Skyakes

Where have you been?! (Personal Response)

2013-11-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

I'll try to make this post as short and painless as possible. SkyAkes is now officially on hiatus until I get more time out of college, and on the other dealings I'm working on at the moment. HOWEVER, this doesn't mean the end of my internet presence-- far from it.

Feel free to click the image and get redirected to my new website.

The truth of the matter is, I've been taking on a more laid back hobby that allows me to enjoy my weekends, and not spend 3 hours after midnight (weeping and crying) trying to write up an article for the week. Ever since I informally dropped SkyAkes, I've been taking on photography as a protégé-esque expansion on the things I've been doing (and I would love if you would join me on the journey).

However, I still haven't been honest completely with you all. And at this point, I believe that everyone deserves an explanation for all the months I've been gone; one of the main reasons why I never actually came back (other than time-constraints) was due to my incessant need of equilibrium.

What I mean is, every time I looked at my homepage, I kept seeing the unpolished blob that was my "blog". To me, it was too unrefined, too amateur-esque, and too engrish-ingrained. With that said, I briefly had plans to go through all of my old articles in the archive and re-edit them to modern standards. Along with that, I was hoping to embrace a more proficient (I hated the fact that I didn't cite old sources or provide a more in-depth explanation of things in the past) writing standard in the future. These plans started for about 2 weeks before I stopped.

They quickly fell short after the pressures of getting into college got in the way, and SkyAkes felt more and more like a escape from reality than a fun-writing exercise it started out to be. And by the end of the day, I slowly realized that the current archive/set-up was a giant mess, and the best thing to do would've been to start anew, and on a fresh domain.website. If SkyAkes were to live again, it would be through a true revival-- no more defibrilliations on old stock.

But, with no promises being officially made, and with time troopering on, feel free to join me on my new photography website: ambientAspect

Thanks for the great times.

~Norman

3 Reasons To Get a Pocket Knife

2012-05-01T23:57:00.003-07:00

With pocket knives having nothing to do with my recent obsessions, I'm here to present the case for getting a pocket knife (no secretive pocket knife lobbying here-- we're public about our pocket knife conglomerate sell out). The thing is, the good ol' fashion pocket knife has found itself phasing away from everyday Joe's/Jane's pockets, despite its practical use. While a touchscreen phone with a highspeed internet access is useful in 65% of real-life situations (did you know that most statistics are created at-the-moment, 87.69% of the time? It's true!), nothing quite beats the "sharp edge" that a knife provides. Below, I'll discuss three reason to put a pocket knife in your "every-day-carry".

I totally didn't just use this image because it was open-domain. Totally not!

3. Practical Everyday Use

Haven't we all had that loose string in our shirt or jacket, that threatened the entire livelihood of our garments? With the heart-pumping stress of sharply pulling down on the loose string, and possibly risking the rapid unraveling of your sweater at the start of your day, wouldn't it be better if you had a unspecified sharp apparatus that could effectively cut such a problem? Along with cutting loose strings, a handy pocket knife can easily help you open envelopes, cardboard boxes, and even hard-to-open plastic packaging.

Look at all those uneven wrinkles and creases! Won't anyone think of the children?!

Carrying such practical tool with you everyday will not only make your life easier, but help you satisfy your hubris of dominating everyone around you. In a theoretical situation that involves a hard-to-open cardboard box, your significant other, and your nemesis, who would impress your lady-friend, if you had a handy-dandy, heavy-duty knife on hand at all times? If you fail the peacock courting process, you could easily turn the tables by physically dominating your opponent in a knife-to-fist fight, it's a win-win.

Except for the jail part.

2. Self-Defense

While we're still talking about unnecessary violence, sometimes, you might not be the aggressor; you might find yourself being attacked one day on your daily stroll to your (as often as you go) local soup kitchen. Short of a full-fledged firearm, what better incentive would the criminal need, to run off and tell his gang that he couldn't rob you because of your beautifully threatening knife? Even if you don't walk down strange alleyways with gangs on every corner everyday, the confidence and security that that a knife provides might give you that extra boost to leave your house in the morning after pissing off your postman.

