Wonder Apples

                Another attempt at making genetically modified food has yet again gone wrong. This article shows some extremists against GMOs who decided to invade his apple farm and hack into some trees, although they must not have been very educated otherwise they would have realized that GMOs are not actually too much different from regular fruit, the trees they hacked into were actually just regular apple trees and not genetically modified, and they did not even hack into the trees properly and so caused no permanent damage. This is what we civilians call amateurs. This is like trying to write an angry email talking about how you want a refund because you smashed an Xbox but forgetting to hit send or even writing the letter in the first place.
 

                As an avid learner in AP Environmental Science, it teaches many facts about genetically modified foods and how they are not the least bit harmful to humans, but people who have their own beliefs about it refuse to accept it. If you want to talk about how it is a government conspiracy, well that is like saying anything could possibly be a government conspiracy, which is something I do not want to get into, but if you want to share one, I would love to hear about it.

Many nations are starving because of the lack of food, like Latvia and lack of potatoes, but will not accept genetically modified foods, which seems weird at first, but I can kind of understand it. I mean think about it, how many humans, in the seven billion we have on our planet, are willing to help someone without expecting someone in return? Not many. So if a complete stranger offers you a source of strange food randomly, I would be a little suspicious, partly because my parents told me not to take anything from strangers. Now these companies offering this kind of food would seem out of good will at first, but multinational companies want money right? So, once this country is completely reliant on this crop, hype up the price. They have no choice but to comply with the demand or to change their country's food completely. I am not saying every company is as evil as this, but it was just a thought. I still believe that genetically modified food has to be the solution because of the growing population, unless people want to abstain from sex, or might as well try and live on the sun.

A Pretty Valid Excuse

                As a high school student, I found that this would be pretty interesting to think about, not saying that high school is stressful, actually I am, because it is. This article is related because it shows that humans will make the “easier” decision when they are under stress. This contradicts most schools because with those teachers that think their class is the only one that you have and give large pieces of homework due the next day. I do not know about you guys, but it really stresses me out so I do not do my homework as well as I could have.

               Of course this does not mean I do not procrastinate, and contrary to popular belief that procrastinators are just lazy, we believe that we are avoiding the stress of our workload. This is also not including the amount of standardized tests we have to take in our own free time, and those evil teachers that give a test that takes the entire class period then gives a large homework assignment. With stress, these choices may not affect you in the short run, but in the long run, it would affect you pretty badly.

                I know that in the article it says that stress should not affect the results of a decision too much from the experiment of the money making thing. I think that this was because it was not on a large enough scale for it to matter too much. The percentages did not vary too greatly and there was not much lost, only a quarter to gain, so I think that the people with the model based learning did not put their full intelligence to the test and decided to, sorry, “yolo” it. On the other hand, if these people paid fifty dollars as an entry fee and had a chance to win a million dollars, I am sure that the differences between the two would have been much greater, because it would have a larger, more profound effect on their life. Since all teachers and parents ever do is tell us how much our grades and choices will affect us the rest of our lives, it honestly does not help the matter of our stress too greatly. In fact, by telling us this and putting on greater due dates, it may be actually harming us. Just keep in mind that most of this is speculation and as a high school student, I am either too lazy to do this or do not have enough free time to test this. 

Nothing's Black and White

           Although this technically has not been proved yet, it seems like this would make a lot of sense, because zebras do use their stripes for camouflage, but if grass is long and yellow, how does it hide the zebra if the stripes are black. Well, black and white are two of the most extreme colors in all of the color spectrum, and the two most contrasting colors, so it really should not provide the most fantastic camouflage if you know what I mean. This study, while unchecked, has delved into the idea deeper, and has come up with the idea of an optical illusion to throw off their predators.

            Black and white would work extremely well in this case, because many of the mental tortures or appraisals have used black and white. One such mental test is the Rorschach tests, which are blobs of ink on a sheet of paper, and deciphering what one sees in there is supposed to help the psychiatrist tell what goes on in one’s mind. A mental torture would be the white torture, where a person is only allowed to see white, and technically black due to shadows cast in the room, and soon enough, the person usually goes insane. This just shows that black and white have long been associated with mental tricks. So, this optical illusion thing zebras do cannot be too far off from what they are actually used for. I would not recommend doing this to escape people you do not like or want to talk to. Trust me, ripping your clothing off only to find you have black and white stripes and running away usually does not work, usually. It would probably make you more of an outcast than you already are, and I am sure you are an outcast because no normal person would consider doing this. Painting the lines onto your body is no joyride either, unless you’re into that kind of stuff.

            I have always loved optical illusions since I was just a wee little lad. It always let me wonder if the impossible really were not all that impossible, because if you can get a never ending staircase, I am sure I can get anywhere. This optical illusion, though, focuses on two different types, the wagon wheel, and the barbershop, both shown. Included with their passive camouflage, it makes it a wonder to see them killed, but as it is, they are, which says something about lions and their totally deserved title of “King of the Jungle” not to be confused with George.

My, My, Such Colorful Language

                So apparently chameleons have abilities that are extremely similar to what humans experience before they fight. These chameleons, as summarized here, use a series of color patterns on their skins to try and intimidate the others, so it seems like a kind of chess game to me, but except this is only the pre-fight, and if neither backs down, then it becomes an actual fight. I found that this kind of related to humans, or at least the fights that threaten to break out that I witness. It usually starts with a large round of colorful language, and on what they are able to do. Usually one either will back down or “restrained” by their friends as they scream, “HOLD ME BACK! HOLD ME BACK!” Admittedly, I may or not do this, but if neither backs down, it becomes a full scale fight. At school, this usually does not happen because most of the time, unless the person is mentally disabled, would like to avoid a fight.

                Of course, physical fights are not the only thing that happens in schools, as all high school students are able to confirm, unless they lived under a rock or was homeschooled, not that there is anything wrong with either of those. Well this study apparently wants to record chameleons and figure out what they are going to do before they actually do it. The only way I can think of that this relates to humans or the significance of this would be that we could eventually predict what humans were to do much before they could actually perform the action. This may or may not prevent a lot of fights, because many people have pride, but could you imagine if one could quickly analyze a person’s movements and determine exactly what they were going to do.

                Yes, I do know that this happens like 99% of the time in all of those secret agent books and movies, but unless you were an unstoppable killing machine or at least an assassin, I do not think it would be possible to determine it. In accordance with this, assassins are killed all the time, so obviously the concept is not too accurate. Either way, the idea that this is going on, and that scientists can actually analyze what happens or link it with real actions is pretty exciting, but makes me wonder if humans are trying to play at god again. As every literate person knows, that does not ever end well.

