A short something on bboying

Bboying. Just one word. Nothing has been more influential in my life than this type of dance. 

The first time I started to encounter bboying was in sophomore year when a group of my friends started a club for dancing. We were all amateurs and didn’t really know what we were doing. By the end of the semester, there were only two people left. Terence and I encouraged each other to keep going while trying to learn moves from youtube. By the end of sophomore year, I was all alone. I started not only watching more videos but also reading just about anything people wrote about the dance. I studied the music, the history, the culture, and so on. I found out there’s so much more to bboying than just flashy tricks and powermoves most people like watching. There’s also style and flavor to it.

       Bboying changed me because I saw that it represents everything that I want in this modern and restricted world. I don’t want to be bound to rules and laws; I want to be free. Bboying gave that to me; the variety of moves that people can do to a beat is extraordinary. It made me understand that there are no limits to what we can do in this world. The only restriction is that we believe we can’t do it; it’s always too difficult or takes too long to do it. Just like everything else in life, the first step to Bboying is the hardest, and it takes time to get a hang of it, then even longer to perfect it. 

       What most people don’t understand is that Bboying is an aggressive yet a very peaceful activity. It’s a gesture of a fight, without actually touching someone. But with the same intensity or a battle of a gang. Which leads to why people don’t respect Bboying as much as ballet and other types of dance. Even though Bboying did come from drugs and gangs, but it was because they wanted to change and be better.  I want to be better. I really think Bboying deserves much more credit than it does today.

Me on multiculturalism

       My whole life can be summed up in one word. Multiculturalism. Everything that have accomplished revolves around it. I owe it all to my father. Being a sociologist, he believes that the mind might be restricted if only exposed to one culture. Which is why he takes me along on many of his research trips. I have accompanied my father to 14 different countries and have seen a variety of cultures, which all seem so extreme when placed next to each other. Not only do I experience the culture by being there. My father would always encourage me to do research on everything from bus routes to historical backgrounds of the area’s well-known sites. Then he would always ask me to lead the way around to places by public transportation. By that I learned that not everyone think the same way; in order to achieve a goal, there are plenty of routes to get there, and that’s what different cultures display. In order to observe and keep track of the details of the cultural differences, my father would encourage me to keep a journal. He even published a book on his own observation of me observing. 

From trips, I saw and experienced the more pronounced variations of each culture.

       It was from schools did I have the opportunity to spend longer periods of time apprehending  the people from a completely different cultural background than mine.

       I suppose having been in contact with so many different cultures led me to bboying, a type of dance under the Hip Hop culture, which is all cultures put together in one. The dance itself is a sign of peace, love, unity, and having fun. It is also the only kind of dance that allows people to compete aggressively without any physical contact. Anyone can practice it, doesn’t matter where you are from, what you do, even if you are disabled. There are no right way of doing things, there are no advantages, everyone starts at zero and work their way up, there are no limits. I really fell for this dance, because each culture has it’s own restrictions and rules, and bboying is telling us to do whatever we want to do, as long as we are all in harmony with each other. 

       Another extreme cultural experience for me up to this point was entering the military. Under the protection of my parents my whole life, I never understood how different I was from others. Not only did I realize that people from the same country can be so diverse, let alone different cultures, but also the importance of freedom. I lived in a different world compared to most people, and I never really realized that before I entered the military. The military is what the majority actually is. I was far more fortunate than I ever imagined. The military is the first time into the real world for me, so I had to adjust to the situation, it was the only place I couldn’t just leave. There I was taking orders and realizing for the first time that people can come from such different environments, and yet, we can still all live and work together. 

       The most important personal quality of mine is my love for animals. I have always loved animals since I was young. After being being aware of many different cultures, I realized that many of us humans don’t have enough respect for our fellow creatures. The truth is that we can’t live without them; without them, we wouldn’t have become who we are today. Throughout my life, there is nothing I love more than to care for them, to see them as an equal, and to try and understand them. Which lead me up to explore my passion much further by studying it as a major in UC Davis.

