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Task 2 Question: Do you agree OR disagree that online piracy should be illegal? Give reasons and details for your answer.
START The Canadian government should regulate the illegal download of music and movies, as it is keeping artists from getting paid, it is impacting the way audiences consume art, and it is hurting the creative process of the artistic society. In social forums like Facebook, istagram, reddit it is often argued that entertainment piracy is good for the industry, since it can help broaden the reach of these expressions and expand the fanbase of artists. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the practice of illegal downloading of music and movies has a deep impact in the creator’s personal economy and ability to finance future creative endeavours. Therefore, reproductions and free downloads, from illegal ONLINE sources do not generate any kind of income for the artist. And this affects not just those involved in the creative process, but also all of those people involved the distribution industry economy (cinemas, music stores, art galleries). In an interview back in 2015, René from the Puerto Rican band Calle 13 stated that thanks to piracy, his songs had reached faraway places that could not be reached by any other type of media (GREAT example). However, it has been discovered that the quality in which these songs arrived to those remote locations was very low, and people were not really enjoying his creation, but a very low-resolution version of them. The same can ALSO be said about movies and tv shows. Studios give their very best to create high quality video and audio that gets ripped apart by online pirates when they compress the files in order to be able to reproduce them. The illegal downloading of music and video ends up hurting the consumer, who is not receiving the piece how the artist intended, thus it will not be as enjoyable. Furthermore, piracy is having a large impact in the way artists are expressing themselves. A survey made last year by Statistic Canada showed that 80% of artists are worried about creating really great pieces (songs, movies, paintings) that demand a lot of their time and spirit, only to have it illegally reproduced online without any type of economic retribution. The same survey stated that half of that 80% was seriously considering halting all big projects and just focusing on “easy” stuff, while more serious regulations come along. Great. Though controlling illegal downloads in the internet era can be complicated, the Canadian government must find a way to do it if it does not want to keep hurting artists, distributors, and consumers. However, it should not just be a government regulation, but a shared task with the audience and SOCIETY. Downloading an illegal song or movie is a conscious act, and most people are not aware of the consequences. If the public knew how a little click can affect hundreds of lives in the mainstream economy, it would change their social acceptance of online piracy. By ending Piracy, Canadians can ensure that artist in music, movies and theatre can continue to enrich society for the betterment of everyone. END
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My name is _______ and I am writing in response to your local tour guide job posting. I’ve been looking for a weekend job and your advertisement felt like a perfect fit for my skills and exprience. I have always wanted an opportunity to share my passion for the City of Bogota with visitors and tourists, plus it aligns perfectly with my skill set and previous experience. I was born in the city, and have lived my whole life here. I’ve always had an adventurous spirit and I know by heart all the famous spots in Columbia and in the city that tourist would like. Plus, I also know some non-mainstream sites that can be mind-blowing for visitors and are only accessible for locals, like the clandestine restaurants (serving) or the underground city that offer ________________________________ 3 reasons. In the past 5 years I have worked as a tour guide on a theme park which taught me a lot about crowd control and public speaking. Nowadays, I work at a lifestyle website that reviews restaurants, bars, and all the cultural offer of the city. I am sure I can be an asset to your company. My contact number is 888-888-888 and my email @myemail.com. I would be delighted to speak with you further about the position and answer any additional questions you may have. Regards, James Kirk By Heather Mallick Toronto Star Columnist Mon., Nov. 30, 2020 timer 3 min. read One of the most upsetting losses of the pandemic has been an eight-month delay in improving reading ability in children in Grades 1 to 3. In retrospect it seems obvious that this was likely to happen, but what a loss. Many children, I would say, leave kindergarten already knowing how to read. But between then and Grade 3, they don’t just absorb the basics and improve their skills, they become able to read to learn. This year’s spring move to online classrooms — not nearly as good as actual classrooms, not even close — left them behind, Globe and Mail journalist Caroline Alphonso has reported. Some kids will be able to catch up, but struggling readers will also struggle in other subjects, including writing and math, and it will snowball. The delays will show up throughout their school years. Worse, the distanced classrooms of this fall have made it harder for teachers to help with young readers who have fallen behind. There are teachers who specifically intervene with struggling readers in Grades 1 and 2, but they may be teaching other classes now, given the intense demands on schools in the pandemic. Many lucky children will have families with parents and grandparents available to read with them