Place Review Evaluation

For this blog, I would like to review about Georgia Aquarium's review made by Edward Rothstein.

In this review, the author's claim is "Georgia Aquarium is one of the largest aquarium in the world." His evidences is from the number of fish, number of tourists that have visited the aquarium, the number of gallery, etc.

He states his evidences by using statistics of size and number: over 100,000 fish are displayed in five galleries and 60 habitats in the more than 500,000 square foot building. He also states that even with the admission of $22.75 for adults, the demand is still so high that the building is often sold out and a million visitors have come since the opening.

In his review, he also tells about a brief history about the aquarium, its sponsor and how it is built. He also tells that there is also restaurant and ballroom inside the aquarium that can be rented. He also critics the aquarium, saying that it is often too crowded during the weekends.

He also included some photo of Georgia Aquarium in his blog. Therefore, his readers can see what Georgia Aquarium looks like. In his review, the standard that he uses is by counting the number of visitors in one year and also by the attractions the place of interest (Georgia Aquarium) provide. In his review, he writes about some species of fishes as examples. Nevertheless, we can still understand his review even though we don't know the fish.

In the end, I agree with the author stating that Georgia Aquarium is one of the largest aquarium of the world; by looking from its number of visitors, number of fishes, and number of gallery.

Music Review Evaluation

This time, I would like to evaluate the music review about Akon's album, Konvicted.

In this review, the reviewer, Thomas Steenhagen, claims that Akon should not be classified as the typical R&B act; he is more than that. Akon dabbles some musical genre through Konvicted. "Mama Africa" contains more of a smooth reggae tone, ballad in "Never Took the Time." Since Akon apparently does not rap by himself, he does has a great test in choosing the guests to collaborate in his song. For example is Snoop Dog in "I Wanna Love You" and Eminem in "Smack That." Other music that is worth hearing is "Don't Matter" and "Gangsta Bop."

The reviewer also provides numerical information like the total of sold album by Akon and the highest chart for the song. Akon's first album, Trouble, has been sold 3 million worldwide and received Platinum award while his second album, Konvicted, has been sold 4 million in the world. It also receives 3 times Platinum award. He also has 23 Billboard Hot Songs so far in his career. With this, we know that the reviewer's standard of greatness is by the Billboard Hot Songs and the RIAA album certification.

Unfortunately, the reviewer didn't include any embedded songs of Akon. There is only a small picture of Konvicted's album art in the top of the page, similar to this blog. I agree with the reviewer that Akon has talent and credibility. But we still have to see in the future if Akon can keep up with his good work so far. Below is the music video of "Don't Matter" which get into the first spot in Billboard Hot Songs.

The Archives

The first picture below is an aerial photo of Georgia Tech in 1950s. I found the photo in the archives center and I took a photo of it. It is interesting because from it, we can see the campus building in the past and compare it with the aerial photo nowadays. The second picture is from Google Map, it is also an aerial photo but it is from 2000s.

If we compare the two pictures, we can see:

• The Kessler Campanile, or sometimes called "The Shaft", near the skiles walkway wasn't built yet (it is the black round thing in the upper left corner from the second picture). It is built for the 1996 Olympic Games.
• The Bobby Dodd stadium is a little bit different, maybe it is reconstructed between the time period.
  
• The East Housing Dorms (the left side of Bobby Dodd stadium in picture 1 and the right side of Bobby Dodd stadium in picture 2) is pretty much the same.
• The Skiles Building (the rectangular building with a hole in it) is the same.

From the comparison that we have already made, it is clear that the archives is very important to see about Tech's development from time to time.

Poverty and Inequality in Indonesia

In this blog, I would like to respond to Arjun's blog about Indonesia. In his blog, he tells that in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, can become rich busy entrepreneurs who enjoy the rich city life. The blog also tells about Indonesia's development and also the inequality that happens in Indonesia. I agree with him about the inequality that happens between the rich and the poor. I would like to tell about the poverty and inequality that happens in Indonesia.

