Miscellaneous Debris

Why I Hate Christmas

2008-12-25T17:17:00.008-06:00

Contrary to popular belief, December 25th has nothing to do with Jesus’ birth, a jolly obese man dressed in red pajamas, or presents. Christmas has its roots in astrology and ancient mythology. This is a day that has been celebrated by different religions and by different groups of people all over the world, thousands of years before the Christians dubbed it as the day of Christ's nativity.

Approximately on June 21st (Summer Solstice), the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky marking the longest day of the year as day and night are exactly 12 hours in length. From this day on, the Sun rises one degree less and less every day. This brings longer nights, colder weather, end of the crop season, death of nature, and so on. Many ancient people were well aware of this fact and worked this astronomical phenomenon into their mythology as the metaphor “darkness overcoming the Sun” (most people regarded the Sun as their god). On December 22nd (Winter Solstice), the Sun makes it to its lowest point in the sky and stays there for three days. On December 25th the Sun reverses its trajectory, rising one degree each day, "overcoming the darkness", and beginning its journey up the sky.

The ancients, thousands of years ago, would celebrate this day as it meant the rebirth of the Sun, longer and warmer days, the return of crops and nature and so on. Thus, December 25th has always been a celebration of the Sun’s position in the sky, and its relationship with life on Earth. So how did December 25th become known as Christ’s birthday? Both religious and secular scholars agree that no one knows Jesus’ actual date of birth, assuming he existed. Theologians around 300 AD estimated that it occurred sometime around mid-late December, estimates which secular scholars regard as arbitrary. Regardless, the Church christened December 25th as Christ’s birthday which happened to correspond with winter solstice festivities.

Most mythologies surrounding the winter solstice had some concept of a “gift-bringer”. This idea evolved over the centuries into a concept of a Father Christmas, with varieties depending on the culture. However, this idea took a new form in the mid 19th century. Thomas Nast, a famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist who worked for a political magazine called “Harper’s Weekly” would draw a new image of Santa Claus annually beginning in 1863. Nast standardized the image of Santa as a fat and jolly old man. Advertisers capitalized on this image and began to use it to sell their products. White Rock Beverages used this image to sell mineral water in 1915 and ginger ale in 1923. This was followed by a massive advertising campaign launched by Coca-Cola. This campaign solidified the image of Santa Claus that we now recognize today. Below is Nast's first official Santa Claus image:

This brings me to the second thing I hate about Christmas: it promotes consumerism. The Christmas holiday is the biggest economic stimulus for many corporations and countries. People have been socialized by the media and our consumerist culture to buy things they do not need and buy gifts for people who do not deserve them. In 2006, Americans spent $450 billion dollars during the Christmas holiday. Furthermore, the massive consumerism of Christmas has an environmental toll: increases in used resources, increases in energy, increases in CO2 emissions from producers and consumers, increases in waste, and so on.

People look at me like I'm diseased when I tell them I am not willing to participate in Christmas festivities. The minute I mention to anyone that I hate Christmas they are shocked, like I’ve just used the c-word and Jesus in the same sentence. My position is not complex - I simply do not like the “religious” and consumerist aspects of Christmas. Since Christmas cannot be avoided, I encourage you as least enjoy your time off work. Eat your face off and try to get along with your family members. If the dreaded family reunions make you want to slit your wrists, worry not because I'm positive that plently of alcohol is available! Try not to trample any old ladies during the boxing week sale and make sure to shower your kids with presents, turning them into ungrateful spoiled brats.

Oh, and have yourself a wonderful and very Merry Christmas.

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?

2008-08-11T15:39:00.009-06:00

Or rather, "Is a Picture Equal to a Thousand Words"? It's hard to say. One could go about comparing the average amount of disk space that a small picture file occupies to the average amount of disk space a thousand words would occupy as a basic text file. However, directly comparing file sizes is not this straightforward...

File format can significantly affect file size. The same exact picture with the same exact dimensions (length x width) will produce different file sizes depending on its format (i.e., JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, etc.). A quick Google search has revealed over 200 image file formats, with many more under development. A comparison of three popular word processors resulted in different file sizes. To get a baseline reading, it makes sense to save a word file as a blank document. Doing so, the Notepad file is 0 kilobytes, WordPerfect X3 is 1.64 kilobytes, and Microsoft Office 2003 comes in at a whopping 23.5 kilobytes. Using Notepad offers two advantages. First, you eliminate the confounding variable of file size of the actual program because it is 0 kilobytes. Total disk space of a file containing a thousand words would have to expressed as "x - 1.64 kilobytes" and "x - 23.5 kilobytes for WordPerfect X3 and Microsoft Office 2003, respectively. Second, other variables such as font type, size, and format, etc. are eliminated because these could erroneously inflate file size, a problem that is present in Notepad to a minimal degree.

