Bored

Love (?)

Misconceptions on Cosmic Rays

If anyone has received a text saying about a certain warning that tells people to turn of their cellphones tonight for some time because of cosmic rays, that is a hoax. I was scared a bit, so I researched... Here are the reasons why it is wrong:

1. Our atmosphere protects us from cosmic rays.

2. No heavenly body is close enough to emit or reflect an intense cosmic ray that our atmosphere cannot protect us from. Planets do not emit cosmic rays, and even if they are able to reflect, the intensity is reduced.

3. There is no solar event that is currently occurring. The most recent solar event was around three days ago.

4. Cosmic rays generally originate outside the solar system.

5. Radiation from cellphones and similar devices are infinitesimal and not life-threatening.

Sources:
a.) http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/371750/scitech/science/no-proof-of-radiation-health-risks-from-mobile-phones-dost-says
b.) http://wafflesatnoon.com/do-cosmic-rays-from-mars-affect-cell-phones/
c.) http://www.hoax-slayer.com/cosmic-rays-entering-earth-from-mars-hoax.shtml

Kruskal's Count

In every sufficiently large amount of text, this phenomenon called Kruskal's count occurs. Try it in every paragraph you see; no matter which word you start with, you will almost always (99.9%) end up with the same word. For example,

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are."

Step 1: Select any word from any of the first ten words and count the number of letters in that word.

Step 2: Count that many words forward through the passage to land on a new word.

(For example, if you chose "star", you will land on "what".)

Step 3: Count the number of letters in the new word and move forward that many words.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 1 through 3 until there are not enough words to complete the last word count.

Step 5: Write down the last word on which you land. No matter which word you use to start the steps, you will always land on the same word. (In this case, the word is "you”).

Four Dangerous Misconceptions on Philippine History

Recently, in our History class, when I read Renato Constantino's book "A Past Revisited", I realized that some of the knowledge that I knew about history during my elementary and high school days are actually taken in a wrong perspective. The book viewed historical events without any positive bias towards the Americans and focused more on the inarticulate (the masses). Here are the 'truths' which are actually false:

1. "Emilio Aguinaldo is a hero."

False. Emilio Aguinaldo never deserves any honor. He ordered the killing of Andres Bonifacio and Antonio Luna, who actually stood a chance against the Spaniards. Under the pact of Biak-na-bato, he sold Philippines to Spain for 400,000 pesos. Later, under the Treaty of Paris, he sold Philippines to America for 20 million pesos. Aguinaldo always had an implicit trust in the US and reliance on her protection; he was also dependent with his "distinguished persons" who only did graft and corruption, fulfilling their self-interests. During the times Aguinaldo moved from province to province to escape from the Americans while the Filipinos fought against them, Aguinaldo did nothing. He even had a party with his fellow "distinguished persons" and danced until four in the morning.

2. "Philippines had their 'first' independence on June 12, 1898."

False. There was never an independence at that time because even during the waving of the flag and the singing of the National Anthem at Kawit, Cavite, Philippine Independence was "proclaimed" under the protection of the "Mighty and Humane North American Nation". Moreover, after that proclamation, the "Benevolent Assimilation" was filled with lies as American solders still oppressed and abused the Filipinos.

3. "The Americans helped the Filipinos drive away Spaniards."

False. The Filipino rebels eventually succeeded in ending the Spanish colonial system through their own efforts without the help of Aguinaldo or even the Americans. The Americans at that time only meddled, and used Aguinaldo to maneuver everything.

4. "Diego Silang is a hero."

False. He was an 'illustrado prototype'. He took advantage of the British occupation of 1762 because he wanted to have the privilege to participate in the indulto de comercio (an exploitative trading system). Instead of fighting for the people, he opted for a compromise and shifted his allegiances to the British.

**Fun Fact: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), actually opposed to the colonization of the Philippines.

