In my Digital Media class, and a bit in Psychology, we have been looking into Wikileaks. It has been a good time, but it seems that not everyone understands it as well as they could. A little bit of reading would go a long way, but I understand how not everyone is interested in it.
But should they? Wikileaks seems to be gaining momentum, and has outraged the Internet. It has brought up a lot of controversy.
Lets put some links in here:
It is so big that Google has a Live Feed for results if you are to search for Wikileaks.
The Wikipedia article about Wikileaks.
Wikileaks on Twitter has over 540,000 followers.
So for all of you who don't know, Wikileaks is an organization that has been posting classified documents from countries all around the world on the Internet for all to see. I am uncertain on how they have obtained most of these documents. I believe they may be leaked by moles within the governments that have created documents that have been posted. They are summit and a large amount of effort is put into keeping the identities of the suppliers.
The main office is located in Sweden, due to Swedish laws supporting free speak much more than most countries. This allows them to have their server, without worrying about hiding IP addresses. Much of the rest of the world may not like this organization, but they cannot shut them down directly; for now at least.
The main site has been shut down, or atleast blocked in several countries. This has lead to mirror sites being created. The danger in these is anyone could create one of these mirror sites in theory and post information of which is not true. The original organization does what they can to make sure the information is legitimate however not everyone may have the morals to do so.
False information may of gotten through anyways. The information may of been leaked by governments on purpose. One of the first dangers, or at least one of the first that I am going to address is within false information. I'm quite certain all the governments in the world have been keeping tabs on Wikileaks, and if they have not been doing so in the past few years before the site went viral they are now. What would stop a government from creating an 'official document' within itself, and then having it leaked on purpose?
The media is an important aspect of society, however it may not be as powerful as people have thought in the past. It has been said that Wikileaks has posted more than all of the media has in the past. The most powerful leaked information website ever could have propaganda in it. It could have lies, and it has become far too powerful to have mis-truths in it.
Although I'm fairly confident this is not the biggest worry to worry about. This has created a second look at free speech, and the concept of what information should be in the public domain.
If information has made its way out into the public, should it be there for everyone? This is my first discrepancy with Wikileaks. The information and documents have been classified for a reason. I can see there to be two reasons for classification; to protect the public, or to cover up something the government has done.
If something is released and it is hidden to protect the public, it is because the information could cause direct harm (such as information on how to make weapons) or it could be upsetting. I'm fine with not knowing what's happening in a war situation. I'm fine with not knowing of executions that NGO's (well that may be an incorrect term, however I'm using it in terms of an organization not limited by a government) have gone through with unjustly.
As for cover ups, I think they need to be exposed. Perhaps not all of them should, but it is good for the government to be honest. If the information is going to be put out anyways, perhaps it would be best for governments to be honest and accountable in the first place instead of trying to explain why they covered something up.
That's funny, a completely honest government? It sounds like a proper anarchy.
Anarchy is gaining popularity again. The traditional 'anarchist rebellious anti-authoritarian individual' stereotype is fading away a bit as more people realize how a proper anarchy is a good thing. The problem with society is a proper anarchy is not possible. I'll go into this some other time.
The anarchy I will go into revolves around the Internet, the battle ground for Wikileaks and the free speech-information battle. The government is not able to sensor the Internet the way they can sensor the media. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. Japanese Student Life distracted me with spotted jellyfish.
I'll finish this later. Class is over.
Bugworlds
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Certainty ; Probability ; Sports ; but first, why does no one love me ='(
Comments? Is all I ask. Comments.
On the other hand, math class is good for philosophical thought; then needing to race the white board eraser to catch up on notes.
Yes, I did remove the word 'it' on purpose.
How sure can you be about something? How unsure can you be? This was the topic of a conversation that lead me to me believing I was correct and my conversational partner not admitting I was right; or atleast this is how I view the events. I'm sure she may disagree, or perhaps just not admit she agrees.
My Math teacher has given me the answer to this, or atleast agreed with me but gave me a numeral value to assign to it. My opinion was you could not be more than 100% sure. If you are 100% sure about something, then you believe it will happen. If you are, lets say, a bazillion percent sure of something, you are still only sure that this event will happen. Lets look at this in terms of probability for a moment.
If you are 100% sure, your probability is 1. It will happen. If you are more than one hundred percent sure, it will still happen. There is no being more guaranteed than it will, without question happen. Therefor, your probability is also only 1.
The same goes for uncertainty. You can be 0% certain, and know a given event will not happen. If you are -96% sure, or any other negative number, your certainty is still stating it will not happen. Your certainty is 0%, or 0 chance.
This leads to my Math teacher's explanation. When probability was being introduced she said proved, through numbers, that probability exists within 0 <_ x <_ 1 . <_ being 'less than or equal to' and x being probability. I would love to use the actual symbol but Blogger hates alt codes aparently, and everything else that's fun in situations like this. Oh well. If you don't understand, please ask.
And just because I thought of this... >_ is greater than or equal to. >_> is not greater than or equal to or greater than. It is mild frustration or displeasure.
I feel like that was all stated poorly. Probability can be expressed in a percent of 0% to 100%. There is no less than 0%, there is no greater than 100%. These percentages could also be considered to be 0 (0%) and 1 (100%). Probability, is the same as certainty. You cannot be one billion percent sure about something.
Lets have a rough topic transition and start flipping coins. Lets say you flip a coin twice. Your chances are 1/4 that you will get heads twice in a row. This is due to your first flip having two possibilities, heads or tails. If it is heads and you flip the coin again then it has two possibilities again. You could have HH, or HT. The same goes for if the first flip is a T (tails, as you may of guessed), and the second flip could be H or T. This leaves you with the four possible situations of HH, HT, TH, TT.
This is so much easier to explain graphically, but I don't have the time to do so at the moment.
What I would like to note in this, is the second flip still has an equal chance of being a H or a T. The first flip has a 1/2 chance, the second has a 1/2 chance, the billionth flip will have a 1/2 chance. By the time you reach a bazillion flips though, you will have an astronomical number of possibilities of which I don't want to figure out how many there are. Is bazillion even a proper number? Anyways, getting a desired number of 'wins,' or H's in a row becomes more unlikely the more desired wins there are. Each event has the same probability.
How does this size up to sports however? I feel very clever, using the phrase win as foreshadowing, even if the shadow was only cast over twenty-six words until the key phrase of sports was used. This also relates to gambling, especially if the cards are replaced and/or shuffled each time.
Lets say you're playing soccer, and you win one game. Your chances of winning the next game are just as likely, however your chances of winning two games in a row are half of winning just one (assuming the teams are evenly matched). This may seem a bit contradictory but I feel as if I have explained the mechanics behind this well enough. This situation is even more accurate for some gambling games, such as rolling dice. There is (assuming) no skill in rolling dice, and the number will be random. Each number should be just as likely as any other number to be the outcome (due to the sum of each opposite side of the dice adding up to seven; hence the idea of an evenly balanced dice; hence the idea of a weighed dice, or a dice that is more likely to land on a certain number), so each roll, or event, will have an equal chance of happening. Getting the same number twice has a 1/6 chance (first roll does not matter what number, second roll has a 1 in 6 chance of matching up to the first), and getting a desired number twice in a row has a 1/36 chance (1 in 6 times 1 in 6, or (1/6)x(1/6)=1/36).
With this said, this should mean if you are on a 'winning streak' that probability should be considered. You should not do anything different (still assuming each team is equally skilled), because your chances of winning the next game is the same as winning the last.
But in sports, such as soccer, each team is not equal. There are several variables that must be considered, a very influencing variable being skill. If you are winning a series of games, chances are you are going to continue to win that series because clearly you are doing something right.
Well that's kind of lame, now that I'm finished putting all of this idea together this concept does not seem all that great or worth sharing. This was another idea that occurred to me several years ago but it was not until recently that I was able to expand on it a bit and tell everyone who doesn't care about it. Now that I am done, I realize the time and how I have Act IV of The Crucible to read before I go to sleep. I'm rather tired now.
This was also my first real entry into my Idea Book that I received from Vortex. Speaking of aliases, next post I may be introducing, or reintroducing, a new alias. I almost wish I could end this like the last few seconds of each Pokémon episode.
Tune in next post to join Bugwords and the ramblings of his mind as he sets forth to defeat the next thought worth sharing to the world. > To be continued.
> Bugworlds.
Ah great, now I have the Pokémon theme song stuck in my head. Today I had a mind blowing moment. A reoccuring line the the theme song is "Gotta catch them all" or "gotta cattchum all" and the main character of the show is Ash Ketchum... Woah.
On the other hand, math class is good for philosophical thought; then needing to race the white board eraser to catch up on notes.
Yes, I did remove the word 'it' on purpose.
How sure can you be about something? How unsure can you be? This was the topic of a conversation that lead me to me believing I was correct and my conversational partner not admitting I was right; or atleast this is how I view the events. I'm sure she may disagree, or perhaps just not admit she agrees.
