Q # 1) Accomplishments lately? I made it to Saturday night. 'Nuff said.
Q # 2) Learned anything? I have to write an essay Monday, and if I don't finish it, I'll have to do that Tuesday. I've learned I don't understand the "who, what, where, when, why" of people, of their actions, of their responses, or their words, and I don't care.
Q # 4) So what's next? What's left to be next? I don't know. I'm too tired to care.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Something, Something, Virtual Leeches, Something Something.
Today in my anatomy class, we did a lab with virtual leeches to test neurophysiologic connections. It was, by far, the strangest lab (if it could be called that) to do thus far. Basically cutting open a fake leech, zooming in on it's brain stem through a "microscope" and poking at it's brain-stem cells to see how it reacts to stimuli (i.e. hard, rough, or soft stimuli, or all three) to determine which kinds of cells detected which kinds of stimuli. Stimuli never produced the same responses because the different kinds of cells pick up different types of stimuli in different ways. I can only assume this is because of the way that each cell is built to react to whichever kinds of stimuli to feed to the organism to help it determine it's surroundings, whether it's in danger, etc. etc. I believe the point of this lab was to see how neurological pathways detect a stimulus and to help us understand that there are different pathways for different amounts/types of external stimulus.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Remote, Please.
Today our Anatomy teacher showed us a video of a "remote control cockroach:" that is to say a roach that was controlled. . . via remote control. Yes, a "living, breathing" organism. Though I am not sure what the exact mechanics of it are, my teacher explained that they took the "motherboard" out of a simple children's toy, rigged it to something glued to its back and fed the signals through it's antennae into its brain, telling it to move forward, backward, left or right. Now, simple enough to say; this was, clearly, a science experiment for whatever level collage class and can be justified as such. However, that is approximately where the fine line is drawn, the silver lining is made apparent in the clouds, and these things humanity clutches to as "morals."
I speak of this fine line where the moral conflicts for such a device come in because there are several points in which such a device can be implemented, not only in animals, but in the human species, for a greater "good" or "evil" if it is so to be put. In the "greater good" scenario, it could be used to help make humanity take an extra little step towards the utopia it so wishes to achieve since the dawn of time and that David spoke of when he wrote the lines of scripture which take that picturesque vignette of humanity in the eyes of Yahweh and place it into letters which the mind can vividly recreate all man's foremost "mother and father," (should one wish to believe that as the truth) in the image of the "LORD God [planting] a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. . ." (Genesis 2:8). What I am trying to reach, through all of this, is certainly not any conviction, but simply to introduce what man has wished to accomplish since he has heard the tale of the Garden; the Utopia he wishes to achieve for himself and all fellow man where no man shall fall ill, no man shall covet what his neighbor has, etc., etc. The step I hint at leading toward this so-called utopia is that, if man can take hold of this technology, bring it about in a portable and convenient way so that one would not have to lug about a gigantic red rucksack everywhere with him, his paraplegic brother could stand and could walk about and run for the first time in years "since the accident," or even "for the first time in his life!" Imagine it, reader; for the first time, those born with legs they could not make use of, or lost use at some point in their life, through an accomplishment of Man (O! the accomplishments he has made!) can utilize this technology to renew the signals that have been broken and renew them so that he may stand! Ponder this, reader; keep it in your mind while we explore other implications and before I dare delve into the moral implications that arise through our "modern" society."
Now, reader, let me take you into the opposite side of this silver lining; the more commonly apprehended version that the viewer takes (at least from my observations). The question was asked, "Now, with this sort of technology, what could it be applied towards?" Immediately, the first audible response from someone in the class was essentially "zombie apocalypse." Now. . . clearly, that is where our social media has taken us since Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" to the modern day sci-fi comic book series and AMC original series "The Walking Dead" but. . . I don't think that is quite where such a "mind controlling" device would lead. If anything, anyone with the sort of power to control the minds, motions, or lives of a single person, or a million under a country, would certainly be devastating in the wrong hands to say the least, but what one must take into consideration, though the answer may be simple to some, is: why, exactly, would anyone wish to take up millions of lives as mindless slaves, or as use for entertainment? Or even the life of one in order to commit a misdeed? Certainly, it is an entertaining thought, millions to have to bow down to one and do the bidding, yada yada, and surely there are some out there who would do evil merely "for the sake of evil" and nothing more, but what I fail to understand is what one could possibly get out of such an ability?