Thoughtcrime

After reading George Orwell's novel, 1984... My reactions are in a sense of doublethink.

(Spoiler Alert)

My first thoughts and reactions can be considered thoughtcrime:

Making a language that has its words lessened every time to eliminate ambiguity is doubleplusungood.

Winston is doubleplusungood, or probably tripleplusungood. What he did.

Why.

Last sentence of the book: "He loved Big Brother."

Why.

Winston and Julia... It wasn't love at all.

Why.

The anticlimax. Rats.

Why.

What is two plus two? Four. *tunes up needle of zapping torture* What is two plus two? Four. *increases voltage of zapping torture*

Why.

Four fingers are not five fingers. Never.

Why.


However, after delving deeper to the ideas discussed, I find this book awesome, even better than the Divergent series.

ACT - Awareness, Commitment and Transparency

 

ACT - FA envisions a Freshie Assembly that is aware, committed and transparent. ACT - FA also brings the advent of new leadership that aims to redefine UP leadership that is geared towards the service of the student body, the university and the country.

Support us by liking, following and sharing us at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UPMACTFA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACT_FAhttp://ask.fm/ACT_FA

Ask.fm: http://ask.fm/ACT_FA

DJ Maestro

Here goes another submission for the third peer assessment in coursera.com. This is a "music machine" and it can be used to play or generate music with the synthesizer, drums and clapping.


DJ Maestro from Louie Dy on Vimeo.

Mad Space Marbles

I've finished another peer assessment in coursera.com. The physics engine provided by the professors is Box2D (with improvements), the very same physics engine in Angry Birds. The video here is a demonstration of some of my customizations from the original example.

 
Mad Space Marbles from Louie Dy on Vimeo.

Shadow of Fate Update

The new version, v1.3, of Shadow of Fate has been released.

You may click this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/50mg18hp9h2c0e8/~SoFv1.3.exe

The earlier blog post can be found here:
http://louiesrandomness.blogspot.com/2014/06/shadow-of-fate.html

You may also visit the following web pages of this game:


RPG Maker .net
http://rpgmaker.net/games/6521/

RPG Maker VX Ace
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/25270-shadow-of-fate/

Wishing Upon A Star

A light year is the distance light travels in one year (9.46 × 10^15 meters). Some stars are hundreds, thousands, or even million light years away from us. The very starlight you see from your window is actually hundreds, thousands or millions of years old. Therefore, there's no way of knowing whether the star you wished upon is still alive or not. You can say that your dreams are dead just as the stars are dead, but you can also say that when your dreams come true, then the star is still alive. Nevertheless, what matters the most is the faith and hope that always lie within every wish...

(Picture taken from en.wikipedia.org)


(I happened to read something which is why I wrote this.. )

Star Spiral

This is the project video/commentary for the peer assessment I submitted for the Creative Programming (by University of London) course I applied in coursera.com. It's a simple app adapted from SonicPainter. If you want this app, feel free to PM me. (It's available in IOS and Desktop) The programming language used here is Java while the application used is OpenProcessing.


Star Spiral from Louie Dy on Vimeo.

Love Life 101

Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~ :: a game from rpgmaker.net



When I started playing this game, I immediately got addicted to its simple yet deep interactive interface. The board game style itself is addictive. What makes the game even more exciting is the part when I (the main character) run into events, which trigger up a conversation with a girl depending upon the horoscope of the day... Moreover, I also enjoyed raising the stats. Another very enjoyable aspect is that fact that it is possible to make my own custom-made characters aside from the ones given in-game.



The plot was very interesting, especially the clinic scene with Riho... I would've chosen Shihiko if it weren't for her being overpopular and Masayoshi's hitting on her... Anyways, I was given 101 days, according to Miki, to get a girlfriend in the game. I'm not sure what wrong did I do, but I somehow got a sad ending with Miki... I'm still going to try out different endings...



Overall, I truly recommend you to play this game. It teaches you a bit about love life, though not necessarily everything about it.

