Topic Reading-Vol.3276-3/31/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The boy who spent a year in a tent for charity 

An eleven-year-old English boy is about to spend 365 nights in a tent in his garden. He has endured rainy, windy, and freezing nights since the start of Britain’s first lockdown last March in the small tent. On some rainy nights, all of his stuff soaked wet. He had to ask himself why he was doing it on some nights even though he had been quite determined. His intention was to raise money for his local hospice where his neighbor friend, who had given him the tent to have an adventure with it, had been cared for. His initiative received wide support from many people including high-profile athletes and media personnel.

Just like Captain Sir Tom Moor’s 100-lap walk of his garden before his 100^th birthday to raise money in aid of the health services charitable wing, some people in England seem to have a strong will to raise money for good cause. Also, people in Britain seem to be willing to support such causes.

Enjoy watching the video and learn about what an eleven-year-old boy decided to do and how he accomplished his goal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-56535207

Topic Reading-Vol.3275-3/30/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Making honey without bees and milk without cows

Driving an electric car isn’t enough to stop global warming. To your surprise, meat and dairy production combined accounts for nearly 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As more people eat animal products, more greenhouse gasses are emitted. In the meantime, demands for a greener diet are increasing, whether for health or mental reasons. That’s why more alternative meat, milk, and other dairy products are becoming popular mainly in developed countries. Indeed, cultured products are becoming essential for vegetarians, those who are in diet, and the environment.

Some companies are developing fermentation-based animal products which are identical biologically to the real thing like honey, milk, cheese, and egg-white in terms of flavor, texture, or ease of use. You may not see those alternative products on store shelves first as they are mainly targeted at large users like food companies and restaurant chains.

Agriculture, hydro-culture, aquaculture, and now bio culture. Revolutions and innovations in food production seem to continue.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about new ways of producing food alternatives.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56154143

Topic Reading-Vol.3274-3/29/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

World's largest canvas painting fetches $62M at Dubai charity auction

A British artist was stuck in Dubai last year when the pandemic forced nations to close borders and ordered lockdowns. While spending stressful days in a hotel, he came up with an idea to paint the largest-ever artwork to help children in need of help. It took seven months for the artist to complete the gigantic paintwork in a ballroom of the hotel in Dubai. The artwork consists of four connected segments; the soul of the Earth, nature, humanity, and the wider universe. He intended to divide the work into 70 pieces to allure more buyers to raise the fund. However, to his surprise, a local businessman bought the whole work at a staggering $62 million, double the price the painter had expected. The money will be donated to various activities including UNICEF, UNESCO, The Global Gift Foundation, and Dubai Cares for programs related to children's education, health care, sanitation, and digital connectivity.

If more financial investment is linked to children in need of help and protection, they will bring back more in the future to the world.

Enjoy reading the article and watching the video to learn about what an artwork could do to help children in the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/sacha-jafri-largest-painting-sold/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3273-3/28/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

World's first digital NFT house sells for $500,000

An NFT, non-fungible token, is a unit of data stored on a blockchain that can represent a unique digital item, such as art, music, collectibles, and games. Unlike cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, NFTs are not fungible, or mutually interchangeable. Even though the original copyright to the work might be retained by the creator, an NFT can be bought or resold with cryptocurrency. In practice, buyers get proof of ownership of the reproducible digital files that are tracked on their underlying blockchain. For example, a digital Mars house was sold for over half a million dollars. When people are confined in their homes, innovative ideas that can be enjoyed on screens might help heal mental stress.

Enjoy reading the article and watch the video to learn about NFTs.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/digital-nft-mars-house-scli-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3272-3/27/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you

Are cats as attached to their owners as dogs are? Most of you agree that dogs are very loyal and sensitive to their owners’ feelings, emotions, and even situations. For example, they seem to feel more friendly to those who help their owners than those who don’t. Unlike dogs, cats don’t show such preference when they are given food. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that cats lack emotional attachment to their owners. First, they were domesticated more recently than dogs. Also, cats are descended from solitary hunters that weren’t used to being social. Naturally, dogs’ social skills have been further developed by living with humans while cats’ have been slow and different. Indeed, simply judging cats’ friendliness from their behaviors seems unfair to them. They have their own ways of thinking and feeling.

As an Austrian philosopher said, “If a lion could speak, we could not understand him.”