"If only I had a pocket knife! And opposable thumbs!"

But I know what you're thinking. "Isn't it impractical to fight someone with a 1-3 inch blade?" (In most places, a 3-4 inch blade is the longest blade you can own without a "special license") However, this isn't the case; if a person knew exactly where to stab, a one inch knife can easily subdue a full-grown man with the urge to kill. Cutting the right arteries at the right places can cause a person to bleed profusely to death within a few minutes if not seconds.

1. Keepsake

While giving your son/daughter a brand new iPhone or iPod would be great, there's a small dilemma: within almost a year's time, your gift would instantly become "out of date" and therefore "not cool" in the eyes of society. Replacing the Apple products with a car, TV, or any other tech gifts, you still end up with the same problem; anything you buy now will probably become a relic of the past within a decade or less.

However, unless they start making new innovative knives made out of pure light, a knife can become a timeless keepsake that's passed down from generation to generation. I mean, I doubt that you'll like a big-block phone from the 90s as a keepsake gift from your 'pop. (However innovative it was in the past.)

"I've got your graduation gift right here! I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I did." - Technically Impaired Parent

With each knife having its own type of "personality", you'll be passing down a extremely individual gift that might provide a more meaningful link to your children. The manner in which you use and sharpen the knife, would probably determine what the knife does best, how it performs, and the condition it'll be when its your time to it pass down. While a large gold grandfather clock would be ~~useful~~ good-looking, a knife is something that can be carried and used everyday until the day you clinically die.

Quick Fact: Why breathing through your nose is better than your mouth

2012-04-25T23:00:00.003-07:00

I think it's safe to say that we've all heard the saying ,"Breath through your nose, not your mouth", from our physical education teachers and/or our extremely well-rounded friends. The problem is, nobody ever tells anyone why this is the case. Other than looking like a absolute snob with poor jaw posture, what are the actual physical benefits of breathing through your nose? Is it really worth breathing two times faster through your nose than to simply inhale and exhale through your mouth? Simply put, yes.

Look at how snobby your lungs look! I don't think we can be friends anymore.

First off, breathing through your nose is much actually healthier if you consider the contaminants in the air. One very special area that your nose has and your mouth doesn't, is the nostrils/sinuses. Through the use of the nostril hair, mucus, and nitric oxide, foreign objects and bacteria are mainly prevented from entering the body. What this means is that if you happen to inhale at the same time a large mosquito flies across your face, there's a smaller chance that it'll follow down your respiratory system. (The hairs in your nostril will likely prevent it from entering) In a manner of speaking, you can think of your nostrils as life's natural gas masks.

However, if your town becomes the target of a biological cluster-bomb, you may want to put one of these on.

On the other hand, the tighter/smaller the diameter of the nostrils are, the better your nose may help in building pressure onto the lungs during inhalation. (More so than your mouth) Why is this important? The pressure allows the lungs to exercise it's natural elasticity, allowing it to remain healthy, longer. Along with that, the extra pressure allows the lungs to have more time to extract the precious oxygen that your body needs. While it may feels that you're taking in less oxygen per breath, you might actually be taking in more.

Alternatively, you could buy a oxygen tank and live forever.

In terms of taking in oxygen, breathing through your mouth might actually cause you to take in less oxygen in comparison of breathing through your nostrils? Why? Because your body has a natural inclination for homeostasis, or balance. By increasing your CO2 output, your body must decrease O2 input in order to maintain a balanced pH level in your blood. Just because you're breathing in a higher volume, doesn't mean it's going to get used.

If you think about it for about a twenty million picoseconds, you might realize that your nose was made to be your breathing apparatus. Each individual nostril has special jobs to do that allow the air you breath to be optimal for consumption. Things like filtering, humidifying, and even warming the air is ideal for your lungs. In all honestly, haven't we all taken a deep gulp of cold dry air during our winterly activities, and end up choking buckets from the sharp, intense pain?