Viruses - Living Things or Not?

Biologically speaking, even though viruses are not living things (because they lack a cell membrane, because they cannot reproduce themselves), I still believe that viruses are in some way living.

I read a debate online (https://www.debate.org/debates/Viruses-are-non-living/1/) which changed my viewpoint. Allow me to share it here... (quoted some parts from the webpage itself; none of these is mine)
 
TOPIC ON DEBATE: "Viruses are non-living things."
 
Pro:
Viruses are non living creatures because they do not have a cell membrane or any other components of other living cells. They cannot reproduce until they find a host and the host will do it for them. They cannot be killed rather held off or blocked. They also do not respond to stimuli, and they do not metabolize. They only form parasitic relationships with their hosts. Non living traits are shown. Viruses are non living.
 
Anti:
1. DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is composed of phosphate, sugar, and purine/pyrimidine bases (Guanine, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine) [2]. On it's own, no one would think of a DNA strand as being "alive". It's little more than a tiny biologically constructed rock. Therefore, we must either contend that rocks are alive (at least in a rudimentary way), or that DNA is not. I will proceed under the assumption that rocks (therefore a lone strand of DNA) are not alive.
Where is life then? The only place left would be the structure surrounding the DNA. Let's now look at cells and virus shells.

2. Virus vs. Cell

A virus is composed of basically 2 things; a protein shell and genetic material [1]. There are many different kinds of virus, all with a unique shape and different amounts of peculiar mechanisms, but they all have this in common. The purpose of this shell it so protect the genetic material and help it get from place to place so it can reproduce, and the mechanisms attached to that shell are a simply machine used to get the DNA into the host cell.
A cell functions in much the same way. The difference is, the cells mechanisms are used to replicate itself internally, without the use of a "host". The only way this can be done is for cells to have porous membrane that allows the necessary building blocks to enter [3]. It should be noted that the cell exerts no effort in keeping itself "alive". Everything that happens to a cell happens merely due to the way atoms interact with one another.

So, what is a cell? It's a biologically constructed machine used to help the DNA it houses reproduce itself. -- But wait, what is a virus? Well, it's a biologically constructed machine used to help the DNA it houses reproduce itself.

3. Bells and Whistles

"OK", one might think, "But what about the membrane? Taking in and utilizing nutrients? Surely these things make cells alive and viruses not!" -- These qualifications are arbitrary and, frankly, cell-centric. Our definition of life needn't be limited by what we are composed of, and there is no objective necessity for these qualities to be included in our definition of life. The only fundamental difference between a cell and a virus is that a virus does its job without all the bells and whistles. That is to say, it sacrifices the ability to take in nutrients and reproduce internally, and in exchange it gains the ability to survive on its own ad infinitum (even in a vacuum for some).
Instead of looking at viruses as non-living things, it is instead more logically consistent to look at viruses as living things that merely forgo all the bells and whistles conventional cells have taken up. There's nothing more that a difference of ideology between viruses and cells. In order to remain logically consistent, we should alter our definition of "alive" to "something designed to reproduce itself".

Note: Before you say that surviving in a vacuum clearly shows that viruses aren't alive as living things couldn't possibly survive in a vacuum, consider that Water Bears have proved themselves in the vacuum of space [4]. Unless one contends that water bears aren't alive, survival in a vacuum cannot be used as the distinguishing factor between living and non-living organisms.

4. Dead Cells

"Well, what about dead cells?," one might ask. "If a living thing is defined as 'something designed to reproduce itself', then we must conclude that newly dead cells are alive, since they retain their structural integrity -- which is a contradiction of terms."

