[RE] ermm Germs.

Reading Haley Toot's blog I came across her Germs post, and it just made me want to comment on a few things that she brought up.

"   Viruses, bacteria, germs. Those are the real creepy crawlies that go bump in the night. They hold all the power in the world. They can decimate populations, cure diseases, and ruin someone's week.[...] They are an impartial organism, only doing what they are meant to do, but what they are meant to do can be very good, or very bad."

I love the fact that Haley did not fail to mention that germs, while usually cast in a bad light, are in fact extremely helpful to humanity. So many things that people consider germs, and try to get rid of, are often times just microbial beings that have no known intentions, but pure instinct. I thin kit is vital for people to understand that germs can be just as good to humans as we automatically think they are bad for us.

I am not a person to back cleaning your hands every 5 minutes with some weird alcohol fluid(hand sanitizer). Those fluids kill 99% of ALL germs, it does not discriminate towards which germs it exterminates. It kills the good guys as well as the bad guys. Well what happens if you have no good guys or bad guys, then you touch something bad... then your skin is exposed to only the bad guys with no counters available. We need our good germs!

People who don't expose themselves to germs are more suspect-able to become infected at a later stage of life, and in a more severe way. By running around with germs you are making your body adapt and create anti bodies of those bad ones, so once they come by again your body is already prepared to kill off a second offender with more speed and more efficiency.

In all, embrace germs! Make your body resilient. Or spend a good portion of your life plotting every moment to make sure exposure is at minimum level for the rest of your life.

[free] Just a mom

Just A Mom Protesting Wall Street - Imgur

Hmm people like this that sway my fence sitting butt over to the side of taking action rather then observe. My initial thoughts to the Occupy movement was, " Oh no here comes another quick spike of young political involvement. I wonder how long it will take for their parents to take back their allowance and for them to give up." Now as time has passed, organization becoming more existent, and accompanied with a population of people who are actually committing themselves to this cause with a background that holds significance I believe that this whole thing is carrying much more momentum.

Popular sovereignty is what the United States claims to support. The simple idea that the majority of people are more likely to be correct over the minority of people. That the combined knowledge votes in favor of progressing current society and the ideas they hold. Then if you replace human with money, but keep the popular sovereignty idea our current situation makes so much sense. The people with the most money decide what happens to everyone. Hmm high chance I am over simplifying this...  But this is how I am translating this situation and how it came to be without much fuss... until now.

United the people stand, divided we crumble. This was something I saw in early Occupy movements. Too many people had different voices praising this or condemning that. It could have been 12 mini movements that happened to gather in one spot and yell the loudest. Now, from what I've heard, meetings are being more scheduled and focused, partys are dieing down (You cant liv in an area with constant party), and overall seriousness is being awakened.


I am going to have to visit, soon.

[CE] Indo democrasi

While looking through the articles form Al Jazeera I cam across a link of Indonesian troops attacking  pro-independence activists in Eastern Papau.

Being form Indonesia I felt weird reading this. What I remember from my brief trips to Indonesia is a young democracy that had just gotten rid of a dictatorship, and was now following the footsteps of young United States. Perhaps Indonesia is following in the US's footsteps too closely as the Indonesian gov't is restraining pro independence protestors in Papau. Wait, America has never taken over a land held by people who were there first and wish to be independent right? Oh right.. Native Americans and Hawaii.

Is popular sovereignty accompanied with democracy and the capitalistic mindset a justification to take over another group of people who wish to govern themselves off of their own belief? Of course it is. As long as whatever territory you are taking over has resources for you to exploit. Papau deserves to reap the profits from their own lands, or even to conserve them if they choose to.

Papau is not a very well developed... state/province. I'm not so sure many people have been exposed to what Papau wants, independence. This happens because it's hard to promote a cause when you're already working, protesting, and taking care of a family... it gets hard to send videos to major/trust-able news companies with low tech and such. Many residents of Papau choose to stay away from modern technology and ideas, and I say let them live their lives as they wish.