Lazy and Hipster People Central

                Whoever thought that using modern technology to go back in time is probably not the brightest crayon in the crayon box. I am not exactly targeting all the hipsters out there, but I just find it pointless. This printer is cool and all, but it is multiple light years behind current technology (which any pokemon player should know, is actually a measure of distance rather than time) and thus fairly worthless in modern day technology, although it is cool and, if build from scratch, gives a feeling of accomplishment. In fact, my robotics team is actually trying to produce a 3D printer, which is possibly what this thing printed, and so since it is a type of “open source” where everyone can view the design and change it, anyone can build it.

                The basis behind a 3D printer is that one would program in a blueprint with all the necessary information and then it would be able to “print”, but more like make, the blue print in full materials. I really like the idea, but once I looked deeper, it does only save the manual labor, which actually provides quite a bit of jobs but that is for another economic blog, because the printer still needs to be supplied with the materials made. So, if you would like to take  my recommendation, I would totally recommend making or at least building a 3D printer if there is a schedule deadline and for all the lazy bums out there, although it does take quite a bit of work to make it in the first place, but businesses and other areas could too, but us poor high school students would like random jobs, so it would be nice to save a couple of them for us. A lot of instructions and building materials are online somewhere and they do not cost money, except for the materials of course.

                To achieve the highest degree of laziness, I would say that you would start with the absolute crappiest printer that you can find and shoddily throw it together. Then, when you present it to your friends, they will laugh and you will feel bad for a while. Don’t stop reading just yet. So, when you hit the lowest of the low, you then find the directions for building the best, most awesome, printer, and so while all of your friends, if you have any, are working hard and laboring over their new printer, you can sit back and relax as you put in the directions to your printer and it comes out perfectly. This is a method that even the laziest person I know, Sean, will approve of.

It's made of Plastic, IT'S SO FANTASTIC!

            Has anyone else found the repetition of an empty two liter bottle of soda whacking against your own head strangely therapeutic? Really? Only me? I guess this is why I don’t sit at the cool kids table during lunch. I know many of you currently think I’m weird or strange, which I really am, but this article proves my quirk is not as weird as it may seem. You see, plastic has a calming effect on one’s body, proven by this, or at least a kind of medicine derived from it, so when most of you are either dead or in a lot of pain, give me a call with your address and I will makes sure to come to wherever you are and whack you upside the head with a two liter.

            Even though fungal infections can be dangerous and would be a good idea to remove them, it would be much better if it were viral infections, because anti fungus medicine already has a fairly large abundance. Viral infections on the other hand, are like zombie plagues, nobody knows how they work, and whether they are living or dead, and the only way to get rid of them is to empower the human population with enhanced powers. This analogy is like a viral infection, they invade your cells and spread, but the only way to kill them is to feed your body steroids with its “roid rage” and kill viruses.

            Fungi is pretty scary too, it can becomes like the Titanic. Wow, I am just full of fantastic analogies today. Although it seems like not much, in fact, it could be worse than one thinks. The Titanic was a giant iceberg, so by the time they were close to it, it probably was too late for them to avoid the problem, because the problem with an iceberg is that it grows in deep. So it actually seemed even worse than it was, although with a bit of prior planning, it could have been easily avoided. Life lessons and learning, what more could a reader possibly want from a blog?

            One final reason that this may be a fantastic idea is that people will recycle their plastic bottles more often, since it has a better use to it, rather than just be thrown away. Of course, plastic is a nonrenewable resource, and so though this does not seem to have any malicious effects on humans, nor have fungi developed a resistance to it, it will not be a permanent solution to solving this fungi problem.

I'm Not Being Race-ist or Anything, but This is Cool

                Well technology just becomes cooler and more interactive each day, does it not? Looking at the past couple years of video game console developments, first you have the Nintendo Wii, which uses controllers to put the people into the game, which was topped by the Xbox Kinect, which then followed up with the new Xbox One, where I am sure many of you trampled each other to obtain, which has a new voice activation system and lets you control what it does, well mostly anyway. Now, this new company came out with AnkiDrive, whose details can be found here, but in short, it is like racing games, only live and real. Although it is really cool and brings the racing applications on iPhones to life, the price is kind of high and is only a really glorified version of remote controlled cars.

                I do not know how long they worked on it, but I really like how they turned it into a collectible game, because these cars would be able to be upgraded in-game, and so, from a child’s point of view, could effectively show off their hundred dollar toy, which honestly is a fantastic marketing idea. Since this would be played on an iPhone or iPod, it would also encourage the use of Apple devices. Of course, if this game were to even slightly resemble any kind of app store games, it would have to have in app purchases to upgrade them even more. Speaking from personal experiences with children obsessed with a game and want to level up because they are not patient enough to play the game and wait for it, it is a great marketing idea, because let me tell you, they are extremely annoying, and well, usually get their way.

                I guess this does define the capitalist country though. I do not think that any of you readers will be able to tell me without completely lying to yourself or to me, that money does not make the world go around, or if you have more money, you can get further in life. Do not get me wrong on this, I do not epitomize money as the basis of my entire life, or think that this is a good way to teach children how society functions. I also never/ said I was the best teacher of morals either. Either way, this is a really cool piece of technology, and as always, up to you whether or not to get it and teach your child morals if you plan on having one anyway.

Is Your Motherboard as Good as Mother Russia?

            Ever hear of those Russian Supercomputers that are supposed to be ridiculously fast and impossibly good at chess like most Russians? Stereotyping, yes I know, but computers these days are becoming extraordinarily faster and are still becoming better at an exponential rate. Although it is still not like the rate that we humans enjoy reproducing, that is still at a much higher rate, but it is starting to drop quite a bit. Anyway, apparently Russia has not had any of the world's largest super computers for a while now. There is of course, probably some discrepancy within the data where it does not find the most superior computer, but there is probably a limit a computer has to pass to become a super computer, and by that I mean, the graphs are only showing quantity rather than quantity.

            My interrogative nature will not let me put this question to rest. Why do we even have super computers anyway? I mean, if we have the technology to create a supercomputer, why is it not widely available to the public. Sure most of us plebeians do not have much of a use for them, but when top secret government places have it, it not only shows the differences between the richest and poorest classes, but it also feeds, much like my League of Legends teammates, the conspiracy theorists who are all about, "the government is corrupting" or "Aliens DO exist" which usually is not such a large deal, but it is something to look at. 

            I wonder why most of the operating systems are usually none of the popular ones, because Linux is not used in all of its penguin wonderfulness, and hardly anyone has even heard of Unix in years. Nobody out there can possibly say that they have not heard of a single person who has not had an argument with another about whether Windows or Apple is better, unless one lives under a rock or in Iowa. (It is okay, I can make these jokes, I am an Iowan.) Supposedly the world's best computers are made using Linux, but many people decide to use Windows or Apple instead. I cannot say much, since I am using Windows, but I would assume the reason is that these two operating systems are easier to use and more self-explanatory though more restrictive on actions. Looking at it this way, it could be analogous to how the smartest put effort into their work, but the average ones are lazy. Hint, hint, right?

