About a month or two ago I started helping my friend with an extracurricular project. The premise was that we were going to make an 'online democracy' forum where the people in the forum would make all the rules of the forum and so forth. Turns out the project was quite a lot more than that. After some deliberation we decided to make it a role-playing forum where a person selects their career and posts. Each post you make earns you Capital, which you use to buy one of the over 200 objects in the store. I'm in charge of and working on the store, which is a wide variety of everyday and not-so-everyday objects that people can send to each other. The whole setup is excellent, with multiple background themes to choose from, of which one is still undergoing, a wide variety of ways to edit your character, and a well thought out system that is very dynamic and flexible. For instance, I took the role of a hard-boiled detective going around and stopping crime where I can, while others choose the more sinister route and decide to do some illicit drug trading. If you like the idea of a democracy where everyone decides what the rules are through voting, I'd register right away. If you refer 'ChemIisan' and sign up, I'll send you a one-of-a-kind and exclusive item for free. So go on, try it today and send me your feedback, so I can make sure this becomes the best forum ever invented!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Lateral Thinking 1 Part 3: Real Answers
All the solutions are in the links.
http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral_solutions.shtml#SAFEPLACE I'm correct here. http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral_solutions.shtml#LASTLETTER I was clever, but incorrect. WHAT AM I?: http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral_solutions.shtml#WHATAMI I feel stupid. AVOIDING THE TRAIN: http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral_solutions.shtml#TRAIN Correct! Oh yeah! THE PILOT'S SON: http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral_solutions.shtml#PILOTSON Again, clever, but incorrect. THE LOCKED ROOM: http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral_solutions.shtml#LOCKEDROOM Turns out I was wrong, if not entertainingly clever. |
Lateral Thinking 1 Part 2: My answers
Frank leaves home. When he tries to return, a man wearing a mask blocks his path.
1.) What is Frank doing?
He's playing baseball, duh.
2.) What is the masked man's occupation?
Catcher?
3.) Where is Frank's "safe place?"
first, second, or third base.
LAST LETTER:
A woman is seated and is writing. There is a thunderstorm outside and she dies as a consequence. How did she die?
WHAT AM I?:
If you look, you can't see me.
If you see me, you cannot see anything else.
I can make you walk if you can't.
Sometimes I speak the truth.
And sometimes I lie.
A man was walking along a railway track when he spotted an express train speeding towards him. To avoid it, he jumped off the track, but before he jumped he ran ten feet towards the train.
Why?
A man and his son were traveling on a scheduled flight across the Atlantic. The man asked the flight attendant if his son could have a look inside the cockpit. The boy was allowed to do this and the pilot gladly explained about the plane and its controls. After the boy left, the pilot turned to the co-pilot and said to him, "That was my son."
How could that be?
A man is dead in a puddle of blood and water on the floor of a locked windowless room. What happened?
A woman is seated and is writing. There is a thunderstorm outside and she dies as a consequence. How did she die?
While writing?
WHAT AM I?:
If you look, you can't see me.
If you see me, you cannot see anything else.
I can make you walk if you can't.
Sometimes I speak the truth.
And sometimes I lie.
Okay, the first two make me think 'eyelids' and the last two 'mouth', but that doesn't work. This one stumps me.
AVOIDING THE TRAIN: A man was walking along a railway track when he spotted an express train speeding towards him. To avoid it, he jumped off the track, but before he jumped he ran ten feet towards the train.
Why?
Because he was in a tunnel?
THE PILOT'S SON: A man and his son were traveling on a scheduled flight across the Atlantic. The man asked the flight attendant if his son could have a look inside the cockpit. The boy was allowed to do this and the pilot gladly explained about the plane and its controls. After the boy left, the pilot turned to the co-pilot and said to him, "That was my son."
How could that be?
The man was the pilot? It never said he couldn't be FLYING it.
THE LOCKED ROOM: A man is dead in a puddle of blood and water on the floor of a locked windowless room. What happened?
Locked AND windowless? Wouldn't he have suffocated?