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the different emotional mechanisms cats have from dogs.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210318-why-cats-wont-punish-a-stranger-who-harms-you

Topic Reading-Vol.3271-3/26/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Caroline Flack: What to do when someone tells you they feel suicidal

Not solely because of the pandemic, the number of people who took their own lives increased in some countries like Japan and Korea, which saw a sharp increase among women and the young. Help can be offered if only those who have suicidal thoughts open their mouths. And even if one does, it might not be so easy to find why the person suffers so much unless they are carefully and thoughtfully consulted. According to a mental health expert, open questions help someone talk more easily and freely. And instead of keep asking questions, it’s better to be patient and let the person speak when they feel more comfortable. Also, it’s actually better not to have the person feel judged because they are so desperate and struggling with pressure.

Indeed. If people can talk openly about their feeling and stress, they can be helped before they feel suicidal.

Read the article and learn about what you could do if someone needs your help desperately.

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-56327821

Topic Reading-Vol.3270-3/25/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: A rare view inside the conflict zone

The Tigray Region, or Tigrinya, is the northernmost region of Ethiopia where over seven million Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama peoples live. In November last year, the Tigray Regional Government led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian federal government with soldiers from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s northern neighbor, entered into conflict. It was caused by the newly elected prime minister and the region’s former rulers, which dominated the nation’s politics until the new administration took place in 2018. As a result of the armed conflict, more than half of the region’s population became in need of aid, and a million or more people were forced to abandon their homes and moved to camps where aids and daily necessities are both scarce. Even though aid agencies are allowed to enter the region to give help now, there are too many refugees who need more help.

Why are the former and current rulers fighting each other in their own country killing and hurting their own people’s lives? What people want the most is peace, food, and land for farmers and jobs for workers.

Read the article and learn about what war or conflict for power humiliates people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56456793

Topic Reading-Vol.3269-3/24/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Dozens change name to 'salmon' to get sushi deal in Taiwan

In Taiwan, citizens can legally change their names three times. For example, when someone wants to have the same name as his or her favorite celebrity, they can do it once or twice and get back to their original names. Each time, it costs only #3 or so. How convenient!

When a Japanese sushi chain launched an all-you-can-eat for free promotion for those whose names include salmon, dozens of people applied for a name change to take advantage of the free meal. Those who changed the names to eat free sushi meal are most likely to have a big appetite for sushi. Since the salmon-customer can bring in five other people, they might have shared the cost for the change-fee for the applicant’s name, once to with-salmon name and another back to the original. It surely sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime deal for sushi lovers. But the government offices don’t like the practice so much because it creates paperwork.

Enjoy reading the article and think if it’s worth changing names for a free meal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56442439

Topic Reading-Vol.3268-3/23/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why noise pollution is bad for your heart

Bad news for city dwellers and airport neighbors. There seem to be recognized connections between noise pollution and reduced physical health, particularly heart diseases. Though most of us live in an environment where there are plentiful human-caused noises from cars, constructions, airplanes, and sirens, which all exceed unhealthy noise levels for humans (and probably animals and birds, too). And numbers of studies show the link between such excessive environmental noises and the risk of heart-related problems and cardiovascular illnesses, including built-up plaque in the arteries, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. Much to researchers’ surprise, such health problems seem to occur even after a short period of time, like one night. To make the problem worse, such noisy environments also have air pollutions.

The quick and easy countermeasure that anyone can do is to wear earplugs. Will you bear wearing both earplugs and a face mask to protect yourself from noises and viruses?

Enjoy reading and learning about what noises could do to you.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210315-why-noise-pollution-is-bad-for-your-heart

Topic Reading-Vol.3267-3/22/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Mother 'used deepfake to frame cheerleading rivals'

Many people edit photos or videos to make them look nicer or suit their needs better. It usually is a harmless act as long as it doesn’t infringe the copyright or go beyond personal use. However, doctored images or videos could be used to offend or annoy others. Deepfake is a rapidly growing technology that uses artificial intelligence to create convincing images, audio, and video hoaxes. It is often used to mock celebrities or politicians for fun or profit.

