Time Travel, Again

(Yep, again. Though, to be honest, my last time travel post was over a year ago. http://whynot2000.blogspot.com/2012/09/time-travel.html)

     Yesterday, I watched this MinutePhysics video about ways to travel through time. There were three simple, everyday ways that we use to travel through time, and then three more complicated ways that no one has accomplished yet.

     I am beginning to wonder if time travel far into the past or future relative to everything else is a good idea at all. In addition to risks listed in the previous time travel post, there are other strange possibilities. Let's say you are able to go back in time and prevent Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Immediately, there would be some kind of ripple effect as all the events related to Lincoln's assassination change to adapt to your actions. So then you go back to the present, where everything could be drastically different. Have you returned to the time you left or entered a parallel universe? If parallel universes do not exist, what happened in the world as you quite literally changed the course of history? However, if some unknown laws that govern the universe may prevent you from intervening with Lincoln's assassination, then you would return to the world you left.
     People could make small changes to the past accidentally that completely changes an important event. Even kicking a rock could result in a wagon tipping over after hitting the rock, thus making some soon to be important person late for the event that will make him famous. Even sneezing could spread illness to a prominent historical figure, causing her to be unable to do whatever she needs to do in time.
     I also can't help but wonder if it's worth pursuing ways to time travel, in the way that I previously described at least. If time travel is eventually invented, why aren't there any people from the future here today? Why isn't there an abundance of stories in history about mysterious people just coming out of no where? Are the time travelers purposely avoiding the block of time in which there are humans who have not yet discovered how to time travel as not to interfere? When one travels to the future, does one gain memories from the gap of time between departure and the arrival? Have all the time travelers been slung off to an alternate universe in which things are very, very different? Do parallel universes even exist?
    If time traveling machines were invented today, I really don't think I'd be tempted to test it out.

Silence: So What?

I hate generalizations that are untrue.
Look at what I found under my What's Hot tab:



Gag...
Seriously? Have you considered that she's sleeping? Or dead? Or in school during a lesson? Or in silent lunch? Or typing a blog post? None of those are particularly dangerous. If a girl is silent, she could just be plain thinking. Is that dangerous? I suppose if we start letting people actually think, they might just realize how stupid so many aspects of society can be. Maybe then people would start trying to change things for the better. What's wrong with that? Right, nothing!
I can already see all those people who fear change shuddering. Oh no, a threat to life as we know it! We can't change! No! Aaaaah! Thinking is so dangerous!

As much as I disagree with this person, I'd like to see what he/she thinks about boys being silent. I wonder if it would be the same or if the person thinks silent boys are plotting something sinister, violent, or both.

Also, I think this is a great example of America's unfortunate "extrovert ideal." You know, how the loud, bold people are often seen as the smart ones or the leaders or quite simply, the ideal person, and being quiet is simply not that good. Quiet children are labeled shy or too sensitive and poked and prodded to speak more often. Quantity does not guarantee quality, and I think that applies to human speech too. I mean, occasionally, I am quiet because I am feeling hurt (but never because I was about to combust). That does not mean it's the only possibility for being quiet. I often prefer to just think or be alone, and that does not mean I have suicidal intentions, depression, or the desire to be a serial killer. I simply want to "recharge" and think about what's going on in the world. Personally, I think if everyone took just a little more time to contemplate things instead of complaining loudly about them, we would get a lot more done and there would be a lot less conflict and annoying people.

Think about it. Silently. Shhh.

School? School.

GM- We go to school since we wouldn't choose to learn by ourselves. We'd just sit around since there would be no one to force us to be productive. And besides, many businesses don't take homeschooled people as seriously a school-educated people.
 
RF- I realize the thing is trying to be funny, but it has such a careless air of stupidity that it really just shows how much we need school/some kind of formal education.
First, like GM said, few people will actually buy a globe or watch Dora. Now YouTube, sure, but again, most will not bother to delve into music genres beyond pop.
Second, all those arguments are not true. I already briefly mentioned the music thing. YouTube has a lot of amazing content, but its ability to teach you how to play an instrument is not nearly as good as a real human. If by music, you mean music history, YouTube has stuff, but will you really go look it up? Wii can be a substitute for exercising in the traditional ways, but you are still spending time in front of a screen, which you would have already done for hours on YouTube for you "music" "education." Also, who's going to require you to play Wii?
On to Spanish. From my experience, Dora uses few Spanish words. After watching Dora, you will probably know how to say hi, bye, let's go, jump, and the names of a couple animals. How helpful will that be in communicating? You can't even ask where the bathrooms are! It's kind of the same in English. You can't communicate with only the phrases "laughing out loud," "be right back," and "I don't know." Although, if we really stopped having school, "IDK" might just suffice for most situations.
In math, having a calculator does not make you able to do math. If you don't know what numbers to put in, how is any answer going to appear? As for geography, globes are nice, but not the most detailed things ever. Also, who would actually buy one? Last, but certainly not the least incorrect one, is the argument for history. History is not dead. The effects of the events in the past are still in our present. Learning about the past helps us understand the present. Furthermore, you are part of history. Would you like the future people to just say, "Well, they're dead, so it's not like they ever mattered." Learning history helps you remember there were people before you, and there will be more people after you. We will eventually all be gone, with no one to remember the great works of anyone, but I think we should remember because we can and owe it to those who before us.

