By Chun Hsia Fan Lately the idea of donating blood has become more and more common and it’s easy to find little booths set up for people to do so. So why should you donate blood? Answer: To save someone’s life. Similar to organs, blood is something science cannot reproduce and keep in an unlimited supply. Every day accidents and disasters happen and blood transfusions needed. You know when your blood may save someone else’s life or when someone else’s blood will save yours. Wondering where you can do this act of charity? There’s a bloodmobile across the street from McDonalds on Xinsheng South Rd. The bloodmobile is there every day and if you have any doubts the staff there is always happy to help. If you want to donate blood somewhere else or find another place to do so information is always available on the internet, or from pamphlets you can get from the bloodmobile. Various blood donating groups have also been offering special gifts and souvenirs for those who donate on a regular basis. However, blood donation isn’t for everyone. Read on to find out more about donating! Different types of Blood Donation: Small Fact: Blood is made of three components; red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. - Whole Blood: This is the most common type of donation where the whole blood is drawn out. - Platelet Donation: Only the platelets are extracted and everything else is returned to the donor. - Double Red Blood cells: This type of donation only takes the red blood cells. - Autologous Donation: In this case, the blood you ‘donate’ is really saved for your own use in the future. The blood isn’t for anyone else. Basic Procedure: 1. First you need to fill out a form that asks for your basic information, and then you will be interviewed by one of the helpers. 2. A staff will clean an area on your arm and insert the needle for the withdrawal of blood. The blood will start filling in a little bag next to you—the process takes about 10-15 minutes. 3. When the bag has filled the staff will ask how you are feeling and you will be asked to rest a bit before moving. Usually you will be given a small token or souvenir of some sort and some refreshment for the blood you lost.
4. If you want to donate blood again, you should: Wait at least 8 weeks between whole blood donations. Wait at least 3 days between platelet donations. Wait at least 16 weeks between double red cell donations *The blood donation process may vary from place to place. The above is just a general idea. Are you eligible to donate blood? Check the following! You CANNOT donate blood if: - You have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS - You are not yet 17 - You have had Hepatitis (viral) - You weigh less than 110 pounds. - You have been lived in England from 1980 to 1996 for over 3 months or have accepted a blood transfusion there from 1980 to present. - For more in-depth requirements and whatnot, check http://www.redcross.org/ *The exact requirements may vary from country to country and there are quite a bit of activities that might require you to wait, anytime from one day to one year. **If you are not feeling well, you should not donate blood regardless of how healthy you are. Wait for a day when you feel fine and then go. Feeling motivated to give some of your precious blood to others now? Fit all the requirements? Make sure that you have plenty of rest in the three days preceding your donation, eat a good meal, and you are good to go. For more information visit the following: http://www.blood.org.tw/ (02)2351-1600 http://www.redcross.org/ http://www.givelife2.org/
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By Wei-Fan Yang In order to take pictures of Sean Allan I disguised myself as a freshman and visited one of his classes. Here I “witnessed” his magic: he captures students’ attention and also tries hard to assist them in memorizing new vocabulary. He never lost patience when students could not answer questions in English, and his lectures kept me from many common writing errors! As a teacher he is responsible, and as a friend he always wins a laugh and a smile. Meet our next interviewee: Sean Allan. Q1: What was your best or worst experience in Taipei? When I first arrived in Taipei, I brought too much luggage. Every time the bus or the cab dropped me off I would struggle to move four large bags. Most of the people around me just ignored me and my struggle. Eventually, on two different occasions a woman stopped to help me. The first time it was a woman in her seventies; the second time a woman in her late forties. This is both my worst and best experience: I witnessed both the coldness of the big city and the kindness of everyday people– or at least the kindness of everyday women. Q2: What are your favorite movies and books? I have hundreds of favorite movies and books. If I had to name some movies, I would say Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, anything by John Cassavetes, Bela Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies, and Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels. Do I sound pretentious enough? I was very lucky to see several films by the late Edward Yang at the 2007 Golden Horse film festival. He was a major world filmmaker. I attended a screening of A Brighter Summer Day even though it didn’t