My Math teacher has given me the answer to this, or atleast agreed with me but gave me a numeral value to assign to it. My opinion was you could not be more than 100% sure. If you are 100% sure about something, then you believe it will happen. If you are, lets say, a bazillion percent sure of something, you are still only sure that this event will happen. Lets look at this in terms of probability for a moment.
If you are 100% sure, your probability is 1. It will happen. If you are more than one hundred percent sure, it will still happen. There is no being more guaranteed than it will, without question happen. Therefor, your probability is also only 1.
The same goes for uncertainty. You can be 0% certain, and know a given event will not happen. If you are -96% sure, or any other negative number, your certainty is still stating it will not happen. Your certainty is 0%, or 0 chance.
This leads to my Math teacher's explanation. When probability was being introduced she said proved, through numbers, that probability exists within 0 <_ x <_ 1 . <_ being 'less than or equal to' and x being probability. I would love to use the actual symbol but Blogger hates alt codes aparently, and everything else that's fun in situations like this. Oh well. If you don't understand, please ask.
And just because I thought of this... >_ is greater than or equal to. >_> is not greater than or equal to or greater than. It is mild frustration or displeasure.
I feel like that was all stated poorly. Probability can be expressed in a percent of 0% to 100%. There is no less than 0%, there is no greater than 100%. These percentages could also be considered to be 0 (0%) and 1 (100%). Probability, is the same as certainty. You cannot be one billion percent sure about something.
Lets have a rough topic transition and start flipping coins. Lets say you flip a coin twice. Your chances are 1/4 that you will get heads twice in a row. This is due to your first flip having two possibilities, heads or tails. If it is heads and you flip the coin again then it has two possibilities again. You could have HH, or HT. The same goes for if the first flip is a T (tails, as you may of guessed), and the second flip could be H or T. This leaves you with the four possible situations of HH, HT, TH, TT.
This is so much easier to explain graphically, but I don't have the time to do so at the moment.
What I would like to note in this, is the second flip still has an equal chance of being a H or a T. The first flip has a 1/2 chance, the second has a 1/2 chance, the billionth flip will have a 1/2 chance. By the time you reach a bazillion flips though, you will have an astronomical number of possibilities of which I don't want to figure out how many there are. Is bazillion even a proper number? Anyways, getting a desired number of 'wins,' or H's in a row becomes more unlikely the more desired wins there are. Each event has the same probability.
How does this size up to sports however? I feel very clever, using the phrase win as foreshadowing, even if the shadow was only cast over twenty-six words until the key phrase of sports was used. This also relates to gambling, especially if the cards are replaced and/or shuffled each time.
Lets say you're playing soccer, and you win one game. Your chances of winning the next game are just as likely, however your chances of winning two games in a row are half of winning just one (assuming the teams are evenly matched). This may seem a bit contradictory but I feel as if I have explained the mechanics behind this well enough. This situation is even more accurate for some gambling games, such as rolling dice. There is (assuming) no skill in rolling dice, and the number will be random. Each number should be just as likely as any other number to be the outcome (due to the sum of each opposite side of the dice adding up to seven; hence the idea of an evenly balanced dice; hence the idea of a weighed dice, or a dice that is more likely to land on a certain number), so each roll, or event, will have an equal chance of happening. Getting the same number twice has a 1/6 chance (first roll does not matter what number, second roll has a 1 in 6 chance of matching up to the first), and getting a desired number twice in a row has a 1/36 chance (1 in 6 times 1 in 6, or (1/6)x(1/6)=1/36).
With this said, this should mean if you are on a 'winning streak' that probability should be considered. You should not do anything different (still assuming each team is equally skilled), because your chances of winning the next game is the same as winning the last.
But in sports, such as soccer, each team is not equal. There are several variables that must be considered, a very influencing variable being skill. If you are winning a series of games, chances are you are going to continue to win that series because clearly you are doing something right.
Well that's kind of lame, now that I'm finished putting all of this idea together this concept does not seem all that great or worth sharing. This was another idea that occurred to me several years ago but it was not until recently that I was able to expand on it a bit and tell everyone who doesn't care about it. Now that I am done, I realize the time and how I have Act IV of The Crucible to read before I go to sleep. I'm rather tired now.
This was also my first real entry into my Idea Book that I received from Vortex. Speaking of aliases, next post I may be introducing, or reintroducing, a new alias. I almost wish I could end this like the last few seconds of each Pokémon episode.
Tune in next post to join Bugwords and the ramblings of his mind as he sets forth to defeat the next thought worth sharing to the world. > To be continued.
> Bugworlds.
Ah great, now I have the Pokémon theme song stuck in my head. Today I had a mind blowing moment. A reoccuring line the the theme song is "Gotta catch them all" or "gotta cattchum all" and the main character of the show is Ash Ketchum... Woah.
God's Debris Continued
I had a great weakened. It was great. The weakend that I had, was full of great. It isn't quite over, it well end once I start doing my homework.
Back to reading God's Debris for a few minutes, until my girlfriend comes around to my house. Then we are going for an early Christmas Dinner.
This reminds me of Is There Life After Death by Anthony Peake. Somewhere within that book it asks a question about where is conciousness located? Also, does conciousness make you alive and make your brian work, or does your brain working and the fact you are alive make your conciousness?
This is arguable, however I like the way this is stated. The concept of 'picking' a religion. For many they do not pick, they are raised in a religion. For many they are born into a religion lacking living situation, or leave the religion they are born into. From there they have the oportunity to 'pick' a religion. Some religions are much more popular than others, many are if not have died out. The more favorable religions, the religions that offer the most benifits, seem to be the most popular.
Back to reading God's Debris for a few minutes, until my girlfriend comes around to my house. Then we are going for an early Christmas Dinner.
" 'Where is your free will?' the old man asked. 'is it part of your brain, or does it eminate from someplace outside your body and somehow control your actions?' " (23)
This reminds me of Is There Life After Death by Anthony Peake. Somewhere within that book it asks a question about where is conciousness located? Also, does conciousness make you alive and make your brian work, or does your brain working and the fact you are alive make your conciousness?
" 'At some level of conciousness, everyone knows that the odds of picking the true religion - if such a thing exits - are nil' " (30)
This is arguable, however I like the way this is stated. The concept of 'picking' a religion. For many they do not pick, they are raised in a religion. For many they are born into a religion lacking living situation, or leave the religion they are born into. From there they have the oportunity to 'pick' a religion. Some religions are much more popular than others, many are if not have died out. The more favorable religions, the religions that offer the most benifits, seem to be the most popular.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
God's Debris ;; Probability
My title is out of order, again. Such poor parallel structure, and it is so easy to fix. I wonder why I leave it as it is?
In my Math class, we have started a unit on probability. It also has some permutation and combination work, which I found rather easy at first and perhaps even enjoyable. I think that was due to its ease. Most of it has presented itself to be common sense or knowledge I have already obtained. I'm almost looking forward for it to become more difficult so I may be able to still do it without any problem. If there is difficulty in it, I am very willing to work at this topic until it becomes less difficult and more routine.
Anyways, my Math teacher, who I am beginning to approve of more and more as the class flies by, has a wonderful vocabulary and set of phrases that she uses. I write some of the phrases down in my Idea Book often and she inspired me to put my first real entry into my idea book. It revolves around probability, and I will be putting it on my Blog soon (or so I plan).
Also, TheUnromantic has inspired me to go back to my Blog once again. I'm sure my writing two essays for my classes (two more are soon to come) helped a bit, but the main reason why I am putting this post here is because of her. During Psychology/Philosophy/Theology/Sociology Class (well, it's called Psychology but there is so much more to it; I love it) we were given forty-five minutes to write replies. I have abandoned much of my hand writing for that class, despite my decision to avoid typing assignments which came about at the beginning of the class, and gone to a more electronic method of working. This means the time I'm given in class can (somewhat) be used in conversation more responsibility if I was planning on just writing. During the time given I read something we were given a few weeks ago and I should probably of had finished reading shortly after we were given it. I also had a great conversation with TheUnromantic about religion, government, a couple people appeared in our conversing, and sleep. What I was reading about was revolving around sleep, and it fit very well into our conversation.
We actually started to speak about sleeping before I started to read (I think), and then as I read much of the information I ran into was at a great time to aid the conversation. I love it when that happens. I probably didn't get as much reading done as I could, but I can do that outside of class. Having conversations that are that great don't always happen without the aid of the education system. I'm sure they could happen, but being forced into social situations is great.
Do you ever notice reoccurring themes in life? I have, and I do very frequently. If anything I have been noticing themes and coincidence's more and more often. I have already mentioned how I started to talk about sleep, then I started to read about it. In Math class we have just started probability, and you would never guess what I ran into; but you will have to wait a bit longer.
In my great conversation with TheUnromantic, a book who someone we both know is reading, also appeared in our conversation. I brought it up, for it was mentioned on his blog. I am tempted to link to it, but I think I will wait for my next post about this book to do so. It will put a little bit of a push for me to write my next post, and I decided he will get his link later. No reason around it, just because I have the free will to do so (Oh, I hope some of my readers will understand and argue this. Once they run into what I am referencing to they will smile.. just a little at the least; that is if they don't already know what it is I am referring to).