[biweek] The Look

   Cohen brings up right away that he's in competition with other companies in the challenge of capturing our attention as a people. Saying very subtly that we are no smarter than sheep; using one person dress in a certain way will ultimately lead the rest of the herd to dress in the similar fashion. Cohen is arguing that using the attractiveness of a person is crucial in conveying the message of a particular brand. Cohen is saying sex sells, and that it does. In Cohen’s argument, guys will follow attractive women, and with them, their wallets will follow. While Cohen's statement does hold some merit, most people go to stores to get a product, rather than socialize with the employees. People can unintentionally favor certain people over another, but when people catch themselves doing this they are more than likely rather try and improve their behaviour; unlike Cohen’s manipulation over the feelings.

   While I do not support Cohen’s argument, I do agree with it. People just find it extremely hard to get over their inadvertent tendencies for superficial attitudes.When people look at art they would rather look at something that is appealing for the eyes instead of something that is poorly drawn, yet holds very dense content. People will gravitate towards people whom they find attractive rather than take the required effort and talk to someone with an amazing background or ideas. Even with myself I can find fault with ease. If I am within a class and we’re assigned groups I catch myself acting extremely superficial. I tend to be more open and chatty towards people I deem attractive compared to those of which I don’t find all that attractive. I am a prime example of what Cohen is trying to staple society today as. I acknowledge this problem I have, but I am trying to change it so I am a more rounded person. Well rounded people are more approachable, and that is something i aim for in life. Cohen is after a profit, and in that mindset it is easy to get lost in shortcuts to gain positive advertisement. I do not really care for clothing stores, so I’m only exempt from this particular case, but not to the concept as a whole.

   I am completely against using attractive people, or people in general,  as a mobile billboard. The way Cohen so easily objectified people as moving advertisements can suggest an easy correlation that he believes humans are just bags of meat to ogle at. I am unaware of any human beings who are okay with being subjected to that sort of treatment. If people were to really like a product then they would naturally promote the brand by talking about it, it's unnecessary to hire attractive people solely if your product is good. This sort of action may backfire on you, hopefully all of this negative press is doing just that, and is a very risky gamble. To make your vital decisions on the basis of human ignorance is a heavy bet, especially when your targeted audience becomes aware of what it is exactly that drags them to your product. When you can get your brand or product mentioned in every day conversation, that's where efficiency and morality meet. I can't be behind a product that doesn't sell itself.

   What people really want from employees at a store is the confidence that they know how to get their job done at a professional level. I would never return to any kind of establishment that has really attractive employees, yet when I ask for help they end up being completely useless. “I tell employees that their main focus needs to be hiring somebody who can get the job done. When they want to hire a project a certain image, that’s when things can get screwy.”- Stephen J Roppolo. The process of using, or in this case selling something goes along the lines like this: First you have a good product you want to sell. Secondly you make sure the product is of quality and passes any inspections that are placed upon it. Lastly you add aesthetics onto said product to make it pretty. Hiring an attractive employee over a person who is more qualified is similar to having an item that is beautiful beyond belief, but with no function. If they can’t do anything to push products out of the door the employees themselves may be more of a distraction then an effective means of selling an item. The entire social aspect of Cohen’s argument may backfire just because the “boys who come the store to only look at pretty girls” may end up going to the store to just look at pretty girls without ever buying anything. When you have your employee being occupied by one person whose intentions are purely social you lose out on a customer who may be willing to pay money, but does not get any attention or help and ends up leaving.

   We, the people, have the power in our wallets as to whether or not we ALLOW a company to thrive or die. Many people are unable to grasp this concept that we are the ones responsible for the success of many shitty companies. Many people feel that as a single person they have no control over what profits a big company will receive, but their active choice of not wearing, or even talking negatively about said company will have enormous effects on how people will perceive that brand in their own social bubble. While many people can't be subjective, no matter how hard we try, the important thing is that you've tried and admitted that this is actually happening. Other people, such as Cohen, will take advantage of their realization of how we act and in turn will try to make a profit off of what we inadvertently do. While I do believe that Cohen makes a valid argument, we the people, are progressing in a way to force Cohen's statement to become invalid.

[CE] Rainbow Warrior III

So as I am trying to spread the word of the protest that Brandon Ng is holding on Wednesday (Im assisting) I came across a GreenPeace video. While the goals are not common, the organization is what where we are sending the results of next Wednesdays protest.



The Rainbow Warrior III. Quite the name.. hard to not think of a couple mean things to say about it...