Another important consideration is word length. File size will depend on the average size of the words. Larger words (i.e., disestablishmentarianism) would take up more space than smaller words (i.e., play). Using data from the UDHR in Unicode database, English has an average word length of 5.10 characters. Dangme, a language used in Ghana and Togo, has an average word length of 2.76 characters whereas Amharic, used in North Central Ethiopia, has an average word length of 49.06 characters. Thus, language will also affect file size.

For pictures, the situation becomes less clear. What is considered as an average picture size? Pictures taken for personal use on a digital camera depend on the camera settings but will usually be larger on average. Pictures on websites are usually compressed to save space. A Google search has revealed only one thing, that picture size varies greatly. The most common picture format is JPEG with an average picture size of 1 megabyte. TIFF format is extremely large compared to JPEG resulting in high quality pictures averaging in at 9.9 megabytes. PNG clocks in between JPEG and TIFF with an average file size of 6.5 megabytes. However, it is evident that average size depends on a complex interaction between format, purpose, and the equipment used for taking and storing the picture.

Conclusion: Using random strings of letters that are 5 characters in length, a Notepad file containing 1000 words is 5.95 kilobytes. Compared to the average file size of the most common picture file formate JPEG, which is 1 megabyte, we see that the picture file is 168.07 times larger. So is a picture really worth (or equal to) a thousand words? I argue that it depends on many variables, but most likely no.

Meister Defiant

2008-07-30T19:34:00.004-06:00

I spent almost 10 months living with an immature 27 year old. Everything in his environment has to be in a designated place in the proper way. For example, the TV remote can't go here, it must go there. My dishes can never go in there, they must always go here. My shoes can't sit off to the side in the entrance way, they must always be in the closet. I've come to expect him to kick my shoes around if I dare put them in the entrance. This suggests that his anxiety escalates if people do not conform to his strict ways.

He achieves a sense of control through a strict daily routine. His daily routine over the 10 months was the same as it was in the months before and will continue to be the same in the future. For example, let us analyze a typical day in his life. His alarm goes off and he hits the snooze repeatedly for exactly one hour - everyday. He showers, goes into his room, and blasts his music for exactly 10 minutes while he dresses - everyday. He eats the exact same thing for breakfast (Vector cereal, no milk) - everyday. He takes his vitamins at the exact same time - everyday. He gets to school at the exact same time - everyday. He gets a coffee and sits at the exact same spot before his class starts - everyday. He goes to the bathroom at the exact same time right before his afternoon class - everyday. He eats the same afternoon snack at school at the exact same time, timing it down to the minute - everyday. He comes home and naps for exactly one hour - everyday. At 8:30pm he eats the same thing for supper, chicken fingers and fries - everyday. This is usually the end of his routine as he alternates between getting high, video games and television. He goes to bed late and starts the routine over the next day. I believe that if his routine is interfered with, which one should expect given that there are 3 other people in the house, I believe that his anxiety surges.

Another factor is his asocial attitude. Out of his own will he has become more and more reclusive, resulting in a lack of a social life and very few friends. He has expressed on several occasions he does not like being around many people and that "going out with people for social drinks on a weekend is stupid". In a 10 month period, he left the house to socialize a handful of times. Two of those times were due to his brother, who lives out of town, forcing him out. This most certainly contributes to a banal existence. His life lacks the moderate excitement associated with going out with peers on a weekend to hang out and relax.

What I believe to be the MAJOR problem which lies at the root of all other problems is that he s happy being miserable. Constant reminiscing about the times we did such and such back in 2001, dwelling on his two ex-girlfriends that want nothing to do with him and have long moved on. He is the personification of “emo”. There are people who do it for the sake of fashion. Their “emo” is external. I believe that his “emo” is completely internal.

If you sum all these characteristics, you are left with a miserable person. Thus, when someone (which in our living arrangement was most often me) interferes with his schedule and the strict grasp he has on his life, he freaks out because his way of doing things have been disrupted. We then have to deal with his regressive (temper tantrums, whining, stomping) and passive-aggressive (kicking my shoes around when I am away) reactions.

