Author Archives: Haichen

Shrinking Habitats– Our Planet Jungles Episode

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Under the cover of dense vegetation and hiding far away from cities, to me, jungles are extremely mysterious. While I have heard of their importance quite frequently, it wasn’t until watching Our Planet Episode 3 that I got a closer look at some of the largest jungles on earth, namely New Guinea and Amazon. It was mind-blowing to witness the diverse fauna thriving in such a place were animals and vegetation depend on each other for survival. A great example from the movie was the pitcher plants that attract rodents with nectar in exchange for their feces that serve as fertilizers. To ants however, the plants can be a hidden danger: rain flush ants down and turn them into a great meal for the plants. The intelligence displayed by some animals is equally breathtaking. The documentary shows a kind of bird (which I forgot the name for) dancing perfectly to attract a mate. It surprised me to see that they are able to turn their eye color to yellow and the bird’s spinning move of displaying yellow patches on their back is truly beautiful.

Jungles are critical to the health of our planet, and the rate they are shrinking is alarming. According to the documentary’s narrative, in the eyes of orangutans, their homes once stretched beyond the horizon. Yet with a decrease in jungle area in as much as 75%, that is not the case any more. In my opinion, while it is true that we all can contribute to protecting jungles, it is the governments, especially those in countries with large jungles, that need to formulate and implement policies to directly protect the jungles. Poaching and forest destruction can eclipse any indirect protection methods, thus the perpetrators need to be held accountable for their damage. I hope that the shrinking of jungles can be slowed down so that the thousands of species unique to jungles don’t lose their only home.

Nature Is Incredibly Resilient — Yet the Resilience Isn’t Unbounded

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Netflix’s documentary Our Planet portrays the stunning resilience of nature. As the documentary shows, forests are much more than a community of vegetation. They are ecosystems. Animals and plants interact with each other and that mutual dependence allows them to thrive together. I was very impressed by the relationship that honeydew, the secretion of insects produced as they feed on plants, are consumed by lemurs. But mutual dependence (aka. “symbiosis”) is only one part of the interactions: competitions are equally important. Not only do animals compete with predators and preys for life, they also compete with those in the same species for mating. The competition for mating can be so fierce that it results in the death of some individuals. However, competition and mutual dependence bring nature vigor and resilience, allowing the whole ecosystem to adapt and to evolve.

To me, the most impressive part of the documentary was how Chernobyl became recolonized by plants and animals after being deserted as an uninhabitable ghost town. Radiation was lethal for humans, and it would not go away for 2000 years; but the lack of human activity opens up a whole new opportunity for trees and wild life. The area was gradually covered by thick vegetation, small animals such as birds and rabbits began to appear, and eventually even top predators like wolves returned. I was glad to see nature’s incredible power of transformation, yet I also couldn’t help wondering how radiation does not seem to affect animals at all. As we appreciate the resilience of nature, it is important to note that the resilience isn’t unbounded. Once we reach a certain threshold of destruction, the damage we’ve done will be irreversible. Protecting the nature should be a continuous process, and it requires our action.

Learning Beyond Classrooms

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In this week’s Thursday Seminar, Professor Schwartz reminded us that the true value of college is not the classes you take, and getting the most out of our college experience is not equivalent to achieving a high GPA. Succeeding in college is a very broad concept and cannot be evaluated easily, as there is not a single, comprehensive indicator that we can use to measure successfulness. As a result, succeeding in college comes is more about getting the most out of that college experience and facilitating personal growth. While almost everyone knows that getting involved on campus and leading a rich extracurricular life is important,  it might seem that putting efforts in extracurricular activities means forgoing academic achievements. Yet Prof. Schwartz found that some people can do both: achieving high grades while being involved are not conflicting in nature. But in order to do both, one has to manage time well and demonstrate the 3 R’s: resilience, resolve, and resourcefulness. Managing time well allows us to be productive even in small fragments of time, which we can accomplish by using a time chart to be honest with ourselves. The 3 R’s are indicators of one’s mental ability to overcome challenges that come across on their way to success. I deeply resonate with his view that college is about personal growth. While my college experience has endowed me with precious technical knowledge and skills required for my profession, I have also witnessed improvements in my ability to manage my time using a calendar and working productively under heavy workload and tight timelines. Those implicit skills will turn out be be extremely valuable in our future careers.

