Which one do you prefer Earth in pieces or peace in Earth”. In my opinion that quatation already force us to make our decision since now, do we want to prevent it or not. As the young generation we must prevent the global warming not only for our better future but also for other peoples. Prevent global warming is not as hard as it sounds, it just need some passion from ourself. Some simple task that anyone can do is enough to prevent global warming which are throwing garbage in the right place, saved some energy, and using alternative fuel.

First step to prevent global warming is throwing garbage in the right place and seperate it. Why it is really important to do it? Because by seperate it into the non-organic and organic trash it will make people who care more about global warming to recycle the trashes. Non-organic trashes is non biodegradable so it's really hard to destryoed, some examples of non-organic trashes are plastic, paper, marker, etc.Do you know how many years that take plastic to be destroyed and become one with the ground, it takes 50.000 years that plastic is fully destroyed. Instead by wasting so long time to waited plastic fully destroyed in ground why don't we recycle it into something useful. Nowadays many people recycle trashes into something that is beautiful and worth to sell beside it save our earth it's also another alternative to make money. Not everyone can recycle trashes into something useful so to anyone who can not recycle trash to something useful for the example it is me, better to reduce or reuse plastic so our earth will not covered by plastic trash that was hard to destroyed. Another way if we don't want to reduce, reuse, or recycle plastic trash, we can replace it with organic bag beside it is environtmentally friendly it can be used several times. On the other hand organic trash like leaf, grass, etc is easy to destroyed and organic trash also can be recycle into something useful such as organic bag as the replacement of plastic bag.

Second step to prevent global warming is saved some energy. This is the step that is need our passion more than others step because this step is depend on us whether we want do it or not. For the example, we know we didn't use our computer or tv but we left it turn on. It is caused electrical pollution and it's one things that caused global warming. Electricity causes pollution in many ways, some worse than others. In most cases, fossil fuels are burned to create electricity. Fossil fuels are made of dead plants and animals. Some examples of fossil fuels are oil and petroleum. Many pollutants (chemicals that pollute the air, water, and land) are sent into the air when fossil fuels are burned. Some of these chemicals are called greenhouse gasses. Joining earth hour is another way to save energy because by turn off our electronic deviced for several hours already make a big differences for our earth.

Thirdly is by using the alternative fuel such as; bioalcohol, biodiesel, biomass, etc. Nowadays, those alternative fuel is still unpopular and hard to get not like the fosil fuel that can be found everywhere but alternative fuel really help us to reduce the carbon dioxine from our vehicles.Those alternative fuel not only made from organic things but also can recycle carbon dioxine from our vehicles. For this method many people still meet many problems such as; this kind of fuel is still rare, lack of knowledge for this kind of fuel, and it's quite expensive. In my opinion, that is really good to know more about this alternative fuel and the price itself will decreased if that kind of fuels is already world wide.

In short, to prevent global warming is not as hard as it sounds, it's only need some passion from ourself by changing our life style a little bit. I believed by do those three steps, it is already a big help for our earth to survive and recovered a liitle by a little. Starting from throwing garbage in the right place, don't leave our electronic deviced turn on when we don't need it, and try to used alternative fuels that is really good for our environment. Let's start now before it's too late for our earth.

[Week XI] Argumentative Essay

EUTHANASIA

Euthanasia is ending one's life if one has a terminal disease is an incurable condition, and is done by a lethal injection. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide began in ancient Rome and Greece. They believed that it was okay in certain situations to allow a person to die or to help a person die. This was often the case with the elderly in these cultures. Certain religions are against euthanasia. The Christian, Jew, and Islamic religions all cling to the fact that life is sacred and should not be taken away. In some cultures, helping someone to die is the same thing as homicide, and is treated so in a court of law. When people heard about this term, they will catch it as a suicide decision. It is easy for normal people who have never got a deathly illness so that they mention euthanasia as a suicide and a stupid deed to be made by the person, on the other hand for people who got incurable illness, euthanasia is the best option to solve their inner problem by the patients or the family. There are several reasons why the patients or the families want to choose euthanasia as the key to end their life.

The first reason choosing euthanasia is because the patient could not stand anymore to his or her illness. It is a good choice for them because they have less sufferance. When the patient want to do euthanasia as their decision, it will be better for the family to appreciate about his or her option because the patient has suffer to much pain like cancer or other illnesses and cannot continue to live anymore. Choosing euthanasia for the patient by the permition from the family like that could reduce the long painful for the patient.

Another reason is euthanasia could reduce the family's sufferance. When patient choose this decision sometimes several families do not allow to do euthanasia, it is a nature reflection for them because the patient is their child so that they try to save their child's live. On the other hand this family decision could make the patient suffer more than before so that when the patient choose euthanasia the family should support him because it is better to do it rather than to see their child suffer day by day, besides that it could reduce the family's sufferance and the patient also because when seeing their children suffering, this family will feel hurt too.

Incurable illness will spend a lot of money, although the family has a lot of money to pay for the treatment and the medicines to longer the patient life but It also give the patient suffering more in the rest of his or her life. The family who has not much money to pay for the treatment, it will make them to owe a lot of money. For example a patient who suffer cancer this illness will spend a lot of money for the treatment and also the treatment could hurt the patient body. When the patient dies, the relatives have to live paying all the debts. It could sound materialistic but when the patient has decided and there is not option, euthanasia is the last chance to stop the sufferance.