Of all things, since the beginning of man's ability to focus a train of thought, he has sought omnipotence, it is no mystery. To this day, the desire to be god-like has driven every succession and every milestone across humanity. Man wished to fly like the birds that a god or gods that were granted wings, and so he made himself fly. Man wished to see the bottom of the deepest abyss to see where "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" (H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu), or as it translate for those of us who don't speak occult, "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthuluh waits sleeping." And man dove to the farthest depths. Man wished to travel past the heavens of earth and meet his god(s) and he sent himself to the moon. In short, with the determination that the gods and myths inspire, Man reaches his pinnacle; then he looks even higher. So. What, then, does this say, exactly, about this implement of "mind control," as we wish to put it? It is a part of the next milestone, to say the least, but one that will, like every other, come at a cost. Morality that modern beliefs have instilled provide the boundary line for man; when going far to achieve what he wishes to accomplish is going to far, and (approximately) when to draw that fine line. Some of the moral arguments that arise remind me of the 2009 film "Surrogates" in which the world has become a sort of Utopia. People live their lives comfortably from their home while their Surrogate, a robot which looks and operates exactly like a human can, without fear of pain, crimes, and consequences do not exist. This film, I am sure, is a derivative of the Massively Multiplayer Online computer game Second Life. In short, Second Life is a videogame with the same essential concept, allowing the players to enter a life where they can forget their current one and live anew however they please, meet new people, etc., etc. (I think I will let Wikipedia do the explaining on that one.) Regardless, the film "Surrogates" easily conceives the idea of the former mentioned "utopia" achieved with what is essentially the same mind-control idea and constructs a plot where humanity takes up the advantage of such a milestone and it is taken advantage of in the same such way one could consider when making the "cons" list of applying a device in humanity, regardless of being for the better. Needless to say, the cons of such a list may outweigh the pros in understanding the application in a dangerous way, and for those of us with automatonophobia it is very easy to devise the end of all humanity through such a simple device that would allow the broken brethren to stand again and live with legs instead of wheels.
In conclusion, the morality of the current society would not allow for the application of such a device through much more than a cockroach before current views and takes on where the moral line is drawn. In short, the needs do not quite outweigh the efforts in development and will not be considered what the world is ready for until the world is ready to take the next step, whisper a new word, for the world is afraid of what is new and in order to overcome the fears, one must simply have the strength to pick up what lies before him and lead his brethren into The New Era. "The most ancient human being on the most ancient field would still be standing there, trying to discern a way to plant food and make a living. If one had not overstepped tradition and made an innovation then, the human race would still be standing there. We would not exist. Without innovation and efforts to survive, humans die" (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment; Rodion Romonovich Raskolnikov's theory).
I speak of this fine line where the moral conflicts for such a device come in because there are several points in which such a device can be implemented, not only in animals, but in the human species, for a greater "good" or "evil" if it is so to be put. In the "greater good" scenario, it could be used to help make humanity take an extra little step towards the utopia it so wishes to achieve since the dawn of time and that David spoke of when he wrote the lines of scripture which take that picturesque vignette of humanity in the eyes of Yahweh and place it into letters which the mind can vividly recreate all man's foremost "mother and father," (should one wish to believe that as the truth) in the image of the "LORD God [planting] a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. . ." (Genesis 2:8). What I am trying to reach, through all of this, is certainly not any conviction, but simply to introduce what man has wished to accomplish since he has heard the tale of the Garden; the Utopia he wishes to achieve for himself and all fellow man where no man shall fall ill, no man shall covet what his neighbor has, etc., etc. The step I hint at leading toward this so-called utopia is that, if man can take hold of this technology, bring it about in a portable and convenient way so that one would not have to lug about a gigantic red rucksack everywhere with him, his paraplegic brother could stand and could walk about and run for the first time in years "since the accident," or even "for the first time in his life!" Imagine it, reader; for the first time, those born with legs they could not make use of, or lost use at some point in their life, through an accomplishment of Man (O! the accomplishments he has made!) can utilize this technology to renew the signals that have been broken and renew them so that he may stand! Ponder this, reader; keep it in your mind while we explore other implications and before I dare delve into the moral implications that arise through our "modern" society."
