Thursday, April 28, 2011

Witth Love and Sorrow for Your Loss.

Terrorists are not soldiers, they are criminals who abuse the priviledges of a free society to attack indiscriminately, usually against civillians. When they strike, for whatever reason, they are attacking the logsitics of civilization that allows free movement within it by exploiting the vunerabilities that we all accept to live in societies that are aceptable to us. An attack anywhere within a free society is an attack against us all. Of course we feel sympathy for Morocco. Today it was them, tomorrow it could be you or I. Any loss of life must be prevented at all costs no matter who is involved, especially civilians.
Why are they even attacking in Morocco, what has it done? Is it because Morocco is considered not muslim enough by the Jihadis? People forget that, for all attacks on non-muslims eat up the headlines, the primary victims of Jihadi violence have been muslims.




RIP to all the victims in Morocco.


Monday, April 25, 2011

Back from Spring Break!

Sorry I haven not been able to post lately I just back from my spring break vacation, which was amazing! Will post a blog later all about it. Nevertheless recently publication by the FBI calming they have found aliens made me think, will we ever get to see aliens in our life time?
The likelihood of encountering alien intelligence similar in capability to ours is extremely small. Instead, we'll likely find less intelligent life (probably pond scum) or super-advanced civilizations. Bonus points for if one assumes that intelligent life is not planet bound, but could (and would) propagate itself throughout the universe, therefore becoming the most likely life we find out there. Some have suggested that the dark matter 'halos' surrounding galaxies (including ours) might be evidence of the presence of dyson spheres/matrioshka brains. The same dark matter that apparently accounts for over 80% of the mass of the universe.

What do you think about this?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

What happens to consciousness after you die?

If we take this in a more scientifically approach how would you explain this? I'm studying physiology at the moment and the way I see it is that consciousness only exists because all of the parts of the brain, that allow it to exist, are in working order. Remove a major element and the whole thing goes away. Think about if you ripped apart a water molecule. You know that the hydrogen molecules and oxygen combine together to make the water, but in their base forms they're purely that: base forms. However, if someone gets into a terrible accident when part of his/her brain stuff working they still have concious to some extent. Or is consciousness a complex manifestation of electrical activity in the brain that if the activity ceases, consciousness ceases?
Actually the whole definition of the word conscious is a complex concept that is hard for people to wrap their brains around. That's why it's best not to worry too much about it because you'll probably get a brain aneurysm from thinking to deeply, lol.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Economics at its infant stage


I studied economics at university. European, so 3 years of economics-related subjects covering micro, macro, mathematics, statistics, these were the foundation, then: organizational theory, business strategy, corporate finance, marketing, management, accounting, business law. to a lesser degree. Economics is interesting, and the way you can apply many of the tools developed are interesting (See freakonomics), but on the macro side you still have some recurring errors due to human behavior not being incorporated thoroughly, there is still a lot of work to do combining micro and macro studies.
And economics is based on assumptions, and for every guy you have saying one thing, you have a guy saying something else, even the established models used by any professional economist who works in financial ministries and banks etc. can be picked apart if you go to the micro level, which makes discussing with austrians frustrating. This is the essential problem of economics. Microeconomics 'truths' are translated to macroeconomic 'theories', and when the reality of the macroeconomic situation doesn't fit, then economists change their assumptions (rational consumer, total accessibility of information and other lies) in order to make the theory work again, while completely and conveniently ignoring the fact that their theories and axioms no longer bear any relation to reality.
That doesn't mean they should actually be disregarded though, most of the time economics is useful in conducting the stewardship of the state, but if you forget that people are at the heart of everything, as a lot of people, especially the fringes, tend to do, transferring economic policy to social policy and have undesirable side effects.It wouldn't be so bad if economists weren't the most powerful social 'scientists' on the planet, and their meritricious work didn't cause real, genuine human misery and suffering. But without any kind of economic studies you might as well be using astronomy. I think it is silly to disregard an entire branch of studies simply because it cannot predict aggregate human behavior as perfectly as we would like it to. There are plenty of areas other than "macroeconomic policymaking" that are part of "economics". I'm not saying economics will ever be physics, it obviously won't, but if you look at any science, it started out with inaccuracies and esoterics, and then trial, error, testing, hypotheses, etc. scientific method from that point of. Economics takes the sociological or politological claims and theories and attempts to build a rigorous framework to test them in. Of course you can't do repeated experiments with no outside influences etc. when dealing with people, which is what makes it so difficult. At least it is trying.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Name the dish, please.

Sorry i haven't posed stuff in the last couple of the days. It was midterms week and many of you know how stressful it can get it. The good thing is that my spring break vacation begins now, and I would not be going to school until April 26th.  Yesterday my girlfriend stopped by my house and brought me some amazing dish!
I'm trying to figure out what this stuff was my girlfriend brought home and she said she order it  from a local mideastern restaurant but can not recall it's name.
It had lentils and chick peas and what looked like chopped up spaghetti pieces in this spicy red sauce. This was soooo good, the sauce had a sweet taste, but definitely spicy undertone.
A friend of hers had made it but she didn't catch what it was called. Any ideas?
It might be Koshari.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Egypt Last Summer


On myt last trip to Egypt last summer i went scuaba diving in two wonderful places. If you are looking for a great and cheap scuba wonder, Egypt is the place to go (Once the whole conflict gets better).One of the my favorite places for scuba diving in Egypt is Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab. I did my advanced open water in Dahab last year as well and it was awesome, great little town and the only place in Egypt I have any interest in returning besides Sharm El-Sheikh.

Amazing waters, however the people there were not so great. Pretty much everyone is only interested in getting money from you. This includes the Tourist Police. If anyone tries to "give" you something, don't take it, because they'll want something in exchange (don't have anything? Money will do then). Don't take up anyone's offer of taking your photo/having your photo taken with them, unless you're prepared to pay them. If anyone wants to show you anything - a tourist attraction, their shop, whatever, "for their pleasure", they want you to buy something or pay them. If pretty much anyone says anything to you on the street, they most likely want your money. You don't have to completely ignore them, but don't stop walking either.