An Essay I wrote on my views

The human civilization advances rapidly at an exponential rate. The technology we see today is so sophisticated and well developed that it is impossible to be avoided. But like all things, there is a positive and negative side of all these impressive inventions. The positive side is that it saves us time and energy; it puts flavor and variations into our lives. However, the negative side cannot be neglected. Pollution is everywhere; from the air to the sea, nothing is left untouched by the toxic substances, and the rate of cancer has never been higher. Technology is currently making the planet a flithy place for us. Nevertheless, not only does it affect humans, but also harms other living organisms. Humans have used technology to restrict other living creatures to smaller restricted areas to live in.

Humans have been living with other animals, side by side, for millenniums. We never treated them as an equal; we failed to see that we can't live without them. I have read articles about the government in (better not say where) sent people to beat strays dogs to death with sticks; seen how some immoral salesmen would buy loads of huskies to sell just because they are in fashion, then leave them to die, caged, in bushes when they are out of fashion. To find out more about their contributions to us, it takes an exceptional amount of work to find it. There was one book I found on how hundreds of war dogs sacrificed their precious lives throughout history for us, yet when we learn and read about the wars in history, never once do we even have a paragraph about how much we benefitted from their lives. We would never be where we are today without them. Every time some disaster happens, the numbers we see in papers are all about us: humans losses and money losses. What about their losses? What about their wounded? They give up their lives without a thought to help us. Why do we always treat them as an inferior?

Throughout history, humans have looked down on other animals. Even some of the great mins in history have thought them as inferior to us. 

"Animals eat without pleasure, cry without pain, grow without knowing it; they desire nothing." - Nicolas Malebranche. 

Back in the 17th century, it is easy to see why people would agree with it. The understanding of animals is only more profound recently; there is still so much to learn. We had no understanding of them, we would naturally feel superior because we can control their fate. Another example is the painting called The Creation of Adam; human superiority is shown. The painting echoes earlier divine hierarchy, that animals do not have the traits that God and humans share, such as intellect and a sense of morality. No matter where you go in this world, there is always the feeling of superiority over animals in many people. It's a difficult task to change that thought. We are taught that we are special and are destined to rule the world; we alone are made in God's image.

Throughout my life, I have noticed these things happening around me. Which is why I set my life goal to be educating people to see them as equals, and to strive to let us all live in harmony. The powerful feeling  of wanting to help them wherever I can has lead me to volunteer at the animal shelter and the zoo. I studied their behavior in order to understand them more. Even though it pains me to see them in such small and restricted areas, there's not much I can do at the moment. Every time I look into their eyes behind the bars and glass, they look so lost and confused; they don't understand where they are and what's going on, it's as if they given up on life. When we see other humans looking confused and lost, we pity them. Then why should it be different when it comes to other living creatures? Is it just because they don't look like us? Are we really superior because we have all these technology and they don't? Are they really inferior because they don't have the ability to communicate with us and follow "our" rules? Why do we assume that they are much less than we are when we know so little about them? I want to the someone who persuades other people to understand and feel the animals' pain and to treat them as an equal.

"Hold then the same view of the dog which has lost his master, which has sought him in all the thoroughfares with cries of sorrow, which comes into the house troubled and restless, goes downstairs,  goes upstairs; goes from room to room, finds at last in his study the master he loves, and betokens his gladness by soft whimpers, frisks, and caresses. There are barbarians who seize this dog, who so greatly surpasses man in fidelity and friendship, and nail him down to a table and dissect him alive, to show you the mesaraic veins! You discover in him all the same organs of feeling as in yourself. answer me, mechanist, has Nature arranged all the springs of feeling in this animal to the end that he might not feel?" - Voltaire

What if the world was turned around, and we were the ones being tortured and mistreated. We wouldn't want to live like that; we would hold a grudge against anything that abuses us. They on the other hand, won't. They don't want to fight or have any conflict with us, the only reason they would hurt us if because they feel threatened. But, they would not attack us simply because we are taking the same resources from the same land. Another reason why I love animals so much is because we always hear humans talk about how they love someone else just the way they are, but they actually don't. There's always some part of that people they don't love, they might just don't know about it yet. But animals, on the other hand, are different. They actually do love the you the way you are, they don't care what you look like, how much you earn. They won't want you to change because you don't live your life their way,  none of that matters to them at all. As long as you love them, they will love you for you.

