tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29408115451972426832024-03-13T14:57:20.854-07:00utaklayaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-35019605450956998412014-10-03T04:26:00.000-07:002014-10-03T04:31:33.857-07:00Train of Thoughts: Queue<div align="justify">
October 1, 2014. 8:30 pm. It’s still raining when I got off from work. At the jeep terminal, the line of on boarding passengers is unusually long. I suppose a lot of them are stranded earlier because of the heavy rain. As I stood at the end of the line, I looked around and do what I usually do to let the time pass; stare blankly and let my mind fly.<br />
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<b><u>Diversity</u></b></div>
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The length of the terminal is not enough for a straight line to fit; we have to follow a certain form or shape that resembles a wave. Think of a series of squished ‘S’ connected from end to end. Anyway, the point is; I have a chance to stare at the face of those ahead of me.</div>
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In the line, I saw a particular woman and a girl. I’m not sure about their relationship; might be mother-daughter. They’re foreigners or they appear to be foreigners; they seem to originate from the west. I can’t help noticing their pointy nose. Looking at the others; all I see are round noses. Some of them are like three marbles molded at the center of their face. Some are so small that you might consider redefining what a smooth face is.</div>
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This is not to discriminate their noses. I’m just trying to picture out what I saw that night. Not only the noses but the overall shape of our faces really vary. I suddenly remembered the story about Adam; we having a common ancestor.</div>
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It amaze me how much difference we had given that we originated from a single person. Well, that’s if the theory is true.</div>
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<b><u>Perspective</u></b></div>
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I pondered about it for a while then I notice someone with dreadlocks. Dreadlocks always fascinate me and I’m still hoping that someday I can have my own dreads. When I see someone with dreads, I always assume that they take life easy. I think they’re cool with everything or at least most of it. I imagine they always have lively nights and lovely days.</div>
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Looking at my left side, I saw another guy with long hair. He looks like a programmer or at least the geek type. He’s in a black shirt and black slacks pants. He’s starting to go bald but he still have his pony tail. I also like that. If ever I start to go bald, I want to keep my pony tail.</div>
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I looked around and saw a lot of blank faces. I started to imagine what they did the whole day; how they go through their routines; what might they be thinking or worrying about. Then I suddenly thought; what if someone in that crowd is also staring at me having those kind of thoughts in mind?</div>
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<b><u>Being Social</u></b></div>
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The line moved and I saw the same blank faces waiting for their chance to be on board. Earlier that day, I saw the same expressions. Almost the same thing the days before. It’s as if everyone forgot how to smile or it’s been a while when they had a good time. Or maybe, like me, they just don’t have the reason to wipe off those gloomy faces. I’ll feel stupid walking alone and smiling.</div>
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These encounters reminded me of that video about technology destroying us. It claims that social media is not good for human relations at all. A lot of possible connections are lost because along our way, we failed to greet a total stranger.</div>
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If I am to follow that suggestion, smiling at those in line or handling food to anyone; the chances of me being labeled as a maniac is greater than making actual friends. Maybe It’s just me but in any case, I don’t believe technology ruins us. It all goes down to our decision. I’m not even holding a mobile device. I just stood there and didn’t bother anyone.</div>
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<b><u>The Novel About Diarrhea</u></b></div>
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In front of me was a lady reading a book. I don’t know why but I suddenly wondered if there’s a novel written of which the main topic is about diarrhea. There are technical books of course but, how about a novel? The usual topics for a novel, that I know of are: love, fiction, thriller or mystery.</div>
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I imagine this novel will tell the story of a person having diarrhea more often than anyone. Another plot could focus only on a single day detailing the experience of the person having diarrhea. Maybe we can go further with the details by narrowing down to the toilet experience alone. Comparing this experience with life could be interesting.</div>
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Would anyone even bother reading the summary or preview of this book? Maybe none; that could be a reason why no one wrote this kind of novel. Or maybe, no one has written it yet so it seems no one is interested.</div>
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So the question, “Which came first, the reader or the writer?” pops into my mind. Just like the chicken-and-egg problem. Then some other questions with the same format came into mind: teacher versus student; buyer versus seller; and so on.</div>
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And then it’s my turn to be on board. </div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-23531566059789908662014-02-10T22:09:00.000-08:002014-02-12T11:03:54.023-08:00Being Anti-Homophobe doesn’t make You Pro-Gay; It just makes You yet another Asshole<div align="justify">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image source: <a href="http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi02NzRkNjIwMzY0MGE2MzJm#link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">someecards.com</a></td></tr>
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I hate the fact that most of us generalize on hating homophobes while fighting against the idea that homosexuality is unnatural. They fight for Gay Rights but disregard the possibility that homophobia exists. They don’t even seem to bother differentiating the real assholes from homophobes.</div>
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According to <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/homophobia" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oxford Dictionaries</a>, <em>homophobia</em> is an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people. It can simply mean irrational fear or dislike but other definitions stressed on it being hateful, hurtful and violent against homosexuals. I'm not sure why but maybe it started when those real assholes made homophobia their excuse for assaulting homosexuals.<br />
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Part of the definition not commonly addressed is the <em>“irrational aversion to homosexuality [itself]”</em>. Meaning, an individual who extremely urges not to be gay might be homophobic. Does it make him or her an asshole? Does having personality issues make you an asshole?</div>
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In addition to the definition given by Oxford, an interesting clarification from <a href="http://phobialist.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Phobia List</a> says that homophobia is the fear of sameness or monotony. For me, it’s weird and funny but it does make sense. Homo doesn’t always pertain to homosexuals. <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homo-" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dictionary.com</a> says it originated from the Greek word <em>Homos</em> meaning “one and the same”. I believe there’s no sign of being an asshole here.</div>
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As for homosexuals, I’m with you fighting for your rights but please try to stay logical. You’re against discrimination but you’re discriminating those who simply doesn’t like your ways? Dislike and suppression are two different things. I hate dark chocolates but it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m inclined to hinder its manufacture. The enemies are those trying to stop its production; not the ones who simply chooses not to eat it.</div>
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About linking pedophilia to homosexuality: the difference was clearly explained <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-kort-phd/homosexuality-and-pedophi_b_1932622.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>. I agree with the post but I can’t stop thinking why it seems that they disregard the possibility of a homosexual being a pedophile at the same time? One of the comments said that they can not accept having “homosexual pedophiles” but no “heterosexual pedophiles” as a description to the suspect. </div>
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Why not focus on having different types of pedophiles instead of having unnecessary definition manipulation? Both boys and men have the same sex so why differentiate them when talking about sexuality and abuse? This experience, be it caused by a hetero or a homo, will likely cause trauma and other complications to the victim; homophobia being one of the possibilities.</div>
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Instead of trying too hard on cleaning your reputation, why not accept your flaws first and then focus on your positive traits? How do you expect society to accept you if you seem to have difficulties accepting yourselves? We all have our own flaws. We just need to deal with them.</div>
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Lastly, about what they quote as Morgan Freeman’s words: <em>“I hate the word homophobia. It’s not a real phobia. You are not scared. You are an asshole.”</em> , you might want to check the details about it at <a href="http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/freeman.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">snopes.com</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Related Topics: </span></div>