Now, reader, let me take you into the opposite side of this silver lining; the more commonly apprehended version that the viewer takes (at least from my observations). The question was asked, "Now, with this sort of technology, what could it be applied towards?" Immediately, the first audible response from someone in the class was essentially "zombie apocalypse." Now. . . clearly, that is where our social media has taken us since Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" to the modern day sci-fi comic book series and AMC original series "The Walking Dead" but. . . I don't think that is quite where such a "mind controlling" device would lead. If anything, anyone with the sort of power to control the minds, motions, or lives of a single person, or a million under a country, would certainly be devastating in the wrong hands to say the least, but what one must take into consideration, though the answer may be simple to some, is: why, exactly, would anyone wish to take up millions of lives as mindless slaves, or as use for entertainment? Or even the life of one in order to commit a misdeed? Certainly, it is an entertaining thought, millions to have to bow down to one and do the bidding, yada yada, and surely there are some out there who would do evil merely "for the sake of evil" and nothing more, but what I fail to understand is what one could possibly get out of such an ability?
Of all things, since the beginning of man's ability to focus a train of thought, he has sought omnipotence, it is no mystery. To this day, the desire to be god-like has driven every succession and every milestone across humanity. Man wished to fly like the birds that a god or gods that were granted wings, and so he made himself fly. Man wished to see the bottom of the deepest abyss to see where "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" (H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu), or as it translate for those of us who don't speak occult, "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthuluh waits sleeping." And man dove to the farthest depths. Man wished to travel past the heavens of earth and meet his god(s) and he sent himself to the moon. In short, with the determination that the gods and myths inspire, Man reaches his pinnacle; then he looks even higher. So. What, then, does this say, exactly, about this implement of "mind control," as we wish to put it? It is a part of the next milestone, to say the least, but one that will, like every other, come at a cost. Morality that modern beliefs have instilled provide the boundary line for man; when going far to achieve what he wishes to accomplish is going to far, and (approximately) when to draw that fine line. Some of the moral arguments that arise remind me of the 2009 film "Surrogates" in which the world has become a sort of Utopia. People live their lives comfortably from their home while their Surrogate, a robot which looks and operates exactly like a human can, without fear of pain, crimes, and consequences do not exist. This film, I am sure, is a derivative of the Massively Multiplayer Online computer game Second Life. In short, Second Life is a videogame with the same essential concept, allowing the players to enter a life where they can forget their current one and live anew however they please, meet new people, etc., etc. (I think I will let Wikipedia do the explaining on that one.) Regardless, the film "Surrogates" easily conceives the idea of the former mentioned "utopia" achieved with what is essentially the same mind-control idea and constructs a plot where humanity takes up the advantage of such a milestone and it is taken advantage of in the same such way one could consider when making the "cons" list of applying a device in humanity, regardless of being for the better. Needless to say, the cons of such a list may outweigh the pros in understanding the application in a dangerous way, and for those of us with automatonophobia it is very easy to devise the end of all humanity through such a simple device that would allow the broken brethren to stand again and live with legs instead of wheels.
In conclusion, the morality of the current society would not allow for the application of such a device through much more than a cockroach before current views and takes on where the moral line is drawn. In short, the needs do not quite outweigh the efforts in development and will not be considered what the world is ready for until the world is ready to take the next step, whisper a new word, for the world is afraid of what is new and in order to overcome the fears, one must simply have the strength to pick up what lies before him and lead his brethren into The New Era. "The most ancient human being on the most ancient field would still be standing there, trying to discern a way to plant food and make a living. If one had not overstepped tradition and made an innovation then, the human race would still be standing there. We would not exist. Without innovation and efforts to survive, humans die" (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment; Rodion Romonovich Raskolnikov's theory).