have English subtitles (I saw it with English subtitles before). It’s amazing how Yang used the influence of 1950s American teen movies and was able to make such moving insights into the nature of childhood, machismo, violence, and Taiwan’s history. As to books, I have probably read Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son more than any other. The book captures the mood of 1970s America, and it looks at the elective affinities between drug addiction and spiritual torment. Q3: What kinds of music do you like? I listen to different kinds of music. As a scholar of the late 20th century masculinity I listen to rap music of the early 1990s. (Really? Can you rap now?) No. Listening to rap and rapping are different things. I like anything coming out of the blues and jazz traditions. Of course, Jay Chou is the greatest musician ever. Q4: Talk about your experience of learning Chinese. Did you face any difficulties? It is very difficult to learn Chinese. I have some vocabulary, but my ability to listen and understand is still very poor. Because of my teaching schedule, I cannot take a regular class. I try to study on my own, and that is hit-and-miss. It is hard to practice listening and speaking skills; my roommate is very helpful, but he is also very busy. Q5: Why did you choose film studies and English as your major field? My field is American literature and culture. In particular, I am interested in how contemporary American art is interested in representations of male violence and male emotional trauma. Why do we have such an interest in violent men now, and how is it different from the interest in juvenile delinquents in the 1950s and 1960s? I think literature still has a lot to say about the way we live now, but I also think I need to give attention to art forms that people are more likely to consume–namely, films and popular culture. Also, because I’m interested in contemporary literature, I feel that an interest in film is necessary; film and literature influence each other. My master’s degree is in English, with an emphasis on cinema studies, particularly Asian film. I don’t know that I can explain why I am interested in film studies. I suppose I like the fact that film explores visual spectacle and visual poetry, yet it also provides the spiritual insights of good literature. Q6: What is your attitude about teaching English for non-native speakers ? I have a positive attitude. I teach the course as I would teach a course fornative speakers; I adjust simply by anticipating and determining students’ special needs. The only significant difference is the attention needed for vocabulary. The great challenge is the variation in speaking and listening skills among the students. They can write nearly as well as their native speaker counterparts. Q7: Could you give students some suggestions for learning English? Generally students should pay more attention to speaking and listening. There are a lot of basic resources like English language television and English language radio on the internet now, which can help students improve their listening and speaking skills. Q8: What courses would you like to teach? A film survey. I would just show the movies and talk about how much I like them and why I like them, and I believe the class would be fun. As to literature, I would like to teach contemporary American writers or something more specialized. Q9: What would you like to change? (After thinking a minute) I have no idea. If I could change one thing, I would give someone else the ability to change one thing. Well, I think I respond to my situation rather than dream about how I could change. Sometimes you will imagine yourself being more social, being a better speaker, being better looking, or being smarter, but it is just a private little fantasy, you know. About Sean Allan Heights: 6 feet 5 inches Sign: Aries Blood type: Unknown Hair Color: Brown Favorite Food in Taiwan: Stinky Tofu Professor Sean Allan received his Ph. D. in English at University of California, Davis. He specializes in American literature and culture, as well as English composition. He teaches Freshman English at NTU now. By Lu Kuan-Chung The origin of the human species had been debated for hundreds of years. A lot of theories were raised, especially by people from certain religious groups. It wasn’t until Darwin’s innovative idea about the origin of species that provoked us with a crazy thought: Honey monkey, we are family! Although it might have seemed disturbing to admit that the manlike beasts roaring in cages, and the naughty figures with long tails jumping up and down are our relatives. A lot of scholars fought back to protect themselves from being marked as having a close relationship to other primates. But, more and more evidence from archaeology, biology, anthropology, and other fields have been found to support the theory of evolution. Primates are no doubt more similar to us than animals such as pigs, chickens, or fish. Does this thought give you relief? It is no harm to know that we are close. The question is how close we are. △In the chart above, you can trace humans (homo), chimpanzees (pan), gorillas (gorilla), and orangutans (pongo) to the same superfamily. Gorillas – the largest of existing primates. Gorillas live in the forests of Africa, they