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<a href="http://inourwordsblog.com/2012/08/31/get-over-yourselves-homophobia-doesnt-make-you-an-asshole/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Get over Yourselves, Homophobia Doesn't Make You an Asshole</span></a></div>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-kort-phd/homosexuality-and-pedophi_b_1932622.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Homosexuality and Pedophilia: The False Link</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/roots/franklin.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Inside the Mind of People Who Hate Gays</a></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-65889866885351673332013-12-11T21:39:00.000-08:002017-11-20T04:43:19.613-08:00The Fallacy of Leaving Your Comfort Zone<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pAqVere50nY/UqSmvKEtqmI/AAAAAAAABAg/gLnChadGa3I/s1600/To+Expand+Your+Comfort+Zone+-+MotiveWeight.Blogspot.com.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pAqVere50nY/UqSmvKEtqmI/AAAAAAAABAg/gLnChadGa3I/s1600/To+Expand+Your+Comfort+Zone+-+MotiveWeight.Blogspot.com.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://motiveweight.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-expand-your-comfort-zone.html#.UqSlatIW2yE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Motive Weight</a></td></tr>
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There are a lot of sayings that tell us it’s better to leave our comfort zone. They say it is necessary for growth and development. It seems right especially with the “fact” that nothing is permanent except change. </div>
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They have a lot of tips that they think can help you to leave your “box”. Some of these are going on travels, meeting new set of people, breaking your routine; basically they try to tell you to try new or unusual things.</div>
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I accepted this advice until I realized that our <a href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/2013/10/lifes-purpose-is-null.html" target="_blank">lives’ purpose is null</a>. If we really do have just one shot in life, why should we go out of our comfort zones instead of enjoying it?<br />
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Before I sound like a complete party pooper, let's think about what, in the first place, a comfort zone is. Basically, it is you doing what you are fond of. It is you being wherever you want; doing whatever you want whenever you want.</div>
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This means that being at home doesn't necessarily mean that you are in your comfort zone. If home is not fun for you, why call it a comfort zone? Why do you even call it home?</div>
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If you’re fund of traveling, then maybe that is your comfort zone. If that is true and you're stuck at home, then you’re already “outside” your comfort zone. How does that feel? How’s “growth and development” for you? Are you experiencing what they call the "real magic of life"?</div>
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If you're having the same experience like what I stated above, then I bet you're one of those who kept on hating Mondays. You're one of those who think their job sucks. You're one of those who seem to always hate everyone and everything around them.</div>
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I believe this is true because whenever I am "outside" my "comfort zone", everything sucks for me. It keeps me wondering, "why did I ever get out"? I'm too busy hating everything that's why I failed to learn anything except for reminding myself to never get out again.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vG1Ik7llyR8/UqSmuZyjr_I/AAAAAAAABAY/eV655l6cwLs/s1600/comfortZone550b.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vG1Ik7llyR8/UqSmuZyjr_I/AAAAAAAABAY/eV655l6cwLs/s320/comfortZone550b.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="http://azione-scopo.com/2011/09/19/breaking-through-your-comfort-zone/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Azione-Scopo</a></td></tr>
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It sounded stagnant but actually, it's not. I told you it’s not necessary to go outside your comfort zone but I didn't tell you to stay wherever you are right now. Well, you can stay as long as you want but it shouldn't stop you from trying new things.</div>
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You can try to find another comfort zone especially if you’re no longer comfortable with your so called comfort zone. After finding a fresh comfort zone, you can either replace your current zone or better yet extend it.<br />
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To extend your comfort zone, it seems that you have to "get out" of your current zone. Remember that our comfort zone is not a physical place; rather, it is <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/comfort+zone" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a state where we feel secure or in control</a>.<br />
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Trying new things doesn't necessarily mean that you are outside your comfort zone. Think of it as a boat and you're the captain. You can explore oceans but you have to be in your boat. You can modify your boat or obtain a new one depending on your needs. You can even have several boats suited for different expeditions.<br />
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What if you reached land? Then you just have to switch comfort zones: from boat to vehicle. That vehicle can be your new comfort zone or an extension of your old one. New, if you decided to stay on that island and acquire a new comfort zone for later explorations; extension, if you just want to explore the island for some time and later come back to your old boat and continue exploring the oceans.<br />
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I hope that now you can see why it is unnecessary to leave your comfort zone or comfort zones. To make things better, maybe we should think of comfort zones as our peace instead of something that hinders our growth.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">sources:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/comfort+zone" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Comfort Zone, definition</a></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-82238940590263216682013-11-22T16:40:00.001-08:002014-02-12T11:04:56.573-08:00A Simple Proposal to “Save the Planet”<div align="justify">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r8IK3i3LzN4/UngHUHX6teI/AAAAAAAAA_4/t7TFpVcsJUw/s320/going-green1.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="278" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="http://freshome.com/2009/02/03/going-green-inside-the-home/" target="_blank">Freshome</a></td></tr>
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They keep on saying that our planet is dying and that we could prevent it from happening. There’s a lot of approach regarding this issue. Some are direct like planting trees, conserving water, and proper waste management. Others need further explanations like reducing electric consumption and being vegetarian.</div>
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I want to focus on our clothing. Clothing is considered one of our basic needs. I think this is one of the reasons why it is popular on the market. You need it; you must buy it. It’s logical but here’s the problem: they ended the statement with buying it. They did not mention anything about the quantity of clothes, pants and shoes to buy.<br />
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Yes, we need clothing but who needs 50 pieces of clothes, 60 pairs of pants or 100 pairs of shoes? Remember the reason why we buy clothes. Is it because there’s a new design? Is it because you think your clothes are too old? Is it because your friends have new clothes? Is it because of a new semester or a new school year? For me, those reasons doesn't make any sense.</div>
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The valid reasons for me to buy new clothing are: the old ones don't fit anymore or because of being unwearable and beyond repair. Another reason that I think is acceptable for needing new set of clothes: you don't have yet an appropriate clothing for an activity you have to attend. Other than that, I won’t say its your need; I’d rather say its your luxury.</div>
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Please do tell me why would you need three pairs of leather shoes? Why would you need different sets of clothes for every party? Why would you need different sets of Sunday dresses? For all I know, you don’t need those clothes. You just want to brag about them.</div>
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These are common among celebrities. It is known that they never wear an outfit more than once. With that fact, I think they don’t have any right to promote ‘<a href="http://greenliving.about.com/od/greenprograms/a/What-Is-The-Green-Movement.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Green Movement</a>’; unless they donate or remake their clothes but I think most of them do not. They even have programs that let celebrities showcase their room full of clothes, pants and shoes. So much for saving the planet.</div>
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You might ask, “What’s wrong with having a lot of clothes?” You might also say that I’m just envy or insecure. Here’s a question for you to think about, “Where did these clothes came from?”</div>
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“Less clothes might help on saving the planet but doesn't that mean you have to do washing more frequently? Aside from colors fading faster than usual, isn't detergents another set of pollutants? And I thought we have to conserve water?” Well, yes but you don’t have to wash your clothes every now and then. If you’re too concern about washing your clothes, here are some tips: <a href="http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/green-living/eco-friendly-laundry-tips-00000000055502/" target="_blank">8 Eco-Friendly Laundry Tips</a> and <a href="http://denisehandlon.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Dirty-Clothes-Smell-Good-Without-Washing" target="_blank">How to Make Dirty Clothes Smell Good Without Washing</a>.</div>
