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.