About every 365.2421891 Gregorian days or 366 days every leap year, you have successfully orbited the Sun once in your lifetime on Earth. During this time, our Moon has orbited our Earth once every 27.3 days which is its sidereal period. Because Earth’s axis is tilted 23.4392811 degrees, every country on Earth experiences the 4 seasons; winter, spring, autumn and summer, hence it allows biosystems to flourish giving birth to millions of species of animals, eukaryotes and prokaryotes. If you want extremely exact figures, does 31,577,600 seconds suffice? Or if you want to know what exactly is one second, it’s exactly the time taken for the electrons to transfer between 2 hyperline levels of a ground state Caesium 133 atom 9,192,631,770 times. I’ll just let those astronomical numbers settle in your head for a moment or two.
While you’re reading this post on your bedside or chair, you are currently at rest, 0 m/s relative to the Earth’s surface because you are spinning with Earth as friction from the ground you are sitting on drags you along as Newton’s 3rd Law explains the presence of an equal and opposite force to the applied force. However if your friend is on the sun watching your movement on Earth, you are spinning counterclockwise at about 1670 km/hr and orbiting your friend at about 108,000 km/hr. Many textbooks will only show you a screenshot of our solar system and you would assume our solar system is relatively stationary in the universe, but I’m afraid to say that it’s not. The sun is moving, we and our neighbouring planets including Uranus and their respective moons are moving with the sun. We are moving with the sun at about 72,000 km/hr roughly towards the constellation of Lyra. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is also moving as the universe is proven to be expanding due to the discovery of red shifts.
Near the conclusion of a year, every news channel, social media giant and end-of-year TV show replays a compilation of events, moments, bloopers, births, deaths, discoveries, feature stories, interviews, uncensored speeches and scenes, and behind-the-scenes intermission moments that you may have forgotten or remembered. What can you remember this year, last year and so on so on?
In fact, the most memorable moments in each passing year are always personal which may involve achievements and goals that you’ve set yourself to accomplish even with your backs to the wall. As a university student those achievements are mostly academic, for instance, successfully passing units that I’ve struggled to surpass during each passing semesters. Moments shown on social media or on air involve events that are heartbreaking also stick in our minds too such as the terrorist plots in Europe and Indonesia, the outcome of the USA presidential election and the negative, overreactive backlash from all capitalist or Western media outlets in USA, Russia and Australia that followed, the subdued outcome of the Australian Federal Election, the Syrian refugee crisis due to the ongoing Syrian War, North Korea’s nuclear tests, natural disasters such as hurricanes/typhoons, tornados, bushfires, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes that affect high-risk areas and the scrutiny and controversy surrounding the Rio Olympics despite it going ahead as per usual.
Every year it’s estimated that each year about 131 million people are born, while 55 million pass away through natural causes, unnatural accidents, weapons, mother nature or excessive force. If this trend continues in the long term for at least the next millennia without any pending nuclear disaster, I don’t know how Earth will house this many homo sapiens along with the millions of animals species. However we are notified of the births of those who are related to popular people like the Royal Family’s Prince George, Hollywood couples like Brangelina (sadly no longer existent), athletes and models like Chris & Rebecca Judd, social media stars, TV presenters and news broadcasters etc. The media also acknowledges the birth of rare animals in our zoos like the pandas Wang Wang and FuNi in Adelaide Zoo and baby elephant Sabai in Taronga Zoo, Dubbo.
Understandably, everyone goes in a frenzy online and offline when their favourite celebrity (actor, actress or singer) passes away due to natural causes. It seems that 2016 is not only the year of the Underdog but also the unlucky year for celebrities. The most shared tributes I’ve seen include David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Muhammad Ali, Anton Yelchin, Alan Young, Gene Wilder, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Michael, Prince and recently Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds. Here’s a list of celebrities who were unfortunately taken away from us by natural selection:
http://www.syracuse.com/celebrity-news/index.ssf/2016/01/celebrity_deaths_in_2016_famous_photos.html
Ever though a majority of us don’t know these people personally, we still grieve with waterfalls of tears streaming down our faces. We hear and learn so much about them in talk-show interviews not only about their passions in their singing and acting careers but also the fascinating personal stories they happily shared with us (the audience). It seems that their appearances in films and music concerts brought us closer to them like they’ve become part of our family. The way they emulated certain characters in different movie genres or sung their songs helped us relate to those plot twists and their sense of understanding of human behaviour inspire us to be just as empathetic as them. Sadly, like us, they are human too. As we age, they age too. Most of you would have seen them in their prime time and wish for them to bring back memories of their illustrious careers just so you can feel nostalgic about the entertainment you enjoyed as children.
Whilst all of you relishing in a minute silence for those we loved watching on the big screen, I'll discuss birth and death in another post. Meanwhile who could not forget one of our greatest ancestors?
#DicksoutforHarambe
On a positive note, moments that can be memorable most likely made us burst into laughter, nostalgic and and we cannot stop spreading their name and what they’re known for through word of mouth or online conversation. Do you remember this lady?
Candice Payne posting a viral Facebook Live video featuring her new Chewbacca mask
I’m sure everyone knows this game:
People say this game is Oddish and too Farfetch'd but I still wanna catch em' all.
And these forgettable memes:
- Arthur's clenched fist
Every country, community and society around the globe welcome the new year depending on your time zone with a bang in the form of colourful fireworks. Each mega-structure like the Burj Al Khalifa (UAE), Sydney Harbour Bridge (Australia), Taipei 101 (Taiwan), Eiffel Tower (France), Times Square (USA & Hong Kong), Brandenburg Gate (Germany), Big Ben (England), Sky Tower (New Zealand) and Tokyo Tower (Japan) become the firework centrepiece in the country they represent. It is this time of year where everyone across Earth say the same 10 arabic numbers in descending order as one year ends and another begins. But I’m always wondered why we welcome a new year with a fireworks display? Invented in ancient China around the 7th century (Tang Dynasty), fireworks were believed to scare away evil spirits and bring happiness and luck, as an extension of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China of gunpowder, a material the first pyrotechnicians used. Nowadays pyrotechnicians add chemicals to gunpowder to give its glamorous colour combination. Those colourful fireworks are generated by "pyrotechnic stars” that produce intense light when ignited. They contain the following basic ingredients:
— A fuel to burn the star
— An oxidiser to support the fuel combustion
— Colour-producing chemicals
— A binder that holds the pellet together
— A Chlorine donor that provides Chlorine to strengthen the colour of the flame.