There are many people who disagree with euthanasia because it is a kind of suicide or a murder done by human. Euthanasia also considered as a good choice to shorter your suffer when you realize that you do not have a long time to live anymore because of the illness like cancer and other diseases that make you very suffer in life. Euthanasia should be allowed in all countries because it will give the patient a choice to end their live because of the sufferance.

There are many good reasons to choose euthanasia as the options to end his suffer of the illness besides that it will also help to minimize the parents’ financial problem. The choice of the patient to do euthanasia should be accepted by the family and other people although some people against it. Some countries permit euthanasia to be done and I think it is ok for to allow this term "euthanasia". If I were sick like getting cancer I would consider it first to do euthanasia because it is a high risk decision.

[Week XI] Argumentative Essay

Mars is a fascinating planet since it has similarity to our home, Planet Earth, which the only difference is that its size is about to be half the radius of Earth. Planet Mars is also one of the two planets that are close to our Planet Earth alongside the moon. People want to colonize Planet Mars so it will solve our overpopulation problem, but some people are against the idea of colonizing for several reasons. Supporters also state that going to Planet Mars is a good way to learn something new by studying and exploring Mars, but some do not agree to establish a manned flight to Mars and they state Mars is a lifeless planet that it is not worth exploring a ‘dead planet.’ Some people also interested if Mars still has living organisms or inhabitants but, until now, there are no further evidence that there are living inhabitants in Mars.

As stated above, some people want to colonize Planet Mars. They say that our planet is being overpopulated so they think that having another planet as home would solve this kind of problem. They even state that they can even go and colonize other planets with Mars as their first planet to colonize. However, it is impossible to colonize Mars because it lacked oxygen which is impossible to breathe and the planet’s atmosphere consists of almost entirely carbon dioxide and less oxygen. Even with the current technology we have now, it is impossible for scientists to create oxygen in a lifeless planet. This is not just like the futuristic movies we watched in TV such as the Jetsons and video games like HALO; we’ll die due to lack of oxygen. Stating about colonizing other planets is also impossible, planets such as Jupiter are too far for us to reach and quite dangerous. Our spacecrafts cannot travel further and going deeper into space would be a suicide.

On the other hand, there is a possibility that man can establish flight to Mars due to the advanced technology we possessed today. Few years ago, NASA has established an operation to go to Mars and it was a success. Following the 1992 failure of the Mars Observer orbiter, NASA launched the Mars Global Surveyor in 1996 and it was a success. With the current technology, NASA may be able to launch an even more advanced rocket for flight to Mars. Some scientists argue that sending people to Mars can be dangerous because of an accident that cause a rocket to explode in space killing most of the astronauts piloting the rocket few years ago. That accident will not happen again as long as scientists are very observant with the rockets. So it is possible for man to establish flight to Mars.

Many supporters of manned travel to Mars argue that the planet might still have life living on it and they are excited to see real life Martians. We saw in movies that there are life forms on Mars such as ‘Planet 51’ and the famous movie ‘Aliens.’ However, it is not true; there is no life on Mars. Although there are evidences suggest that the planet used to be inhabited by unknown living organisms, it is still not clear since it only shown that it is more inhabitable than it is today. If there were living organisms on Mars, I would not dare to travel there because we do not know what they do or what they will react to see us humans.

It should be known that there are possibilities that man can travel to Mars at last. We have developed our technology and it has been advanced into a whole new level, so why not use it to help to construct a far more advanced rocket for the flight? With the current technology, scientists can establish a more advanced spacecraft that would be easy enough to be piloted by new and veteran Astronauts. People will be able to experience travel in space and see their home planet, Earth, from the rocket and learning the mysteries of space which will be a very good experience for them. So in my opinion, it is worth the expense and risk to make a manned flight to Mars.

[Week XI] Argumentative essay- FIFA should make a new rule to limit FC's Transfer Budgets

FIFA should have made a limitation for all football clubs' transfer budget. Big signings which happened recently can explain why. Many clubs lost its stars because of that certain players feels more interested in the amount of wage that they will be receiving if they moved to some clubs that offers more generous new weekly wage more than the player received in their current club. In this essay, Im gonna talk about all the reasons of why FIFA as the highest in the football hierarchy should make the transfer budgets limitation, and also the effect of some big signings to some clubs.

First of all, why should we be agreed on FIFA's proposal to make that limitation rule? It is to make the football world to become more balanced. It of course will become boring if we knew that one club is definitely will become a champion of a certain football league caused by its superiority in its financial power rather than the skills of its staffs and players.

Second, we are going to talk about the effect of those big signings to some clubs. In this case Im gonna take two examples from three giant clubs, first, it's AC Milan, we can see that the club really do misses its key player, Kaka Izecson to be back on the pitch, it is really obvious that Kaka played a vital role in AC Milan, and his departure made a significant downgrade in AC Milan position in the Italian Serie A. Second it's Manchester United, the Red Devils seems like have lost its fang along with the transfer of the best player in the world if not in the universe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo have been a soul in the Man. Utd play scene for the past 5 years, and now that he's gone, so does the Red Devils reputation of "cant stop scoring". And the third one is the prime suspect, it's none other than the spanish giant, the Los galacticos, it's Real Madrid, a club which currently is having the best financial power in the world. Signed AC Milan's Kaka for 85 million euro, and also took Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo for 100 million euro, Real Madrid is now has become a genuine threat for its arch rival Barcelona to be reckoned with.