Recently, a mother of a high school cheerleader in the US was accused of doctoring images and videos of her daughter’s rivals to harass other members of the team. She also sent abusive messages to the team and their families from fake phone numbers. As such fake technologies become more easily and cheaply available to ordinary people, usually innocent people might use them to offend or harass others unconsciously, inconsiderately, or even maliciously like this mother. She is now charged with multiple counts of harassment. The poor daughter didn’t seem to have known what her mother was doing for her.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this overprotective mother.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56404038

Topic Reading-Vol.3266-3/21/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

UK labels Russia top security threat, issues warning on China, and promises to build more nuclear warheads

On March 16, the UK government released a 116-page report titled “Global Britain in a Competitive Age.” The Prime minister stressed that the nation can prosper and fulfill its historic mission as a force for the good by the expanded military and science investment. The increase in defense, science, and technology spending surpasses the investment to tackle climate change, biodiversity, or coronavirus. It specifically identifies Russia as the biggest security threat to the nation and also China in the Indo-Pacific region. The plan includes a 33% increase in nuclear warheads, more nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, and more frequent deployment of their troops overseas. The UK also intends to maintain competitive capabilities not only on Earth but also in space. In short, the once-world-empire seems to reaffirm its commitment to be competitive and influential in today's and future world.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about how Britain views and deals with the new world.

Topic Reading-Vol.3265-3/20/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Covid-19 paused climate emissions – but they're rising again

It has been about a year since the pandemic was declared by the WHO. Many cities were locked down, cars were parked, and airplanes were grounded. So, you might expect greenhouse gas emissions must have been reduced as much as our business and social activities suffered. Not much. Even though there had been some drop in CO2 emissions during the first lockdown, a steady growth in global emissions was monitored during the second half of 2020. This emission recovery was again observed after even a smaller dip during the second wave in late last year-early 2021. It seems that the pandemic, or a short-term human activity break, doesn’t halt the long-term effects of global warming. So, what needs to be learned is the world shouldn’t forget or postpone the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under any circumstances. If the actions are delayed, more emissions will have to be reduced.

Enjoy reading the article and learn how little the pandemic has helped to slow global warming.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210312-covid-19-paused-climate-emissions-but-theyre-rising-again

Topic Reading-Vol.3264-3/19/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why in-person workers may be more likely to get promoted

It’s been over a year since the pandemic began changing how people work. Now, more people work from home than ever. In some cases, new employees have never met their bosses or coworkers in person. In other cases, more employees are given the chance to choose to work from home so that they can save time to commute, take care of their families, or manage their time more productively. But are those remote workers treated as equally as their office coworkers especially when it comes to promotions? Even though their outputs are presented in the same way as their colleagues in the office, their figures are visible only when they are present at an online meeting. Research shows visibility plays an important role when a promotion opportunity arises. Also, being observed by others still has some advantages because it shows the worker’s commitment to the job, team, and organization.

If productivity isn’t the only measure for career development, what can be done to eliminate or alleviate such bias? One idea is to give everyone the chance to show up in the office at least once or a few times a week instead of just the choice.

Since we are still unaccustomed to the new environment and technologies and haven’t gotten used to living with them yet, more trials and reviews need to be done to make full use and benefit of remote work.

Enjoy reading the article and think which way you prefer to work, from home or at office.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210305-why-in-person-workers-may-be-more-likely-to-get-promoted

Topic Reading-Vol.3263-3/18/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Wuhan invites nationwide medics to enjoy cherry blossom season

Wuhan, the capital city of Central China's Hubei province, maybe one of the most well-known cities in China after Beijing and Shanghai. Indeed, Wuhan was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic last year. After weeks-long strict lockdown, the city became nearly Covid-free. During the difficult time, many medical workers in the city and from other places dedicated themselves to combat the deadly virus, and many of them fell. It was like going to a battlefield with protective gear.

Now the city is enjoying its cherry blossom season even without masks! And they want to show their appreciation to those medical workers who risked their lives to fight the deadly virus by offering special treatment including free exclusive visits, tours, shows, and performances in the following three years. They deserve such special offers by the citizens who were helped by them.