Lateral Thinking 1 Part 1: The Question
I have decided to do a bit of lateral thinking. In this post, I have the questions I chose. In my next post, I will have my answers. Finally, I'll show the real answers. (From http://www.expandyourmind.com/logicproblems/logic_lateral.shtml)
A SAFE PLACE:
Frank leaves home. When he tries to return, a man wearing a mask blocks his path.
1.) What is Frank doing?
2.) What is the masked man's occupation?
3.) Where is Frank's "safe place?"
LAST LETTER:
A woman is seated and is writing. There is a thunderstorm outside and she dies as a consequence. How did she die?
WHAT AM I?:
If you look, you can't see me.
If you see me, you cannot see anything else.
I can make you walk if you can't.
Sometimes I speak the truth.
And sometimes I lie.
AVOIDING THE TRAIN:
A man was walking along a railway track when he spotted an express train speeding towards him. To avoid it, he jumped off the track, but before he jumped he ran ten feet towards the train.
Why?
THE PILOT'S SON:
A man and his son were traveling on a scheduled flight across the Atlantic. The man asked the flight attendant if his son could have a look inside the cockpit. The boy was allowed to do this and the pilot gladly explained about the plane and its controls. After the boy left, the pilot turned to the co-pilot and said to him, "That was my son."
How could that be?
THE LOCKED ROOM:
A man is dead in a puddle of blood and water on the floor of a locked windowless room. What happened?
Frank leaves home. When he tries to return, a man wearing a mask blocks his path.
1.) What is Frank doing?
2.) What is the masked man's occupation?
3.) Where is Frank's "safe place?"
LAST LETTER:
A woman is seated and is writing. There is a thunderstorm outside and she dies as a consequence. How did she die?
WHAT AM I?:
If you look, you can't see me.
If you see me, you cannot see anything else.
I can make you walk if you can't.
Sometimes I speak the truth.
And sometimes I lie.
AVOIDING THE TRAIN:
A man was walking along a railway track when he spotted an express train speeding towards him. To avoid it, he jumped off the track, but before he jumped he ran ten feet towards the train.
Why?
THE PILOT'S SON:
A man and his son were traveling on a scheduled flight across the Atlantic. The man asked the flight attendant if his son could have a look inside the cockpit. The boy was allowed to do this and the pilot gladly explained about the plane and its controls. After the boy left, the pilot turned to the co-pilot and said to him, "That was my son."
How could that be?
THE LOCKED ROOM:
A man is dead in a puddle of blood and water on the floor of a locked windowless room. What happened?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Egypt and Libya; A new style of revolution?
At the time of this writing, there are numerous revolutions taking hold in countries around the world. Everyone strives for a populist society, which is unfortunately branded as communism or socialism based on it's ideals of everyone being equal and the people running the government. Everyone wants these, and this may just be the time to achieve it. Today I'll give my predictions on the outcomes of both revolutions, along with showing how revolution has changed. Finally, I'll show you just how tyrants have signed their collective death warrants with one single move.
--EGYPT--
Now, contrary to what normal societies operate, Egypt is some seventy or so (http://www.sis.gov.eg/VR/population/english/population1.html) percent young and college educated people. They have a lot of fresh minds with loads of intelligence, and they put it to use in what I would like to call a 5 on the peaceable to violent scale of revolts. Now what my prediction for this uprising, however violent it may be, is that they will succeed the first time in creating a populist society. Their economy is in a good position for being a world power with no problem at all. They have already taken the steps to assure their power, which I'll go into detail with later. To sum up, I predict Egypt will succeed in a populist government.
--LIBYA--
Sorry for any Libyans I might be offending out there, but I think that the first (and I quote, first) attempt will succeed to overthrow the government, but the powerhold they take will not stay pure. I think the main cause of this is Libya's overwhelming dependency on crude oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Libya) will force them to become corrupt, albeit less so than the former government. I think one of the major factors in whether a government (generalizing here) is corrupt is what their economy is based around, and the overwhelming percent is based on oil, which is a corrupting export. It's very, very hard not to be corrupt when you have such a vast oil reserve. My prediction? Failure, with a better attempt in 10 years.