are the second closest relatives to humans after chimpanzees, but they are larger. They are so large that they are often used as monsters in movies. I’d say one of the most famous is King Kong, and Tarzan movies, too. Amazingly, gorillas have a natural lifespan of 30-50 years, which is very close to that of human beings. Gorillas are different from chimpanzee not only in size but also in appearance. If a human, a chimpanzee, and a gorilla were lined up, the human would be the smallest and chimp of medium size; a human has the most prominent nose; a chimp has a nose like a dog, and a gorilla has two holes in its nose. Orangutans – people of the forest. The most obvious trait of an orangutan is its long arms and reddish-brown hair. They are currently only found in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. However, fossils show that the orangutans are native to Indonesia and Malaysia and their habitat once included Vietnam and China. The name “orangutan” is derived from a Malay phrase “orang hutan,” which means “person of the forest.” According to recent research by James Lee, a psychologist from Harvard University, orangutans are the world’s most intelligent animal other than man. They have higher learning and problem solving abilities than chimpanzees. They use leaves to make rain hats and roofs over their sleeping nests to survive in the rainforest. Monkeys – a monkey is any member of either New World monkeys or Old World monkeys. Genetically, monkeys are less like men. They separated from the stem of the human family earlier than other existing primates. But they also have social activities and ways to communicate with each other. They are very good at mimicking human behavior. They look cute and smart but they are more like pets than relatives. Some monkeys in Japan even take hot spring baths during the winter, which awes a lot of tourists. “If they have failed to prosper despite all the excellent advice, it is because something is the matter with them: They missed the Protestant Reformation, or they are crippled by the disabling legacy of colonial Europe, or their IQs are too low. But the suggestion that it is culture that explains the success of such diverse places as Japan, Switzerland, and California, and culture again that explains the relative poverty of such equally diverse places as China, Estonia, and Baja California, is worse than inhumane; it is unconvincing.” Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else By Jen-ching Kao Here are four stories about four men who are much richer than 99.99% of Americans, Europeans, and the rest of the world. Three of them grew up in families which were poorer, and perhaps more miserable than ours; two of the countries they come from have much lower GDP per capita than Taiwan’s; three of them never completed university studies. So, is it merely luck that makes them who they are today or is there extraordinary wisdom which allows them to maximize and optimize whatever they can gain from their environment? Ingvar Kamprad—A Frugal Capitalist Who Sells at Low Cost Country of Citizenship: Sweden Age: 81 Fortune: Self-made Source: IKEA Net worth: US$33 billion (estimated by Forbes in March 2007) Worldwide Rank: 4 Born in 1926, raised on a farm named Elmtaryd, near the village of Agunnaryd, Kamprad embarked on business as a teenager. He first purchased matches in bulk from Stockholm at a very low price and peddled them by bicycle in his neighborhood with a satisfactory profit. Later he reinvested the profits and expanded his business to selling Christmas cards and decorations, fish, pens, and other items. At the age of 17, his father awarded him some money for succeeding at school. This was when Kamprad gave birth to IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd), which sold many more daily products such as stockings, wallets, etc. IKEA has an intricate corporate structure and its profits go directly to the nonprofit INGKA Foundation and other shell corporations for tax avoidance, as Sweden is a welfare state which has tax revenue of more than 50% of its GDP. Kamprad is known for his frugality; he usually takes the subway to work and rarely wears suits; he encourages his employees to write on both sides of paper. On the other hand, IKEA has a highly active partnership with UNICEF and participation in local causes in different parts of the world. However, as the INGKA Foundation is headquartered in the Netherlands, it is not required for them to publish detailed records of their donations to charity. The incipient success of IKEA resulted from the fact that Kamprad was able to offer whatever he found a need for at a reduced price. Sweden’s major exports between the two World Wars included pulp, matches, and timber; forestry has always been one of Sweden’s largest industries and nearly 75% of Swedish farms have timberland. Young Kamprad took advantage Sweden’s economic strength and made profits from selling matches; later he caught the tide of Sweden’s competitive forest industry and first introduced furniture to IKEA in 1947. It was produced by manufacturers in forests near his home. Sheldon Adelson—A Philanthropic Entrepreneur Country of Citizenship: United States Age: 74 Fortune: self-made Source: casinos, hotels Net worth: US$26.5 billion (estimated by Forbes