I don't know how bad El-Sheikh is, but I got hounded by these people literally everywhere I went in Egypt. Although other travellers I met hadn't had any trouble at all. They usually don't want much, mind, but when you get it several times a day every day for weeks on end you do run out of patience. But don't be too stingy, remember, alot of these people make like 2 dollars a day.
 
 Also, don't use taxis which don't have meters in them. Even if you agree a price before getting in, it'll change. If you do want to buy anything and the price isn't marked, haggle - you shouldn't be paying more than 25-50% of what they claim the price is. Just act indecisive and go to leave, the price drops instantly.

If you want to try Shisha, go visit Omar: Master of Shisha in Dahab. Best shisha in the world bar none. Any pipe you get given in a touristy area in a bar/restaurant will be horrible. Speaking of restaurants, many are BYOB in Egypt, even those that serve alcohol, and it's half the price in the shops.

All in all Egypt is so freaking great, lots to see one of the best scuba spots I have ever seen however you just have to know how to work your way around the people trying to take your money. I grantee you, that you will leave Egypt a little more streetwise. 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

A.I.



Suppose someday humanity creates an AI which is superior to our own minds. This AI in turn is used to create a even better AI, one that we wouldn't be able to build without the superior capabilities from the first AI. Assume these AIs are being created with safeguards to ensure that they can't do any harm to humans. This other AI, we then use to create another even better AI, and so on, dozens of times. After a few iterations, man won't even comprehend how the latest AI works, but it is so powerful it can run our societies in an optimal way, and that's what happens, when man replaces their administrators with the Machine. This AI is so superior that man can't hope to outwit it, everything that you do was already taken into consideration by the AI to make its decisions. Mankind is absolutely under its control, but the safeguards are still in place, so it is guaranteed that they won't harm humanity in any way.

My question is, are you okay with it?

By the way, this is the plot of a short story called 'The Inevitable Conflict' by Isaac Asimov.

Friday, April 8, 2011

American food.



I've always wondered, what foods do Americans eat that other countries think is weird? I think PBJs would be weird for Asian countries, and I've heard that cinnamon is offensive to foreigners at first because it is so pungent. My neighbor is half German now living in America and he positively says that  for many Europeans, peanut butter is considered gross. He also stated that the Chicago Dog has simply to many things going on at once atleast for a regular German. Give him a bun, bratwurst and some Mustard and he's good lol.Also Germany has hardly any spicy ethnic foods like Mexican even our Chinese fastfood is missing stuff like Kampao chicken.
 A guy in my English class was telling me that he had my cousin visiting a few years ago and while she liked vinegar-based Carolina-style, she was disgusted by sweet-tasting barbecue. She called it 'meat candy.' Other family back in her  home are also weirded out by bacon and eggs for breakfast. When it came to bread she said that American bread is wretchedly soft and sweet. "All normal super market bread tastes very sweet, it has a distinct flavour that isn't just a normal bread flavour. Even a loaf of plain white or wheat bread has a tasty sweetness and some other flavour I can't pinpoint. But yeah, doesn't taste like 'bread'. Of course if I go to the bakery and buy some sourdough or something then yeah that's fine and familiar." Her cousin concluded  really hated the "Chicago-style" pizza. It just did not look like a pizza to her and isn't very appetizing. But for the most part, she did not find anything weird about American food. Some of it even looks pretty good. She was most intersted in wanting to try some Southern country-fried steak and grits." All in all Chicago got a bad rep. for something, not me though i love Chicago's gastronomy lol. What are some stories you have heard about American food compare to other countries?

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Frank O'Hara

I'm doing some research on Frank O'Hara so I just thought I'd share a poem or two with you. If you like them (or O'Hara) we can have an O'Hara general discussion. My favorites include 'In Memory of My Feelings', 'A Step Away From Them', 'The Day Lady Died' and others. I'm going to post some different ones that have recently made me smile. Picture is the book thatI'm currently reading, The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara.
Song

I am stuck in traffic in a taxicab
which is typical
and not just of modern life

mud clambers up the trellis of my nerves
must lovers of Eros end up with Venus
muss es sein? es muss nicht sein, I tell you

how I hate disease, it's like worrying
that comes true
and it simply must not be able to happen

in a world where you are possible
my love
nothing can go wrong for us, tell me


Poem

The eager note on my door said “Call me,
call when you get in!” so I quickly threw
a few tangerines into my overnight bag,
straightened my eyelids and shoulders, and

headed straight for the door. It was autumn
by the time I got around the corner, oh all
unwilling to be either pertinent or bemused, but
the leaves were brighter than grass on the sidewalk!

Funny, I thought, that the lights are on this late
and the hall door open; still up at this hour, a
champion jai-alai player like himself? Oh fie!
for shame! What a host, so zealous! And he was

there in the hall, flat on a sheet of blood that
ran down the stairs. I did appreciate it. There are few
hosts who so thoroughly prepare to greet a guest
only casually invited, and that several months ago.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

A Small Look on Art



I once read an essay that its main idea was that with the advent of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills culture has been ruined, because the great art and literature was born out of depression, and without depression there is no great culture. I cannot recall the name of that say essay right now, but if any of you know it please do tell.
It is true that anti-depressants make you stop being depressed. They don't remove your capacity to think and feel as a human being though. They're prescribed too much and too often, I find that a truth easily swallowed.
The other thrust of the argument I dislike is that creativity or genius comes from depression. I think if anything my favorite works were always the ones which to me depicted the heights of many or all of the emotions we as humans experience. To say that great culture comes from depressed artists is an insincere look at art, and it denies the necessity of emotional intelligence for development of mature works. I hate it when people try to place restrictions on artists. Oh, to write you have to be depressed. Artists have to be poor. Musicians have to smoke pot or be addicted to heroin. You have to be an alcoholic, you have to see someone die. These are all meaningless, people should just stop trying to define an artist by how he is or acts in everyday life.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Law Schoo? Not so Fast!