The Reality Check Episode 84

Miracluin Tablets + Price Discrimination + Does Eating Late Cause Weight Gain?

Miracle Tablets?

Part 1: 

So, what is this miracle fruit tablet?

The planet name is called Synsepalum dulcificum. This kind of plant produces very sour berries, that can be subsequently consumed to taste sweet. According to the few studies done, the effect is due to miraculin, which is used commercially as a sugar substitute. The berry itself has a low sugar content and a midly sweet tang. It contains a glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fruit is eaten, that molecule binds to the taste buds, and when you eat sour foods, the molecule makes it tastes sweet. No one really knows how it changes that kind of feeling from sour to sweet. That's why it's called a miracle fruit tablet.

The berry has been used in West Africa since at least the 18th century, when European explorer Chevalier des Marchai, who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa , provided an account of its use there. Marchais noticed that local people picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals.

An attempt was made in the 1970s to commercialize the ability of the fruit to turn non-sweet foods into sweet foods without a caloric penalty but ended in failure when the FDA classified the berry as a food additive. There were controversial circumstances with accusations that the project was sabotaged and the research burgled by the sugar industry to prevent loss of business caused by a drop in the need for sugar. The US Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has always denied that pressure was put on it by the sugar industry but refused to release any files on the subject. Similar arguments are noted for the FDA's regulation on Stevia now labeled as a "dietary supplement" instead of a "sweetener".

For a time in the 1970s, US dieters could purchase a pill form of miraculin. It was at this time that the idea of the "miraculin party" was conceived. Recently, this phenomenon has enjoyed some revival in food-tasting events, referred to as "flavor-tripping parties" by some. The tasters consume sour and bitter foods, such as lemons, radishes, pickles, hot sauce, and beer, to experience the taste changes that occur.

Part 2:

What is Price Discrimination? 

Price discrimination or price differentiation exists when sales of identical goods or services are transacted at different prices from the same provider. In a theoretical market with perfect information, perfect substitutes, and no transaction costs or prohibition on secondary exchange (or re-selling) to prevent arbitrage, price discrimination can only be a feature of monopolistic and oligopolistic markets, where market power can be exercised. Otherwise, the moment the seller tries to sell the same good at different prices, the buyer at the lower price can arbitrage by selling to the consumer buying at the higher price but with a tiny discount. However, product heterogeneity, market frictions or high fixed costs (which make marginal-cost pricing unsustainable in the long run) can allow for some degree of differential pricing to different consumers, even in fully competitive retail or industrial markets. Price discrimination also occurs when the same price is charged to customers which have different supply costs.

The effects of price discrimination on social efficiency are unclear; typically such behavior leads to lower prices for some consumers and higher prices for others. Output can be expanded when price discrimination is very efficient, but output can also decline when discrimination is more effective at extracting surplus from high-valued users than expanding sales to low valued users. Even if output remains constant, price discrimination can reduce efficiency by misallocating output among consumers.

Price discrimination requires market segmentation and some means to discourage discount customers from becoming resellers and, by extension, competitors. This usually entails using one or more means of preventing any resale, keeping the different price groups separate, making price comparisons difficult, or restricting pricing information. The boundary set up by the marketer to keep segments separate are referred to as a rate fence. Price discrimination is thus very common in services, where resale is not possible; an example is student discounts at museums. Price discrimination in intellectual property is also enforced by law and by technology. In the market for DVDs, DVD players are designed - by law - with chips to prevent use of an inexpensive copy of the DVD (for example legally purchased in India) from being used in a higher price market (like the US). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has provisions to outlaw circumventing of such devices to protect the enhanced monopoly profits that copyright holders can obtain from price discrimination against higher price market segments.

Price discrimination can also be seen where the requirement that goods be identical is relaxed. For example, so-called "premium products" (including relatively simple products, such as cappuccino compared to regular coffee) have a price differential that is not explained by the cost of production. Some economists have argued that this is a form of price discrimination exercised by providing a means for consumers to reveal their willingness to pay.

