Genre: Non Fiction

JONATHAN JU

Recycling       The man grabbed his soda and guzzled the last drops down. He playfully shot it into the recycling can like a basketball. (Did you know that an aluminum can is able to power a TV for three hours?) Luckily, he didn’t throw it into the garbage. The can landed with a hollow plunk. Flies Read more…

ALEX LIM

Handheld Games that Stupefy and Amaze   I would much rather play video games on a console or PC, but sometimes that’s not available to you. So what do you do? You dig your phone out of your pocket and play some mobile games! Oh what’s that? You don’t have any mobile games? Well let Read more…

VINCENT CHANG

Mr Watt´s Literary Services

“What the Dog Saw” is split into three parts: Obsessives, Pioneers, and other varieties of Minor Genius; Theories, Predictions, and Diagnoses; and Personality, Character, and Intelligence. The second part interested me the most. The examination of how people approach problems and the discussion on the amount of importance society places on images leads to enlightening insights on the importance of interpreting information, as discussed above.

Job interviews are flawed, Gladwell argues in What the Dog Saw, because people make assumptions about the way others will act in all situations. Studies have shown that behavior varies according to setting; honesty, for example, is not a constant trait – students were shown to have different affinities for cheating when taking tests at school or at home. Gladwell describes Nolan Myers, an intelligent, successful, Harvard graduate, who had recently spent a lot of time at job interviews. Gladwell states that if he “were an employer looking for bright young college graduates, [he would] hire him in a heartbeat”. However, he has never seen Myers in other settings, nor has he spoken to any of his relatives or professors, and he cannot explain why he likes Myers, but, Gladwell, along with Hadi Partovi, an executive at Tellme, and Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, decided that they approved of Myers in the short time they each spent with him. During Gladwell’s interview with Myers, he asks Myers, “are there things that you think you aren’t good at, which make you worry?”

ANDREA CHANG

  A Certain Himalayan Cat   I remember the day I met my friend, a pure-bred Himalayan cat. A Himalayan is a cross between a Siamese and a Persian. Himalayans have the Siamese’s color points and the Persian’s fluffy, double layered coat. And this cat had the best of both worlds! This cat’s mother and father Read more…

ZHUO-WEI LEE

Why would Snowden advocate for the protection of whistleblowers from his temporary asylum in Russia? Is it merely to protect himself, or is it a movement towards a larger concept of pervasive freedom? Is it because he had a “greater commitment to justice than a fear of the law”? In an attempt to move the nation towards a free world, Snowden lost many comforts of his life. He once lived in a nice house on Hawaii, with his girlfriend and family, and with a well-paid career position. He gave this up because of his commitment to the nation. See, Snowden had already encountered people before him in his workplace who were well aware of the illegitimacy of the programs. But for fear of losing their stable lifestyle, they chose not to blow the whistle. But then again, if Snowden really wanted support his movement, wouldn’t he return to America to accept his fate? If what he did was truly justified, then wouldn’t he be pardoned upon returning home? Why would he hide in Russia, under the wing of President Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB officer and leader of a government not known for its transparency? Perhaps Mr. Snowden is a reasonable man, and doesn’t want to risk the rest of his life in jail. Where else would he hide? There are only a few countries where the American government cannot muscle its way around.