This question really is about what is the difference between life and death -- a topic deserving of its own debate. The short and sweet answer is that this is yet another trade off of cells. In exchange for its ability to reproduce without a "host", it gives up the ability to serve its purpose forever. The reason for this is that machines in use tend to atrophy, and once that atrophy has reached the point where the machine breaks down, it no longer meets the requirement for life. Just as one cannot say that a broken car gets people from place to place, so too can one not say that a broken cell is designed to reproduce itself. It was at one point, but at this point in time its structure no longer meets that requirement and therefore we can say that it has died.
A virus doesn't have these machines. the only machine it has is some sort of sheath and core used to inject the DNA into the cell [2]. Since it only uses this machine once, it doesn't have to worry about atrophy and therefore retains its function much, much longer than cell can. Once again, it trades the perks of life in exchange for longevity.

5. Syllogisms

For the more mathematically minded folks, I will break down the above arguments into a series of syllogisms.

A)
P1- DNA is alive
P2- Viruses contain DNA
C- Viruses are alive

-- Assuming these premises are rejected--

B)
P1- DNA is not alive
P2- Cells contain DNA
P3- Cells are alive
C- Something other than DNA defines life

C)
P1- DNA is not alive
P2- Cells are alive
P3- A cell is made up of only the cell itself and the DNA it houses
C- The "cell" part of a cell defines its "life-ness"

D)
P1- Cells are alive
P2- A cells purpose is to replicate its DNA
C- Life is defined by the pursuit of DNA replication

E)
P1- Viruses have a shell protecting DNA
P2- This shell's purpose is to ensure the replication of said DNA
C- Viruses are alive

The only room for contention about is in syllogism D. One could define life as something containing mitochondria, a porous membrane, cytoplasm etc, but these would just be arbitrary qualifications requiring justification from my opponent. There are many types of cells with radically different compositions. The only thing they all have absolutely in common is their purpose, which is a purpose shared by viruses. Therefore, we must conclude that viruses are alive, even if only in the most rudimentary of ways, if we are to have a logically consistent definition of life.

***more content in the website

An Experiment

Since one year ago (from an anonymous person's previous birthday up to this anonymous person's present birthday), I conducted a very interesting experiment. I wanted to know whether the "Birthday Reminder" of Facebook actually decreases the sincerity of people's greetings.

I had an objective in conducting this experiment - that the friends we have in Facebook won't be just ordinary acquaintances who wouldn't even remember each other's birthdays... I wanted everyone to be a little bit more sincere to one another
 

Using the Facebook profile of a he/she-who-must-remain-anonymous-for-this-experiment, these were my findings from his or her report:

When the privacy setting of that person's birthday was set to public, (on 2013)

96 Facebook friends

+

let's say around 5 other people who greeted not through Facebook

=

101 people who greeted this anonymous person.

This anonymous person has around 800 friends. 101/800 is around 12.63% of the "friends" in Facebook greeting this person.

When the privacy setting of that person's birthday was set to private, (on 2014)

47 Facebook friends (friends who remember this anonymous person's birthday)

+

let's say around 5 other people who greeted not through Facebook

=

52 people who greeted this anonymous person.

However, this anonymous person also reported that there were around 7 people who greeted him or her because these people only knew about this anonymous person's birthday through seeing other people's greetings.

52 - 7 = 45 people... out of the 1100 friends (the anonymous person gained friends throughout the year)...

Comparing the results between the two years:

2013 (birthday displayed to public) --> 101/800 is around 12.63%

2014 (birthday displayed to private) --> 45/1100 is around 4.09%

The decrease from 101 to 45... is over 50%. This only proves that over 50% of the people greeting us in Facebook are only reminded by the "Birthday Reminder" of Facebook. Hence, I'd like you to try this experiment with your profiles... 

To conclude, this only reminds us the importance of being true friends with one another in Facebook just as it should be in the real world...