Science Myth of the Week:

Does eating at night make you fat?

It is simply not true.

Read on facts here: Festive medical myths

The Reality Check Episode 83

Easter Origins + Vitamin C for the Common Cold + Brain Calorie Loss

Easter Origins!

Part 1: 

Easter Origins?

Easter Origin - A One-time Event
Easter origin, as a Christian holiday, can be found in the pages of scripture itself. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all followers of Jesus, offer their own unique eyewitness accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is this culminating event of Christianity that is celebrated on Easter Sunday every year.

Easter Origin - The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Easter origin actually began as a part of the Jewish Passover, as Christ was crucified and resurrected during Passover week. Christ is believed by Christians to actually be the Passover Lamb spoken of in Exodus, for He Himself became the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of all people. Jews who chose to follow Christ then honored this day in succeeding years during the Passover season, but as Christianity was spread throughout non-christian nations, the celebration of Easter was gradually combined with pagan "rites of spring" traditions. Modern celebrations are the result of this compromise. At the same time, Easter is often the only day that many people attend church and are introduced to the "Good News" of Jesus Christ.

Easter Origin - Christ Revealed in the Jewish Passover
Easter origin can be traced to the Passover ceremony itself. Christian scholars believe that the Old Testament is Christ concealed, while the New Testament is Christ revealed. Let's hold the elements of the Passover up to the light of the life of Christ. By tradition, the lamb to be sacrificed during the Passover was selected four days before the sacrifice was to be made. Jesus rode into Jerusalem four days before He was crucified. The lamb was customarily slain at 3 p.m. on Passover. Jesus uttered the words "it is finished" and died on the cross at 3 p.m. (this is known traditionally as Good Friday, but many Bible scholars have determined the crucifixion to be on a Wednesday or Thursday). The festival of Unleavened Bread began at sunset. One of the rituals involved the sacrifice of a grain offering, representing the first fruits of the harvest. Jesus, according to the Apostle Paul, became the first fruits of those raised from the dead. During the Passover dinner, three matzahs are put together. Christians see these matzahs as representative of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The middle matzah is broken, as Christ said at the Last Supper, "This is My body, broken for you." The middle matzah is also striped and pierced, as Jesus was during His crucifixion, and as was prophesied in Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 22:16 and Zechariah 12:10. This matzah is then wrapped in a white cloth and hidden, just as Christ was wrapped in linen and laid in the tomb.

Easter Origin - The Biblical Accounts
Easter (also known as Resurrection Day), is the event upon which the entire Christian faith hinges. Paul, once a Jewish leader hostile to Christians, became a convert when he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus. As an eyewitness of Christ, Paul made it abundantly clear that without the resurrection, there is no basis for faith in Christ: Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
When Christ was born, He fulfilled a number of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. By the time of His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, He had fulfilled more than 300 of them. These numbers alone provide staggering evidence that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah. So it is with good reason that Christians the world over regard Easter as a very special event. But in the early days of the church, most Christians were Jewish converts. Because Jesus was crucified and rose again during the Passover season, their celebration of Christ's resurrection was acknowledged during that annual observance of the deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Christian Jews consider the Passover to be symbolic of the time when Christ set all believers free from the penalty of sin and death.

Easter Origin - What Does the Resurrection Mean to You?
Easter origin? Can a man who claims to be God and then rises from the dead actually be God in human form? Is He someone you should follow? C.S. Lewis asked those same questions and came to the conclusion that there are only three possibilities. Jesus Christ claimed to be God. Therefore, to say He is just a "good man" or "great teacher" is to call him a liar. Any sane person who would claim to be God, but who in fact, is not, must then be a madman - a lunatic! If Christ is neither a liar nor a lunatic, then there is only one other possible conclusion - He must be the Lord! If He is the Lord, what does Resurrection Day mean to you?

Part 2:

So, does Vitamin C help with colds? 

At the very first sign of cold symptoms, many people reach right for a bottle of vitamin C supplements. Vitamin C for the common cold is such a widely accepted treatment that we seek it out in lots of products, such as fortified juices,cough drops, and tea.

