Medicamp

The MSN Song

Title: Downloading Speed
Composer: Light Gaia

Description: This song is actually a full msn conversation that I had with someone regarding our RE presentation. He was transfering a powerpoint file and since the downloading speed was so slow, I got bored. The song lasts from the start of the downloading to the end of the downloading, after which I closed the conversation window.

(Note: Copied directly from MSN window)

Miles Tails Prower...take care... says:
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
*yay
*ppt
[RIRC'10] HAL 9000 now life has killed the dream i dreamed says:
*er
Miles Tails Prower...take care... says:
*send me send me sned me sned me
*send me send me sneeze me fry me
*quickly quickly send me send me
*quickly quickly haha hee hee
[RIRC'10] HAL 9000 now life has killed the dream i dreamed sends:
Open(Alt+P)
Miles Tails Prower...take care... says:
heeheeheeheeheyomg
omgomg left 4548 kb
downloading speed so slow you see
gahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahga*gahgahgah*
*bridge*
downloading speed!
downloading speed!
omgomg
so so so slow you see
downloading speed!
downloading speed!
i still want the ppt
and its so slow too slow for me
*electric guitar instrumental*
why oh why is the speed so slow
if its too late i have to go
downloading speed!
*downloading speed!
*omgomg
*so so so slow you see
*downloading speed!
*downloading speed!
*i still want the ppt
*and its so slow too slow for me
now only left 452 kb
quick quick quick quickly quickly
You have successfully received C:\Users\user\Documents\RE-SMP\SMP v1.ppt from [RIRC'10] HAL 9000 now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
Miles Tails Prower...take care... says:
*downloading speed!
*downloading speed!
*omgomg
*so so so slow you see
*downloading speed!
*downloading speed!
*i still want the ppt
*and its so slow too slow for me
**electric guitar instrumental*
*why oh why is the speed so slow
*of its too late i have to go
*downloading speed!
*downloading speed!
*omgomg
*so so so slow you see
*downloading speed!
*downloading speed!
*i still want the ppt
*and its so slow too slow for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....
*ITS DONE...

Social Commentary - Straight talk on Tiger Poaching

The Bengal tiger is one of the most ferocious hunters in the world. Many a time has there been tales of a single tiger terrorising entire villages, decimating livestock and devouring children. The tiger can take down a leopard or a crocodile, and can injure or even kill a full-grown elephant. Surely, surely nothing can defeat this mighty striped King of the jungle. Nothing, except until now.
The Bengal tiger is now quavering at the hands of the humans. With their supremely advanced technology, with the power to fire projectiles fifty times faster than the speed of a running tiger, the humans have taken over the animal kingdom and are steadily driving the Bengal tiger to extinction.
The major way in which Man is extinguishing the Bengal tiger is by poaching. The demand for tiger parts has been and still is increasing. However, whether or not poaching is immoral can still be questioned. After all, chickens are killed worldwide and their parts exported to many different countries! The morality of poaching has be taken from the viewpoints of the poachers, the people who place orders for tiger parts, and of course, the Bengal tiger itself.
The poachers would certainly agree with the idea that poaching tigers should be allowed. Poaching is worth a lot of money. This comes about because tigers are difficult to catch, and as such, their parts are very precious. The parts then have to be exported to other countries and this will require illegal smuggling and carefully calculated moves. All this adds up to the cost of the tiger parts and consequently makes poaching very profitable.
Poaching is just like hunting, say the poachers, and while others kill deer for their meat we kill tigers for their parts. Tigers are no more than money-bags than deer are food.
Furthermore, many people in other countries, notably China, believe that tiger parts have medicinal properties. Tiger parts, such as the teeth and the claws, have healing properties and may even be used as aphrodisiacs. These people believe in traditional medicine and are willing to pay a lot of money so that they can obtain this precious medicine. They believe that killing tigers will heal people, and this will help them and their families to become well and to prosper. This drives the poaching industry to continue its trade.
However, no one, or nothing, can truly argue for or against poaching, other than the Bengal tiger itself Although the tiger is incable of human speech, many activists have stood up to stand for its rights, including the Indian government. The Bengal tiger is on the verge of extinction, having decreased in number from 40, 000 to 1,300 in a span of 100 years. In addition, global warming threatens the natural environment of these tigers, making it more and more difficult for them to survive, much more when poachers are lurking around in the forest.
The Bengal tiger is an animal which is beng wiped out. We cannot allow it to die out just because of a handful of mindless killing hunters who feel that profit is everything. As for those who believe in the medicinal properties of tigers, there are so many natural herbs and plants which also have similar characteristics. The tiger is living being like us, and deserves to live, and the right to live outweighs all other arguments that may be used to support the act of poaching.