every day, filling the reading gap between school and home. But in a home where both parents work, the extra time isn’t there. This is the life management gap that had always existed but was laid bare by COVID-19. Canadian families survive on the same just-in-time inventory that big box stores do, with no margin for error. In industry, goods don’t rest in stores but in distant supplier warehouses. They are quickly put on the shelf when there is demand, although the pandemic revealed that merchandising wasn’t as just-in-time as it thought it was. If a child can’t read, the school will teach her and give her extra help, as will parents, just in time. But when the school can’t do that, parents at present can’t do that either. They’re trying to work and parent at home, with no extra time for hours of reading. Everything had been going swimmingly, as long as nothing went wrong. And then it did. One of the greater sorrows is that children from homes without little libraries in their bedrooms, without quality TV and recreational learning, won’t find it in school libraries either. Once a child learns to read, the world is open. Theoretically, the birth of a lifelong love of reading can take a child anywhere. The phenomenon of the autodidact, the self-taught, is not spoken of much in Canada — but it is possible for such children to read their way out of bad families, bad surroundings and bad schooling. “The association between books for children and autonomy for children is very strong.” So imagine losing that opportunity in your first three years of school. It’s a loss for life. There is another loss when schools don’t operate as usual. It is tough for a child in a bad family situation to learn social skills without being in the presence of other children, who are more than happy to tell you that what you did was not socially skilled at all, or in the parlance “no fair.” You learn to socialize by socializing. You learn now to make friends, edge away from the scary kids, to join in with new friends, to try new things. We talk a great deal about adult loneliness at this time, but hopefully this is a temporary matter. The loss of early reading will be a lifetime loss. Reading is everything and is key to Math and Numeracy. Heather Mallick is a Toronto-based columnist covering current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter Written by Aardvark Japanese Adult - ESL Academic Student Tokyo Japan
11/29/2020 Title: The Challenge to pursue sustainable tourism in the COVID-19 Era Before COVID 19 lockdowns began in March of 2020 (GOOD), global tourism had been increasingly accessible. In fact, over-tourism was surely becoming a growing concern for many nations around the Globe. For instance, the medieval walled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia with a population of 1 million, is well known as a UNESCO Heritage site that was suffering from extreme over-crowding of tourists before the COVID 19 outbreak. It is well known that Widespread Tourism has caused severe, irreparable damage to Historic sites strained infrastructure and disgruntled the locals. These historic sites are not alone in feeling the negative impact that tourism can bring to historic sites and the natural world. Another example is in Canada, Banff National Park which also experienced a 28% increase in visitors from 2013-2018. As a result at Banff, there was serious traffic congestion, crammed hiking trails and major disruption to delicate ecosystems that supported a diversity of life. Although unintended, COVID-19 played an important role to shut down the global tourism industry and perhaps ironically, gave wildlife, the local environment and local people a much needed break from the crush of tourist visiting the area. The concept of sustainable tourism has always been a viable and attractive option. More than 70 per cent of Canadians are in favor of prioritizing things such as nature conservation when talking about economic revitalization. Therefore, sustainable tourism must prioritize sustainability, environmental regeneration, social mobility, employment equality over revenue and numbers-driven metrics. If Tourist and Tourism want to invest for the future, then good management of historic and environmental sites is essential. The community should focus on how to flourish for THE long term instead of relying on more short term touristism and tourist to visit. Internationally, there are new movements in the Tourist industry. For example, The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has established a baseline standard respecting wildlife, leaving natural sites, intact and disposing of waste safely. Empowered communities and bold business could lead to the post-pandemic climate-friendly solution travel needs. The pioneers in the industry are traditionally entrepreneurs and small players. Hopefully, larger players are incorporate those practices to push the industry forward. COVID-19 has rapidly spread due to the global tourism which has changed the world dramatically. Unexpectedly some environmental improvements, such as less air pollution are noticeable around the world as a result of less human activities and fewer people travelling globally. Due to covid 19, Consumers now have an opportunity to change their way of life from mass producing and valuing quantity to appreciating less and the quality. Consumers need to be wise to choose the eco-friendly travelling option in order to help promote sustainable tourism in the future. THE END