Enjoy reading the article and see the photos of people enjoying cherry blossoms without face masks in the once-epicenter of Covid-19.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/13/WS604c6a46a31024ad0baaefcd.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3262-3/17/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

'Deepfake is the future of content creation'

Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. Deepfakes can manipulate or generate visual and audio content by techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence. They have been used maliciously in celebrity videos, revenge porn, fake news, and facial fraud. As technologies advance, it is becoming more and more difficult for humans to tell if the images and quotes on the screen are real or fake. In the meantime, such AI-created videos, or synthetic media, are being used commercially in news, entertainment, and education. As people become more accustomed to getting information from short videos, it is more productive and effective to present a short video that features an avatar to inform, train, or educate the audience than by written document. In fact, there are synthesized video creating apps that produce videos from simple texts. There is no need to shoot a video of an actual speaker or translating it to other languages. Also, such avatars can be created from a real person or chosen from the list. How time and cost-saving they are! Though the ownership of such AI-created videos needs to be clarified, AI-created videos are expected to be used widely without being recognized so much.

Enjoy reading and learning about this commercial usage of synthetic media.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56278411

Topic Reading-Vol.3261-3/16/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

India is trying to build its own internet

When India banned TikTok and other Chinese apps last year because of a border conflict, Chingari, India’s equivalent app, recorded 15 million downloads just in two days. The move was meant to keep Indian user data within the country and avoid security risk but was never had been the business plan for the Indian app. Also, the Indian government has been posing pressure on US tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for not doing enough to block malicious accounts. India has the second-largest internet population with over 750 million users and hundreds of millions more yet to come online. And there are numbers of ambitious tech talents, startups and entrepreneurs, and abundant funding to support not only to grow the industry but also to fill sudden vacancies of foreign apps.

Or will we be witnessing the decline of the global internet concept as the gap widens between the East and West, democracy and autocracy, religions and traditions? Though users’ data may be preferred to be stored within their respective countries, that could make it less effective and efficient to train recommendation algorithms because of the limited and fragmented data source. Then, will such internet nationalism be justified in today’s globalized world?

When internet nationalism becomes reality, none of the apps seems indispensable.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what the future of the Internet is going to be like.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/08/tech/india-internet-homegrown-apps/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3260-3/15/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

China and Russia to build lunar space station

It was six decades ago when the first human flew into space. Though it was just a little more than one orbit around the Earth during the 108-minute flight, the captain of the Soviet Union’s Vostok spacecraft, Yuri Gagarin, is remembered in space history.

Then about two decades ago, the International Space Station, more known as ISS, was launched. It is a multinational collaborative project by space agencies of the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada. The space station looks still in the photos but it actually orbits the Earth 15.5 times a day at a speed of 27,600 km per hour.

Now, China and Russia jointly announced that they will build research facilities on the moon, in orbit, or both. The International Scientific Lunar Station is expected to carry out a wide range of scientific research that can be used by other nations. Though the timetable of this bold agreement hasn’t been announced, it demonstrates a new cooperative move by these not-always-friendly neighboring nations.

Enjoy reading the article and think if this international research project could unite or divide the recently escalating gap between the West and China/Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56342311

Topic Reading-Vol.3259-3/14/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Instagram photos help Facebook AI 'teach itself'

AI seems to be advancing very fast. Facebook announced that their algorithm was able to identify unsorted, unlabeled images with nearly 85% accuracy. The self-supervising algorithm managed to decide which pixel belongs to which concept without being disturbed by the different parts of each picture, such as the background images or pets in one’s arms. They claim it is much more difficult than processing language because individual words are easier to identify. This technology is expected to be able to sort or categorize images without human intervention or bias. It then may be able to identify the images of someone who altered the appearances or whose appearances have changed from a huge database.

Will this make the world fairer for everyone? In any case, it’ll make or help the visual identification process more accurate and reliable.

Enjoy reading the article and think which is more reliable to identify an individual, a human, or an AI algorithm.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56321296

Topic Reading-Vol.3258-3/13/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Koneru Humpy: Chess player is BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year

In India, overcoming barriers of traditionally deep-rooted sexism and gender inequality is quite challenging. Still, there are quite a number of female sportswomen who broke the glass ceiling and recognized as champions in certain sports categories. The BBC Indian Sportswoman award for 2020 was won by a chess player who had won the World Raid Chess champion title in 2019 after a two-year maternity break. She also won another world champion title at an elite-level tournament for women in 2020. Though it is not one of the Olympic Games, chess is regarded as an indoor sport that increases the analytical skills, focus, visualization skills, and patience level of the player substantially. Indeed, the winner of the BBC award tells young sportswomen to try to make it to the end, believe themselves, earn respect and recognition, be confident, and look up to the goal. She also emphasizes the importance of willpower and confidence and encourages female players never to give up for marriage or motherhood as they are just part of life.

