Ancient Aliens and Jokes

                So today was the first time in forever that I have watched the history channel, and even though there are a lot of memes online referencing the Ancient Aliens dude about how he thinks that aliens have done everything in history that we humans have ever done or accomplished is done by aliens, he does have a couple good points, though I do not necessarily agree with him on all points. Something people need to realize too though is the fact that the show is called Ancient Aliens, so of course he is going to try to relate everything he can to aliens, anything for the views, am I right? I am especially looking at you MTV, which hardly even have music videos anymore.

                One of the reasons that I think some of the points they have can be true is because there are a lot of things in history that cannot be explained, or at least are kind of far-fetched or difficult to explain. One of the points was that the method of writing at first was used to record history or events that were currently happening or had happened. This would mean that the early writings should mostly be true, and that their “legendary weapons” recorded should be true then. A main reason why people I think do not believe this is because they do not want to admit that the past civilizations, to which we often refer to as brutes, were more advanced than us due to an outside influence. If these people are anything like me or most teenagers today, they would not like to be compared to their parents then be told that their parents had done exactly what they were doing in school, just many ages ago. Currently, many humans think of themselves as the pinnacle of evolution and they are literally god’s greatest gift to humanity. Literally just go to a social networking site or an online chat room, you will nearly immediately see someone who is toxic because he thinks he is the best.

                This is also another reason why I hate people who tell exactly the same joke that they heard from someone else but then try to pass it off as their own, particularly the internet. Being the stereotypical Asian that I am, I browse through the internet a lot and I see many people at my school who try to take a funny anecdote from the internet and try to pass it off as something that happened to them. I occasionally do this, but I always start off the story with, “Have you seen the one post online that said…?” and take it from there, I give them a bit of credit.

Chemistry? More like Chem-Mystery

                Although my school cares a lot about us students taking a multitude of Advanced Placement classes, sometimes the teachers make them extremely difficult to handle or even increases how much we worry. Currently, the AP tests are over which should mean that the class is close to over or the rest of the year should not affect the grade too terribly, but some teachers I suppose do not understand that the end of the year is where most students give up anyway, even us super prestigious Advanced Placement students. Sometimes, I think that we should also be more lax during the week that students do have their exams, even if the students have missed, and I understand that they will have to make it up, but they should be allowed a couple of extension days and not just taken points off for being late.

                In my AP Chemistry class, we had to finish a lab report for a lab that we could only do in class. The problem with this though is that we cannot complete the lab report until we finish the lab and we get all the data correct. By getting the data correct, I mean that we were given unknown solutions filled with unknown cations and anions that we were supposed to determine what they were using somewhat sketchy procedures. The problem I have with this though is the fact that the lab report is theoretically due tonight at midnight except for I did not guess my cations and anions correctly and so I am unable to complete the lab report. This then forces me to turn in my lab report late and so have points deducted from my total. Now, I know you guys may say that it was my fault for procrastinating or wasting my time in class when we were experimenting, but that would not be true. In reality, I had to attend three different AP exams and so I was forced to miss a couple class periods, and unlike some blonde genius I know of, I am not as smart nor am I as fast at completing lab procedures as she does. These AP exams have actually hurt my grade even though they are supposed to be a completely separate thing from school work. The biggest problem with this though, is that I am dealing with an AP teacher and she should realize that her class is not the only class a student is taking.

Every day I'm Gambling

            Gambling is one of the many joys of life, and very often I will make pointless bets with my friends for little money or just holding a favor. I do see the addiction in it and I can understand how it can lead many astray with promises of fame and fortune. This new study shows that the typical “hot hand fallacy” may actually be true, not because when you win it increases your chances of winning, but instead, it has a psychological impact on your bets. This, I think, can be true for some people, but not really true for me at all.

            Whenever I get on a winning streak, I always bet harder and more because I feel a lot more confident in my choices, comparatively where I am supposed to make safer bets, but hey, go hard or go home, am I right? On the other hand, when I start to lose, it could honestly go either way depending on the day, because some days I feel like winning it all or losing it all and go all in, while other times I want to conserve my money because I do not think I will win anything. Most days when I lose though, I always bet harder, according to the data, because I think, “But what if the next one is the jackpot? This might be like the one Orpheus and Eurydice story where they just missed by a little bit,” which would depress me even more, though it might be a good thing, because I would be so pissed off at the machine or whatever I would be gambling on and just quit.

            Although, one thing that makes this “fallacy” not really work is the fact that if there is something to lose, then the psychological effects of the fallacy would kick in harder, because when the thing you see is tangible, you tend to want to preserve it more. One example from my life is just playing my favorite game, League of Legends, yeah I know you guys are tired of hearing about it but just stick with me. Recently, I have been on a losing streak, even though I think my gaming ability has been about the same. It always fluctuates between a winning streak and a losing streak, it has hardly ever been just a mix of the two. I think it is more personalized.