Along with that, you increase your chances of drying out your mouth/throat, (which can make it easier for microbes to enter your body) losing your voice, and more severely, risking dehydration. Your nose on the other hand, is equipped to deal with whatever nature throws as it.

Tornadoes on the other hand.

4 Ways To Avoid Alzheimer's

2012-04-21T00:43:00.004-07:00

Alzheimer's is one of the most common form of dementia in the world today. Over 26 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with this disease and considering that it's currently irreversible and incurable, it's practically a death sentence for the people who receive the news. To make things more tangible, people generally live seven more years after their diagnosis of AD and after a certain stage, the procedures for "care giving" is simply to relieve discomfort until death. With Alzheimer's being such a serious complication, we suggest that you read the following timeline before death for the sake of knowledge and then continuing to the rest of the article.

Stage 1: Normal Function

This stage is pretty much as it sounds, your memory and cognitive abilities are only as limited as you've trained them. Considering that Alzheimer's is usually diagnosed at around the age of 65, you still have your whole life ahead of you if you're young.

Stage 2: Very Minor Impairment

Technically, this is the first stage of the Alzheimer's progression. At this stage, the person will only experience minor memory lapses and small everyday confusion. It's nearly impossible to detect Alzheimer's at this stage since the only symptoms can easily be mistaken for stress or sleep deprivation. Considering how minor they are, you'll hardly notice them; it could be as simple as those short lapses you get when you enter a room, or even which cabinet you keep you bowls in.

Stage 3: Minor Impairment

At this point, your confusion and forgetfulness may have increased by a few folds. By now, it would be visibly noticeable to the people around you that you've been becoming increasingly forgetful/confused. At stage 3, it's probable that you'll have slight difficulty remembering new things that you've just learned, such as names and words. (It could be as simple as stuttering for about three seconds while trying to recall a person's name) along with trouble organizing and planning for the future.

While possible, it is still difficult to detect AD at this stage.

Stage 4: Mild Impairment

By now, the clear-cut symptoms of Alzheimer's would be evident. Instead of simply forgetting a new person's name, you may/will suffer from moderate cognitive decline. Things such as managing money, planning a crazy retirement party or even recalling events that happened hours to days ago will become increasingly difficult. (Or at the very least, more difficult than before) At this stage, some people may become increasingly moody and emotional when in socially or mentally demanding situations. This stage is also called "early-stage Alzheimer's Disease".

Stage 5: Moderate Impairment

Considered as the main course of the disease,"mid-stage" Alzheimer's disease, this is the stage in which you begin (if not already) to lose your own identity. People at this stage may have difficulty recalling their own address, phone number, previous educational institutes, (which highschools/colleges they've attended) and may even require help picking the proper clothing for a occasion (like Labor Day) or season. However, the person's significant memories of their siblings, spouse, children are probably still intact. They can still eat and use the bathrooms by themselves.

One could imagine that at this stage, they may realize that their life is about to come to a close and soon enough, they'll lose the very essences of what they truly are until death. Along with that, the ones that they've loved will soon be forgotten.

Stage 6: Severe Impairment

Still considered as "mid-stage" Alzheimer's Disease, the people will begin to lose grip of who they really are. While able to recall their own names, they may worsen in their trouble with their own personal history. Visually, they'll be able to tell the difference between someone they know (such as their spouse) and don't know, but mentally, they'll begin to have problems putting names to familiar faces. Thanks to their rapidly decreasing cognitive abilities, they may become more forgetful of the environment they're in and lose awareness of it. (Such as sitting in their car at a red light.) Other than that, they may also begin to experience major personality changes that involves delusions and compulsions. (Like believing that their spouses are dead and someone has replaced them, or having the constant urge to check if the front door is locked.)

Physically, they'll begin to need help at the toilet: to help them dispose of the toilet paper and to wipe. In fact, they'll eventually slowly lose their ability to control their bladders and/or bowels. Unlike before, they'll experience a greater degree of forgetfulness and get lost more often, even in familiar places.