GreenPeace is somewhat known to be a bit radical and act in extreme ways, some of you may have seen or heard of the show Whale Wars. To get a result you have to put in a effort of just as much value. The fact that they were attacked after poking around a nuclear testing site shows that GreenPeace will not shy away from any problem that is potentially disastrous towards our home, Earth.

My own personality would probably be a lot of notches more conservative than the actions used by the organization. I'd prefer the spoiled treatment of not risking my life, yet I want to see major changes in the way we collectively treat our planet. Now these changes require a not so timid approach. While my I am naturally more timid, I do want to do something to make a difference. Hence the protest Wednesday.

I'm finding it hard to find the legality of the radical measures taken by certain members of GreenPeace. I think that many of the people the ships like the Rainbow Warrior III are provoking have permits or have other legal documents saying that they are allowed to be there, form their respective governments. So I'm a bit uneasy as to them attacking people who feel like they took the proper legal steps in their activities.

But I also can see what the people aboard the Rainbow Warrior III are thinking. That we are all guests on this planet, and their are unwritten rules on how one should behave towards their host. To respect and care for our host is something that should be of significant importance. And no human should disregard our planet, in a fashion as we are now.

I'm a bit torn on argument I hold more merit towards. I do love the planet, but Im also in favor of more... peaceful measures.

[response] twinkle twinkle, not so little star

Ever since I saw them, I've always had a fixation on stars. Seeing Jazmine's post made me want to talk about it.

When you look up at the stars Do you take the time to think? Do you wonder? Do you blank out? Or do you just relax? Tell me what is is about the night sky That is just so magnetic in life It pulls us in and does not let go

What amazing secrets our universe holds with those tiny blinking lights up there. Recently whenever I've been staring at the stars, on nights where fog isn't dominating everything, I've been thinking how cool it is that we are all made form star dust. (info taken from Dr. Griffith) All of the elements that compose the human body all originated from some star(s) that exploded XXXXXXXX years ago. And while we are all the same elements, only different chemical levels and life experiences have shaped us all out to be the individuals we all are.

The star's relax me in a way that is very hard to explain. They are always there, and move about in a pattern. The reliability of them is something that humans can find comfort in. And surprisingly they are quite comforting to gaze up at. That our little planet isn't the only thing in existence, makes me feel somewhat fuzzy inside. Things... that are so different really take a hold of my imagination and run off with it.

Humans are curious beings that are drawn to things that we have a limited knowledge of. What makes it so irresistible to check your phone the second it goes buzzing, what force makes you keep turning the page, and what is it that makes us ask questions. That very thing is make draws us towards the stars. They hold the secrets of the entire universe, yet we have no means of extracting that information..yet. Hopefully in my lifetime we will get some kind of advancement of space travel, or maybe I'll be lucky enough to witness something else try to make communication with the planet Earth.

[free] mbahkung

So my grandfather, mbahkung, died a couple nights ago, and that got me thinking about death and all of that really depressing stuff, so if you're not in the mood to read something a bit....sad... then click away!!

Using Adam vision we see at the very base level of life we see a constant that really pops out, which are choices. What we make of our time alive is ultimately decided based off of what choices you decided to choose over another. Every single moment your are deciding to do something over another which is shaping the events that happen to you throughout your lifetime. This statement completely amazes me. I cannot get behind the concept of destiny, we control our lives... or at the very least the human species is in control of our collective futures. So why would it be any different at the end of our lives?

An idea I've been juggling around in my head is the idea that death may just be like life on the very basic level. In a sense that once you die..somehow you make a active choose as to whether or not you want to go to heaven, be reincarnated,, or maybe even a ghost free to wander the earth and the universe. Now this concept isn't a very strict one, as there are many ways for this theory to work out. Perhaps our last mental thoughts right before we die are imprinted on ourselves (a bit like Source Code) and that you experience whatever you were thinking about... like an endless dream.

Perhaps death is just as dependent on choices as life is? In this theory I really emphasize the strength of human will. Do our beliefs dictate what's beyond death? Exemplified in the way we can alter our dreams by thinking of them strongly before sleep. Because I want this to happen, will my mind create it so it does happen? Ever get the feeling that you've been sitting for hours in a class room when in reality it has only been 5 minutes? So many things can go through our heads in that 5 minutes, so much so that it feels like a large amount of time has passed. Maybe when we're about to die this is what happens and you go to where-ever you thought would happen.

probably more on this later..