Here’s a link below regarding which chemical gives off which colour:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrotechnic_colorant
I have to admit it’s been quite a tumultuous and eventful year like every other year. I was planning to start a blog next year but after finding Blogger, I was over the moon. I have found a media outlet where I could post personal commentary on every topic, issue, everyday activity and deep questions. I could not wait any longer so I decided to start it sooner rather than later. This is just the beginning. They will be a lot more deep commentary from me in the future and I hope you’re enjoying what you’re reading. Invite your friends over if you feel they find my unique thoughts worth a read. Finally, I wish all of you reading this and around the globe a safe and happy 2017. As Ellen Degeneres would say “Be Kind to One Another.” See you next year!
Whilst I see most of my friends celebrate Christmas Day with their honey-glazed ham, suckling pig, poppers, Christmas tree decorations, gift unwrapping, gingerbread house demolition, Christmas carols, playing Santa Claus, Christmas-themed games, my family, however, don’t feel as festive. My family came from a Buddhist country and Christmas is not celebrated there although Christmas is now translated and celebrated in certain non-Christian areas like Hong Kong and Macau. What distinguishes them from the fictional characters Ebenezer Scrooge and The Grinch, is that they don’t dislike Christmas but they feel their religion does not warrant them to commemorate an historical figure. They treat Christmas Day as another ordinary rest day from work and they go about their usual chores in the garden. I constantly hear their envy whenever we pass by a neighbour’s house lit up with a luminescent Christmas light show but we never commit an effort to setting up our own Christmas light display. The only Christmas decoration we casually put up is a Santa calendar and a randomly-chosen stocking hanging on a door knob. In public, I feel they say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” to their customers just for the sake of fitting in to Australian society. Although all they care about is their own money and own self, they’re not as cold-hearted towards the public and their hearts don’t coincidentally grow three sizes and then miraculously understand the true meaning of Christmas. Fortunately they’re not one of those people who lack Christmas spirit and blather “Bah! Humbug!” during this annual festive season.
You say this phrase to your friends and family. You write this phrase on every Christmas card. What does it actually mean to say and write “Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year”? Some people write Happy Christmas or say Happy Holidays but those alternatives are also largely accepted by the Christian society. The word “merry” is derived from the Old English, meaning pleasant rather than joyous. Although Christmas was officially a holiday from the 4th century AD onwards, the first known use of this religious greeting dates back to around 22nd December 1534, where John Fisher wrote season’s greetings and “Merry Christmas” in a formal letter to Thomas Cromwell, recorded in the Strype Ecclesiastical memorials, 1816.
And this our Lord God send you a mery Christmas, and a comfortable, to your heart’s desire.
The phrase did not take off in Christian society especially in America until the publication of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol in 1843, during the early reign of Queen Victoria. During the same year on 1st May, the phrase also appeared on the first ever commercially sold Christmas card in London. However Queen Elizabeth II preferred the phrase “Happy Christmas”, because she argues ‘merry' not only means 'pleasant, peaceful and agreeable', but also frivolous and inebriation. This explains why some people in the UK prefer to use the terms “Happy Holidays” and “Happy Christmas” instead.
— Christmas is short for Christ’s mass, derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from the Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. Crīst is derived from the Greek, translated from Hebrew for Messiah, meaning anointed and mæsse is from the Latin massa, the celebration of the Eucharist.
Every Christmas story always features Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick or Father Christmas, who travels in his beautifully-crafty red sleigh with his flying deers carrying his large sack of gifts for every well-behaved child and coal for the misbehaved across the globe. We all know that on Christmas Eve, families place milk and cookies near the fireplace where Santa Claus will pop through the chimney, consume the sweet and crunchy treat and happily deliver the gifts under the decorated Christmas Tree. Of course, he cannot accomplish this annual journey quickly and quietly without his trusted army of elves. There is some controversy on whether this legendary figure of children’s Christmas tales is fictional or not. If his presence were to be true, what were his exact origins?
The popular illustration of Santa we all know today was drawn by political cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1881, with its appearance described in a 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. His memorable chuckle “Ho ho ho” was actually inspired by his poem with the excerpt below and the postal code in Canada Post when letters are sent to Santa Claus.
“… a little round belly
That shook when he laugh’d, like a bowl full of jelly”
Every Christmas always feature decorations including baubles, tinsel, lights, pine trees, stockings, stars on top of the Christmas trees, wreaths, mistletoes, candles, angels, candy canes and bells. The traditional colours of pine green (evergreen), snow white, heart red and gold have religious significance. The heart-shaped leaves of ivy symbolises the coming to earth of Jesus, while holly was as protection against pagans and witches, and its thorns and red berries represents the Crown of Thrones worn by Jesus at his crucifixion and the blood he shed. The green symbolises eternal life, for instance the evergreen tree because its leaves doesn’t die in the winter, and gold is the first colour associated with Christmas, as one of the 3 gifts of the Magi, symbolising royalty. Although it doesn’t snow in Australia during December because of its summer season, white refers to visually visible environment of snow-covered grounds in the northern hemisphere. Do you hear that merry singing in the air? As the Grinch listens dazed and confused trying to understand why Christmas came without gifts and decorations, it is evident Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without its own music in the form of carols (hymns). The word ‘carol’ originated from the French ‘carole’ in the 1100s, meaning a popular circle dance accompanied by singing. This reinforces unity and belonging in respective communities which suggests Christmas is about everyone joining in the celebrations no matter who they are or what they look like.
While you enjoy your delicious Christmas feast including the roast beast and joyfully sing those Christmas carols, remember there are men, women and children out there living in poverty, resting in hospital beds on life support and experiencing homelessness. It would be honourable and gratifying to acknowledge their presence and give some of your Christmas love to them and put a smile on their solemn faces. Your empathy and kind, caring words will suffice as a precious and invaluable gift for them. No matter where you are on Earth, there will always be something Jesus Christ can give to you and protect your goodwill.
