My CAJ Experience

I guess the CAJ exam tomorrow will mark the end of this project and therefore the end of my blogging about cyberwar. In a way I am, of course, relieved that I finally concluded another task this semester, but I am also a bit sad for not having an excuse for researching an actually interesting topic on the internet. To end my CAJ project and to get a bit of an overview of my blogposts, I will use this post to resume my work and to talk a bit about what I learned from this project.

In the last few posts (I don't know exactly how many posts I wrote related to cyberwar) I talked about hackers, about what they are doing, their punishments when they get involved in cyberwar, the wish for their recruitment to reinforce cyber security, their targets and the difficulty of tracking them, as well as about a cyber conflict that involved Israeli and Saudi Arabian teams of hackers. I also talked about the two, probably most famous cyber attacks: Stuxnet and The Estonian Cyberwar. Looking at cyberwar from a different angle, I talked about the role timing played in cyber attacks, about a mathematical equation for calculating the perfect moment to attack and about the argument that "a cyberwar won't exist". As cyberwar is also directly linked to cyber security, I introduced a TED talk about cyber security and linked this to preparations for a cyberwar by the U.S as well as to cyberwar games. Last but not least, I tried to link cyberwar to the use of drones by the military and the revolution that could cyberwarfare could lead to in the military.

Looking back at my blogposts I regret that I did not focus on some more aspects of cyberwar. Even though I read about the different cyberwar scenarios that people fear, I never blogged about it. I could have easily linked this to doomsday preppers for example. I would also have liked to talk about an experiment when hackers succeeded in hacking into a car by using radio frequences, or to talk about some more famous cyber attacks.

If I had the chance to start the project all over again, I would start with simply reading a lot about cyberwar. Then I would go on to create a mind map about all the different topics I read about and how they could relate to each other. I would plan my posts better and try to bring them into order before actually putting them online, instead of letting myself be led from one topic to another.

Even so, I have to say that I greatly enjoyed this project. I learned a lot about cyberwar and cyber security, but I also learned a lot in English. Looking back at this project also taught me how important organization is, mainly if a project develops over a period of several weeks or even months.

How to Go Back in Time and Prevent Another Time Traveller from Killing Hitler

How to Go Back In Time and Prevent Another Time Traveller from Killing Hitler

Things you need:

• Intention to protect Hitler
• Nerves to not kill Hitler
• Time machine (and working knowledge)
• Baseball Bat
• article “Time Travellers: Please don’t kill Hitler” by Dean Burnett

ATTENTION

Depending on the period of time you choose to meet Hitler in, you will have to act and react differently.

1. Turn your machine on and step inside.
2. If you chose to meet Hitler as a child, continue reading. If you chose to meet Hitler as an adult, go straight to step 16.
3. Choose a period of time between 1895 and 1899 and type it into the board computer of your time machine.
4. When the machine asks you about your destination of time travel, type “Fischlham Volksschule” into the computer system.
5. Once you arrive at school, search for a boy named Adolf Hitler (or Hiedler, Huettler or Hüttler).
6. Engage him in a conversation and act like you two have a lot of things in common.
7. Make him trust you completely (you are now his ultimate best friend forever).
8. When Hitler becomes the leader of the third Reich, stick with him at all times.
9. Avoid to sleep, eat and preferably also to go to the toilet in order to stay with him at all times.
10. Wait for time travellers to come and prepare a baseball bat for the event of an attack on Hitler.
11. When time travellers arrive, knock them out with your baseball bat and tie them to a chair.
12. Wait for them to wake up and explain that behind the facade of being a cold-hearted bastard, Hitler is indeed a nice person and a good friend. If they believe you go to step 13, if not, go to step 14.
13. Free them and send them back to the future. Skip step 14.
14. Get rid of them.
15. Faint from exhaustion or from starvation.

YOU JUST SUCCEEDED IN PREVENTING TIME TRAVELLERS FROM KILLING HITLER: Congratulations

16. Put a copy of the article “Time Travellers: Please don’t kill Hitler” by Dean Burnett in one of the pockets of your jacket.
17. Choose a period of time shortly before 1933 to join Hitler as one of his generals before he becomes the leader of Germany.
18. When you arrive in Germany, join Hitler’s Nazi party.
19. Become close with him by telling him that he will soon be the chancellor of Germany.
20. When he becomes the chancellor of Germany, tell him that once Hindenburg dies, he can be the sole ruler of Germany. Once this happens you have succeeded in making him trust you.
21. As one of Hitler’s generals, position hundreds of security guards around his workplace, house and send at least a dozen of them to accompany him at all times.
22. Stay on lookout for weirdly-dressed people appearing out of nowhere.
23. As soon as one of those people (time travellers) appear, hand them the copy of the article “Time Travellers: Please don’t kill Hitler”. If they decide not to kill Hitler, go to step 24; if they insist on killing Hitler go to step 25.
24. Tell them that you to do not like Hitler, but that the future could change too dramatically for humans if anybody killed him. Skip step 25.
25. Threaten the time travellers that their smartphones will probably disappear in the future if they really do succeed in killing him (this will change their minds).

YOU JUST SUCCEEDED IN PREVENTING TIME TRAVELLERS FROM KILLING HITLER: Congratulations

Narrative Journalism: And Suddenly We Heard Gunshots

And Suddenly We Heard Gunshots

25-year-old Michael S., a missionary worker from South America, is sitting in his guest house in Kabul, playing cards with a friend of his, when suddenly someone starts screaming: “Three armed men”. As the first distant shots can be heard, his friend’s face grows pale. The sound of gunshots comes closer as they hide in the wardrobe of their room.