Are These the Drones You're Looking For?

          So it indeed has been a while between posts, but forgive me for thinking that the entire month of November is not only my birthday month but also Thanksgiving, which I decided to take off. Hopefully these new “drones” made by Amazon Prime Air will not take as much time to deliver the order as I take to create a new post. I am sure many of you have seen this commercial, but it is here if you have not. Although this first looks like just another fanciful futuristic flight plan made by Amazon just to show how quickly they can actually deliver the product, according to the company’s CEO, Jeff Bozos, it could very much become a possibility within the next couple years, around 2015. This statement draws much skepticism from all sources, and many of them do have a base for the criticism.

            One of the biggest things I find wrong with this is that in order to deliver the product, the drones need to fly through the air, which can be a major safety hazard. I mean, everything comes with a risk, but this one probably has more than usual. For an example, if you were to walk onto a plane and told that there was no pilot, but instead a robot, not even one with a physical body, just a type of consciousness, would you really go through with the flight? Another thing is that these drones would also have cameras on them, which could monitor people and take pictures of houses, and in the end, would there be much of a difference between military drones to control outsiders to these drones that would control internal problems? It would be a huge violation of privacy, and we would have to put a lot of trust into the government to not spy or creep in on us, which if we learned anything from the NSA or WikiLeaks, it is that we really cannot. Sure, we could program these robots to not be able to keep the stuff, but robots have to be programmed precisely otherwise they do something completely different, and as an avid member of the robotics team, I can guarantee this.

            This would bring me to my next point, which is that it would be extremely difficult to achieve this by the end of the decade, much less 2015. It would take a lot of work to make sure there would not be any bugs in the program, and to make it completely safe. There is also the issue of fuel, since it would take a lot of gas to do its task. This guaranteed is going to take longer than a year unless all their resources are developing, which is not a fantastic business plan. I still do not think that this would be too great of an idea, because the delivery service give people jobs, and the unemployment rate would rise. Sure, some new jobs will be created, but not as many, and it would be in a different field of work. One final thing I find wrong with this is that it would make everything much more mechanized, which is not a bad thing in an industrial society and continuously upgrading technology, but has anyone not seen I, Robot because like humans, robots could rebel, and although there are the laws of robotics that supposedly protect people from them, but it is not like people break society’s laws at all, am I right?

Welcome to the Shadow Realm

            GUYS! The hunt for dark matter is on again. We all know what this means. The possibility of time travel is very much possible now. Dark matter is the entire basis of true time travel. The cool time travel I mean, not the lame one. This article talks about the increasing evidence for dark matter and it starts to convince me too.

            I remember back from when I was just a wee young lad, that I was being propagandized by my peers, it was a pretty traumatic situation, because they kept talking about the apocalyptic black hole that someone was going to create in Sweden or some unbeknownst to me random European country. This was going to happen because these people were trying to shoot two protons at each other, which is harder than hitting two tips of some needles together from across the room. This would then theoretically create a black hole which would suck in the rest of the Earth. Now, I feel like it is probably worth sacrificing the entire human race. I know, it sounds bad, but in the greater picture, nothing bad came out of it right? And all humans ever do is kill the environment and its native inhabitants, even when they happen to be other humans, which is then followed up with reproducing to leave a legacy.

            Well from watching this YouTube video, I figured out how to travel through time the cool way, and apparently dark matter is the main reason we still cannot have it yet, and it is horrible. How cool is time travel though really? I mean not the linear time travel, but the loops. Think of how much of our mysteries we could find out! We could find out about Roanoke, Atlantis, and why some of you are still reading this blog. All in all, it would be a fantastic discovery and journey, but may lead to the destruction of the human race, but would be so totally worth it.

Homicidal Robot Human

             Some days I just sit in my thinking spot and think, “Self, if you were confronted by an insane psychopath, would you rather them be very flamboyant about how much they wanted to kill you and reveled in the pain that they dealt, whether it be to themselves or to you, or would it be better for them to be cold and emotionless without feeling pain?” Yeah, trust me, I am taking therapy from a couple of people, just in case that was what you were wondering. Well, this is brought up because of this article, which tries to explain why humans find robots innately creepy and then tries to play down that fear, and please note, a couple of the pictures in there are kind of creepy. If I saw one of those pictures in the middle of the night, I guarantee that I would lose it, and once you see it, you will know exactly what I mean. I mean, sure I am in the robotics club at my school, but non humanoid robots do not creep me out, but instead it is the human ones.

            As this article states, the creepiest things about human robots is the fact that they do not actually look too far off from being human, but it is always that slight difference that throws us off. Probably because of humans natural tendency to judge people based on their difference from what the judger is. Seriously guys, I am in high school, there is absolutely no way you can tell me I am wrong on that, I see it happen like twelve times a minute. This also reminds of the Salem Witch Trials long ago, where people would burn witches because they survived being tied up and thrown in a lake, and obviously this was not that fair to the people, but did the “jury” care? No.

            Although I am scared of robots only slightly not looking human, I really would rather them keep it like that because if they looked completely human, I would be even more scared and probably extremely paranoid while I was at it. Just stop and think about it, homicidal maniacs and murderers look the same as the rest of the humans, but they at least can feel pain. If a robot were to malfunction and go on a rampage, it would be difficult to stop it, because they do not feel pain, and cannot really guarantee their death unless a robot were to be smashed to bits. Later on, as human technology advances with reinforced metals on robots, it would be hard to take them down, even with an EMP, or possibly a nuke. The problem with the EMP is that humans have been developing other sources of electricity in case something like that would happen. The problem with the nuke is the fact that, well, they do look almost exactly like humans, so what? Nuke all humans to make sure the robots are dead? A robot apocalypse might be worse than a zombie apocalypse.

If it ain't broke, Don't fix it

            It may not seem important now, but this is the future happening right here. Scientists can now determine a person’s ethnicity just from the bacteria inside their mouth, or, you know, they could look at the skin color, but that would just be too easy. Congratulations America, this is what your tax money is being spent on. With this new discovery, people who like white but really are not, can be even more racially profiled than they ever were before. Of course this is not all that bad, because now, scientists know that there are different types of bacteria in a person’s mouth and so are able to use different medicines to address different issues.

            I really do have to admit that I was being kind of unfair in my first assertion in the previous paragraph. I really do not know what I was thinking. A leopard cannot and most likely will not be able to change its spots, unless it goes through some deeply intensive therapy. Like I said, or meant in the badly created metaphor, just because there is a new way to identify different ethnicities, it should not matter too much, because the people who were going to judge people based on their ethnicity before, probably will not change their opinion on them even if new evidence comes out or laws declaring against it. I do appreciate the fact that instead of using race, this article does use ethnicity, because as one of my teachers said, “Race is not a real thing, only ethnicity, so you can’t be racist, only ethnicist,” Yeah, as you can see, I had wonderful teachers throughout my academic career. Although, even though I said it was another way to profile a person from above, this really is not all that accurate, a whopping 62% which, if I got that on a test, I would be disappointing my family. It also does not give specific ethnicities, only the general area, like not Ethiopian, but African, not Japanese, but Asian.