I wish you all a Merry/Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Hogmanay and a safe and wonderful New Year. On a last note, i also wish Jesus Christ a Happy Birthday.
#Whereisthelove (Remix) Black Eyed Peas ft. The World, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsRMoWYGLNA
Since the 2011 execution of al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden by US Troops, I thought things would return to normal and terrorist attacks that he claims responsibility for in Bali (2002), London (2005), Oklahoma City (1995) and The Pentagon, Virginia (9/11/2001) would be a thing of the past. I could never have been so wrong in my entire life. It seems that the bloody soul of Osama Bin Laden has reincarnated in the remaining surviving terrorists fuelling their grieving acts of revenge against their opposition, Christian and/or capitalist countries.
As far as i can remember, the terrorist sieges and attacks from 2014 onwards are still fresh in my memory and it’s quite saddening and traumatising reminiscing the horrific scenes of these recent events:
— December 2014 Sydney Lindt Cafe siege
— November 2015 Paris shootings outside Stade de France Stadium during a football march between France and Germany (where French President Francois Hollande was in the stands), at a live concert inside the Batalan Theatre, Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant.
— March 2016 Ankara car bombings and shootings
— March 2016 Brussels Airport bombings
— July 2016 Nice, France Vehicle ramming on Bastille Day at the Promenade des Anglais
— August 2016 Gaziantep, Turkey wedding suicide bombing
— November 2016 Ohio State University attack
— December 2016 Istanbul, Turkey bombings
— December 2016 Berlin Market ramming truck attack
Bottom: People engaging in a moment silence for the victims of the Paris attacks at Place de la Republique
As you may notice, a majority of these terrorist attacks in developed countries occur mid-year and near the end of the year when students are on holidays and families are celebrating Christmas and New Years. During these festive periods, there is an expectation of a bustling crowd in the 100s of 1000s in their respective CBDs which attracts not only tourists from foreign countries but also would-be terrorists to conduct maximum carnage in these popular cities. Recently, a police operation has successfully foiled a terrorist attack to be conducted by 7 lone-wolves including 4 Australian-born at Melbourne’s popular landmarks such as Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral most likely on Christmas Day. Whilst I’m slightly relieved that Melbourne has escaped becoming part of the terrorist attack statistics for another day, I have a great deal of concern for my safety living in my home town, the most liveable city for 5 years running, this great city in this great state, Melbourne.
Time has passed and things have changed so quickly. The old ways of living life are no longer relevant and new ways may need to be adopted urgently. As every day passes I feel there is someone anonymous in every house besides my own designing their weaponry and plotting their suicidal missions to potentially cause catastrophic consequences. The world has gone insane after viewing the threatening propaganda videos of radicalised young Australians joining the fight alongside ISIS against the people they grew up with in their childhood. As i’m writing this post, there are bombs and suicide vests set off in war-torn countries like Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan. Every day is nothing but violence with no room for happiness nor celebration even Christmas, New Years and Republic Days. Memories are filling the minds of little ones, with ongoing suffering as men, women and children die and I ask myself, is there any love is this world? I always ask myself why there is so wrong in this world. The world where I’m living in as a 21 year old human being and people around me are giving in. Politically and ideologically charged people like Reclaim Australia and Anti-Islamic groups are promoting black and white demonstrations on the streets with no indication of accepting multicultural diversity. They’re not respecting each other, denying each other’s views, this is not freedom of speech, this is war of speech. Everyone needs to be aware there’s a war going on and we, the people, are fuelling the hatred and violence but those reasons are kept undercover and swept under the rug by the media. That's what the terrorists want to see; disunity, anger, selfishness, division within stable communities, scapegoating of innocent Muslims. They want to start a fight like a WW3. The media selectively chooses what you, the audience, can see, mostly violence scenes and some obscene language rather than reveal the entire ordeal including the lead-up to a free-for-all melee. They want the public to believe every explosion, gunfire or vehicle ramming at any Christian community or large crowd is always a terrorist attack and IS will claim responsibility for it. I feel the media cares nothing for our safety but news viewership hence financial profit. They will be eating their words if their headquarters were coincidentally targeted. It goes to show, selfishness will lead us nowhere but in the wrong direction resolving a large-scale global issue such as this.
I feel the weight of the world is on my shoulders and it’s stressing me out. Everyone is ageing including myself but everyone’s getting cold rather than warm. While I’m writing this post, my friends only care about their pay wages during the Christmas rush.Because these busy Melbourne shopping centres will be bustling with cheerful Christmas shoppers, I’m agitated this fits the criterion for a possible ideologically-charged massacre like that in Nairobi, Kenya. My Facebook newsfeed is nothing but full of bad or biased news. It’s infecting the young minds faster than E.Coli and they wanna act like what they see in Mission Impossible, Fast & Furious and 007. I feel like they aren’t enough kind-hearted people spreading the values of humanity, fairness and equality. Instead of spreading love, we are spreading animosity. Our lack of willingness to understand one’s pain, suffering and worries are leading us away from unity. Those are the main reasons why sometimes I’m feeling down and under (pardon the pun), however I’m not going to let that kill my faith until I discover the love that heals our infected hearts. For those who are reading this, ask yourself what is more important, your own race or your own species? I can’t influence your opinion but I know deep down in the strands of your DNA, your mammal instincts will eventually synthesise the love the world longs for. However I can not do it alone. You know, I know, we all know, that all of us must collaborate to help prevail against evil no matter how intimidating they are. We must not let their intimidation instil fear within us weakening our courage and motivation to fight and defend for the greater good. It’s like the ultimate battle in Marvel: Injustice but without the superheroes and the bloodshed is real not a CGI. However, all of that is easier said than done. If the soldiers after WW1, WW2, Korean War and Cold War did it, then we, the people, can take inspiration from them and replicate the brave efforts of our brothers fighting for a safer future for our children here on Earth. We only got one World one Earth, that’s all we got.