in March 2007) Worldwide rank: 6 Adelson is an American-born Jew whose parents emigrated to the US from the Russian Empire. As the son of a Boston cabdriver, he borrowed US$200 from his uncle to sell newspapers on street corners at the age of 12. Later he went to City College of New York and dropped out, then worked as a mortgage broker, an investment adviser, and a financial consultant. Adelson’s fortune soared in 1979, when he created the premier trade show for the computer industry, COMDEX (Computer Dealer’s Exhibition), in which he managed to rent space for 15 cents per square foot and to lease it to dealers for up to US$40 per square foot. In 1988 he and his partners bought the Sands Hotel and Casino for US$128 million and constructed the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. COMDEX was sold to Japan’s Softbank for US$862 million in 1995, and in 1996 the Sands was demolished and replaced by The Venetian, which was built at a cost of US$1.5 billion. There is also a chain hotel in Macau. As an American with Jewish heritage, Adelson has given generously to several programs targeted at Jewish Americans, such as US$25 million to the M. I. S. Hebrew Academy in Las Vegas to construct a high school, and US$25 million to Birthright Israel, which sponsors Jewish students’ trips to Israel. As the husband of a physician, he also contributes enormously to the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, and recently pledged billions to medical research. In 2007 Adelson founded Freedom’s Watch, which advocates support for Republican policies and is run by former officials of Bush administration. Roman Abramovich—A Powerful Oligarch Country of Citizenship: Russia Age: 40 Fortune: self-made Source: oil and gas Net worth: US$18.7 billion (estimated by Forbes in March 2007) Worldwide rank: 16 Orphaned by the age of three, since his mother died from a back-alley abortion and his father had been killed in a construction accident, Abramovich was raised by his uncle’s family and by his grandmother in Moscow. He dropped out of the Industrial Institute in Ukhta, Komi Republic, but later gained a correspondence degree from Moscow State Law Academy in less than a year. During Gorbachev’s incumbency in late 1980s, small private businesses were allowed; Abramovich sold rubber ducks, later started up an automobile parts cooperative, and eventually specialized in oil and oil products trade. His success was a result of teaming up with Boris Berezovsky, who was an oil magnate and has been a political refugee in Britain since 2000. In 1995 Berezovsky and Abramovich bid the largest oil company, Sibneft, at only a fraction of its book value in a controversial auction for privatizing Sibneft, and it was approved by Boris Yeltsin, who had close relationships with Berezovsky and Abramovich. After Yeltsin’s presidency, Berezovsky had strong political and financial disagreements with Vladimir Putin, so he sold Sibneft to Abramovich and fled to London to escape from fraud and political corruption charges. Abramovich was elected as a State Duma representative for Chukotka, a cold remote region located in northeast Russia with a population of 50,000, and in 2000, he won the election for the governor of Chukotka with nearly 100 percent of the vote. During his 6-year term he contributed his own money, as much as hundreds of millions of pounds sterling, in Chukotka to build and upgrade schools, hospitals, hotels, museums, etc. He used Chukotka as a tax haven for Sibneft, but he invested most of the tax savings in Chukotka’s construction. Birthrate and life expectancy in Chukotka have greatly increased and infant mortality has decreased by 50%. Critics of Abramovich’s political charity are convinced that he attempts to demonstrate his willingness to put the money he has earned from Russia’s natural resources back into the country in order to avoid charges of tax evasion; some also believe that large-scale construction projects in Chukotka are his aspiration to control the region’s natural resources and gain greater political power. Whether these assumptions are true or not, Abramovich is indeed a political oligarch, which in Russia is a near-synonym for a business tycoon. Mukesh Ambani—Born into Money Country of Citizenship: India Age: 50 Fortune: inherited and growing Source: petrochemicals Net worth: US$20.1 billion (estimated by Forbes in March 2007) Worldwide rank: 14 Dhirubhai Ambani was the second son of a Modh father who made a modest income by teaching at a school in Gujarat. He dropped out of school early and moved to Yemen at the age of 17 to seek more rewarding job opportunities, and he then entered the petroleum industry and gave birth to Mukesh. He returned to India in 1958 and established Reliance Commercial Corporation, which imported yarn and exported spices. As a risk-taker, Dhirubhai managed to convince middle class people to invest in his company and it soon expanded and diversified. Petrochemicals were the core of the company and textiles, telecommunications, technology, energy, and other areas were its additional specialties. Dhirubhai died in 2002. His two sons were the successors of Reliance Industries and it later split in 2005. Mukesh holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Bombay. He attended the MBA program