            At first glance to me, it seems like experimenting even further in depth with some of the bacteria found in different people’s teeth, seems helpful since it is a new scientific breakthrough, and would help scientists a lot in their beneficiary practices. Then, I started to wonder, if we have already come this far with little to no trouble, why we should then try to change it. Like many a people have said, “If it isn’t broke, then don’t fix it,” This has not been all over the news, about how bacteria is killing people, and if it has not reached that level of importance, then I guess it should not be important enough to acknowledge, according to a majority of people I talk to.

MC Quant Is in the House!

            Some people just do not think that learning and playing go together. I am here to tell you that those people are absolutely right, unless you are one of those genius freak outcasts that think learning is fun. Well, let me rephrase that, school is not fun, but learning is. A new mod on Minecraft allows the player, or Steve, to mess with quantum physics. I mean, if I had a choice between either Minecraft or a physics textbook, it would most definitely be Minecraft.

            Of course, like all simulations, they do not flawlessly represent the actual thing, but this is pretty close, and it gives freedom of movement and basically freedom to do whatever someone wants to do. It is much better than the constricted boundaries that school gives you, high school for that matter, and instead it allows a person to freely explore their boundaries. This, I believe teaches much better than restrictions, because when babies are first born, they do not know the rules of the world as soon as they escape from the womb. Instead, they learn through exploration and interaction of the objects surrounding them. In fact, one of the reasons some kids learn so much, is because of the freedom of their actions, of course, it is then strictly inhibited once they get into school with heavy regimented policies and mistakes everywhere.

            Another reason that this is a great idea is that somebody actually gave a thought to furthering education. Other games are all about fun and money and drugs and sex and stuff and more and more and more! Not saying that those games do not have low moral standards, actually I am, they are also not educational and only teach reflexes while also reinforcing the will to buy the sequel, because, "WHEE! It is an exciting game, the sequel can only be better!"

            Then again, if one would look at it from the gamer's point of view, this makes an immensely more exciting game, because now it is based upon whether or not a series of events has been completed yet, and only when these events are completed do the results happen. It would be great for computer programmers too because their programming is strictly regimented and if one thing is not completed than the whole thing falls apart, it is actually pretty depressing to be honest. Then again, anything that wastes time is depressing like watching a couple movies of a sparkling vampire.

Living on Cloud 9

          Technology is becoming more and more important in modern times, and soon humans probably will not even be able to function without it. Of course, it is not like this innovation makes it seem any better, but it is a pretty cool idea. Have you ever looked at a piece of technology and just thought, “I know there is going to be a better version of this, but I need it now!” Yeah, instant gratification, a very large part of human nature. Well, this new idea makes it so that everyone can save thousands of dollars, not even exaggerating right now, on new pieces of technology, but as happy as it makes us consumers, the business owners would have to be at least slightly miffed by this.

            With this, nobody has to ever worry about not saving anything or not having a file saved. Well, now it is completely based around the cloud system, and so updates are sent wirelessly. This means that everything now can become a computer, like a television, everything would be connected. Of course, I really do not like this too much. For instance, my school has apparently given us this cloud program so people are able to leave flash drives at home, but they work about as much as I do. I am currently unemployed, which means I do not have a job, and so do not do anything. AP Chemistry is a fairly difficult class, and we have to write a lab report that is a couple of pages long. One time, I had a lab report almost completed, but was saved on a couple of tablets, so we had to either save it to our student, flash, or cloud drive. To say the least, I forgot my flash drive, and my student drive is not that useful at home, so I decided to give this cloud drive a chance and let it work its magic. It just did not. I got the first page, but the others were lost in cyberspace.

            The other reason I find this idea a particularly bad idea is that an EMP, electro-magnetic pulse, which knocks out every electrical functioning thing in a certain radius. These would end up being the bane of our country. The government could easily use it to subdue people, and people would have no way of communicating. I am sure most of you think this is stupid, but if you heard your loved one got shot and wanted to know if he or she was okay, and the government would not let you call them, because you were an anarchist, it would make many people angry. I mean, having every single thing someone owns online and no tangible proof that it exists? Thinking that will be sufficient proof is almost like a mental disease and tosses common sense out the window.

Warning! This is Not A Fun-Gi (Guy)

           Has anyone watched Contagion? It is about this virus thing that kills off people in the strangest way possible, through bubbling through the teeth and having a seizure. The first time it happens, it is actually quite scary and leaves a person with a kind of shaky feeling about it. The creepiest thing about it though, is that it honestly is not quite far off from what could actually happen. In fact, frogs have the same immune system as us, or at least close to it, but are being afflicted with a hostile pathogen that these frogs seem to not be able to fight off. It is pretty gruesome because this article shows that this fungus infiltrates their body then just kind of shuts everything down, making the frogs really lethargic and basically crawl out of the water and just die because they cannot find any food to eat.

            This is just like the zombie apocalypse. Imagine that these were humans, humans who have strange growths out of them and drag themselves across the floor with their hands. Imagine one lying on the floor, incredibly hungry, incredibly lethargic, but knows it needs food. Now imagine accidentally leaving a door open, and as someone crosses a dark threshold, one darts out and latches on eating, because it is not that far out of range. Creepy, is it not? One of the reasons that I brought up Contagion is because this virus has been around these frogs for about ten years, and yet this is the first time anyone has obtained a clue or an inkling of what is actually going on, and why it cannot combat it. We may not have a clue, or may not even care, because all humans think they are better than anything else, including other humans.

Of course, if this virus ever spreads to humans, we are probably screwed, us internet folk, because we are lethargic enough without anyone else’s help. Then again by the time we figure out it could spread to humans, people will research like madmen in order to “preserve the human race” when animals die every day of unknown diseases, which do not affect the human race, and so they are inconsequential. Have any of them never heard of the canary in the coal mine analogy? We, humans, basically depend on animals to survive. If a polar bear with its large amounts of fur, dies in the arctic of hypothermia, it says something about the arctic. Inversely, if a camel dies of thirst in the Saharan Desert, it starts to say something about the livability of the desert.

Some People Just Know How To Celebrate Christmas

            Has anyone had one of those teachers where they divide the class up into separate groups depending on when their birthday was? No? Just me? Okay. Anyway, in one of my classes, we would, for some reason, have a large abundance of people born in September in the class, and so my teacher made a comment, "Wow, some of your parents really knew how to celebrate Christmas," which caused the class to burst into hysterics obviously. See, if hamsters had the same gestation period as humans, there would be no hamsters born in the fall months, because hamsters apparently have this gene in them which controls their reproductive capabilities, and so it shuts them off during the winter months. If you are into this kinda stuff, I know I am, it gives a more detailed explanation in this article.