This book is called God's Debris. A PDF of it can be found here. Infact I am reading the PDF file because I do not have access to the book at this time.
It is by Scott Adams, the writer of the Dilbert Comic Strip.
Woah! Guess who was mentioned in the reading I was doing in Psychology today? It was Scott Adams. That's the third time his name, or his comic strip, has come up today. I can't say I've spoken about him or his comics, or even thought about him or his comics, for a long time. There use to be a cartoon featuring Dilbert, but I was not permitted to watch it. I'm rather curious to view it now, or atleast the comics. I'm sure I will get to the comics after I read this book.
Reoccurring themes in my life? Yes, I am sure I can always find a couple that have happened recently if I look for them. Sometimes I don't need to look for them, or perhaps I have just become tuned to look for them without doing so consciously.
So this is the reason why this post has come to be, this book. It is described to be a "132-page thought experiment wrapped in a fictional story" (Adams; page 9 of PDF file, not numbered) which "For maximum enjoyment, [should be] share[d] ... with a smart friend and then discuss[ed] ... while enjoying a tasty beverage" (11 of PDF file, numbered as XI).
Please Note: I will be referencing quotes to pages as they appear at the bottom of each page, as they would in the book from here on in. The first few pages are not all titled, or titled with a modern number but rather a Greek number. I'm rather impressed with my quote integration. I'll have to thank my English teacher for this. She has done a great job at teaching us how to integrate quotes, however we have never had to deal with quoting pages that are not marked traditionally. I hope to send this post to her actually. I can also thank her for improving my grammar and punctuation, in exponential amounts compared to my previous years of English class. I'm sure it is far from perfect now, but I'm confident it is better than my first few posts. If you wish to take a look, I would love for you to do so. Back to why I wish to post this post. Now that I think of it, I've typed up a fair amount and I haven't even gotten to the full reason why it is here in the first place.
I figure what smarter friends do I have other than the ones I know in real life and interact with via the Internet. I'm not saying that the people who I don't interact with over the Internet are not smart, for so many of them are amazingly intelligent, however I beleive this will reach the people who I have mentioned and several other people who would appreciate it and whom I may not end up having a conversation with in person about this book. I would not be surprised if I did have a conversation with them regarding this book, our thoughts on it, and the thoughts I have posted here; but just in case I would like to put my thoughts into text here. It leaves my thoughts open for everyone to read and think about themselves.
The line that sent an unresitable urge to come to Blogger and share my thoughts was this line quote:
Immediately I thought of the same reply as what is presented by the character who is being questioned: " 'About fifty percent of the time" (6). The numeric value of this, about five-hundred, never occurred to me. Rather I thought about what we had been doing in Math class. Illustrations of various situations revolving around chance (dice, coins, and tops mostly). You start with your base situation, and then branch it out to show every possible situation and the chances of these situations occurring (also allowing you to see the situations that could occur with various restrictions). As this thought was conjured up I realized how large the tree resembling illustration would be. There would be 2^1000 possible outcomes, each being a series of 1000 H's or T's, and then the number of H's in each. Nothing that could be done with paper, within reason. I'm sure it is possible... just no one would want to do this.
This was the last coincidence that I was planning on running into today (and most likely the last one I would find unless I viewed something on TV before I fell asleep) that would occur without it being shared with the world. It was a mind blowing moment, the kind that makes me want to tell everyone about. Misfortunately at the time between 11:30 PM and 12:00 AM, no one is really around to speak to. Even if they were they would only be one person. I want more than just one person to read about this. The ten or so people who will read this will suffice for now.
I intend on keeping a new post, or perhaps a slightly older post in it's editing stage, open in the background as I read God's Debis. I will be taking note of various things I find interesting, quoting them, and replying to them. According to the disclaimer, this is okay for me to do, so I will. If you want to read the disclaimer I am going to leave you to find it yourself. It's on the PDF file.
--Break here, or atleast I am from typing. I am going back to reading after typing out the last part of this post which will not be related to the current topic but I wish to put it here anyways. Sorry if I ruined your thought that all my posts are typed in chronological, or any sort of logical manner at times--
I can already see this is going to be very well written. If you are to look a few lines back, before this set of lines, you would discover that the elderly individual (the first speaker in this set of quotes) asks the simple question of "why?" I just wanted to point that out.
I saw this to be a trick question, or atleast a question that is put in place to set something else up. I decided that it is a mutual effort of each, in theory. I know the package does not put any effort into moving or moving the individual moving it, but the address on it inspires the individual who is moving it to do so. This is the same result that the page seems to end with, unless the next page happens to have more insight into this statement. So far I can say the thoughts that have been presented are definitely different than my own, but several of them follow a thought process I can identify with. I beleive I am going to enjoy this more and more as I read it.
On page 12 I ran into the word Omnipotence, and found myself unsure of what it meant. A quick run to Google brought me to the page I have linked to. Links on that page brought me to Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnibenevolence. That last one brought me to The Problem Of Evil, and upon this I decided to not get sucked into the temptations of pressing just one more link on Wikipedia, filling my browser with pages that I would wish to read and never getting back to what I was doing. I initially related the word omnipotence to omnipresence, of which I was familiar with the definition. I was able to use my understanding of that word to get a makeshift idea of omnipotence, omniscience, and a bit of omnibenevolence (but much less this one compared to the others). If any of these words catch your attention, or if the concept of evil is attention holding, these links are here for your use. Enjoy.
This slight paradox occurred to me several years ago. I enjoy reading and writing bringing back memories and thoughts that I had once, and stored away in my brain to be used later. This idea is expanded, tested, and eventually leads to the next idea in a very fluid manner. It caught my attention enough to note it down here, although I am starting to become concerned that I will have too many side notes. I have no limit of room to type (far as I know), and if I did reach one I could just start a new post, but I am looking at time. I do not expect to finish this book in this sitting, for it is already one in the morning and I should try to get some sleep soon. I do not think I will get much reading of it done if I continue to make notes at the speed I am doing so now.
So many paradoxes, I love it. I enjoy the concept presented also; regarding you cannot be sure of something, but you can be sure there is chance of it. I'm sure that could be worded better, and if anyone can do so please do. This quote would make more sense with more context, but it should be understandable when lacking. At the moment the topic is "someone very wise who knew how the world was designed without God's hand" (16), and I suspect he may be referencing to himself. I also would like to predict he is going to try to explain, or persuade his conversational partner, how this is the case.
Yes, yes it is. To sum up the issues around omnipotence that have arisen so far; An omnipotent being must be able to see into the future. Therefor are the events in the future already set in place? If so, or if not, does free will exist? If the events are predetermined, does free will exist? Also, if an omnipotent being is able to look into the future, they can look into their own future. Therefor, are the actions of this being of free will? Perhaps, in order for free will to exist along side an omnipotent being, this being must turn a blind eye to the future. Perhaps this idea of future ignorance is not the case and free will is just an illusion given to us? Ofcourse, this omnipotent being being referred to is God, though I think at looking at this as a set of theoretical views surrounding an unnamed being will make it less biased to readers. In God's Debris the topic is about God.
This reminds me of Grade 2 science. We did a lab, experimenting with magnets and what would stop their magnetic properties. It turned out nothing we had would do so. I want to look into what particles are related to magnetism, if there are any. This is going into particle/wave physics, of which I know a fair amount of (by my opinion, comparing to my peers), but I've never looked into the forces involved with magnets. I think the solution to these statements, and some of the following statments, is to consider that magnatism does not exist in a physical state but as a force. It is a push or pull, just as if you were to push or pull a rope. You cannot physically bottle a force, but it is observable.
I enjoy how this is looking at aspects of reality that are outside of the three (perhaps four) states of matter. In Elementary School we are taught that matter exists as a solid, liquid, or gas (and I always remember it in that order). There is talk about plasma, but not all that much work or thought goes towards it. In Middle School and High School these concepts are hardened and explained in increasingly better detail and explanation. The concepts move away from solid, rote facts; and become more resembling explanations. I remember when being taught about solids, liquids, and gasses the teacher made a very small note at the end of the unit. It was not very emphasised, and I don't think it was in the curriculum, but it was still noted and discussed very shortly. There was a mention about what exists outside of these three, or four, states. Light and electricity stand out. I think there may of been a mention of forces, but I also think that may just be me unconsciously patching in information to memories that are not perfect. My grade eleven physics class inspired me to look into what these were a bit more, though by the time I had gotten to that class I had learned a small sum of information surrounding the topics already.
Ooh, shortly after the last quotes I put in there is mention of Einstein, scientific filler, and then string theory that I love so much.
" 'All we can do is 0bserve and record patterns' " (22)
I have nothing to reply to this last quote. I just like it. I'm using it as a slight marker to where I am at with my reading through this. It is page 22, or page 34 of the PDF file. I am becoming tired, my hand is becoming sore. Some sleep would be nice. Time to spell check, word count, then come back to this tomorrow. I wish I had flex block tomorrow so I could continue this then.
