tokiokobayas's blog

    For the longest time, Asian Americans, Asian Australians, Asian Europeans, and all of these mixes of Western and Eastern heritages felt underrepresented by the media. There were very few Asian actors who spoke fluent English, and spoke their mother tongue as well. These groups of people felt very underrepresented by the media, and for a while there were no outlets that allowed these groups of people to talk and relate with each other. There were very few examples that come to mind during that time (early/late 2000s), such as Nigahiga, Wong Fu Productions, Kevjumba, who were all on Youtube. There was this bubbling of an underground identity that was waiting to explode, and that is where SAT, or rather Subtle Asian Traits comes in. Back in the last quarter of 2018, there was a Facebook group called Subtle Asian Traits that was a private group that was curating memes and relatable content from this identity that these people could relate to. Because the group was private and you needed someone in the group to add you into it, it sort of became this exclusive online club where people could join and relate to one another. Eventually, the group blew up and suddenly, all of these people who felt underrepresented had an outlet to go to that allowed them to feel connected and represented. This group was an outlet that was needed for a lot of people, which is what lead to the virality of the Facebook group.

    It’s generally agreed that in order to close the achievement gap, we need to give opportunities to those who are poor, and are living in environments that pose as a threat to their child’s education. For context, the achievement gap is the gap in success in school between high-income and low-income students. In my personal opinion, the reallocation of government spending (specifically demilitarization) to areas with poor education systems, would greatly increase educational opportunities, the quality of education, and create jobs for more teachers. During 2015 alone, the U.S spent roughly 600 billion dollars in military spendings. If we were to cut military spending in half, that would give education systems 300 billion more dollars to use, and still leave the military with 300 billion spending dollars. The military also tends to “max out” on the budget in order to maintain the budget. For example, the military has lots of extra ‘disposable’ equipment that is bought in order to continually perpetuate this idea that the military “needs this amount of money” in order to continue functioning. The actual budget used by the military is barely ever looked at specifically, and when they are, it’s very apparent that the spendings are not being used efficiently. By allocating the taxpayers’ money elsewhere, we can generally increase the quality of education, and the achievement gap will eventually shrink due to better education systems.

    Traditional scolding from Asian parents is very scary. Of course these methods are not only done by Asian parents, but from a traditional cultural standpoint Asian parenting have similar themes. Hitting your children for example is very common, and most of the time they will hit the children with whatever is available. Whether the parents are in the kitchen and they’re hit with a wooden spoon, or if the mother is in the bedroom and you get hit with the bedroom slipper, or if you’re outside and you get hit with the broom. Negative reinforcement is very common, and most of the time the children are belittled in hopes that the belittling will cause the child to want to prove the parents wrong. The supportive aspect is a lot less prevalent, and instead the parents will consistently belittle the kids in order to try and get them to “overcome” the belittling to become stronger. It’s very interesting that this exists, because in recent times, Western psychology dictates that the best way to raise a child is through positive reinforcement. There doesn’t seem to be as much of a focus on child psychology in Asian countries, but it’s becoming a more prevalent problem that is slowly gaining more attention.

    Swearing is considered taboo and bad habits, yet is it beneficial to swear? There has been recent studies done that show that swearing actually releases endorphins, and actually reduces stress. Swearing has even been proven to reduce pain through the release of endorphins as well, as well as triggering the fight or flight response and increasing rate heart. This reduction in pain perception and feeling better afterwards is a big benefit from swearing, yet societal standards say to not swear in order to “be polite”. Will this perception eventually change? For example, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you could not say the words “b**ch” or “sh*t” on air. That perception is changing as in recent years, and it’s now allowed to say both of those words on television. It’s interesting because it seems that the stigma behind these words are slowly fading, but other words are beginning to come about with heavier negative connotations and a new “age” of swear words are coming about. It’s interesting to think as to whether or not the release of endorphins might actually decrease by saying the same swears, between older and younger generations. An experiment could even be performed, and see if pain perception is relieved more in older generations when saying swear words that hold a heavier meaning to them.

    Dog Day Cicadas are one of the most common species of cicadas found in the United States. Research has shown that they use a specific mating call in order to attract females in hopes of performing reproduction. The sound is created by the panels beneath their wings, known as tymbals. The panels vibrate rapidly, and the sound is then intensified by the cicada’s mostly hollow abdomen. The main mating call is a high-pitched drone that lasts about 15 seconds, starting off softly and gradually growing louder into a crescendo, and then tapering off by the end. The sound is eerily similar to the sound of an electric saw. Female and male cicadas can also create sounds using their wings, but this sound is different and distinct. The reasoning for using this sound is unknown. We would like to determine whether or not this signal is also a part of the mating call, or is instead used in a different manner. Cicadas are not known for communicating anything other than their desire to mate, and our team would like to determine what else Dog Day Cicadas are trying to communicate. Resources available include data from the Texas A&M Forest Services, studies done by the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and other research journals done by the University of California, Irvine.