            Think of how much the world population would go down if people were limited with this gene. That would be three or more months, all depending on the groundhogs, of not reproducing and conservation of energy and thus, money. Do not get me wrong on this, I really do not think that people are a waste of time and a severe drain on resources, well most of them anyway, and it is worth it to raise them, but I would not like to see the human race self destruct all because some people just get a little more "festive" during holiday seasons. Unfortunately, we do not have this gene, and unless some people want to injected with hamster DNA or have everyone reproduce with a hamster until we successfully insert this gene into every human, it probably will not be that possible. Another choice is to dip a hamster in radioactive material then have it bite a person which they can obtain most of the hamster's DNA and mix it with theirs. Afterwards he or she can proceed to save the world with its other useless compatriots, Aquaman and Squirrel Girl.

            Actually, I really wrote this because I find the abilities kind of impressive, I mean, us humans cannot really tell the season if we stand outside with our eyes closed, but these hamsters can internally distinguish between seasons. Although, a reason that we do not have this is we really do not need it, but it still would be kind of nice to have more energy to do stuff during the holidays instead of "celebrating" but other than that, I do not really have a clue about its significance. It did clear up something that was unknown before, but nothing really important that everyone wants to know, such as "Do aliens exist?" or "What does the fox say?"

            

Fabulous Rainbow Powers, ACTIVATE!

            As you are reading this right now, have you ever wondered about what the Wi-Fi signals, which are emanating from random places, you are using actually looked like? Well it is just speculation and it has no guarantee that this is what they actually look like, but the speculation makes them look fantastic, like Neo-Space from Yu-Gi-Oh or Confusion in the Pokemon games. I mean, it is really the only way to describe these waves, because it really looks like something out of a fantasy. Please note that the rainbow colors are pretty much there for aesthetic reasons.

            Scientists are wondering about how they can actually determine what they look like, and it kind of confuses me. There is only like a certain spectrum of light that all types of waves fall under, hey look, chemistry actually came in handy outside of chemistry, and this is amazing in itself. Seriously though, we know why the sky is blue and reasons why rainbows exist, and all types of waves and their lengths, including what they look like. Infrared waves, Ultraviolet waves, and microwaves, we know what they all look like, but when it comes to Wi-Fi signals, all of our learning has gone straight down the toilet drain, kind of like our tax money and my hopes and dreams. I mean, honestly, in the big picture of everything, it does not matter all that much, even I cannot think of ways it could be used, unless people want to find optimal spots for a Wi-Fi hotspot, or wanted to make a movie about how we are slowly dying because of our proximity to it, which would not make too bad of a storyline. It would be better than another certain movie with sparkling vampires, and it would be more colorful and interesting that would consist of much of the color spectrum than a movie consisting of fifty different shades of gray.

                Once these waves are located though, another important problem is, “What if these Wi-Fi signals are harmful to humans, or have a wavelength that is detrimental to the environment?” I really would like to say people would boycott it and force the distributors to shut it down, but seriously though, I highly doubt anyone with a computer is going to do anything, I mean, people already knowingly kill the environment. Knowing that a person’s favorite form of entertainment is harming the environment, it will be the same thing every time, everyone does this, do not even lie about it, we are going to say, “That is someone else’s problem,” This is the natural course of human thinking, even our government.

Scorpions be Climbing in the Windows, Snatching Up Everyone, So Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife

            One of my worst nightmares has been giant spiders creeping around my bedroom, or creeping around anywhere for that matter, or even a swarm of small spiders invading. In case none of you have noticed yet, I do have arachnophobia to a fairly high degree. Although, I kind of found out that when people say arachnids, they do not necessarily mean spiders, in fact, scorpions are a type of arachnid. Recently, some people have discovered the genomes of the scorpions and have isolated some of them that allow scorpions to become immune to their own poison. It actually sounds a lot like our own immunity to stomach acid, I guess not so much immunity as it is mucous covering it. Even though it does not mention a lot of uses for it in the article, I can only begin to imagine the effects it could have on our society.

            The first obvious one coming to my mind, due to the fact that I am a nerd or a geek if you prefer, which is implementing the couple poison genes from scorpions into humans and mixing it with the DNA of humans. Imagine the beneficial effects of this before you start to judge me. Scorpions contain some fairly toxic compounds within their bodies without much adverse effects to themselves, and since they have built up this huge immunity to many poisonous substances, so scorpions are able to ingest many poisonous plants and animals. Imagine, being the reckless teenager that I am, challenging a classmate to a contest to prove your worth, and then walking into the room and to intimidate the opposition, bring a bottle of Clorox and just downing the bottle while munching on some mistletoe as a snack. This would be extremely hardcore and cool that if I saw someone do that, they would immediately become my best friend. In reality, this would help some of the hunger issues, because it would open a whole new window of possibilities.

            On the other hand, this could also be very harmful to people to, although it is a bit farfetched, at least hear me out before you write it off as stupid. With the genomes of these toxins found, it would be easy for someone to just mass produce them, and instead of having Spiderman, we would have Scorpionman, who shoots poison from his fingertips, although, if we figure out the immunity thing, it will not be much of a problem. Even without the immunity thing, the same could be said about finding the antidotes to these poisons, of course, if we have not already. Knowing the compounds in a scorpion and how it combats it will help scientists figure out a couple new ways to combat new poisons.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

            Wow, looks like some people’s paychecks are about to go on the decline. This new test works apparently well with people who have brains that are going through constant regression, like in “Flowers for Algernon”, by using a much easier and cheaper way than going to a medical professional. Well, I do not suggest making one of your own tests and refuse to bring one of your grandparents to a doctor, just because he or she can smell peanut butter from a couple meters away. The doctors have gotten a degree in their degree of study. (Very much like one of our own professionals with a Ph. Qi right? Who me? Nah, you must be mistaken.)

            This test was first meant for people with mental regression, mainly Alzheimer’s disease, and does not help with other kinds of brain diseases, such as dementia, and it has been shown also because some of the effects that people with Alzheimer’s disease had during testing did not happen to the regular people who have not had any cognitive decline yet. I still think it could use a bit more testing, because something as light as this, I think, would not call for extreme in depth testing and making sure that it works. Sure, once people hear of this method, I can nearly guarantee that people will attempt to use it, but I do not truly believe that they will not go to a doctor to either support or prove the method wrong.