Black Eyed Peas, Where is the Love, 2003
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc
Hearing this famous song had never felt so relevant in this torrent era. Every lyric, every line and every verse accurately describes the traumatic scenes on the television, the bloodshed and lifeless corpses in the live video feeds. But instead of the CIA, The Bloods, The Crips and The KKK, it is ISIS / IS / ISIL known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who is the main enemy. The target is peculiarly not in the USA yet, but in popular holiday destinations mostly in Europe like France, Turkey, Germany, and Russia, and in Oceania like Indonesia and Australia.
The world is like Modern Warfare or Black Ops games come to reality. People around me are living like they is no safe place to live. The horrific pictures of gun cartridges, streams of blood and abandoned human corpses keeps flooding my television screen and every news channel worldwide is addicted to reporting these breaking scenes. They are lured by events bringing mass destruction onto human society seeing this as opportunism for a competitive view count against rival news channels with no sympathy for the people experiencing pain as they report. Despite all the fighting and compassionate words from global politicians including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel, Recep Erdogan and Malcolm Turnbull, terrorism continues to take innocent lives with the fear of more violent mass attacks on the radar.
To say IS have love for own religion is quite controversial because a majority of their members are Muslim that strongly believes in the Islamic way of living. This poses a scapegoat for other innocent and vulnerable Muslims who don’t share the commitment of mass killing and are desperately searching all means of escaping their war-torn homes in Syria, Iran and Iraq. People in neighbouring and foreign countries initially will reject their entry across their borders with the fear of possibly terrorist attacks in their neighbourhood. It’s understandable seeing from their perspective because of the anonymity and uncertainty of who specifically has evil intentions amongst a large migrant crowd of innocent refugees. They’re like HIV virus agents disguising themselves as part of the crowd by presenting antigens similar to the host’s to the immune system cells. Over a variable period of time, they hide amongst the mess of blood and immune cells keeping the human body at bay with no visual symptoms. Eventually, they are triggered to perform an all-out massacre of immune cells then healthy human cells until there is nothing left and the human body is left compromised.
Madness and hate are demonstrated by pessimistic residents who have fair means of protecting their own family without contemplating the safety of those who are escaping the beast that is chasing them. Though we are self-protecting of our own race, eventually our instinct of saving our own species from obliteration will allows us to sympathise and therefore welcome these hopeless ones with open arms. Some may argue that we are also letting in a virus that is destined to cause destruction in our own backyard but the greater good always overpowers the lone wolf. I wish all humans have the love to set the story straight, the control over their mind and missions, let their soul gravitate to the love.
People killing, people dying, adults and children are hurt and you hear them crying. You can feel the strain and trauma and despair they are experiencing at the moment and you have this powerful gut instinct to help them but there is simply nothing you can do to bring back what is lost. No matter how much we practice what we preach or the infinite times we turn our cheeks, evil ignores all prayers and cares about achieving its outcome. Calling Father to help us by sending guidance from above is not enough to stop evil spreading hate faster than cancer. Evil is already demonstrating that actions speak louder than words. No matter how powerful we are on the political pyramid, we are all vulnerable and have one life because we are all human and we often forget that.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To save his mates from KFC! XD
All of us tell a joke or two to get a laugh out of our friends or our audience at a standby comedy show. However, there are a few people who may not have known the reference because KFC may not exist in their community or country. Short and sharp jokes may induce uncontrollable laughter but it risks mockery, sheer embarrassment, loss of self-dignity leaving a bad impression on the audience. That is why I steer clear of knock knock, racist or chicken-crossing-the-road jokes because I cringe when people either don’t understand the joke or weirdly gaze at me like I spoke Russian to them. There are infinite variants of those jokes and it hurts my mind understanding every single variant. After watching numerous comedy shows from the UK, USA and Australia like “Mock The Week”, “Whose Line Is It Anyway”, “Last Week Tonight”, “The Office”, “The Chase”, “Good News Week”, “8 out of 10 cats”, “Never Mind The Buzzcocks” and “The Last Leg”, I have noticed many common themes in the thousands of jokes being shared by comedians. They often reference:
— Male & Female Genitalia or any sexual references
— Impressions of ridiculous scenes that seem impossible to happen
— Overreactions to subtle situations
— High use of swear words
— Foreign and local accents
— Contraceptives and sexual diseases
— Romantic relationships
— Bloopers from breakfast TV shows, game shows, news bulletins and comedy shows
— Controversial people like Kerry Katona
— Their own TV hosts like Drew Carey, Bradley Walsh and Dara O’Briain
— Accidental sexual references like substituting anything long, sturdy and/or sharp for that medical term television morally bans but not live in the studio
— Common jargon depending on the context like travel, sports, fashion, education and entertainment.
— Droppings and Defecation
— Impressions of different people, animals and everyday activities e.g. A baboon’s behind
— Nipple piercings
— Restroom signage and toilet training
— Foreign cultures like Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Korean, Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Sri Lankan, New Zealander (Kiwi), Somalian etc.
— Popular games, cartoons, movies, TV series and soaps depending on the country like:
(a) UK — Coronation Street, Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Downton Abbey, Emmerdale
(b) AUS — Neighbours, Home and Away,
(c) USA — Days of Our Lives, The Bold and The Beautiful, Brothers and Sisters
Seeing how detailed this list is, it is evident that comedians possess vast general knowledge of many topics in order for them to construct their standup performances effectively and often with hilarious results. Take Paul Sinha for instance, a British standup comedian and a professional top quiz brain on UK’s “The Chase” is ranked 14th in the 2015 World Quizzing Championships. With a brain the storage size of a computer hard drive big enough to store terabytes of general knowledge, it’s no wonder comedians have the confidence and the time of their lives to tickle anyone's funny bone for extended periods. But how do comedians construct many punchlines in their brains before we (the audience) have finished laughing at the last joke? Why do we humans have the urge to entertain our friends or audience through hilarious one-liners or standup comedy? Furthermore what triggers us to laugh after hearing those punchlines? As a matter of fact, laughter apparently is a complex neuropsychological phenomenon that is poorly understood which no one of us can comprehend with a clear and clean head. I'll attempt to answer that question hopefully without bursting into a laughing hyena in a another post.