Before my older brother moved to Canada he simply left me with just one advice, "Law school...don't do it!"
At first I thought he was joking or quoting something but after some experience with some law professors, my brother may be actually right.

First, people should think pretty  hard about the reasons why they are going to law school before anything. It's a huge investment (100,000$), it's soul-crushing work and the field of law is going through a revolution of sorts right now - the days of high status/high paying jobs are gone. The job market for new lawyers is quite horrible, as there's a number of new grads since everyone went back to school during the recession. Oh, and all the jobs dried up in 2008 and probably aren't coming back.

That being said, if you have a passion for something and you want to change the world (this is me), give it a shot. The work itself is fun if you like debate and argument (if only there wasn't 10 metric of it to do!), and there's still an aura of status about the job that drops panties to the floor (or boxers I suppose - more female lawyers than male nowadays). If are computer 15hrs+ p/day-autistic kind of person and can't talk to people, it's going to be really hard. If you're in it for the money, create a business instead. If you have connections from your rich family/corporate buddies you plan to exploit then hey - let me send you my resume! All in All law school is not what it used to be and people should really consider the reasons why they would even think about giving it a chance.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

True Ambition

If I do really well in my career, I one day hope to having savings in excess of five million dollars. That means that if you took twenty of me, you'd be able to cover Larry Ellison's annual salary. If he saved that salary for twenty years, he'd have the net worth of Ted Turner. On the other hand, it would take more than twenty Ted Turners to buy a Bill Gates.

On the other hand, with five million dollars I'd be able to conservatively spend about a thousand dollars a day for the rest of my life without really worrying about working down the base.

If  I only look upwards, I will always be miserable.

It's the same with smarts, really. My adviser is pretty hot shit in our field and he talks pretty reverently of a few people whose contributions have been even more important. And whenever I get a chance to talk to those guys, they're always going on about how much they wish they could do really hard math... the kind that wins Wolf prizes.

It's always endless if you look upwards. The next level always seems unapproachable and if you do get there, there's always another level to go.It's good to have ambition, but its critical to have a sense of scale.

Besides, twenty years from now when you get a call from a hospital about my love ones dying, none of this will matter at all.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

What is it that makes people (try) to be monogamous?

Tonight I went to class and we were discussing the psychology of human pairing and relationships. Now I accept the fact that pairing is, from an evolutionary point of view, a necessity. However, the Evolutionary Psych point of view leaves itself open to criticisms, such as in the case of homosexuality, infertility, birth defects (specifically of the reproductive organs and the brain), and most importantly, of why there is such a desire to become paired. I've read many studies and seen many statistics on depression, anxiety, and suicide, and one of the leading causes seem to be this phenomena of human bonding; whether it be an individual in a relationship, or lack thereof. This seems counter-intuitive to evolution as this behavior, while beneficial to procreation, may also be detrimental to the individual(s) involved. Likewise, it still doesn't explain why there is (pardon the Freudian term) such a drive for humans to WANT to have relationships. Keep in mind, that procreation can and does happen outside of relationships (i.e. single parent families, etc.) As a I mentioned before homosexuality really complicates things even more. Individuals in relationships, especially long-term ones, consistently rate their happiness higher. I don't see a contradiction there: relationships increase the odds and survivability of offspring, so we're designed to want to be in them. Homosexuality may not be adaptive, or it may. Looking into kin selection, which makes sense in this context. Or it could be something else entirely. Homosexuality exists throughout the animal kingdom, so it may serve the same purpose in humans, or not; human sexuality is complicated.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Got a New Rescued Dog

Has anyone here ever had a rescued dog before? yesterday, my sister got a terrier from friends of hers, and while not necessarily a rescued dog, he's a bit underfed and has been picked on by other dogs. when we introduced him to out rottweiler today, she actually was nice to him, surprisingly enough, and we're introducing him to my malibu tomorrow. my question is, how long does it take for a rescue dog to learn to trust someone? while my sis has made friends with him fast, he gets the shakes whenever i start coming towards him, and will even back up while i'm petting him. do i just let the trust grow over time, or look up a dog book online about "making a dog learn to love" or something like that? i think it might have something to do with my build, as i'm 6'2.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

My current struggle

I come from a family of engineers and business managers. From birth I was raised to study the sciences and find practical solutions to problems, to think logically. I excelled at math and science in high school and got into a good technical college.
However i realized about two years ago, I dont want to be an engineer or a mathematician or a scientist. Dont get me wrong I love the sciences but I love them for different reasons than my family does. My family loves the power of what science can do. I however love the stories and history of science. I love reading about the great men and woman who created and discovered amazing things and I love retelling them to other people. Hell I just love history and literature. I get no greater joy than reading about amazing events and understanding how and why the world is the way it is today. I also love literature and story writing and reading.

Im currently an economics major (its as close as I could get to the social sciences with my family still supporting me cause its math based.) But when i brought up the idea of majoring in the Arts they all thought I was joking and didnt even take me seriously. Why would you waste your time doing that, they said. Im so confused, I would love to be a college history professor and help my students understand the world through very different prospective, but i dont know how my family would react and theres just so much pressure.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Fishing: Catch and Release.


I love fishing. It's so relaxing, it brings me closer to nature and brings out the primitive in me. Not only that but it's the only thing I've really done as a hobby with both, mom and dad lol I'm from southern California but I have a lot of family in Canada, and my family visits a lake in Canada for a few weeks every summer, so we fish quite a lot there.. 99% of the time we practiced catch and release. No one in my family really likes fish (my dad will eat it maybe 2 times a year), so there is no reason to keep them. But if a fish got injured in the process, we'd keep it and my dad would clean it and give it to a friend/relative to eat, so at least it didn't go to waste.