Vitamin C was first touted for the common cold in the 1970s. But despite its widespread use, experts say there's very little proof that vitamin C actually has any effect on the common cold.

What is vitamin C?

Vitamin C is an important vitamin and antioxidant that the body uses to keep you strong and healthy. Vitamin C is used in the maintenance of bones, muscle, and blood vessels. Vitamin C also assists in the formation of collagen and helps the body absorb iron.

Vitamin C is found naturally in vegetables and fruits, especially oranges and other citrus fruits. This key vitamin is also available as a natural dietary supplement in the form of vitamin C pills and vitamin C chewable tablets.

Can Vitamin C Prevent or Treat Cold Symptoms?

Vitamin C has been studied for many years as a possible treatment for colds, or as a way to prevent colds. But findings have been somewhat inconsistent. Overall, experts have found little to no benefit for vitamin C preventing or treating the common cold.

In a July 2007 study, researchers wanted to discover whether taking 200 milligrams or more of vitamin C daily could reduce the frequency, duration, or severity of a cold. After reviewing 60 years of clinical research, they found that when taken after a cold starts, vitamin C supplements do not make a cold shorter or less severe. When taken daily, vitamin C very slightly shorted cold duration -- by 8% in adults and by 14% in children.

But researchers found the most effect on people who were in extreme conditions, such as marathon runners. In this group, taking vitamin C cut their risk of catching a cold in half.

So what does all this mean?

The average adult who suffers with a cold for 12 days a year would still suffer for 11 days a year if that person took a high dose of vitamin C every day during that year.

For the average child who suffers about 28 days of cold illness a year, taking daily high-dose vitamin C would still mean 24 days of cold illness.

When vitamin C was tested for treatment of colds in 7 separate studies, vitamin C was no more effective than placebo at shortening the duration of cold symptoms.

Is Vitamin C Safe to Take?

In general, vitamin C is safe to take when ingested through food sources such as fruits and vegetables. For most people, taking vitamin C supplements in the recommended amounts is also safe. The RDA or recommended daily allowance is 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women. High doses of vitamin C (greater than 2000 milligrams per day for adults) may cause kidney stones, nausea, and diarrhea.

If you're unsure about taking vitamin C for colds, talk to your healthcare provider. Your doctor can answer any questions about vitamin C and colds and about any other dietary supplement that you are taking. - WebMD

Science Myth of the Week:

Can you lose weight just by thinking really really hard?

The answer is no, you still have to exercise and eat healthy.

The Reality Check Episode 82

Mike Duffy and Critical Thinking + HFCS Study + Frown Myth

Frown takes more muscles than smiles?

Part 1:

The Reality Check is going to a little able Mike Duffy and what he thinks about critical thinking.

Michael Dennis Duffy is a Canadian Senator and former Canadian television journalist. Prior to his appointment to the upper house he was the Ottawa editor for CTV News Channel, and a host of Mike Duffy Live and Countdown with Mike Duffy on the network. Duffy sits in the Senate as a Conservative, representing Prince Edward Island.

Senator Mike Duffy has attacked the University of King’s College and other Canadian journalism schools for exposing students to Noam Chomsky and critical thinking. In a speech Saturday to Conservative party members in Amherst, Duffy reportedly slammed journalism programs for churning out leftist graduates. “When I went to the school of hard knocks, we were told to be fair and balanced,” Duffy was quoted from his speech in yesterday’s issue of the Amherst Daily News. “That school doesn’t exist any more. Kids who go to King’s, or the other schools across the country, are taught from two main texts.” According to Duffy — a former CTV News journalist appointed to the Senate last year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper — those two texts are Manufacturing Consent, Chomsky’s book on mainstream media, and books about the theory of critical thinking. “When you put critical thinking together with Noam Chomsky, what you’ve got is a group of people who are taught from the ages of 18, 19 and 20 that what we stand for, private enterprise, a system that has generated more wealth for more people because people take risks and build businesses, is bad,” Duffy is quoted as saying. Duffy then told Conservatives they have nothing to apologize for because most Canadians are not “on the fringe where these other people are.” Kim Kierans, head of the King’s School of Journalism, was surprised to hear Duffy’s comments. She said Manufacturing Consent isn’t part of the curriculum, though students do read some Chomsky. She made no apologies for teaching critical thinking. “We’re trying to teach people to have critical thinking skills, to hold accountable anyone who is in any way in authority,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the Conservatives, the NDP, the Green party, they’re all fair game in the sense that they have to be able to be transparent.” - Metro

Listen to the Interview here: The Reality Check Episode 82

Part 2: 

So, does high fructose corn syrup make people fatter than just sugar?

