JANUARY 2022

Cover by Hannah Kim

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

That moment when something dawns on us. It could be sudden such as when we realized the new variant of COVID-19 was going to wreak havoc once more, leading to panic. It could be a gradual process such as when we grapple with the unsolved mysteries of disappearing planes, trying to figure out what could have happened. However it happens, it is a distinctly human phenomenon that sparks an opportunity—an opportunity for new discoveries, innovations, or action. It is what propels us forward in pursuit of even more.

There is no doubt that we are living in extraordinary times.

Whether one is an optimist or pessimist, it is clear to all that what we realize today will change the course of tomorrow. Our revelations have never been so important, the products of our revelations key to navigating the future.

It is my pleasure to present The Golden Dragon’s second issue of the 2021-2022 school year as we step into a brand-new year. This issue will cover many revelations that are shaping our lives. You will read about strong individuals who are trying to change the world motivated by their revelations, movies inspired by simple revelations that touch the heart, scientific revelations that shift our perspective on the climate crisis, and more. The journalists of the newspaper have imbued their own revelation into each piece of writing, hoping to enlighten their readers. We invite you to read with an open mind and explore each revelation, big or small. Perhaps you will have your own moment and come away with something yourself.

Josephine Park

STAFF SECRETARY

EDITOR IN CHIEF

TREASURER

HANEUL JANG

JOSEPHINE PARK

CHRIS LA

CORRESPONDENTS DANIEL PARK DAVID YI HANNAH KIM JEREMY KANG JESSICA EGGLESTON KATIE EGGLESTON MINHEE CHOI MINJUN KIM SUE KIM TOBY GRANGER WILLOW HWANG

Modern Heroes

BY HANEUL JANG “I think a hero is really any person intent on making this a better place for all people.” - Maya Angelou Change doesn’t always start with something big, but rather with something small. There are numerous people in the world who have created change by speaking out for what they think would make the world a “better place for all people”— this makes a person a true hero. In this article, I will introduce three modern heroes who have been making a difference in the world today: Greta Thunberg, Irene Zola and Jake Wood.

Greta Thunberg “We can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow.” - Greta Thunberg

(BBC) Greta Thunberg is a well-known, 19 year old climate activist who has created a large impact on the world. Her bold and daring statements have inspired many people of all ages to speak out against climate change. Like herself, Thunberg has inspired many teenagers —who named themselves the “Gretas”— to inspire their peers about climate strikes.

Thunberg first became famous for her protest outside the Swedish parliament in 2018. Through her protest, the BBC reported that she was trying to “pressure the government to meet carbon emissions targets.” She held a sign that read “School Strike for Climate.” Though her campaign started off small, the effect that came afterward was not. After her campaign, thousands of people were inspired to play a part in climate change. In 2019, she received the first of three Nobel Peace Prize nominations.

What surprises people is that Thunberg is a regular teenage girl who simply has enough courage to speak for what she believes in. The Times stated, “By clarifying an abstract danger with piercing outrage, Thunberg became the most compelling voice on the most important issue facing the planet.”

Varshini Prakash, 26, who co-founded the Sunrise Movement, a U.S. youth advocacy group pushing for a Green New Deal says, “She symbolizes the agony, the frustration, the desperation, the anger —at some level, the hope— of many young people who won’t even be of age to vote by the time their futures are doomed.”

Irene Zola “I was outraged that our culture doesn’t have a place for very old people except in nursing homes. I decided that I wanted to do something about that.” -Irene Zola

(CNN) Irene Zola was voted a CNN Hero when she created a program that changed the lives of the elderly.

After her mother passed away in a nursing home, Zola stated “I was outraged that our culture doesn’t have a place for very old people except in nursing homes. I decided that I wanted to do something about that.” Her friend offered a possible solution: having people in the neighborhood helping the elders. Zola used this idea to create a change.

Her solution was to have people of any age assist elders in their neighborhood. This simple but effective solution has helped many elders throughout the community. In the year of 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau stated that there are approximately 40 million elders who are older than 65 that live alone; this number is expected to increase in the future. Zola stated “I wanted to establish something to support the aging-in-place community and bring people across generations together.”

The role of the volunteer is not only to offer companionship, but also assist the elder in numerous ways, such as home management, shopping, preparing meals and accompanying them to doctor appointments.

“Sometimes it’ll be a stroll, or shopping or helping them pay their bills. We’re their daughters and sons helping them to manage their home life,” said Zola, 64.

This solution has not only benefited the elders but the volunteering citizens. Many of the citizens have stated that they feel more connected to their community.

“Some people believe that old age is a time when people stop learning, but it’s not. And so why not live life to the fullest to the end?” Zola said about the program. said. “That’s what I love to see.”