Every year over 40,000 year 12 students wait nervously and impatiently for the moment of truth in their academic career. On a given day in mid-December, final results in the form of an ATAR score along with an aggregate score are released throughout Australia. A majority of parents especially Asian parents misinterpret the ATAR as a percentage score i.e. 99.95 as 99.95% rather than their son/daughter performs better than 99.95% of the total year 12 student population throughout units 3/4. Whilst a majority of students celebrate, jump over the moon and are congratulated by friends and family alike over their deserved success in academia, there are others whom are on the floor filling their rooms with tears after noticing their underwhelming results. This minority group of students fear about the negative feedback and judgment from family and friends if they are pushed to reveal their final results. Some peers are understanding and sympathetic and will comfort them empathetically. However I’m greatly concerned of the students who are experiencing mental breakdowns and contemplating escape from the clutches of society and the intimidating interrogations from their parents. This is one of the reasons why we have suicides and missing person reports because they fear of the physically traumatic backlash for not meeting expectations setup by their parents and teachers. Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese students living in the suburban or rural areas of Asian and Western societies most likely fit under this category and I am just as concerned for the students’ safety as well as the parents’ trauma over the possible loss of their children.
It is evident that the Western education system is both realising and shattering students’ goals of striving their dream career. In my opinion I don’t think it accurately calculates the intelligence of every student across the country because the subject assessments these students undertake don’t undermine a student’s excellence in a particular skill. The score a student receives for a particular subject illustrates their commitment to completion of hurdle tasks provided by their teachers and the costly access to exclusive academic concepts taught by private tutors paid by their parents. Instead of praising the student’s hard work, the Western education system is actually discriminating the affluent and penniless, those who are uncommitted to abide with the laws set by their school and those who are blindly accepting them. Basically students are taught to follow rules and regulations and complete tasks by a given deadline. If deadlines set by the standards and expectations of schooling are not met, the academic sanctions, detentions and mockery that proceeds will no doubt hinder the psychological health and emotional intelligence of these students. The thought of embarrassing performances in subjects they are expected to excel can damage a student’s mentality, which may lead to a serious mental breakdown and ultimately a mental illness like depression, anxiety, ADHD and schizophrenia. A majority of students do follow the rules ensuring the integrity and dignity of their school’s reputation but my attention turns towards the minority. Some describe the minority as stubborn. misbehaving, out-of-touch, undeserving, selfish, hopeless and/or dumb but I see otherwise.
Every student has a brain with all the lobes that comprise the ingenious abilities key to their cognitive processes and body functions. During primary and secondary school years, the brain’s texture is still plastic and has potential to be moulded in different ways depending which skills is mostly utilised by the student. I believe the minority group have the brain capacity to be just as intelligent as the majority of well-behaved high-acheiving students. School is defining intelligence as writing down the correct answers with necessary explanations in a set amount of time regardless if the knowledge learnt is memorised short-term or long-term. In my eyes, school is putting the covers on their curiosities and I feel the key to their fulfilment and happiness in life is to remove the restrictions imposing on students and provide them the freedom to explore their curiosities. I feel like that school is limiting students to use specific parts of their brain rendering the rest of the brain virtually worthless in the classroom. In my opinion, intelligence tests should consist of practical and personal assessments allowing students to utilise every part of their brain from creativity, sensation, movement, emotions, patterns, reactions, problem solving, speech, social skills etc.
— The Frontal Lobe is responsible for problem solving and verbal reasoning.
— The Cerebellum is responsible for advanced learning skills in mathematics, music and advanced social skills.
— The Hippocampus in the Temporal Lobes is responsible for long-term memory, whereas the Amygdala is the integrating centre for all human emotions.
So far, most standardised exams in Australia and the USA are asking students’ to maximise the use of their Hippocampus with variable support from the Parietal and Frontal Lobes and the Cerebellum. This will activate biochemical pathways in our Amygdala adjacent to our Hippocampus which illustrates the stressful predicaments every student faces during examination time. When students take their seats bracing themselves for their ultimate test of knowledge, the motivation to perform at their maximum doesn’t kick in until later. Because the biochemical processes from the Amygdala inhibit students’ logical reasoning and problem solving abilities, the outcomes from possible failure is unnerving and unsettling to many students hence more memorable leading to a loss of focus on the task at hand. It would be reasonable for students to relieve those fears of failure by giving them the opportunity to write down a short personal journal prior to starting their written examination.
However all hope is not lost for our children’s education. So far Finland is leading the way towards not only a successful but an enjoyable education system for children. Although it was considered optional, the day-care and pre-school nursery-kindergarten facilities offered were quite popular amongst Finnish families. Tuition fees are non-existent and all meals are fully subsidised and served to every full-time student. Comparing their system to conventional education systems in Australia, USA and the UK, it achieves excellence from public funds without the need to select, track or stream students during their learning. Every student is assessed individually without the need for competitiveness and rivalry between students in the same subjects. Instead of being taught by teachers, they basically assist the student’s learning capabilities and curiosities. Despite their unorthodox methods in teaching, their consistent marvellous results in the PISA study, hence a high education index speaks for itself. You can read more about Finland’s Education System via these links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlOfZL_J5fo
As we grow up as children, our parents have a dream and aspiration for us to be successful, have a financially stable career hence make a happy family. However you can’t have a family without learning about sex and many parents cringe when the topic of sex is laid on the dinner table. Without sex, I wouldn’t be here typing this on my blog and you wouldn’t be here to read this post. Why do our ancestors feel awkward talking about the first time they had fun in the bedroom? According to movies and adult films, sex seems fun, exhilarating and life-changing to every human including animals and insects. However, after listening to and reading numerous people’s sex stories I get mixed views. The most intriguing and interesting stories involve sex injuries, accidental insemination, lack of orgasms, erectile dysfunction before the climax (if you know what i mean), orgasming too early, experimenting new positions and unwanted visitors. It seems to me that everything is possible during sex.
As human beings, sex is the reason we have birth rates and death rates in our population demographics. Sex is the reason why certain countries have booming population surges like China, India, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Vietnam. Even if we didn’t have the sex education from adult films, we inherently know what to do when we’re feeling aroused and in the moment to satisfy our partner’s biological needs. I wish I have the freedom to use the medical terminology to describe my thoughts because I’m worried about being reported and flagged for inappropriate language just in case little children read this.