--THE NEW WAY TO ALLY--
Today I had a stunning revelation about how modern revolts have changed in multiple ways. The first and most obvious is communication. We have Twitter, Facebook, all these new ways to tell others how you feel. One thing that may not have occurred to you concerning these however is that it means there is a new way to make alliances. While governments are chewing their fingernails wondering if their alliance is over with Egypt, I am delighted. You see, they may be worried that the government will not make an alliance with them, and they might not! But what all these new communication forms has done is created a bond with the people, as nature intended! I can empathize with them, and many support their causes, as they understand oppression and how noone actively seeks it. We encourage them to exert their natural rights as free peoples, and now the Internet is the way to make allies. Power is shifting away from the governments and back into the peoples hands, allowing me to have a friendship and common ground with another far off in Egypt! It's the people, the people that matter now, and moreso than ever! Why bother signing treaties with other countries when you can just as easily make friends with the peoples around the world, giving you greater power than you could ever have had before?
--THE DEATHBLOW TO TYRANTS; SIGNING THEIR OWN DEATH WARRANTS--
As you can hopefully understand, the deathblow will not be guns. It will not be riots, nor bullets, nor tanks or cannons. The new weapon is technology, and it is one that will always strike the heart without fail. By trying to participate in this new global economy, you have built a dependency on the Internet. By building this dependency, you have made the Internet available to the people, and no matter how hard you try, you can no longer take it back.You cannot stop the flow of information without destroying yourself. Sure, you could shut the Internet down. But in doing so, you just shut down the economy as a whole, dooming yourself. If you leave the Internet on, you allow the spread of messages to continue. Even if you manage to shut it down and avoid harming the economy through some miracle, the damage has been done, and the people will not stand for it. Killing is no longer an option, as sheer numbers will overpower any threat thrown at them, and the people shall have their rights! No longer can you ignore the will of the people, as they are the true owners of your country! No longer can you stop the collective force of a thousand different people, all banding together, every one of them equal! The people have the will, no, the right to change the world, and they will use it if it kills them.
-Thanks for reading.
ChemIisan
ADDITIONAL LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/12/egypts-revolt-met-with-wi_n_822325.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-D2xbW1fww (hey who said we couldn't have music?)
--EGYPT--
Now, contrary to what normal societies operate, Egypt is some seventy or so (http://www.sis.gov.eg/VR/population/english/population1.html) percent young and college educated people. They have a lot of fresh minds with loads of intelligence, and they put it to use in what I would like to call a 5 on the peaceable to violent scale of revolts. Now what my prediction for this uprising, however violent it may be, is that they will succeed the first time in creating a populist society. Their economy is in a good position for being a world power with no problem at all. They have already taken the steps to assure their power, which I'll go into detail with later. To sum up, I predict Egypt will succeed in a populist government.
--LIBYA--
Sorry for any Libyans I might be offending out there, but I think that the first (and I quote, first) attempt will succeed to overthrow the government, but the powerhold they take will not stay pure. I think the main cause of this is Libya's overwhelming dependency on crude oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Libya) will force them to become corrupt, albeit less so than the former government. I think one of the major factors in whether a government (generalizing here) is corrupt is what their economy is based around, and the overwhelming percent is based on oil, which is a corrupting export. It's very, very hard not to be corrupt when you have such a vast oil reserve. My prediction? Failure, with a better attempt in 10 years.
--THE NEW WAY TO ALLY--
Today I had a stunning revelation about how modern revolts have changed in multiple ways. The first and most obvious is communication. We have Twitter, Facebook, all these new ways to tell others how you feel. One thing that may not have occurred to you concerning these however is that it means there is a new way to make alliances. While governments are chewing their fingernails wondering if their alliance is over with Egypt, I am delighted. You see, they may be worried that the government will not make an alliance with them, and they might not! But what all these new communication forms has done is created a bond with the people, as nature intended! I can empathize with them, and many support their causes, as they understand oppression and how noone actively seeks it. We encourage them to exert their natural rights as free peoples, and now the Internet is the way to make allies. Power is shifting away from the governments and back into the peoples hands, allowing me to have a friendship and common ground with another far off in Egypt! It's the people, the people that matter now, and moreso than ever! Why bother signing treaties with other countries when you can just as easily make friends with the peoples around the world, giving you greater power than you could ever have had before?