Midori-san!!!

Midori-san!!! (http://plant.bowls-cafe.jp/)

Personally, I never knew that people could get so bored with life. First we dressed up monkeys and elevated them to “great-(grand^152) ancestor” status. Now we have plants blogging about their life, their exp3r13nc35, their daily activites, their feelings….

It’s quite subjective as to how accurate these ‘bloggings’ are. The readings that are provided by the sensors seem to give a proper description of what Midori-san is going through. However, we cannot be certain for sure that the posts that are..um...posted are an accurate enough description of Midori-san's feelings and thoughts.

I feel that this is a great achievement in computer algorithms, the fact that the feedback given by the sensors are able to be translated into words by the computer. Judging by the comments by other people I am assuming that the posts are substantial and grammatically crafted enough to be accepted as 'realistic' posts. I say assume, because I can't be a proper judge on that as I don't really understand Japanese...I recommend anyone who is interested in computer generated sentences to visit this page: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/

However, as I whole, I really like this initiative. It comprises an effort to link nature with the man-made world, a relevant move since today's Earth is facing destruction at the hands of technology. Midori-san is a reminder to us of how we should be caring for the environment, and by personifying her (Midori is a girl's name) we tend to be moved by the “personality” that she has adopted. People will be more touched by a talking plant than by a person who is speaking for the plant.

I think another key idea that comes across as I read the article (and Midori-san's website) is that JAPANESE ARE DOMINATING OUR LIFE!!! I mean that in a good way, no offense. Many of our daily items are manufactured or invented in Japan. Mitsubishi owns many of our electric fans and family cars. Mitsubishi was responsible for the downfall of the British Airforce in Singapore (freaking A6M Zero Fighters). Much of our cartoons today are largely influcence by Japanese Anime (not to mention the anime themselves are being screened everywhere). The Americans and British were wrong to look down on Asians. They got pwned. Almost. A particularly obese male and a pre-adolescent child stood in the way of Japan's near-victory. And Japan is rising to the top of the world today! Beat that!

As a final word, Midori-san is so cute!!! I can't help but contribute to helping her photosynthesize. (*keeps clicking on widget *) At the same time, I'm also contributing to global warming as the continuous usage of fluorescent lights results in the excessive use of fossil fuels, subsequently increasing the amount of carbon dioxide concentration in the air. Ah well. Guess I'm obsessed too... ^_^

ERP May 2009 - Are you game enough for it?

See Spot Run: Teaching my Grandmother to Read

5. a) Write about a time when you taught someone a skill. Describe what you gained in the exchange, and how that affected your relationship with them.

It was the last day that I would be staying at my cousins’ house. As I woke up in the already familiar bedroom, I thought about what to do that day. What could be done within one day? As it turned out, I spent the whole morning in front of the Xbox with my cousins. Soon after, I realised that we had very little time left to be spent together. I thus decided to give them a little something to act as a souvenir that I had left behind.

I decided to teach them how to make computer games.

Games have always been a part of my life. Ever since I was young, I would always yearn for an hour or two on the computer at least once a week. I would venture through the various games, from simple puzzles to board games to adventure stories to side-scrolling shooters to action games.

When I discovered a software to develop these games, I committed my time and effort to learning how to use it. 5 years paid off, and I was now able to create standard games matching those of the 1995 game consoles.