Sounds really like a sportswoman. Indeed, battling setbacks will make you stronger as long as one hopes and tries to be a better version of themselves.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about sportswomen in a country where women traditionally have not been treated or regarded equally as men.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/55547052

Topic Reading-Vol.3257-3/12/2021

 Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Italy has a new way to combat overtourism
The Uffizi Gallery is a world-famous art museum located in the historic center of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is one of the most visited Italian museums and known for a vast collection of Italian Renaissance works. In fact, it drew over four million visitors from around the world. However, it was so overcrowded that visitors only had a few moments to look at the renowned works such as Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Michelangelo’s Holy Family after having been waited in the line to enter the museum. Also, the city and the residents had been annoyed by those visitors’ unruly behaviors. True, if most of the attractions are centered in the city, the place is overcrowded and things get messy. So, the city came up with a new project called the Uffizi Diffusi, meaning scattered Uffizi. Instead of putting all the famous artworks that visitors come to see in one place, they scattered some of the famous works in other places in the region, where each artwork is more connected to its roots. This project not only disperses the tourists but also creates stable businesses in surrounding places.

Will this scattered approach help make the tourism rebound less overcrowded after the pandemic?

Enjoy reading the article and think about which approach you prefer as a tourist, to see everything at one packed place or to move around different places.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/uffizi-diffusi-tuscany-galleries-overtourism/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3256-3/11/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Lab-grown wood could be future of furniture

Nowadays, there already are various kinds of “cultured” or “lab-grown” meat and dairy products, like beef, chicken, and shrimp. Instead of growing cows, sample tissue of cow meat can be grown by regenerative techniques to create “lab-grown beef.” This way, no part of the cow is wasted and no slaughter is needed. Furthermore, greenhouse gas emission is significantly reduced if no cows burp methane into the atmosphere.

Then, what about lab-grown wood to produce furniture? There is a team of scientists growing the wood by using a 3D-printed gel to replicate plant cells into wood parts or planks that could be used as pieces of furniture. Though it takes much longer to produce a piece of furniture by lab-grown wood, for now, the lead scientist hopes to get attention and involvement by more people to advance this technology to make the process faster and more economical.

Will we soon see a replicator like the one shown in the Star Trek series?

Enjoy reading the article and think how many lab-grown or lab-produced products we’ll live with a decade from now.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56270691

Topic Reading-Vol.3255-3/10/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

World's first space hotel scheduled to open in 2027

Commercial space travel is just around the corner and coming soon. As posted on Vol.3266 yesterday, a trip to the Moon is already scheduled in 2023 and fully booked already. Also, Virgin Galactic is planning to start selling seats for a flight into sub-orbital space at a price of $250,000. So, what about accommodations? Yes. A California company is preparing to open a space hotel called Voyager Station in 2027. The guests of the space hotel will be able to experience the activities and movements that can’t be done on Earth in the weightless and reduced gravity environment near the center of the station, such as jumping and floating. But as the guests move down the outside of the hotel, gravity increases so that they can eat, drink, and even take a shower. The guests will also enjoy seeing the Earth and other views as the hotel rotates. Space travel seems to add another category of extraordinary experience soon. How many nights do you want to stay there if you had a chance?

Enjoy reading the article and think if you want to start saving for a space trip.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/voyager-station-space-hotel-scn/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3254-3/9/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Japanese billionaire seeks eight people to fly to moon

The SpaceX Starship is a reusable heavy-lift launch rocket by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space project. It is designed to launch space vehicles for tourism, earth-lunar transport, Mars colonization, and more. The second stage of the rocket, or Starship, will carry cargo and passenger-carrying spacecraft into space. On March 3, the 122-meter-tall prototype rocket successfully soft-landed during a test flight. However, shortly after the touchdown, the rocket exploded on the launch pad because of a methane leak.

A few days before the incident, a Japanese fashion billionaire announced that he invites eight passengers to join him for a trip to the Moon on a SpaceX flight. He wants people who are willing to help others including the co-passengers and offers them a free ride. Yes, he bought all the seats of the first commercial flight to the Moon and made it a private tour.

Now, after seeing the explosion video, how many applicants will the billionaire get? The flight is planned for 2023, about a half-century after the last lunar journey by humans.

