Genesis Block Mined!

After some frustration, I got everything up and running, including the network. I have mined the first block, which officially marks the birth of academic coin!

Coin Submitted!

I tried the builder this morning, and it worked! I sent the payment, and now I am just waiting for the finished software, which should be done by the end of the day.

Passion Project Update

There is still much to be done. I went and submitted my coin to the dev to have it made, but just my luck all the servers are down indefinitely. I spent a lot of time testing existing software and code to determine if its possible for me to facilitate this project. I determined that it is possible for me to develop and run this coin. While waiting for the coin to be built, I have prepared the servers to the best of my ability however,  I need the software generated by the builder to fully ready the servers for use. There's still a lot to do, I need the software built, I need to setup the nodes, build the server software, and advertise the coin to the public.

127 hours

This movie was disturbing to me. It was cool to watch him run through all of the trails. I have actually went through trails like that before. With just a guidebook, its hard to know where you are going. They can be dangerous, with no safety devices installed. It's scary to think that doing something he loved changed his life so drastically. The movie seemed really well made and realistic. The director had a great sense of the human mind, and tried to portray it in the film through Aron's flashbacks and memories. The phrase "There is no force more powerful than the will to live." is increasingly evident in the movie. His survival challenge seemed almost impossible to me, but Aron's desire to live shown in the flashbacks helped him realize that he could overcome his injury and survive. I don't think I could cut my own arm off, that seems way to scary to me. Somehow, Aron found the desire to accomplish it anyway, and saved himself. I could only imagine the thoughts of the other hikers that helped save him. I would have been totally grossed out, but I would have tried to help him. Another thing that comes to my mind is the amount of pain Aron went through. A giant rock smashed his arm. What does that feel like? Did he eventually loose feeling in his arm? I hope so, or he would have been in excruciating pain when he cut his arm off.

Invisible child

After reading the NY Times piece Invisible child, I am left with many questions. The biggest question I am left with, is What is she doing now? The ending to the article is horrible in my opinion, and if leaves readers with many more questions. I don't know why the author couldn't bring the article to a satisfying conclusion, instead it was a cliff hanger. After reading the whole article and pondering the family's financial struggle, I feel that they could have broken away from their generational poverty. Instead of buying and trafficking drugs, they could have been saving money. The fact that street drugs are expensive is widely known, and the little money that was coming in to their household, was going straight back out onto the street. In addition to drugs, the family also had many other unhealthy spending habits. In the pictures of their shelter we are able to see plenty of clothes, bicycles, and other various electronics. I understand that clothes are important, but the rest is unnecessary. We see a Nintendo Wii and a flat screen sitting on top of a milk crate, a DVD player is also mentioned throughout the article. While all of those electronics might be fun, they are not necessary. Instead of trying to get ahead with their money, they immediately spend it on other unnecessary items, like supreme's gold teeth. I think they need to be more frugal with their money, so they can get ahead and move out.

I see many qualities in Dasani that I also see in myself. In the article, the reader sees how Dasani takes care of her siblings, and maintains there somewhat household. My Dad used to take many many business trips that were often multiple nights long, and consecutive weeks in a row. During those times and now I still try to take care of my siblings, and maintain the house. I watch by brothers when my Mom is not home, and try to take care of them when my Mom needs help. I also take care of the house, and preform maintenance around it. I mow the lawn, and do a lot of the landscaping. I fix things that break, and make sure everything works.

If I could say anything to Dasani, I would congratulate her. She stayed strong throughout her whole life although times were tough. On top of it all, she lands herself a spot on a championship athletic team. I know I wouldn't have been able to live through some parts of her life.

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.

Your web life after your death

What do do with your online profile is a very controversial topic. Personally I think that the decision should be left upto the victim. Already there are products and services that manage your profile when you die. They can hold passwords, credentials, and the links to your online profiles. There are options to "incinerate" the page when you die, if you do not want it sticking around. This is a solution to family members not being able to obtain your password.