at Stanford University but failed to complete it for he had to run his father’s business. His younger brother Anil, who is now in charge of several sectors within the Reliance Group, has a net worth of US$32.4 billion as of October 2007, which makes him the 6th richest person in the world. He also earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Bombay and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In November 2007, Mukesh initiated the construction of a new home on Altamount Road in Mumbai, a posh residential area where the Indian corporate elite gather. This 60-story building with only 27 livable floors inside is estimated to cost US$1 billion; it has six parking floors of 168 parking spots; Mukesh, his wife, his three children, and his mother are going to live near the top of the building with 600 domestic staff working downstairs. India is a poor country that features a drastically uneven distribution of wealth. The GDP per capita in India is US$3800; more than 31% of the wealth is possessed by only 10% of the population and more than 25% on Indians are living below the poverty line. The caste system has been banned since India’s independence. However, the mobilization between classes is so slow—because inter-caste marriages are often opposed by parents or grandparents—that people belonging to the upper castes today remain more privileged to get access to resources than the lower castes. It is acknowledged that political parties in India still manipulate caste solidarity to gain votes and that upper castes tend to be wealthy. For example, the Ambanis are Modhs, which is a sub-caste of Vaishyas, and the Vaishyas are the third caste responsible for commercial activities. Compared to the Shudras, who were born to serve the upper three castes almost as slaves and later became farmers and herders, Vaishyas have a much higher possibility to obtain power and wealth in India’s society. By Allen Cheng Living in a world that is constantly changing, it’s always important to stay in touch with the latest trends. Here’s one that has come into vogue recently and is more popular than ever – Magic. With so many fairy tales and enchanting stories around, it’s not unusual to dream about dueling with Dumbledore while Frodo and Merlin watch. The term “magic” occurs almost everywhere: fantasy literature, temples, and in almost every online game. When hearing the word magic most people assume that it’s just a realm of fiction and fantasy. This article, however, concerns practical magic or more precisely, magick) performed by actual witches in the real world. After hearing about the history of magic and the life of witches, may the doors of the mystical world be open to you! Magick with a“K” Magic doesn’t have to be an abstract concept, yet the magic we see most of the time, performed by magicians, is actually what we call “magic tricks.” There are, however, people in the world who deal with the true essence of magic. When pagans (a synonym for “witch”) refer to practical magic, the kind that meddles with mystical forces, they use the word “Magick.” Witches, wiccans, and warlocks, though spelled differently all generally refer to Magick practitioners. Witches commonly form a convent or group of witches led by a High Priestess. Most witches record their spells, potions, rituals, and ethics (such as the Wiccan Creed) in a specific spellbook – a “Book of Shadows” or a “Grimoire.” Witches go by the rule “And ye harm none, do what ye will,” yet there are those that worship demonic and dark forces, so it would be best to not mess with powerful pagans. Which Witch is Witch? Witches worship different Gods and have different beliefs, and what sort of magic they’re good at also varies. In many Pagan theories, different spells require mystical energy drawn from different Gods, and, as mentioned before, there are different kinds of witches: Green witch: When a witch is more attached to nature she’s called a Green witch. She excels in healing spells and has a special love for the plants and trees of the earth, and is often gifted in working as a gardener, herbalist, artist, or teacher. Dark witch: These consider themselves as “Children of Darkness,“ for they receive powers as ambassadors and extensions of the Queen of Darkness, the soul of the black earth. Hecate- "Queen of Ghosts”: A goddess of the wilderness and childbirth. As a Queen, she represents femininity in spellcraft. Diana: The goddess of the hunt, in literature the equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis. Her powers are useful in love spells. Witch Way around the Year Being a witch isn’t just chanting, dancing, and casting spells. Becoming a witch means a total change in lifestyle, not only having to accommodate a whole new religious belief and a seemingly twisted perspective on everything, but also learning to go through a year in a very different way. Take a look at some wiccan festivals in a Witch’s year: Imbolc (February 1-2): when new life appears and the days start to get longer. White is the color. This is the time to plan and make first steps towards realizing projects. The magic is to cleanse and to bring about the new. Spring Equinox (March 20-21): the time for newness and beginnings, like sowing seeds. The color is green and the magic is about material