“Math is All Around Us” By Darian Vander Veen Email: aardvarklearning@gmail.com Perhaps you’ve heard a thousand times that “Math is all around us” but here at Aardvark Learning our Math tutoring program asks for students to stop and think that math is everywhere in life and we use Math everyday. This is what makes Math essential is that understanding and mastering math is the key to understanding and mastering any other subject that you want to learn. Are you into music? Do you like to play an instrument? Have you tried to figure out how to tune your guitar, but find that you are simply unable to figure out exactly where your tuning note is? You can actually hear how far off you are by playing with some sort of sound at your tuning note, and I can explain exactly how that works with math. Sound Waves and Sinusoidal Functions Sound travels in waves. If you look at the graphs on the right (and you’re familiar with sinusoidal functions), you’ll be able to see exactly what’s being plotted. Let’s imagine the red wave is the wave you’re trying to tune to. The blue wave is what your instrument is playing. The green wave is the combination of the two, as you can see on the left if you’re familiar with function notation(if not, don’t despair, the lightbulb moment comes soon). The green wave is also the important one, so let’s look at it alone: Can you see how the wave pulses? The really important part here, is that you can hear these pulses. The sounds of the two sources combined will pulse maybe 4-15 times a second, depending on how bad you’re out of tune. The secret lies within that 0.95. For the blue wave, the magic number is 0.95. For the red wave, it’s 1. The closer the two magic numbers are together, the less pulses you’ll hear, and the closer to in tune you’ll be. You can duplicate this on www.desmos.com and check it out for yourself by changing that 0.95. If you make it 1 like the red wave, the pulses will disappear If you’re tuning your guitar, and you hear the pulses sort of disappear, you’re now in tune, and this is why. If you understand this, you’ll be able to tune your instruments, even if you don’t have an ear for it. This is how I tune, because I can’t tell you if my guitar is flat or sharp to save my life. Math & Sports: What is the best way to strike a ball? Sports appear to be as far apart from math as possible, there’s no way math could help with your game, right? Wrong. Sometimes in sports, you have to hit an object as far as you can. You may notice that hitting it into the air helps, but what’s the best way to do it? If you hit it straight upwards, sure, it will go high, but it won’t go forward. So maybe you just want to kick it outwards. However, it’ll hit the ground before it goes anywhere. The best way to hit it is somewhere in the middle as the Math in the Graph shows: From this graph, you can see that “the middle” I’m talking about is at 45 degrees. And this is where math is handy, because you probably wouldn’t come to this conclusion just by kicking a ball over and over. Maybe you’d kick it with less speed sometimes, and more speed other times. Perhaps you can’t see what angle you’re kicking it at(neither can I), and you can’t really tell what the best angle is just by kicking the ball. But now, you can see the angle, and aim for it next time you’re practice soccer, or golf, or whatever. But where’s the math? Or you might not ask that, you may be content with the result and leave. If you’re interested, however, I’ll give you the formula for how far the ball will go, and we’ll be able to see how the math is applied to reach it. Ouch. That’s a doozy. We can make this easier, though. R is how far the ball will go, so that’s simple enough. v02 is the initial velocity squared. Basically, the harder we kick it, the farther it will go. Let’s just pretend we’re always kicking our hardest, because we want to get the ball as far away as possible. Then we can ignore it. g is the force of gravity. You can’t kick a ball as far on Jupiter, because gravity is heavier there, but you can kick a ball way farther on the moon. However, on Earth, gravity is basically always the same, so we can ignore that as well. Now we’re left with something like R = sin (2θ) That funny symbol is the Greek letter theta. It’s just the angle we’re kicking at. Now, if you plot this using www.desmos.com, you’ll find that the highest it reaches is 1, at 45 degrees. Again, this is the result we came to earlier, and now you have the mathematics behind it. If you’re familiar with sinusoidal graphs, you can take this a step further by seeing that the high point of sin (θ) is 1 at 90 degrees. What’s the point, you ask? Well, if sinθ reaches a maximum at 90 degrees, sin2θ will reach its maximum at half that, 45 degrees, because 2 times 45 is 90. If you understand that, then you don’t even need a graph to understand all of this math behind kicking a ball. You can see that now you have something to aim for when you’re trying to master the surprisingly complex art of kicking a ball as far as you can. Perhaps you like to play video games instead. Video games run off a series of formulas. Maybe they calculate something that’s random chance. Maybe the formulas work together to calculate how much damage you deal in a situation. There’s also that range of a projectile formula, that could be used in a sports video game, or rather, any game in which something is launched into the air somehow. So let’s consider these formulas. What’s the advantage to learning about them? For those of you who don’t play video games, I’d wager you’ve still heard of Pokemon somehow. You know, the game where you catch small animals in balls and have them fight for you? Morality issues aside, let’s look at the formula for catching a Pokemon, shall we? Simple, right? And how do you figure that out? Simple. By understanding the math behind it. You can start by checking out this video. It’s just over a minute long, but in that short time, it has a lot of interesting visuals, connections, and yes, math. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whYqhpc6S6g |
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