Sometimes, They can be Trait-ors

                So today is Mother’s Day, and we should all be thanking our mothers unless she is gone or you just dislike her, which then I am sorry about that. Just remember that half of you came from your mother and so did quite a bit of your traits that you think are original to you, probably are not and instead are from your mother. Just be glad that no matter how bad your relationship is, at least it is not supposed to be like the relationship the Malachai is supposed to have with his mother. For those of you that did not catch the reference, go read the Chronicles of Nick Gautier, a good series.

                Recently, I have been wondering about what traits come from the mother’s side and what traits come from the father’s side. I honestly do not think that it is split easily fifty percent of your mom’s traits and fifty percent of your dad’s traits even if originally, the meiosis split had fifty percent of your mom’s data and fifty percent of your dad’s data. Personally, I think the environment that you grow up in affects the development of your personality much more than the genetics of where they came from. In certain environments, different traits are more heavily emphasized, because my mother always has a constant raging personality, while my father is patient up until a certain point. During middle school, a terrible time and a terrible place to boot which I would never wish on anyone, I was put in a pool of testosterone where you were supposed to be manly or get figuratively “devoured”. This turned me into an anti-social freak of nature and filled with rage and anger. Due to this, I made some terrible friends that I realize now, and highly regret, and if anyone starts telling you about my middle school years, just realize that I was stupid back then.

                It is not only emotional traits that are passed down, but I find that physical traits are passed down too, and although people say, “Awww, he or she has his or her mother’s nose,” which I never understood nor have I ever saw the resemblance in the person. I think that I look neither like my mother nor do I look like my father and my parents do not think I look like either of them too. This led to my parents joking about how I looked like my neighbor’s child. I personally like to think that I’m an original.

What's In the Middle?

                Apparently when you add in a middle initial to an application or just to something that you sign your name, the middle initial makes you sound a lot more intelligent compared to just omitting the middle initial, proven by a couple tests, linked here. I think that this is fairly accurate, because I always have a tendency to believe people if they sound a lot more fancy, such as Dr. Jacques P. Farquhar. Compared to just John Doe or something like that, the fancier names would make me think higher of their intelligence, but this is not to say that I discriminate against people who do not have fancy middle initials.

                Unfortunately for me, I actually did not include my middle initial on my AP exams that I registered for a while ago, and so hopefully it does not impact my college entrance. (Complete Sarcasm) Although first impressions are an important factor into what you originally think about a person, it should not be the only reason that you either hate a person, unless you hear them cuss with every other word or about how many relationships that they have cheated on or done drugs. Then, you have my full permission to hate them, and please do not start with the stupid, “You don’t know me, you don’t my story, you don’t know what I’ve been through,” It would have to be extremely high brain damage for you to do any of it.

                In case you guys do not know this, but I am indeed Asian and often stereotyped, especially when I wear my glasses, and am thought to be extremely smart, especially in Math. I won a couple awards in a math competition and yet not many people were that surprised by it, nor are they surprised to find that I also attended science bowl, which is obviously a science competition. Then again, now that I think about it, it has not been like I was trying not to give this stereotype, because I have been going to these competitions, and well, in all of them, about 99% of each team in the math competitions have been Asian or Indian, as in the sub-continent of Asia, not the Christopher Columbus Indians. This has gotten slightly off topic, but the middle initial was apparently started by the aristocrats of the era, and so when peasants saw aristocrats with their fancy middle names, this may be a reason why we immediately associate intelligence with a middle name.

Drink Thy Elixir!

                One of my many childhood dreams has been to live immortally, because who does not want to, right? Most humans are scared of death, probably because humans tend to fear the unknown, and I know that it is the case for me. I now realized, once I have grown and hopefully matured a bit, that immortality would be a terrible idea in multiple aspects, or at least it would be for me. It is not explicitly stated in the terms of immortality, I guess, but eternal youth is not a condition. So, with each growing day, a body would just grow more decrepit over time, which eventually it might just be a personal prison your soul is locked inside of. Even if eternal youth were granted, I would hate to see all my friends and family grow up without me, and eventually I would start over, find a new life and friends, and probably end up as Edward from Twilight.

                To be completely serious though, I could probably not deal with the fact that I will not see my friends after they die, because I honestly get extremely attached to everything, even inanimate objects. Last summer when my parents told me to clean out my room, I literally threw away leftover homework from the school year, and nothing else, even though my bookshelf is filled with books I never read anymore but have a sentimental value. Then there is the fact that my room is also filled with quite a bit of stuffed animals too, and I do not play with those either, but still cannot bear to see them in another room, or even worse, the trash, and knowing my mother, she would do it without a thought about how emotionally traumatized I would be.

                I thought about this topic because of the book I finished reading, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which does not have much to do with living forever in a literal sense, but it is an interesting book. In a figurative sense, the main(ish) character is living because her cells were stolen and reproduced without her explicit permission, but since they are too widespread now, there is not much anyone can do about it. I really hope that Henrietta’s mind is not still living, even though it should have died with the brain, one never can really tell, because the people who know about the life beyond death or whatever is beyond death, are not exactly in a position to tell us.