So in conclusion, FIFA should really make a realization for the proposal of the transfer budget limitation. It is indeed interesting to see lots of star players gathered in one club, but is it really intereting to actually realize that what makes your club a loser is none other than because there is a club with much stronger financial power?

[Week XI] Argumentative Essay - We should legalize Marijuanna

There are a lot of studies that show us how dangerous the cigarettes are. There are a lot of campaigns that try to tell us to stop smoking. Even in the cigarette boxes, the smoking room, etc there is a warning for the smokers. However instead of smoking cigarettes, it's better for us to smoke marijuana.

First of all, Why it's better for us to smoke Marijuana than smoking cigarettes? Isn't Marijuana is more dangerous than cigarettes ? The answer is no. It's just an assumption of groups of people that doesn't know anything about Marijuana. Marijuana is totally different from what we thought. We know that by smoking it is the same as we killing ourselves slowly but not Marijuana. There is no evidence that we can die because of Marijuana. There is no solid proof that shows us how Marijuana can kill us.

How about the addictiveness rating ? Isn't Marijuana addicts us ? Yes, Marijuana makes us addicted to it, but not as addicted as smoking cigarettes. Maybe you doesn't believe what is said,but there's a research that already finished comparing the addictiveness level between Marijuana and Cigarettes. Apparently, smoking smoking cigarettes are 10 times more addictive than smoking Marijuana. There is an evidence that show us about it. In Amsterdam there is a constant number of people who is smoking Marijuana which is 35.000 people, and the number hasn't went up for some years, instead of going up, the number goes down slow but sure.

Maybe it's hard to believe it, but that's what the fact says. So why should we ban Marijuana ? It is better for us to legalize it than ban it because by doing that, it will be another income for our country while we push the blackmarket that sell illegal marijuana out. Which one do you choose ? Marijuana that is sold at the blackmarket that only thinks about profit rather than the quality, or Marijuana that is sold by the government who will uphold the quality over the price? The government are there because the society chooses them. That's why they should provide the best for the society.

[Week XI] Argumentative Essay: Beyond the Pleasure of Coffee

As we all know, coffee is one of the most popular drink in the whole world that has been founded many years ago. It was so famous until we notice the name of coffee break in many formal occasions. At that time, people are taking break to enjoy some cookies while drinking a cup of coffee. While in everyday life, coffee is often made as breakfast companion. Yet, we seldom observe what benefits or negative effects of coffee for our health which at most that we know that after we consume coffee, it will refresh our body and lost the sense of sleepiness. But before we enjoy the euphemism of coffee, let us look what’s behind it.

First of all, According to the medical analysis, there some xatin chemical compounds contained in coffee. This compound derivative includes caffeine, theophylline, and teobromin in chocolate. Among these chemical compounds, caffeine appears to cause stimulation of the central nervous system (brain), respiratory system, and the system of blood vessels and heart. That is why no wonder every drink coffee in a reasonable amount (1-3 cups), our body will feel refreshed, excited, think faster, and not easily get tired or sleepy. These positive impacts make people hard to get rid of drinking coffee. However, those benefits do not apply to someone whose have a job that requires precision, neatness, and accuracy of counting, such as mathematics, drawing or painting. On the other hand, coffee is more appropriate for those who study the social sciences or memorizing. You can drink it about half to one hour before you begin to study or memorize.
Caffeine also caused a number of health problem such as the increase of the risk of Parkinson`s disease, the increase of anxiety, heart rate, stress, stomach hindrance, disrupted sleep and breathing problem for infants, and caffeine dependence syndrome. The general characteristic of coffee addiction is fatigue or tired, not enthusiastic, and sleepy all the time if not drinking coffee for one day. The reasonable amount of drinking coffee is 85-200 mg or 1-3 cups of coffee. However, drinking coffee on 250 mg at once can cause health problems, such as heart beats faster, anxiety, insomnia (difficulty of sleeping), nervous tremor (shaking hands), and even nausea to vomiting.

Secondly, drinking coffee is also dangerous for people that suffer hypertension (high blood pressure) because the chemical compound contained on coffee could cause the blood pressure increased rapidly. Beside of that, coffee could also increase the bloodstream to the kidney which causes the increase of urine productivity. So, it is no wonder that when you just finished a cup of coffee, you would feel the urge to urinate. Coffee could also caused osteoporosis, where calcium will released from the urination. Five milligrams of calcium lost for every six ounces coffee consumed. Yet, this lost of calcium can be overcome by consuming 2 spoon of milk or make espresso latte. Mixing coffee with alcohol is also not good especially with people who have live disorder and coffee with cream mixture should also be avoided the excessive calories.

Last but not the least, the caffeine contained in coffee could increase the risk of heart disease. Although it is still not clear how the amino acid essential could interfere our heart, it has proved that this substances often injuries in various layers of the arteries and then it become a place for fat acid and calcium stacks. This result can shift of the blood vessel walls (arterioklerosis). Because of that it would be better to not drinking coffee, especially for those who have a high risk of heart disease. Even if it must, it would be better for us to drink only one or three cups a day (the standard for the European is 3 to 5 cups a day). It also not before going to bed.

