Lotus Exige S and other things - Random Image Essay #1

<Reading the post published right before this first is highly recommended to understand the whole thing.>

So I found this.

 

What do you see in thi picture? Well, obviously a green, fancy sports car. Also cloudy white sky, wet ground and some grass and forest behind the car. There is a bright sunlight so it isn't night yet, but its not near noon. There is a reflection of the car on the water so there are technically two cars in this picture.
This car is from Lotus, and the model is called 'Exige'. From Exige series, this car is "Exige S". That was why the image came up when I searched for 's'. Lotus makes sports cars, not just being fancy but actually used for car racings and so on. With its dynamic, unique design, this is being one of the most successful models among Lotus cars.
This picture is probably took in morning. It's obviously not afternoon when the sun is strong, so it might be evening or morning. But I see more of freshness from the color green, grass and the water on the ground, which makes me related to the morning times.
I thought there will be something else I can write from this kind of picture, but right now I am too tired right now to relate this image to broader concepts(culture, social impacts, picture's symbolic meanings, etc.) or search for more details. (I need to get some sleep today- I don't know why I'm so exhausted right now)
Good thing : I found a good way to find something to write about!

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Randomizer + Google = Something to write about!

I trying something new today : I first visited Random.org where I can get access to a perfect randomizer, and selected one from 26 english alphabet letters(randomized numbers from 1 through 26).  I got number 19, so the selected one would be s, the 19th alphabet letter.
Then I searched the letter on google, and looked for 19th image from above - and I found this.

I didn't know that there are so many 'S' designs.

Since I felt it will be so hard for me to extract something from this letter, so I tried 38th(19 times 2 as it is step 2) image presented, and lucky I found something else:

 Wondering what would this car be.

So I am going to write something on this picture right after this. Go see the next posting to find out!

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Film Review (The Age of Stupid) - Two Things We Lack

      Just think of a big ship in the middle of a huge ocean, without any crew. No captain, no navigator, no maintenance personnel, and so on. The ship will drift on the water as wind pushes, and will hit somewhere and sink down before long. The time is ticking. There might be a rock nearby already. As passengers of the ship, what would you do? Wait, are you guys really passengers here?

      The Age of Stupid made me recall what I felt after watching An Inconvenient Truth years ago. I did enjoy it pretty much, but found a big problem in it. In the movie, Al Gore talks mostly about visible evidences of global warming, important facts related and how the governments can handle it--basically, everything. It does make you think deep and wide, but it is slightly not enough to alert the general public to change their actions since it is mainly delivering information. Many of us already know most of the facts he explains in the movie. We also know humans should take actions immediately to decelerate the temperature rise. However, there are only some around us who actually are concerned and actively participating to solve the problem. Why is this happening?

      From my perspective, that’s because WE LACK URGENCY. We have only been alleviating ourselves, saying “it’s going to be okay," “the doomsday isn’t going to come soon," and not facing the problem directly. From this view, The Age of Stupid can be a perfect complement for An Inconvenient Truth. In other words, this film works like a bright spark to light a big fire on our knowledge sleeping in our heads.

 

     
    


 
If you are not convinced why we need urgency or why we have to deal with global warming, this man might help you.







 
 To begin with, The Age of Stupid simply, scares us. Since the documentary is set in 2055 when the modern human society has already collapsed, the whole story starts from a negative point of view. The film shows that the apocalypse will take place 40 years later if the people don’t take global warming heavily and try to solve it actively.

“A war of biblical ferocity, across the whole continent!”

      The fear and tension of the film hits its peak when the numbers (2007 to 2055) show up on the screen, increasing in number and getting bigger and bigger in size. The sentence above is spoken when the number turns to 2055, the year that the apocalypse is thought to happen in the film. Surely frightening.

     
Plus, the film clearly states that we don’t have much time. Mark Lynas (environmental activist) was planning to decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emitted gradually for 7 years. However, the plan is already abortive, as 5 years have passed (2008-2013) without any fruitful decrease – the emission rather increased. According to a research done by International Energy Agency in 2011, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in 2009 increased 18% in 2010. In order to prevent the temperature from increasing over 2℃ until 2020 (as governments have agreed to), 8~13Gt (1Gt = 10^9 metric tons) of greenhouse gas should be additionally reduced: which is almost impossible for now. In short, we have less time but more to do. The film is simply telling us that we have almost no time left until ‘the day’ comes.


      This documentary provides people with urgency and seriousness towards the problem effectively, and is persuasive enough to make changes in people’s minds to start taking actions to deal with global warming. This film isn’t perfect, though. The Age of Stupid lacks facts. It does not provide the viewers with enough background information related to global warming. Especially, the linkage between the apocalypse and global warming isn’t developed much. Although the film mentions it a little bit, further explanations about what will happen when global warming worsens were missing. People with less knowledge about this issue could have hard time understanding it thoroughly. Also, there is no clear relationship between such disasters to a sudden collapse of every country. I do agree that climate changes can cause massive destructions and deaths, but stretching it to the total apocalypse of mankind sounds like an exaggeration.

      There have been tons of different problems and issues around the world throughout the history of mankind. However, the problem we are facing right now is much different from them: because of not only its destructive result, but also its equal responsibility to everyone. None of us is especially responsible for it or free from being blamed, meaning that everyone must participate in solving this problem. What should we do then? Well, we already have the answers in ourselves. Save energy, consume things less, participate in NGOs. Don’t lose the urgency, and remember……
 
“There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”

-Marshall McLuhan,

Canadian writer/philosopher

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