beginning. Beltane (April 30-May 1): a time of fertility, when sexual energy comes to the fore. This is the time of the Goddess. The colors are green, white, and pink. The magic is unashamedly sexual and about both enjoyment and reproduction. Autumn Equinox (September 22-23): a spiritual time, an inner world time. The inner world is of the mind. We start to think. Altars should contain antlers, apples, fallen leaves, and pine cones. Magical powers can be developed, however, as they are developed in the mind. Yule (December 21-22): the Winter Solstice, a risky, dangerous time. There are many colors: black but also white and gold and red and green. The magic is about celebrating, about the health of children and early hopes of conceiving. Hocus Pocus while you Focus Now, let’s mosey into some actual witchcraft. One of the most enchanting parts of magick is the power of spells. Spellcraft is known mostly by the extraordinary repercussions it can cause, sometimes with mere words. The actual essence of spells is concentration. Wiccans believe that thoughts themselves can cause changes, and ergo the birth of spells. The language of a spell can vary yet still cause the same effect, since in theory the language is only a means of enhancing concentration. Witches also conjure spirits or Gods from other planes to perfect their spells, which often include tributes of all sorts. Here are some simple common spells for fun. Try to concentrate and do some magick! ****Levitation spell**** Ingredients: 1) 4 white candles 2) A quiet place at dawn 3) 1 featherPlace the candles in a circle, North, South, East, and West. Place the feather in your non-dominant hand (the one you don’t write with), feel its force, its gift of lightness. Start in the East and work clockwise. Enter the circle and sit in a comfortable position. Facing North, chant the following words nine times: “In the light I see, in the dark I am blind. In the world I walk in the circle I fly.” Now clear your mind, feel the feather float in your mind, then feel the feather float in your open hand and lift with it. Then you shall levitate. ****To Accelerate Time**** Ingredients: 1) 3 white candles 2) Rose petals Light the candles and put them in a circle marked out by rose petals. Chant the following spell repeatedly until the candles are blown out. “Winds of Time, gather round. Give me wings to speed my way. Rush me on my journey forward. Let tomorrow be today.” There is also a category of spells that are meant to do harm. We call them “hexes” or “curses” but will not include them in this story. Hexes, curses, and resurrections are black magick, which backfire all the time. Take curses for instance. There is a “principle of three”; that is, the harm you deal to others might take its toll on you with three times more damage! Fire burn and Cauldron Bubble When it comes to magick we certainly can’t leave out potions. Potions actually are scientific and not mystical. Yet some advanced potions still require drawing energy from gods, so it’s still magick. ****Potion for Youth Preservation**** To create a potion to feel young and full of spirit, combine the following ingredients in a bottle. 1. fresh homemade apple juice. 2. cider that has been made for more than seven days 3. apple vinegar 4. clear apple brandy 5. honey 6. a drop of wintergreen As you are sealing the bottle, chant the following: “Apple’s flesh be mine. Forever preserved in time, as I say in kind.” Seal the bottle and carry it with you always. Magic before Civilization Most magick nowadays contains either the utterance of words or the summoning of Gods. Yet magick existed long before civilization. Its simplest form is raw power, as in telekinesis, telepathy, and foreseeing the future. Telekinesis in particular, the ability to move things by thought, has occurred in many places and has been practiced by many people. The whole process can take from a few days to many months. Here’s a telekinesis “how to”:
Before you try to do TK it’s very important to have your mind clear. But exactly how do you do this? Meditation. Sit down, take few deep breaths. Don’t control your eyes; allow them to lose their focus. With some practice you’ll just forget about everything around you and lose yourself. Your breathing will become deeper and your mind will clear. Having prepared yourself for practicing you’ll need to prepare the proper instrument to practice with: aluminum foil on a pin. Take a small piece of aluminum foil and place it on the top of an upside-down pin and balance it. This is what we call a psiwheel. Remember: there is no separation between you and the psiwheel. Focus on the psiwheel and feel its presence. When you have a good, stable, strong feeling of the psiwheel, then you have established an energy link. At this point you might notice a strong feeling of power over the psiwheel, which might even cause random reactions from your body. For example you try to move the psiwheel with your mind and suddenly your hand moves forward. When these random movements happen just try to relax and to “sense” the object better. With TK the psiwheel will start to spin and you’ll know you’re moving it. What Science Doesn’t Tell You Many despise witches since “Magic doesn’t make sense at all.” But there are many things that don’t make sense. Many