Overall, it is true that coffee was really enjoyable for us to consume it regularly. But despite of all of the pleasure of drinking coffee, there are bad many impacts that we might have even not instantly felt by us. Many people are aware of these bad impacts, however it would not stop them to drink coffee because they are already addicted of it. Drinking coffee sufficiently would not harm our health, but it always good to be aware of things that would impact us because of coffee.

[Week X] Group survey - do we deserve better facilities in binus international univ.

1. how long you've studied in binus?
2. enjoy using the facilities binus gives?

• yes, of course
• pretty much it..
• not really
• not at all

3. do you think you deserve some facilities to be better?

• yea..
• no, its cool.

4. if you think you deserve better facilities, its based on......?

• money i've spend to get to this university
• what international university should give.
• both of the statements above...
• other...

5. if you could make one of the university's facilities better, what would it be??

• better internet connection
• better music studio
• better smoking room
• better classroom
• other...

6. do you think binus should add more facilities?

• yes
• no

7. name one of the facilities you want binus to add!

8. do you think binus can effort the facilities you want binus to add?

• yes
• no

9. so, do you agree that binus student deserve better facilities?

• absolutely
• it is okay already.
• whatever

[Week X] Group Questionnaire, Gadget Freak!

1. Gender:

2. Age:

3. How Many Gadgets Do You Have ? (Including in Your Home)
(o - 5); (6 - 1o); (11 - 15); (15>).

4. How Many Gadgets are With You At The Moment?
(o - 2); (3 - 5); (5>).

5. How Many Cell Phone Do You Have?

6. Which is the most Important Gadget For You?
(HP) (Internet Router)
(Lappy / PC) (Game Console)
(iPod) (Other: ______________)

7. Can You Live Without it?
(Yes) (No)

8. How Many Hours You Usually Spend While Using Your Gadgets?
(<12 Hours); (>12 Hours).

9. Are You Completely Aware Of Most Of The Features In Your Gadgets?
(Yes) (No)

1o. How Often Do You Buy Yourself a New Gadget?
(Every Week) (Every 3 Months) (Every Year)
(Every Month) ( Every 6 Months) (Every 2 Year)
(Other:____________)

[Week X] Survey - Group

[Week X] Dec 7 to Dec 22, 2009

Survey Group

Editing of previous posting: punctuation, capitalization, not grammar.

[Week IX] Writing Practice Ch 13 - A memorable vacation / trip / adventure

This is about a vacation that I, my sister, and a friend of mine took. We tough that it will be an interesting one, until an accident happened. It was all started when we decided to take a trip to Bali for 2 days. After we arrived, we went to the place where we were going to stay. It’s more like a cottage and it’s a beautiful place. In the afternoon we spent our time out side the cottage, and went back around 6 p.m.

When we arrived, we took a bath and ate noodles. Then we talked about many things, but my sister and my friend were talking so loud that I said, “Can’t you two just turn your voice down? You’re like a screaming …..”. People in Bali believe that if you say a ghost’s name, it will show itself, so I stopped my sentence because I almost say a ghost name. Nevertheless, I accidentally said it because they forced me to say it.

While all of us became silence, suddenly someone knocked our door. We became panic and we pushed each other to open the door. As we opened the door, we saw that it was just an employee bringing some water for us. We give a very relived expression as if we had been saved from death, but then I saw someone else. It’s a girl with a long hair and a pale face. She was trying to get in to the cottage, although she failed. Then the girl followed the employee away. It was so frightening for me that I was speechless for a couple of minutes. I asked the others about the girl, but they said they only saw the employee. That night, we turn the lights on to get some sleep.

In the morning, I ask an employee there about that night while the others are still packing. He said that ghost could not enter the cottage because they had already gave a barrier around it. I was so shocked and I’m glad that I only stayed there for 1 night.

[Week IX] - Hancock

Will SMith, in his yearly July 4th box office powerhouse, is the titular Hancock. He is everything you wouldn't want in a superhero and He drinks. He is awful. And if you dare call him an asshole to his face then he will cut your arm or do his signature "Your head is going up his ass" and he means it. Unlike other superheroes who are known for being kind and fighting bad guys with tentacles and equal power, Hancock fights more common crime -think bank robberies -throughout Los Angeles. He swoops down to help an advertising exec who's BMW is trapped on the traintracks. But when he saves the advertising executive, Ray Embrey , it starts a chain of events with Mary Embrey , Ray's wife at the center that that ultimately leads to one awful ending. It's a film that rolls along with a good amount of laughter including Will Smith doing something that he isn't normally known for - dropping the 'f' bomb - and then suddenly it stops being funny. We know why other superheroes have superhuman strength and can fly or change the weather when pissed but there was no reason for why Hancock is so curmudgeonly and cruel. Upon finding out his story the film makes a downward turn towards not so funny. It turns silly and a serious moment at the end when people should have their eyes brimming with tears is met with silence. It was as if the fun was sucked out of the movie just to make some sort of overly dramatic and preposterous point about how we humans inherently need to be with another person.