--THE DEATHBLOW TO TYRANTS; SIGNING THEIR OWN DEATH WARRANTS--
As you can hopefully understand, the deathblow will not be guns. It will not be riots, nor bullets, nor tanks or cannons. The new weapon is technology, and it is one that will always strike the heart without fail. By trying to participate in this new global economy, you have built a dependency on the Internet. By building this dependency, you have made the Internet available to the people, and no matter how hard you try, you can no longer take it back.You cannot stop the flow of information without destroying yourself. Sure, you could shut the Internet down. But in doing so, you just shut down the economy as a whole, dooming yourself. If you leave the Internet on, you allow the spread of messages to continue. Even if you manage to shut it down and avoid harming the economy through some miracle, the damage has been done, and the people will not stand for it. Killing is no longer an option, as sheer numbers will overpower any threat thrown at them, and the people shall have their rights! No longer can you ignore the will of the people, as they are the true owners of your country! No longer can you stop the collective force of a thousand different people, all banding together, every one of them equal! The people have the will, no, the right to change the world, and they will use it if it kills them.
-Thanks for reading.
ChemIisan
ADDITIONAL LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/12/egypts-revolt-met-with-wi_n_822325.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-D2xbW1fww (hey who said we couldn't have music?)
Thursday, February 17, 2011
My view on sexual orientation and the Riddle Scale
As a teen living in America, one of the most harmful issues is discrimination. Race, gender, and orientation are all issues that should be addressed, especially issues of orientation. I am maturing now at a faster rate due to help from my family and college classes, and what I am finding in my quest of self-actualization is that most unfair practices come from the irrational fears. I'm going to talk about discrimination to the LGBT community.
To be honestly fair, most of my life until a few years ago the issue never occurred to me. Perhaps I was still innocent and lost, whatever the case may be, but I didn't even recognize that there was a problem, even when the issue was brought to me I found it was odd and best avoided. In fact, until recently I had no idea of the true nature of the issue. Then came along Proposition 8.
At this point I pretended I understood the issue and sided with something I didn't agree with. Both of my parents pushed me to a neutral ground and I found it easier to just shut up and not respond rather than side. As I gave thought to it though, I realized I could identify with the discrimination they felt and I strongly supported their decisions. It's their lives, after all, and it's their choice. Not mine. I stuck to this for years until I reached high school, where I am currently.
I am now seriously contemplating my sexuality, but I am unwilling to experiment. Either way, I am using this moment to advocate my position in favor of the LGBT community. I think that it is everyone's choice to like who they want, and the preconceived notion that heterosexuality is the only possible norm is something I strongly disagree with, based on facts, morals, ethics, and my own opinion.
Fact: Homosexuality is not a new thing. In fact, to be perfectly honest Greece was somewhat Bi in the most part. It wouldn't be odd or even uncommon to have homosexual relationships or feelings, and much of Greek literature, art, even architecture was shaped by this. To be perfectly honest, there were many forms. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Greece)(I really don't feel like MLA formatting; maybe later)
My morals and ethical standards as a human tell me that any form of discrimination for any reason is wrong. Especially if the reasons are as mundane and normal as sexual orientation. It is normal to feel different, and there are no excuses justifying the mistreatment of humans just like you and me.
----
Now to another one of the main points in the article, where I teach you something you may not have known called the Riddle Scale. What the Riddle Scale is a scale made by Dorothy Riddle to examine the levels of homophobia or lack thereof. The bottom level is revulsion, with the highest level being Nurturance. When I was younger, age 10 or below, I would have fit in best with a mixture of the categories acceptance and tolerance, in which I avoided it. This is a negative take because when you avoid the problem you exclude them, and in this way you truly harm them. As I was pushed by both parents, my internal views shifted towards the Support category, though for all preferences outward I displayed Acceptance.