I immediately invited my cousins to a crash course on game-making. How could they resist such a tempting offer? The secret to nurture the seed your very own game idea...and make it bloom into something tremendous and satisfying...

Somehow, they never seemed that interested. Only cousin Ammar seemed willing to try. I gladly took him in.

Ammar was seventeen. He was mature for his age, and behaved like a normal teenager. The only weird thing was that he was about my height. However, that motivated me to treat him as an equal, subsequently helping me to communicate better with him.

I started immediately. Building upon simple concepts such as logic and storing data, I quickly moved on to gameplay. I taught Ammar how to make characters, walls, enemies, and how to make them interact with one another.

Ammar stunned me. He was the fastest learner I had ever seen. Never before had I encountered such a competent programmer and designer all at once. I suddenly understood the exuberance that a teacher experiences when he comes across such a pupil. I myself learned, that knowledge is not meant to be kept, but to be imparted.   

My respect for Ammar grew. I educated him on important concepts, the best ways to achieve efficient programs, and even some secret tricks that I had taught myself. Later I congratulated him on his progress. That day, I had found someone who shared my interest with whom I could share my knowledge and ideas.

I was humbled by the experience, for before that I knew no one who had grasp the concepts of game making as well as I had. When I returned from Australia, I immediately emailed to Ammar to guide him in making the last level of the game as challenging as possible. After all, our relationship had to continue. Any game would never end just there.

506 words...

-(((||[The Evolution of Goodness]||)))-

Personally, I don't really agree with the theory of evolution.

But that's another story.

How does this goodness evolve? I do not understand. What is goodness? I believe goodness to be a form of caring for one another, a sort of compassion that evolves (?) and develops between two parties, a willingness to help and assist each other. This compassion, this feeling, can manifest itself from a sort of mutual relationship to cooperation to care and concern, and in the Homo Sapiens level of thinking, love. 

The article  has explained the presence of emotional power in biological occurences, and it has done so pretty well. However, one thing still perturbs me. How can we quantify goodness?

William D. Hamilton has formulated this formulative formula which basically allows for goodness to enter the equation (pardon the metaphor used) of evolution. Yet it is not possible to actually just assign numbers and letters to the 'costs of goodness' and 'the benefit that is obtained from the relationship'. Life would be too structured if such a thing could be done. 

Then in that case, how does the human mind make decisions if it is impossible to quantify goodness? After all, doesnt the mind use logic to make its decision? The answer is, a lot more is involved in this decision making process. Emotions themselves are things that cannot be associated with survival instinct. That is why we see a mother willing to risk her life in order to save her baby, although this does conflict violently with the theory of evolution. Emotions are a sort of attachment that have been formed between people. Not only that, emotions are also linked to other things, such as material objects. As such, this 'goodness' cannot be just a result of evolution.

The genetic relatedness between individuals also does not seem to make sense to me, after all, a couple who has not met throughout their childhood can meet, develop feleings for each other, and get married. This relationship is what will determine the amount of goodness shown to each other. Even humans can come to care for cats and dogs. What has genetic relatedness have to do with all this? If survival of the fittest comes in, humans might as well kill all the non-beneficial animals and only rear chickens and cows as food.

I personally believe that humans develop this sort of feelng to good and help others because of the emotions that they have. These emotions develop into a sense of morality, which helps humans to make 'moral' and 'charitable' decisions. Soon, we tend to develop a form of care and concern for people who we feel more towards. Such a feeling can also come about towards people whom we pity, such as old women. However, this brings in another factor into the equation (pardon the metaphor again) which is pity and sympathy, which is another complex emotion of the human mind. 

Anyway, to prevent any further cerebral complications taking place in your brain, I shall end my discussion here. Take note, this too is a sign of pity.

I feel, as a whole, that a lot more contributes to the amount of goodness, no, forget the word amount, just the goodness, that we feel should be exacted upon those around us. The most important factor would be the emotions inside us, that either conflict or accompany the logic that is used for decision making.