[Week IX] Writing Practice

Why I want to become a programmer

There are many jobs in this world where people spend their time at there to earn money to fulfill their needs. To reach that I choose programmer as my future job because It is very interesting and I am capable of doing it. In order to become a programmer, I should finish my study first and find a job to work in a firm. When I become a really programmer, I will make an useful program so that people will satisfied with my work.

Many people said that working as a programmer is very good that is why I want to study this major and it is because I have learn and interested in it. Although I like programming, sometimes it makes me very boring to do it. It is because I need to spend a lot of time to think how to finish the program. Usually I do the program step by step so that I won't make a lot of mistakes. If I get a problem in doing it, I will look for the clue in the book or ask my friends how to solve the problem.

Finally, the reasons why I want to be a programmer are it is very interesting and I'm capable to do it. To reach as a programmer I should study as good as I can, so that my dream will come true.

[Week IX] Editing

Net Addiction

A lot of people enjoy surfing the Net because they look for interesting Web sites and chat with people all over the world. However, some people spend such many hours online that they are internet addicts. Although an average person spends about eight to twelve hours per week, an addict spends eight to twelve hours per day online. Since addicts spend so much time interacting with the computer, their lives are negatively affected. They become social recluses because they stop going out and talking to people face-to-face. They avoid real-life social situations, preferring instead to be in a dimly lit room with only the glowing screen to light up their lives.

Internet addiction affects not only the addicts themselves but also the people around them. For example John’s marriage to Marta broke up until he insisted on spending so many hours on the Net. As soon as he arrived home from work he was at his computer. While he finished dinner, he would disappear into his computer room again. He paid so little attention to her that she finally divorced him.

Since college students are especially technologically skilled they can easily become nonstop Net-surfers. Most colleges provide computers at several locations around campus so that students can use them at any time day or night. As a result students can spend too much time surfing the Net instead of “surfing” their books. Last semester nine freshmen at Berkshire College flunked out, although they became Internet addicts. In short even though the Internet is an excellent source of information and entertainment, we must not let it take over our lives.

[Week IX] Movie Review-Hancock

John Hancock is a Los Angeles’ resident superhero like a Superman with capabilities and strength. The only problem is that even though Hancock catches bad guys and saves people’s lives, he is a clumsy drunk. Whatever he done to save people he always makes large damages to the property. The resultant property damages as Hancock inadvertently writes off a traffic overhead sign amongst others makes the authorities issue a warrant for his arrest.Hancock’s real problem though is that he has an abrasive personality and doesn’t exactly care what people think of him.

So one day when he rescues a PR specialist played by Jason Bateman as Ray from being crushed by an oncoming train, the PR guy offers to help Hancock to clean up his act and improve his public image. Hancock reluctantly accepts the offer and takes Ray back to his home where he meets his wife Mary played by Charlize Theron and Ray’s son. At the PR expert’s advice Hancock agrees to be incarcerated for his crimes. His PR strategy is to make Hancock off and the streets crime will skyrocket and in no time the authorities will ask for his help again, which does indeed happen.

Overall this is a good movie to be watched because it is an entertaining and funny for its story. This movie gives us a good advice to do something “think firs before you act” so it is better for us to choose the right thing to do so that we will not harm other people.

[Week IX] Movie Review: HANCOCK

Hancock is a humorous action comedy that is fun to watch. We all do know the line ‘with great power comes with great responsibility’ which is known for all superheroes except Hancock. Hancock is about a man who is a superhero (Super strength, flight, immortality, and invulnerability), but he’s really lazy and a drunkard that he causes too many mayhem and destruction while doing ‘superhero stuff’ which causes a lot of people to dislike him. One day, he saved a man named Ray Embrey, a corporate public relations consultant, from a train and Ray is willing to help Hancock to change into a better person. Ever since that day, Hancock and Ray became close friends. Ray managed to convince Hancock to change his way and has become the newest ‘superhero’ in the public.

However when Hancock finally changes his way and becomes a true superhero, Hancock finds out that Ray’s wife, Mary, has similar powers as his and eventually learns that Mary was his wife. Another twist is that if Hancock and Mary are close, their powers will start to fade and turned them into ordinary humans. The film ends with Hancock left Chicago and moves to New York where he starts his new life as a superhero while Mary and Ray along with their son continue their life as family.

The film was hilarious with all the humors and craziness although later it becomes even more serious and the humor has been tone down. Will Smith, the famous actor who plays the title character Hancock, did performed great playing the character especially with Hancock’s quote ‘Call me asshole one more time.’ The morale of the story is ‘with great power comes with great responsibility.’ It was a great movie and a lot of laughs and actions. I would give it 7 out of 10.