The first ever bipedal humans, Homo Sahelanthropus, around 7 million years ago, did not have any technology, nor the internet to watch and learn about sex. Although they had extra fur on their bodies, longer arms, bigger hands, hand-like feet, bigger jaws, sharper teeth, and smaller craniums, knowing the purpose of sexual intercourse might be embedded in their DNA. These human-like apes weren’t aware of the biochemistry and hormonal systems that allows them to feel aroused and ultimately successful in generating offspring. In fact, the terms chemistry and hormone weren’t coined until the early 4th century AD. However it’s possible that they may have learnt sexual positions from other neighbouring organisms like the apes, dinosaurs and mammals but so far no theory and hypothesis is confirmed to be true. I suppose that the way our bodies were designed by our genes allowed us to fit into different sexual manoeuvres like jigsaw puzzle pieces with play dough edges that can somehow fit despite mismatching shapes.
Reconstruction of Homo Sahelanthropus by sculptor Èlisabeth Deyneś
It seems to me that sex is like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. We inherently view sex as a private interaction between one lucky guy and one lucky girl. It is one of those activities that reinforces individuality and tests the romantic or partnership bond between man and woman which could make or break a relationship, engagement, marriage or friendship with benefits. However in this modern society, public discussions about sex is frowned upon and often negatively judged by the media with a barrage of conspiracy theories about cheating, pedophilia, non-contraceptive climaxes and unhygienic attitude. With this negative and eyebrow raising backlash, the fear of judgement of discussing a topic that is inherent to us humans is evidently making us feel awkward, and ultimately successful in controlling the birth rate in developed countries like Australia, USA and the UK. Modern society revolves around money and politics, therefore everything including delivery of newborns and its necessary resources that ensure the survival of everyone involved including the mother, newborn and the team of doctors are been costed. If only there was a free service or public location where people can masturbate with sex toys like dildos and fleshlights or free sexual sessions with their partners or crushes who feel the need to de-stress from work and study workloads. I know this sounds disgusting and may promote rape and hookup cultures and you will start calling me crazy and gross. Nevertheless you cannot deny your body will feel aroused at least once in your adolescence and it is inevitable for everyone of us to have intercourse at least once in our human lifetimes. This is evolution at work to ensure the survival of our genes and traits throughout future generations. As far as I know, I haven’t seen any reports where humans can have fun sexually in public whenever they feel the urge to do so without the fear of fingerpointing from disgusted individuals and mocking headlines in tomorrow’s newspaper.
Without sex, we wouldn’t call ourselves humans and we wouldn’t have children to nurture in a family. So don’t be afraid raising the topic of sex, I find it humorous and honourable discussing about sex and your potential sex partners, because that’s what makes you and I, homo sapien.
No one thinks the way I think about anything about life… I think? Even though there are a few friends who are willing to engage with me, I feel like I’m talking to a virtual psychologist sharing deep and unique views of various life situations like relationships, parenting, family, survival, natural selection, politics etc. Even though asking deep questions is a useful tool in prolonging conversations making them interesting, nevertheless I feel my conversations push people away from me with every sentence I murmur.
Let’s compare the pair.
My friends’ conversations:
— Excess Abbreviations such as LMFAO, …AF, LOL, TROLOLOL, BTW, JKS, OMG, OMFG, FYI
— Overreactions to certain pictures, videos and memes regarding gluttony, holidays, relationships, life habits, fame, drunkenness, young girls and boys, and adolescence.
— Curse words, pretence of excessive laughter, short and sharp responses to certain comments and photos via text
— Mindlessly using new viral slang terms coined by Americans (mostly black people) such as lit, bae, netflix and chill.
— Quick, unnecessary and somewhat biased opinions on everything
My conversations:
— Paragraph, essay-style responses (like this post)
— Lack of curse words, heavy use of sophisticated vocabulary
— Speaking in a mature, authoritative manner
— Asking deep, rhetorical, complicated questions rather than Yes-No simple questions.
— Excess general knowledge
I feel like I know way too much general knowledge compared to most people, which is isolating me in the conversation and the pressure is always on me to continue the chat to another topic. Everyone around my age talks about employment, money, family, sex, gossip, dining experiences, work habits, events with their circle of friends. Whereas I’m talking about the universe, natural selection, psychological issues and scenarios (human and animal), neuroscience, planet Earth, animal kingdom (David Attenborough), courtship, relationships, marriage, family, society etc.
I can’t fathom how most other people think whether it’s like a jumbled incomplete jigsaw puzzle or the Mythbusters workshop container shelves. I, on the other hand, have a unique train of thought travelling around the longest railway of neurons any human brain has laid out. I find it quite boring to selectively choose a topic and then discuss the relevant straightforward details. I have this tendency to integrate and link several topics directly and/or indirectly, which may surprise and possibly overwhelm a huge majority of my friends. My sense of humour is almost inexplicable because I’m not intentionally making jokes hoping for rapid, exhilarating and uncontrollable laughter from those around me. I guess I might be a half-pariah with the ability to think from a comedian’s perspective, despite not being a professional comedian myself. Unlike ordinary comedians who always make weird impressions of characters in their made-up stories and hilariously inaccurate sound effects of several actions just to add some comedic flavour and understanding of their stories, I utilise the art of irony, sarcasm and humorous mockery and ridicule along with some onomatopoetic impressions and other sound effects. I understand this type of humour is unique, inexplicable and unbeknownst to a huge percentage of people, but that what makes me me. I feel the best way to describe this is that I listen to and pick certain aspects of various’ people’s humour and personality, then add it to the Boost Mixer and, Voila! I have made my own comedy milkshake, but I don’t know what it tastes like but hopefully with milk, ice and fruit at least. This is different to imitating and copying a certain style of humour because that’s just a pathetic attempt to be just as funny as the original person despite the contrasting difference in appearance and personality. It may be embarrassing to watch too.
This got me wondering, why do some people find a specific thing, action or media funny whereas other people don’t react the same way rather sarcastically? How come my parents’ and friends’ humour is a mismatch with my humour? How do certain things in comedy, social media and reality trigger us to laugh? That is something I’d like to read about and discuss for another time.