He has created a miserable world that he basks in. I believe his stubbornness has led him to ignore the collective good of the house for his personal agenda. No one should be expected accommodate an inconsiderate, miserable asshole. I refused to live according to his expectations and I am glad he is gone

TOOL

2007-12-07T06:04:00.003-06:00

This was my second TOOL concert and it was awesome! I first time I saw TOOL was in Edmonton and it was the first leg of their tour in support of their new album, 10,000 Days. Both concerts were drastically different experiences. They played tight and had an amazing light/visual show. The set list was as follows...

Jambi
Stinkfist
Forty-six & 2
Schism
Rosetta Stoned
Flood
Wings for Marie/10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious

Jambi proved to be an aggressive opener followed by Stinkfist, which usually serves as their opener. Stinkfist was followed by Forty-six & 2 and Schism. Danny's drum solo during Forty-six & 2 made me really appreciate his technicality - the man was on fire! Schism, like the Edmonton show, had the best visuals. During the climax of the song all visuals turn to fire, giving the effect that they are walking on fire. TOOL proceeded into the psychedelic Rosetta Stoned, followed by Flood. I stress that Flood was a treat since it is rarely played live. The 17+ minute long Wings for Marie/10,000 Days followed. These two songs were recently incorporated into their live set on this leg of their tour. They ended off with Lateralus and Vicarious. In the middle of the show, they had a alien-like laser show. Here is a fan filmed video of the light show in Saskatoon.

Like any other TOOL show, the band members were in their usual designated spots. Justin Chancellor was stage right, Adam Jones was stage left, Danny's drum set was center right, and Maynard James Keenan was in the background on an elevated platform to the left of the stage. Most people are shocked by this formation because they are used to the front man in front. I believe the reason for this is that TOOL has always insisted that fans focus on their music, not themselves. Their shows are essentially elaborate light and visual shows used to draw attention away from them. Maynard has stated in an interview that his voice is just another instrument not worthy of anymore attention than any of the other instruments.

If someone is reluctant to accept their non-traditional approach might be very easily disappointed. You have to take a TOOL show for what it is. Visuals and lights, no jumping around, and no encores. That is the way they have always been.

Here is a fan filmed video of TOOL performing Vicarious in Saskatoon.

Some tidbits...
- Danny wore a Saskatchewan Roughrider's jersey.
- A terminally ill guy from the Children's Wish Foundation played guitar to Forty-six & 2.
- The opening band, TransAm, sucked. Last year's openers, Isis, rocked.
- There was a couple who drove 1300kms from Kansas to see them.
- Some guy who caught Danny's signed drumskin sold it on the spot to some other guy for $100.

Some pictures I took with my cellphone camera.

Opeth

2007-10-09T10:14:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite bands. Enjoy!

Opeth - The Drapery Falls

Opeth - When

Opeth - The Grand Conjuration

Black, Grey & White World

2007-07-29T10:10:00.004-06:00

There is no color in our world. You and I live in a black, grey, and white world. This thought may seem counterintuitive, if not absurd. In reality, all color you see, the green grass, the blue sky, the red book in front of you, is only an idea (more technically, a perception) in your head. You go about your day believing that color exists outside of you, that color is a property of the natural world. However, this is not true.

Above you see what looks like a green tree among some green grass and other green trees. However, the tree is not green. The color green is not a property of the tree. Green is only an idea in your head.

Think back to high school physics. The sun's light rays hit the tree. Molecular configuration of the atoms in the leaves results in all color being absorbed minus the green wavelength, which is reflected back to us. Our eye senses this green wavelength which stimulates the rods and cones in the retina. The information is converted to electrisent down the optic nerve to the occipital lobe. The information is processed in our brain. As a result, we perceive green.

Imagine yourself in your bedroom during the day. The only light you have is the light coming in through your window. You see all objects in your room and their associated colors. Fast forward to early evening. The room begins to darken. Notice that the colors in the room have decreased in intensity. Fast forward several hours. The room is dark, but you can still make out objects if you squint your eyes. Colors will have faded into almost a black. This occurs because there is very little light to reflect color to you. If your room was pitch black you would experience a complete absence of color because there is no light.

Achromatopsia is a condition in which people cannot see color due to structural abnormalities to either their retina or their brain. These people have total colorblindness. Say you are standing at road intersection. You see the light as green, shift to yellow, then red. People with achromatopsia would see the light as grey, shift to grey, then grey. Green, yellow and red are properties of the traffic light. The color is in your mind.

Imagine yourself in a park on an autumn day. You're surrounded by reds, yellows, oranges, browns, and greens. What you are looking at is not a park full of color, but a park full of all different shades of grey. Light from the sun is reflected from all the leaves. Due to the atom configuration of the leaves, it causes the wavelengths of red, yellow, orange, brown, and green to reflect to you. Assuming that your biological hardware is properly working, you will only perceive all the beautiful colors of autumn.