As of writing this, my views if requested would probably be Appreciation, with a small dab of Nurturance. I feel that they are an important part of society just as anyone else, and that they should be openly able to express this without fear of retaliation or backlash. In fact, I admire the courage of any willing to openly express their ideals, and would never try to exclude them from anything that I do, for any reasons.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddle_homophobia_scale)
-----
For all intents and purposes, I am going to sum up my argument. Discrimination based on sexual orientation or appearance thereof is immoral, unlawful, and should not be tolerated. Anyone who thinks that any sort of discrimination to any parties is justified in any way is not someone who I think is the correct person to give the keys of the LGBT fates to! If everyone would just get over the fact that there is no dominant group in anything, there would be little to no conflict in the world! If everyone could just work together to bridge the gap between this world and the world where everyone is happy with who everyone else is or was, then I believe we can really make the difference! I want to finish this saying that as someone who believes in a higher power, I would think we were all created equal.
Thank you for reading.
-ChemIisan
To be honestly fair, most of my life until a few years ago the issue never occurred to me. Perhaps I was still innocent and lost, whatever the case may be, but I didn't even recognize that there was a problem, even when the issue was brought to me I found it was odd and best avoided. In fact, until recently I had no idea of the true nature of the issue. Then came along Proposition 8.
At this point I pretended I understood the issue and sided with something I didn't agree with. Both of my parents pushed me to a neutral ground and I found it easier to just shut up and not respond rather than side. As I gave thought to it though, I realized I could identify with the discrimination they felt and I strongly supported their decisions. It's their lives, after all, and it's their choice. Not mine. I stuck to this for years until I reached high school, where I am currently.
I am now seriously contemplating my sexuality, but I am unwilling to experiment. Either way, I am using this moment to advocate my position in favor of the LGBT community. I think that it is everyone's choice to like who they want, and the preconceived notion that heterosexuality is the only possible norm is something I strongly disagree with, based on facts, morals, ethics, and my own opinion.
Fact: Homosexuality is not a new thing. In fact, to be perfectly honest Greece was somewhat Bi in the most part. It wouldn't be odd or even uncommon to have homosexual relationships or feelings, and much of Greek literature, art, even architecture was shaped by this. To be perfectly honest, there were many forms. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Greece)(I really don't feel like MLA formatting; maybe later)
My morals and ethical standards as a human tell me that any form of discrimination for any reason is wrong. Especially if the reasons are as mundane and normal as sexual orientation. It is normal to feel different, and there are no excuses justifying the mistreatment of humans just like you and me.
----
Now to another one of the main points in the article, where I teach you something you may not have known called the Riddle Scale. What the Riddle Scale is a scale made by Dorothy Riddle to examine the levels of homophobia or lack thereof. The bottom level is revulsion, with the highest level being Nurturance. When I was younger, age 10 or below, I would have fit in best with a mixture of the categories acceptance and tolerance, in which I avoided it. This is a negative take because when you avoid the problem you exclude them, and in this way you truly harm them. As I was pushed by both parents, my internal views shifted towards the Support category, though for all preferences outward I displayed Acceptance.
As of writing this, my views if requested would probably be Appreciation, with a small dab of Nurturance. I feel that they are an important part of society just as anyone else, and that they should be openly able to express this without fear of retaliation or backlash. In fact, I admire the courage of any willing to openly express their ideals, and would never try to exclude them from anything that I do, for any reasons.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddle_homophobia_scale)
-----
For all intents and purposes, I am going to sum up my argument. Discrimination based on sexual orientation or appearance thereof is immoral, unlawful, and should not be tolerated. Anyone who thinks that any sort of discrimination to any parties is justified in any way is not someone who I think is the correct person to give the keys of the LGBT fates to! If everyone would just get over the fact that there is no dominant group in anything, there would be little to no conflict in the world! If everyone could just work together to bridge the gap between this world and the world where everyone is happy with who everyone else is or was, then I believe we can really make the difference! I want to finish this saying that as someone who believes in a higher power, I would think we were all created equal.
Thank you for reading.
-ChemIisan
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