I feel like everyone around me are brainwashed by an anomaly much bigger and stronger than any government, military army, social media, journalist or billionaire. They’re like puppets on a string but who or what is pulling the strings? I can’t name anyone else who can see and understands things from my perspective. My view on things is quite universal, effectively outside Earth’s atmosphere in outer space seeing from above in the International Space Station or another planet in another galaxy many light years away. It isn’t who or what is controlling our thoughts, decisions, choices, views and opinions. It is something that we, humans, created many years ago to promote stability, unity, culture, tradition and sustainability. It is a system more complex, more methodical, more sophisticated than any computer, machine or system no human I can name can comprehend or has invented. That system, unbeknown to most of us but known to a selective few, is called “society”. Some may argue that media, politics, totalitarianism, power of the rich are controlling our way of life, train of thought, using repetitive, emotive and derogatory language to promote “click bait” in exchange for financial personal profit, self-dignity and personal privilege. I feel that media, politics and the alpha humans contribute partially to how human society ran over the years to the present day. The system that humans made with the intent to fulfil the lives of all residents whether it be through advanced technology like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other popular apps, feature news bulletins, politically biased tabloid and online newspaper articles and a competitive job market.
I don’t know who, but I’m more than interested to find out who invented the concepts of money, economics, business, finance, marketing and technology. I feel that humans from previous generations including my parents and grandparents were taught to make a choice based on what the system offers them and depending on your social status in society. The things deservedly awarded to them illustrates more than just a passion to fulfil their own dreams while demonstrating a great deal of academic intelligence. I overhear conversations of people collaborating of the topics or things they want to specialise, research or explore in the not-too-distant future. Although I feel proud of their progress through adolescence, it worries me that the system has somehow poisoned them to think they have to take on a specific role to contribute to society. I, on the other hand, honestly don’t think specialising in one thing is enough for me to fulfil life to the maximum. Like Einstein, I am curious of the things happening around me. While Einstein pursued a new theory in physics and advanced mathematics with his ingenious thought experiments famously known as “Relativity” as well as spending 10 years proposing and proving his own view of how the universe works, while busting other theories that were mistakenly accepted by society as correct such as Newton’s Law of Gravity.
It’s not just one but a combination of things that makes me curious. These things revolve around human psychology, and neuroscience understanding the thought processes and behaviours that humans perform everyday in different scenarios whether at home, at school, at work or in public. Apparently I have to understand the biology, chemistry, physics, (at times) mathematics and (indirectly) politics in order to the imagine the masterpiece that we call “human society”. I’m also curious about humans and animal evolution, and natural selection, which allows me to create a whole list of deep, philosophical questions Google is unable to straight up answer to me. I’m also interested in the evolution of language too, hearing how English became the global language, knowing how certain languages became extinct or revolutionised and influenced by other cultures and foreign languages such as Arabic, French, German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. It intrigues me to see why certain things are designed and invented in certain shapes, words printed in certain styles and spoken in different tones and pitches. But that’s for another post.
To me, I feel the most successful people are satisfying society’s credentials and criterion proving their worth by bravely and passionately sticking their noses into the flytrap’s mouth that emits an attractive aroma known as a “legacy”. It seems that society rewards those who are willing to share and spread the defining views and opinions faster than viruses and bacteria, and become part of a growing population of distinct persona. Once you’re caught into the deceptive hands of the societal system, there’s almost no escape from it because those thoughts and views prepared and ready to infect you will be embedded into your memories subconsciously without awareness or any clear signs from the outside for our senses to detect. However, all hope is not lost. So far I haven’t witnessed or discovered any group suited to humans or animals who want to stick to their own views and are resistant to society’s expectations and needs. It would be honourable to build a sanctuary for those who want to live life the way they want without interference or forceful decision-making by society. Obviously, I don’t want to promote selfishness (the need to protect their own race, culture and gender from any influence). I’d rather see the people around me have the sympathy and compassion to understand and learn diverse races, cultures, traditions and often misunderstood actions and views. If, by any chance, a hotheaded person is running the show by promoting unnecessary slurs and views that no one could take seriously or attempt to empathetically understand them, then it would be best if I intervened and dug deep into the reasoning of his opinions and behaviour. I know I have the conversational skills to be sympathetic but polite. I don’t know how I do it or how to explain it, but instead of indirectly digging into the cancer that is infecting his mindset, I try to work my way around the labyrinth of thoughts in their brains by utilising my toolbox of literal devices such as analogies with movies, films, tv episodes, famous people, relatives, objects etc. and metaphors and sometimes puns. This allows me to narrow down the sources of their harsh and passionate views on certain issues and unveil the reasoning behind their views. What do I do next? Well that depends on the situation, but I’d be more than happy to visit the places these people accumulated their experiences and learnings as children or young adults and the peers they grew up with and socialised with. With their permission, I might bring along a few people who long for exploration, social interaction and novelties.
If there is something missing from the sanctuary and I get queried about it, I would be more than happy to take in their word and offer it to them with little cost. However all that is easier said than done. I don’t think online interaction and parties would be adequate, what is really needed is a combination of human interactions and understandings in order to create a home or safe haven that is fun and exhilarating but relaxing, luxurious and highly regarded as welcoming and understanding. Some people would think a luxury cruise onboard the Princess Anne but I don’t want people following protocols while abandoning ship like putting on life jackets and leaving onboard all personal belongings and a lifetime of happiness and relaxation. I’d like to give people the options to leave this sanctuary whenever they like with or without their belongings and via any mode of transport and they are welcome to return whenever they like. Now it’s up to this point that people will start questioning me about terrorism, violence, protests or gatecrashers destroying this so-called paradise. I wish people did not complicate things with the probabilities of harmful and deadly risks from happening but I understand their fears are just as important to take into account to insure the safety of everyone inside and outside the sanctuary.