The million dollar question: Is catch and release really okay?Does the fish really die from it? Doesn't it cause them unnecessary pain?

I've seen fish take a lot of damage. Once I was out fishing with my parents on the lake in Canada, and my mom managed to hook some stray fishing line. We always pull in all the line/lures we can find because we like to keep the area beautiful, so my dad started dragging it in. On the other end was a 1 1/2lb-2lb small mouth with large Rapala hooked in it's mouth and all down it's side. It was so sad, there was no fight left in the poor thing and we didn't know there was a fish attached to the line until it got right near the boat. My dad got out his pliers and unhooked the Rapala from the fish's mouth and side, and then slowly started reintroducing it to the water. It took like 5 minutes, but eventually the fish seemed to recover. My dad held onto it in the water for a few more minutes until it shook free and dove. At the end of that summer I caught the same Rapala, messed up gill in the same spot! This time the fished looked refreshed and lively! That's the only fish I seriously injured that summer and I caught a lot of fish. It's stressful I'm sure and you have to handle them with care, but it's very rare to watch a fish go belly up after releasing it.
As far as it causing pain, from my observation I would say the pain involved is fairly minor, if there is pain at all. Either that or fish are really bad ass and tough as hell. Catch and release is perfectly fine. Pain depends on where the fish got hooked. The real issue is when it swallows the hook or it goes to far into their mouths and you have to cause more damage to remove it. If I ever get a fish that is going to get something torn on the inside I put the fish down because it won't survive. Keep in mind one of the most important things with catch and release is to release the fish as quickly as possible. Life expectancy and recovery decreases DRAMATICALLY after about 30 seconds out of the water. more than 2 minutes out of water is pretty much a death sentence. I honestly think the pain is minimal, most game fish eat things that can fight back with sharp pointy bits. The bigger concern is being stressed and exhausted by prolonged toying with them while they are being reeled in. Hope this helps and have a great weekend!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Some thought on religion.


I personally cannot believe in anything with 100% confidence to be true based on "faith", the closest I get to this is a belief that my memories are true, and even this I would say is somewhere under 100%, which is why I cringe whenever I hear someone say I am 100% confident in the existence of a none prove-able being of unlimited power who is male and the only one of his kind and has been so since all eternal and therefore his gender is in the end pointless other than a representation of male supremacy. Aside from the the whole religion concept is totally wrong. I think the word "religion" gets misapplied a lot. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the mainstream understanding of the term is part of a recent cultural move to demean certain types of beliefs as being bad and grouping them all under the name of "religion", in other words the common definition is wrong as it is based on psychological defense mechanisms. perhaps religion is more scientific than anyt other field out there. The "religion" in question being scientism, whose wikipedia def. doesn't go far enough to explain all the intellectual errors inherent within.
What is your point of view on religion?
Are you religious? , If so why? if not why?
If you are unsure which side do you lean towards? if neither think about it.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Bored of Present Literature

Sorry i haven't post int two days, my academic studies have hold me back from my social life this entire week. I wrote a total of 17 pages just this week alone which was very frustrating. A friend of mind is so sick of literature that he has lost faith in literature on it. He realize that everyone writes about the same thing. Stories are written in melancholy fashion for the sake of being so, and do not actually use their melancholy as a vehicle to speak of something greater beyond the confinements of their bad narratives.

I'm going to try to paraphrase everything he said "The New Yorker is publishing garbage. The Paris Review is publishing garbage. The 'Best American Stories of this Shitty Year' are selecting shit, and have had shitty writers write the introductions for their shit (I think one of the recent copies had an introduction by Alice Sebold, who wrote (The Lovely Bones, which was shit). These are supposed to be the crème of the crop when considerate of short literature—but they’re giving me shit. To top it off, I was in Barnes and Noble today, and walking past a small kiosk dedicated to David Mitchell’s fifth novel, I saw only praise for what was undoubtedly David Mitchell’s only shit novel (because dun’g’m’wrong, his previous four books aren’t shit, they’re THE shit – but The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Shit was shit). What do I do? I’m falling into the majority of people who don’t read because “Hyuck, reading is boring.” Yes. Yes, reading IS boring, because everything being published today is shit. And I’m running out of classics. I’ve even turned to reading poetry (John Clare is pretty dope, but still)."

Please excuse language, but he sure makes some good points. Any ideas to address his issue is welcome

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Mormons



Some would say that people are repulsed by the “weirdness” of Mormon beliefs, but how many Americans have ever even heard any of these beliefs? No, the one thing that everyone knows about Mormons–and it’s the only thing that matters–is that they’re serious. They actually believe “that stuff”. When they say “God bless you”, they’re actually asking an omnipotent Being to do something, and that freaks people out. “These guys are nuts! We’ve gotta keep them far from power,” thinks “moderate” America.

Catholics used to be a despised group, because Catholics, you know, actually believed “that stuff”. Then came Vatican II, when they gave society at large that wink and nudge that means “we’re not serious”. Now, instead of anti-Catholicism, in America we have anti-clericalism, because the public still can’t shake the suspicion that the Catholic clergy, at least, are serious. Would that it were true!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Collective Uncouncious

This is a must watch short documentary on the great Carl Jung regarding human identity. Its just around 20 minutes long but is very informative and to the point. The main thing I want to point out is Jung's most famous theory "the collective unconscious." Jung argugues that we as humans share a history that no matter where we are from we share common ideas and behavior patterns through the collective unconscious. These commons ideas are past down through history, religion and culture; it is this collective unconscious that leads  human beings around the world to adobt similar behaviour patterns without even realizing it.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Free Verse

My dad just got back from a 3rd world country and he says "people are just happy to be alive and walking around and loving life, really happy people, but extremely poor and living in terrible conditions. Then I come back to America, and see people bitching about their job, their life, ect."