--Below this is what I mentioned I was typing in my last break--
Today I went to a local pizza shop with some friends after school, to get some pizza. It was great. After some confusion about how the menu worked, and how much pizza we would be able to get, a few of us pitched in and ordered two large half and half pizzas so everyone would get some of the toppings they wanted. I was the only vegaterian in the group, and was told I could have all of the vegaterian pizza. Half of a large pizza all to myself, it was great. I did lose one piece, but only because the six other people with me ate the other three halves in the time I ate seven out of the eight pieces I had at my disposal. I think I did quite well regarding speed, not that it's a competition or anything.
After this we went to the mall. In the process of getting there our group split apart, only to regroup and split apart a couple more times in the mall. I helped Z (I believe I have referenced to him before, he has no Blog that I may link to) find gifts for his family. 'Asian' (a friend's alias, as of just now, who has a Blog but I will ask him if he wishes to be linked to and what name he wishes to be referenced to over the Blogosphere) also helped.
I was told of some shoes that I thought looked nice, and were on sale for a great price. Normally thirty dollars, on sale for five? I wanted them. I rarely buy something because it's a good deal, but I thought I might as well. They were girl shoes, so I may not wish to wear them myself. The only pair left were also far too small for me. They did happen to be close to my girlfriend's shoe size though. They were bought as a half gift, for if she doesn 't like them (which I am fairly sure she does, and if not I am trying to persuade her to change her mind.. I wonder if she'll read this?) I can sell them to someone else for the amount I paid, perhaps more or less, just because I can. I might give them away, the might fit my sister. I really am not sure if they would or not. If I cannot find them a new home, I would be more than willing to put them on my shelf where I display all my treasures. They could sit there for a while until something to do with them showed up.
After shopping we walked to a grocery store that was near buy and got some energy drinks. I don't consume much caffeine (though my mother purchased decaffeinated instant coffee of which I am disappointed about), so the one can was enough to get me a bit hyped up. That in combination with exciting violent video games played over xBox Live was enough to get me rather wound up. I crashed a bit two hours ago but I feel much more alert again. I've been typing at this for some time, watching the time for the majority of the time. I decided I do not care when I go to sleep tonight. It is Friday tomorrow, I don't have anything important happening at the school that I can think of, and sleep will be sacrificed a little bit more than normal. I may not be able to sleep if I tried to right now anyways.
I have debated not sleeping for a full night then going to school in the morning for some time. I just haven't found a good day to do this. I think this night would be the best night possible, but I think some sleep would be good. I'm not sure how much sleep I will be getting over the weakened. At the moment, the best time that is coming up soon in my mind will be next Friday. It is the last day before Winter break, and my sleeping patterns will be pulled way off course due to the break anyways. I might as well start a little bit early. I doubt I will have much work on that day.
This is interesting, my left hand feels warm. Mostly in the palm and interior of it. I think it is from typing so much. I have not been doing as much typing as I normally would recently so I think the muscles may be not use to such a work out. It is an interesting feeling, I'm almost glad I am running out of thoughts I wish to press into the computer at the moment. I wouldn't want to get a sore hand, that's never fun.
- Bugworlds -
In my Math class, we have started a unit on probability. It also has some permutation and combination work, which I found rather easy at first and perhaps even enjoyable. I think that was due to its ease. Most of it has presented itself to be common sense or knowledge I have already obtained. I'm almost looking forward for it to become more difficult so I may be able to still do it without any problem. If there is difficulty in it, I am very willing to work at this topic until it becomes less difficult and more routine.
Anyways, my Math teacher, who I am beginning to approve of more and more as the class flies by, has a wonderful vocabulary and set of phrases that she uses. I write some of the phrases down in my Idea Book often and she inspired me to put my first real entry into my idea book. It revolves around probability, and I will be putting it on my Blog soon (or so I plan).
Also, TheUnromantic has inspired me to go back to my Blog once again. I'm sure my writing two essays for my classes (two more are soon to come) helped a bit, but the main reason why I am putting this post here is because of her. During Psychology/Philosophy/Theology/Sociology Class (well, it's called Psychology but there is so much more to it; I love it) we were given forty-five minutes to write replies. I have abandoned much of my hand writing for that class, despite my decision to avoid typing assignments which came about at the beginning of the class, and gone to a more electronic method of working. This means the time I'm given in class can (somewhat) be used in conversation more responsibility if I was planning on just writing. During the time given I read something we were given a few weeks ago and I should probably of had finished reading shortly after we were given it. I also had a great conversation with TheUnromantic about religion, government, a couple people appeared in our conversing, and sleep. What I was reading about was revolving around sleep, and it fit very well into our conversation.
We actually started to speak about sleeping before I started to read (I think), and then as I read much of the information I ran into was at a great time to aid the conversation. I love it when that happens. I probably didn't get as much reading done as I could, but I can do that outside of class. Having conversations that are that great don't always happen without the aid of the education system. I'm sure they could happen, but being forced into social situations is great.
Do you ever notice reoccurring themes in life? I have, and I do very frequently. If anything I have been noticing themes and coincidence's more and more often. I have already mentioned how I started to talk about sleep, then I started to read about it. In Math class we have just started probability, and you would never guess what I ran into; but you will have to wait a bit longer.
In my great conversation with TheUnromantic, a book who someone we both know is reading, also appeared in our conversation. I brought it up, for it was mentioned on his blog. I am tempted to link to it, but I think I will wait for my next post about this book to do so. It will put a little bit of a push for me to write my next post, and I decided he will get his link later. No reason around it, just because I have the free will to do so (Oh, I hope some of my readers will understand and argue this. Once they run into what I am referencing to they will smile.. just a little at the least; that is if they don't already know what it is I am referring to).
This book is called God's Debris. A PDF of it can be found here. Infact I am reading the PDF file because I do not have access to the book at this time.
It is by Scott Adams, the writer of the Dilbert Comic Strip.
Woah! Guess who was mentioned in the reading I was doing in Psychology today? It was Scott Adams. That's the third time his name, or his comic strip, has come up today. I can't say I've spoken about him or his comics, or even thought about him or his comics, for a long time. There use to be a cartoon featuring Dilbert, but I was not permitted to watch it. I'm rather curious to view it now, or atleast the comics. I'm sure I will get to the comics after I read this book.
Reoccurring themes in my life? Yes, I am sure I can always find a couple that have happened recently if I look for them. Sometimes I don't need to look for them, or perhaps I have just become tuned to look for them without doing so consciously.
So this is the reason why this post has come to be, this book. It is described to be a "132-page thought experiment wrapped in a fictional story" (Adams; page 9 of PDF file, not numbered) which "For maximum enjoyment, [should be] share[d] ... with a smart friend and then discuss[ed] ... while enjoying a tasty beverage" (11 of PDF file, numbered as XI).
Please Note: I will be referencing quotes to pages as they appear at the bottom of each page, as they would in the book from here on in. The first few pages are not all titled, or titled with a modern number but rather a Greek number. I'm rather impressed with my quote integration. I'll have to thank my English teacher for this. She has done a great job at teaching us how to integrate quotes, however we have never had to deal with quoting pages that are not marked traditionally. I hope to send this post to her actually. I can also thank her for improving my grammar and punctuation, in exponential amounts compared to my previous years of English class. I'm sure it is far from perfect now, but I'm confident it is better than my first few posts. If you wish to take a look, I would love for you to do so. Back to why I wish to post this post. Now that I think of it, I've typed up a fair amount and I haven't even gotten to the full reason why it is here in the first place.
I figure what smarter friends do I have other than the ones I know in real life and interact with via the Internet. I'm not saying that the people who I don't interact with over the Internet are not smart, for so many of them are amazingly intelligent, however I beleive this will reach the people who I have mentioned and several other people who would appreciate it and whom I may not end up having a conversation with in person about this book. I would not be surprised if I did have a conversation with them regarding this book, our thoughts on it, and the thoughts I have posted here; but just in case I would like to put my thoughts into text here. It leaves my thoughts open for everyone to read and think about themselves.
The line that sent an unresitable urge to come to Blogger and share my thoughts was this line quote:
" 'If you toss a coin a thousand times, how often will it come up heads?' " (6)
Immediately I thought of the same reply as what is presented by the character who is being questioned: " 'About fifty percent of the time" (6). The numeric value of this, about five-hundred, never occurred to me. Rather I thought about what we had been doing in Math class. Illustrations of various situations revolving around chance (dice, coins, and tops mostly). You start with your base situation, and then branch it out to show every possible situation and the chances of these situations occurring (also allowing you to see the situations that could occur with various restrictions). As this thought was conjured up I realized how large the tree resembling illustration would be. There would be 2^1000 possible outcomes, each being a series of 1000 H's or T's, and then the number of H's in each. Nothing that could be done with paper, within reason. I'm sure it is possible... just no one would want to do this.