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Same goes with other resources. We need them but it doesn't mean that we have to acquire an excessive amount of them. Reducing demands might result to better regulation of the consumption of the Earth thus "saving the planet". This is my way of reducing my <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/live_green/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">carbon footprint</a>. What's yours?</div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Masdan mo ang Kapaligiran </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Asin</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">English Translation by <a href="http://favesongdiary.blogspot.com/2009/10/masdan-mo-ang-kapaligiran-asin.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SongDiary</a> and <a href="http://lyricstranslate.com/en/masdan-ang-kapaligiran-masdan-ang-kapaligiran-asin-english-translation.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">larangeles26</a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wala ka bang napapansin sa iyong mga kapaligiran?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Can't you notice anything in your environment?)</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Kay dumi na ng hangin, pati na ang mga ilog natin.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(The air is so polluted; so are our rivers)</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hindi na masama ang pag-unlad</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Progress is not bad)</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">at malayu-layo na rin ang ating narating</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(and we have gone a long way)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ngunit masdan mo ang tubig sa dagat</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(But look at the sea)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dati'y kulay asul ngayo'y naging itim</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(It used to be blue; now it's black)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ang mga duming ating ikinalat sa hangin</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(The dirt we spread in the air)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sa langit huwag na nating paabutin</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Let's not allow it to reach heaven)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Upang kung tayo'y pumanaw man</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(So when we die)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">sariwang hangin sa langit natin matitikman</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(We'll have fresh air in heaven)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mayron lang akong hinihiling</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(I just have one wish)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sa aking pagpanaw sana ay tag-ulan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(I hope it’s raining on the day I die)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gitara ko ay aking dadalhin</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(I will bring my guitar)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Upang sa ulap na lang tayo magkantahan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(And above the clouds, we’ll continue singing)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ang mga batang ngayon lang isinilang</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(The children of today)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">May hangin pa kayang matitikman?</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Will there still be fresh air for them to breathe?)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">May mga puno pa kaya silang aakyatin</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Will there be trees for them to climb)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">May mga ilog pa kayang lalanguyan?</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Will there be rivers for them to swim?)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bakit di natin pagisipan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Why don't we ponder about)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ang nangyayari sa ating kapaligiran</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(The current state of our environment?)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hindi na masama ang pag-unlad</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Progress is not bad)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Kung hindi nakakasira ng kalikasan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(If it doesn't destroy nature)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Darating ang panahon</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Time will come)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mga ibong gala ay wala nang madadapuan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(birds will have nowhere to perch on)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Masdan mo ang mga punong dati ay kay tatag</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Look at those trees; once firm and strong.)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ngayo'y namamatay dahil sa 'ting kalokohan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Now they're dying because of our foolishness)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lahat ng bagay na narito sa lupa</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(All things on earth)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Biyayang galing sa Diyos</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(are blessings from God)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Kahit nong ika'y wala pa</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Even before we were born.)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ingatan natin at 'wag nang sirain pa</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(We must take care of it and prevent its further destruction)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pagkat pag kanyang binawi, tayo'y mawawala na</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Because if He takes it back, we too will all be gone)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mayron lang akong hinihiling</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(I just have one wish)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sa aking pagpanaw sana ay tag-ulan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(I hope it’s raining on the day I die)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gitara ko ay aking dadalhin</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(I will bring my guitar)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Upang sa ulap na lang tayo magkantahan</span></strong></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(And above the clouds, we’ll continue singing)</span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
--</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">sources: </span></div>
<div align="justify">
<a href="http://www.50waystohelp.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">50 Ways to Help the Planet</span></a></div>
<div align="justify">
<a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Help-Save-the-Planet-Earth" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">How to Save the Planet Earth</span></a></div>
<div align="justify">
<a href="http://www.context.org/iclib/ic22/guide/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">101 Ways to Heal the Earth</span></a></div>
<div align="justify">
<a href="http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/live_green/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Reduce Your Impact</span></a></div>
<div align="justify">
<a href="http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/green-living/eco-friendly-laundry-tips-00000000055502/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8 Eco-Friendly Laundry Tips</span></a></div>
<div align="justify">
<a href="http://denisehandlon.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Dirty-Clothes-Smell-Good-Without-Washing" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">How to Make Dirty Clothes Smell Good Without Washing</span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://greenliving.about.com/od/greenprograms/a/What-Is-The-Green-Movement.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What Is the Green Movement?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-54877744801305053072013-10-22T14:37:00.000-07:002014-02-12T11:05:11.275-08:00Life’s Purpose is Null<div align="justify">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqQMlLXEPhU/UmPapOewlII/AAAAAAAAA_A/uYu6i0LsD1A/s1600/life-purpose_qMark.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqQMlLXEPhU/UmPapOewlII/AAAAAAAAA_A/uYu6i0LsD1A/s320/life-purpose_qMark.png" height="320" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from: <a href="http://www.pleasurableweightloss.com/your-purpose-in-life-pleasures-little-known-secret-companion-for-slimming-down-with-ease" target="_blank">Pleasurable Weight Loss</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today, we wake up; we eat; we drink; we go to school; we go to work; we go shopping; we go home; we watch tv; we surf the net; then we sleep. Repeat this everyday with some variations like watching movies, playing sports, going on trips and that’s it. We keep on struggling, hoping to experience tomorrow or at least finish the day but for what purpose?</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
I reflected on this idea and concluded that life has no purpose. We do the things we do and then what? We invent things; we solve problems, but then what? We try our best to survive or to adapt but for what? We fall in love but end up hurting them or ourselves, so why fall in love in the first place? Even after we die, we leave legacies like our children or our works but why is it significant? We keep on advancing but towards where? In the end of time, everything will perish so why bother to struggle?<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
Is life really a privilege? A gift? Or is it a curse? It seems that we were brought here to suffer though we keep on saying that we should always look at the brighter side; what for? Ignoring negativity doesn’t mean it won’t exist. We are bounded to experience fear, pain, and suffering. We can overcome them and as a result, we seem stronger but then what? We can inspire others but then what? We’ll all die anyway so what’s the point? We may leave this planet but we won’t be immortals. I’m not sure in the future but for now, we won’t. Even if we do attain immortality, would the problems go away? We just created an eternity of aiming at nothing.</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
Same with intelligence. We brag about it. We think we are superior in this planet but look around us. We are surrounded with filth and delusions. This intelligence that we’re proud of brought us where we are. Dead rivers, poisoned seas, endangered species, dying forests and it goes on.</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
They even say that the Earth is dying. But there are some who say that the Earth is fine. I believe on the latter. Why? Because it’s not the earth but us, humans, that are dying. Let’s take Mars for example. It doesn’t have forests or water but it’s still floating there. Same with Earth. Remove its forests and waters and Earth will still be there but gone are us, humans.</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
Those campaigns about preserving Earth is not really for saving it; rather, it’s for saving ourselves. We preserve Earth as much as it is now in order to survive, but why? Why do we have to survive? We live and we cause trouble. We solve problems and then create another, so what’s the point? Everything is bounded to end; bounded to be gone, so why strive to progress?</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
We created systems like governments and money to organize things but somehow these things caused suffering, poverty, chaos, and war! We created religion that supposedly promotes peace and love but somehow it created hate and discrimination towards other beliefs. </div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
We kill in the name of Love! We kill in the name of Justice! We kill in the name of God! We kill to Survive! We do these killings to promote something positive like good health, beauty, happiness or peace; after attaining those things, what then?</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