Rodent

2007-07-18T23:28:00.001-06:00

It never gets old!!!!

The Blackening

2007-07-18T23:03:00.002-06:00

Machine Head's new album The Blackening, in my opinion and most of the reviews the album has received, it is probably the best metal album to be released this year. It's heavy, it's brutal, it's epic, it's a masterpiece. There is not a single bad song on this recording. It will kick your ass from start to finish.

I've included two live performances from the The Blackening. The first is the album opener "Clenching the Fists of Dissent", and the other is "Aesthetics of Hate". Enjoy!

Mental Illness and Stigma

2007-07-16T18:52:00.013-06:00

The statistics are alarming. Leahy and Holland (2000) found that in a given year 30-40% of the general population will have a panic attack and 2-6% will go on to develop panic disorder. In 2001, the Canadian Psychiatric Association found that 7.9%-8.6% of Canadians over the age of 18 will meet the criteria for major depression at some point in their lifetime.

Attitudes towards mental conditions are disconcerting. Ignorance of mental illness leads the general public to believe that those who have a mental disorder can just "snap out of it" or that it's "all in their head". If a person with depression or anxiety could snap out of it, I believe they would. No one would tell a paraplegic to "just walk". No one would tell a person having a seizure to just "snap out of it". Why are people sympathetic to latter rather than the former? I believe that it is due to the fact that they're physical disabilities. People can't see mental disorders, but they can see physical conditions.

Though invisible to the human eye, a mental condition is a very real thing. It is hard for people who have not experienced depression on a personal level to understand its emotional impact and severity. For example, depression is easily disregarded as "having the blues" or "feeling down". Depression is a serious illness that has consequences for function and survival well beyond sad or painful feelings. Here is the DSM-IV-TR criteria for depression:

Depressed mood
Anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure from normally pleasurable life events)
Feelings of overwhelming sadness and/or fear. Inability to feel emotion (emptiness)
Change in appetite and marked weight gain or loss.
Disturbed sleep patterns, such as insomnia, loss of REM sleep or excessive sleep (hypersomnia)
Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day.
Intense feelings of guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, worthlessness, isolation, loneliness, or anxiety
Trouble concentrating, keeping focus or making decisions or a generalized slowing of mental ability.
Recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation.
Feeling and/or fear of being abandoned by those close to one.

This post started out talking about panic attacks. The most common panic attack symptoms include:

Sweating, shortness of breath, racing or pounding heartbeat or palpitations, dizziness or vertigo, hyperventilation, choking or smothering sensations, tingling or numbness, trembling or shaking
Racing and intrusive thoughts, loud internal dialogue, feeling of impending doom, feeling of "going crazy"
Terror, or a sense that something is about to occur and one is powerless to prevent it, fear of death, fear of going crazy
A distressing dreamlike sensation or perceptual distortion (derealization)
Dissociation or a distressing perception that one is not connected to the body or is disconnected from space and time (depersonalization).

The stigma against individuals with mental illness affects whether or not they will seek treatment, either psychiatric medication or psychotherapy. Stigma also influences their psychosocial adjustment by hindering re-integration into the community. Knowledge is the key to knowing that mental illness, whether is it depression, anxiety, bipolar, or schizophrenia, is a very real phenomenon.

Astrology

2007-07-04T19:29:00.014-06:00

Most people do not understand the difference between astrology and astronomy, and often talk about them as if they're synonymous with each other. Astrology is a pseudoscience, a group of beliefs that asserts that the relative positions of celestial bodies is useful in understanding, interpreting, and affecting personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the earth's atmosphere. It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.

One assumption of astrology is that stars and planets influence our lives. Stars are celestial bodies consisting of gas, which create energy by the process of nuclear fission, held together by its own gravity. After the sun, the nearest star is Proxima Centauri which is 40 trillion kilometers away. One would have to travel at the speed of light (300,000 km per second) for approximately 4 years and 75 days to reach it. Planets are celestial bodies that orbit a star, have sufficient mass to create enough gravity to assume a nearly round shape, and have become gravitationally dominant so that they are not under the gravitational pull of another body (except a star; thus, a planet can have moons under its orbit but the planet itself is not another planet's moon). I ask you, could it be true that the positions and motions of the stars and planets reveal information about financial or relationship matters? This is a scientific question and to date, there is no verified scientific basis for these beliefs. In fact, there is strong disconfirmatory evidence. Research conducted has reported no evidence that celestial objects can influence affairs here on Earth.

