I just read "criminal minds" from the magazine Smithsonion. The author narrates a story about a kidnapping and murder committed by two teenagers in 1924. He begins with the intimacy between two intelligent boys-- Leopold and Loeb, who went to college on their 14 and 15 respectively. They were both obsessed with crime, especially Leopold, who regarded himself as a superman. As a result, they kidnapped Loeb's cousin Bobby and murdered him. Afterward, it comes a violent debate--should the two boys be executed? The author use a huge page to depict the attempt of the prosecution and the defendant. Finally, the defendant won. In spite of being sentenced to life imprisonment, two young men were exempted from execution.
The title "criminal minds" attracts me. I'm curious about what are the criminals thinking about? Why do they want to commit the crimes, in particular high crimes, such as murder? Another interesting issue is that should execution be taken place? Do we have rights to take someone's life? The article also presents the argument: Do we have to take full responsibility of ourselves?
These questions interest me. Even though it's hard to find answers from this article, it gives some good examples which make it possible for me to think more deeply.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Story of Stuff
I've seen a vedio The Story of Stuff ,which tallks about the waste of stuff and the bad effects.
The woman throw the qustion:where does the stuff go? At first, she introduce the material economic, the system that the stuff go through: extration, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. The system seems so well; however, the image misses something. For instance, people. Recently, government who should take care of the system is flattering the corporation.
On the other hand, the five steps resault in a lot of problems or be a problem too. (1) Exatration: exatration means the resource of the world is loosing. It's American's responsibility in a sense.
80% forests are gone, toxics in toxics out, workers have no choice but to work in the toxic factory. Whole community get wasted. (2) Production: It causes pollution. The developed countries throw their pollution oversea but they backfired. (3) Distribution: It means externalized cost. (4) Consumption: This is the most difficult part. To much consuming produce trash. Almost 99% products will be trash in 6 month.This is designed after 2nd world war: the belife of more consuming will stimulate economic growth. Fasion is the element that can't be neglected. " Keep in style" persuades people to buy more. However, national happiness is declining, we have more stuff but have no time to make ourselves happy.(5)Disposal: The way we deal with trash is burning the garbage but make more super toxics e.g. Dioxin. Recycling does help, but not enough. For two reason: 1. The garbage come from houses is just a corner of an iceberg. 2. A lot of garbage can't be recycled.
The video is interesting and inspiring. I think the vedio should be broadcast in public, it's filled with worthful information and educational meaning which eveyone should know.
It reminds me my first experience to America. Once when I went to breakfast in a restaurant, I find out everyone left so much food on the table. The scene shock me. I was really astonished by the man who was throwing a bread away just because it had a crack. I find out American are quite wasteful. In my country, you'll never see any leftover on the table.
One part of the vedio is inspiring too: the fashion. Nowadays the function of clothes is more than keep people warm. It's about fasion. Looking good is not a bad thing, but buying too many clothes must be wastful.
The woman throw the qustion:where does the stuff go? At first, she introduce the material economic, the system that the stuff go through: extration, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. The system seems so well; however, the image misses something. For instance, people. Recently, government who should take care of the system is flattering the corporation.
On the other hand, the five steps resault in a lot of problems or be a problem too. (1) Exatration: exatration means the resource of the world is loosing. It's American's responsibility in a sense.
80% forests are gone, toxics in toxics out, workers have no choice but to work in the toxic factory. Whole community get wasted. (2) Production: It causes pollution. The developed countries throw their pollution oversea but they backfired. (3) Distribution: It means externalized cost. (4) Consumption: This is the most difficult part. To much consuming produce trash. Almost 99% products will be trash in 6 month.This is designed after 2nd world war: the belife of more consuming will stimulate economic growth. Fasion is the element that can't be neglected. " Keep in style" persuades people to buy more. However, national happiness is declining, we have more stuff but have no time to make ourselves happy.(5)Disposal: The way we deal with trash is burning the garbage but make more super toxics e.g. Dioxin. Recycling does help, but not enough. For two reason: 1. The garbage come from houses is just a corner of an iceberg. 2. A lot of garbage can't be recycled.
The video is interesting and inspiring. I think the vedio should be broadcast in public, it's filled with worthful information and educational meaning which eveyone should know.
It reminds me my first experience to America. Once when I went to breakfast in a restaurant, I find out everyone left so much food on the table. The scene shock me. I was really astonished by the man who was throwing a bread away just because it had a crack. I find out American are quite wasteful. In my country, you'll never see any leftover on the table.
One part of the vedio is inspiring too: the fashion. Nowadays the function of clothes is more than keep people warm. It's about fasion. Looking good is not a bad thing, but buying too many clothes must be wastful.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
some ideas of a book review
I read a book review: Dying of the Light on the NewYork Times. It's about a book which concerning about the fear of death. The book's authur, Julian Barnes dreads death. He said it is a fear of nothing, emptiness and the agnostic future. Barness associates the fear with the sunset of his parents life: one suffered from stroke, the other paralyzed on one side. He doesn't believe in the contemporary religion therapy: the development of the personality, the accumulation of sexual exploits, the visits to the gym... etc. However, He finds comforts in Mozart and Donatello's art.
I think it's an interesting topic. The utterly unpredictable future will be the most dreadful thing. The fearfulness is understandable; it makes you think who are you, where are you from and where are you going. If you never think of those questions, it is sensible to be afraid of death. It's easy to imagine: if you are on the edge of death, what's the first thing come to your mind? It might be a quick review of your life. You are terrified, because you never know what did you do during you whole life.
I think it's an interesting topic. The utterly unpredictable future will be the most dreadful thing. The fearfulness is understandable; it makes you think who are you, where are you from and where are you going. If you never think of those questions, it is sensible to be afraid of death. It's easy to imagine: if you are on the edge of death, what's the first thing come to your mind? It might be a quick review of your life. You are terrified, because you never know what did you do during you whole life.
Monday, September 29, 2008
reflections on Food of Thought
I've read Food of Thought in Newsweek. This artical is about food and nations. The author Daniel Stone related food and nations in a interesting way. She asserts that to a certain extent, nation's food can describe its place in the world. For example, th U.S's "nations food"--meat, can reflect the Depression. In addition, food could also mirror the political history--some countries took controls on the others, so they have their ex-colony's food. With globalization, American make foreign food by themselves. And the "Axis of Evil", their food supply is insufficient, it stands for the communism belief of their goverments. At last, Stone conclude that food might not indicate the future politics, but it definetly reflects the cultures.
The artical is quite interesting. Actually, this idea--food could reflect cultures is not difficult to understand. Food, is part of our way of life, the way we live absolutely determined by our thoughts. So food could be a indicator of the cultures. In my case, we eats organs partly because we don't want to waste anything. It can reflect the idea-- frugality. The Westerners rarely eat all the innards, because their countries now are rich. This mirror the global history--the rising of the West.
The artical is quite interesting. Actually, this idea--food could reflect cultures is not difficult to understand. Food, is part of our way of life, the way we live absolutely determined by our thoughts. So food could be a indicator of the cultures. In my case, we eats organs partly because we don't want to waste anything. It can reflect the idea-- frugality. The Westerners rarely eat all the innards, because their countries now are rich. This mirror the global history--the rising of the West.
this is leomi
Hi everybody, I'm Leomi.
I love music, books, mocca hazelnut latte, wafful and people ^^
I love music, books, mocca hazelnut latte, wafful and people ^^
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