mystical events are happening all the time, and while we don’t have to like witchcraft or to practice it, under the current circumstances wouldn’t it be better to keep an open mind? By John Yuan For some people, night seems to be the end of the day; however, for club-goers, the day has just begun. Recently, clubbing has thrived into an unstoppable trend across the island. Take a tour to Xin-Yi district after ten, and check out high-heeled girls with hot pants and spruced up guys with tank tops all posing like celebs in line. They are definitely not waiting for another new Harry Potter release. They are here for some serious fun – clubbing. The once biggest vice is now every Taiwanese’s rite of passage. And the fever is only getting hotter as the miniskirts. Clubs offer supreme ambience along with drinks and dance floor for stressed people off work to toss away all the annoyances for the moment. Thus, according to the survey conducted by Foreign Exchange Team, almost 40% of interviewees go clubbing mainly for relaxation and fun, 20 % of them are intended to expand their social network by meeting new people from different backgrounds and perhaps capitalize the connection in the future, and 20 % are only preoccupied with checking out hot chicks, thinking about how to come up with refreshing pick-up lines to strike up conversations. They often go with their close friends who also know how to party. Some of them choose to blend with online mates who may have posted an invitation on PTT. Seldom of them go clubbing alone. Age range actually differs from club to club. Certain clubs target at more sophisticated people and some clubs aim at youth crowds. However, the music played has no obvious distinction. Most of the clubs mainly play hip-hop, mainstream, and electro. Particular clubs position themselves as 100% Latino or Reggae. Clubbing seems to project an image of the rich and famous, especially for teenagers, who dream of clubbing as a glamorous high-life. That is why all the under-aged obsesses over clubbing as soon as they turn 18. Younger crowds have taken the place and become the main target market for clubs. And among college students, clubbing is just like a weekly routine or a regular recreation. There heralds the new age of the party lifestyle, a blend of luxury, indulgence, and pure fun. However, many demonized associations often come along when clubbing flashes into people’s mind. With easy access to alcohol and cigarettes in the club, people’s discretion might be gravely susceptible to drunkenness and dizziness. Given this state of body and mind, chances are that people would indulge themselves in binges or one-night-stands. Moralists blast the corruptive phenomenon by stating clubs are hotbeds of promiscuity and drug abuse. And other conservatives outrageously buck against clubbing, arguing that it only accelerates the depravity and irresponsibility of the younger generation. Indeed, clubs can not exonerate these accusations, but it is hardly a felony. In fact, thanks to authorities’ intensive crackdown, drugs are no longer easily available. On average, every club is at least subject to three raids per week. Further, clubs have transformed into venues where international events are being held. Each year, noted bands, DJs, and stars, such as Beyonce, Linkin Park, and ATB, stage their performances in major clubs, drawing torrents of pilgrims to enjoy the entertainment altogether. International firms, like HP, also host their promo and showcase their latest products and technology breakthroughs in clubs. Today, clubs should be seen as an entertainment complex, rather than the source of all sins. In short, whether clubbing is evil or good all comes down to an individual’s own judgment. After all, it is human nature to let out stress and suppression from time to time. But do always protect yourself and your friends. Here, many of the interviewees have some suggestions to share with y’all. 1. Drink moderately and take good care yourself. Don’t get yourself wasted or a possible hangover would haunt you the next day. 2. For girls, always go with company, and be vigilant to avoid harassment and protect yourself. 3. Remember watch your belongings in case of theft. 4. Have fun, but stay out of trouble. 5. Clubbing is not cheap at all! Don’t spend overboard.
By Yu-Lin Liao Pornography – people used to talk about it in a hushed and secretive tone; boys got excited and girls got embarrassed just by mentioning it; Playboy and adult films only existed in dark corners of bookstores or video shops and customers walking by would avert their eyes. That innocent age is definitely gone. Men now discuss it openly at work or in school and women no longer rush to deny they’ve seen it. With the internet booming, you have to try really hard to avoid porn coming at you in all sizes and shapes at every turn. But exactly how big is the porn business now? Here are a few examples to show you. Earlier this year, Porn.com was auctioned off for a record US$9.5 million – not for the actual website but only for the website address. Porn’s clientele is so large that a “.xxx” domain is expected to be established before the end of 2007. Pornography has more than 50 sub-genres according to Wikipedia’s categorization. There are always hundreds of spam porn ads waiting