Jake Wood “Leadership is built on the principles of following well. If we know how to follow well, not only are we going to make the teams we’re part of better, we’re going to make our leaders better and we’re going to become better leaders ourselves.” -Jake Wood

(CNN) When a huge earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, many people responded by donating money. Jake Wood responded through a Facebook post: “I’m going to Haiti. Who’s in?”

Wood stated that the images that he saw on the news reminded him of his experience in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Marine Corps. Soon, he realized that the skills that he grew as a veteran, such as being able to adapt to difficult conditions, working with a limited supply of resources, and maintaining security, were necessary in the situation.

Approximately a few days after his post, Wood and seven volunteers arrived at the Dominican Republic and headed off to Haiti with medicine and equipment. In three weeks, 60 volunteers with medical or military backgrounds followed Wood’s lead and took action. They created triage centers in the camp and treated whoever they could; if they were not able to help someone, they would ferry them to other hospitals.

Later, Wood stated that they were able to help thousands of Haitians. They named their group Team Rubicon with a reference to the phrase ‘crossing the Rubicon’ —meaning “passing a point of no return”.

Team Rubicon became a nonprofit organization, and just as the name suggests Wood stated that he never looked back. In two years, the group expanded to 1,400 volunteers—-80% being military veterans.

Not only did the team help Haiti, but also organized 13 other missions. The group created triage clinics after an earthquake in Chile and a flood in Pakistan. They traveled to Myanmar and Sudan where citizens were trapped in regional conflicts. After that they assisted in search-and-rescue missions following tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Joplin, Missouri.

Wood stated that he believes that the formula for success is giving veterans a chance to give back to their country or community.

What’s Behind the Popularity of Korean Films?

BY SUE KIM “Parasite”, “Squid Game”, “Sweet Home”, “Minari”... As long as you have been living in South Korea in the last few years, you would’ve definitely heard these names at least a million times by now. Surprisingly though, these are actually going viral internationally and even those living out of Korea are very familiar with these nowadays. This increasing fame of Korean movies, TV series, and other films can be proven through this graph. As you can see here, the money earned from Korean movies has been in an increasing trend since 2004 up to 2019. This proves that films are becoming a major factor of South Korea’s industry and economy. Especially because these K-films are spreading even wider as various platforms and apps such as Netflix are developing.

Then, what lots of people are curious about at this point would be, ‘What is behind these K-films that actually make them so popular to people all around the world? What is causing people to go viral about these anyways?’. Among the numerous reasons, 2 of the main points will be addressed in this article.

To begin with, the short length of every series or episodes of the Korean films allows people to watch it much more conveniently and easily. The term ‘binge watching’ refers to people catching up on TV episodes they missed out or watching continues series of them at once, and this is commonly done by people nowadays. However, it is very hard to ‘binge watch’ a TV show if it is too long and TV series from other countries like the U.S are often long. Unlike this, Korean TV shows or dramas tend to have only around 16 episodes and most of them end with only one season. Therefore, it is convenient and easy for people to watch at any time or even finish watching the entire series in just a few days . This is why we can see lots of people watching short K-films during their free resting periods or even in buses and subway transportations.

Furthermore, what affects the popularity of Korean films are not only their visuals but also the soundtracks in the background. Especially now that K-Pop is also a very famous aspect of Korean culture, lots of people pay much more attention to the background music or the OST of the films today. Even though it might seem that the visual representation is the most important feature in film-making, it is actually significant for the film to be catching the attention of the audience through various senses. This includes both sight and sound. Specifically for Korean dramas, the OST or the soundtrack music has become a very major part of it and is now also one of the reasons behind why people like or dislike certain films.

In conclusion, Korean films including series, shows, and movies are becoming extremely popular globally through diverse platforms such as Netflix and two of the main reasons behind their fame is the short length of the episodes/series and the soundtrack music. There are even more reasons such as the high quality of film productions, dramatic and intense plots, and the fact that they are often open for both young and old audiences. Thus, Korean films are becoming a whole industry or a new culture for people around the world, and it seems that this will continue to grow in the future.

Harry Potter 20th Reunion: Return to Hogwarts

BY JESSICA EGGLESTON By now we all know the story of the young boy who started off in a cupboard underneath the stairs who turns out to be a great brilliant wizard. On January 1, 2022, the 20th Year Anniversary of Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts came out. (In this article, the aging of Harry Potter and also the 20th reunion will be discussed. If you have not read the books, watched the movies, or seen the reunion, this is your warning for spoilers!) During this reunion, most of the cast was able to return to the screen. Cast members reunited to share secrets from the set and relive good memories. Some cast members have passed and were not able to attend the reunion but their memory still lives on as other cast members talk about them and their relationships.