Two hours later, the police forces arrive and find Michael, his friend, as well as three other survivors of the attack in the guest house. The 25-year-old is shaking as he repeats the same words over and over again: “We are still alive”.

This is not the first attack on missionaries in Kabul, and it seems as though the bloody disputes are not going to come to an end soon. Even with a rising number of casualties every year, however, Roots of Peace resolve to help Kabul’s citizen does not waver.

PSA: After-Death Avatars

Nobody wants to feel the sort of pain that the death of a loved one causes,
to experience the sort of grief strong enough to drive people mad.
The death of a person might make life seem pointless;
might lead to those sudden thoughts of suicide.

Until now, the only thing that remained was our memory of our deceased,
but NOW you have the chance to stay with your partner,
your family and friends until your last day.

THROUGH OUR AVATAR you loved one will stay by your side,
talk to you, laugh with you and tell you about their day.
You can hug and kiss them and they will hold you in their arms while you fall asleep.
There is NO MORE NEED FOR TEARS
NO MORE GOODBYES

Writing an academic paper - Progress

As I am, as probably most of the other students as well, currently preparing for my remaining exams and presentations, I have not had a lot of time to continue working on my academic paper. Even so I have spent some time on reading through my sources in order to inform myself about the content I am going to write about. I have already finished summarizing the history of ASEM two weeks ago, which leaves me with a finished introduction and first paragraph. As soon as my last exams are over, on Tuesday, I will continue to work on my paper and step by step finish every paragraph during the upcoming winter vacation.

I think, and hope, that as long as I am interested in my topic I will be able to finish the first draft shortly after Christmas, which should give me enough time to improve my text afterwards.

Throughout the last few weeks I have also become more aware of the things I will have to be careful about when I finally start to write my paper. I will have to clearly mark the sources I used for each few phrases or paragraphs, check the proper format of my bibliography and inform myself on how to quote from another text. 

Surprising Europe - "You're sitting on a white seat"

„You’re sitting on a white seat“

„You’re sitting on a white seat“ is just one of the many racist remarks that Angela from Sierra Leone had to deal with after moving to Düsseldorf, Germany. In Surprising Europe, a documentary about African immigrants living in Europe, she told about the dark sides of living within the EU as a foreigner. Encounters with skinheads that swear at her, spit at her or simply wave their fists at her are not a rare occurrence but an obstacle that almost all immigrants have to overcome.

With an increasing number of African migrants entering the EU every year, racism has become a hot issue once again. These naturalized citizens introduce Europeans to completely different customs and traditions as well as languages that are a complete mystery to most of the EU population, which leads to a culture clash. Europeans fear to lose their cultural identity that they take great pride in, while African immigrants try to adapt to Western culture and simultaneously attempt to preserve their own traditions. Some of these immigrants that were questioned in a survey agreed on the fact that because of racism it is challenging for them to find accommodation or employment. Many Africans stated that they also had been physically and verbally attacked. 

Even though they are all met with racism, immigrants still believe in the “European Dream”. Most of them strive hard to adapt to the new culture of their respective countries by using a variety of methods. Interviews with participants of Surprising Europe uncovered the challenges that African immigrants have to face in the adaption process and how they deal with them. Mousse, from Senegal, succeeded in adjusting to the lifestyle in Amsterdam with the help of his Dutch wife and their children, while Wonda Wendy, living in France, considers both of her cultural backgrounds as equally meaningful.

The main problems in terms of intercultural understanding primarily derive from completely different concepts of relationships. These concepts include, for example, the idea of sharing household chores, as Europeans do, or the old-fashioned way of letting the woman work at home in Africa. Another common custom in Africa is to take care of the children of your friends or family while in Europe a paid childcare system needed to be established. However, African immigrants have found their own ways in overcoming these difficulties, racism and finally succeeded in adapting to a completely new culture without sacrificing their own traditions.

EU Topics

                                       EU TOPICS

As Hendrik asked us to, this post will be on several of my ideas for an academic paper on the EU.
After having a talk with two of my best friends on the EU, its functions as well as on its advantages and drawbacks, there were several questions that I asked myself and that I became curious about. Here a list of some topics that developed from these questions.

Prerequisites for EU membership
Even after Croatia has finally joined the EU in 2013, there is still a waiting list for countries wanting to join the European Union. Even though I know of several reasons as to why e.g. Turkey could, up to now, not join the EU, I would be interested in getting to know the exact requirements a county has to fulfill in order to become a member state.

Policy on asylum
My initial shock about the results of the last election was followed by immediate interest in the EU’s policy on asylum. Who exactly can ask seek asylum? Which countries accept the largest number of immigrants/refugees? Are there any common law and policies on asylum? And why?

Requirements for becoming an official EU language
So there are 28 official languages in the EU and all official documents have to be translated and interpreted in each of these languages. Gaelic is one of those previously mentioned official languages but other languages, even if spoken by a larger group of people, have not become official EU languages. What exactly are the requirements a language needs to fulfill in order to become an official language in the EU? I asked myself that question while talking to my friends about working as a translator for the EU.

Weird EU Laws
The EU is worldwide known for some of its strange laws, including the banning of curved cucumbers. As I was reading through some of these strange laws I suddenly though "Hey, that does not only seem interesting, but also funny". So this would probably be one of the topics I am interested in. Not only knowing what laws exist but also why the EU thinks of them as useful or even necessary.

Reason for monetary unification in the EU
When asked about fast facts on the EU most students answered that a characteristic of the EU is its monetary unification. Most EU countries use the euro, but there are several exceptions. Why do some of the member states refuse to use the euro? And what is the use of monetary unification anyways? We no longer need to exchange money when we travel inside the EU (except for certain countries and even in those the euro is accepted in many places) but at the same time everybody complains about the euro causing our goods to become more expensive.