Things Are Getting Complicated — Chernobyl Episode 3

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Episode 3 of HBO’s mini-series Chernobyl reveals a more complicated storyline. In Episode 1 and 2, the accident takes place and investigation and remedy efforts are made. We witness a battle between science and politics (which originates from a conflict between public and state interest). Episode 3 adds two noticeable branches to the main storyline: the first being the love between the firefighter and his wife and the second being the mysterious yet ubiquitous surveillance.

First, let’s talk about the firefighter’s wife. There are doubts and disputes regarding whether it is actually dangerous to approach and even touch an ARS (acute radiation syndrome) patient, but let’s suppose it is the case as the film chooses to portray. Her bravery, determination, and unwavering love for the firefighter is truly impressive and moving. Having been warned by a nurse repeatedly about the hazard of touching her husband, she chooses to hug him nonetheless. From the slow motion and close-up shot on her face, we could see her complicated mental feelings. She knows the danger, and while hugging her husband, her eyes are wet which seems to show her hesitation. But she does not retreat for her own safety. As her husband’s condition deteriorates, she touches his hand to comfort him. He utters, “it’s not safe.” And she replies, “but they touched you.” She has made the determination to stay with him until the very last moment, and she shows that in every action she does.

The role of KGB in the government’s response surfaces briefly in this episode, yet it remains extremely mysterious. The first time Professor Legasov notices that he’s being followed is during his walk with Boris. They notice that they are followed all the time, and the followers don’t even seem to try hiding their existence. After the meeting with Gorbachev was dismissed, Legasov talks with the new head of KGB, inquiring about the surveillance. Although Legasov tries to show that he is trustworthy, the head brings up a Russian proverb, “trust but verify,” which seems to accurately capture that Soviet Russian period. What is the purpose of surveillance and what will happen to Legasov in the future remains a mystery.

ASL Review: An Incredibly Fun Language!

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I have never imagined that the American Sign Language would fascinate me so much. Growing up in an urban Chinese neighborhood with an extremely small deaf community, I did not know about ASL until college. I gradually gained more exposure to ASL through a course I am taking this semester, LING 1101, where there were many examples of ASL in our textbook, especially in chapters of phonetics and phonology. To me, the concept of sign languages seemed very distinctive and fascinating, so I registered for this ASL seminar without any hesitation.

The two biggest takeaways I gained were ASL is different from English and ASL is remarkably fun to learn. First off, I would’ve imagined that ASL is very similar to English in terms of sentence structure and grammar. A sign language probably simply provides a rich signed vocabulary, and people would use it to construct sentences in the same way an English speaker does. However, in ASL, objects come before the 5 W’s (Who What When Where Why) in questions. Instead of asking “what’s your name,” we ask “your name what.” I thought that makes sense because an object might be the most important part of a sentence, so putting it first can facilitate understanding. And since I was told that ASL is closer to French Signed Language (FSL) than British Signed Language, I wonder if the sentence structure originates from FSL. And do people ask questions like this in French?

ASL is fun in that many words are expressed by gestures resembling real-world objects or actions. The one that I found to be particularly interesting was “animal science.” The word for “animal” is putting fists in from of chests and wiggle like chicken wings while “science” is like pouring chemicals from 2 beakers. Words like those are so intuitive and easy to learn that I can’t help appreciating the meticulous and ingenious efforts put into designing the language!

Approaching the end, we had a full meeting “break out session” to practice what we just learned. I was not quite able to introduce myself in ASL — names are spelled out in ASL and I couldn’t recall all the letters that make up my name! What I do remember, however, is asking whether “you’re my Uber driver,” which is literally “you my drive person,”  with the hope that one day I’ll be able to show off my ASL knowledge on a ride!