            It would not be too bad of an idea even if it ended up not working, because it was a fantastic idea and extremely innovative, which I think can be easily improved upon to make it apply to other diseases or mental issues, mostly because the qualities and smells that peanut butter gives off is very unique and would easily be able to test many things. Just make sure it does not test your stupidity in taking the peanut butter challenge. I really think it could be used on other people with concussions for a quick diagnosis to see which procedure should be taken. Like most preliminary tests, it would not be the final verdict, but it is always easier and safer to do something once someone knows what has actually happened or is just generally pointed in the right direction. Even if they are pointed in the wrong direction, it would not be that much farther off from where he or she started.

The Knock Knock (No-Bell) Peace Prize

                I am almost completely sure that most of you science nerds, yes that is including myself, or anyone that just pays attention to the news would know all about the Nobel Peace Prize just awarded to a coalition of people who work together to take apart chemical weapons, but just in case you have not, you can see a summary of it here. There were many contenders for this, including a girl who was shot in order to protest women’s education. The scientific part of this though is how these people actually plan to get these weapons of mass destruction destroyed, and keep in mind, not everyone fully appreciates them.

                One of the largest concerns for me in disposing of chemical weapons is what kind of effects will it have on the surrounding environment. Think about it, these are chemicals that can easily kill many people, what could it possibly do to the environment. This organization always says “dispose of these chemicals” but it is not always as easy as that. It is not really like they can go into whatever country they want and just pick up all the chemicals and dump them into the ocean either. Of course, in order to dispose of weapons of mass destruction, because they are extremely dangerous to human health and are immoral, it thus makes obvious sense for our government to force Syria to disable their chemical warfare programs. If you could not tell, that was extreme sarcasm used in that previous sentence. To put this action in other terms, it is like if your house is made wood, and a small portion of it catches on fire, would you use Greek fire, which burns nearly everything, to burn out the fire? Obviously not.

                Although I am not trying to be extremely critical of this group, it kind of makes me think that what they are doing is not that important in the grand scheme of things, because even a Syrian criticized them. To continue the previous comparison, it would be tantamount to a town with only one fire truck going to put out a fire on the far east side of town in completely metal houses, while a fire is rages on the west side of town demolishing wooden houses. This may seem critical of me, but I really do understand the intent of their actions and that they could be extremely significant in the long run. Remember kids, one million begins with one, so although something small, like a random act of kindness does not seem like much, it could be all someone really needs. 

"Muddy Water"

            Explosive diarrhea, rushing everywhere, spraying everything inside the toilet, unable to scrape it off, because it is impossible to get off the toilet, because of the severe diarrhea. Hopefully none of you readers were eating anything during that description, but I am pretty sure you will all be glad to learn that thanks to some of these scientists, it may just be a thing of the past. I do not know how many of you know what causes diarrhea, but it is actually a virus called Norovirus, how creative right, and now have developed a mostly effective vaccine against it.

            As much as people think that water coming out of one’s rear end in spams is disgusting, it is not too extreme or severe, although it is given that 800 people die per year and is probably very uncomfortable for people, there are many more long term projects that would reap better rewards overall. These would only be short term rewards, it is very hard to imagine any long term rewards. Given that we could save 800 people a year, and not trying to sound harsh or anything, but the world as a whole could easily replace that many people in a matter of minutes, and that just shows that some people may need to get a hobby to do, and no Patrick, mayonnaise is not a hobby.

            I do see the short term goal that this provides which could possibly lead to a longer term goal. Many people obtain this virus on cruises, and since many people are congested together, the virus would spread relatively quickly. This would cause many people to become upset and thus hurt the cruise ship business, so if these people were to sell their vaccine to the cruise ship owners who could distribute them, or sell them to hospitals, where worried people could obtain them, for a small fee of course.

            This vaccine does reduce most of the virus’s effects, but if anyone has learned anything about the nature of viruses, is that they are extremely quick to adapt to whatever method is employed against them, and will probably mutate into just a slightly different form than a previous one to avoid a person’s immunity against them. Therefore, like many other vaccines, and depending on how quickly this virus adapts to the vaccine, it may be reconsidered whether the monetary value of the result was worth the cash value put in to the vaccine.

Space: How would you like to die?

                I decided to major in something relating to Science in college, of course after I graduate high school. The problem with this, though, is that I have always worried about what if things might go wrong. I then stumbled upon this article, and although it is not exactly a conventional safety thing, due to the fact that it is in space and not Earth, but it still makes one wonder about the risks of going into science industry. Astronauts are actually the physical part of the trade, but then it makes me worried, even though they say they have not yet lost anyone due to randomly floating off, because the scientists do not seem to care too much that they do not have that many recovery procedures.

                It was always one of my childhood fears to randomly float away, like gravity disappears and then I randomly float off into the atmosphere where I would just slowly suffocate and die. I know, it is pretty irrational, but as everyone knows, children have no sense of logic, and are really not that smart, since their prefrontal cortex is still not fully developed. Well, back to safety concerns, this article makes a mistake seem so horrible and dramatic. The last line just completely throws me off and feels depressed for the rest of the day. It cannot be that hard to create some sort of recovery procedure, I mean it is possible to lose two astronauts this way, but it really should be worth it to try.

                Whatever happened to, “Your safety is our biggest concern!” they say all the time in elementary, middle, and high school. Yeah, maybe if the government would put a little more funding into protect the people who might die. Well, it sounds really easy I guess, but it should be pretty impossible considering the government is not doing much right now, I wonder why? Oh yeah, it got shut down. There used to be a space shuttle that could actually save the astronauts too, but it was retired. I just do not understand the goal behind it, sure they could save some money, or they could save some people. I also just find space an extremely dangerous place, and why we want explore it with actual people is far beyond me. All in all, I really do not think we should be out in space with humans, or any living being for that matter, until we have a safe and guaranteed method of retrieval for them.

Hashtag Yolo Right? Shoot Me for Saying It, but Read the Blog First

               This post is something off the normal basis, but still stays within the loosely termed realms, is all about video games. Specifically, with the release of Grand Theft Auto 5, the ones that give you free reign over the video game area. Although, it is usually these kinds of games that adults complain about that give kids ideas about killing and how it has no consequences in games. Not for so much longer, this person invented a new type of game that actually has consequences, called DayZ.

                The idea behind it is simple, and yet I find it ingenious, though also very annoying at points. This would be an online game, where people have to survive with other people, but once a person dies, he or she must completely restart the game, so if one person kills someone else, then that one person will just have the knowledge that he or she just ended someone’s life and that one person has to now completely start over from the beginning. It may not seem like much at first, but if the person has any morals left, I am sure it will kind of haunt them for a bit. This game does probably seem tedious to start a new game at first, but the purpose is so the person knows what it feels like starting all over and will probably think before killing next time. It is these games that are not exactly educational, but teach life lessons about the value of life, unlike many other games these days.

