Week 4: Chunnel

The “Chunnel” has to be one of the most amazing engineering projects ever encountered. For two countries to build an underground tunnel together, a lot of work had to be put in.

Great Britain and France must have developed unique engineering cultures because of their histories. Different cultures are taught to solve problems differently. The environment and problems of the people are all factored in their solutions.

It appears that these two countries have always been competing and the Chunnel is another example. I can’t help but wonder if the friendly competition was what led to the incident of water getting in the tunnels in the British side. According to the article, “The British never plan.” This makes me wonder if they were truly prepared for the project or if they accidently overlooked the waterproof problem. Either way, the British worked well under pressure and managed to think of a solution to continue the job.

To learn more about each countries engineering culture, it would be wise to look up famous architecture and the influences that have affected the countries.

ZOMBIE APOCOLAPYSE

Since the world is going to be taken over by zombies, I figured I should get my ten step plan in order before it was too late.

The zombies have begun appearing out of the shadows, are creeping out of alleys and are popping out of bushes.

Step 1: Stare with mouth slightly ajar. Blink at least seven times to make sure it is real life.

Step 2: After making sure it is real life, Tweet and update Facebook status asap!

Tweet: made eye-contact with a zombie #zombieapocolapyse

Facebook: ________ just saw a zombie! Nbd…

Step 3: Text everyone, “OMG! Zombies! Ruuuuuuuuun!” Just in case they have not noticed.

Step 4: Make sure phone is fully charged and have extra phone battery packed.

Step 5: Do not forget money and PU ID (you never know)! Pack a lot of food. *Look up what zombies like to eat.

Step 6: Search for Nerf gun only to realize it will not help much. Bring slingshot instead. Remember to wear good running shoes.

Step 7: Find a group of people who look like they have battled zombies before and stick with them while being careful not to trust them completely (they could be zombies).

Step 8: Volunteer to be the one who runs to get help if The Plan does not work (there’s a chance for survival this way).

Step 9: Find the zombie headquarters and locate the OFF switch. There is always an OFF switch for these types of situations.

Step 10: Save the planet from zombie destruction, receive medal and have a reality TV show.

Of course, this plan is subject to change depending on number and types of zombies and where the zombie apocalypse is beginning.

Week 4 Zombie!

Before I start to write my blog, I have read two blogs about zombies. I must say tonight is really a terrible night. I was scared by the rules about how to survive from zombies. When I turned all the lights off and stayed in the dorm alone during the night, the atmosphere here was perfect for horrible movies. When wind passed, it feels like something was wandering behind me. So I decided to keep awake and watch comedy.

Compared with zombie, vampire is more popular. I don't like zombie anyway. This creature makes me think of death. I guess the most important reason is zombie is not good looking and the way they change human to zombie is terrible. I like the movies of Twilight and The Vampire Diary. There are two different ways about how to change human to vampire. So I always think that maybe zombies are much prettier than I thought. I am sure that zombie is exist in every culture. They have same characteristic in some way, such as lifeless human, grey skinned and slow moving. But the survival rules are different. In western culture, clubs, chainsaws, rifles and submachine guns are the best choice. In ancient China, when people thought there are zombies, we will find Taoist to draw "Fu"(a magic figures drawn by Taoist priests to invoke or expel spirits and bring good or ill fortune. ). And there is an old rule in China that those kind of lifeless creatures are afraid of the blood of dog. I guess this is why we wear red clothes on chinese new year.

But now I think it's a good idea to stay with family and friends in a food store and keep a submachine gun with me. Although I am interested in what are zombies and vampires really look like, I hope they will never show up. I prefer to say hello to them in the movies or novels than in my real life.

Week 4

I'm surprised after watching the video about the "chunnel". "Chunnel" is one the most famous projects in modern world. It connected England with Europe. British and French are rivals for a long time,but this great project changed the rivals to friendly competition. It must be a classical example in engineering history.

I can find the different engineering cultures between British and French from both the video and the article. Both countries kept working day and night. As the article describes, French engineering pay more attention to the plan. They used to plan all the things before the beginning. British engineers are good at "sorting out the resulting chaos". When they meet problems, they can do their best to solve the problems. I think this is the strong power of engineering. The cooperation let us to admire the advantages of our rivals and make advancement.