And by the way, I still disagree with the theory of evolution. The complexity of eye, the coordination of schools of fish, the flight mechanisms of birds, all these factors are strong doubting points of information against this theory. Now if you will excuse me to explain futher....

 

My Time Based English Commentary -_-

1.     Summary

 

This article explains the advantages and disadvantages of cloning, coupled with whether or not cloning is ethical. Cloning can be considered ethical as there are many other forms of artificial reproduction which are. Cloning will eventually be part of everyday life, and people will get used to it. Cloning can help create stem cells to cure various diseases and it can help mothers to bear children. However, the technology for cloning is not fully fledged and may cause harm to the subjects of the cloning or even the mothers, as even cloning animals has still not been made possible.

 

2.       Commentary

Cloning. That single word is enough to spark off a chain reaction of anger and excitement anywhere in the world. Cloning could lead to disasterous results, with deformed babies and mutants only dreamt of in nightmares coming into existence for real, and mass legions of soldiers, all identical, with only one cause. To fight.

That cloning remains a highly controversial topic today, it is still an important field of science. We must delve more into the research of cloning to find out more about how we can help man and society. However, in the process of doing so, we must not forget about the perspectives of others, such as those who find it unethical, the viewpoint of the mother, and the thoughts of the clone itself.

Cloning may be considered unethical in that the livelihoods of many people are at risk. For example, the mother may face problems if the child is born with deformities. The mother will be at a loss whether to keep the dysfunctional child, or to simply end its suffering. We also have to consider the perspective of the child, as although it may not feel emotions just yet, it can still feel pain. We will not know if the child who is born suffers from internal problems. As such, we have to think through these viewpoints first because science must always be ethical, and if science is carried out at the expense of others, then science is better off left undeveloped.

Another controversial area of cloning would be the allusion of Man to playing God. This is not acceptable as there are many people who have a monotheistic religion that God created Man, and therefore Man has no right to create Man himself. The idea of cloning clashes with the idea of God as it is wrong for Man to be toying around with the balance of nature that has been set in place for us.

Furthermore, cloning has not been successful so far. Many trials on animals have failed in producing a fully functional clone. A very striking example would be Dolly the Sheep. Dolly was a result of 276 failed attempts to procure a cloned sheep. All the other 276 sheep died prematurely. If we are to move on to human cloning, we might as well be prepared for many more child mortalities before even a single human clone is successful, and this is certainly not ethical.

On the other hand, cloning has its benefits, if mastered properly. A mild form of cloning, the production of stem cells, can actually help to save many lives. Stem cells are a special type of cell that can modify their functions to be suited any environment in the human body that they are in. As such, it will be easier to carry out, say, heart replacements, as we do not need a donor to provide the heart. Instead, the patient himself can provide the stem cells through cloning in order to produce his own heart. In this way, cloning serves to benefit mankind.

In addition, cloning can be one of the methods for artificial reproduction. If a mother wants to have child that is of her own genes, but is unable to bear a child and her ovaries cannot produce eggs, then she can use cloning. This will help many women around the world who wish to have children but cannot, and this again shows another good side of cloning.

Lastly, and most importantly, cloning must be pursued as it is an aspect of science. Cloning offers a wide field of opportunities that are waiting to be discovered. It is not within Man’s ability to understand everything, but it is Man’s duty to try and understand everything. If we stem the research in cloning and make it illegal, then we will not be making any progress in the field of biology. As such, we have to continue cloning studies as it is especially important and relevant in today’s modern age.

In conclusion, we should and must continue research in cloning. However, we have to consider the ethical boundaries that we are confined in so as not to breach anyone’s rights of privacy. We must ensure that all those involved in the research, most importantly the mother and the clone, are not harmed in any way during the research. Yet cloning is definitely a must as it is a potential disease-curer and a child-bringer. Most importantly, cloning must be carried out carefully with the necessary precautions so that it does not go out of control and produce the nightmarish figments of our imagination.