Dameyo

America Misunderstood

// April 6th, 2009 // No Comments » // General

Why people abroad have this frightening image of us?
We export equivocated “foreign” culture.

You may be surprised to find out how often and why “AMERICA” is so misunderstood by so many people around the world.Misunderstandings result from the peculiar way we see the world and from the peculiar way the world sees us. “How come?” you may say, “American films, books, and television programs are well known all over the world.” Exactly, the fact that we downpour our culture on so many peoples creates most of those misunderstandings!

The causes for misinterpretation vary. However, we provide almost all of them. The world sees us through fun-house mirrors provided by us. Through similar mirrors we see the world and even ourselves in a peculiar way, too. The most noticeable of these fun-house mirrors is our language.

After listening to claims and complaints from people all over the world, I found out that English, our English, causes most of these misunderstandings. “But English is almost universally spoken!” you may say. Basic English yes! English, no. In fact, most English speakers do not believe that those who are not native to the language will ever get to learn it well. Furthermore, being a language, which is not mutually intelligible with any other, English instills in us a sense of alienation characteristic to such languages.

England created the English language, but the USA was the nation that turned it into the richest language on earth and a formidable communication tool. It was our nation, open to changes, immigration, new mores and new ideas that made English universal. We have ethnic groups from every corner of the world and each of them has contributed to make English what it is today.Nevertheless, absorption has been too fast sometimes, leaving no room for analysis. Once the majority accepts a simple word or phrase, that word — or phrase — freezes, allowing no correction or adjustment in spelling, meaning or pronunciation. Rectification rarely happens in English. This inability to rectify and correct words is the dark side of the English language. The expression “coining” clearly describes what usage does to a new word or phrase: it makes it metal solid. Incorrigible usage gave us a multitude of traditional errors nailed them so deeply into our minds that no one can hammer them out of our heads.
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Tragic death of 5 video gamers

// February 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gadgets & Video Games

5 Tragic death of video gamers

5. Lee Seung Seop, a South Korean man died on 10 Aug. 2005 at the age of 28 after playing the game Starcraft for 50 hours with few breaks at an internet cafe in Taegu city.

He only paused playing to go to the toilet. The cause of death assumed to be the heart failure stemming. “I hop he won”.

4. Peter Burkowski, an “A” student who had plan to become a doctor some days. Sad, he couldn’t make it. Peter was dead. He died at the age of 18 years old after playing “Berzerk”. Cause of death? Heart attack. The evidence suggested that too much stress is connected to heart disease and hypertension.

3. a Chinese man, Zhu Caoyuan, was killed by Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei, age 41. Qiu had lent a sword to Zhu but then Zhu sold “dragon sabre” (a virtual sword which Mr Qui won in the popular online game Legend of Mir 3) for 7,200 Yuan.

Qiu Chengwei stabbed him in the chest repeatedly at his home. A few weeks before he died, MMORPG makers Blizzard banned a number of players from World of Warcraft due to gold farming (The process of mining gold in the game and selling it for real world money). “Too shame, these gamers took the virtual sword too serious”.

2. Shawn Woolley, 21, suicide over EverQuest. He shot himself while the game EverQuest-Vallon Zek ran on his computer at his apartment.

Liz Woolley (Shawn’s mother) thinks it’s a dangerous game, and addictive, by design. “I think the way the game is written is that when you first start playing it, it is fun, and you make great accomplishments.

And then the further you get into it, the higher level you get, the longer you have to stay on it to move onward, and then it isn’t fun anymore. But by then you’re addicted, and you can’t leave it,” she says.

1. Xiao Yi, age 13, a young online gamer jumped from the 24th floor of a building and committed suicide after playing 36 hours (non stop) of online game, “Warcraft III”.

He flew towards the ocean in the southeastern direction in search of his adored heroes: Lungdian, the Angel of Revenge and the Sentinel. He also wrote a suicide note hoping to reunite with fellow cyber-players in heaven, December 27, 2004. “I hope he found them now.”

What’s the story tell you?
“Well, I’m not saying that gaming is bad, but the wisdom of playing to the point of neglecting other viral areas of your life. What is apparently real is video game addiction, a sickness of mind which claimed the lives of these players.”

Chinese Death Bus

// February 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // General

The Chinese death bus is built by a famous Chinese Ambulance Manufacturer, Jinguan Auto. Here’s how it works. The convicts are strapped to a power sliding stretcher that extends out of the bus’s rear as it’s allegedly too brutal to haul people on board. The execution are broadcast (live video feed) to local law enforcement authorities to make sure they are conducted according to the code.

Why they build a Chinese death bus?
Isn’t it just a small or a normal execution room that we need to process the execution?

Fact: The Chinese have gotten troubles for harvesting the prisoners’ organs to sell to Westerners for transplant.

Fiction: This death bus may make it easier for the Chinese to harvest organs in secret instead of rushing a bleeding guy back to the room for slicing