Unfortunately, this reunion is only available on HBO max so I was not able to watch the whole thing, yet I was able to catch some clips off of other sites.

During the past 20 years, the Harry Potter franchise has aged very well. The books and movies have been translated into over 60 different languages and made billions of dollars. The first book came out in 1997 and the first movie came out in 2001. Not all of the books had been published by the time that the actors had started filming. The author of the book series J.K. Rowling herself had a lot to do with the production of the movies.

Some secrets that most fans were most shocked about include the fact that Emma Watson almost didn’t come back to the franchise and that only Alan Rickman knew the fate of his character.

Since not all the books had been published by the time that the movies began to film, the actors were unaware of their characters fate. However, Rowling told Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) the fate of his character so that he could use that knowledge in his layered acting. He was sworn to secrecy, even from the directors. When questioned about his actuarial choices by the directors, he just told them to trust him.

Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) was thinking deeply about leaving the franchise after the 4th movie. She said that her fame was getting to her and she was getting sad and overwhelmed. She was the youngest and also the only girl, leading her to really struggle. However, she decided to stay on with the films because of the fan base and she couldn’t imagine someone else playing Hermione.

Another secret that the cast members shared was that the floating candles in the Great Hall were originally real candles held up by fishing string. They got the full magical experience on the set. However, sometimes the flame of the candles would burn through the ropes and fall on the actors. Due to safety concerns, the director made the choice to make the candles CGI in the following movies.

Daniel Radcliffe shared a story about Richard Harris (Albus Dumbledore), who sadly passed away in between filming the second and third movie. Fawkes the Phoenix, he was an automatronic—meaning that the directors could control the robot from off camera. However, Harris believed that Fawkes was indeed a real bird who was very trained to do the part. None of the cast members told him that the bird was actually a robot.

Another surprise for fans was the cut dueling scene of Bellatrix and Sirius. Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) talked about how they filmed a dueling scene for several days for the fifth movie, Order of the Phoenix. However, the directors cut it and got straight to the point of Sirius’ death.

Emma Watson and Tom Felton’s relationship was also a highlight of the reunion for most fans. Many rumors had circled around about the two. They confirmed that they have lots of love for each other and they are very close. Watson admitted to having a crush on Felton in her childhood after he drew a skateboard girl with a backwards cap as God for a homework assignment. However, Felton said that since he was three years older than Watson, he only thought of her as a little sister. Their friendship is still genuine to this day.

Another relationship that the fans loved to see off screen is the relationship of Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman. The two share a special bond on screen as they are family. However, the two share a very similar relationship off screen too. Oldman is one of Radcliffes actor heroes and getting to work alongside him made their bond even stronger.

It is crazy to believe that Harry Potter is now 20 years old! Fans that were children back then are now older yet Harry Potter still continues to work magic into their lives. With this reunion, fans are able to learn new things and also revisit the magic of the wizarding world.

Movie Review: Dear Evan Hansen

BY DAVID YI *This article contains spoilers

“Dear Evan Hansen” is a movie adaptation of the broadway musical of the same name released on September 24 by Perfect World Pictures. The story follows “Evan Hansen”, a teenager with social anxiety disorder, who gets misunderstood to be a friend of “Connor”, who recently committed suicide. Yet, Evan decides to keep acting as a friend of Connor, as Connor did not have any friends and the family needed someone who could talk about Connor. He keeps making up lies, faking emails and letters, creates made-up experiences, and tells the family how beautiful Connor was. In the end however, he confesses the truth, and Evan isn’t able to stay in touch with the family after that.

Similar to other musical movies, actors sing in the middle of the scenes. Some well known soundtracks are “You Will Be Found” and “Waving through the Window”. An interesting fact is that the actor who took the role of “Evan Hansen” is the same actor who also performs in the musical, Ben Platt. In the past, films of “Dear Evan Hansen” have existed, but Perfect World Pictures aims to create a difference by a variation in a film’s scale through cast of real musical actors and a complete re-recording of soundtracks.

The mood of this movie is emotional and especially focuses on family relationships. Having a member lost in a family, the movie shows how the rest of the family tries to overcome and struggles to live without him through a perspective of someone else who is not part of the family.

It reveals how each character faces problems individually, yet the family overcomes the problems with the help of Evan Hansen makes the movie warm and emotional. I personally highly praise the movie as people lose family members eventually one or another and convey what it would be like if they were in this situation.

The plot was well-structured, but I am a bit disappointed with the ending. A great build-up happened in the beginning which reached its peak with Evan Hansen’s confession, but the part afterward is broad and is unclear what it is trying to say or convey to the audience. However, the storyline had rollercoasters, intensity, and moreover showed a clear mood of emotion through relationships between families.