Chernobyl – Do it because “it must be done”

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In the second episode of Chernobyl, we witness Council of Ministers’ deputy chairman Boris Shcherbina’s change in attitude. I think Vivian Shaw summarizes the transformation very well: “he undergoes from lol-no-everything’s-totally-fine to oh-shit-no-it’s-not to one thousand percent determined to do whatever is necessary to deal with an unprecedented and unspeakable situation.” In the beginning, he is evasive about the circumstances at Chernobyl, dismissing the explosion as totally under control and challenging Professor Legasov’s claims. We could see the reluctance on his face when he is asked by Gorbachev to  personally investigate, and his aggressiveness during the trip adds on to his unwillingness to face and to accept the truth. The first major change in his attitude takes place in the hotel where Legasov told him they’d be dead in 5 years due to radiation and a telephone call informed him about Frankfurt’s response to the disaster. Starting to realize the explosion’s significance, Shcherbina supports Legasov’s plan to suppress fire with sand and boron. But what truly impressed me was his attitude near the end of this episode. He and Legasov try to persuade workers to drain water from the flooded plant. Seeing that nobody was willing to accept Legasov’s monetary offer, Shcherbina gives an uplifting and heartfelt speech. He acknowledges the danger, but claims that the operation’s worth the danger as it saves millions of people, and they should do it because “it must be done.” I was sincerely glad to see Shcherbina finally faces the truth and takes responsibility.

Source: https://www.vivianshaw.net/blog/2019/5/20/please-remain-calm-chernobyl-episode-2

Finding The Perfect Path — Grad School 101 Reflection

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I have always been indecisive when it comes to applying to grad school or not. As a computer science major, having a postgrad degree brings certain benefits: jobs such as system designers that are more demanding in technical skillset are open exclusively to M.S. or PhD degree applicants, not to mention that the advanced knowledge obtained from grad schools promote those job seekers to a company’s top choice. Despite those considerations, Grad School 101 Seminar taught me that more aspects should be taken into account when making this important decision in order to pave the perfect path for success.

One crucial determining factor is weighing the benefits of an early start in professional career versus a professional degree. While it is true that M.S. degree testifies for the advanced academic knowledge, entering the job market early not provides a source of income, but also endows workers with valuable industry experience. When it comes to my field, the tech industry extremely values previous experience. Many job postings have key qualifications such as “5+ years of Java experience”, and the topic of previous projects is a staple component of interviews. Grad School 101 has prompted me to seriously consider the benefits of both options — and right now, I am actually more leaning towards starting my career early. After all, getting a postgrad degree after entering the industry is far from unusual, and great job opportunities come and go easily.

Chernobyl — Cinematography and Theme

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HBO’s Chernobyl is a realistic depiction of the Soviet nuclear disaster’s poignant story. While the story of Chernobyl explosion itself is complicated, the mini series depicts its well with clever use of cinematography that goes hand in hand with its main storyline.

The entire film is presented in a dark color tone — the use of dark gray filters with a hint of green shrouds most scenes. This choice of filter is very effective in that as the disaster unfolded at night (1am), the dark gray color realistically mimics the low light setting. In addition, the dark filter fits tightly with the distress of the disaster, setting up the tone of the entire film.

The first film in the series has a carefully-chosen flash-forward opening scene and a dramatic ending scene. Upon watching the film, viewers first meet a middle-aged men who comes out mysteriously at midnight and then returns to his home to commit suicide. Then with text “2 years ago” on screen, viewers are taken back to the beginning of the story. This flash-forward creates suspense in audience’s minds: viewers can’t help wondering who is he? And why does he kill himself? Then finally, as the first episode is drawing to a close, viewers witness the death of a bird who has fallen from the sky, indicating the lethal effects of uncontrolled nuclear radiation caused by the explosion.

It is in disaster like Chernobyl that the importance of responsibility is particularly highlighted. Approaching the end of the film, Legasov, chief of investigation, receives a call for technical advice. He realizes the severity of the situation and pleads for immediate investigation where as in stark contrast, the other end of telephone downplays the importance and demands him to obey the order. A similar debate occurs on the city’s Executive Committee, who eventually chose to block evacuation. The film prompts us to consider that in disasters like this, being responsible should be putting human lives first, rather than politics first. This rule applies to our current world as well, where nations have witnessed the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disasters like Chernobyl is by no means a distant event. The Beirut explosion that occurred just a month ago reminds us that negligence takes a heavy toll and safety should always be put first.