EduPASSION 2019

On January 24th, SMAN 3 conducted the Edu-Passion event. Important people came, such as West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil and others, including a student from Philippines which stayed in our class for a week or so.

Wait, what's Edu-Passion? It's a festival, if you can call it so, where university representatives came to our school and opened stands where they campaigned and promoted their university and programs. It's a great way to learn and start planning for your future. In fact, I made the decision to go to STEI ITB on that day. 

In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, around 9am, our class führer Marcho distributed the fearsome Arduous Paper - where we have to go around interviewing university representatives and put the information we got there, or else our report paper will receive a hit. Not a good thing to get in a day that basically talks about the future.

So we walked around the plaza, interview and having conversations with various people from college students to moustache man with a suspicious raunchy face. We got quite a good deal of informations, actually. On 11 am, the seminars starts and I went to the STEI room. I felt like that's the most important part of the day. 

After the seminar, I went praying, which is a shame as I missed the HI seminar. Buying the ridiculously overpriced lunch, I also got to join the FTI and FTSL seminars. It was an interesting day, and a very important day obviously. It will more fun if we had realized that the Arduous Papers was left on the table and decayed to thin air to join the annals of time. 

I think that covers much, so have a good day, eat your vegetables, and vote for Jokowi. See you around!

My Goals, My Dreams, My Future

Who's this special snowflake with internet access?
Hi! My name is Zhillan Attarizal Rezyarifin, nicknamed Zhillan. I'm a 16 y/o from Bandung, Indonesia, Southeast Asia. I have a younger sister, who is a hedonistic cinema-dweller, and a younger brother, who is a diligent and curious person although a bit passive and crybaby. I might live with them for some years in the future, as my parents moved to Jakarta to be able to earn money and buy food.

Talking about my parents, I love them both. Based on measurable and immeasurable methods. My dad's working in property development, he's loving, nice, diligent, and caring. He also have access to various kinds of people and shares his experiences with me. My mother, on the other hand, is my idol. I think you have the stereotipical loving mom in mind, don't you - caring, housewife, religious, with good cooking ability? Throw that away - my mom's a macho, independent, strong woman working in President Jokowi's infrastructure development who deals with big money, mafia, railways, steel, and problems. She is the type of person who plays with stocks and banking interests, and through her I learn various "dark skills" necessary in life - things like flattery, cheating, manipulation, etc.

How do I waste spend my time before the Certain Fate swallow us all (death)
Hobby? I like reading and worldbuilding. And I like to research and argue about politics for hours, whether in offline earth or online forums (which websites' run in foreign country with foreign laws and is therefore free from the blasphemy law, ITE, etc) as a) I like it and b) my parents' career is directly impacted by the result of the Indonesian political process - they work in infrastructure development. I also spends an unhealthy amount of time watching YouTube videos and browsing.

As school ends in 2 pm (I consider the rest 1 hour as a theft of my lifespan), I just use the next 5 hours in afterschool lesson at Daniel's Learning House, so I can actually understand the materials, get good grades, and be able to buy food in the future.

Pros and cons of this person
Strength? Well, that's quite a heavy topic. I'm going to be straight and honest here, I consider myself as a "smart" person. I consider myself to have and to like searching for a vast and open knowledge, with the ability to analyze and apply it. I believe that I'm rational and don't fall easily to unsubstantiated claims. I'm also pretty realistic and pragmatic, not bound to a particular dogma or belief, and I don't fear challenging the status quo.

However, I also belief that humans are more or less equal, and an advantage on one sector will be counteracted by a disadvantage on the other. That impacts me, too: social skills. Let's be honest, my social skills are terrible, which is horrifying considering that it's the 21th century and AI/robotic takeover of repetitive jobs are imminent. My arithmetic (not necessarily math) skill is not something to be proud of, and I'm also pretty apathetic and have little willpower. I can't speak very well, especially in the heaven-forsaken "r" letter, and I can't also for God's sake differentiate between left and right.