It is true that Indonesia has been developing as a developing country, even tough no as fast as other developing country like China and India and Indonesia also has made a remarkable progress in reducing poverty from the 1970s to 1990s. It is made by reducing growth and making large investment in health and education. In the 1998 economic crisis, poverty increased rapidly but nowadays, it had returned to the state before the crisis happened.

Even tough poverty in Indonesia is reduced, the inequality, however, is increasing. The gap between the income of rich people and poor people is getting larger. We can assume that the poverty in Indonesia is decreasing because the rich people income is getting larger or there is more rich people in Indonesia while the poor people's income and the number of poor people remain stable. There is still a lot of poor people who live below $2 a day.

We can also see that poverty in Indonesia has a regional face with remote areas being poorer, but the number of poor people in Java is much higher. This happen because of urbanization, there are a lot of youth trying to find job in Jakarta while most of them do not finish their education. The effect of this is youth unemployment has been rising  dramatically since the crisis.

Of course the government must do something to decrease the poverty and inequality. Several things that pop out of my mind is to reduce youth people and to achieve universal p primary education. By receiving education, a lot of youth can work in a higher wage rate than if they don't receive any education and therefore the poverty and inequality can be reduced.

You Know You're From Tech When ...

I found this T-shirt at Barnes & Nobles at Technology Square. It is dedicated for Tech students and alumni. The T-shirt's claim is about rivalries between Georgia Tech (Tech) and University of Georgia (UGA). It all started in 1893 when Tech played UGA for the first time and defeated them in the football game. The UGA fans was angry and threw stones to the Tech players. This action by UGA fans create the rivalry between Tech and UGA known as "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate". Since then, come the famous Tech chants "What's the Good Word?" devoted to the rivalries with UGA.

The Good Words is a cheer used by Tech students and alumni at football game against UGA or other sports events. It is also used in greetings, for example is in the last FASET (freshman orientation) that I attended. The MC cheered "What's the Good Word?' three times which we answer "To Hell with Georgia!". The last time, the MC asked "How 'bout them dawgs?" which we answer "Piss on 'em!". The Good Word has evolved, it is not only a chant or a greeting but it has also become Tech's identity. So the next you meet someone who is also from Tech, you can ask them "What's The Good Word?".

TO HELL WITH GEORGIA !!!

The Pros and Cons of Indutrialization

Everything in this world has its good sides and bad sides. When we make decision, we also think about good sides and bad sides about it. This thinking process also happens to the government when they change from agrarian country to industrial country. First, let's talk about the industrialization revolution. Industrialization revolution first happened in Great Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At that time, there occurred a transition from manual-labour-based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. These change first happened in a textile industries, the development of iron-making industries and the increased use of refined coal. Later on, trade expansion was enabled by improved roads and railways. From Great Britain, these effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, and finally to most of the world. So, what's the pros and cons of industrialization?

In one hand, industrialization has several pros. With machine-based manufacturing and the new technology, the cost of producing goods are less than in manual-labour-based manufacturing. This means we can allocate the the resources more efficiently and cut the production costs. Then, we can allocate the remaining resources (it can be money, time, or another capital) to produce another goods. The effect of producing this goods is an increase in supply (quantity of the goods produced) which leads to decrease in the price of the goods in the market. The producers also get more income by producing more goods. The country also can increase their income by taxing the producer or by exporting the goods to another country.

In the another hand, industrialization also has several cons. Sometimes, most factory labored children under age to work for the company. Most of the workers are also paid in a very low wages and they have to work outrages amount of hours in a very poor condition. Another cons is that most factory gives a bad effect on the environment; most of them emits greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) ,which cause the greenhouse effect, that leads to global warming.

Of course all the country try to minimize the bad side of industrialization. They makes the law that prohibits factory owner to labor children under age to work. They also made rent floor or minimum wages for the worker. This means that the factory owner cannot pay the workers under the minimum wage. And for the last environmental cons, all the country in the world now work together to solve the global warming problem. Let's hope that we can minimize the bad side of industrialization or even lose it. Personally, I agree with industrialization because the advantage of it is more than the disadvantage of it and because that the bad sides are now being countered.

