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Showing posts from April, 2020

In times of Coronavirus pandemic, we can make a difference.

Practicing kindness to others not only enables us to make a difference but also makes us happier and  stimulates others to perform kindness. COVID 19 hit the world by surprise and is quickly spreading like wildfire across the globe. Up to the time this article was written, it has been infecting more than 3 million people, causing more than 200,000 deaths, and sending billions of people into the stay at home or lockdown to help 'flatten the curve' of infections. And since it is a new virus, we now have only relatively limited information about it and there is no yet vaccine or preventative treatment for it. Having limited knowledge and seeing its devastating effects, it is understandable why people are anxious and frightening.  What can we do in such a critical moment? Should we just let our governments do everything? No! Precisely while facing a radical crisis and when survival is threatened by an insurmountable problem that we have a great opportunity to do good to make

EFL Learner's Chief Success Determinants

Besides facilitating knowledge enlargement, critical and analytical thinking skills advancement, creativity development, and entertainment, reading also provides EFL learners with meaningful inputs, opportunities to consolidate previously learned language components and skills, chances to improve vocabulary and writing skills, and access to the resourceful and most patient ‘friends, ‘counselor’ and ‘teachers’. Reading has been acknowledged as an extremely important habit since the time immemorial. It is beneficial for everyone, including adults, students, and children. Adults and older people need to read to keep being up to date. By being well informed they will be more confident and able to make the right decisions. For older people, reading is advantageous because it, as recent research conducted in Rush University Medical Center, Chicago revealed, slows down the progress of (or possibly even prevent) Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. For children, reading nurtures c

Robot terus “merampok” pekerjaan manusia. Supaya tidak jadi pengangguran, apa yang harus dipersiapkan?

Manusia secara alami gemar menciptakan alat-alat baru agar lebih produktif dan dapat menyelesaikan pekerjaann dengan mudah sehingga hidup lebih nyaman dan sejahtera. Saat ini berbagai bentuk robot (mesin otomatis) telah diciptakan dengan mengintegrasikan berbagai teknologi pintar, seperti kecerdasan buatan ( Artificial Intelligent ), mesin otonom, dan internet of things (IoT). Robot-robot itu bahkan telah menggantikan manusia melakukan berbagai pekerjaan, mulai dari yang ringan hingga yang berat, dan dari yang aman hingga yang berisiko tinggi. Teknologi mekanik, biologis, dan kimia, misalnya, telah menggantikan jutaan pekerja manusia di sektor pertanian selama 100 tahun terakhir ( Rifkin, n.d.)   Sebelum revolusi industri pertama, semua pekerjaan pertanian di Amerika Serikat dilakukan oleh manusia (dengan bantuan hewan). Setelah alat-alat baru dibuat, pada tahun 1850 hanya 60% dari populasi manusia yang bekerja secara langsung di sektor pertanian. Sekarang, manusia hanya mengurus

Robots are taking human jobs. How should we respond?

Humans have a natural predisposition to keep on creating better tools to be more productive or to have things done more effectively. By inventing new tools, people expect to have a more comfortable and prosperous life. The use of a variety of interconnected smart technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous machines, and the internet of things (IoT) to automatic machines (robots) has made human life much easier. Various jobs, ranging from the easy to the heavy ones, and the safe to risky ones, are now carried out by robots. As an example, Rifkin (n.d.) described how the mechanical, biological, and chemical technologies have replaced millions of farmworkers over the past 100 years. Before the first industrial revolution, all farming works were carried out by humans (aided by animals). With the help of new tools, in 1850 only 60% of the working population was engaged directly in farming. Now, not more than 2.7% of the workforce is employed in agriculture. As a r

Mudik Prohibition due to Coronavirus Pandemic in Indonesia

Image Credit:  https://web.facebook.com/DakwahMuslimah Mudik is possibly the greatest ritual conducted in Indonesia. Derived from the Javanese term “mulih dilik” meaning ‘to go home for a while”, the term “mudik” refers to the activity when migrants or migrant workers return to their hometown or home village or family ancestral home , during or before major holidays. The Muslims do it in Lebaran  (Eid al-Fitr), the Christians in Christmas, and the Hindu on Galungan and Kuningan sacred days . However, since the majority of Indonesians are Muslim, mudik becomes particularly associated with returning to one's hometown during the Eid al-Fitr. Mudik essentially takes place in various Indonesian urban centers. However, it massively occurs in Greater Jakarta, the largest urban agglomeration in Indonesia. In 2019 , around 33.4 million of Indonesians returned to their hometowns, and 14.9 million of them were the Jakartans who left Jakarta by various means of transportation. Due

A Close Friend or Humanity? In "The Third Man", Greene Chooses the Latter

Friendship is one of the most universal notions in human society.   It exists in all societies so that it is defined in various ways. Therefore, it lacks a firmly agreed and socially accepted criterion for what makes a person a friend. A friend in one setting might not meet the required criteria to be a friend in other settings. The most frequently referred description of friendship is possibly the one drawn upon Aristotle’s conception suggesting that friendship entails three components: (1) friends should be fond of each other's company, (2) friends must be mutually useful, and (3) friends share a common commitment to the good. The first component indicates that friends like to be together. The second defines friends to support and develop one another. The third accentuates that friendship must be based on moral values because to promote the best for a friend requires morality-based judgment. In some settings, friendship can be defined only in terms of the first component. Oth

To die peacefully, release the world sincerely!: Major Message in Two Rosetti’s Poems

C hristina Rossetti (1830-94) was one of the leading female Victorian poets. Some of her best works are poems about death. This was probably caused by the fact that her life was plagued with death. Tuberculosis caused high infant mortality rates around her home in London. Her father passed away when she was twenty-four. Her zealous devotion to the church during her adolescence led her to accept death as a phase to enter the afterlife. Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Rosetti also refuted material wealth and earthly connections, as shown by her rejection of physical bodies in “Remember” by asking her lover to forget her so that he can be happy and her understanding and accepting of her lover not touching the garment that covering her body, not ruffling the pillows on her head, or taking her hand into his in “After Death”. “Remember” and “After Death” are two of the most popular Rosetti’s poems about death. Both are purposively selected to analyze because they view death fr