I would rate the movie 9 out of 10, as I got to see messages that I was not able to see in other films. Personally for me, the movie made me reflect on my relationships with my family and whether I was doing a good, or the right job. The movie touched me in many ways and other factors such as the cast, OST, and the plot all support it to convey a well-balanced structure.

Boeing 777: The Unsolved Mystery of Its Disappearance…

BY MINHEE CHOI All around the world, there are numerous unsolved mysteries but one of the most well known mysteries are plane disappearances. Plane disappearance, as it is written, is a phenomenon where a plane with passengers and pilots suddenly disappears while in flight. With this, no one has yet really figured out why this happens and how this phenomenon occurs, resulting as an unsolved mystery in our world. One of the most famous and biggest plane disappearances is the case of the plane ‘Boeing 777’, also known as ‘MH370’.

Boeing 777 / MH370 To begin, MH370 was a flight on March 8th 2014 with it being a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing (Malaysia to China). In this plane, they had 227 passengers and with the crew, in total the plane had 239 people in it. While it had been planned to depart at 00:42 local time and arrive at 06:30, the airplane had suddenly deviated from its route and had disappeared, unable to be seen in the radar screens. However, by using Malaysian military radar, they were able to keep track of the plane.

According to this radar, they noticed the plane flying southwest and suddenly changing its direction, turning right.

Despite using the Malaysian military radar, they weren’t able to keep track of the plane and the exact time that the plane disappeared was 02:22. The last contact with the pilot was 37 minutes after departure. While the plane is yet to be found, in total 5 pieces of debris of plane MH370 had been found around the West Indian Ocean. One of them had been washed up in the Indian Ocean Island of Reunion.

Theories and Future Predictions While there aren’t proved theories and reason for plane disappearance, one of the theories that had been stated was the hallmark of hijacking in plane and another theory was stated by Australian Prime Minister — Tony Abbott — that the plane could have been brought down by one of the pilots in case of muder-suicide. Also, in a recent report, they addressed that the cause of plane disappearance had not been discovered and only commented that they should have made more communication attempts after flight disappearance.

Thus, in order to solve the mystery of plane disappearance, there should be more research done. With this research, one of the major things that they need to find would be the planes that had gone missing in the past without any specific reasons. With this, they may be able to come up with different theories and also try different testing with the information they have discovered.

Italy Has a New National Airline

BY JEREMY KANG

(ITA) The Italian flagship airline carrier Alitalia was replaced by Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA). ITA took over Alitalia’s fleet and took to the skies beginning from October 15th, 2021. Alitalia ceased its operations and faced its retirement, leaving its 74 years legacy.

What happened to Alitalia?

The government-owned, Italy’s national airline Alitalia has had many financial problems in the past and even declared bankruptcy in May 2017. On top of the financial issues the airline faced, the coronavirus global pandemic hit the airline industry with airlines grounding their planes and ceasing operations. Since the global pandemic, the international travel demand has dropped significantly.

The Future of ITA ITA Airways is making progress towards expanding its routes. ITA Airways began by serving 44 destinations and 59 by the end of 2021. ITA will eventually expand to 74 routes by the end of 2022. Great news for sports teams, ITA will operate charter flights - allowing athletes and teams to travel on behalf of Italy.

How Can ITA Grow?

One of the key ways airlines succeed is by joining an alliance. There are three main international alliances: SkyTeam, Star Alliance, and Oneworld Alliance. By joining one of these global alliances will allow ITA to establish codeshare agreements with other airlines. Joining an alliance will also give ITA the ability to earn and redeem miles on other alliance members. These strategies will positively impact passenger experience and demand.

Coronavirus Variant Spreads Rapidly

BY KATIE EGGLESTON

(Deseret News) Many countries, such as the United States and South Korea, have been recording record numbers of daily cases since the start of the pandemic. While the loosening of restrictions can be an explanation for these numbers, they are not the sole reason. Discovered in Johannesburg by a team of pathologists, the highly contagious omicron variant has wreaked havoc throughout the world.

Omicron is a variant, or slightly modified version, of the COVID-19 virus. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), variants occur through mutations in the original virus—while most mutations cause a virus to die, some allow the virus to persist. The original SARS-CoV-2 virus has already had multiple variants, the most notable ones being the delta variant discovered in December of 2020 and the recent omicron variant discovered in November of 2021.

The CDC has stated the omicron is more contagious than any other variant, which explains the large increase in case numbers around the world. Despite this, early research from the World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that the omicron mainly affects the upper respiratory tract, not the lungs. Because of this, people infected with the variant are less likely to be hospitalized or die.

To prevent the spread of omicron, vaccination is highly recommended by scientists.