in your email box if you don’t have a mail filtering system. Finally, about one-fifth of all the websites in the world are porn-related. The prosperity of the pornography industry brings serious concern from parents, governments, feminists, religious groups, and others. We all know pornography is not good, but is it necessarily bad? Before we demonize all porn and try to organize a witch hunt, maybe we should weigh the pros and cons objectively first. CONS: 1. Misleading. For those who are not mentally prepared – lacking proper sex education or without a healthy attitude toward both genders – pornography is extremely misleading. Every man in porn can have an erection for hours and every woman has double D breasts; sex scenarios that involve nurses, doctors, victims, murderers, animals, incest, threesomes, foursomes are constructed like they are normal while most of us know that these things happen rarely in real life. But to some susceptible and innocent minds, pornography seems real and plausible. Watching pornography thus becomes dangerous for your mental health and for your relationships with other people. 2. Addictive. Like all pleasurable things, watching porn can be addictive. Some college geeks even publicly claim they cannot live without porn. Just like food, nicotine, drugs, and alcohol, pornography is highly addictive. Without some discretion it can create tremendous problems in your life, and kicking the habit is no easy task. So watching porn is really a slippery slope, it takes great self-restraint to use it in moderation and to your advantage. 3. Immoral. In a society that promotes monogamy, pornography is considered immoral because its content usually involves adultery, polygamous relationships, not to mention incest and other more unusual plots. In some religious traditions, sex can only be used as a method of procreation, so sexual pleasure and sex-oriented entertainment is considered immoral. Scenes of crime and torture are often promoted and packaged as enjoyable for both predators and victims. Moral standards are being challenged here. PROS: 1. Technology-driving. It is a well-known fact that pornography drives the development of technology. From the printing press to DVDs to the internet, pornography plays an important role in driving new technologies to the mass market. The desire for downloading porn faster pushed the development of broadband and high speed internet access; the urge to see naked women clearer decided the evolutionary path of the video industry, from the early fight between VHS and Betamax to the invention of DVD and pay-per-view cable and satellite TV. This might be a painful truth to some people, but the fact remains: technology is demand-driven and sex sells! The many conveniences we enjoy today we owe to pornography. 2. Entertaining. Porn is a guilty pleasure for most men and now more and more women are sharing this dirty little secret as well. Some people watch it to satisfy their fantasies while others use it as a way to blow off steam. Even couples watch it together to spice things up. Sex is a basic human need so when you don’t have a steady sex partner, pornography might be a safer alternative entertainment. There’s no denying that watching porn is entertaining and fun just like any other hobby if we look at it without bias. 3. Decreasing crime rate. Studies over the years have shown that pornography has helped bring down crime rates. Countries where porn is easily available, such as Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden, have the lowest number of reported rapes, burglaries, and thefts in the world. Researchers speculate that by giving offenders a socially accepted and accessible way of regulating their own rage, sexuality, and other impulses, crime rates can be greatly reduced. In a way, pornography provides a compensation and substitution for what we can’t achieve in real life; it brings comfort to our frustration. It prevents us from acting out our wildest imaginations in public by fulfilling them in our dark bedrooms. Some scholars go even further to claim that pornography has a therapeutic effect on society. It seems like pornography is not so evil after all. What’s really causing problems is underage children’s exposure to porn. Unlike alcohol and cigarettes, governments can’t efficiently prevent children from accessing pornography due to the flourishing internet. Currently in Taiwan, parents can pay 99 NT per month to set up a screening system to block access to pornographic websites. According to Hinet statistics, there are around 90,000 families who have installed this system, and they received an average of 87,000 porn-related hits per day. That means that almost every teenager in those families is still trying to get some pornography despite knowing there’s a screening system. But home is not the only place a child or teenager has internet access. The more you try to forbid it, the more they want to see it—it’s just human nature. The best proper way to deal with porn, finally, whether you are a lover or a hater and no matter how old you are, is to have a thorough understanding about both sexes and to have a knowledge of how to treat them as human beings. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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