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Weekly Update No IV
So... here we are again with the three infamous questions.
1) What have you completed recently? What have I accomplished lately? What have I accomplished?? I liberated Eden Prime from the grip of the Geth forces, blew up an ancient beacon that was probably billions of years old and would have likely helped in my journey of stopping the Reapers from destroying all living species throughout the universe (once again). Anyway, I exposed the traitor Saren Arterius and in doing so, proved my capability of becoming the fist Human Spectre, and was given the Normandy as my official ship. So, overall, I've been pretty damned good.
2)What have you learned recently? As of late, I have learned that the former Spectre Saren Arterius of the Turian race was a traitor, my former Captain, David Anderson, and that I, as the first Human Spectre, representing the entire human race for the Citadel Council, must track down and apprehend or eliminate the rogue Spectre Saren.
3)What are you planning on doing next? Good question. Next, I plan on getting leads on that rat-Turian-bastard and bringing him to his justice. Step one of three in this mission is to locate Dr. Ann Bryson, I believe, and find out what she knows about the location or direction of Saren.
(link in case you didn't understand anything that I was talking about.)
1) What have you completed recently? What have I accomplished lately? What have I accomplished?? I liberated Eden Prime from the grip of the Geth forces, blew up an ancient beacon that was probably billions of years old and would have likely helped in my journey of stopping the Reapers from destroying all living species throughout the universe (once again). Anyway, I exposed the traitor Saren Arterius and in doing so, proved my capability of becoming the fist Human Spectre, and was given the Normandy as my official ship. So, overall, I've been pretty damned good.
2)What have you learned recently? As of late, I have learned that the former Spectre Saren Arterius of the Turian race was a traitor, my former Captain, David Anderson, and that I, as the first Human Spectre, representing the entire human race for the Citadel Council, must track down and apprehend or eliminate the rogue Spectre Saren.
3)What are you planning on doing next? Good question. Next, I plan on getting leads on that rat-Turian-bastard and bringing him to his justice. Step one of three in this mission is to locate Dr. Ann Bryson, I believe, and find out what she knows about the location or direction of Saren.
(link in case you didn't understand anything that I was talking about.)
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Weekly Update No. III
Why hello again. Here to hear my rabbles once again of the week? Good, because that's why I got on my computer to do this.
Question Number 1: What tasks have you completed recently? It's funny, actually; this question is the reason this blog is being done a day late, and haven't I a story to tell. I cannot quite recall all the way back to the beginning of the week, but I suppose that is really just because I do not really want to. Though, that does not exempt my ability to answer this question. I had been looking forward to Friday (11.2.12) since last Friday. We had been hoping to have a band practice last weekend, I believe, but were unable to bring it to happening. Needless to say, we re-planned for yesterday. Though a guitarist was unable to join us for our first official practice, we still carried out, just the three of us (THE guitarist, the drummer, and myself). After we got to my house, my friend Anthony (the guitarist) started messing with stuff to make a lava-lamp (how dedicated) and my friend Ashley (the drummer) and myself continued on to the garage to set up the drums. This is where the endeavors of the night really began. I removed the bass drum from the spot we had it at and Ashley said she wanted to dust the drums down to keep them clean, given they had been sitting for a while and a thin layer of dust was beginning to gather on them. As we were doing that, she noticed that the bass drum didn't sound quite right, and she said we should take a few of the pillows out of it, so I went to get the key to take the face of it off. After we got it loosened and taken off, this is what we found. . .
I hope we aren't the only ones to get a kick out of that. Anyway, we had our fun with it, discovered it had a hole in the back side (which Ashley preceded to make very suggestive. . . implications with. Then we stuffed it back in the drum, put the face back on, re-tuned it and finished setting them up. After everything was set up and everyone was in the garage, we put on some music and just tried to get a beat to something, until we were called in for dinner. All I will say about that is for such a tiny person, Ashley can eat a lot.