Two vaccination shots plus the booster are available in most countries; a large number of the population being administered these is a key to stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

Epidemiologist Jose R. Mercado states vaccinations are “our best tool in ending this pandemic and moving forward to an endemic state where COVID-19 leads to just mild to asymptomatic infections.”

Debunking the Climate Impact of the Internet

BY WILLOW HWANG The popularity of various Internet platforms is very high. The greatest marketing points of digital services are their cheap costs, convenience, and speed which have attracted many users and will attract even more in the coming decades following rapid development that amplifies those assets. According to Digital Information World, just over a period of a year from 2018-19, 367 million people gained access to the Internet; furthermore, the average time spent online per day of an Internet user is currently six hours and forty-two minutes. Imagine the total amount of time spent everyday on the Internet, and how much electricity it would consume. It seems reasonable for some analysts to claim that using the Internet is significantly harmful for the planet.

Nevertheless, the claim has insufficient evidence, and focuses too much on a smaller concern.

Surprisingly, the climate impact — or the carbon footprint — of digital services such as sharing pictures, research, and streaming are relatively moderate. The two main areas that operate the Internet are the networks and data centers, which demand energy for connecting personal devices to content information and cooling information-storing computers (Our Changing Climate). There are various factors to consider in order to accurately calculate the amount of energy required for service such as the energy intensity of transmission networks, the amount of data transferred, the type of device being used, and more.Early analytical papers have poorly estimated those factors and consequently exaggerated the amount of energy required, partially due to not being able to consider the quickly increasing efficiency of the system (Carbon Brief). For instance, according to New York Times, from 2010–2018 the data workload in cloud data centers increased by 2600% and its energy consumption rose by 500%, but the total energy consumption of all data centers increased less than 10%; what happened was that more data centers were computing in cloud data centers that are bigger and more efficient.

The misleading papers were revised and it was revealed that the initial estimates were up to 90 times as much as the newly calculated numbers. For reference, according to Carbon Brief the average carbon footprint of 30 minutes of streaming Netflix is equivalent to driving 100m in a conventional car. However, the average carbon footprint of the same amount of energy consumption will vary by country, depending on which resource they rely on for generating electricity. For example in France where approximately 90% of electricity comes from lowcarbon sources, the carbon footprint is only equivalent to 20m of driving.

Therefore the fundamental question is how can more countries adopt and advance clean energy sources rather than how much energy is consumed by the Internet, because quantifying the global environmental effects of the Internet is not only difficult but also limited in its representation. Since many conventional tools and infrastructures that rely on fossil fuels are encouraged to be changed to electronic, the focus should be on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of production of energy, more than its demand.

Still, the growing demand for energy is also an important issue to be aware of, especially because the environmental impact of current innovations are hard to accurately detect. Unlike cars the carbon emission of using the Internet is invisible and thus easier to forget, but citizens must be educated to prevent the issue falling out of hands. Using smaller devices and screens and replacing devices less often are recommended ways to reduce environmental impacts (Carbon Brief).

Toddlers To Be Taxed?

BY DANIEL PARK

(Fabfrugals.com) (This is pure satire, if you are somehow offended by this article, you should seriously consider whether or not you have a sense of humor) Expert lawmakers in the United Kingdom have introduced a new law in parliament that would single-handedly wipe all of the country’s debt and unemployment in one fell swoop. If the law is passed, a tax will be placed on toddlers, incentivizing them to get jobs to help pay off the tax. In a recent investigation by the nation’s top researchers, it was determined that a shocking 100% of all toddlers were unemployed.

“It was really shocking.” Says Professor Chris P. Bacon, one of the leading researchers of the investigation. “We knew that the pandemic was affecting unemployment rates, but not this high. All of them even still live with their parents, imagine that. This new generation needs to really get off of their phones, touch some grass and get jobs.”

Time Flows Differently in Your Dreams

BY CHRIS LA Unless anyone is moving at the speed of light, people live in the same flow of time.

However, the speed of time flow can be felt differently for each person. A normal person feels that time flows faster during childhood, while a person on illicit drugs or in depression senses a slower flow of time. As such cases exist, there has been a question on how the time flow feels in human’s dreams. Luckily, some studies may provide clues to the answer to this question.

It must firstly be noted that sleep is a cycle composed of multiple stages of sleep. During the REM sleep stage, the brain’s signal to the muscle is inhibited, preventing the large movement of the muscles. The only active muscles are the ocular muscles, causing the eye to move during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep or dreaming.

(Lacroix) The key that the scientists found were lucid dreamers, who can be conscious of their presence in dreams. In 2013, for instance, Scientist Daniel Erlacher gathered 21 lucid dreamers for the experiment. He then collected the brain’s electrical signal sent to ocular muscles while the lucid dreamers were in sleep.