The value of a person depends on what value generated in his life, if not then he's just wasting government welfare
I've achieved a lot of nice academic achievements in the past, in science, math, and english, in school and competitions. Keyword: past. And by that I mean elementary school. Because you gonna shine the brightest if you're standing in a pile of coal. Yes, I compared some of my elementary peers to coal, and with scientific reason too (I looked at their IQ test), although there's other good reason (bullying and unhappy childhood). But as I climbed the social ladder and finally reached SMAN3, the level has changed, and will continue to change in the future.

Outside of measurable achievements, do I have any other achievements? Can that be considered achievements? I have good grades, with the definition of "good" predetermined by me. I have a good and loving family, who supports and care about each other. I maintained a good connection of friends, which is far better than my friends on elementary school of which some of them I compared with coal.

Dreams: a realistic targeted predictions or completely spurious fantasy-leprechaun
My imaginative dreams aren't that simple, yet I think it's great. I want the world to be a better place. No, literally - I want climate change and Hothouse Earth to be prevented by international cooperation. I want a liberal democratic world government to be established, while the people become divided on reason-based tribes (economic/political ideology, etc) whose critiques are constructive, instead of pointless identitarian factors like race, religion, cultures, nation, etc. Every discriminated minority to receive the same rights and standard. Values and policies to be judged on reason and pros and cons, instead of "X told me so" or "We've been always doing this". I wish for humanity to reach Type 1 civilization and expand to the cosmos, and merge with Technium Kingdom (AI, robots etc) instead of being genocided by it. I also want to go to space (and obviously return healthy). I want education to become widespread and the people to be able to think rationally and through the scientific method, instead of believing in a set of dogmas and ideologies set in stone.

Well, that's quite a lot to ask for, so I'll focus on what's reachable. Not easy, or rather, not too clear. Based on techno-economic trends, observation, and various judgements, my best bet will be go to engineering in a top university (ITB) and go work in a information technology company, preferably Telkomsel. But as I've stated I'm not sure that I have the right fate-given skills to do it, especially in leadership, accounting, initiative, and competitiveness. I also don't know whether my passions can be fit into that career choice. Still, this path is still my best bet though, as blindly following your passion rarely lead to success - and if we look at the top richest people in the world, all of them have a common theme: they are passionate on things that generates money.

I think that's cover a lot of things, so have a good day, eat your vegetables, and vote for Jokowi. See you around!

SDG 03: Good Health and Well-Being

The Drug War: The Success That Wasn't

The Drug War: The Success That Wasn't

The War on Drugs is an international program dedicated to the prohibition and eradication of drugs and (thus) drug usage. It was started by the Richard Nixon in 1971, and became a global activity.

The United States alone spends 50 billion USD (750 Trillion Rupiah) annualy in their commitment to the war on drugs, or six times of the Indonesian military spending. The war on drugs followed a simple premise: eradicate drugs, and drug usage will go down. Yet this premise failed to consider many arguments, such as the law of basic economics. Since drugs are inelastic, addicted people will buy it no matter the cost. Therefor, when we restrict the supply, the demand and price increase to a fantastic level - fantastic for cash-strapped thugs looking for a quick buck. Thus a new industry explodes: while big factories closes, house-made decentralized drugs production flourished, and after billions of taxpayer money, the supply of drugs increased. The government then try to restrict the distribution of materials needed to produce drugs. While house drugs industries did fell, in their place rose internationally organized cartels colluding with local goverments with better equipment, drug concentration, and production lines. Thus, after billions of money, the supply of drugs increased again while the drugs itself become way more dangerous. In fact, according to a study, the war on drugs has a efficiency rate in reducing supply of 1%. We cannot win this war on the supply side, nor is it a desirable thing to aim for. This program did claim a great moral highground, but any program that costs trillions of dollars while having an efficiency rate of 1% is a bad program.