This was the last coincidence that I was planning on running into today (and most likely the last one I would find unless I viewed something on TV before I fell asleep) that would occur without it being shared with the world. It was a mind blowing moment, the kind that makes me want to tell everyone about. Misfortunately at the time between 11:30 PM and 12:00 AM, no one is really around to speak to. Even if they were they would only be one person. I want more than just one person to read about this. The ten or so people who will read this will suffice for now.
I intend on keeping a new post, or perhaps a slightly older post in it's editing stage, open in the background as I read God's Debis. I will be taking note of various things I find interesting, quoting them, and replying to them. According to the disclaimer, this is okay for me to do, so I will. If you want to read the disclaimer I am going to leave you to find it yourself. It's on the PDF file.
--Break here, or atleast I am from typing. I am going back to reading after typing out the last part of this post which will not be related to the current topic but I wish to put it here anyways. Sorry if I ruined your thought that all my posts are typed in chronological, or any sort of logical manner at times--
" 'The answer,' he said, 'is that the question has no why.' 'You could say that about anything.' 'No,' he replied ... 'every other question has an answer to why. Only probability is inexplicable.' " (7)
I can already see this is going to be very well written. If you are to look a few lines back, before this set of lines, you would discover that the elderly individual (the first speaker in this set of quotes) asks the simple question of "why?" I just wanted to point that out.
" 'Did you deliver the package, or did the package deliver you?' " (9)
I saw this to be a trick question, or atleast a question that is put in place to set something else up. I decided that it is a mutual effort of each, in theory. I know the package does not put any effort into moving or moving the individual moving it, but the address on it inspires the individual who is moving it to do so. This is the same result that the page seems to end with, unless the next page happens to have more insight into this statement. So far I can say the thoughts that have been presented are definitely different than my own, but several of them follow a thought process I can identify with. I beleive I am going to enjoy this more and more as I read it.
On page 12 I ran into the word Omnipotence, and found myself unsure of what it meant. A quick run to Google brought me to the page I have linked to. Links on that page brought me to Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnibenevolence. That last one brought me to The Problem Of Evil, and upon this I decided to not get sucked into the temptations of pressing just one more link on Wikipedia, filling my browser with pages that I would wish to read and never getting back to what I was doing. I initially related the word omnipotence to omnipresence, of which I was familiar with the definition. I was able to use my understanding of that word to get a makeshift idea of omnipotence, omniscience, and a bit of omnibenevolence (but much less this one compared to the others). If any of these words catch your attention, or if the concept of evil is attention holding, these links are here for your use. Enjoy.
" 'If God is omnipotent, wouldn't he know the future?' 'Sure' 'If God knows what the future holds, then all our choices are already made, aren't they? Free will must be an illusion.' " (12)
This slight paradox occurred to me several years ago. I enjoy reading and writing bringing back memories and thoughts that I had once, and stored away in my brain to be used later. This idea is expanded, tested, and eventually leads to the next idea in a very fluid manner. It caught my attention enough to note it down here, although I am starting to become concerned that I will have too many side notes. I have no limit of room to type (far as I know), and if I did reach one I could just start a new post, but I am looking at time. I do not expect to finish this book in this sitting, for it is already one in the morning and I should try to get some sleep soon. I do not think I will get much reading of it done if I continue to make notes at the speed I am doing so now.
" 'In theory, yes. But a person with that much knowledge doesn't exist.' 'To be fair, you can only be sure that you don't know whether that person exists or not.' " (16)
So many paradoxes, I love it. I enjoy the concept presented also; regarding you cannot be sure of something, but you can be sure there is chance of it. I'm sure that could be worded better, and if anyone can do so please do. This quote would make more sense with more context, but it should be understandable when lacking. At the moment the topic is "someone very wise who knew how the world was designed without God's hand" (16), and I suspect he may be referencing to himself. I also would like to predict he is going to try to explain, or persuade his conversational partner, how this is the case.
" 'Omnipotence is trickier than it seams' " (17)
Yes, yes it is. To sum up the issues around omnipotence that have arisen so far; An omnipotent being must be able to see into the future. Therefor are the events in the future already set in place? If so, or if not, does free will exist? If the events are predetermined, does free will exist? Also, if an omnipotent being is able to look into the future, they can look into their own future. Therefor, are the actions of this being of free will? Perhaps, in order for free will to exist along side an omnipotent being, this being must turn a blind eye to the future. Perhaps this idea of future ignorance is not the case and free will is just an illusion given to us? Ofcourse, this omnipotent being being referred to is God, though I think at looking at this as a set of theoretical views surrounding an unnamed being will make it less biased to readers. In God's Debris the topic is about God.
" 'Consider magnets,' the old man said. 'If you hold two magnets near each other, they are attracted. Yet there is nothing material connecting them.' " (18)
" 'So you have a word for it. It's a 'field,' you say. But you can't get a handful of this thing for which you have a name. You can't fill a container with a magnetic field and take it with you. You can't cut it into pieces. You can't block it's power.' " (19)
This reminds me of Grade 2 science. We did a lab, experimenting with magnets and what would stop their magnetic properties. It turned out nothing we had would do so. I want to look into what particles are related to magnetism, if there are any. This is going into particle/wave physics, of which I know a fair amount of (by my opinion, comparing to my peers), but I've never looked into the forces involved with magnets. I think the solution to these statements, and some of the following statments, is to consider that magnatism does not exist in a physical state but as a force. It is a push or pull, just as if you were to push or pull a rope. You cannot physically bottle a force, but it is observable.
I enjoy how this is looking at aspects of reality that are outside of the three (perhaps four) states of matter. In Elementary School we are taught that matter exists as a solid, liquid, or gas (and I always remember it in that order). There is talk about plasma, but not all that much work or thought goes towards it. In Middle School and High School these concepts are hardened and explained in increasingly better detail and explanation. The concepts move away from solid, rote facts; and become more resembling explanations. I remember when being taught about solids, liquids, and gasses the teacher made a very small note at the end of the unit. It was not very emphasised, and I don't think it was in the curriculum, but it was still noted and discussed very shortly. There was a mention about what exists outside of these three, or four, states. Light and electricity stand out. I think there may of been a mention of forces, but I also think that may just be me unconsciously patching in information to memories that are not perfect. My grade eleven physics class inspired me to look into what these were a bit more, though by the time I had gotten to that class I had learned a small sum of information surrounding the topics already.
Ooh, shortly after the last quotes I put in there is mention of Einstein, scientific filler, and then string theory that I love so much.
" 'All we can do is 0bserve and record patterns' " (22)
I have nothing to reply to this last quote. I just like it. I'm using it as a slight marker to where I am at with my reading through this. It is page 22, or page 34 of the PDF file. I am becoming tired, my hand is becoming sore. Some sleep would be nice. Time to spell check, word count, then come back to this tomorrow. I wish I had flex block tomorrow so I could continue this then.
--Below this is what I mentioned I was typing in my last break--
Today I went to a local pizza shop with some friends after school, to get some pizza. It was great. After some confusion about how the menu worked, and how much pizza we would be able to get, a few of us pitched in and ordered two large half and half pizzas so everyone would get some of the toppings they wanted. I was the only vegaterian in the group, and was told I could have all of the vegaterian pizza. Half of a large pizza all to myself, it was great. I did lose one piece, but only because the six other people with me ate the other three halves in the time I ate seven out of the eight pieces I had at my disposal. I think I did quite well regarding speed, not that it's a competition or anything.
After this we went to the mall. In the process of getting there our group split apart, only to regroup and split apart a couple more times in the mall. I helped Z (I believe I have referenced to him before, he has no Blog that I may link to) find gifts for his family. 'Asian' (a friend's alias, as of just now, who has a Blog but I will ask him if he wishes to be linked to and what name he wishes to be referenced to over the Blogosphere) also helped.
I was told of some shoes that I thought looked nice, and were on sale for a great price. Normally thirty dollars, on sale for five? I wanted them. I rarely buy something because it's a good deal, but I thought I might as well. They were girl shoes, so I may not wish to wear them myself. The only pair left were also far too small for me. They did happen to be close to my girlfriend's shoe size though. They were bought as a half gift, for if she doesn 't like them (which I am fairly sure she does, and if not I am trying to persuade her to change her mind.. I wonder if she'll read this?) I can sell them to someone else for the amount I paid, perhaps more or less, just because I can. I might give them away, the might fit my sister. I really am not sure if they would or not. If I cannot find them a new home, I would be more than willing to put them on my shelf where I display all my treasures. They could sit there for a while until something to do with them showed up.
After shopping we walked to a grocery store that was near buy and got some energy drinks. I don't consume much caffeine (though my mother purchased decaffeinated instant coffee of which I am disappointed about), so the one can was enough to get me a bit hyped up. That in combination with exciting violent video games played over xBox Live was enough to get me rather wound up. I crashed a bit two hours ago but I feel much more alert again. I've been typing at this for some time, watching the time for the majority of the time. I decided I do not care when I go to sleep tonight. It is Friday tomorrow, I don't have anything important happening at the school that I can think of, and sleep will be sacrificed a little bit more than normal. I may not be able to sleep if I tried to right now anyways.