This intelligence that we are so proud of could also be our ticket to our own damnation. This could be the cause of our extinction: the end of mankind. </div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
For a moment, I lost my will to live but I’m yet too lazy to die or to be stagnant, at the very least. After realizing that there’s no real purpose in life, I still chose to move forward and I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just not ready yet or maybe I’m just afraid. I can’t explain but it just feels right to survive. I think that’s part of being human. We have both intelligence and stupidity. We know there’s nothing to life but we keep on clinging to it. </div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JzansFJ8LnQ/UmPal7wG5PI/AAAAAAAAA-4/4umUiWTfId8/s1600/life-purpose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JzansFJ8LnQ/UmPal7wG5PI/AAAAAAAAA-4/4umUiWTfId8/s320/life-purpose.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from: <a href="http://acelebrationofwomen.org/2012/04/women-in-recovery-finding-your-lifes-purpose-you-do-have-one/" target="_blank">A Celebration of Women</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Life has no purpose. It just seem we have purpose because a lot of those who lived and died before us presented a lot of possibilities and told us to treat them as life’s purpose. It’s a scary thought but also a good one. I think it lifted a lot of pressure and worrying.<br />
<br />
You can think of it like we are empty buckets. It doesn't have to end on being empty. It could just mean that we can put anything on it. Having no purpose could also mean that we can do whatever we want with whatever we have. We can continue pursuing those possibilities presented to us or we can just create our own purpose.</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
You can also think of it as if we were given a piece of paper and we can do whatever with it. We can throw it away or tear it apart but we can also craft something out of it. We can write on it; draw on it; even put colors in it. We can even share it with others!</div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
Life was given to us for no reason at all so maybe we just have to make the most out of it. In the end, everything won’t matter but at least we had a lot of fun.</div>
<br />
--<br />
<div align="justify">
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Good reads:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://zenhabits.net/journey/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Journey Without a Goal</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA620.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Talk Origins Archive</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/If_man_comes_from_random_causes,_life_has_no_purpose_or_meaning" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">If man comes from random causes, life has no purpose or meaning</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nihilism</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Absurdism</a></span></li>
</ul>
<div align="left">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* They say wikipedia is a bad source but I think it has good sources. We can start from there.</span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-13848618306679662192013-09-12T07:04:00.000-07:002014-02-12T11:05:56.981-08:00Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation and the Cease of Existence<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3MrFG5v6CCg/UjCDG7F09XI/AAAAAAAAA-I/2W3-p4eKvA4/s1600/hell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3MrFG5v6CCg/UjCDG7F09XI/AAAAAAAAA-I/2W3-p4eKvA4/s400/hell.jpg" height="400" width="281" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=381512995281196&set=a.381512958614533.80487.100002674968340&type=1&ref=nf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">source: Facebook Post</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="justify">
This <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=381512995281196&set=a.381512958614533.80487.100002674968340&type=1&ref=nf" target="_blank">post</a> is the reason why I started asking about the forgiveness and perfection of the Christian God. If God is forgiving, why would He condemn all sinners to Hell? They say the answer is in the Bible but I’m still looking for it. Suppose I found an answer, how can I be sure that it is true? Christian beliefs are deeply rooted in the Bible and they say that questioning it is like questioning the history. What’s wrong with questioning history? </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
It’s possible that the Bible is not the ultimate book of moral. Take the Christian crusades as an example. They kill in the name of God. What kind of excuse is that? Though some says that most of these crusaders are not Christian; it’s still questionable. That’s one point for questioning history. Let’s have an example closer to my home, Spaniards’ invading the Philippines. As they force Christianity here, God knows what they did to the natives. That’s at least 300 years of history.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Another answer I got: just accept Jesus Christ with all your heart. It doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t that mean God is not forgiving? Unless I do what He wants, I won’t be forgiven?<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Others insisted that God is forgiving. They also said that we’re already forgiven. All we need to do is accept Jesus and repent our sins. That contradicts the post I linked above. It seems that we, the sinners, are fated to be in Hell but God is giving us a chance to change that. This thought and together with Christ’s second coming: I think it’s not about salvation. I think it’s just an invitation to their kingdom. This means that by accepting their invitation, sinners worse than me; a murderer for example, still has a chance to enter in Heaven. Therefore, it’s okay to kill someone; just remember to accept Jesus and repent your sins later. So much for morality. If this is not the case, then God is not forgiving.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Suppose I don’t choose to accept their invitation and followed other teachings, why would they punish me? Doesn’t that make them selfish and bitter? Is being selfish and bitter a doing of a perfect being? I don’t think so. Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe being selfish and bitter makes one a perfect being. You decide.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Now that I chose not to enter their kingdom, why would they say that Hell is a place of grief and torment? Is it a marketing strategy to gain a lot of followers? Maybe it is and it’s very effective. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Another reason why following other teachings is not a problem: if monotheists are right, it doesn’t matter which teachings I follow because they should all lead me to Him. If, on the other hand, polytheists are right, any religion should lead me to at least one of the Gods. Therefore, turning down Jesus and His Father’s invitation doesn’t necessarily leads me to Hell. It could just give me a chance to walk another path towards Him or a chance to enter another Kingdom.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Suppose they’re right about the sole path towards God and aside from His kingdom, there’s no other place for me to go but Hell, why should I believe that it’s such a bad place? Couldn’t it be just a place that theists hate but I love? A room full of bloody video games for example. Why should I hate it if it seems that I am created to be in it? </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
If Hell is really a nasty place per se, I can think of three options: (1) accept my fate and be punished for eternity; (2) try reconsidering God’s offer: if He’s forgiving, it should never be too late; or (3) fight my way out of Hell. The third one seems fun. Look, I’ll be spending an eternity there so why not try fighting my way out or why not challenge it’s king? I’m already dead, what’s the worst that could happen? Die again? It doesn’t matter. I guess I’ll just have to try again. While I’m at it, why not try something new? Being comfortable with fire for example. I can master a lot of things. I haven’t got a deadline!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
There’s a problem though. They say that we can’t have both immortality and free will. I don’t know why that’s the case but knowing the story of Lucifer, being a rebellious angel, I still have my hopes up. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Back to my plan in Hell, doesn’t it sound like the theory of reincarnation? Trying to break my way out of Hell or these worldly illusions in order to reach Nirvana or Heaven?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Here’s another possibility: what if afterlife doesn’t exist? What if after death, we just cease to exist? And all that leads us to these questions: What is the purpose of life? Why should we be good? What is good in the first place?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
--</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">sources:</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.gotquestions.org/how-to-get-to-heaven.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="how to get to heaven">How to get to heaven?</a></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/chiefwakamakamu/socrates-jones-pro-philosopher" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher</a></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Devine Love</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/churchandministry/churchhistory/crusades_gotquestions.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What were the Christian Crusades?</a></span></div>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-61786801030306395962013-09-05T07:36:00.000-07:002014-01-01T02:24:37.458-08:00Academics: What did You Get from Being on Top?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BY5rnUy4jXE/UidlYo9gQJI/AAAAAAAAA9s/D-1Y_WUYmzE/s1600/http-wwwDOTwccnetDOTedu-academics.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BY5rnUy4jXE/UidlYo9gQJI/AAAAAAAAA9s/D-1Y_WUYmzE/s320/http-wwwDOTwccnetDOTedu-academics.png" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image source: <a href="http://www.wccnet.edu/academics/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Washtenaw Community College</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It’s been years since we graduated from high school. One time at a small gathering, my friends asked me what did I get from being in the first section during high school. I smiled. I cannot think of an answer. They asked me again but still, nothing.</div>
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They paused for a while and then switched to a new topic. I asked myself, why can’t I give them a response? There could be something but for that moment, I can’t think of a good answer. Fame? Pride? Self fulfillment? Recognition? Money? These things can be achieved by students from other sections; even those who didn’t receive any academic awards or honor. They could even surpass any achievement done by those students with honors.