Shadow of Fate v1.4 UPDATED

Game Name: Shadow of Fate
Game Developer: NexusAlpha (Louie Dy)
Genre: Role-Playing, Fantasy, Romance (a little)


Shadow of Fate is a 2D RMVXA game which utilizes Falcao’s Pearl Active Battle System. Falcao’s Pearl Active Battle System features a real-time hack-n-slash on-the-map battle system. Enjoy the game through navigating the vast world of Mercanova, through the continents, mountains, dungeons, forests, above the skies and even underwater! Gather and use alchemy to fuse items, fight monsters and most of all, watch the story unfold! Some of this game’s unique elements include the battle system-with minimap itself as well as the awesome animations and skills.

Interface:


Controls:



During the first Artarian invasion, Ethan and Lauren were still babies. Ethan’s mom saved him from the hands of the Artarians and died in the process. The mom talks about a destiny being fulfilled by Ethan through that birthmark. Baby Ethan was found by soldiers and was adopted by them. Vincent and Sabrina were still kids. They were kidnapped by the Artarian army. Sabrina’s mother was killed in front of her eyes, that’s why she became mute. Ryan's only teacher was killed by a monster in order to save his life. Each of them, bearing a dark past, all searched for answers. While searching for their answers, they fulfilled their own destinies as mentioned in ancient prophecies that involved saving the world from its bitter, destructive end. Hence, they are called the “Shadows of Fate” who will shape and change the world…


The World of Mercanova consists of four large continents – Utopia, Artaria, Vieru and Radost.

Utopia is the green continent located in the western part of Mercanova. The capital of Utopia is in St. Louie. Other towns include Flor Village, Upsilon Town, Aire Town, and a town located at the Midrain Valley. Midrain Valley is surrounded by the Nagentar Mountains, which have north, south, east and west exits. In other words, Nagentar Mountains lies on the heart of the continent. In the southern region lies Infinity Forest and a deserted lost island.

Artaria is the dry desert continent located in the eastern part of Mercanova. The capital of Artaria is in Navah. An orphanage lies near the castle of Artaria. The Silent Woods is at the entrance of the continent from the ship port, which is to the east of the capital. On the west of the capital lies the Brakken Mountains which leads to the highest mountain and the deadliest volcano, Mt. Blaze.

Vieru is the icy continent located in the northern part of Mercanova. Snow covers the continent as it is located at the northern part of the world. The capital of Vieru is in Snowball City. Another town in the islands southeast of the main island is Blizzard town. The Shiver Woods is an icy forest that connects Epsilon Town to Shirou City. On the west of the capital, there lies the Glacial Spire which was abandoned for countless years.

Radost is the sky continent inhabited by a race higher than the humans.




Ethan Li (Protagonist)

Ethan Li is the little boy in Utopia who became a paladin under Captain Hidan’s supervision. He was saved by his mom from the hands of the Artarians, and his mom died saving him. A soldier saw him crying at that time and adopted him. Consequently, he grew up with the soldier, whom he called “Dad”, without clearly knowing his real parents. Later, Ethan discovers that he is the lost prince of Utopia, son of Queen Irua Li, but decides to give the throne to his cousin Dwayne instead.

Lauren Wright

Lauren Wright has an unknown past. She only woke up in a lost island in Utopia. Not for long, she saw Ethan by the waves, unconscious. She took care of Ethan and they fell in love with each other throughout the journey. Later, she remembered that she was the fallen shadow angel who was cast out of Radost because she does not have wings. Nevertheless, she fulfills a big puzzle piece in the prophecies.

Ryan Rondart

Ryan Rondart is an orphan who lived in the continent of Utopia. His mentor was killed in front of his eyes, and so this led him to his long adventure to search for answers. Later he found out that he shares the same bloodline as Gardner, the antagonist of the story. With this, he became a huge piece in the end-of-the-world prophecies.

Vincent Flowright

Vincent Flowright was an ordinary child in Utopia. Together with Sabrina, during the first Artarian Invasion, soldiers came and kidnapped him. Together with Sabrina after being taken by the Artarian soldiers, they were raised as orphans and later trained as soldiers. The military found out that they had very strong abilities and often sent them to the frontlines. Vincent became a very strong fighter whose fists would always flurry against the opponents. Later, he fell in love with Sabrina.