I have debated not sleeping for a full night then going to school in the morning for some time. I just haven't found a good day to do this. I think this night would be the best night possible, but I think some sleep would be good. I'm not sure how much sleep I will be getting over the weakened. At the moment, the best time that is coming up soon in my mind will be next Friday. It is the last day before Winter break, and my sleeping patterns will be pulled way off course due to the break anyways. I might as well start a little bit early. I doubt I will have much work on that day.
This is interesting, my left hand feels warm. Mostly in the palm and interior of it. I think it is from typing so much. I have not been doing as much typing as I normally would recently so I think the muscles may be not use to such a work out. It is an interesting feeling, I'm almost glad I am running out of thoughts I wish to press into the computer at the moment. I wouldn't want to get a sore hand, that's never fun.
- Bugworlds -
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Plants Vs Logo's
An easy assignment for Digital Media, list as many plants as you can and then as many logos or brands as you can. I'm sure there will be far more brands compaired to plants. Infact, I'm sure I will have to cut off my logos list once it gets larger than my plants list.
I'm sure the purpious of this is to demonstrait there are more brands that we are familiar with compared to plants. We were told this, but soon as I read it I knew.
My hands are still cold after going for a run in the cold. It was nice, I'm becoming out of shape to the point where I dislike it so I am going to put some effort into fixing this problem.
Lets get started; plants.
Birch, bark, hickory, redwood, does old growth forest count?, moss, lichen, does fungus' count?, poppy, skunk cabbage, willow, grass, several various vegtables and fruit trees, cat tails, tulip, tea
At this point I ran out of names that come to mind, I can think of many types of flowers (dandilion) but I can't think of the name of (rose) all that many of them now that I think of it. I don't put all that much work into knowing the vegatation around me, let alown the vegatation not around me. I can think of several, several vegtable and fruit but I don't think that's what this list is looking for exactly (clover). If you havn't figured it out, the plants I am thinking of as I type this up (sunflower) are being put into (lilly) parenthasis.
So that makes an innitial 13 plants thought of, two questionables, and fruits/vegtables that were excluded.
Lets go for the easy list now.
Youtube, Blogger, Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, Blogspot, Sony, Microsoft, Mac, Shaw, Skull Candy, ML, MSN, Bic, D&D, HP, Rubik's, DC, Marvel, DC Shoes, Veggitails, Rebock, Nike, Subway, Macdonals, Burgar King, Brooks, Walmart, K-Mart, Halmark, Select Video, A'nW, Coles, Timex, Rolex, Fox Racing, YTV, Discovery, A&E, HGTV, History, Food Network, Weather Network, Treehouse, Fox News, Land Yawt, Sector 9; I think I've got enough.
This was really easy to do, phenominialy easy actualy. Not easier than I thought, just as easy as I thought it would be actualy. I have a few Internet/Computer's companies, some music, some comunications, tv/video/movies, a puzzle game, some long boarding companies, a few fast food resteraunts, a couple of watch companies, a roll playing game, some comics, some clothes, and an office supplies supplier. They are all related to eachother, or in a moment of hesiation I was able to pull something from my surrounding and start a new tangent.
This post does not need spell checking. Have fun Gramarr Nazi's
Bugworlds ==
I'm sure the purpious of this is to demonstrait there are more brands that we are familiar with compared to plants. We were told this, but soon as I read it I knew.
My hands are still cold after going for a run in the cold. It was nice, I'm becoming out of shape to the point where I dislike it so I am going to put some effort into fixing this problem.
Lets get started; plants.
Birch, bark, hickory, redwood, does old growth forest count?, moss, lichen, does fungus' count?, poppy, skunk cabbage, willow, grass, several various vegtables and fruit trees, cat tails, tulip, tea
At this point I ran out of names that come to mind, I can think of many types of flowers (dandilion) but I can't think of the name of (rose) all that many of them now that I think of it. I don't put all that much work into knowing the vegatation around me, let alown the vegatation not around me. I can think of several, several vegtable and fruit but I don't think that's what this list is looking for exactly (clover). If you havn't figured it out, the plants I am thinking of as I type this up (sunflower) are being put into (lilly) parenthasis.
So that makes an innitial 13 plants thought of, two questionables, and fruits/vegtables that were excluded.
Lets go for the easy list now.
Youtube, Blogger, Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, Blogspot, Sony, Microsoft, Mac, Shaw, Skull Candy, ML, MSN, Bic, D&D, HP, Rubik's, DC, Marvel, DC Shoes, Veggitails, Rebock, Nike, Subway, Macdonals, Burgar King, Brooks, Walmart, K-Mart, Halmark, Select Video, A'nW, Coles, Timex, Rolex, Fox Racing, YTV, Discovery, A&E, HGTV, History, Food Network, Weather Network, Treehouse, Fox News, Land Yawt, Sector 9; I think I've got enough.
This was really easy to do, phenominialy easy actualy. Not easier than I thought, just as easy as I thought it would be actualy. I have a few Internet/Computer's companies, some music, some comunications, tv/video/movies, a puzzle game, some long boarding companies, a few fast food resteraunts, a couple of watch companies, a roll playing game, some comics, some clothes, and an office supplies supplier. They are all related to eachother, or in a moment of hesiation I was able to pull something from my surrounding and start a new tangent.
This post does not need spell checking. Have fun Gramarr Nazi's
Bugworlds ==
Vipassana Meditation
In my Psychology class we have looked a little bit into Vipassana Meditation. It is based off a minimal ten day ordeal where you do not speak. I am not sure of the complete details of it, but this is what I know of it.
You spend ten days in a house, building, complex perhaps, with others who are partaking in this. No one speaks, and there is limited to no connection to the outside world. I suspect there may be no connection at all. There is also an absence of any sort of drugs and media. Everyone is expected to do what they can to help around the house without verbal communication. I always imagine an eerily clean house due to everyone cleaning a lot. I think I would in this situation, because I would have nothing else to do at times. I spend so much of my time in communication with the outside world, taking in media, and speaking a fair amount of time.
I think this would be a nice experience, from my short samples of it which I will speak of later on, and just from the description of it. I enjoy the quiet, and disconnecting from the world every once and a while must have its advantages. Would I be able to do it though? I think that is more of a quesionable idea.
I am sure I could go without speaking, I do that fairly frequently at my house unintentional. I am fairly introverted by nature, so cutting myself off from others would not be a difficulty. I think the hardest aspect would be time management. I may have homework, but I think I would get that done is much less than the six hours I am regularly at school. I may have more trouble getting it done, or atleast started though, due to the lack of school to inspire me. I could do chores, though I avoid them in most cases that I already find myself in. My down time could be spent reading (although I'm not sure if that is permitted), speedcubing (I'm sure I could get so much memorized in this time, but this may loose its interest even more than it already has), exercising to the best of my ability (I am not sure the area I would be able to use would be, or what may be in it), and there's always the fall back of writing. At the moment I'm learning to, well improving, my limited ability to write with my left hand. It's enjoyable. Anyways.. A large amount of time is spent in the actual act of mediation though. I think this would pass the time.
The mediation part of this relates to the simple sitting in the silence that would devour you already, and focusing on breathing. When you try to clear your mind of thoughts normally, you find yourself thinking of more. Try to think about nothing, do it right now. It won't take more than a moment. You'll find that it is impossible. In meditation the concept becomes much more possible.
During class we have done this a couple times, in short amounts of time. You sit however you wish (though I beleive if you were to go to one of the houses where this is practiced there may be more regulation) and focus on breathing. With your eyes closed you have nothing to look at, with the scilence you have nothing to listen to (although perfect scilence in a class room is not always possible and the guitar class is not all that far away so I can hear it sometimes). After not all that long, I may interrupt my relaxed state, but I realize my thoughts are quiet. It is quiet enjoyable.
Time also seems to move at a different speed than it normally would. If you look back a few posts you may find some of my thoughts on time, well a lot of my thoughts on time. To summerize one of my ramblings, time is subjective. It is invented in the mind of the preserver. When you are in such a relaxed state, time slips by very quickly. I've experienced this several times outside of my class, along with during our two to four minutes sessions in class. At first we went for two minutes, then three, then four. The first time it felt to be quite an amount of time as the act of sitting with my eyes closed, waiting to be told it was over. Once it was over though, it did not seem as much time had gone by. The second time flew by, and the third time amazed everyone. It felt like a short amount of time for the two minutes we were told it was going to last, even though it turned out to be double.
This was kind of mind blowing, and lead me to be curious about how fast longer amounts of time would go by like this. I may try for ten to twenty minutes by myself, or with someone if I can find someone to do this with. From what I have observed, the time should feel like longer than just a few minutes but go by much faster than expected.
This reminds me of the time capsule side plot from Dragon Ball Z, but that's a different topic for a different time.
I have done this many times before, however since this concept of Vipassana was introduced I have spent many more bus rides sitting in scilence. I have a marked point, right as we leave the school property, where I close my eyes. I sit forward, in the most comfortable state I can considering the bus seat, avoid movement, and just wait to feel the bus stop. I have noticed I note when we get to definitive spots; such as hard corners, hills, and stops; but the travel time between these just disappear. It is very relaxing, and gives me time to think. I'm not sure how much more or less I think in this time though, considering my thoughts are not at the front of my consciousness always through this time.
