Beasts of the Southern Wild

In my G&T 2 class we watched a eye opening movie called Beasts of the southern wild. It was about a little girl names Hush Puppy who lives with her father in the bathtub. In the movie, a huge storm hits the bathtub, and completely floods the area. The few remaining inhabitants of the bathtub are forced to reside in one house, that lays above the water line, and travel around by boat. In order to get the water to recede, Hush Puppy's father blows up the levy that is holding all the water in the bathtub. Towards the end of the movie, the viewer becomes aware that Hush Puppy's father has a serious health condition, and eventually dies. The homes of the characters were very surprising to me. They were all in shambles and poorly constructed. Even though they face harsh conditions, they are still happy with where they live and don't want to leave. The relationship between Hush Puppy and her father is very interesting as well. It's hard to describe in words, it was kind of like an extreme love/hate relationship. Hush Puppy would do something she wasn't allowed to do, and her father would yell at her, then they would start doing something almost fun, while they were still angrily yelling at each other. Her father wasn't that protective of her either. She just wandered off to where every she wanted to go and her father wouldn't care. He even left her alone for a day or so, because he was in the hospital. Her father told her to pull the fuse on some dynamite,while they were all less than 30 feet away from the bomb. This video can also help us learn more about humanity. The inhabitants of the bathtub live totally different lives then we do here in the states. There lives are striped down to the bare essentials. The technology we have here, most likely alters our behavior as humans. But, if we analyze the people in the video we could get a better sense of what it means to be human, without any added stimuli.

Passion Project Update

My power point presentation is well underway, and I almost have all the information I want to explain to my class. I've already got 25 slides.  My miner has been up and running for a few weeks, and has already mined 22 litecoins! Each coin today is worth $4.16 as of 11/14/13 at 10:23 am. So I have currently made $91.52. I am almost halfway to my goal of mining 50 litecoins. Mining them was not easy, it seemed like I ran into another problem everyday. Such as freezes, connectivity issues and hardware incompatibilities. The additional information I still want to explain is a bit technical, and I may have trouble explaining it to my peers. I will need to find a way help other people understand what I am talking about, such as analogies to more commonly known things, or telling them excessive background knowledge they would need to understand. The second option sounds boring, and a lot of work. I think I will stick with the first option.

Myers-Briggs Personality Types

The results of this test astonished me, my personality test result was surprisingly accurate. I got type ISTP.

Here's the description - Tolerant and flexible, quiet observers until a problem appears, then act quickly to find workable solutions. Analyze what makes things work and readily get through large amounts of data to isolate the core of practical problems. Interested in cause and effect, organize facts using logical principles, value efficiency.

That's me.

I will put up with anything, and don't really stick to my own personal rules. I am quiet, I don't talk a lot or loudly. I am a problem solver. I enjoy fixing things. People ask me to fix their problems all the time. I love tinkering with things and finding what makes them work. I can also find little problems among big ideas. Cause and effect are similar to finding how things work. I try to arrange my life logically, including my thoughts, possessions, and lifestyle. I love it when things work, and work well and are efficient.  

This new information on personalities helps me understand how people are different, but the same. The test gives you two different options on four different aspects of your lifestyle, creating 16 possible personality types. Everyone in the world should have a similar personality, and from their personality type, assuming it's accurate, we should be able to infer how they act in a certain situation.

The information can help me answer our big question on what does it mean to be human because everyone has one of these sixteen personality types. Your personality is part of what makes you human. Although were all different, we are all are similar in several key ways, and personality is one of those key similarities of what it means to be human.

Joyas Voladoras

In this insightful, well written article the life of hummingbirds are discussed at length. Particularly, hummingbird hearts. The article tells about their enormous ferocious metabolisms, and their race car heart rates. The article explains the volatile life of the bird when they stop to take a rest. If they rest for too long or go too long without eating, they could die. It makes me think about human life and how volatile our lives could really be if were not properly treated. The point the author made about the length of an organism's life compared to its heart rate really stood out to me. "Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise, and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old". It also made me reflect on human life, about how long we live, and how people in shape live longer that those who don't. Then I was lead to the conclusion that every organism is alike in the sense that our hearts are somewhat the same. So the answer to what does it mean to be human isn't really about a physical aspect. Our bodies are very similar to animals, besides our superior opposable thumbs. So the distinguishable factor between humans and animals must be in our personality and mindset. Could it be our feelings and emotions? Doyle states that So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment". Which suggests to me that what makes us human are our memories. The things in our heart are what make us who we are. They distinguish us from other organisms that cant express personality or their feelings.

What does it mean to be human?

Different people have different viewpoints on what it means to be human. I believe that to be human means to have certain characteristics. Humans should be self functioning living organisms, with the ability to do as they please and express their feelings. They are intelligent with the ability to shape their world.

Second 20% project

In this project, I will try and explore more topics of sailing. More specifically, sail aerodynamics and shape, hull shape, and racing tactics/ advanced boat handiling. I want to find the optimal sail shape and the advantage of different types of sails and materials. Finding different racing tactics will help me this summer and show me what I can do to be better. I can consult Clay Johnson and Rob Seidelman, they are both excellent sailors, they own the local sailing stores. Clay Johnson has a very impressive record, and was one point away from being on the U.S Olympic sailing team for the summer 2012 olympics.

Terri Schiavo Case Study

I believe the decision to disconnect Terri Schiavo from life-support was justified. She had been on life support for seven years with little to no improvement. Nothing was working to get her out of the persistent vegetative state she was in. 

Question 1: 

Terri is in a persistent vegetative state. Which is a state where the subject has suffered brain damage  and is in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness.  Terri was still alive and was able to say few words and move. She was able to identify her mother and say a few words to her, she was also able to hug her. To me the difference between life and death is during life you have a living breathing, self-functioning body, and when you are dead you are not living at all. 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_vegetative_state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case

Want to know my future?

In class we read a time magazine article about DNA testing. It's main topic was about a new jersey school teacher who had kids missing chromosomes which lead to other serious disorders. DNA testing has greatly evolved and can tell us everyone about our present and future self. This teacher had a DNA test done on her daughter. To find out what was causing her illness. They found missing chromosomes that could cause more problems in her body. I think this new testing is incredible. You can find out anything about your self and the diseases that you can contract in a simple test. The testing is also reasonably affordable for the general public. If I got a DNA test done I probably would not want to know the results unless it's something serious or something that I can get symptoms of in the next few years.

As a doctor I wouldn't tell the patient everything unless they specifically ask. There are a lot of things a DNA test can reveal, but as a doctor we know that at the moment there is no cure or treatment. I wouldn't want my patient to be scared by an untreatable disease. As a parent, I would want to know what's wrong with my child, but I wouldn't tell them because there not old enough to understand and or I wouldn't want them thinking about a serious disease in their childhood.  As a child, I would not want to know what's wrong with me. I would not want to grow up knowing that I might have a short life or I might contract a disease early on.

New years revolutions

In 2012 I learned that intellogence isn't everything. You need many other skills in life to succeed like common sence, perseverance, and skill. You can't necessarily accomplish a task with only one skill. It takes many of them put together to accomplish something.

I am totally against new years revolutions. They generally only last about a day. Many of the resolutions I could make for myself would never happen. I try to accomplish them but I eventually forget about what I was trying to do, or I give up because it's too hard.