Joanne Ultear

Nothing is much about her except that she was the one who found Ryan unconscious after his mentor died saving him. She took care of Ryan and spent most of her time with him.

Sabrina Domini

Sabrina Domini was an ordinary in the continent of Utopia. During the first Artarian Invasion, soldiers came and kidnapped her. Her mom tried to rescue her from the hands of the soldiers, so her mom struggled with the soldiers and was killed by them. This traumatic event loomed before Sabrina’s eyes, causing her to be mute ever since. Together with Vincent after being taken by the Artarian soldiers, they were raised as orphans and later trained as soldiers. The military found out that they had very strong abilities and often sent them to the frontlines. Later, she fell in love with Vincent, and out of the strength of her feelings, she was able to speak again. The first words she spoke were “I love you!”

Dwayne

Dwayne is the prince of Utopia after the first Artarian invasion. He specializes in gunmanship.

Gardner (Antagonist)

Gardner is a very deep person shrouded by his dark past. During the birth of Leventhan, his father was killed and he survived by accident. Because of this, he gained dark powers even though he did not intended to. Later, he was raised in an orphanage. When Gardner grew older, the orphans were adopted by soldiers, and they became warriors. Gardner was still fine with it, since he's with his friends. He was sent together with his friends to invade Utopia. Gardner and the Artarian Army didn't win the war. His friends were killed. He was one of the few survivors. Gardner was put into the dungeon by the king of Utopia, but since the king is kindhearted, unlike the Artarian king, he was soon set free and had a good will. Although he harbors no anger against the king of Utopia, he never stops wishing to revive his friends who were killed. Because of the intense depression and despair to bring his friends back, he did great, terrible things.





















Graphics
LexusX
Enterbrain
Mack
NexusAlpha
GB Production
Whitecat
Kaduki
Tim Wendorf
Counterclockwise
Nintendo
Square Enix
GrandmaDeb
zdarkflame
SBS
Twilight
SD-Arius
Wong
Mudducky
Falcao
Davix
Caveras
qtpi0121

Skills
Louie Dy
Joshua Co

Story
Louie Dy
Matthew Chua
Joshua Co

Music
Code Geass OST
Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds OST
Fairy Tail OST
Mirai Nikki OST
City Hunter OST
Kim Tak Gu OST
Vampire Knight OST
Tsubasa Chronicles OST
Tokyo Juliet OST
Grand Chase OST
World Destruction OST
Death Note OST
Odin Sphere OST
Homestuck OST
Nick Phoenix
Thomas Bergersen
Masaaki Endoh
Nobuo Uematsu
Robert Holmes
Yokko Kanno
Origa
Enterbrain

SFX
Enterbrain
SoundJay.com
DeadlyDan
Tales of Series
Youtube.com

Scripts
Jet10985
Moghunter
Yanfly
Woratana
Khas
Victor Sant
Zerbu
Nelderson
Saba Kan
Fomar0153
V.M
Raizen884
Falcao
Neon Black
TOMY
Mr. Bubble
Acezon
Kread-EX
Raizen884
JohnBolton
Gab!
Crazyninjaguy
modern algebra
Casper Gaming
Galv
Enterbrain
Zeus81
Estriole
Louie Dy

Animations
Louie Dy
Enterbrain

Fanart Artists and Beta Testers
Sharlene Yap
Chelsea Lopez
Katrina Chua
Shaunix Yap
Graciel Nuncio

Inspirations
Odin Sphere
Fairy Tail
Sands of Destruction
City Hunter
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's
Ragnarok DS
Nintendo

Special Thanks to Friends and Family



DOWNLOAD LINK: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdyn6oh8y78j1vm/~SoFv1.4.exe?dl=0

Happy Birthday To You (in Math)