Same Claim, Different Media

I just have submitted my essay for the first English major assignment. I made a claim that sports can unify people together into small group or large group. In my essay, I use badminton as an example that can unify Indonesian people. In this blog, I would like to share my another experience about it but not by words, instead I will use some videos and also some photos. There is a saying "pictures is worth a thousand words" and maybe there should be saying "video is worth a thousand pictures".

The kick-off

The touchdown

The Parade

The Marching band

Georgia Tech supporters

Georgia Tech cheerleaders

Mississippi State University Supporters

This football match is between Georgia Tech and Mississippi State University which is won by Georgia Tech by 38-7. We can see that a lot of GT supporters cheered their team together even tough they hadn't known each other before. This also happened to me. I cheered for my team eve tough I have never played football neither that I have watched it or have known the rules before. That are some evidences that prove that sports can unify people together (in this case, football can unifies Georgia Tech supporters that include students, faculties, alumnus, etc).

In the end, I still don't really understand about the complete rules about football. What I know is the basic rules that we must take down the enemy's player, get the ball, and bring it to the end of the enemy's zone. Go Jackets!!!

The South's Development, What Do You Think About It?

In my previous blog, I told about a claim that is made by A. V. Huff. The claim is how recent and profound the South's transformation had been. To me as a newcomer in Atlanta, I agree with the claim that A. V. Huff made.

The first reason why I agree with the

 claim is about Atlanta's architectural and method of transportation, the city where I live now. In the past, Atlanta did not have as many skycrappers as it is now. The picture in the left is Peachtree Street in 1907. It looks pretty old-fashioned. The transportation vehicles in that picture are also different from now. The right picture is Peachtree Street right now. There are a lot of cars nowadays and the building is taller than Atlanta back in 1907.

Below is the video that shows Atlanta development from time to time. The real movie about Atlanta starts on minute 2:10.

A. V. Huff also said that the he still picks cotton crop in the 1940s when he was still a child. But today, a lot of Southern kid does not even know what cotton crop looks like. Below is a graph that I find in my economic books. It tells about the percentage of jobs that people have during that period and what goods is produced during that time.

From the graph, we can see that in the 1940s, the percentage of people that work in agricultural area is around 20%. In the 2000s, the percentage of people that work in agricultural area drops into around 3%. This decrease also means the decrease in farm area. That is the reason why today's kids do not work in the farm during school's year and why they don't know what cotton crop looks like. Finally, below is two images that pictured what A. V. Huff said about kids picking cotton crop during school's year.

Argument/Claim & Evidence

I later put this to A. V. Huff, a historian of the South at Furman University in upland South Carolina. He responded by reminding me just how recent and profound the South's transformation had been. Huff told of picking cotton as child in the 1940s, when the rhythm of the school year still moved to the cotton crop. Children attended class in midsummer, during lay-by season, and returned to the fields for the autumn harvest.

Yet in Huff's own lifetime, this most fundamental of Southern rites had all but vanished from the experience of many Southerners. Many of Huff's students-mostly middle-class kids from the suburbs of Atlanta and other cities-had never ever seen a cotton crop. Huff illustrated his point by inviting me sit in on one of his classes. Lecturing on Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, he produced a boll from his family's farm as a teaching prop. The students passed the boll around, gazing at it with wonderment, as if at a mastodon's tooth.

Fewer than 5 percent of present-day Southerners now worked the land, and Dixie was fast becoming the nation's new industrial heartland, with car plants sprouting across the former cotton belt. Per capita income in the South-half the national average when Huff was born in 1937-now ranked close to the rest of America. The eleven states of the Old Confederacy comprised the fifth-largest economy in the world.

This text is based on Confederates in the Attic chapter 4 page 86-87

What is the argument?

A. V. Huff tells Toni Horwitz about how recent and profound the South's transformation have been. (the orange sentence in the paragraph)

Who is the audience?

Toni Horwitz

What is the reason?

A. V. Huff  said that the most fundamental of Southern rites (picking up cotton crop) had vanished nowadays. (the green sentence in the paragraph)

What is the appeal?