This does not account the damages the war on drugs has done to the world. In Mexico, more people died to drug-related violence than civilians who died in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. United States housed the largest prison population in the world, in the number and proportion, the majority of which came from drug-related crimes. Indonesia risks international isolation by executing foreign civilians caught in a drug crime. All in the name of a failing policy hunting a target that isn't real. This phenomenon was not new, however; in 1920s, the United States enacted a prohibition of alcohols championed by moralists. The result was a rise of gang violence and beer-producing mafias - ever heard the names of Al Capone and friends? "Licquor" also become the norm - an unregulated alcohol product with an insane ratio of alcohol in it. Beers were legalized again in 1930's during the Great Depression - arguably the worst time to have an alcohol prohibition - but the effect lasts decades.

So is there any alternatives? In the late 20th century, Switzerland faced a looming heroin disaster. They even had "needle parks" - where hundreds of junkies lay in public parks, injecting heroin to their skin. Switzerland could have prohibited drugs, but instead they pursue another solution: harm reduction. By focusing on harm reduction, addicts were brought to care centers. They were given free heroin and clean syringes, psychological assistance, and given social support to continue their lives once they stopped using drugs. Today, drugs aren't prohibited (athough still discouraged), in fact you can easily buy cannabis products in the country. But the result if the policy was astounding: drug usage fell significantly, especially compared to the country that enacted drug prohibition, with hundreds of times efficiency and way, way less cost. The policy was subsequently tried in Portugal with a resounding success.

No one argue that drug is good or has any non-medical benefit. But there are a reason why most countries legalize alcohol and tobacco. If properly regulated, drugs aren't really that dangerous - western countries isn't facing societal collapse or economic misery due to regulated alcohol and tobacco. The fact is, if we really want to reduce drug usage, reconsider other alternatives - harm reduction and prevention - than wasting more money to catch an imaginary unicorn. If not, more people will die from drugs. Imagine that.

Sources: Wikipedia, Kursgesagt.

My Group' Wedding Card

September 19th, 2018

Hello comrades! Today, I would like to show an invitation card that we (Zhillan A.R, Irgi A.P, and Vivaldi A.S) had created last week from paper, fancy ribbons, and colored markers.

Gallery:

Here are the content of this invitation:

1. Name of the host
 According to this card, the event is jointly hosted by Mr. Phillip Rees-Hercules and Ms. Sumintem, and very likely their family too.
2. Phrase on the invitation
 We can find that the host invites the reader from the text "Mr. H. Rees-Hercules and Ms. Sumintem request your most honourable presence to attend our...".
3. The kind of event
According to this card, this event is a wedding ceremony.
4. Date
According to this card, the event will be held at Tuesday September 30th, 2069.
5. Time
According to this card, the event will be held at 04.00 pm.
6. Venue
According to this card, the event will be held in the Lubang Buaya Great Hall, near the Kasih Ibu Cemetary and the Bumi Indah Mental Hospital.
7. Special instruction
All attendees are required to bring a bucket of lily. Considering that lily simbolizes death, the reason why this flower is a requirement is beyond me.
8. Request to respond
If the reader will or will not attend, they are supposed to tell a person called Gian bin Harris Munthe.

So that is our wedding card. What do you think?

Debate: Zoning Policy

Hello, my comrades! Today, I will tell you about a debate that happened a few weeks ago in my English class. These are the topics, the motions, and my thoughts about it.

Topic: The Government should remove the zoning policy for school enlistment.

Pros: The students who lived far from the schools with better ratings now has more chance at their life. It is inherently unfair to put anyone's future at stake based on luck and residents only.

Cons: Smarter students will be concentrated only at a few schools, which is bad for the overall students in the city. By removing zoning, the government also promotes traffic.

My thoughts: I would go with the contra. Before zoning, smarter students will be concentrated in a few schools, attracting most of the funding for their own betterment, and I think the best way to make less achieving students is by mixing them with smarter students. People say that depriving smarter students of their chance to get into the best schools will harm their future. But smarter students already have an astronomically better future compared too less smart, poorer, less capable child-labor living in a crowded hut. So love zoning and love the betterment of national student's gradient.

#VLOG - SMAN 3 EDUCATION FAIR (ENGLISH TASK)

1. See the link below.
2. Copy the link.
3. Paste in to the address bar.
4. Press enter.
5. A page will open showing the video. Enjoy!

Link   >>>   https://youtu.be/zS_nDy9zbL8