Besides the cooperation and competition, the ultimate goal of engineering is make life better and safer.

Diverse Engineering Cultures: France and Britain

The biggest factor affecting the Engineering culture of Britain and France would be the geographical separation between the two nations coupled with the lack of a concept of globalization and their diverse histories.

Britain at a point of time was the most dominant force in the world primarily because it was the epicenter of the industrial revolution. It was the birthplace of the steam engine, the handloom and countless other innovations. On the other hand France was historically more meek and in major contrast, was the source of the nationalist movement. As for the scientific prospect, France was more purist than Britain and held more theoretical scientists than engineers. Additionally, each of the nations possessed different natural resources and therefore gained different kinds of engineering experience while they developed methods to extract and enrich or process these materials.

The engineering cultures of these countries are the culmination of these factors and centuries of diverse experiences.

Old and New Wars

The evolution of war over the last century has been profound. The changes affect everything from the subject and scale of war to the weapons and the warriors using them.

This is the image that would have come to mind at the mention of war sixty years ago: The clouds bearing down on the men who picked death over slavery and ostracization. The gloomy atmosphere amplified by the ballads of death and loss courtesy the grenadier who was a bard before the war. The blind fire coming from the defendants doesn't help. The first wave of recon; the men who picked the short straw and a few brave idiots, brought down in seconds by the machine gun controlled by the opponent who also doesn't care about the fight and wants to go home to his five-year-old but is shot down in that moment of weakness by a sniper just doing the job assigned to him by a hierarchy of captains, colonels, generals and majors all of whom are more keen on advancing through the ranks than keeping their men alive. The fighter jets cloaked  by the moist atmosphere come out to massacre the helpless attackers. The unprepared AA-guns fire pointlessly, all of the ammo missing, bursting into black clouds. The attackers retreat to the uninhabitable trenches. The capture of the next 200 yards of blood pools will have to wait for reinforcements.

In modern warfare, such a scene seems impossible. The battle for land through organized violence has ceased, armies are more of a tool for stopping riots. A single casualty is a devastating blow. The weapons are more lethal, diverse, strategic and precise. The budgets are phenomenal.
However, most of the wars today are not fought with guns and bombs on open grounds but with paper bombs, threats, deception, superior strategy and leverage in closed rooms. The warriors are lawyers, witnesses and politicians. Men wearing a poker face and a sharp suit. It is not even the countries that are competing as much as it is representatives, multinationals and ginormous corporations. They're not fighting for land anymore. That would be uncivilized. They fight for resources, the reason behind the wars for land acquisition. And they're fighting for intellectual property, the right to own the motion of swiping three fingers downward on a touchscreen.

War has transformed. The fact that it does not involve the shedding of pints of blood everyday is the only comforting thing about its present face.

Social Network

There are tons of social networks ,such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. The differences among them are obviously. I'm not familiar with neither Facebook nor Twitter. There are some special social networks very popular in China. To be specific, QQ and Renren.

Other than Chinese and people living in China, I never heard about other people have QQ account. But QQ has the largest user group in China. QQ account seems like the second cell phone number. We leave message to friends, send documents online and discuss everything in QQ group. There are music, videos and TV shows for free. Also, we can invite our friends to play chess on QQ. I think the most exciting thing is I can invite my friend to enjoy the movie I am watching or the music I am listening to without download. Now, the most useful function to me is the free visual communication. It’s convenient for me to contact my family.

Another famous network is Renren which is especially popular among students. Renren is just the same with Facebook. We can find our friends, classmates, or anyone we want to know by searching their name on Renren and sending a request asking them to be friends on line. Also, the most basic function is we can post the photos and blogs and share information with our friends. Renren is a good place to know what is happening to our friends, where they went, what are they doing. Even we are living in different cities now, it’s easy for us keep our friendship even without hang out for a long time.

It doesn’t matter which network I’m using. Social network is like a bridge to me, connecting me and my friends. I’m growing up. I can’t stay at home with family and hang out with friends everyday. Everyone begins a new life in college, meets new people, makes new friends. Social networks are important for me to keep contact with my old friends and be familiar with new friends.