Stage 7: Very Severe Impairment

The final and last stage of impairment; at this point, the victim will likely need constant personal care. Their ability to carry conversations, control movement, and even respond to the environment would've reduced to nil. Although the possibility of saying a few phrases or words, normal communication is likely to be gone forever. In fact, the ability to smile, hold their heads up, swallowing solids/fluids, or even sit up straight will likely disappear as well.

After becoming almost 100% dependent on the caregiver to keep the person alive, the person can only await death; caregiving is now concentrated on making things as least painful as possible. Things such as bed sores[1] (Pressure ulcers that result from not moving whatsoever) and infections are likely to occur until death.

[1] -Severe bedsores can look like giant ripped-up holes on the body. The only treatment is the constant flipping of the body. (Protip: Don't look up images of bed sores)

Death

Now that you know all seven stages before death, let's find out how to avoid it!

4. Get Enough Sleep

If you want to avoid such horrible fate, one of the best things you can do is to get as much sleep as possible. The thing about sleep deprivation is that it's one of few factors directly linked to Alzheimer's. Studies have shown that people that are sleep deprived are statistically in the "yellow zone" for Alzheimer's. The thing is, a protein (called amyloid beta) in the brain that is usually used as a marker for Alzheimer's, increases during the day/wake periods, and decreases during the night/sleep periods.

Studying? Not if you want Alzheimer's!

By depriving yourself of sleep, not only are you increasing your chances of Alzheimer's, but you're doing all of this to yourself.

3. Stimulate Your Brain

While I'm not suggesting that you stick a electrical probe into your brain, it's highly recommended to stimulate your brain with puzzles and challenges. Studies have shown that people that continue learning and challenging themselves throughout adulthood, have a decreased chance for Alzheimer's or at very least, slow the progression. What's the harm in a few couple crossword puzzles on your way to work/school?

Your sanity obviously.

Some suggestions include practicing memorization, learning new trades/arts, and/or breaking your daily schedule to try something different. (Also, learning a new language and/or musical instrument helps too.)

2. Exercise

Exercising is probably the easiest things you can do on the list. While some of us just aren't capable of finding dark matter in space or sleeping early at night. What you can do is to keep your mind and body sharp. According to some studies, you can decrease your risk for Alzheimer's for up to 40% by simply exercising. The more efficient your body is at throwing blood and oxygen to your brain, the better off your brain is at making sure you don't get dementia.

Try telepathically moving a soccer ball while floating towards it in a awkward position.

However, be sure to wear head protection or to avoid "head-only" boxing. Some statistics have pointed to a significantly increased chance of Alzheimer's for those who get repeat injuries to the head.

1. Have a Active Social Life

Along the lines of mental stimulation and exercise, having an enjoyable, active social life can really increase your chances of not getting Alzheimer's. Staying socially active within itself, will probably accomplish the other criteria's of avoiding the disease; as long as you don't sit with your friends in a dark room munching on pure lard while passively hating each other, you'll be as good as gold.

Except less valuable. Take that self-confidence!

The more intellectual your activities are in general, the more effective this method is. Going out with your friends to try some gardening has shown to be least beneficial. Overall however, it all ends with the simple phrase, "use it or lose it"; there is no current cure for the disease and research for it is generally considered to be underfunded.

Mac vs PC

2012-04-18T23:43:00.003-07:00

So you want to buy a computer, but you don't know which one to buy? This article should clear up some of the confusion when selecting a computer. Today, there are 3 main operating systems. OSX, Windows, and various Linux distros. When someone talks about a "Mac", they usually mean a computer that is assembled by Apple with OSX installed. When someone talks about a "PC", they usually mean a pre-assembled computer or a self-built computer with a Windows and/or Linux OS. That being said, I will now compare the two.