Proceeding onwards into the night, the distortion pedal I was using went out, so I collected some money from me mutter and we ventured out into the night to Walgreens to get a replacement 9V battery. After I paid for it, I lost the two numb-nuts I call my band somewhere in the store, so I had to go find them. Once I did find them, I had to chase them around the store a few times before I got them to leave with me. But it was fun. This, dear reader, is where the fun really began. Before I go on, let me explain the layout of my truck; It's a three-door, five-seater, essentially; one door on the driver's side, two doors on the passenger's side, where the back door has to be opened after the front. there are three seats in the front; the drivers', the right-hand passenger, and a middle seat passenger, (which is usually referred to as the "bitch seat," excuse the language,) and the two seats in the rear. Now to the details of our little misadventure; on the way to the Walgreens, Ashley sat up front in the middle seat, and Anthony sat in the front passenger with me driving. Now, on our way from Walgreens, Ashley jumped in the back, after not hearing us say about four or five times, "I thought you were going to sit up front?" A short discussion ensued afterwards winding up in her laying down in the back seat and the thought implanted in my mind of break-checks. (/me evil snicker.) To make a long story short, I wound up driving around the block a few times, and into the Lows parkinglot break-checking about and running over the speed-bumps, and making sharp turns, tossing my drummer about the back seat, leaving her very clearly disoriented by the time I had decided to return home. (^.^)<---smiley face. Ah, what else is there to say about my night. . .
Let's see. . . there was a three-man mosh pit between us to the song Bounce, by System of a Down, and we all danced about the garage like idiots, and ran around the neighborhood, spinning in circles with our heads back. All-in-all, it was a fun night. When we actually got back to the instruments, we actually made a bit of progress, starting up the beginning to a song so that we've got something to play. In the conclusion of all of this, when we were taking Ashley home, I asked my mother if she could hear us through the walls and her response was "I was waiting for the neighbors to come knocking." When I asked her if we sounded any good, her response was, essentially, "No comment." That was when I turned to the guys and said "So guys. . . we sound like shit." But that essentially concludes that story, so I'm going to move on to the next question to try to get this done.
Question Number 2: What have you learned recently? I learned that my walls are not as thick as I hoped they'd be, I should expect complaints during one of our practices, and books have a whole lot of meanings behind them I am sure weren't an original intention of the author, though as debatable as some can be, I wouldn't doubt if the controversy of some statements was intended, but meanings behind other things, I am not as sure.
Question Number 3: What are you planning on doing next? Well, like the last time I answered this question, it all really depends on the context. With the band, I'm just hoping we can have practices more often or meetings in the least, and it looks like we'll be changing our name. With school, I'm still just hoping I'll pass all of my classes this semester, and be able to graduate on time. Otherwise I don't really know how to answer this question.
Question Number 1: What tasks have you completed recently? It's funny, actually; this question is the reason this blog is being done a day late, and haven't I a story to tell. I cannot quite recall all the way back to the beginning of the week, but I suppose that is really just because I do not really want to. Though, that does not exempt my ability to answer this question. I had been looking forward to Friday (11.2.12) since last Friday. We had been hoping to have a band practice last weekend, I believe, but were unable to bring it to happening. Needless to say, we re-planned for yesterday. Though a guitarist was unable to join us for our first official practice, we still carried out, just the three of us (THE guitarist, the drummer, and myself). After we got to my house, my friend Anthony (the guitarist) started messing with stuff to make a lava-lamp (how dedicated) and my friend Ashley (the drummer) and myself continued on to the garage to set up the drums. This is where the endeavors of the night really began. I removed the bass drum from the spot we had it at and Ashley said she wanted to dust the drums down to keep them clean, given they had been sitting for a while and a thin layer of dust was beginning to gather on them. As we were doing that, she noticed that the bass drum didn't sound quite right, and she said we should take a few of the pillows out of it, so I went to get the key to take the face of it off. After we got it loosened and taken off, this is what we found. . .