Erlacher then asked the lucid dreamers to execute specific tasks in their dreams. The first task was counting. The subjects were told to intentionally roll their eyes at the start and the end of countings from 1 to 10, 1 to 20, and 1 to 30 seconds. When subjects rolled their eyes in dreams, there was a shift in brain signals, which allowed the scientists to know when and how long the dreamers took to roll their eyes. Erlacher then compared the time taken for the lucid dreams to count in their woken state. The averaged results showed that the countings were around 30% slower in the dream than when it’s done while awake.

Graph of electrical brain signal from lucid dreamers (Erlacher)

The lucid dreamers’ second task was to roll their eyes after walking 10, 20, and 30 steps in the dream. The result showed that the time the subjects perceived in the dreams was 50% slower than in their awakened state.

The lucid dreamers’ third task was to do a simple exercise in the dream, which showed that the time was perceived to flow 20% slower than that while awake.

With these results, scientists predict that the flow of time is perceived as 20~50% slower in dreams than while awake.

Additionally, animal-testings also supported the estimate above on different time perceptions in dreams. A study using mice conducted in 2001 by Matthew Willson is an example. Willson trained mice to repeat certain movements. Then, when the mice’s brain signal from the hippocampus was collected, there were repeated signals similar to those collected when the mice were awake and taking their trained action. This time, it was found that it took around 40% more time for the mice to carry out their trained movements.

Scientists theorize that the reason for differences in our time perception comes from the change in the secretion of hormones. The increase in hormone secretion can increase the brain’s information processing capacity, causing us to feel that time is flowing slower than usual.

NFTs Simply Explained

BY MINJUN KIM NFTs are the current craze of the world, believed wholeheartedly by some, thought of as a scam by others, and overall are taking the world by storm. But what exactly are NFTs? NFTs stand for the words Non-Fungible Token. The Collins English Dictionary defines the word “fungible” as “(of a commodity or asset) replaceable or interchangeable with another of the same type”. In other words, NFTs are Non-Replaceable Tokens. But what are tokens? To understand this, we must first understand what the blockchain is. You may have heard of this term before— it is the same blockchain as the one from cryptocurrency, which you can read more about in the article “Cryptocurrency in a Nutshell” from the November Issue of The Golden Dragon.

In essence, the blockchain can be explained by the modern form of transactions, which occur through banks. If you go to the supermarket to purchase a chocolate bar and pay with a card, the bank of your card would check your account balance to approve the transaction, then send the money to the store’s bank account when approved. The different banks in the world act as middlemen that verify transactions to send money to each other. Cryptocurrency does this but on a public record of transactions that anyone can see, with copies hosted by a huge number of computers all around the world. As they have every single transaction ever made, these computers can reject or accept the transaction based on checking to see if the majority of those computers say that the amount of money possible to make that transaction is in the cryptocurrency wallet of the account holder. Every transaction is verified by this huge group and then permanently written on all of the records.

NFT transactions utilize this blockchain to prove that only one person has purchased the “ownership rights” to a piece of digital media. However, is there really any value in NFTs? Some have been sold for millions of dollars, but why would people pay that much? Essentially, things have value just because we, humans, believe that they have value. The same way an artwork is auctioned for huge sums of money or none at all, an NFT has psychological value to the person who buys it.

Some may argue that NFTs hold no value because they are not real, but this argument does not hold up in the modern world. An artwork is real in the physical sense, but is only generally a canvas with paint and wooden supports. Its value does not come from the materials themselves, but how much a consumer thinks it is worth. On the surface, the only difference between NFTs and traditional art auctions is that this can be done non-physically, or digitally.

However, what is exactly purchased when someone purchases an NFT? Are they buying an actual image or video file? Technically, the short answer is no in most cases. Uploading something onto the blockchain costs a huge amount of money. Unlike the numbers from cryptocurrency transactions, an actual image is incredibly big in file size. For instance, the number “670” saved inside of a text file is 3 bytes, but a screenshot of this article as I write it right now is 793,000 bytes. Thus, only certain small forms of media like pixel art can be realistically uploaded to the blockchain.

Then, what is actually being sold in most of these NFT transactions? The simple answer is a hyperlink to an image-hosting website on the internet. For instance, Imgur is a website that hosts images for anyone to see on the internet. If someone took an image’s URL from an image-hosting website and ‘sold’ it to someone else, what is actually being sold isn’t the image or any rights to the image, but a record of a link. In actuality, not even the URL itself is being sold—it is just a record of the URL that’s being given to the consumer.