    Have you ever stopped to consider just how much we are affected by marketing everyday? Back in 2011, it’s estimated that the number of advertisements we see a day are at least 500, if not more. They can be subtle, such as the logo on someone’s shoes, versus something that’s very obvious, such as a billboard or a TV commercial. There are some brands that even utilize the fact that they’re hard to distinguish, and maximize that secrecy to make their brand stand out, such as Acne studios. We’re constantly exposed to different brands and marketing tactics and are never consciously aware of it. Take a look at headphones specifically. What is the first pair of headphones that comes to your mind when you think of the word “headphones”? Most people think of Beats by Dre, but other examples include Sony, Bose, or HyperX. These are the 4 main headphone brands that are dominating the market, yet the one that’s selling the most (by far) is Beats by Dre. This is due to the fact that their marketing team is heavily focused upon, and their brand name was able to score a deal with Apple, who also value marketing heavily. By making Beats such a widely known brand, people associate Beats as “very great headphones”, even though the reality is that they’re purposely weighted for no good reason, and the bass is amplified for every song that goes through them. They’re honestly a very awful pair of headphones for their price tag, yet they still dominate the market because of how widely known they are.

    Mating calls of male Dog Day Cicadas are used to attract female partners. Research has shown that Dog Day Cicadas, one of the most common species of cicadas found in the United States, use a specific mating call in order to attract females in hopes of performing reproduction. The sound that is created by the panels beneath their wings, known as tymbals. The panels vibrate rapidly, and is then intensified by the cicada’s mostly hollow abdomen. The main mating call is a high-pitched drone that lasts about 15 seconds. It starts softly and gradually grows louder in a crescendo, and then tapers off by the end. The sound is eerily similar to the sound of an electric saw. Yet female and male cicadas can also create sounds using their wings, but this sound is different and distinct. We would like to determine whether or not this signal is also a part of the mating call, or is instead used in a different manner. Cicadas are not known for communicating anything other than their desire to mate, and our team would like to determine what else are Dog Day Cicadas singing about. We would be able to gather data from the Texas A&M Forest Services, the studies done by the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and other research journals done by the University of California, Irvine.

    Is there such thing as a wrong way to live? Where do we draw the line? For example, say someone poor marries someone who happens to be rich, but the two eventually fall apart and they divorce, and the person who was initially poor, keeps a decent amount of the money and they’re happy. There’s nothing wrong with this picture right? What about someone who marries someone just for their money, and not for the romantic aspect of the relationship?  Does that seem wrong? But what if it’s a mutual agreement and they marry because it’s a sort of sugar daddy situation? Is that still wrong? Then what about if the marriage only stays together because the kids are a factor, and the two hate each other. Is it still right, or is it wrong? There are so many variables that come into play with this one example (of marriage) alone. It gets to a point where it’s impossible to look at every single scenario and be definitive about it, so why not just let people do as they please as long as it’s consensual? Personally, I don’t understand how people can look at other people and make such judgements and condoning them, when they’re happy and they’re just trying to live their life. The only way I can see it being reasonable, is if their way of life poses a threat towards society, because that becomes a larger problem that doesn’t involve just the both of the people in question.

    There are two main types of people, either you are a morning person who likes to sleep early and wake up early, while others like to wake up late, and sleep late. Is there a better version to be? The answer as of right now, is actually being a morning person. The reason why is because society was built on the premise of waking up early, getting to work, and finishing by the evening to enjoy the rest of the day. This means that those who are naturally morning birds, are able to work with the flow of society, and get the most out of it; while those who are night owls tend to have a lot of difficulty getting up for work in the morning. There’s been very recent research done that shows a strong disparity between minorities and caucasians, demonstrating that on average those who are caucasian or of latino descent, tend to be morning birds while those who are from asian or european descent, tend to be night owls. The research points to how our ancestors were used to a different type of circadian rhythm, and while the place we live in plays a major role in how we sleep and when we like to wake up, it’s possible that we have genes that are programmed for us to sleep  and wake up at specific times based off where our ancestry’s from.

    Everybody has a different approach when it comes to studying for an exam. Some people will take weeks before an exam and study bits and pieces until the day of the exam, and others will wait until the day of the exam to start studying. It starts to beg the question, which method is the ‘correct’ method? Research has actually shown that on average, studying 4 to 6 days in advance for any exam is most likely the best way to study for an exam. The first 3 to 4 days are used to study the material in parts, and by the end of the 3rd or 4th day, all the material will have been sufficiently reviewed. Come the following 5th and 6th day, those days are used as days to comprehensively review the material. The reason why research supports this method of studying, is because of the amount of sleep that a student is able to get in between each study session. The amount of sleep a student gets in between learning material plays a huge role in memory and retention. By being able to sleep multiple nights between comprehensive material, the student is able to understand and remember the information a lot better than if they were to cram the night before. The reason why you don’t want too many nights in between during studying though, is because the brain does eventually forget information, especially if it isn’t being used on a daily basis. With that said, studying anymore than 6 days ahead of an exam can actually work against your favor as you begin to start to forget some things you learned at the very beginning.