IMPORTANT: INSTRUCTIONS

Read Instruction

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[Week I] Instruction - Topic sentences and paragraph
Week I

Topic sentences and your paragraph

===============================================================

[Week II] Instruction - Movie review: Keeping Mum
Week II

Movie review: Keeping Mum

References:
Keeping Mum from Rotten Tomatoes

IMDB

Wikipedia: Keeping Mum

===============================================================

[Week III] Instruction - Five sentences & Writing
Week III

1. Five sentences about test anxiety or stress

2. Writing: Adolescence

===============================================================

[Week IV] Instruction - Case study: Greta
Week IV

Case study: Greta's case

===============================================================

[Week V] Instruction - Survey/Questionnaire
Week V

Instruction:
Survey/Questionnaire
1.Individual
2.Group

===============================================================

[Week VI] Instructions - Articles & Development
Week VI

1. Article
2. Development of Article: Add Links (Multiple sources)

===============================================================

[Week VII] Instruction - Comparison
Week VII

Comparison

===============================================================

[Week VIII] Instruction - Summary
Week VIII

Summary

===============================================================

[Week IX] Instruction - Movie Review & # 13: Editing and Writing Practice
[Week IX]

Instruction

1. Movie Review;
2. Chapter 13 - Editing Practice;
3. Chapter 13 - Writing Practice

===============================================================

[Week IX] Movie Review: Hancock

Hancock is an American action-comedy superhero film which was directed by Peter Berg. This film is about a person called Hancock, played by Will Smith, who has this amazing powers. He actually intent to use his powers to help people, but sadly he doesn't think about the way he helps people. While he is doing his job to help people, at the same time, he also make many damages such as destroying buildings, roads, and trains. It continuously going on, until he save the life of Ray Embrey, played by Jason Bateman from a train that's going to hit him. Ray is a good man and he saw a chance to change Hancock to be a true superhero, so he persuade Hancock in order to change Hancock's image in front of the public.

Ray kept on supporting Hancock, and finally, Hancock got the opportunity to show the people that he had changed to be a better person. Since then, both Hancock and Ray became closer and they know each other better, including the fact that Hancock has 80 years of amnesia and he doesn't age or what we known as immortal. Hancock also discovered that Ray's wife, Mary was he's own wife, and Mary is also an immortal super-powered human, just like himself. Nevertheless, both of them are the last kind of them, and everytime they get closer, they become more mortal and powerless.

In my opinion, it's a very funny film and it has a good story line. Its story line is not obvious like any other films, which makes it interesting to be watch. Not just that, it also contain some moralS in it, such as in life, we need to make choices and we need to have the will to change to be a better person.

[Week IX] Movie Review: Hancock

Hancock is a comedy movie about a jack-ass superman who does heroic thingy without mattering the law. It is true that he might has saved one’s life, but also costing a lot of million dollar by breaking the environment at the same time. Hancock is not the kind of man who cares what other people might think, until the day he saves the life of PR executive named Ray and he begins to realize that he may have a vulnerable side after all. He ignores people because he is lonely deep in his heart, while everybody mock and hate all the things he had tried to do for a good deed. He is immortal until he meets Mary, Ray's wife, who actually is the same kind of human like him. She was Hancock's wife before she meets Ray, and that was a very long time ago. Hancock does not remember because something hits his head so bad that he had amnesia when he and Mary were trying to escape from someone who was trying to chase them because of their immortality and their enormous ability. When Hancock and Mary are close together, they become vulnerable and mortal because they are actually meant together.

Overall, I would give score 8 of 10 to this movie. The main thing we can learn from this movie is that with a great power comes a great responsibility. We must think for the consequences before we act, think ahead. And also, we cannot just ignore what people said to us just because they do not liked us because we are not supposed to dissolved in misery which makes us lonely and rather to hate people around us.

[Week IX] Instruction - Movie Review & # 13: Editing and Writing Practice

[Week IX]

Instruction

1. Movie Review;
2. Chapter 13 - Editing Practice;
3. Chapter 13 - Writing Practice

[Week IX] - Editing Practice

Net Addiction

A lot of people enjoy surfing the Net. They look for interesting Web sites and chat with people around the world. However, some people spend such many hours online that they are Internet addicts. Although an average person spends about eight to twelve hours per week, an addict spends eight to twelve hours per day online. Because addicts spend so much time interacting with the computer, their lives are negatively affected. They become social recluses because they stop going out and talking to people face-to-face. They avoid real-life social situations, preferring instead to be in dimly lit room with only the glowing screen to light up their lives.

Internet addiction affects not only the addicts themselves, but also people around them. For example, John`s marriage to Marta broke up until he insisted on spending so many hours on the Net. As soon as he arrived at home from work he was at his computer. While he finished dinner, he would disappear into his computer room again. He paid so little attention to her, that she finally divorced him.

Some college students are especially technologically skilled, they can easily become nonstop Net-surfers. Most college provide computers at several location around campus so that student can use them at any time, day, or night. As a result, students can spend too much time surfing the Net instead of "surfing" their textbooks. Last semester, nine freshmen at Berkshire College flunked out because they became Internet addicts. In short, even though the Internet is an excellent source of Information and entertainment, we must not let it take over our lives.

[Week IX] - CHAPTER 13

Families spend millions of rupiah for holidays. I had the opportunity to go abroad for vacations to countries like Singapore and Australia. Funny enough, the holiday that I always had a love for is right in the island of Java, Jogjakarta. This is a trip that does not cost as much as others, a less than two hours flight from my hometown.

It was one of the few moments where I get to truly appreciate the greatness of my country’s own beauty. Going to Borobudur at 04.00 AM in the morning was quite tiring, however to see numerous Buddhist statues and the sunrise and the amazing structure gave me a great feeling. At that Borobudur really touched my heart and I could not agree more of it being one of the seven wonders in the world.