The result of just not speaking for an extended amount of time has occurred to me many times. During one day of school last year, I did not speak from the first bell to the last bell. Several people were doing it in support of children who did not get to speak (or something like that). It supported the recognition of children in poverty. I saw it as a fun opportunity, and it was. Shortly into the day I noticed my thoughts felt, almost, less cluttered. I wouldn't say they are cluttered now, but they seemed more focused. There were less background thoughts and more on what was present at the time.
My vision felt a bit different also. Everything seemed a little bit more in tune, along with my hearing. What I heard was.. somehow different? It is hard to describe. The only phrase I could match to it was the concept that my senses were heightened slightly. All of this has happened to me after listening to music for a long amount of time and not interacting with anyone verbally. I enjoy the odd difference, even if I can't put my finger on what it is exactly.
After the ten day experience, it is said that your senses are ever so heightened that you can feel the air move over your upper lip as you breath through your nose. I think this is a bit expected, considering a large amount of time is put aside to meditation that focuses on your breath. I want to try this some time, but I don't think I will ever get to it. I don't feel like I have the time, and the free time I have I wish to put toward something even if it may seem pointless to someone else. Perhaps when I am older and have the opportunity to do so I will try this. I may try it for just a few days over the Winter break, even if it involves only avoiding speaking. I may avoid the use of the computer, I would like to interact with people during this time but it may be difficult to do so with the majority of the people who I would do so anyways.
You spend ten days in a house, building, complex perhaps, with others who are partaking in this. No one speaks, and there is limited to no connection to the outside world. I suspect there may be no connection at all. There is also an absence of any sort of drugs and media. Everyone is expected to do what they can to help around the house without verbal communication. I always imagine an eerily clean house due to everyone cleaning a lot. I think I would in this situation, because I would have nothing else to do at times. I spend so much of my time in communication with the outside world, taking in media, and speaking a fair amount of time.
I think this would be a nice experience, from my short samples of it which I will speak of later on, and just from the description of it. I enjoy the quiet, and disconnecting from the world every once and a while must have its advantages. Would I be able to do it though? I think that is more of a quesionable idea.
I am sure I could go without speaking, I do that fairly frequently at my house unintentional. I am fairly introverted by nature, so cutting myself off from others would not be a difficulty. I think the hardest aspect would be time management. I may have homework, but I think I would get that done is much less than the six hours I am regularly at school. I may have more trouble getting it done, or atleast started though, due to the lack of school to inspire me. I could do chores, though I avoid them in most cases that I already find myself in. My down time could be spent reading (although I'm not sure if that is permitted), speedcubing (I'm sure I could get so much memorized in this time, but this may loose its interest even more than it already has), exercising to the best of my ability (I am not sure the area I would be able to use would be, or what may be in it), and there's always the fall back of writing. At the moment I'm learning to, well improving, my limited ability to write with my left hand. It's enjoyable. Anyways.. A large amount of time is spent in the actual act of mediation though. I think this would pass the time.
The mediation part of this relates to the simple sitting in the silence that would devour you already, and focusing on breathing. When you try to clear your mind of thoughts normally, you find yourself thinking of more. Try to think about nothing, do it right now. It won't take more than a moment. You'll find that it is impossible. In meditation the concept becomes much more possible.
During class we have done this a couple times, in short amounts of time. You sit however you wish (though I beleive if you were to go to one of the houses where this is practiced there may be more regulation) and focus on breathing. With your eyes closed you have nothing to look at, with the scilence you have nothing to listen to (although perfect scilence in a class room is not always possible and the guitar class is not all that far away so I can hear it sometimes). After not all that long, I may interrupt my relaxed state, but I realize my thoughts are quiet. It is quiet enjoyable.
Time also seems to move at a different speed than it normally would. If you look back a few posts you may find some of my thoughts on time, well a lot of my thoughts on time. To summerize one of my ramblings, time is subjective. It is invented in the mind of the preserver. When you are in such a relaxed state, time slips by very quickly. I've experienced this several times outside of my class, along with during our two to four minutes sessions in class. At first we went for two minutes, then three, then four. The first time it felt to be quite an amount of time as the act of sitting with my eyes closed, waiting to be told it was over. Once it was over though, it did not seem as much time had gone by. The second time flew by, and the third time amazed everyone. It felt like a short amount of time for the two minutes we were told it was going to last, even though it turned out to be double.
This was kind of mind blowing, and lead me to be curious about how fast longer amounts of time would go by like this. I may try for ten to twenty minutes by myself, or with someone if I can find someone to do this with. From what I have observed, the time should feel like longer than just a few minutes but go by much faster than expected.
This reminds me of the time capsule side plot from Dragon Ball Z, but that's a different topic for a different time.
I have done this many times before, however since this concept of Vipassana was introduced I have spent many more bus rides sitting in scilence. I have a marked point, right as we leave the school property, where I close my eyes. I sit forward, in the most comfortable state I can considering the bus seat, avoid movement, and just wait to feel the bus stop. I have noticed I note when we get to definitive spots; such as hard corners, hills, and stops; but the travel time between these just disappear. It is very relaxing, and gives me time to think. I'm not sure how much more or less I think in this time though, considering my thoughts are not at the front of my consciousness always through this time.
The result of just not speaking for an extended amount of time has occurred to me many times. During one day of school last year, I did not speak from the first bell to the last bell. Several people were doing it in support of children who did not get to speak (or something like that). It supported the recognition of children in poverty. I saw it as a fun opportunity, and it was. Shortly into the day I noticed my thoughts felt, almost, less cluttered. I wouldn't say they are cluttered now, but they seemed more focused. There were less background thoughts and more on what was present at the time.
My vision felt a bit different also. Everything seemed a little bit more in tune, along with my hearing. What I heard was.. somehow different? It is hard to describe. The only phrase I could match to it was the concept that my senses were heightened slightly. All of this has happened to me after listening to music for a long amount of time and not interacting with anyone verbally. I enjoy the odd difference, even if I can't put my finger on what it is exactly.
After the ten day experience, it is said that your senses are ever so heightened that you can feel the air move over your upper lip as you breath through your nose. I think this is a bit expected, considering a large amount of time is put aside to meditation that focuses on your breath. I want to try this some time, but I don't think I will ever get to it. I don't feel like I have the time, and the free time I have I wish to put toward something even if it may seem pointless to someone else. Perhaps when I am older and have the opportunity to do so I will try this. I may try it for just a few days over the Winter break, even if it involves only avoiding speaking. I may avoid the use of the computer, I would like to interact with people during this time but it may be difficult to do so with the majority of the people who I would do so anyways.
The Corporation ;; Oh, How Blogging Slips Away
As the few people who are following me are aware, the quaint of my posts has diminished a huge amount. My last couple of posts have been put up only on inspiration for my Digital Media or Psychology class. Marks are nice, I enjoy getting good marks. Here's just one more example of me putting something onto my blog for marks. As I always say, I would wish to get back into Blogging a bit, but I don't think that is going to happen. I've gotten into playing a few games that have taken up my free time at home. In not all that long the weather will start to warm up again around my town and I will be more social along with that.
The Corporation Reply
In my Digital Media class we watched a documentary called 'The Corporation'. We also discussed some themes in it in my Psychology class. Here's what I have to say.
First of all, this documentary exposes how in depth corporation has nudged it's way into our society. No matter where you go, you will find it. It is everywhere, and it started off as a good idea. As so many good ideas start, they become exploited though. A corporation is a business, or group of businesses that act as a person. They act as an actual living human being, however though some legal issues and reasoning, they exist only for their own well being. A corporation may do what ever it wishes, as long as it is beneficial to itself and legal; well it should be legal. The actions a corporation takes are not always legal.
I do not think that the problem is as bad as it use to, and I suspect that there may be less of an issue in Canada (though that may just be my own biased thinking), however there have been cases where documents have been leaked to the public that the owners of these corporations did not want to be let out. Documents stating that what has been advertised is not true, and in many cases what is the truth is not even ethical. The example given in the documentary we watched was of dairy products advertised to have no antibiotics in them. This was far from the case. The dairy cows were being given a hormone to increase the amount of milk they produced. If the idea of an animal over producing what it should make natural is not enough, this caused more problems than awkwardness in walking. The increased milk production lead to infections that caused the milk to become tainted with blood and puss. To counter this the cows were given huge amounts of antibiotics, something that is passed into the milk. These cows were producing huge volumes of milk, tainted with not just blood and puss (less after the antibiotics) but antibiotics that can be harmful to humans directly and indirectly. It's a good thing that corporal secrets are leaked sometimes.
Back to the corporation, and it's legal standing as a human. It is just my opinion, but that is ridiculous. The purpose of this was so the owners could not be directly harmed, however the company itself could receive harm. This is much better than the owners being harmed, in the owners opinions. I don't know how the concept of a corporation came to be, but once a person is created it cannot be terminated by legal standings unless it does something deserving of capital punishment. It can be charged, it can be fined, but it will exists as long as the owners need it to. This immortal being has the ability to do what ever a normal person would, however with the bonus of phenomenal amounts of money.