                I know what some of you are probably thinking, but if you are not, well you will be, “What about the people who go on killing sprees because they feel like it?” Well, if that happens, I am most certain that many of the players in the community will develop a hatred for him or her and eventually will take them down. The other option is, if the community does not start a hate chain against it first, the game creators will then take a copy of the avatar being played and return fire on them. This, I believe, would be traumatizing due to the fact that it would be oneself causing one’s demise. I can somewhat relate to the feeling of it. I believe it would be tantamount to break an arm or leg because of my own stupidity. An example from my life, though not as traumatic as it may seem but trust me that it was, is when I “forget” to study, okay more like didn’t want to, then knowing nothing on the test, and afterwards realizing it was I, not anyone else, that caused my own demise.

                This is a great video game idea, and I can only hope the players do not have a toxic personality towards each other, otherwise it may defeat the overall purpose of the game. It gives the meaning of life back to video games and is a refreshing twist on video game play styles in general.

3 Robots Walk in a Bar, Which Do You Feel Comfortable Around?

                Wow, I had always felt it would be really cool to have a personal robot to take care of my needs at any time of day. I mean, I never actually thought my parents would not actually give me one for my birthday, nor did I actually plan on buying a robot to use as a slave. Thus, I never really thought out any of the details for what my robot would look like. Well according to this group of scientists, who interviewed a bunch of different generations of people in a study that can be found here, determined that it really depends on what the robot is doing for you. The ranges of a robots looks ranged from completely robot to completely human, and another choice for a kind of a mix between the two types.

                Personally, I would definitely go for the completely robot look for every situation possible. This is because once I start using robots for work that I should do, I do not really have to feel that bad about it since the robot still has a foreign quality that does not remind me so much of another human. If the robot were to look like a complete human, it still makes me kind of worried that they probably could pass off as a regular human. So, when they take over the world and real humans must start fighting back, or you know, when they are forced to do all the work that humans are supposed to do, it would still invoke some problems in the more innocent people, because it would honestly be kind of like slavery again. Well that is my opinion, and that may be just because I am part of the “younger generation” the study was talking about.

                In this study, it was shown that many of the older people preferred to have human robots while the other younger group had preferred to have either a mixed face or a completely robotic thing. My reasoning for this, of course from my extensive education of high school history, is delved from many instances occurring in history, where the elder generation is less susceptible to change, and try to remain the same, just look at the French. Younger people, who have not gotten into a “normal” routine yet, are still very flexible with how the world is run. In a different brain study, it showed that younger brains are better equipped for learning. The age gap between generations could create much debate in the future, but so far it has not happened yet, and let us hope it stays that way.

Angry Birds? Your Parents When They Realize You Did This for the Last Hour

            I stand outside with a cold strong breeze blowing in my face, my hair, being blown in all different directions by the wind, a windblown hair styling people would say. I look down at the small little thing in my hand and wonder if it really deserves another chance, but no, I have made up my mind, and if I back down now, it may be too late for the future. Grasping this thing in my hand very tightly, knowing it will be the last time I ever see it, I fling it into the air, whispering, “Be free,” That’s it, it is gone now. My last hope for humanity.

            As many of you iPod and Android users know, Rovio has released another sequel in their long chain of games. This new Angry Birds is based off of Star Wars, and no, not the first angry birds Star Wars, that came out a while ago, but Star Wars II. This, as you all can imagine, has taken a great deal of creativity to come up with, the theme especially. Ever since the company’s first game in 2009, it has found more and more ways to have people spend more and more money in the game. I mean, I am really not just speaking about Angry Birds, but a majority of games on the market. Many of them want to make money, and for good reason too, but it always contains in-app purchases and other hidden features that people need to pay for, and it becomes kind of worrisome on the future generation.

            I know it may seem ludicrous to some of the readers, but being bored, or not getting what you want for Christmas, is not some of the world’s more pressing issues. Many kids have been raised in a world filled with electronics and are extremely attached to them. Speaking from some personal experience of having a younger sibling, they do believe they can do whatever they want because well, “It’s ‘Murica, right?” without trying too hard. Mine is obsessive over the handheld electronics. I mean, I’m not exactly Mister Innocent myself, but I make an effort to consider the effects of what may happen if I get sucked into a game.

            This then, brings me back to Angry Birds, it is extremely time consuming, and even though the levels do not take too long to get through, it always tempts you to play another one, or use real money to buy power ups and upgrades. It drains time and resources, and leaves a person with a feeling of incompletion, because, “there are some more levels to go!” or “Oh no! I got two stars instead of three, better try it again,” Still, one would think people would become bored of these games after like the millionth sequel, or learn what a giant waste of time it is, but I guess not.

THERE IS SALT IN THE OCEAN, I REPEAT, THERE IS SALT IN THE OCEAN!

            I am so glad this finally happened. People are starting to actually starting to care about the sustainability of the Earth, and with that, come the survival of the human race. They created a new piece of technology, which can help the poorer part of the planet, stay afloat, unlike other unnecessary wastes of technology that really is not needed for survival. I can almost guarantee that more people have iPhones than do people have access to clean drinking water. Before any of you readers start to contradict me on that, it is a desalination device, it was only a projected use for it, and if it could take out the dissolved salt particles from the water, I’m pretty sure it could do some basic dirt particles. Anyway, not only do these scientists who created care about the human race, but it was an improvement on an earlier invention. These water desalination devices are friendly to the environment, and so people can use them without worrying about any adverse harmful effects on the environment.

            Even though this new device is friendly to the environment, it still could be improved if it were made to be biodegradable, but I suppose a person can’t have a cake and eat it too, unless he or she is an extremely rich person, which then he could eat a cake, and take someone else’s too. Although being biodegradable would be nice for this device, it may not be necessary at all, depending on the people who have access to the device in question. If it were a closed group of scientists, if they took the time to create a device that is friendly to the environment, it is sure they will not just toss a piece of plastic randomly into the ocean or litter. If given to the general human population of first world countries, it would be another farewell to seagulls and turtles.

            If this device works well, it could start saving many villages in Africa, and other areas without clean drinking water, but it raises the question of the degree of how well it works in different conditions, or even how much it is able to filter out. Even though this is a great solution to a worldwide problem of polluted water because of needless waste of materials, especially in America, one of the best solutions is to stop the problem from happening in the first place. So, even though I do not usually get all pro-environment often, I do beg you readers to consider about the poorer people sometimes.

Transpolyatomic ions, Elements in Disguise

            This article is pretty amazing, I mean, nobody ever thought that people like Nicholas Flannel would ever be considered a realistic scientist. Alchemy has always been some sort of mythical, magical thing that nobody has probably even considered in the last, oh, couple hundred years. Everyone has heard those jokes about the philosopher’s stone, which can pocket a person some free gold, and any person that has a die hard, must find the stone attitude, is ridiculed at by nearly every person in the human population. The real world does not have a philosopher’s stone, otherwise the crime rate and murder rate would be much higher than it currently is, which, then again, is really saying something.