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On my way home until the following day, I’m still pondering about that question and still got no answers. Suddenly I thought: maybe, the reason why I can’t find an answer is because being on top is already the answer! I think the question shouldn’t be what did I get; maybe it should be, why did I got there or why did I tried my best to stay there.
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To elaborate, here’s an example: a reporter asking an athlete what did he got from winning a medal or a trophy. Isn’t that ridiculous? An athlete trains hard to reach his goals. He needs passion and perseverance to achieve those goals. These goals could be as simple as just having fun and safe games or aiming for being the best athlete there is or even both. Trophies, medals, awards, fame, and money: all of that are just tokens of his achievements. These things he received are embodiments of his hard work. </div>
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That thought is also true with academics. As a student, I had plans and dreams. They’re not yet clear during those days but they’re starting to pile up on my mind. To fulfill them, I also need perseverance and hard work. I know that education is not all about academics but I chose to focus on this simply because I’m not good at sports or other extraneous physical activities and I’m bored with them. As for, let’s call it, my secondary skills, I try to improve my artistic side by practicing digital arts, animations, writing, and singing. With all of that in mind, it seems that I got no other choice but to be good in academics.
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GyHUK3K112Y/UidlY6NnZMI/AAAAAAAAA94/UjN8tc2eZpI/s1600/napoles_n_me.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GyHUK3K112Y/UidlY6NnZMI/AAAAAAAAA94/UjN8tc2eZpI/s320/napoles_n_me.png" width="320" /></a> Another reason is, I want to prove that appearance should not be the basis of one’s character and intellectual capacity. They want results, I give them results. Just please, don’t mess with my hair. That’s what I thought. I'm hoping for this kind of judgment be removed from our system. I’m with the idea that judging a person should be based on their actions or the way they think. Our appearances shouldn’t matter or at most it should be for precautions only; unless, of course, if you're a model or an endorser. It’s not easy to avoid judging people by their appearance. I know this because I’m having troubles regarding it myself but I try to give them a fair chance. I hope you do the same.
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Take the photo as an example. We can easily say that the man from the right is an idiotic thief that anytime would grab your purse or cellphones whereas the woman from the left is highly intellectual and respectable. If you’re updated with the news, you’ll know that the woman is the thief. The scary part: she’s not alone. As for the man, I believe his intellectual though not highly and could be respectable if he has to. You can trust me on this because I know him personally.
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Lastly, and I think this is what really pushed me to aim high; to keep my parents from bugging me to study hard. They’re right but they’re also annoying. To lessen unnecessary discussions, I just keep my grades high and aim to the top. Well, I did thought that having high grades would make them proud. It's for their sacrifices. They try to sustain my needs and I try to do my job at least as a student. Though most of the time, I just want to avoid being scolded. A negative reinforcement with a positive outcome, I believe.</div>
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Again, to answer my friends' question: It seemed that I got nothing from being one of the leading students in academics because it’s the other way around. I did my best during my stay in the academe and tried to make my best be better than the best of others. As a result, it gave me a spot in the first section, I managed to keep that spot, and it allowed me to graduate with honors. After that, it’s just another marathon.
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-62483969243584184062013-08-27T10:05:00.001-07:002014-01-01T02:31:15.053-08:00Beginners' Guide for Creating an Audio Visual Presentation II<span style="font-size: x-small;">This serves as an example or elaboration of </span><a href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/2013/08/beginners-guide-for-creating-an-avp-part-1.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">part 1.</span></a><br />
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For this tutorial, we’ll be using Windows Movie Maker. It’s the most basic video editing software for me that’s why I chose this software to demonstrate the tips I discussed from my previous post. Another thing that I want to point out; whenever it comes to creativity, we shouldn’t be limited by the tools we use. For editing sounds; I chose <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank" title="audacity">Audacity</a> because it’s free and so far, it’s the only audio editing tool I know. Cheers!</div>
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<h4>
<u>Creating a Sound Track </u></h4>
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Why start with the soundtrack? It’s easier to sync transitions and animations to the soundtrack rather than the other way around. Good timing will give your presentation more impact especially if the soundtrack is fast. For slow soundtracks, I think timing won’t be much of a deal but your choice of transitions and presentation flow should depend on your choice of music.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4k_28pb1as/UhzImlwhg1I/AAAAAAAAA9c/q79y6E7cALU/s1600/audacity_screencap.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="380" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4k_28pb1as/UhzImlwhg1I/AAAAAAAAA9c/q79y6E7cALU/s640/audacity_screencap.PNG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audacity 2.0.2: For features, tutorials, and tips; you can view their wiki <a href="http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity_Wiki_Home_Page" target="_blank" title="audacity wiki">here</a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/$audacity_screencap16.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><br />
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Your soundtrack could either be from a single song or from a set of songs. It all depends on you; just be sure to mix them properly and keep them inline with your AVP’s theme. Also, be mindful of their copyright. I think avoiding commercial use and providing proper citations should suffice.</div>
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When editing sounds, I believe it’s better to keep the vocals out of the soundtrack. That’s why I usually choose a song based on their intros or instrumental solos. If including vocals are inevitable, I try to treat them as part of the sound effects. I’m not sure if that’s the right term for it but what I usually do is choose a part with minimum vocals and put it at transition points or at the end of the soundtrack.
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For real sound effects; you can use them to boost your soundtrack’s upbeats. You can plan transitions and animations now and add adequate sound effects. Alternately, you can just mix the main soundtrack now; add basic sound effects; synchronize transitions and animations; then add the rest of the sound effects. I usually do the latter but I think with windows movie maker, it would be easier to finalize everything regarding the soundtrack right now.
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Listen to your soundtrack. You may close your eyes. Imagine the flow of your presentation. Feel the music. Imagine where a transition should occur. Imagine what kind of transition and animation is best for this. Imagine how the images should move. Imagine how the texts should fly. It’s okay not to get it the first time. I usually listen to my soundtrack repeatedly until I get to feel the music. After synchronizing, I try not to lose that feeling but when I do, I just listen to it again and again until I recover that feel.</div>
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To synchronize, I use simple texts to mark where I should put the transitions. As I listen to the music, I position my mouse pointer at the pause button and when the right time comes, I click pause. Insert a text and type anything related to what should be done at that time in the soundtrack. Then watch the preview and check whether the text appears in sync with the soundtrack.
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Below is my sample. Notice that the texts appear to accented beats. It's usually at the beginning of a measure or the point where chords or tones start to repeat. Change of phase and drum beats are also good triggers.