* Before I start comparing I should mention that Apple is a HARDWARE company because OSX is not entirely a product of Apple (See below) and their only original parts and profits come from the hardware. Buying an Apple computer to use OSX is the same as buying an expensive motherboard just to take its capacitors. Therefore, any advantage OSX has over Linux and Windows can easily be achieved on both computers (See compatibility below) *

1. Price:

Without a doubt the PC has always cost less than a Mac with similar specifications. For example, a $3500 Mac Pro can be similar in specs to a $1000 PC. However, the Mac OS costs less than Windows, so it might not be worth paying the $2000 premium. Also, most Linux distros are free.

Although this is somewhat outdated, the idea still stands

2. Hardware:

For $2000 more than the PC, you would expect the hardware to be really good. However, you'll be surprised. Apple orders most of its parts from Foxconn. Foxconn is known to have the lowest quality computer hardware with not only the lowest performance (benchmarks available at Tom's Hardware), but also the highest failure rate AND highest DOA rate of any hardware manufacturer (According to Newegg's employees). I wonder where all of that money's going... All of the Mac hardware is outdated by at least a few months. (For example, as of 4/14/2012, the Mac Pro's CPU is currently outdated by at least a year because they don't have the sandy bridge CPUs yet.) Also, if your hardware breaks, you might be charged up to five times the cost of the broken hardware, even though the solution does not require hardware replacement. If you try to fix it yourself, you void the warranty.

3. OS:

In reality, OSX is actually a modification of BSD under Unix. However, Apple decided to take complete control over Mac users, so they severely limited the OS capabilities. If you ask most Linux users who used a Mac, they would say that it feels much more "limited" because of Apple (OSX is considered a Linux distro by some people, but that is debatable because of its Unix origin). If you ask other people, they'll say that OSX by itself is just a limited BSD replica with a shiny GUI. If you like freedom, go with the PC.

[a]. Stability:
Many inexperienced Mac users might say that they use a Mac because "Windows crashes too much". However, what they don't realize is that it isn't Windows' fault they are unable to properly maintain their computer. For example the average computer user would run a program that takes up too much ram, and when it runs out and crashes they blame it on Windows. Another scenario would be when a program crashes because of a bug in the software, and the user blames Windows again. This isn't a bad thing however, because the Mac requires less maintenance. However, some people use computers like this. There aren't enough statistics to make a conclusive, universal decision for stability, so lets just say that it's a tie.

[b]. Security:
Just like stability, inexperienced computer users might say that there are many viruses on the PC. This is true, but it is also true that almost nobody decides to target the OSX because of the small percentage of users who use it. These same people also say that hackers can't afford a Mac to make a virus for it, but they seem to forget that OSX is cheaper than the Windows OS, and that you do NOT need to buy Apple hardware to install OSX. (See OS compatibility) Also, here's a hacker that claims that Windows is more secure. Oh, look here! Why is Apple trying to cover up such a widespread trojan?

Too many viruses? Try this.

[c]. Software:
The PC has a lot more software available, and the PC software exclusives are almost always better than the Mac software exclusives (This is just my opinion, but I have had over a thousand hours of experience with OSX.) For example, Visual Studio and Autodesk 3ds Max. Don't forget that Windows has DX11 for gaming. (I am NOT saying DX11 is better than OpenGL, just that more games are DX compatible).

4. Raw performance:

Already mentioned at the hardware comparison, Mac hardware is slower and less reliable than most other non-Foxconn PC hardware. In terms of the OS, the boot times are about the same on a SSD, (OSX may load a bit faster depending on SSD, but a few seconds doesn't hurt) and for the exact same price as a Mac, the PC is much faster (A $3,000 PC is much faster than a $3,000 Mac).

5. OS compatibility:

Windows can be installed on a Mac, while installing OSX on a PC is illegal (If you really care, because Apple will not go after you). This depicts Apple's tight control over you, the user. PC is better compatibility-wise because of default compatibility with most Linux distros and therefore programs. Mac might have been better compatibility-wise if not for performance and compatibility issues with Windows. (Don't forget the price!).

If you want this article in a much more concise format, click here.

If you disagree with anything written in this article, or find a mistake, leave a comment so that I can fix it/address it.

Give us your suggestions!

2012-04-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

*Too long? Don't want to read anything? Here's the link.