I think that your life can live on online. I don't see a big problem with that. I personally think that people just posting on a persons account when they are dead is creepy to me. I understand the "I'm dead" message, but some people just post status update for dead people. I think that Adam Ostrow's Idea (Guy from the ted talk) of bringing the dead back to life would be fine. There was a proposed idea that in the future they could make a robot that had the personality of those who passed away by using their online life.

After we die I think that our online lives should be memorialized. It should be a place to remember the dead. I don't think that families should control identities. I think that this should be something written in their will. The passed might not want people to remember them by their online life. But some might treasure their life online and want to keep it how it is now.

Myths of Rogate

There are many different advantages and disadvantages of being gifted. There are also many myths. Some common ups of Rogate are get treated differently. Your teachers could think you are exempt from some work, or you don't have to do as much as the other students. But being treated differently could also be a disadvantage. The teachers also could think that because you are gifted, you need to be challenged more then the other students, or do more work then them. Another up of being in Rogate is the feeling that you are in Rogate, you are a gifted student. Not necessarily better that the other students, but smarter then them. And an up has an equal down, you might be made fun if people know that you are in the smart kid class. There are also many myths about Rogate that are not true. The myth that all kids are gifted. The truth, well all children are gifted in some way or another. But, the gifted label used in school refers to an educational standpoint. There is another myth about gifted students, all gifted students always get good grades. That is definitely not true. I have gotten bad grades on assignments like the bio test we just took, and many other kids in my rogate class have not done well on other assignments either. These myths were talked about on this page on gifted learners.

My 20% Project

For my 20% project I am going to find out more about sailing. Sailing is my passion and I devote about 3/4 of my summer to sailing. I know how to sail and tactics to make me better, but  I want to know why those tactics work. I want to discover what makes a boat move, the differences between boats, and the impact the type of sail has on the boat. For my project I will need my boat to analyze different things on it, and some sailing resources. There is not a lot of information on the physics of sailing. Most of the websites have tips to sail faster and how to be a better sailer. I may be able to get untouch with one of the best sailors I know. He has won most of the races he has been in, they were major regattas most of them were national champion ships. He lost his spot on the U.S. Olympic Sailing team by one point. He would know what he is talking about.

Is chris Lagan Successful?

Yes I think Chris Lagan is successful because he has the smarts to do what ever he wants in the world.I think he is successful at life and on his games show. He doesn't want to go back to college. But doesn't see a problem with not having a degree.  He is happy with his life, and what he does today. He was successful at the game show because he won and knew his chances got slimmer as he went on. My definition of success is being happy with what you do, and how you do it.

Kindergarden Debate

The choice whether to delay your child's kindergarten year or start it early is a very big topic for parents. In the book we are reading for rogate  the author Malcom Gladwell states that children the have been "redshirted" (had their kindergarten delayed) have a accumulative advantage towards other students. In another New York times article neuro scientists Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt both agree in their Article that redshirting children is a bad practice used by parents. They claim that kids that started kindergarten early have an advantage over redshirted kids when it comes to reading and writing. They also claim that redshirted kids are less motivated in high school. I agree with Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt's theory that starting school late for kids is a disadvantage. In Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt's theory they also stated that when children are 6 their brains are undergoing massive changes. They argue that since the brain development can not be put on hold, there should be content available to support the brain growth. Which I think is very important because the kids will be using their brains for the rest of our lives and that stage of development is the most important one we will undergo in our lives.

All About Being Gifted

There are many different advantages and disadvantages of being gifted. There are also many myths. Some common ups of Rogate are get treated differently. Your teachers could think you are exempt from some work, or you don't have to do as much as the other students. But being treated differently could also be a disadvantage. The teachers also could think that because you are gifted, you need to be challenged more then the other students, or do more work then them. Another up of being in Rogate is the feeling that you are in Rogate, you are a gifted student. Not necessarily better that the other students, but smarter then them. And an up has an equal down, you might be made fun if people know that you are in the smart kid class. There are also many myths about Rogate that are not true. The myth that all kids are gifted, is a very controversial topic. The truth, all children are gifted in some way or another. But, the gifted label used in school refers to an educational standpoint. Another myth is that all gifted children get good good grades. That is definetly not true.  There are many kids in my rogate class including me, that do not get perfect grades in school, but are still considered gifted.