Seeing the Keratons, tasting traditional Javanese foods and learning the history buildings has been a great time for me. People often forget that a great vacation can be right close to where they live. Going to Jogjakarta has really been an eye-opening adventure for me and I long to go there and explore more about my country

[Week IX] - Writting Practice

A Memorable Trip


My most memorable trip is when I went to UI with my friend to buy a book of Introduction to IT. Since the original book sold in Binus is too expensive, I rather search it and other books too in UI. That trip always makes me smile whenever I reminisce it. What is so special of buying a book in UI? I feel so much adventure at that time. I went there with a train, which was only the second times I used such train. It was so crowded that I could hardly breath in the train. And I almost lost my balance in that train because it moves so fast and I tried to act as if I were fine. I tried to hang on my friend's shoulder since there were no pole left for me to hold so that I would not fall. But that was the best part, actually. After I found my book, we went to some mosque outside UI and were about to pray. While waiting for the adzan, we sat behind the mosque enjoying the beautiful view that Jakarta would never have. It was very relaxing, and that what makes me wanted to go over and over and over again to UI. We spent most of our time there. Another fun thing that I found there was when I went to some forest which leads to the big sign of "Universitas Indonesia". Along the forest, there were many cotton trees everywhere I looked around and it was a bit scary because there were no one but us in that forest. Even though I never like to go to such place, especially with something to do with 'nature', I was really excited at that time. When we reach the signboard, we take pictures as much as we want. After that, we went back home. We saw many deers on our way back to the train station, and they were all very cute. I would never forget such trip and I will go back to the place behind the mosque again soon.

[Week IX] Movie Review - Hancock

Will Smith also known as Hancock in this film acted very good as A Hero who lost his memories. At first, Hancock is such an asshole by doing whatever he want. Yes he is helping people in need, but he is doing it wrongly because he made a great amount off loss to the society. He harm the public services. He damaged it, and yet he does that will carrying a bottle of booze. What he did makes the society hate hi, rather than make the society likes him as a hero, he turns out people hate him because of his behavior.

It all begin to change when he saved a man from a near death situation. The man whom he saved, made a lot of change in Hancock life. He made Hancock change his bad habit, he made Hancock to be more cooperative,but unfortunately,his wife is Hancock long lost wife. At first, Hancock didn't realize it, but the woman already know and try not to make Hancock noticed about their relationship. Like old saying "You can't hide anything" Hancock noticed about their relationship and his memory loss at the end.

What we can learn from this movie is the same as in Spiderman movies. With great power, come a big responsibility. The funniest part in this film is the way Hancock deal with the word Asshole. He deals with it by saying "call me an asshole one more time". It is a good movie to watch at all. Will smith is always good at acting. Hehehe :D

[Week IX]-Writing Practice-A Memorable Trip

Everyone should have their own memorable trip with their family,friends,or anyone and I would to share one of my memorable trip.It was when I graduated from my junior high school we had a trip to bali by bus and visited many places around java before finally arrived at bali.

It was a great trip because I can visit many places that I haven't visited before and I realized Indonesia have many places that worthy to visit.One of the most memorable moment that I remember is when we at Mt. Bromo , we woke up at 4 and took jeep to go to the Bromo's hill and climb it for a few to see a wonderful sunrise.The weather at that time was really cold and when the sun rise it really make us happy because the weather became a little warm , when we waiting for the sun rises many people around there sold edelweiss.At bali itself we visit many pure and beaches.

In short,the trip was really wonderful we spent 10 days and visited several city such as; bromo , jogja ,bali , and surabaya.At that vacation I really learn many things especially the culture of some city and I would like to have another trip to travel all city in Indonesia.

[Week IX]-Editing-Net Addiction

A lot of people enjoy surfing the Net because they look for interesting Web sites and chat with people all over the world. However, some people spend such many hours online that they are internet addicts. Although an average person spends about eight to twelve hours per week, an addict spends eight to twelve hours per day online. Since addicts spend so much time interacting with the computer, their lives are negatively affected and they become social recluses because they stop going out and talking to people face-to-face. They avoid real-life social situations, preferring instead to be in a dimly lit room with only the glowing screen to light up their lives.

Internet addiction affects not only the addicts themselves but also the people around them. For example John’s marriage to Marta broke up until he insisted on spending so many hours on the Net. As soon as he arrived home from work he was at his computer. While he finished dinner, he would disappear into his computer room again. He paid so little attention to her that she finally divorced him.

Since college students are especially technologically skilled they can easily become nonstop Net-surfers. Most colleges provide computers at several locations around campus so that students can use them at any time day or night. As a result students can spend too much time surfing the Net instead of “surfing” their books. Last semester nine freshmen at Berkshire College flunked out, although they became Internet addicts. In short even though the Internet is an excellent source of information and entertainment, we must not let it take over our lives.

[Week VIII] Summary: Becoming a Digital Designer

The book, 'Becoming a Digital Designer' is a guide to careers in web, video, broadcast, game, and animation design. The book, authored by Steven Heller and David Womack is filled with various way to tell the readers about the world of digital designer, there are interviews and advise from leading digital designers. It also give readers the knowledge about digital designers,the technology, and the future job for digital designers.