Lets take some attention away from the company itself, and look more to the owners and high ranking members or employee's of these entities. They get payed a huge amounts of money, due to the businesses being so large. The large amounts of money being created is expected due to scaling. A child sitting at the side of the road may invest twenty dollars into the ingredients to make lemon-aid. Once this at-home operation sells out there may be a profit of ten dollars, perhaps more if the child knows what he or she is doing. Proportionally, a mom-'n-pa business may invest a few thousand dollars and get a similar 50% profit. This same profit percentage will give a few thousand dollars back. This is enough to grow with however. A simple ten dollar payback will give enough money to get more ingredients, but with a limited growth.
Now consider a company that has this profit margin of half of what it has invested. It invests a given amount of money, and gets the profit. Now it joins with other similar companies, or uses the money to not just expand the individual store, but to create more stores. Soon this one store is found in several communities. If this continues the one store could multiply and create a small economies empire. With the continued expansion or profit, it is expected that some business owners will have the cunning needed to make their business exceptionally profitable. At some point it will be easy to take out some of this profit and put it in your own pocket without damaging the business.
Here comes some corporate greed though. This large company will hire people who are unable to get the best jobs possible. The work does not need much education, so it is easy to obtain also. The working class; under the control of the rich class who controls the company-now-empire, now-corporation; is payed a very low wage. Often only enough to live off, with few luxuries.
How is this fair though? It would be understandable to pay low wages if the company is small, but if the head of the corporation is making enough money to add a wage increase to everyone who is under him or her and not notice a dent in their salary, shouldn't there be more payed out? The result is the same as it has been for hundreds of years, initially becoming overly predominate in the futile age. You start in the working class, you die in the working class. You can change social and economic classes, but chances are you won't.
There is so much that could be looked at regarding monetary values alone, but who else pays? Big business has gained a reputation for damaging the surroundings around it, and even worse, the areas away from it. The items that are created, are done so in far off lands where labor is cheaper due to poverty being in place already. The individuals in poverty may see this to be a great opportunity to get some money, but they will quickly find that working with toxic chemicals, having their environment polluted and the animals and plants around them becoming sick also leads to them to become sick. Have you ever considered how so many items cost so little at many large stores?
As already stated, the initial collection and processing of the ingredients to create this low priced item are obtained in parts of the world struck with poverty. To lower the price the waste is simply dumped instead of dealt with in an ecological process. This taxes the environment, so the rich corporation deity does not need to pay. Once the item is made, it will be shipped to a first world country as many who are reading this will be living in. The item is sold for little because it has cost little to make. To avoid raising the price any higher the workers are payed little, and they are not given the benefits that they should often.
What is the solution to this? Well we could just let the resources run out so that this model falls apart, but I don't think we will have time to do that. Instead there should be a redistribution of wealth.
Instead of the big money, big business, big corporation leaders being payed so much for management they should pay the workers more. This has been tried before, and it has been found that if the workers want to be at work; if they are payed enough, given what they need, respected, and put into positive environments; productivity goes up. Everyone wins? I think so. I think it's okay for the people in charge to take a slightly larger share, but not enough to put everyone else in it into the lower ranks of our society.
There needs to be more filtering of this also. More regulation to ensure it happens. There are systems in place, but they are not enough. Why not make a couple more jobs to employ those who are not? Everyone loves when more jobs are made. What if those jobs made were to make sure that everyone who has a job, is doing it the best they can due to the fact they are in the best environment they could be.
The Corporation Reply
In my Digital Media class we watched a documentary called 'The Corporation'. We also discussed some themes in it in my Psychology class. Here's what I have to say.
First of all, this documentary exposes how in depth corporation has nudged it's way into our society. No matter where you go, you will find it. It is everywhere, and it started off as a good idea. As so many good ideas start, they become exploited though. A corporation is a business, or group of businesses that act as a person. They act as an actual living human being, however though some legal issues and reasoning, they exist only for their own well being. A corporation may do what ever it wishes, as long as it is beneficial to itself and legal; well it should be legal. The actions a corporation takes are not always legal.
I do not think that the problem is as bad as it use to, and I suspect that there may be less of an issue in Canada (though that may just be my own biased thinking), however there have been cases where documents have been leaked to the public that the owners of these corporations did not want to be let out. Documents stating that what has been advertised is not true, and in many cases what is the truth is not even ethical. The example given in the documentary we watched was of dairy products advertised to have no antibiotics in them. This was far from the case. The dairy cows were being given a hormone to increase the amount of milk they produced. If the idea of an animal over producing what it should make natural is not enough, this caused more problems than awkwardness in walking. The increased milk production lead to infections that caused the milk to become tainted with blood and puss. To counter this the cows were given huge amounts of antibiotics, something that is passed into the milk. These cows were producing huge volumes of milk, tainted with not just blood and puss (less after the antibiotics) but antibiotics that can be harmful to humans directly and indirectly. It's a good thing that corporal secrets are leaked sometimes.
Back to the corporation, and it's legal standing as a human. It is just my opinion, but that is ridiculous. The purpose of this was so the owners could not be directly harmed, however the company itself could receive harm. This is much better than the owners being harmed, in the owners opinions. I don't know how the concept of a corporation came to be, but once a person is created it cannot be terminated by legal standings unless it does something deserving of capital punishment. It can be charged, it can be fined, but it will exists as long as the owners need it to. This immortal being has the ability to do what ever a normal person would, however with the bonus of phenomenal amounts of money.
Lets take some attention away from the company itself, and look more to the owners and high ranking members or employee's of these entities. They get payed a huge amounts of money, due to the businesses being so large. The large amounts of money being created is expected due to scaling. A child sitting at the side of the road may invest twenty dollars into the ingredients to make lemon-aid. Once this at-home operation sells out there may be a profit of ten dollars, perhaps more if the child knows what he or she is doing. Proportionally, a mom-'n-pa business may invest a few thousand dollars and get a similar 50% profit. This same profit percentage will give a few thousand dollars back. This is enough to grow with however. A simple ten dollar payback will give enough money to get more ingredients, but with a limited growth.
Now consider a company that has this profit margin of half of what it has invested. It invests a given amount of money, and gets the profit. Now it joins with other similar companies, or uses the money to not just expand the individual store, but to create more stores. Soon this one store is found in several communities. If this continues the one store could multiply and create a small economies empire. With the continued expansion or profit, it is expected that some business owners will have the cunning needed to make their business exceptionally profitable. At some point it will be easy to take out some of this profit and put it in your own pocket without damaging the business.
Here comes some corporate greed though. This large company will hire people who are unable to get the best jobs possible. The work does not need much education, so it is easy to obtain also. The working class; under the control of the rich class who controls the company-now-empire, now-corporation; is payed a very low wage. Often only enough to live off, with few luxuries.
How is this fair though? It would be understandable to pay low wages if the company is small, but if the head of the corporation is making enough money to add a wage increase to everyone who is under him or her and not notice a dent in their salary, shouldn't there be more payed out? The result is the same as it has been for hundreds of years, initially becoming overly predominate in the futile age. You start in the working class, you die in the working class. You can change social and economic classes, but chances are you won't.
There is so much that could be looked at regarding monetary values alone, but who else pays? Big business has gained a reputation for damaging the surroundings around it, and even worse, the areas away from it. The items that are created, are done so in far off lands where labor is cheaper due to poverty being in place already. The individuals in poverty may see this to be a great opportunity to get some money, but they will quickly find that working with toxic chemicals, having their environment polluted and the animals and plants around them becoming sick also leads to them to become sick. Have you ever considered how so many items cost so little at many large stores?
As already stated, the initial collection and processing of the ingredients to create this low priced item are obtained in parts of the world struck with poverty. To lower the price the waste is simply dumped instead of dealt with in an ecological process. This taxes the environment, so the rich corporation deity does not need to pay. Once the item is made, it will be shipped to a first world country as many who are reading this will be living in. The item is sold for little because it has cost little to make. To avoid raising the price any higher the workers are payed little, and they are not given the benefits that they should often.
What is the solution to this? Well we could just let the resources run out so that this model falls apart, but I don't think we will have time to do that. Instead there should be a redistribution of wealth.
Instead of the big money, big business, big corporation leaders being payed so much for management they should pay the workers more. This has been tried before, and it has been found that if the workers want to be at work; if they are payed enough, given what they need, respected, and put into positive environments; productivity goes up. Everyone wins? I think so. I think it's okay for the people in charge to take a slightly larger share, but not enough to put everyone else in it into the lower ranks of our society.
There needs to be more filtering of this also. More regulation to ensure it happens. There are systems in place, but they are not enough. Why not make a couple more jobs to employ those who are not? Everyone loves when more jobs are made. What if those jobs made were to make sure that everyone who has a job, is doing it the best they can due to the fact they are in the best environment they could be.
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