Today, I'm here to present something that I've always wanted to add to SkyAkes, a suggestions feature. The biggest problem I've found in managing and writing this blog is that writer's block can be pretty uncooperative when it's 3:00 AM on a school day. In order to remedy this and add a feature to allow you, the readers, to become more interactive with this blog, I've decided to add a "article request-ation" form at a cool site called "Papyrs".

Here are some of the writer's blocks I talk about. Dang them and their weight!

Pretty much, the idea is that you, the reader, can ask us to cover any topic your little heart desires, and we'll consider writing about it. (If you want an article musing the ideas of string theory and Q-balls, we may reconsider) Along with that, this will allow us to concentrate on the topics that you guys really care about, and less on things like "fun facts about your toes" that I sometimes resort to.

The horror!

In order to satisfy your irrational suspicion that we're simply trying to steal your one million dollar ideas, feel free to leave your name in one of the provided boxes, and we'll gladly credit you for the idea. However, you can remain anonymous if you wish.

Without further ado, here's the article request-ation link.

3 Common Misconceptions About Brushing Your Teeth

2012-04-14T23:35:00.002-07:00

Thanks to the fact that teeth-brushing is a home-taught practice, there are many misconceptions circulating about brushing one's teeth. Along with modern society's pressure to fit in with everyone else, oral hygiene or "how bright your teeth look", has become a prominent variable for the everyday man/woman to judge a person's character despite it's shallow implications. Therefore, we must address the most common misconceptions that people have about brushing their teeth in order to help indulge such thought pattern and achieve "buzz-worthy" attention. Anyways, here's your article:

Look, teeth. Now give us your money.

3. The more you brush your teeth, the merrier.

This common misconception lies in the concept of "if you clean something twice, it'll be cleaner than if you cleaned it once." While true to a limited aspect, brushing your teeth rigorously eight times a day or every time until you can taste your natural saliva again is not generally a good idea. The thing about brushing your teeth is that it's not a magical wand that you can simply wave at your teeth and only expect positive things. Think of this analogy, if you keep mopping your brand new wood floor, your floor is eventually going to collapse.

And everyone you've ever known will die. This is shaping up to be a bad analogy.

The thing is, excessive brushing can lead to other, more serious oral complications. For example, by brushing your teeth religiously, you risk irritating your gums to the point of exposing the roots of your teeth. Along with that, by brushing like a crazed manic, you also risk destroying your teeth enamel, and therefore your teeth itself. Everyone knows that your teeth are among the strongest bones in your body, most if not all of that strength comes from the enamel. By continuing a practice of excessively hard brushing, you could scrape away at the enamel like a waxed floor in a congressman's living room.

2. Brushing your teeth after eating is a good idea

The idea behind this ruse is that if you brush your teeth after eating all your nasty food, you can probably clean away most of the leftover food and avoid having them cling on your teeth, collecting diseases. While this makes perfect sense in a perfect world, there're actually some unforeseen consequences when brushing immediately after eating.

Spontaneous combustion.

In reality, your body has an important duty to carry out after you finish eating, something that you don't help by brushing your teeth. The thing is, every time you eat something that contains acid, your teeth enamel becomes slightly worn down, and by brushing them at this time, you risk damaging your teeth enamel at it's soften state.

Along with this, you're likely to remove the excess saliva in your mouth, (since you salivate more when you eat) which is vital to neutralizing the pH levels surrounding your teeth and naturally removing the food particles in your mouth. By allowing the natural process to continue, you allow your teeth to re-harden and heal. Back to other analogy, it would be similar to sweeping a waxed floor that hasn't dried yet; it's just not a good idea.

1. If my teeth are white, then they are healthy

Putting all these compulsive behaviors aside, lets talk health. A common misconception about teeth in general is that if your teeth are white, then they're healthy and if your teeth are yellow/any color other than brilliant white, they're unhealthy. The problem with this misconception is that it allows people to ignore other diseases that can manifest simply on the basis that their teeth are opal white. Regardless of the color of your teeth, complications such as gum disease, gum regression, tooth decay, and other such diseases are just as possible as with a person with perfectly colored teeth and slightly off colored teeth.