Another bad day in the office and things are hanging by the thinnest of threads. My mother scoured through my school books like a hungry bull eager to see numbers written on the cover of test papers. She uncovers my test papers and was deeply dismayed about my recent performances on my test papers. She immediately displayed her in differentiable face of disappointment and fury directly at my grief-stricken face. She viciously swore in Chinese, threw multiple slaps at my forehead and slammed down every book she picked up towards the floor with tremendous force creating a shockwave throughout the house. I thought the house would come crashing down on top of us and kill the entire family, just like me dropping my guard in test conditions when answering questions that I shouldn't have answered incorrectly. Her voice didn't sound like the kind and caring trait of a mother, it was the voice of the devil finally unleashed casting a permanent spell of regret and sympathy into my soul. I began to sob. The spell was too powerful. I couldn't stop myself shedding my tears. I knew my performance in the mid year exams doesn't meet her expectations and she has classified them as a complete failure. In her interpretation, the chance to have an excellent future has been shattered.
Then the next question I asked myself, what is she going to do next? What would my severe punishment be? Would my invaluable iPad be clobbered, dismantled and scrapped? Would I be grounded from the house? Would I be left starving for a sustained period of time? Or is she going to be knock me out of my consciousness? She soon approached to her ultimate conclusions that I never red any reference book thoroughly, revised new knowledge when I return home from tutoring and constantly unaware of the time wasted on electronic gadgets like my iPad. Instead of punishing me straight away, she jabbered even more stuff and nonsense at me about personal dilemmas waiting to embrace upon me. I activated the audio shields in my ears but her sound pulses of outrage had overcome my barriers and I couldn't bear the agony much longer. I don't want to reveal exactly what she bellowed to me because I predict this is the point where your table or lap would be soaked in tears and feeling apologetic for me. If you want to know some of the truth, just try to bear with me while you prevent your internal emotions take over you. She believed she failed overall as my mother. I'm not worthy to be her son. My interests in casual gaming and recreation is unreasonable for the family culture and an unsuccessful result would be inevitable.
My mother's fierce rants doesn't just happen, it is triggered by a chain of critical events. Initially, my mother wants to know the latest from my school like important news, meetings to attend, forms to fill and sign and test results. I inform her the list of upcoming events that are relevant to me. Then she will instantaneously command me to attempt every revision question relevant to the topic being studied from Checkpoint for any approaching academic tests. She will occasionally keep an eye on me trying to catch me red-handed. She thinks she's too clever for my sneaky pranks and knows all the tricks in the book which any child will undertake to become disobedient. If my hands are hidden from her view, she immediately believes I recently played games on my iPad. She frequently threatens that my iPad will be history and will be deposited to the sin bin if I attempted to repeat my tedious deeds. Later, she returns to my room and checks on my current homework progress. For example, for chemistry, I only finished the multiple choice questions and began showing calculations for the extended response questions. Her instant reaction will be a devilish facial expression, a few blows to the cheeks and a verbal explosion to the face. I feel offended by her rude comments. She opinionates that inadequate work done is similar progress to no work being completed. I can't comprehend her mentality, what does that supposed to mean? Little work is virtually an identical situation to no work? That doesn't make sense at all. Is she saying that both situations would yield similar test results? If so, is she sending out a general warning in the form of a cryptic message that catastrophe would be inevitable if things don't change. I initially disregarded the warning and labelled it as preposterous. But on second thought, if my grades fail to reach the standard I've set myself, then the countdown to disaster may have begun.
Then something has to change for the better. But the big question is how? The possibilities are endless. I search through my memory bank for the archives. In the history of failures, my solutions to prevent them are short-term causes which means nothing will change eventually and things would return to the reality as it was previously. I guess I have no choice but to do it the hard way. There will be a significant and indefinite overhaul in my study habits, I know it wouldn't be beneficial to my social aspect, but overall it will bring about more positives then negatives. When previous vce students experienced the reality that I am shaping, academic success was the prize waiting for them at the other end of the tunnel. All electronic devices that can connect to the Internet must be stored away from the study room as I'm studying, this removes most apparent distractions and the level of concentration will therefore increase. VCE is a pressuring and constraining reality for any student and things can easily get tangled up and your desk will end up being a valley of loose leaf papers resting on top of each other. The strongest fan isn't the right solution, even though your desk will be spotless and paper free, the mess will be spread towards the floor, which means you have to bend your pack and practise cleaning duties. All papers shall be sorted out depending on the type of work such as tuition, school and practice papers which will be categorized into different subjects. Transparent plastic sheet folders, binder folders and zipper folders shall do the trick. Every day, I always have to correctly answer set questions, revise notes and going ahead by extending some tasks to explore the details and concepts of various problems. I have to do this for many subjects and procrastinating won't work overall because I don't want my brain to store knowledge from two contrasting subjects in its memory files otherwise the fragments of information would be blended together, a confused expression will be the result and I can't comprehend it completely. Therefore, a timetable comes to the rescue to sort out the unwanted mess. Everything will be done as scheduled by myself. There may be overlaps, interruptions and delays due to particular reasons, but this can be compensated by doing the task shortly after than planned as long as the order of completing tasks remains constant. I remember in year 10, when I trialled homework timetables during the school holidays. Initially, I seemed to have great difficulty sticking to the timetable because the order always alternates by myself and my parents every day to sort out the sticky situation I was in. Although my grades in some subjects improved dramatically thanks to my upgraded thinking algorithms in my brain, other subjects didn't benefit as much from this upgrade. So that's the key to unlock efficient memory procedures so I can fully understand everything I learn first time learning it. But I wonder why I stopped doing this for over a year? Did my personality of being laid-back, frantically finding fun and only doing minimum progress every day to rate it as a good day's work lead me to my strange downfall in year 11 and the beginning of year 12? Apparently, my parents vociferate about me putting an inadequate amount of effort into my academia and not working hard enough. The more I think about their harsh comments of me, the more i lean towards their verdict. Maybe the message they are trying to convey is that there is no other way than to follow the script already prewritten for me. On my computer, I have set up a daily basis on a large table with each rectangle filled with numbers, letters and symbols with extra information beneath it. My parents straight away gave it the thumbs up and ready to proceed. My major clean up is complete and everything I have prepared is reporting for duty. It's now or never in VCE. I'm loaded and I only get 1 shot at it. So I have to give my best shot and make it count. I'm a new and improved me. My strategy is guaranteed to work, the same strategy has worked for numerous VCE students over the years. If I can pull it off without any slip ups, then my preferred future will almost inevitably become reality.
