People are using a lot of online language translation apps

2019-09-01: Task 2 People are using a lot of online language translation apps. Are the advantages more than disadvantages of such services. I can say that the advantages are short term and the disadvantages is long term. It is very convenient to use a translation app to translate an unknown language to you to another language you know. For example, you travelled to China for vacation and went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The challenge is they do not have any english menu. So you use a translation app by taking a picture of the menu and it automatically translates the words into english. You successfully ordered food without learning Chinese. In the future, people won't get interested or motivated to learn new languages as translating languages using applications becomes more and more convenient and ubiquitous. The primary idea why a new language is learned is to have efficient communication for trade. But even this fundamental reason can be offset by this new technology. The problem of this technology is there will be lesser incentive to learn a new language for the reason being to learn a new culture. The first thing to do if you want to learn the culture is to learn the language. If you are now familiar with the language, other things will be easily accessible. It will be hard to integrate with a culture if you do not know the language. These kinds of technology will help us do things easier and easier. In general that is the role of technology. But in the long term it will have negative effects on society as a whole.

Culture is turning similar around the world

2019-09-07: Task 2 Culture is turning similar around the world. What are the reasons? Is it a positive trend or a negative trend? In reality culture from developed countries is continuously distributed around the world. This phenomena is tied to globalization, where culture from a country is intentionally spread to other countries to sell products. Let me give an example. Japanese culture is very rich but the accessibility of the information in Japan is restricted. Their products are mostly created for local consumption. They really did not advertise much outside their country. But in South Korea, k-pop instantly became a hit specially in southeast asian countries because South Korea deliberately extended the targeted consumers outside the country. They made access of Korean TV series, movies, fashion, and products very easy, particularly online. They examine cultures of other countries, and studied what products will get accepted by a certain market. And starting with the advent of the internet, information goes out so fast. In the internet people around the world can easily see what other countries are doing, what is popular to them, what is not popular for them, what are the cultural similarity and differences, and so on. Generally I can say that it is a positive trend, but excess of anything is bad. It is good because integration of other culture means broader sense of how you see the world. But a culture crash, or culture that is slowly forgotten due to popular culture influenced by other countries, is unacceptable. You can gladly accept a culture, but make sure that you are still going to enrich and take care of your own.

Adults do less exercise nowadays

2019-09-07: Task 2 Adults do less exercise nowadays. Some think that people can be encouraged to live healthy through sporting events such as Olympics or World Cup. Others think that there are more better ways to encourage adults for exercise. Discuss both views and state your opinion. Olympics and World Cup are competitive sports, and a lot of people are not into competition thru physical activities. So I think these kinds of activities would not generally motivate people to do exercise. Exercise should be part of a person's lifestyle, and encouraging them to incorporate exercise in their daily activities is a better option. Exercise reduces stress and releases endorphins, making a person happier. Daily exercises can be very simple, as simple as stretching, walking, using the stairs, etc. Some will say that they are too busy in school or in work and they do not have time to do exercise. But you just need maybe to do exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. Once your body is used to these activities, it will become "normal" to you and you would want to add more challenge, because it is fun. Being active in life keeps you stay healthy, making you more productive in whatever you do. It also increases your energy, keeping your brain active which might help you to think more clearly and make right decisions. It helps not only you, but also affects people around you, specially your love ones who might rely on you economically. It is proven that a person doing daily exercise encourages friends and peers to also do exercise. I personally have experienced this, where I got hooked into running and swimming because of my peers. A person can get motivated to do exercise either either by competition or just by doing it for health reasons and for fun. I think the latter is applicable to most people and I encourage everyone to do daily exercises.

You want a book that you cannot find

2019-09-07: Task 1 You want a book that you cannot find. Later you found it and it is available in a bookstore in another city. Write a letter to the manager of bookstore. In your letter, you should: give details of book say why you need this book tell how you will pay for it. Dear Manager, I am searching for a book called Dune in bookstores near our vicinity but without any luck. It is a science fiction book written by Frank Herbert in 1965. I really need this book because it is required in one of our class at school. Fortunately I found out that there is an available copy of the book in your bookstore. The problem is your store is in a different city and it is not convenient for me to drive there to just to get the book. I would be so happy if you would consider sending me a copy thru mail. My address is 21 Hazel Park Terraces 02-06 Singapore 678946. I will pay thru bank transfer as soon as possible. Please send me your bank details. Thank you very much! Regards, Rafael

During my 3rd year in college

Linux. During my 3rd year in college, I got obsessed with the concept of open source software. It all started when I read the life and early works of Richard Stallman, the father or free software. Stallman graduated in Harvard University in the 70s majoring in Physics, but his passion is more on software programming. He continued his studies in MIT and became a "hacker" in the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab. When he started the GNU project in the 80s, a lot of people joined the project. His concept of "copyleft" and its GPL license became so popular it attracted followers. Then in 1991 Linux came into picture. A programmer from Finland named Linus Torvalds wrote an open source kernel an integrated it with many GNU applications to build a complete operating system. This open source movement led me to hate Windows. I began to research about the Linux operating system. Using Fedora Core as the Linux distribution, I did some experiments in networking and basic system configuration. Then I move into playing with the user interface. I also tried multiple distributions like Debian, OpenSuse, and Slackware before settling with Ubuntu.

I started listening to rock music

I started listening to rock music when I was young. My brother used to buy cassette tapes of 90s rock, grudge and alternative rock music. My ears got used to the rock rhythms of different genres. I also got introduced to original pinoy music such as parokya ni edgar and yano. For me rock at that time is the popular music. I disliked RnB, rap and those 80s pop. When my brother bought a guitar I tried learning it too on my own. I played creed and incubus songs over and over for hours until my fingers started to hurt. I enjoyed playing guitar at that time. I am playing only for myself, not thinking of any goals of improving. When I entered high school, I got surprised by the fact that most of my colleagues are also fan of rock music. They also play guitar, planning to set up bands and stuff. We share rock band stories, opinions, and disagreements. I continued to play the guitar. First time I heard a song from Thursday, I said it was 'okay'. Many years have passed and I gave Thursday another chance and try to listen to their second album Full Collapse. I end up being so addicted to the band it became one of my favorites of all time.

Peace in Mindanao

Peace in Mindanao. The ongoing chaos in Mindanao manifests the decade long problem in its society. Radicalization of Muslim people and negligence of the government are important issues that need to be addressed but the root of the problems is still poverty. If jobs are given to the people of Mindanao, problem solved. Haha! Seriously, I don't really know how to write. I am not sure if I can improve this in my lifetime. But my real problem is speaking. It is hard for me to express myself in English. I remember when I was 10 my mother enrolled me in a tutorial center to assess my English skills. We found out that I was lagging 2 years behind. I took those extra classes but I really did not work well. I hate it because I am not excelling in the subject. People are saying practice is the only key to improve and that is why I am writing this blog. Why do I need to suffer like this?