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<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/73130371?portrait=0&color=ffffff" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>
</center>
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After finalizing synchronization, I saved the marked time or the moment a text appears. You can put these in any text editor; I used notepad. This is an important step because Windows Movie Maker supports one layer of videos and images only. We can not overlay the timing with the final presentation. But if you’re using an editor that supports multi-layering, this step is unnecessary. Here’s a sample of my note
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/$audacity_screencap16.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">00.00.63 >> video editing seminar [enter] by brian g. tria<br />00.05.60 >> Former Publicity Committee Head [enter] Game Programmer [enter] Blogger<br />00.10.13 >> july 20, 2013 [enter] 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm [enter] cahbriba, los baños, laguna</span></blockquote>
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Now you can play with transitions and animations. Just remember to control yourself from being too excited. Bombarding your presentation with different transitions and animations may result to an unprofessional looking avp.
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To use the timing you saved before: align the peak action of the transition or animation with the marked time. These actions could be the sudden appearance of a text or the time when an animation reached its final position. You can use the slider in the preview video from your editor and check if the time of the peak action is the same or near your marked time. It would be better if you can check each frame of the video.
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To wrap everything up, below is my sample AVP. Notice the animation of the captions. They should arrive at their final position at the same time as I let the simple texts appear in the sample above. As for the background, I chose the slow panning animation because of a relatively slow music. Transitions are not that important except for the two drum hits during phase change; where I used 'bars' transition.
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For questions, just comment below. Enjoy!<br />
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<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/70942609?portrait=0&color=ffffff" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>
</center>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">soundtrack: "Time Machine" by Teeth</span><br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-75031607062201016982013-08-27T08:24:00.000-07:002014-01-01T02:31:46.604-08:00Beginners' Guide for Creating an Audio Visual Presentation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-95DuQAFTJ2g/UhzIm_CEoGI/AAAAAAAAA9U/8Cb6_3NkJbQ/s1600/easy-video-editing-software.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-95DuQAFTJ2g/UhzIm_CEoGI/AAAAAAAAA9U/8Cb6_3NkJbQ/s320/easy-video-editing-software.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image source: <a href="http://techpp.com/2013/02/18/video-editing-software/" target="_blank">Technology Personalized</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I was asked to host a video editing seminar, I said yes; I don’t have any idea on what to say yet but I took it as a challenge. Another reason is the fact that I am an alumnus of the organization that invited me: <a href="http://uplbgrange.org/" target="_blank">The UPLB Grange Association</a>; as a former Publicity Committee Head (PubCom Head), I’m just returning the favor for helping me develop my video editing skills.<br />
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When I was the current PubCom Head, I’m already planning on having this sort of seminar. The problem with my idea is that I only focused on the new PubCom members. It is not even arranged formally so I only told my members to watch and learn from the tutorials in the internet. After that, I gave them tasks and it turned out fine.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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Now, It’s different. I can’t just tell them to watch tutorials from the internet so I did some research about what is a good Audio Visual Presentation (AVP). I also tried to remember my experiences on making a presentation: what are my good and bad habits. As another challenge, I decided to impress them just by using Windows Movie Maker. I’m not saying it’s a bad tool but I think most video editors will agree that it has a lot of limitations. With this fact, I want them to feel that a mere tool should not limit their creativity.<br />
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Here’s what I think is a good read for creating an AVP: <a href="http://www.6strongmedia.com/3-tips-for-executing-a-flawless-audiovisual-presentation/" target="_blank">3 Tips for Executing a Flawless Audiovisual Presentation</a>. Basically, it’s a summary of what I want to say and it’s also what I usually do so I decided to tackle each tip and share my experiences relating to each guide.<br />
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<h4>
<u>Creating a Mega Plan</u></h4>
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Kris Simmons, the author from the link I shared, suggests we create a detailed outline of the presentation. We should be sure about the texts, images, transitions, and animations in our AVP. We should not forget any person who takes part on the realization of the presentation.<br />
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As for me, I do not have an outline but I do have a list of the names to be included in the AVP. I also have a list of the texts that should appear in the presentation. For the images and sounds, I just keep them in a file folder together with the project files. Everything else like animations and transitions, are just in my head. As for the schedule, I just think of the deadline.<br />
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I see no problem with my method except for my scheduling. I always tend to underestimate rendering. I only foresee the completion of the project up until the finalization of the plot, animations and transitions; almost no more time left to render the whole presentation. Now that I’m aware of it, I’m thinking of setting other deadlines for prototypes or parts of the presentation. For a 5 minute presentation, I think a 2-day rendering should be enough. This 2-day allotment should be distributed not only with the individual deadlines set for each prototypes but with the entire work schedule.<br />
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<h4>
<u>Pick the Right Equipment for the Job</u></h4>
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As the heading states, we should choose the tools for our AVP depending on what we want to put in it and how we want to present it. There’s a lot of cool video editing software with 3D effects and animations but most of them are expensive and their system requirements are high.<br />
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Luckily for students and independent editors, there are free alternative software. Though they’re not as powerful, I believe the gap between the capabilities of paid and free versions is not that great. We can also think of ways to work around certain problems with effects, animations and transitions.<br />
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Now for high system requirements, we can just use the low end software and let our imagination fly. For Windows Movie Maker, we can play with different combinations of effects, animations, and transitions but keep in mind that too much variety on transition makes the presentation seem unprofessional. It’s more of a personal opinion but I think some of you will agree. Another thing with Windows Movie Maker, there are tutorials about editing an xml file to create your own animations; you may want to dwell on that.<br />
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While your at it, you can start investing for hardware upgrade that meets the requirements of high end software. Aside from additional effects and animations, new hardware and software will enable you to publish high definition (HD) presentations. You can also work faster compared to your old tools.<br />
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<h4>
<u>Editing for Post-Event Distribution</u></h4>
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"Keep your presentation logical" – <a href="http://www.6strongmedia.com/3-tips-for-executing-a-flawless-audiovisual-presentation/" target="_blank">Kris Simmons</a>. We should be mindful of our AVP. Aside from Kris Simmons’ suggestions, I watch my rendered presentation repeatedly and think of what can I improve or see if I missed something. The good thing with rendered video is; you can spot an offbeat transition or animation. After that, you can correct or improve your presentation. Render, view and revise until you are satisfied with your work. This is why rendering should not be taken for granted; I learned that the hard way.<br />
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Making an audio visual presentation is tedious but rewarding; especially if the audience are in awe upon watching your creation. Just remember, a mere tool should not limit our imagination!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Continue to <a href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/2013/08/beginners-guide-for-creating-an-avp-part-2.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">part 2</a>.</span><br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-79405505492171730292013-06-24T16:16:00.000-07:002014-01-01T02:32:10.043-08:00Video Game Developer: A Useless Opportunity?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XPaNADB2FqE/UccU7seNhmI/AAAAAAAAA48/ELMS8WcZTSs/s320/best-games-never-made-6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/best-games-never-made.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Image source: How stuff works?</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As a game developer, I've been troubled by these questions: what can I do for the society? How can I serve my country? I think graduating from a state university gives me those kinds of challenge. My witty response: I am a tax payer. It seemed reasonable but the problem is, so does everyone else. They might be sharing even greater taxes than me. The worse part is they're not just tax payers but they're actually serving the country! How lame is that? That's why I thought of another excuse: we, the game developers, create possible sources of entertainment.<br />