In conclusion, yes, we need education!

Oh, Okay, Pretend You Can't Do Anything but Post Stuff

Let me get to the point here. It can be hard to look at yourself from a different point of view, but you should at least know you are part of society. Anyone who is part of a community is part of a society.

Now, take a look at this:



I think the the implied message is that society sucks and causes suicides, and all we can ever do is sit here, post stuff, and be sad about this ghastly truth.
(By the way, it's interesting that society calls itself ugly in the last line... Also, isn't that girl part of society as well?)

Anyway, heads up to whoever made this as well as people who reposted it, in case you didn't know, you are part of society! Obviously, I'm assuming you have interacted with other people at some point in your life. As part of society, I hope you are trying to change these views in addition to posting this. You can compliment people on their appearance, clothing, and intelligence. You can buy less makeup. You can join or start a campaign against bullying. If you see these problems around you, speak out about it, and not just to your friends on social media websites. And hey, if you feel like you're the one that everyone is shaming, tell someone. You yourself can try to change things. I know it's not the easiest thing to do, but how else is anything going to change?

Stop blaming society, everyone. You are part of society. If you blame society, then you are part of that. If it really is society's fault, it is really in a way your fault too. You can't do everything, but you can do something.

Terrible Logic and More

A certain teacher of mine used horrendously poor logic today. I will not share his/her/its name as not to embarrass him/her/it (hence these pronouns).

Basically, he/she/it told us something like...
That insane murderer did well in school.
You are doing well in school.
You will become an insane murderer.
(Obviously, it wasn't that, but it was close-ish)
(There's more, but then it would be too obvious who the person is... I'm not trying to shame him/her/it.)

Then he/she/it became a dictator of sorts, instructing us on exactly how we should have interpreted the assignment we had just completed that tied in to his/her/its dreadfully wrong logic. After that, he/she/it stated that we should challenge those in power (like dictator-like figures) if we disagree. Disagreeing with both the adamant demand that we all see the same point in the assignment and the appallingly flawed logic, I was just about ready to go against the teacher. But then I realized I cared too much about doing well in school to spend time quarreling with people. Or maybe I just didn't care anymore.

Either way, my point is that I think everyone's perspective is shaped by past experiences and personality. To that teacher, just because your point of giving an assignment is "blah blah blah" does not mean everyone will think "blah blah blah" after doing it. Yeah, you should probably tell us why you assigned something, but no, you shouldn't insist there's only one or two "right" ways to look at it. Maybe my perception of your words was wrong, and if it was, I apologize.
But in all honesty,  I suppose I should thank you for having us do that activity and then saying what you said because I really feel like I now know where I stand (when it comes to some things at least) just from my reaction to all of it. Thanks.

Oh, and one last thing...
 



 EDIT: I have closed the comments. I have also edited the post a little. I think I may have over-exaggerated and showed too little of the other side in this story.

What to Bring

"One of the world's tiresome questions is what object one would bring to a desert island, because people always answer 'a deck of cards" or 'Anna Karenina' when the obvious answer is 'a well-equipped boat and a crew to sail me off the island and back home where I can play all the card games and read all the Russian novels I want." -Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid

Yesterday, in English/Reading class, we had a variant of this question. We were asked the three things we would take if we had to leave our homes. I, for one, generally have a hard time taking these questions seriously because they aren't really happening, what counts as a "thing" is never specified, and the exact circumstances are never given. GM, who happens to also be in that class, seems to have the same thoughts about this. I particularly like one of her answers, which was to bring some pepper spray and a baseball bat, presumably to injure whoever is trying to get her to leave home. Well, I also like her other answer of "a box of everything I own."

More Chain Email

I received a piece of chain email, I suppose you would call it.(Here's another post about another email)
I was going to post it here, but I don't know if all of you readers want to read something so fake and bothersome to me....
So here is the link on Hoax Slayer -http://www.hoax-slayer.com/daddy-it-hurts.shtml
The email I received had only the poem text. No photo or little paragraph at the beginning and end. No advertisements.

As you might be able to guess, I am about to rant about how much I dislike this and why.

There are some little things...
This has inconsistently poor grammar and randomly capitalized words:
"I'll try and be nice,
So maybe ill just get"

Why use correct "I'll" in one line and the incorrect "ill" in the next? 
"To not be affected
By this Poem"

Poem is now a proper noun everyone! Not...