The doctrine of astrology began to be compiled around 2000 BC and played a significant role in shaping culture for the next 3500 years. Skepticism of astrology was never absent. During the European Renaissance with the emergence of the scientific revolution, astrology and astronomy diverged. Astronomy became a science while astrology was demoted to a superstition or pseudoscience.

Evidence continues to refute the validity of astrology, but most notably for its lack of predictive validity, absence of empirical evidence, and its unscientific methodology. Under controlled studies, astrologers cannot demonstrate consensus. For example, a double-blind study from the University of California found that the astrologers in their study could not solve their clients' personal problems and had no special ability to interpret personality from astrological readings. Another study conducted in 1997 concluded that a group of astrologers failed to predict objective facts about people and failed to agree with another astrologer's interpretations.

Palm reading, magic crystals, auras, tarot cards, psychics - why do people believe in such utter nonsense? If you are a horoscope enthusiast, try a simple experiment. Ask someone to read all the daily horoscopes in a random order to you and try to decide which one is yours. Another easy little test is to take one horoscope, and read it to several different people, claiming that the description is for their sign. You'd be surprised to see how most people readily agree with the description. You may even notice that horoscopes are so blatantly vague and broad that anyone can attach any possible meaning to any statement.

If someone is willing and eager to believe, their tendency to confirm will cause them to remember and focus on those descriptions that seem accurate (the "hits") rather than the inaccurate ones (the "misses"). The irrelevant or wrong descriptions will most likely be ignored but anything that seems partially true will automatically confirm their beliefs. They will tend to over exaggerate all the "hits" and overlook whatever does not fit.

An Ode to Metal

2007-07-02T20:31:00.013-06:00

Metal is characterized by a strong guitar-drum dominated sound with complex rhythms. There are two key elements that define metal. First is the guitar power that is projected through amplification and distortion, which is used to create a more powerful, 'heavy' sound. The second element is the tritone, a musical dissonant interval consisting of a root note and an augmented fourth/diminished fifth which ostensibly results in a "heavy," or "evil" sound. In medieval composition, its use was regarded as "Diabolus in Musica" (i.e., the devil in music) and forbidden to play. The evocative tritone experienced a resurgence by Romantic composers who wanted to achieve a dark and somber sound. Many do not know that the tritone is definitive to the blues scale, fundamental to its solos and riffs. For a clear example of the tritone in metal, listen to the beginning of Black Sabbath's self-titled song "Black Sabbath".

Mainstream music usually follows a standard format to allow for radio and TV play. Song duration is usually around 4 minutes, songs follow simple verse-chorus-verse structures, and the focus is on melody and hooks. Metal is usually not confined to the limitations imposed by commercialization and thus, much of metal music is progressive and experimental in nature. This allows for different rhythms and tempos, non-traditional song structures, and songs of great length. For example, Reflection by the band TOOL is almost entirely verse, the only changing element is the intensity of the song. Clenching the Fists of Dissent by Machine Head and The Frayed Ends of Sanity by Metallica have over a dozen different sections. Depending on the band, songs can reach an average of 6 minutes in length with a 10+ minute standard for bands such as Opeth and Dream Theater. At one extreme is Meshuggah's 21 minute long opus, I.

In its infancy, metal music drew from many sources, from Jimi Hendrix to Cream to Led Zeppelin. However, many have christened Black Sabbath as the first official metal band. Interestingly, Black Sabbath was once a blues band called "Earth". As the story goes, their transformation came after Ozzy Osbourne (vocalist) and Tony Iommi (guitarist) watched a horror movie at a theater. They were amazed that people pay to get scared. They had their epiphany and decided to write scary music. They achieved a dark sound by experimenting with the tritone, dark lyrics, different rhythms, and down tuning their instruments. In an era of Beatlemania, they released their self-titled debut "Black Sabbath". Their originality and creativity propelled them to fame and metal was born.

Visuals and images are part of metal, most notably images depicting death and anti-religious themes. When bands are asked about the satanic images they use on their album covers, they claim to use them to maintain the band's image. These confrontational aspects of metal have led to friction between fans and mainstream society in many countries. Public perception, especially in conservative societies, sees metal subculture as a promoter of hedonism and anti-religious sentiments. In Jordan, all Metallica albums, past, present and future were banned in 2001. The death metal band Cannibal Corpse, is banned from playing certain songs in many countries due to their violent nature.

Though it's made and listened to primarily by the young, as a genre, metal is far more sophisticated than it's given credit for. If anything, it's one of the only places in rock and roll music where innovation and creativity are flourishing. The musicianship is top-notch, the writing get better all the time, and music is the focus, not production techniques.