I hope we aren't the only ones to get a kick out of that. Anyway, we had our fun with it, discovered it had a hole in the back side (which Ashley preceded to make very suggestive. . . implications with. Then we stuffed it back in the drum, put the face back on, re-tuned it and finished setting them up. After everything was set up and everyone was in the garage, we put on some music and just tried to get a beat to something, until we were called in for dinner. All I will say about that is for such a tiny person, Ashley can eat a lot.
Proceeding onwards into the night, the distortion pedal I was using went out, so I collected some money from me mutter and we ventured out into the night to Walgreens to get a replacement 9V battery. After I paid for it, I lost the two numb-nuts I call my band somewhere in the store, so I had to go find them. Once I did find them, I had to chase them around the store a few times before I got them to leave with me. But it was fun. This, dear reader, is where the fun really began. Before I go on, let me explain the layout of my truck; It's a three-door, five-seater, essentially; one door on the driver's side, two doors on the passenger's side, where the back door has to be opened after the front. there are three seats in the front; the drivers', the right-hand passenger, and a middle seat passenger, (which is usually referred to as the "bitch seat," excuse the language,) and the two seats in the rear. Now to the details of our little misadventure; on the way to the Walgreens, Ashley sat up front in the middle seat, and Anthony sat in the front passenger with me driving. Now, on our way from Walgreens, Ashley jumped in the back, after not hearing us say about four or five times, "I thought you were going to sit up front?" A short discussion ensued afterwards winding up in her laying down in the back seat and the thought implanted in my mind of break-checks. (/me evil snicker.) To make a long story short, I wound up driving around the block a few times, and into the Lows parkinglot break-checking about and running over the speed-bumps, and making sharp turns, tossing my drummer about the back seat, leaving her very clearly disoriented by the time I had decided to return home. (^.^)<---smiley face. Ah, what else is there to say about my night. . .
Let's see. . . there was a three-man mosh pit between us to the song Bounce, by System of a Down, and we all danced about the garage like idiots, and ran around the neighborhood, spinning in circles with our heads back. All-in-all, it was a fun night. When we actually got back to the instruments, we actually made a bit of progress, starting up the beginning to a song so that we've got something to play. In the conclusion of all of this, when we were taking Ashley home, I asked my mother if she could hear us through the walls and her response was "I was waiting for the neighbors to come knocking." When I asked her if we sounded any good, her response was, essentially, "No comment." That was when I turned to the guys and said "So guys. . . we sound like shit." But that essentially concludes that story, so I'm going to move on to the next question to try to get this done.
Question Number 2: What have you learned recently? I learned that my walls are not as thick as I hoped they'd be, I should expect complaints during one of our practices, and books have a whole lot of meanings behind them I am sure weren't an original intention of the author, though as debatable as some can be, I wouldn't doubt if the controversy of some statements was intended, but meanings behind other things, I am not as sure.
Question Number 3: What are you planning on doing next? Well, like the last time I answered this question, it all really depends on the context. With the band, I'm just hoping we can have practices more often or meetings in the least, and it looks like we'll be changing our name. With school, I'm still just hoping I'll pass all of my classes this semester, and be able to graduate on time. Otherwise I don't really know how to answer this question.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
System Update. . . Done; Muscular.
In this blog I am supposed to. . . "explain the anatomy of skeletal muscle, focusing upon form and function." Awesome. Only problem is. . . I do not really know how to do that. Sure, we have been working on the skeletal system for however long already, but to me, that prompt is simply asking me to say what the skeletal muscle does. Well, gee, I dunno, maybe moves the skeleton? That's about where it end for me, I really do not know how else to explain it. We are delving into the microscopic part of it finally, but that really does not do one so much good when their teacher refers to something one should have learned in biology eighty (80) times, and one does not know how one even passed their biology class after being suspended for a whole week (a story for another time), and probably DURING the time that one would have been receiving all of the information about the microscopic whatnots about cells and living things. Needless to say, I am probably not one prepared for this class as one should be and I do not know how to respond for this blog. my apologize for any disappointment (ha!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)