Some people may disagree, but it is an established fact that regardless of someone uploading an image to a dropbox and giving the link to someone in exchange for money, the person buying the record of the link can’t do anything to the image like taking it down or truly owning it. The company or individual who owns the image-hosting website domain itself could shut down the next day—and the owner of the NFT can’t do anything in most cases. It should be noted that some sellers do not utilize this method, but most NFT transactions are just these URL receipts instead of true URL ownerships or pixel art.

Additionally, the image could be switched for another one. A common example of this is switching out the image on the hosting website for a picture of a rug, symbolizing a “rug-pull”, which is a cryptocurrency scam. In the end, most people buying NFTs are not getting the image, but a receipt to an image. It’s like if you went to buy chocolate at the supermarket, but the store kept the chocolate and you got the receipt. The store or someone with a picture of that chocolate could still sell receipts to others of that same product all day. This is especially so because anyone could screenshot the same piece of art, upload to somewhere else, then sell links to that website as well. It is up to the buyer to decide whether the receipt or a copy/screenshot of an image or video is worth more when considering most NFT purchases.

Furthermore, just like cryptocurrency, NFT transactions use the blockchain, which is run on a huge number of computers around the world. These computers run every day, all day, without rest, meaning that they use a terrifyingly huge amount of energy. For instance, the ethereum blockchain, which is one of the most popular ones in the world, has used more energy than Serbia, an entire country. Even now as governments try converting to sustainable energy sources, most of the world’s energy comes from burning fossil fuels, which when used to this extent by computers which never stop running, speed up global climate change to new heights.

Regardless of whether or not they give ownership of a piece of digital media to someone, NFTs have a current globally negative impact on the environment as they use the blockchain.

In the end, just like cryptocurrency, if the blockchain’s energy consumption is not lowered significantly, NFTs will fall and take a chunk of the Earth’s climate with it. *Disclaimer: This article is a simple overview, and is not in any way, shape, or form financial advice. The author and the editor are not liable for anything the reader may or may not do financially.

The Impact

BY TOBY GRANGER “This is an Emergency Broadcast, please pay attention. I repeat this is an emergency broadcast. An asteroid approximately the size of an apartment building struck Boston at 10:31:01 pm EST. All residents within a 50 mile radius must evacuate immediately. Fire damage and impact damage is substantial, I repeat. ALL residents must evacuate Boston and the surrounding areas immediately. To get official news from the United States Government go to channel 53.”

The screen went to a deep shade of blue and the man went to sleep, in fear. The next morning he turned on the T.V. once more.

“Good morning Baltimore, about 9 hours ago an asteroid hit Boston. According to the government, the damage was substantial and there were very few survivors. Witnesses from the neighboring areas reported a bright glow that lit up the sky, followed by windows being blown out and fires lighting up the horizon, witnesses say . Additionally, an unofficial statement from the board of nuclear scientists is considering changing the time of the doomsday clock due to this event. For more regarding this tragedy, please go to channel 103 at 5:00 pm. Thank you.”

The man shut the T.V. off and sat, feeling desolate. An hour later, he turned the T.V. on and opened up another news station.

“Hello and welcome to Knoxville News, where we have the most accurate and up to date information all the way from Tennessee! Now, regarding the ‘incident’ with the asteroid hitting Boston. I, personally, don’t think it did that much. I mean come on, it’s the size of an apartment there’s no way it could do that much, this is clearly blown out of proportion. Alright, thanks for tuning in to Jennifer Carpenter with the weather in the Manhattan area. Right after this break!”

The commercials went by and the man sat, frustrated. Knoxville News was convincing.

He remembered the original broadcast. Channel 53.

He flicked it on.

“This is an Emergency Broadcast, please pay attention. I repeat this is an emergency broadcast. An asteroid app-” It was the same message.

He sat nervously, his sister lived by Boston. He guessed roughly 50 miles away, but was still unsure.

He tried calling her but cell phone service was down due to the impact.

He checked the clock, 4:58.

Channel 103.

“Good evening, Woodlawn beach. We have more information on the impact on Boston late last night, including a witness account from Chelsea Massachusetts. Firstly, the impact caused substantial damages and has left thousands killed, injured and incompacitated . The Red cross is on site helping survivors and trying to locate families. Now, a verified statement from David Weinstien in Chelsea massachusetts. Warning, this may be disturbing to some viewers.”

The man sat forward, his sister lived in Chelsea, had she made it out alive? Or was she running errands in Boston? Was she even there?

“Well, we were on a hill, just looking around I ‘spose and we saw this huge bright glass above us, it was like the night turned into day right in fron’ of us. It was… somethin’ else I tell you that much. We saw it streak across go flyin’ right above us and BOOM! We were knocked down by the blast and we ran to the car and din’t see much after that. I saw the fires… dear Lord, the fires. I never seen so much fire in my life, what was more chilling was the smoke. Must’a cast the whole of Massachusetts in smoke, it got all the way to us and we all started coughin’ until we got back home. I never wanna see that again, good Lord…”

The witness finished.