Read all of the evidence here: A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

Science Myth of the Week: 

So, does it take more to frown than smile? 

You've likely been told that it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown, and that, in light of this fact, you should smile more often. There are quite a few numbers that get tossed around when this line is used. Some claim it takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but open Aunt Milda's chain letter and you might be surprised to learn it takes 26 to smile and 62 to frown. And some naysayers claim it's quite the opposite, that in fact it takes more muscles to smile than to frown.

The Reality Check Episode 81

Buying the Cosmos + TV Ratings + Head Heat Loss Myth

Buying stars?

Part 1:

So, can you actually buy a start and name it?

It is true! Although it is quite expensive, you can buy a start and name it. 

"Who gave them the right to name stars? And then charge someone for the name?"

The answer is simple: Nobody gave them the right. They just do it.

At least half a dozen companies are offering to attach names to stars while making the designations seem official, providing a fancy certificate and directions for locating the newly named point of light. Their promotional strategies range from harmlessly playful to bordering on fraudulent. Meanwhile the night sky is being populated with unofficial names, at $49.95 a pop, one unsuspecting buyer at a time.

What you really get

It's not hard to grasp the romantic or otherwise wondrous reasons someone might have for buying a star name, especially as a gift. It's also important for potential buyers to know what they'd actually get.

Pretty much nothing, beyond some very expensive paper.

Only the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has the right to officially name celestial objects. It does so for scientific purposes only and does not recognize any commercial naming systems. The IAU, viewed by astronomers as the reputable governing body, is well aware of the sea of commercial star vendors. It has this to say:

"The IAU dissociates itself entirely from the commercial practice of 'selling' fictitious star names."

Some folks wonder, understandably, why stars are not given names in lieu of boring numbers.

The IAU does recognize a handful of ancient star names, given to some of the brightest stars in our sky. But with millions and millions of stars out there, it wisely decided long ago that a numbering system is more useful for scientists.

As the IAU puts it, "Finding Maria Gonzalez in Argentina or John Smith in Britain just from their names is pretty hopeless, but if you know their precise address (perhaps from their social security number) you can contact them without knowing their name at all."

As a web site called Name a Star admits, "Scientists will never want to deal with finding 'Aunt Martha's Star.'" This company deserves a gold star for forthrightness.

Part 2:

Install TV meter boxes in a sampling of homes. These are boxes that keep track of exactly what a person is watching at any moment, and for how long. The sampling of homes you choose is important; they should be people from a variety of different age groups, nationalities and sexes. Nielsen Media Research, the company in charge of tracking TV ratings for the United States and Canada, keeps meter boxes in about 5,000 U.S. homes at any given time.

Obtain national statistics on the citizens of the United States. The Census can be extremely helpful in this, as it breaks down people by age, income, etc.

Take a look at the results you are getting from the meter boxes. Each person that watches a particular show is a representative for the part of the U.S. he most fits into. For example, if a house containing a husband and wife in their forties with no kids watched a particular show at a particular time, it is safe to assume most people that fit that specific description watched the same show as well. You would compare this sampling with all others that met that exact description and see what percentage of your samples watched a show, and then apply that percentage to the general population.

Multiply the number of people meeting a specific description in your sample group who watched a particular show by the number of people in the U.S. who fit that particular description. The number you get is the estimated number of people who watched that show.

Science Myth of the Week:

So, do you lose most of your heat from your head? 

The origin came from the US military in the 1970s saying that 45% to 48% of the heat is lost from the head. 

But, it's actually not true.