So.. I just felt like writing something.. I've never really written a poem (more like a free verse) before but this is just some stuff that's been on my mind lately. Hope you enjoy.

We're all part of a man made world.
Man made economy,
Man made reality pulled over our eyes,
Man's routine life
What's that they tell me, oh yes..
'The Real World'
What is the real world?
A 9-5 repetive life they tell me,
Sitting in that metal box, inching your way to work
That, is the 'Real World'
If someone attempts to step out, to be different,
They are told and forced back into this so called reality.
However, what is reality?
Reality is the state of things as they actually exist,
rather than as they may appear or may be thought to be.
Why do we still blind ourselves from reality then?
Important things in life should not be money, greed, nor jobs.
Live the real reality, with your own standards,
not your mothers,
nor fathers,
not even grandparents,
don't live by society's standards of reality.
Live by Your Own.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Oceans

8.9 tsunami hits japan. my heart goes to all affected by it.  i will later post a whole blog about it. but first i would love to share some videos on how crazy the ocean can be! the ocean is so unpredictable and fisherman know this more than anyone out there. they really experience another  view of life that many people will never see. the aw and respect they have toward the waters is just amazing.
Rogue Wave caught by Deadliest Catch

Even big boats get tossed around 
 
 

Why Nature? Because It's Bad Ass.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A little on Nature

Thousands of sardies found dead just a few blocks from my house. The theroy is that some how a tide wave pushed all those fishes to a really compacted areas in which water levels were low and kill the fish due to the lack of oxygen on the low levels of waters. I just could not believe this, I actually when down there and by God was it true. Thousands of sardines floating dead not only on the superficial lever but on deep levels as well. It was really sad seeing the poor fishes flapping around. They fish were making this "shhzzzz" noise as if they were being fried on a pan.
By a conisidence we were discussing, The Perfect Storm, a novel based on a true story in which a fishing boat sinks on the Great Banks of the Atlantic Ocean due to a massive storm. From these expirences I  just can help but wonder how vulnerble I am to nature. The human race consider itself to be well advance and most of them think they have conquer nature. In reality nature can crush us like a bug. Everything can kill us. I live in California and we are for sure due for the "big one." In the Midwest you have tornadoes, and on the East people are always concern of hurricanes. Hawaii is cursed with tsunamis. Nature is alive.Animals are Nature. Humans are animals. So humans are nature. Lets stop thinking as if we are superior to nature because we are not, and we won't realize this until something tragic happens to us. In fact we will never dominate nature, because we simply are a part of nature.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

KENKO MAYO




I went to a international food shop today and had to get this since i've heard it's amazing. I plan to add it to various rice dishes, but I was wondering if anyone has some delicious dish recipe for a big family. What do you love to put your kenko/kewpie mayo on? Kewpie is Superfantastic! But I have found it's greatest power is with my younger siblings when they do not want to eat something. As it is sweeter than American Mayo it tends to add [pop] to the mystery cheese on a cheese sandwich, or mixed in with an ancient grated cheese on penne pasta instead of butter. I have found it useful as a base for a vegetable dip for those cursed vegetables as well. But never try to add it to a big recipe or known anyone who uses it that actually has some experience with this sauce. I always make this recipe and its always good no matter what!

Yakisoba fried noodles

-1 chukasoba pack, cook, strain and run under cold water
-fry 3" ginger, half an onion, 2 carrots and mushrooms
-fry meat of choice
-add noodles
-add yakisoba sauce and keep on med.
-add more yakisoba sauce, kenko mayo and mustard.

Friday, March 4, 2011

back to civilization

I just got back from my camping trip at santee lakes, which is just a couple miles from san diego. I for the pas 3 days i was withdrawn from any sort of technology and it was so amazing. I felt free and learned a lot about my self and the people around me. I felt the primitive person inside of me! I felt the tranquility once get when they being to realize that we are just part of nature. no computer no phone no television and so much fun. makes me question whether technology really makes our life better. these types of questions wouldnt come at a better time; as i keep reading carl jung, jung himself blames technology for our detachment from our true individuality. no phone no television no computer made notice the little things that i usually ignore. i was actually communicating  and express myself in a better way to those around me. technology most of the time isolates us and prevents a lot of confrontations that makes us human. my mission after my trip from london is to go camping but this time with little to no food. its amazing how much nature could teach of about our self if we give it a chance. have a great weekend. cheers!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

It’s possible that the most mundane and monotonous experiences in western life is trips to the local grocery store. Most people know the long aisles and tall shelves by instinct and could maneuver through the store with their eyes closed. It’s very rare that a person might be more observant and analyze their surroundings as if they are having a brand new experience. In order to sharpen my senses I’ve decided to become one of the very few people to pedantically scrutinize their whereabouts to notice subtle details that most people are unconscious of at their grocer. I started reading Carl Jung (such an amazing and intelligent man) and so far he has had this kind of influence on me. I'll post more on him soon.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

London in July

So my family wants to bring me on a trip to London next summer if we can pull it off. The problem is, they don't want to do anything exciting. My Dad wants to go to a graveyard where some of our ancestors are born and then go look at bookshops. My Mom is fixated on that huge building with the clock on it. I really don't care about any of that stuff. I am in love with anything that is remotely related to nature and culture, and I like taking time to stop, eat, meet people with great stories while i search for the most beautiful nature London has to offer. So my question is, where is the most beautiful nature and cultural spots in London?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

In Need of Fresh Raspberries Recipes



I have a good amount of raspberries sitting in my fridge that i need to use up. My good neighbor just have around 5 pounds of raspberries he brought from Oregon ( how i just love him!)
I need to use them fast before they go to waste; I'm not a fan of freezing fruits. Every tasty sounding thing i can think to google calls for raspberry preserves. I'd make my own quick jam as a substitute, but that'd take way too much time i got to thinking about somehow incorporating cream cheese and chocolate if possible because that would be delicious. Maybe in a cheesecake, but i only have a pound or so of cream cheese and would rather not go to the store due to my low budget lol.. Maybe some type of oatmeal bar? have any suggestions?

