The impact of the Internet

“When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web.... Now even my cat has its own page.” This was stated by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1996. 15 years ago, Internet was already common and universal. The first generation surprisingly, was launched back in the 1960s. It was invented by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to maintain communications during the cold war. Later, the APRA linked the network with university and researchers’ computers to help with researches. Afterwards, the ARPA realized the network was growing faster and quicker than they expected; thus, in 1983, the U.S. released the internet to the public. 

Nowadays almost everyone uses the internet; nevertheless, not many people know how the internet works. Every computer is assigned with an Internet Protocol (IP) address. When the link is clicked, the browser sends a request to the website and the website sends the data package back to the computer. Consequently, the browser defines the data and displays the website image. The whole process happens in less than a minute. Thanks to the Internet, we can instantaneously access to different websites.

The internet helps us with information researches; before the internet was invented, students had to spend hours in the library researching; now they can stay at home and access to the online library. 50 years ago, people had to wait days for a letter, now it is easier to communicate with people around the world by using emails. Nowadays staying in touch with friends around the world is easier because of the internet.  In addition, the Internet has changed people shopping habits. Now they can buy almost anything online without going to stores, free from constrain of time and place. They can easy to access to the products’ information. Furthermore, now most banks have home banking service allowing people to direct debits, to check their account and pay the bill online; without having to go to the bank wasting time. The Internet has brought innumerable conveniences into our lives.

People often focus on the convenience and neglect the negative aspects of the Internet. For instance: When you do online shopping, you may never receive the item you ordered from the online store, because it could be a fraudulent site. In addition, criminals can effortlessly access to your personal details or simply hack into your bank number or password. Danger may also come across children or teenagers. Many sexual assault cases happen because children can talk to strangers easily and without realizing the danger on the internet. Internet frauds are becoming more and more prevalent.

To prevent being hacked or other problems that may happen on the internet, when shopping on online stores, ascertain the shop is a legal and credible website. Secondly, it is important not to reveal passwords or bank account numbers over the internet. Last, don’t meet with strangers, despite how friendly they seem to be on the internet. Use the Internet carefully and it will become a safe and convenient place to surf.

Taekwondo Problem and Solving

A shocking event that led the doom of being eliminated from the Olympics to Taekwondo was something that Herb Perez, the team leader of USA during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, said after he was furious about the poor judging that happened to Steven Lopez, one of the athletes on his team. He spilled out the shocking news. In June, WTF asked the team heads to sign an agreement to not to file any protest that would lead Taekwondo to get kicked out of the Olympics.

WTF wanted to do this was that before the Beijing Olympics, Taekwondo was already on the edge of getting eliminated due to its unfairness of its scoring system. Before this, International Olympic Committee (IOC) already suspected that Taekwondo was a sport which wasn’t ready for Olympics yet; due to its unsuccessful organization and its mismanagement.

The problem in Taekwondo was the deception that happened because of it unclearness in its scoring system. Due to the rules that were not specific enough. It was up to the judges to determine if they wanted to give points to the athlete’s kick. Due to this matter, much bribery happened in Taekwondo. Judges and referees were bribed to give points easier or harder to either side. Attempting to fix this problem, the WTF followed the other sports in the Olympics. They replaced the protective gear to electronic protective gear, trying to prevent the deception. However, many people thought it was an impudence judgement. An outrageous event happened, which adduced it really was a rash judgement. 

In the Guangzhou Asia games, 2010, BBC stated Yang, Shu-chun, a representative of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) was “a promising gold metal”. However she was disqualified after the first round for, what Taiwanese think an unreasonable reason. Yang was leading 9:0 after the first round, when the second round started, the referee announced Yang’s Vietnamese opponent, Thi, Hau-vu won. The judges and referees did not let Yang or her coach explain or ask any questions. This left them and Taiwan with absolutely no clue of what just happened.  

Later on, Zhao Lei, the technical referee of China stated that Yang had worn extra sensors on her heel, which meant that he was accusing Yang of cheating. Yang’s coach protested that Yang had passed the pre-match check, therefore if she did cheat; it was the judge who approved her equipment that was up to blame.

Many people think that Zhao was accusing Yang something that she did not commit was because of Wu, Jiang-yu. Wu is the representative from China that was in Yang’s weight division was the only opponent that had little chance to win Yang. If Wu won the go medal, it could benefit Zhao’s way to being the head of the Chinese Taekwondo Association. This made him even more suspicious of lying; getting Yang eliminated just to make sure Wu could win the gold medal.

The Korean government stated this judging controversy had nothing to do with Korea. The conflict should be between Taiwan and China, not Korea. They hope that Taiwanese don’t band their goods and stop burning their national flag. The Chinese declared that they already have enough medals. They would not use thus kind of dirty deception just to win another god medal. Therefore, Taiwan and China clearly do not have an agreement; Taiwan is going to sue China on the Court of Arbitration for Sports.

Although this story hasn’t ended yet, people are waiting for the WTF to end these judge controversies, the bribery and the problem that Taekwondo is not ready for the Olympics yet. Regardless, many people are overwhelmed that Taekwondo is still in for the 2012 Olympics, many changes are waited to be done.