            This article is kind of old, but it still is relatively new compared to some of the previous advancements in the field of Alchemy. To clarify what alchemy really is, alchemy is the change from one substance to another. The fabled philosopher’s stone was supposed to have a Midas’ Touch on it, because gold would be what everyone is after. This is not much of an advancement as all he really did was change the properties of an element to reflect a much rarer element. Although this advancement is really small, it really is a group collection of really small steps that constitute of one really large step, and without the small steps, human civilization would not be where it is.

Even still, this is not so much alchemy as it is chemistry, but chemistry is a form of alchemy I suppose. With current knowledge, it is know that the amount of protons or electrons something has, it gives it about the same properties, and so all they did was knock of an electron. Although it seems fairly obvious right now, it has not been done before, and this new advancement could save thousands of dollars in the environmental world. As platinum was used to counteract a known dangerous gas to humans, this new alchemy could change one of the cheaper metals, into a sad replica of the expensive one.

Outside of this though, it really does not have too much of a use, no bank is really going to change their top credit card labels from “PLATINUM” to “the shoddy tungsten replacement for platinum, because we are too cheap to actually obtain real platinum” well, for an obvious reason of course. This may seem worthless right now, because it does not really apply to you, and it is not even close to a philosopher’s stone, but some day. Some day.

Sleep Can Be More Helpful Than You Think

            Apparently, to get over one’s fears, scientists have found a new, less painful method to remove someone’s phobias than the old traditional way. This new method treats a person in their sleep, whereas the old way was a prolonged exposure to the feared object in hopes of creating new safer memories to outlast the old one.

            This method is pretty amazing to me, because it removes all fear, or at least it theoretically should, during sleep. Although, being the skeptic that I am, it does not make a lot of sense if I just use some common sense and logic. Sleep is the time where a person is most vulnerable; he or she is incapacitated and experiences hallucinations, and then is extremely disoriented when woken up. I personally, can attribute to the truthfulness of this every day of my life when my alarm goes off. Here I am, sleeping oh ever so peacefully, when a blaring siren goes off and I am forced to flail around a bit before I find the snooze button. Thus, trying to incorporate some of his or hers fears into their dreams or sleep does not seem like too bright of an idea. I remember when it happened to me as a child, I think they were called nightmares. Anybody who has had a nightmare obviously knows the terrors of having one, and usually would prefer not to experience them again.

            Of course, this method has hardly been tested and is not ready for full judgment yet, because only 15 people were tested, and the new method is most nearly associated with a person’s sense of smell. Some fears that are specifically linked to some smells would be hard to find, such as arachnophobia. Anyone with arachnophobia who knows what a spider smells like probably does not actually have it if one got close enough to smell it. This could also go horribly wrong when the person associates a good memory with a particular smell, and when the scientists associate the smell with something he or she fears, nothing too good can come out of that. Although, it could have the opposite effect, as in associating the feared item with a good memory which reduces how scary it is. Like I said, it still needs to be tested before any real judgment on it can be made.

            As for now, I think it is a fantastic idea with a couple of holes that need to be filled. It could later become a wonderful treatment, but not a guaranteed treatment, because each individual’s psyche reacts differently to the same situations.

Putting Water in Batteries? What Could Go Wrong?

            A couple of scientists have spent a while laboring over this new type of battery that instead of lithium, can use water instead. This new method is much cheaper than the old way, but still, I do not think this way is amazing like it states in the article.

            The first problem I find with it is that it takes one of Earth’s most precious resources, in fact the resource that is one of the reasons that Earth can sustain life. Once this happens, a precious resource will once again end up in short supply, because even still, many people do not have access to clean water. This then also brings me to the affluence of many first world countries. Compared to third world countries, first worlds have it easy, but even still, many people fall victim to FWP. First World Problems. Next time a friend starts complaining about how his or her water is not cold enough. Hand them a straw, and tell them to suck it up, because there are much more disastrous situations than those.

            This innovation also troubles me, because if people could discover this, why could they have not found a perpetual resource to use, such as the sun, instead of water, which is already in high demand. Of course, if it were to use salt water or polluted water, and purify it in the process, it would be a completely different story and I would be extremely impressed. In the meantime, the details are closed off from the public, so when it comes out, I will make sure to have a follow up review on it.

            Now, the most obvious problem there is with this innovation. I mean, come on, it is an electronic device, and there is water inside of it. Ever since pre-k it seems that every human being has been taught that electricity and water do not go together. Exhibit A is pokemon. Everybody knows that electricity destroys water. My parents always told me never to put a hair dryer under water…again, hey, I liked bubbles back then, do not judge me. What if the water leaks out, and an innocent child is electrocuted, I do not need a psychic to tell me what happens next, I see a lawsuit in the future.

            All in all though, it is a great innovation, I am just what many people call “nit-picking” because out of all its negative parts, its benefits still outweigh possible risks and its negatives. These benefits can be read about in the article.

iOS 7? More like IOSteve $700

            Looks like Apple is at it again, using its typical “new and improved” design to try and have people who own the previous operating system, buy a new one. Like many of its previous updates, not only will they really not give you a choice on updating the current one, it almost forces it upon you. As much as Apple pretends that this will be the most updated version, everyone knows at the back of their mind, whether one chooses to listen to it, there will be another update coming within a year.

             These commercials Apple puts out about its products mirror each other almost completely. The least we consumers can ask for is some originality, such as promising a better design, then all of a sudden, the black phones turn into white ones. How creative! Along with Apple’s creativity, it has fantastic originality too. The iOS 7 also contains the wonderful application of multitasking, I mean, no one has ever seen that happen before on a different phone brand either, right? As great as these updates are, many people will still rush to obtain a phone, and this includes many people who have a phone.

              Although, the fault does not fall too much to the consumer. I must give Apple many props to how it is able to keep their customers and convince them to buy more and more of their products. The most compelling reason for us consumers to continuously buy their phones is because of all the graphics updates for many of the applications. Just the other day, I was downloading a couple of applications from the app store, or at least I was attempting to download some applications. The store kept crashing, which I assume is because it takes more processing speed now to keep up with the rate the store is going at. When I am finally able to download one, it also crashes multiple times before I can start the game. On the umpteenth try, I finally have the application running, which apparently needs processing time too, because I would proceed to see skipping frames. One frame would suddenly jump to the next, and I would be completely lost on what happened in between. This had me so frustrated, it made me consider smashing it and buying a new one.

            Though, this is not saying that all of the updates are horrible. Many of the new updates are useful, such as the iOS in the car, which allows people to, in theory, text and drive. Many of the old functions that had people frustrated are now fixed, and made easier. Personally, it just does not seem like these couple updates are worth a chunk of a wallet.