AP Classes - Absolutely Pointless

                Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I really like how we have started to put a higher emphasis on our academics. An example of how much more we have put on education is the abundance of Advanced Placement classes these days, and how students can now start to earn college credit before they even start college. Honestly though, I do not think that these are truly representative of real college classes.

                As a junior in high school, I can safely say that I have no real comparison, but if the comparison is anything like the transition from middle school to high school, I can say that it is going to be one heck of a rude awakening. Starting from kindergarten, schools have been separating the students into two different groups, “gifted” and normal. Speaking from a personal experience, I was not able to enter the “gifted program” until about third or fourth grade, and I am pretty sure it damaged my social abilities for a couple years. From that moment forward, I immediately developed a big time superiority complex, and felt that I was better than everyone else. This obviously was not healthy, but I just figured it was normal. Middle school was a terrible time, because when someone acts better than you, most of the student’s peers will prefer to not talk to them and just find themselves generally repulsed. Needless to say, my middle school experience did not go too well. Eventually, I somehow got righted on the normal student path and now I actually have friends…I think. Separating students at an early age is not the best idea if it is all based upon a stupid test that somehow can measure how intelligent a person is.

                I also think that Advanced Placement classes should be saved until a student’s junior or senior year before nearly forcing everyone to take one during or before their sophomore year. The problem with these Advanced Placement classes is that some colleges just do not accept these classes. Each test costs about eighty dollars, but college classes that are in the same subject would cost a couple thousand dollars, so this sounds like an amazing deal right? Wrong. If the college does not accept the credits, or if your major does not need the credits for you to graduate, it just becomes a waste of eighty dollars. See, I did not know what college I wanted to go to or even what I wanted to major in until a couple months ago, and apparently what I do does not accept any sort of AP credit. So here I am with about $480 wasted because I get no credit from it. Joys.

The Void Reaver

`               For whatever reasons that you personally may be scared of the dark, I think there is an actual scientific reason for why that people should be scared of the dark. There comes a point in a person’s life where they become ridiculed for being scared of the dark, kind of how there comes a day where you are required to stop acting like a child and suddenly become an adult. Evolution happens whether you believe it does or it does not, in fact, there is tons of evidence in multiple living things that proves it. As much as I want to respect the Christian idea of creating the world, let us just look at history and how many times they have been right in contrast to radical ideas. So far, the radicals have nearly always been right, but only after dying from being jailed by the church.

                Humans are not exactly the pinnacle of evolutionary standards, but we have developed different advantages to adapt against some of the more major setbacks. One such example of our evolution is the development of opposable thumbs. Without these, a lot of inventions would not have been invented, heck; it would even be difficult to eat a banana. Imagine the difficulties of playing on a video game system, and I agree that we would have adjusted our living style to account for this, but it would be more difficult.

                Now to get back on topic, night should be a very scary place for every human, because we rely a lot on sight, and we know that there are other animals or bugs that are out there that are much more adapted to the night than we are. A sudden noise. A piercing shriek. We immediately think the worst even when logically we know that we are safe. The problem is that we cannot see what is going on. Now especially animals that prey or hunt during the night are certainly the scariest. This video of a praying mantis shows how quick and efficient it is at killing and hunting down animals. Now if only they were actually large enough to attack humans, would we have to truly fear for our life. In League of Legends, Kha’zix is an adaptable bug from the darkest dark of the game and one of the best assassins, and seeing him leap onto your screen just incites fear. The dark is a scary place. We develop some fears because they help keep us safe, so who knows? Just be careful out there.

Middle School...

            Let us talk about botany, a subsection of biology. My school does not offer botany as an “important class” and the same goes for other science classes like ecology, geography, and astronomy. I am sure everyone has heard that story where a middle school student, usually a sixth grader wants to be rebellious, like most sixth graders are, and decides to try drugs for the first time. Then you hear all about how he wants to buy weed, and ends up smoking it, but after a while, he becomes enlightened when he realizes that all this time, he has just been smoking oregano. In fact, my friends and I were joking about doing this, by selling oregano to middle school students as a joke and to fundraise for our club. Keep in mind it was only a joke and we do not condone the use of drugs, unless you are living in Colorado, in which case we do.

            My middle school classes were all terrible, as in I learned next to nothing in them except for a few catchy phrases, like “There actually is no such thing as cold, but instead, a lack of heat,” so interesting, but exactly how does that happen. I think that middle school classes should be a lot more interactive with the students, because middle school was an extremely hard time, and I can personally testify to that, and this is actually where many students decide on how they want to live their life or when they decide to do drugs or take alcohol, which all might affect the development of their brain much later in life. Students will often come to regret their decision later in life, and so if classrooms or schools were more interactive and encouraged students to actually learn, instead of trying to strip them of all individuality. This is shown by the Calvin and Hobbes comic about snowflakes, shown here.

            I also think that parents play a deciding factor in a student’s behavior, as in the students will often model their parents, or at least how their parents want them to act. This was always me, because I always kind of was the child that my parents wanted their life to be, as in go to one of the best colleges and earn tons of money. Personally, I was fine with a mediocre college with a mediocre life, and it was not until high school when I realized that my ambitions did not align with my parents.