I just made my mom and girlfriend a black forest cake, but instead of using cherries I used raspberries, since my mom does not care for cherries. I used up some of my berries making the filling, decorating it, and I even made my own raspberry-infused liqueur (although I just used chambord =p). And guess what? there are still plenty of raspberries left! They need to be put in good use ASAP, any any ideas are more than welcome.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Advise

A girl in my English class was asking my professor for advice about her boyfriend so my professor goes on a 10 minute rant regarding advice from others.

She says something like this, "Stop, stop this for your own good. If you let other people give you advice, whether its bad or good you are giving up what make you YOU. Why cant you understand that every choice you make is a string that pulls on other strings. Why do you want others to pull those strings for you, even if its indirect. Make your own choices, your own mistakes and learn from them. Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose.

Then i argue to her, "Asking for advice gives you several different perspectives on a matter that allow you to see it from various different angles than what you, yourself can think up of. Following advice blindly is stupid, yes, but obtaining advice to consider and see how it fits into the equation is not."

And my teacher says, " Im giving you a wake up call not advice. Im just asking you to be yourself, and you say NO I'd rather be someone else. Everyone is somebody but nobody wants to be themselves. The worst advice someone can give you is to ask for advice. "

So i reply to her, "So you are giving me advice about not taking others' advice..."

HAHA! How i just love my English class, the only class that wakes me up in the mornings.


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

FRISCO: Nature and City

So most of my family lives in San Francisco and although I am not really found of cities in general I find San Francisco and exception. I lived  in San Francisco, California until the age of 12 and It is arguably one of the most beautiful city in the United States--a great combination of natural setting (hills, Bay, Pacific Ocean) and man-made beauty (lots of attractive parks, Victorian and other architecture, Golden Gate bridge). It's also within a few hours' drive of a great range of beautiful natural sites (redwoods, mountains, beaches that aren't too cold to set foot on). On a cultural lever Frisco is one of the most educated places in the country--they have a lot of incredibly smart and creative people running around (or maybe they seem smart to a 12 year old lol) . San Francisco also a very diverse and generally extremely tolerant place. Not to mention its restaurants and vibrant cultural activities. Not that there aren't downsides--it may be the most expensive place to live in the U.S., and the schools are struggling, so it's not a very family-friendly city. Also, the region's famously progressive leftist tendencies, while hardly monolithic, can get a little extremist and silly, although I'm a leftist myself. But aside for those typical problem every city in the US is a really nice that in fact bring me closer to nature than no other. The nice cold breeze down at the harbor, eating some chowder, next to the bay area wild life really connects my primitive self back to the outer world; I cant believe such a city really makes me feel alive.

Monday, February 21, 2011

School @ 6AM Tomorrow

Hello!!  I'm back from my 3 day weekend. I spent the whole 3 day weekend faarrr away from the city with my girlfriend and friends and we had so much fun bike riding. Now is time to go to school and I am not looking for to it. I need some aid here. I don't have the typical relationship dilemmas you see throughout your days, nor do I have self esteem issues. To be quite honest with you, I consider myself relatively happy and quite content with my life as far as internal happiness/joy is concerned. I am, however, concerned with my studious attitude as of late. For some reason, I've been completely detached from my studies this semester and I feel absolutely deplorable about it. Each time I pick up a book to learn, or to study, I feel somewhat displaced. Homework problems seem like a chore; classes simply bother me; assignments are nothing more than tedious tasks for me to complete. The tasks/assignments aren't easy either; a good portion of them are moderately difficult. Regardless, I feel as if my mind is miles away from my intellectual pursuits. Furthermore, I've been feeling very .. cloudy, as of recently. If not hazy, then my remembrance of certain concepts has seemingly evaporated from my mind. I just feel like a shell of my former self. I don't know what to do. The only thing i really think all day is being outside. Has anyone felt this way?
For the record, I'm a Science major with a relatively ''high'' GPA. I'm in the second semester of my Junior year.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Ohhh that Nietzche

So we are reading a lot of Nietzche in my critical thinking class and today I finally sat down and crack open my first book of the year. I tried to read Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil , and I just could not do it. Whatever brilliant points Nietzsche is making here, I can't even make out what they are. When he isn't complaining about other philosophers for paragraphs at a time, he's throwing in Latin phrases for no reason other than the fact that throwing in some Latin makes your sentence 500% smarter, or rambling about nothing forever with tons of obscure sentences that you have a master's degree to even hope to decipher. I can't even critique Nietzsche's philosophy, he's so far arrogant I can't even make out what his philosphy is underneath all that "prophetic words"t he uses.Maybe we are jumping into hard writters too soon? Maybe is like picking up a journal article in quantum chromodynamics and not understand it, same with Nietzche, expecting to be able to just pick up one of the most difficult philosophers and just read him. Why? I know that reading serious works requires serious background and serious training but if a writer isn't able to convey their point to the reader, then the writer is at fault. You can't blame the reader for not being willing to read a dozen other books first. The reader gives the writer their livelihood, so the writer owes it to the reader to make things as easy to understand as is reasonably possible. I have learned one important thing though. Intellectual does not necessarily mean good.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Rain in Southern Calirofnia

Alas! It's finally raining! How I missed the rain, to say how much i like rain would be an understatement. I'm about to call up some friends and go get WET! There is nothing better than feeling like a kid again, special with people you really like. Hopefully I don't get sick. I must leave know before this rain stops, knowing how how rare rain is over here lol.




Have a nice 3 day weekend friends.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

HELLLOOOO!!!