Enjoy reading the article and think if the first commercial passenger flight to the Moon should have been made a private one.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56261574

Topic Reading-Vol.3253-3/8/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The couples accused of destroying Japan's families

In Japan, a married couple has to have one family name. Unless the couple had the same family names before marriage, one of them has to give up his or her long-used family name. And 96% of married women changed their family names to their husbands’ mainly because of the tradition. However, that is not always the way married and marrying women want. More women nowadays have already developed their currier and identity before marriage and they don’t want to change them. Some of the married women keep using their maiden names unofficially after marriage. But in their official identifications, such as family registration, passport, driver's license, and insurance, the registered family names are used.

There have been court cases to find whether such law is constitutional but the Supreme Court ruled it is constitutional and said it is the parliament that should decide whether to keep or change the law. Advocates are now focusing more on human rights rather than just women’s rights, and more male plaintiffs and supporters are seen in court cases.

In fact, Japan is one of the leading developed countries that still have small female representations in parliament, government, and corporate boards.

Are most Japanese people happy with the status quo for everything?

Enjoy reading the article and think why Japan is so reluctant to change anything.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55472446

Topic Reading-Vol.3252-3/7/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Nation rolls out blueprint for transport

In the US, there is the National Highway System that connects major cities and facilities. The whole system, including the Interstate and other highways, is nearly 260,000 km long, the largest highway system in the world. Also, there are about 5,000 airports that are used publicly in 50 states. However, when it comes to high-speed rail systems, there is only one that stretches a little over 700km connecting Washington D.C, New York, and Boston. Everything seems to be measured by return-on-investment basis, including the power lines, in the US, which has made the world's most prosperous country comparatively imbalanced in the transportation network.

Now, China has just announced a new ambitious plan for a transportation network that is going to be completed by 2035. The new blueprint includes a 300,000km-long national highway system, a 70,000km-long high-speed railway system, up from 38,000km today, 400 additional airports, and 25,000km of waterways in the world’s third-largest country by land. Amazing scale and speed to build and upgrade the transportation system even for modern China’s standard. Is Taiwan included in the blueprint?

While the US political leaders can see and think only until the next elections, Chinese leaders seem to have a much longer scope to guide the nation. By the way, Xi Jinping will be still in his early 80s in 2035, about the same age as Joe Biden when he will end his current term as the President of the US.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this newly disclosed blueprint of China’s transport system.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/02/WS603d8adca31024ad0baabfd9.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3251-3/6/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear

He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to the UK when he was five. He later became a UK citizen, won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and received a knighthood in 2019. Over his four decades of writing career, he wrote only eight novels and one book of short stories. As he admitted, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro is indeed a privileged and established author. Now, his long-awaited new book, Klara and the Sun, was published. It is about an AF, or artificial friend, who is bought as a companion for a 14-year-old girl who suffers from a possibly terminal illness. Like his renowned novel, “Never Let Me Go,” it is not written from his immediate experience. In fact, his first novel was about a Japanese mother who lost her daughter by suicide. It certainly was a bold attempt for a young man to write about the emotions of a mother. He now encourages young writers not to overly censor themselves or limit themselves within their immediate experience. Also, even though he is optimistic about the future of AI, he wonders if it might bring about the next big ideology like communism or Nazism whose consequences cannot be controlled by humans.

Enjoy reading the article from an interview with a Nobel prize laureate.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56208347

Topic Reading-Vol.3250-3/5/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why Japan took so long to start Covid-19 vaccinations, even with the Olympics looming

The postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are due to start in July. There is every reason to roll out the Covid-19 vaccination process as soon as and as quickly as possible in Japan. However, the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which had already been approved by the US, UK, and even WHO, took months longer in Japan. It actually came after conducting a domestic test of 160 participants on February 14, six weeks after the WHO approval. Were 160 samples sufficient to enough to prove the safety and efficacy of the vaccine? Are Japanese people biologically so different from others in the world?

Japanese people, companies, and governments are all obsessed with flawless procedures, products, and services. That’s why Japanese products are of high quality and services are of high standard. But in turn, when it comes to innovating, introducing, or trying out new things or ideas, Japan is awfully slow because people always worry about the problems rather than the benefits first. Even though there were past incidents that made Japanese people concerned about the side effects of the vaccination, there seems to be an urgency to contain this highly infectious disease for lives, the economy, and the Olympic Games.