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Imagine a world without entertainment: no sports; no books; no movies; no music; no interesting discoveries; no internet! Just plain people living their plain lives. Everyday is just another day. Nothing is worth looking forward to. You just do your job today and resume tomorrow. If done, you just move on with a new project. You will have this kind of routine for the rest of your life.<br />
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It's fun having entertainment but you might be wondering, is it necessary? Well, having fun is part of being human. We just have to deal with the fact that everyone have their own sources of fun. <br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of course that's not all about video games. Aside from entertainment, we can create games that can help improve your cognitive skills. They will require you to think and can stimulate your mind for learning. We can integrate subjects like Science, Math, or Grammar. With games, we can make studying more fun.<br />
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For those who can't accept that video games are good sources of
entertainment and learning, just remember that you are not everybody;
you're just somebody. As I've said, everyone have their own sources of fun. Also, it's not fair saying
that these sort of things destroy human life. Video games do not
ruin people's lives; people ruin people's lives, even their own. Being irresponsible is not the video games' fault.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Here's another thing, I'm not just helping others; I'm also helping myself. Being a game developer gives me a lot of opportunities to learn and at the same time, have fun. Everyday, we think of possible solutions for every problems or bugs that we encounter. We adapt to new ideas. We conduct endless researches for us not to fall behind from this fast developing age of technology. Helping myself is helping the society because I am the society.</div>
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I'm not saying that this is a perfect job. It just so happens that there seem to be a lot of people who can't see the relevance of what we love to do; the relevance of developing games. It's not easy developing games but at least I am not one of those who hate their jobs to the point that they even curse Mondays.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-80601566218146977322013-06-09T07:23:00.000-07:002014-03-04T14:35:27.221-08:00Grammar Police Seems To Lack Common Sense<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://mightyredpen.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/i-judge-grammar.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bjoxLCZ_zpU/UbSKtMVnUMI/AAAAAAAAA4M/rLoda1eIzZg/s1600/i-judge-grammar.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: normal;">I was browsing <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/btria959/likes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">stumbleupon</a> and
I ended up on this site: <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201003/if-liberals-are-more-intelligent-conservatives-why-are-lib?fb_action_ids=10200115532634316&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">If Liberals are more Intelligent than Conservatives, why are Liberals ridiculous sometimes?</a><i> </i>Sadly, <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">psychologytoday</a> seems down
for now.<i> </i>Basically, it explains why
sometimes ‘intelligent’ people act ridiculous. The author describes two ways of how we think.
One is using general intelligence on which we think logically or academically.
The other is emotional thinking or acting based on our gut feel; usually referred
to as common sense. Based on the article’s explanation, an intelligent mind seems
to override common sense with logic or academic thinking.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: normal;">To make things clear, here’s
an example:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Premise 1: Everything under the sea are sea creatures.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Premise 2: Submarines are under the sea.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Therefore, Submarines are sea creatures.</i></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">It is a <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/val-snd/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">valid argument but it is not sound</a>. Unless we add another premise or premises, it will be hard or even impossible to disprove
this argument with logic but with common sense, we just know this is incorrect. With
logic, you are bounded by rules and premises. Nothing is right until proven
right. Nothing is wrong until proven wrong. With common sense, you just know
whether it is right or wrong.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">Thinking about it brought up
the idea that Grammar Police lack common sense. They
are strictly bounded by grammar and sometimes it makes them sound ridiculous; most
of the time annoying.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Stop you’re whining. So what if its Monday? Its you’re fault you ended
up with a boring job.</i></span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">A counter argument containing
corrections for that statement is ridiculous. You know that I mean “your” instead
of “you’re” and “it’s” instead of “its”; otherwise it means you can’t
comprehend.
The message is clear and proofreading has no relevance in tackling the issue. Sticking with grammar gives the statement no sense but with common
sense, it makes perfect sense.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">Another common example,</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Q: Can I help you?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>A: I don’t know, can you?</i></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">Here, you’re not just stupid
but you’re also being rude. Obviously, he’s
not asking if he’s capable of helping you. Someone is offering you assistance
and all you can do is correct their grammar? It spread as a joke but what if I add this statement:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">Q: Maybe I can't. Goodbye.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">Still funny?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: normal;">I’m not saying that it is
alright being grammatically wrong. What I’m saying is, it is not good to laugh at
or make fun of someone making mistakes. </span><span style="font-size: normal;">It's unfair discrediting them just because they're not good with grammar.
Just think about this, what would you feel if you’re bad at drawing,
cooking, or math and someone good at it laugh while calling you stupid? What if being bad at sports questioned your gender, intelligence or your essence as a human being?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">--</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-4083673172239310302013-06-04T09:30:00.001-07:002014-01-01T02:36:44.110-08:00Movie Enthusiasts might have Better Imagination than Book Readers<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; height: 255px; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left; width: 339px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M1OSV8bHcuc/Uaec_XnePiI/AAAAAAAAA3s/yANp3VqRCh4/s1600/books-nice+to+have+around.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M1OSV8bHcuc/Uaec_XnePiI/AAAAAAAAA3s/yANp3VqRCh4/s320/books-nice+to+have+around.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/great-geek-debates-books-vs-movies/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Source: GeekDad</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Relax. I'm not here to ruin the books' reputation. Just like you, I do enjoy reading but I'm also a movie enthusiast and the debate for which is better makes no sense to me. I'm still wondering why some book lovers can't take it if someone thinks or states that a movie is better than a book or vice versa. We can think about it like this: if someone preferred ice cream rather than a cake for dessert, would you get mad or think less of that person? You see, both movies and books are great sources of ideas and entertainment just like any sweets are good for dessert. It all depends on their content and how you absorbed it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To try stopping this 'Movies vs Books' mentality, I'll cover every argument I know stating why one is better than the other. I'll talk about the possible reasons why we think that way and I'll try to convince you why we shouldn't or why it's not worth debating. Let me start with this statement:</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Books are better because they exercise your imagination where in movies, it's not even required.</i></span></blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At first glance, it seems absolutely right. Movies show us how the characters look like, how they move, or how they react. Visualizations were already created for us: the scenery; the environment and its effects on the characters. They give us hints about minor details that can trigger a twist in the story. Everything is laid out in front of us; all we have to do is watch.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Isn't it almost the same with books? The characters and sceneries are described in detail. The events and twists are carefully planned. Every moment in the story: the ambiance; the emotions that build up are creatively written and presented. Through words, everything is laid out in front of us; all we have to do is read.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
They differ on approach but they both feed us information <span style="font-size: small;">that </span>enables us to picture out everything. In this sense, it seems that watching a movie and reading a book both requires passive imaginations. Of course descriptions were written only for introductions while in movies, they were repeatedly being shown but let me ask you; once you pictured out a character or a scene, can you take them out of your mind? Do you have to actively think about their looks every time they are mentioned in the book? I think not.<br />
<br />
You may say, "At least we're the one to visualize the characters and the events." Again, how did you came up with those visualizations? You did not use your full mental capacity just to create those characters and backgrounds in your mind right?<br />
<br />