“Thank you Mr.Weinstein We know that must have been hard. In other news, riots have begun breaking out across the nation regarding the legitimacy of the impact, despite witness statements and clear effects, some say it’s a hoax. Multiple protests have been sparked saying that people should quote, ‘look up’ and see the truth. Police have had trouble quelling crowds and have been attacked. Rioters insist that it was blown out of proportion and that Washington should reveal a truth. Viewers of the Baltimore News Network, please let it be known we do not condone these acts of violence. Many have been lost in this tragedy from seemingly nowhere. Thank you for listening and good night.”

The news channel closed. The man thought about what he could do to help, and it wasn’t much.

He knew now that the impact was real, it wasn’t blown out of proportion. Mr. Weinstein had seemed genuine. The news was dividing people, he thought. Surely he could help, he decided to leave his couch and get on a jacket, hat and shoes. He was going to go outside and catch the first bus to Massachusetts and help those in need. He opened the door to his town house with determination only to be greeted with harsh thick gray smoke.

No no no! He thought.

Was there an asteroid strike somewhere else? What had happened? Where is everybody?

Then he heard it...

Marching.

Thump, thump, thump.

People marching in time, screaming and raving about the asteroid.

“Look up! See the truth! Look up! See the Truth!” They yelled in the street.

They held up torches and lit trees, bushes, and houses on fire.

The man had never seen so much fire in his life.

He dialed 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Hello!? There’s fire everywhere, rioters, they’re burning down the neighborhood!”

“Where are you, sir?”

“Pine Wood meadows!”

“We have had multiple calls regarding Pine Wood and EMS, Fire Department and BPD are the way already, what is your name and phone number?”

“My name is Ernest Livingston, I don’t know my phone number, I’m sorry!”

“That’s perfectly okay sir, please stay in your home and do not go outside. Please wait for the Fire Department to get there.”

“Yes mam.”

“Thank you sir, please stay on the line.” The 911 operator put the man on hold.

He breathed shakily.

The fires, the smoke, it was eerie.

How did this happen?

How could something so obvious be an opinion?

More people getting hurt, resources being used, first responders putting their lives on the line?

All because some people couldn’t grasp a situation?

He leaned on the door and sat scared for an hour or so, then the 911 operator came back on.

“Sir, The fire department is on the way, they got caught up in another riot, please stay in place.”

“Yes mam.”

He did so for another few hours. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor now, thinking about the worst case scenarios, suddenly he heard it.

Sirens, horns, commands from officers.

Everything will be okay soon.

Everything will be normal.

But nothing will be the same.

This Month In January

BY DANIEL PARK The words in parentheses are the words for the puzzle on the next page. *Disclaimer* The Golden Dragon Newspaper is not responsible for any liabilities including papercuts (from crumpling the puzzle), headaches (from frustration), and your possible offense to any event included down below.

45 B.C./1/1 -The Julian Calendar first takes effect in the Roman Empire and is the Global Calendar for a time until 1582 Pope Gregory the 8th proposes a calendar that would reduce the number of days in a year from 365.25 days to 365.2425 days. (Julian) 1892/1/1 -Ellis Island is opened in the United States, allowing for the immigration of over 20 million people. (Ellis) 1959/1/3 -Alaska is added as the 49th US state. Alaska’s temperature can get as low as -62˙C. (Alaska) 2019/1/4 -One of the more recent events on this list, Global Braille Day commemorates the birth of Louis Braille, the inventor of the braille language. (Braille) 2022/1/7-8 -Russian Orthodox Christmas takes place during the 7th and 8th of January. Russians gather to eat traditional food and all congregate at church afterward. Yum! (Orthodox) 1863/1/10 -The first subway is opened in London, United Kingdom. There were more than 30,000 passengers on the first day of opening. (London) 2019/1/14 -The Ananda festival took place in the country of Myanmar on this date. It takes place in the ruins of Bagan and symbolizes the “Wisdom of Buddha”. (Bagan) 1949/1/15 -National Army Day in India commemorates when the first Field Marshal Kodandera M. Cariappa took office after the resignation of the last British Commander in Chief of India. This date also salutes the lives of all the soldiers who were not able to make it back home. (India) 1986/1/16 -The first statue of any black American is set up in Congress. This is a bronze bust of Martin Luther King Jr. The first MLK holiday is celebrated in America four days later. (Congress) 1945/1/27 -This date marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. This was one of the largest Nazi concentration camps liberated during the Second World War and is remembered as Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Auschwitz)