 I have been overwhelm by school work that is taking all of my free time. I'm taking an 8 unit combine anatomy and physiology class and to this point all i keep dreaming of  collegen fibers and bones.seriously. My vatelatines went so great! So i made my girlfriend her favourite chicken sandwich: wheat cranberry-walnut bread, free-range chicken pattie, organic spinach, grilled onions, swiss cheese, and a splash of chicken appricout sauce.
 I wrapped it up put it in a picnic basket along with a bottle of red wine, box of chocolates and some fresh picked tulips courtesy of my friends backyard (Thanks Pumo!). We then drove to my local $1drive-in which play 3 month old movies for cheap. We saw Megemind, which was hilarious. All in all it was a good valentines day. I'm so blessed to have Jennifer in my life, she was so pleased and happy even though I cant really buy her the things she wants. I spent less than $15 this valentines day and it was one of the best I have ever had. I really want to thank the people that shared their valentines ideas with me. I appreciated that sooo much. We don't need money to make others happy, all we need is to put our heart, thought and dedication to make things happen.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Our Brain Wants to Learn

The brain is such an amazing organ that is composed of numerous areas that control our bodies from our physical to emotional state. Today in my psychology class we studied the frontal part of our brain, the one deep inside our upper foreheads known as the frontal lobe.The front lobe helps create better judgment and decision making. I found this very interesting because the front lobe of our brain does not fully develop till the age of 25. . I've noticed while growing and maturing that my thoughts and actions have become wiser and better over all. When I was a teenager, I didn't care about anything. Without thinking twice, I was able to make horrible decisions for myself as well as others around me. I was not a good friend, and I also surrounded myself with not so good people. On the news we hear about teenager’s texting, or driving under the influence leading into fatal accidents. We also hear about kids as young as 13 over dosing on drugs. I believe these types of decisions are made due to a strong and postive parental presence and their lack of a developed brain.  I found that it’s very important to have a solid ground of understanding that we all have the potential to be the best people we can possibly become. Having this understanding at a young age would greatly benefit our lives, others and ourselves. Nevertheless, our front lobe is still trying to grow which makes our brain very vulnerable to easy manipulation by others. Its very sad seeing homeless middle aged people beings lost and alone, never knowing what the day will bring them. This can come from many things but can also greatly be involved with the brain and the way it works. Maybe these people have lost hope? Maybe the way they thought as a child or teen carried on into their adulthood. There can be many reasons as to why people make the decisions they do. I believe the love of education, hope, faith and strength greatly needs to be passed through parents to their children. Children and teens can easily be manipulated into dangerous or life-threatening situations, the second you turn you’re back. I was blessed with a very caring family and strict mother, and I still was able to get away with making horrible decisions for myself. Thanks, to this study of the front lobe, I am now able to understand why young people act the way they do. For every action there is a reaction-thus, having a well develop brain you are going to get not so well reactions. This information is not necessarly bad, I find extreme comfort in the fact that I know I can only do better from here. I love learning, I have dreams and goals for myself. So, as i get older my brain is going to continue to better myself and make better decisions to help others in need.

Monday, February 14, 2011

CANT WAIT FOR TONIGHT!!

I'll keep things short. Happy valentines days for everyone out there! It doesn't matter if you are single or have a special someone in your life. Valentines day is not whether you have a girlfirend or a boyfriend. Its not about what you are getting your significant other. Its not about going on a spending spree to buy the most expensive gift because its a rule that you have to buy your wife something. It's about letting ANYONE know how much they mean to you. We let Valentines day turn into another consumerists day that we forget along the way what today is really about. So everyone out there without a "date" do not worry you have plenty of valentines! Just simply look around you to see how lucky you really are!

PS. I'll post tomorrow how many day went!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ONCE AGAIN!!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

My Stomach: On the Way to Recovery

Thanks god is the weekend. Now I can let the healing begin!! As most of you know I had a really bad food expirence which resulted in a really precistent stomach ache. My stomatch really gets upset everytime i eat something. However thanks to the internet I have found certain food people should be avoided by people with upset stomachs. Here is the list of the top 5 foods you should defenatly avoide when ever you are expiriencing stomach disconfort:

5)  Tomatoes

Do not get me wrong, I encourgae you guys to eat tomatoes and lots of them! Just not when you are sick, the lycopene in tomatoes is a tremendous nutrient that you should be getting on a regular basis but the acidity in this fruit can aggravate an already upset tum.

4) Nuts


 Just like tomatoes nuts are really good, but nuts are really hard to digest. Any kind of nuts can disturb your digestive tract even more if it is already in distress.

3) Spicy food. :(

Oh man I hate not spicing things up! I literraly have to have something spicy at least once a day! I'm addicted to the trhill of anything spicy, the hotter the better! As we all know spicy foods can wreak havoc on your stomach in a normal situation, much less when you're already sick.

2)  Caffeine
This is was a huge shocker for me. I was drinking green teas as an alternative cure to cope with my upset stomach. Caffeine is a stimulant, absorbed by the stomach lining, and can cause excess production of stomach acid.

1) Tantaratan........