Well, it's easier to visualize things from a movie but it doesn't mean imagination is passive or not required. We know with books, we're not just reading the story, we're living in it. Same with movies, we're not just watching; we think of the characters' points of view; we try to visualize different perspectives of the current scene; we create a connection with the movie by trying to feel what the characters feel; we're not just watching the story, we're living in it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
I think I have established the fact that imagination, passive or active, is required for both reading and watching. How visualization is done and the duration required to complete it is dependent on the person. Given these facts, it still seems that reading gives you better imagination than watching movies. It's true that readers imagined their own image of what's in the book while viewers already know how the scene might look like thus making imagination unnecessary.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; height: 251px; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right; width: 268px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cruzine.com/2012/11/14/fantasy-illustrations-arvalis/" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmbRuEm49M8/Ua4TZMCv3II/AAAAAAAAA38/CFtuCjOCTl4/s1600/scary-bulbasaur.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cruzine.com/2012/11/14/fantasy-illustrations-arvalis/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Example for unique visualization of an existing one. Illustrated by Arvalis</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here's a situation, what if we are to create our own version of the characters? For readers, it should be easy because you start from scratch and with the author's guidance, you can create your unique version of the characters. For a movie fan, it would be harder because you already saw the movie makers' version of the characters. Creating a unique visualization from a set of descriptions of things you haven't seen yet is way easier than creating your unique version of visualizations you have seen.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Here's a different idea; developing your creativity doesn't have to be from books you read. Your inspiration could come from what you see: your surroundings; photographs; paintings; drawings; and of course, movies. Just like a book can increase your vocabulary, a movie can widen your imagination.<br />
<br />
These are the reasons why I think movie enthusiasts may have better imagination than book readers. It doesn't mean that movies are better than books. I just want to disprove the thought that reading a book gives you better imaginative skills than watching a movie. It's possible but it's not absolute.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
--<br />
<br />
How about you? Are you in favor of 'Movies vs Books' or 'Watching vs Reading' debates? What other statements do you think is common regarding these debates?<br />
<br />
Feel free to share your thoughts below.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940811545197242683.post-30356971647604268512013-05-25T13:30:00.000-07:002014-01-01T02:37:12.697-08:00Anime Insight: Naruto's Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://triamegumi.blogspot.com/2013/04/5-perbandingan-jurus-naruto-dan-madara.html" target="_blank"><img alt="multiple shadow clones preview" border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5slbZDk1CY0/UaHTazBgx2I/AAAAAAAAA3c/wyjguEKuIV0/s400/Taj%C5%AB_Kage_Bunshin_no_Jutsu.jpg" title="multiple shadow clones preview" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://triamegumi.blogspot.com/2013/04/5-perbandingan-jurus-naruto-dan-madara.html" target="_blank">Naruto vs Kimimaro</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If I remember it right, I've been watching <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Narutopedia" rel="nofollow">Naruto</a> since 2004 but the efficiency and danger of <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Multiple_Shadow_Clone_Technique">Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu</a> or multiple shadow clone technique just dawned on me a while ago. The first time I saw this technique, I wondered what's so special about it? He just created more <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Clone_Technique">Kage Bunshin</a> or shadow clones than usual. I don't know why is it even a <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Kinjutsu">kinjutsu</a> or a forbidden technique? I thought it's better if every ninja learns about it because it's a great source of man power.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a name='more'></a><br />
The answers to my questions were briefly explained earlier in the series. First they talked about the regular <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Clone_Technique">shadow clone technique</a>. Here you create real copies of yourself and equally distribute your chakra among your clones. Unlike the regular clones where your copies are mere illusions. This means your shadow clones can fight the enemy physically or directly while regular clones are just your visual projections to scare or distract the enemies.<br />
<br />
Given those explanations, the obvious danger of <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Multiple_Shadow_Clone_Technique">multiple shadow clone technique</a> is for the user to quickly lose his chakra. About its efficiency, well, you can gang up your enemies all by yourself. A single <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Clone_Technique">shadow clone</a> can only take a few hits or one strong blow but imagine a bunch of your true copies fighting a single enemy. Your original self can also hide while planning for an ambush or replenishing your chakra or escape and ask for backup while your clones fight or distract the enemies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That's how simple I viewed the <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Multiple_Shadow_Clone_Technique">multiple shadow clone technique</a>, until now. A while ago, I was walking home and pondering on random things then <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Narutopedia" rel="nofollow">Naruto</a> just popped up in my mind. In the Philippine translation of Naruto, when he is about to use this technique, he says "Kage Bunshin times two, times two, times two.." It does make sense but I just realized it's not accurate. Yes, it's exponential but i think it's not always on base 2.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Let's say <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Narutopedia" rel="nofollow">Naruto</a> initially created 5 <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Clone_Technique">shadow clones</a>. Each of them, including the original, can create another 5 shadow clones and so on.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 = 3 125</span></b> ninjas in an instant!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Compared to <b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2</span></b> which is <b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">32</span></b> ninjas only.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
With that analysis, still I wondered why is it forbidden. How dangerous could it be? Then I remembered that the user's chakra is distributed equally to all <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Clone_Technique">shadow clones</a> including the original. If a defeated clone means lost chakra, it will cause a quick drop of chakra but how fast is it? Let's say <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Narutopedia" rel="nofollow">Naruto</a> has a chakra reserve amounting to 5000, dividing it by 5 gives him 1000 left. With that, he created another 5 shadow clones leaving him 200 amount of chakra.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">200 ÷ 5 ÷ 5 ÷ 5 = 1.6</span></b> amount of chakra. That's almost <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>100%</b></span> drop rate in an instant! Even if we reduce the number of copies to <b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5 x 5 = 25</span></b>, the decrease in chakra is <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>5000 ÷ 5 ÷ 5 = 200</b></span> which is <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>96%</b></span> drop rate.<br />
<br />
Aside from that, there could be other rules for performing the <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Multiple_Shadow_Clone_Technique">multiple shadow clone technique</a>. For example, the initial number of shadow clones is strictly equal to the base and exponent of the expression. So far, my example is following this rule. In addition to that, there could be a minimum initial shadow clones for it to be considered a multiple shadow clone technique.<br />
<br />
Another implementation of this technique is to start with a single shadow clone then from that, each copies will create a total number of clones equal to their current population. The user of the technique only needs to think of the number of iteration. For example, I want 5 iterations, then I can come up with, <b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2 <span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial; text-align: -webkit-center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">→</span></span> 4 <span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial; text-align: -webkit-center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">→</span></span> 16 <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial; text-align: -webkit-center;">→</span> </span>256 <span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial; text-align: -webkit-center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">→</span></span> 65 536</span></b> shadow clones! And of course, this could also have a minimum number of iterations.<br />
<br />
These computations convinced me why it is included in the scroll of forbidden techniques; with <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Multiple_Shadow_Clone_Technique">multiple shadow clone technique</a>, instant army can also mean instant death. Well, I know that but now I can grasp it better. Luckily, Naruto has a bad ass amount of chakra; all thanks to <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Kurama">kurama</a>, the nine <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Tailed_beasts">tailed beast</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
--</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">source: <a href="http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Narutopedia">Narutopedia</a></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">This work by Brian Tria is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />©2013 <a rel="utaklaya" href="http://utaklaya.blogspot.com/">utaklaya</a>. All rights reseved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03921578934236991898noreply@blogger.com0