• Ethos: A. V. Huff is a historian of the South at Furman University. He also has experienced what Southener's kid usually do during school year (picking up the cotton crop).
• Pathos: We can see the emotional appeal when the kids are gazing the boll with wonderment.
• Logos: There are fewer than 5% of Southerners that worked on land. This means that most southern area has changed from agricultural area to industrial area. (the blue sentences in the paragraph)

Is it successful?

Yes it is. A. V. Huff makes a lot of appeals from ethical appeal, emotional appeal and logical appeal. He also support his argument/claim with evidences.

Indonesia

This video is about Indonesia tourism.

As an archipelago, Indonesia has a lot of tourist destination. There are a lot of beaches and mountain, for example is Kuta Beach at Bali island and Mount Bromo in East Java.

Mount Bromo

Kuta Beach

There are a lot of flora and fauna in Indonesia. Some of them like anoa and komodo dragon are indigenous to Indonesia. Western Indonesia is more  influenced by Asian Fauna like elephant and rhinoceros. Meanwhile, the east is more influenced by Australian, like maleo bird and bird of paradise. The east and west area is divided by Weber line and Wallace line. This diversity is caused by diversed range of ecosystem.

There are also a lot of historical place and building such as Borobudur temple that was built during Sailendra dynasy at around 800 AD and Monas (National Monument) that is a trademark bulding in Jakarta. Borobudur also part of the 7 wonders of the world last time. Unfortunately, now it is not.

Borobudur Temple

You can also watch a lot of traditional dance like Kecak dance and also traditional musical instruments like Gamelan in Indonesia. You can also buy batik clothes for souvenir

Gamelan

Also, you can try some exotic food like Gado-gado and ketoprak in Indonesia.

This video is made to promote Indonesia tourism to the world, especially after there is a lot of travel warning from another country such as America and Australia that forbids its citizen to go to Indonesia. This happened after the Bali bombings and several bombings in Jakarta. This terrorist act severely damaged Indonesia tourism industry and foreign investment prospect. By this video, Indonesia wants to tell that Indonesia is already safe now and fight the terrorism in the world. 

Friday, 22nd August 2008 Assignment

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog. I am majoring in industrial engineering in Georgia Tech. Pardon me if my english is bad.

For the last 24-hours, here is the activity that I've done:

• E-mail my friends in Indonesia (written) 6:00 PM; ask their condition and experience in their university.
• Text messaging my parents (written) 10:00 PM; remind them to call my cellphone on 7:30 AM today, or I will not be awaken.
• Talk with my parents (oral) 3:15 PM; tell them about the class that I have.
• Read flyer about Georgia Tech Swarm (visual) 5:25 PM
• Chat with my friend using windows messenger (electronic); I ask him about his condition.
• Read my friend's blog in the internet (electronic) 6:15 PM; I read about her experience in her university.
• Using body language to my mother (non verbal) 08:20 AM; My mother asked me if I have math class today and I nodded, which means yes.

In Indonesia language, there is also some convention. For example, the word "I" in English, have several words in Indonesia language. They are:

• "saya"; this word is used between us and someone who is much older than us such as our parents and teachers.
• "aku"; this word is a little bit more informal. It is used between us and our brother, sister, cousin.
• "gw"; this word is informal. It is used between us and our friends.

So we use the word depends on our relationship with the people we speak to.

In Indonesia, there is a lot of tribe and race that have their own language. So, there is also some homophone words. For example is the word "pisang" in Indonesia, it means banana in Jakarta but for Toraja people, it means "jackfruit". Also, there is some words that sounds rude to some tribe or race.

Actually, there is almost no abbreviation in Indonesia language. When we teenagers communicate with our friends via text message or 3-mail or instant messaging, we rarely use abbreviation like in the United States. To shorten the word, we simply don't write the vocal alphabet. For example, the word "saya" is written "sy". We don't write the word only as its initial like IMO, LMAO, LOL in English. We sometime use some English abbreviation like BTW that means "by the way". But we seldom use it when we write e-mail or text message to our parents. We rarely use them because mostly they don't understand about what is written in it.

There is also body language. I think it is the same in almost all part of the world. For example, if we nod our head, that means "yes", if we raise our shoulder, it means we don't know.