Dairy products!!
Cut back on dairy products. If your upset stomach is due to illness, you should avoid dairy products. The fat in dairy products can cause stomach problems to worsen. No cheese, milk, yogurt, cream, etc.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

into the wild

Into the wild is a true story about an unbelievable man named Chris McCandles, who leaves society's materialistic environment to set off on a journey to Alaska. He was born into a well off family, had owned a car, had excessive funds in his account after college (which he attended and graduated. He abandoned his car, donated $25,000 to charity and burned the money left in his wallet. Chris was disgusted by how materialistic everyone was, in society and even his own parents. He left without saying a word to anyone, so they reported him missing. His sister knew otherwise, they were really close and she had a feeling he just up and left. His family felt ashamed, how could there son just leave his life? he was going to be successful! he was so educated! Well, while his parents were thinking this, Chris was on the road, backpacking and living off natures resources. Chris brought with him, some good books, that gave him the much needed information he would need to live off of. He hunted, he ate exotic plants and animals, he took baths in the lakes, and he of course didn't shave. He met some amazing people along the way, who at times, provided resources for him; and shelter, before he was back in the wilderness. A lot more events happen but he eventually makes it to Alaska. He is not in very good condition because he hasn't been able to eat much, so he finds what he can, which at the time were berries. He misread a passage in one of his books, and accidentally ate the poison ones. This killed him very fast, the side effects of eating this berry caused him to throw up everything he ate, and anything he would eat, which resulted in him starving to death. When writers/people found him later, they discovered his body in a bus he was living in, and on the wall it read "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!" Chris McCandles was such an amazing human being, finding what truly makes a person happy,.... or at least me, traveling.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Too Good to be True

First of all I want to thank all of my followers for helping me reach almost 100 followers.
I had such a wonderful util 5:30pm...Ah! Where to begin?....So I visited my local flea market and bought some homemade hummus and pita chips along with some organic apples. The hummus delivered and by the time i got into my car it was already down in my stomach! So snacked on the apples on my way home. Here I was in a great mood, cruisin'  next to California coast, enjoying the fresh smell of the ocean, blasting my music, checking out the beautiful scenery, enjoying my last apple (i know i eat a lot) and then it all took a turn for the worst. I had to pull over ASAP!!!! The whole hummus and both apples just erupted from my esophagus into the sandy beach of venice! I vomited 4 times and not the nice kind of vomiting when you feel all better after. That painful kind when you feel sharp pains in your stomach and nose (sorry for the mental picture). The worst part is that my stomach still hurts right I feel nauseous...ugh! I'm just disappointed that its going to take me while to eat more of this:


Monday, February 7, 2011

Inexpensive Valentines?

So I started school today! I had my anatomy class at 7:10am so I woke up at 5:30am. Ugh! Valentines is approaching and I'm still unemployed.It looks like no one is hiring here in LA but oh well I won't let that ruin my feb. 14. It would have been nice to take my girlfriend to a nice restaurant for dinner or get her that huge stuffed bear she always wanted. Luckily I have those rare kind of girlfriends that with a simple "I love you" would make her day. She deserves much more than that so I came up with some ideas on how to have an inexpensive valentines and still show your loves ones how much they mean to you. When she comes over I going to prepare her favorite meal, chicken sandwich with some fresh cheese on the side (seriously) and add a bottle of a wine to the mix. After draw a hot bath filled with rose petals and have a glass of wine and some chocolates to nibble on by the side of the bathtub. If you have any more ideas let me know I'm open to anything!

Sunday, February 6, 2011


          As I was watching the new Superbowl commercial things began to look more clear than ever on how our  media has had the uncanny ability to bombard our minds with everything from advertisements to “reliable news casting”. Media has repeated the same advertisements over and over and over again until they have become “a reliable source” for people to depend on whether they realize it or not. Most  media on television today tells woman that they need makeup and the newest clothes in order to be beautiful. The news advertise is also very general; they highlight accidents and dramatic scenes only for one desired outcome, ratings. Who really cares about the GLEE kids entering a chevy contest? With the views Superbow ads get, why to use it the air time for a good cause? Maybe address important global issues, like Egypt. Media, in general, misguides people in what’s actually really important in life. They pretty much leave out, when there advertising,ways to be truly happy.Media has had more of an impact on my life then I’d like to admit. I feel at times, unable to escape it.  The only time I feel media truly has absolutely no effect on me is when I’m traveling.  When I travel I feel free, free from what’s suppose to make me look and feel “beautiful” “high fashion clothes”, make-up, “the newest shoes” and to be honest I truly don’t care about these ridiculous things when I’m walking the streets of London or Dublin, or looking down at the beautiful Colorado River beneath one of the wonders of the world. When I’m traveling I don’t care about media or its electronics at all. I think media has a way of confusing people with who they really are! Because they have a way of telling people who they are, and they buy into it! Our culture does not make people feel good about themselves

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Free your mind!

You can take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old gramophone records that have been playing in your head perhaps for many years. This is what is meant by “watching the thinker,” which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in your head, be there as the witnessing presence.That little voice inside us to us more about ourselves than we would imagine. 

When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You’ll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This “I am” realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.

So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence-your deeper self-behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.

If you are still interested please read more here. This link includes 50 questions that will help you freeing your mind and reducing all that junk that pollutes our mind everyday.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/

Friday, February 4, 2011



I have been with my girlfriend from more than a year and by god have i learn a lot. she has thought me so many things about myself! she has made me discover the kind of person I really am. I know for a fact now that I am selfish! why is that good a thing? Its not! its a good thing that now i KNOW that i am selfish. this knowledge brings me closer to discover who I am. Little by little im now more "real" more authentic thanks to her. And it feels so good saying and liking/hating what you true self real does. I have remove most of this mask i use to wear all my life. I do not fake to be polite now i want to be polite! how has anyone change your life?

I love you

Mitch Albom. Such an inspiring person/author, I'm just in love with his wisdom about life and its journeys. Here's a really touching encounter his Rabi once told him about. A man buried his wife. At the grave site he stood by the Reb, tears falling down his face. "I loved her", he whispered. the Reb nodded. "I mean... I really loved her." The man broke down. "And....I almost told her once." The Reb looked at me sadly. "Nothing haunts like the things we don't say." I find myself at times not able to express the way I feel to my loved ones, and its sad. Life is way too short to not show these simple acts of love to one another. I have told myself, since reading this, that I am going to be more affectionate with my family but I still haven't. I hope one day I can be the person I always dreamed of being, and maybe one day, soon, I will be.

jobless and no luck

a complete month of submitting 15+ job applications. last day of the month i lose my cell phone