Time Travel

Time Travel
A collaboration by GM and RF

    
     Time travel. It is just an invention of science fiction, right? Well, maybe not. Technically, there is nothing in science that says it isn't possible (After all, time supposedly is always moving around us), but there are many things people should figure out before trying to make a time machine or heading towards the nearest wormhole.
     First of all, by traveling back in time, some horrible things are pretty much guaranteed to happen. For example, you could end up with no clothing, which is obviously pretty bad. Are you confused? I get the feeling you are. Well, here's an example. Say your 100% cotton shirt was made a year ago. You wear it to time travel two years back.Two years ago, that shirt was probably just a bunch of seeds. Wouldn't you be wearing a pile of seeds? Further more, would the seeds be around/on you in the time machine or in the field that it was in at that time? Think about your time machine too. If you time travel back to before your time machine was completed, it would malfunction and eventually collapse. Plus you could disappear if you un-age enough to stop existing.
     This brings us to the next point. The whole time travel concept is, as a guy who we think could be a clone says, a paradox. It's a huge contradiction, basically. Let's say you manage to go back in time five years without having a time machine breakdown. So would there be two of you? One? None? Infinite? Same goes for everything else that is time traveling with you. There's also that scenario where you go back in time and kill one of your ancestors or yourself (I'm not sure why anyone would ever do that, but I suppose stranger things have happened.). What happens?
     RF's dad claims by time travel, most people mean "they want to travel through time without being affected by it." To actually travel through time that way, you'd need to move faster than time itself. This is another mind boggling concept. How would this work? If you were to time travel back, you'd travel forwards for at least a tiny amount of time, right? The theory that moving backwards or forwards in time always causes aging is starting to sound a whole lot more logical.
     Also, if there's time travel in the future, then why has no one from the future come visit us? Did their machine break down or did they disappear? It all seems very strange. It's very possible they died in the process. There are theories that they may be disguised as normal people or no one will ever discover time travel. It's probably best for the human race if time travel isn't ever used, although many will disagree.
     GM's brother says that the point of time travel is to go to a different universe where time is slower. But how do you know there are more universes? If there aren't, wouldn't you have to transport the entire universe? It seems nearly impossible to transport the entire universe back in time. We'll need a immensely powerful source of energy to do that.
     On the other hand, it's possible time is but an illusion!*

* It's an interesting thing, but we'll leave that for another post.
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Yes, this is not what we usually post and a little longer than the others. Sorry if you aren't into this type of stuff.
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This post is subject to minor changes.
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Got something to add to this? Got something to say? Comment please.

     


    

Has This Ever Happened to You?

 All of us have thousand wishes. To be thinner, to be bigger, have more money, have a cool car, to date the person of your dreams. A cancer patient only has one wish, to kick cancer's butt. I know that 97% of you won't copy and paste this into your signature, but my friends will be the 3% that do. In honor of someone who died, or is fighting cancer, or even had cancer, copy and paste this into your signature.

I found this in my inbox a couple days ago. I bet you guys have seen something similar on some account you have.  The message presented here is really good. Honor cancer patients. Cool. Great. Awesome. Yay. However, what annoys me is the way it's presented. I'm sure whoever wrote it didn't mean to have what I'm about to say, and I may be considered a "troll" for writing this but it's my honest opinion. Well, here goes nothing.

ANALYSIS OF THE STUFF IN GREEN WHICH YOU PROBABLY NEVER NOTICED NOT THAT I'M TRYING TO BRAG OR ANYTHING

1. All of us have a thousand wishes.- How do you know? This really isn't bad or anything, but it's just a little observation.

2. To be thinner, to be bigger, to have more money, have a cool car, to date the person of your dreams- These are probably really common wishes today. Nothing bad here, I guess. Nothing yet...

3. A cancer patient only has one wish, to kick cancer's butt.- Ugh. I really hate this sentence especially in this context. Why? Well, first of all, this implies that cancer patients are not one of us, since apparently all of us have a thousand wishes versus one. Besides, I'm pretty sure most cancer patients have more than one wish. Or else Make-a-Wish would be practically useless. Keep your "RF is such a 'troll'" comments in your head, please. 

4. I know that 97% of you won't copy and paste this into your signature, but my friends will be the 3% that do.- Okay. Again, how do you know? I'm aware this is taking things a little too literally since I'm pretty sure whoever wrote this just wants to say that we should spread the news about honoring cancer patients. However, I can see peer pressure and bragging in this. Peer pressure- "my friends will be the 3% that do" Bragging- same phrase

5. In honor of someone who died, or is fighting cancer, or even had cancer, and copy and paste into your signature. - If you actually put everything in green as your signature, it does honor the cancer patient so I guess that's good. But it's sort of pointless. By putting all that in your signature is repeating all the annoying stuff the person who sent it to you probably didn't mean to include.