First of all, in short, digital designer is anyone who designs using digital tools. There are many substantial changes in ten years for the design world, but the basic job structures for the designers remain the same. Although, now, designers are provided with various technology to support their work, what they're doing is still the same, only different. Being a digital designer means creating forms, conceiving ideas, and developing objects, and it doesn't mean that digital designers are only good at using digital tools, because for drawing and sketching, fingers are still the most venerable and versatile 'digital tools'. So, even if there is no power to turn on the computer, digital designers can still work with 'digital tools'.

Secondly, nowadays there are free softwares to support the work of digital designers, with various tools which resulting different results. For example, the sketch up which enable the user to create elaborate models of anything from cities to software system. Not just software, there are also many kinds of high tech graffiti such as Hektor and graffiti gun. Hektor is a robot made by Jurg Lehni. It's able to paint any image that appears on a computer screen onto the side of a building. It swing loosely from a string that can be stretched between 2 windows. Then there is the graffiti gun which shoots paintballs and print out pictures and spelling words using the paintball spots. Not just that, there is also the graffiti machine. It releases water droplets at precisely timed intervals so that the drops spell out words or make a shape of something, so it's like reading a waterfall.

Lastly, there are many jobs for digital designers. The future jobs for digital designers are graphic designers, digital designer, design director, art director, flash designer, and many more, but sometimes the title of it is confusing. For example, a graphic designer can be a digital designer, but a digital designer can be more than a graphic designer. An art director can be a digital designer, but not all digital designers are art directors.

In conclusion, this book contains many important information such as what are digital designers, the technology that makes the designers work easier, and jobs for digital designers. It really helps those who are interested in the world of digital designers, because the readers will have broader knowledge about digital designer.

[Week VIII] Exploring Character Design book summary

Exploring Character Design is a book that explains all the major aspects of character and creature design. It explains the aspects of designing that trouble all artists about the research, conceptualization, style, synthesis, construction modes, expression and emotion, anatomical issues and locomotion, and corollary subjects.

The book is written for a wide variety of audiences. Many of the people who read this book (mostly two- or four- year college-level students) will plan a career in one of the many visual arts fields. Others will be individual working on their own towards professional careers. Artists in such diverse disciplines as illustration, comic, or graphic novel art, game art design, and animation must master a lot of skills in character designing.

Character design has been greatly influenced by the appearance of computer technology. Artists use several of complex and dynamic software programs to create animations, but they still need the command of certain basic techniques to succeed. Character design has been partially absorbed by new technological paradigm and many younger artists rely too heavily on the software packages when they face design difficulties.

‘Libraries’ of images have been created for general uses and need to ‘tweak’ to produce a character design. Online character design, game development, and competition have taken advantage of these new resources to give anyone to construct simple characters that operate in a game context.

Character Design also influences in this country too. Asian, especially Japanese, culture has produce several styles of animations (most particular is anime) that have attracted younger audience in the United States and Europe. Other cultures will likely continue to blend with the mainstream of style in character design for years to come up with new and unusual ideas.

It will take strong will and steadfastness in the face of all of this change to produce the great character of the future.

[Week VIII] Summary: Speak Out! Debate and Public Speaking in the Middle Grades

This book is contained of what in debate and public speaking for middle grades is. It gives useful tips for debate and public speaking and basically, it is clearly introducing us about how to speak properly in front of many people and how to be an attractive public speaker. There are three main sections that is discussed in this book. Section one is talking about the introduction to speaking and debating, section two is talking about making and answering arguments, while section three is talking about debating in class and competition.

In the first section, Introduction to Speaking and Debating, you will first be introduced to the basic and advanced techniques in speaking and debating. This section is contained of another three chapters. The first one is Introduction to Public Speaking and Debating which explains about the verbal communication skills that is necessarily be payed attention such as the appropriate volume, rate of speed, emphasis of words, clear articulation, organization of the speech, and last but not the least is the appropriate word choice. While the non verbal communication skills which is needed to be considered is body positioning and movement, eye contact, poise, and speech anxiety. The second chapter is Introduction to Debating which explains about a general understanding of debating, debate topics, rules and regulation in debate, preparation period, debate material, points of information and heckling, and also judge training and decision-making. And the third chapter is The Middle School Public Debate Program Format which mostly teach us about the understanding of the debate topic, the number of teams and debaters, speaking order and team responsibilities, taking notes in a debate, and the preparation period and points of information.

In the second section, Making and Answering Arguments, you will learn deeper about the technique for making and answering arguments using a good reason and a good evidence. This section also followed by three chapter. The first one is Making Arguments which explains about an introduction to evidence, critical thinking, cause and effect, and cost and benefits. The second chapter is Answering Arguments which tells you how to refute an argument when you are debating. And the third chapter is Learning to Research which tells us how we are going to do effective research in order to present our point in a logical way to convince people that our points are correct.

The last but not the least, in this third section, Debating in Class and Competition, you will be guided to refine your debating skills and help you prepare for debate competitions and classroom debates. It again, contains of three chapters. The first chapter is Making Arguments Matter: Impacts which tells you about what an impact is, and explaining and comparing your impact. The second chapter is Opposition Strategies which tells you about what would the opposition strategies are such as refuting back the case, making offensive arguments and off-case arguments and indirect refutation.

Overall, from the sections and chapters included in the book, this book is telling us about the steps on how we are going to survive in public speaking and debate.