Read the article and learn about Japan’s skepticism about vaccination.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/26/asia/japan-covid-vaccination-program-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3249-3/4/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

A Taste of China: Poulet kung pao 

Kung Pao Chicken is one of the most popular Chinese dishes around the world, especially in the US. The spicy chicken dish is accompanied by peanuts, vegetables, and chili peppers in a mouthwatering Kung Pao sauce. While the original Sichuan version uses chicken as its primary ingredient, some foreign versions substitute chicken with pork or fish with less spicy sauce. If you look up the recipe for Kung Pao Chicken, there are plenty to choose from. But the recipe is just one thing. In China, cooking isn’t just for preparing meals but is also art.

Here is a video that shows how a skilled Chinese chef cooks this world's popular dish beautifully.

Enjoy watching the video to learn how an authentic Chinese dish is prepared.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202102/16/WS602b1910a31024ad0baa90ba.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3248-3/3/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Jaguar car brand to be all-electric by 2025

Jaguar is a classic British automobile brand under Jaguar Land Rover Limited, which is now a subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors Limited. The 87-year-old brand is a British icon of luxury automobiles and has been admired around the world. However, the company is small in the automotive industry where scale is essential for cost efficiency and technology investment. Nowadays, many countries have already announced to prohibit the sale of gas or diesel cars around 2030, which promoted auto manufacturers to shift the gear to accelerate the development of electric vehicles. For Jaguar and Land Rover, it is quite challenging as their vehicles are relatively larger and heavier than conventional fuel-efficient vehicles. But they were left no choice but to move toward electric and decided to do it fast. True. If fossil-fuel-driven cars are going to disappear sooner or later, why will you invest your money and resources on them? Then, customers will be more interested in newly developed models than the ones that are going to become obsolete soon. Will there be enough gas stations on the road to fuel conventional vehicles 10 years from now? At least, there seems to be less tailpipe CO2 emission from this luxury brand on the road soon.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about what challenges automotive companies are facing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56072019

Topic Reading-Vol.3247-3/2/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The worldwide web as we know it may be ending

The World Wide Web, or WWW, is an information system where documents and other web resources are identified by URL and accesses over the Internet, which is a network of networks or private, public, academic, business, and government. In most democratic countries, users usually have free access to almost any information or content free of charge unless it is a paid content, such as newspapers, music, and movies. In the meantime, internet access is usually regulated and sometimes censored by the national government. For example, China is known for its Great Firewall of China, which blocks access to selected foreign websites, such as Google and Facebook, and also to slows down cross-border internet traffic. India bans the use of popular Chinese apps like Tik Tok. Recently, Australia proposed a law that requires Internet platformers like Facebook to pay publishers fees for access. As the world is becoming more protective in trade, business, technologies, and information, the worldwide web is becoming less universal. In fact, there already are countries that have a nationwide web instead of WWW.

Natural resources, intellectual properties, technologies, and IC chips are now part of the national security in many countries, so is access to information.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about what the WWW is like now and is going to be like in the future.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/23/tech/splinternet-tech-regulation-facebook/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3246-3/1/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

China court orders man to pay wife for housework in landmark case

How much intangible value should be assessed on household chores? It probably varies by the situation, such as household conditions, financial situations, partner relationships, family size, and traditions. When a couple lives by themselves and both work for the same amount of time, they can more easily agree to split the housework nearly evenly. But when a child is born, it becomes increasingly difficult to share the burdens in the same way, and it is often the mother who does more housework and childcare than the father. In some cases, she may have to stop working and dedicate herself to domestic burdens. And if the couple decides to be separated, how should such dedicated housework be compensated?

China introduced a civil code that assesses the intangible property value of housework that took into effect last month. In a recent ruling, a wife was given a one-off compensation for her dedicated housework during the marriage as intangible property value she contributed. Such compensation is now granted for child-raising, caring for elderly relatives, and assisting partners in their work in China. In this case, the total amount of the compensation was 50,000 yuan, about $7,700 for five years. It is nowhere enough for a Beijing resident to hire someone to do the housework or childrearing. But it surely makes Chinese men rethink what they can or should do at home.

Enjoy reading the article and think about how much intangible property value should be justified for your housework.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56178510