Now you know that your dentist doesn't simply have a sick obsession with drilling away at your teeth.

Using the floor analogy again, it would be comparable to a beautifully waxed floor, with rotten maggot-eaten floor tiles six millimeters below the surface. While your teeth may look glowing white in appearance, you would never know if plaque and tooth decay was be lurking behind your teeth if you ignore the actual health of your teeth in exchange for the vain appearance. Remember that white teeth are a byproduct of a healthy mouth, not the other way around, and unless you plan on getting a nice pair of dentures when you're a old man/woman, be sure to take care of your teeth.

Alternatively, you can remove your teeth now and put them back on when you're older and wiser later.

Tip: Instead of starting the same place when you brush your teeth everyday, try beginning at different locations to ensure that you don't get lazy at a specific point too long. This will ensure that you get every awkward angle, and so that you don't end up two shining front teeth and a pair of yellow fangs.

Most Common Advertising Tricks In Modern Media

2012-04-13T00:25:00.003-07:00

Regardless of your medium of entertainment, you'll find that advertisements are almost everywhere you look; in fact, this page alone has at least one. With advertisements so evident in modern lifestyle, isn't it about time we actually take a look at what these advertisements really advertise? Shouldn't we ask ourselves if the heads behind the mass media are actual dummies that simply prance around with directors as they pump out the same short fifteen second clip with different products everyday?

"They're on to us!" - The heads behind mass media

Maybe things aren't as jolly and flowery as we thought they were. Perhaps, advertisements used actual psychology from many fields to manipulate you to buy products everyday. Below, we'll discuss two of the most common advertising tricks that you probably fall for everyday. (With the aided use of hyperboles! Hurray you!)

2. Sell you the fear of not having their product

If you were to take a closer look at almost every modern advertisement right now, what can you see in common? Other than the stiff awkward acting, you may have noticed that advertisements don't actually sell you a product; they sell you fear and a solution for it. While I'm not suggesting that they hold your children at gunpoint as they point at a product, many advertisements actually subconsciously tell you that if you don't buy their product, something bad will happen to you. Here are some examples:

"Hey you, did you know that 12,345 amount of break ins happen every year? One day, it could be you! The only way to stop people from breaking in your house and snatching your family is to hire our security team and install our cameras!"

"You can't afford it? Oh, I guess your children aren't that important, I understand."

"Buy these H1N1 vaccines quick! Everybody's just dropping dead from this disease, you could be next! You've seen the news, it's a new and deadly disease! In fact, 11,690 people are already dead from this disease! That's a lot, right? There's definitely no need to check the annual death rates of the normal flu to compare against H1N1. It's as simple as dying if you don't take these shots."

I mean, when was the last time someone with a needle lied to you?

The magic of this technique is that it convinces you that you need something, even though you've lived long without it. Suddenly, your suburban house/apartment is the golden trophy in your neighborhood. It's not like you can do anything by yourself to prevent robbery or anything. This can also be called, creating a problem and selling the solution. Here's something important to remember, in order to sell something, they need a motivator; fear is a very powerful motivator.

1. Suggest more than what they're really offering

This technique involves the use of implications that people usually fall for due to their high appeal. What they do here, is as simple as throwing few "extra" things on the side of their product to make the product itself look more appealing. Here are some examples:

"Here, look at this beautiful young lady, if you buy our product, you'll look just like her. If you don't buy our product, you'll have skin that resembles a barren wasteland with cracked, dried ground as we shown you before. Also, you'll be ugly and undesirable; buy our skin product and people will love you. In fact, your husband/wife will stroke your product-applied area and compliment you on how smooth your skin is in a overly excited manner."

"Now that you use this new skin product, I can actually look at you when we're in bed"

"Look, this girl is depressed because she has allergies and can't go outside. After eating our allergy medicine, she's able to go outside, play with her children, go rollerskating, go mountain climbing, have overly exciting dinner with friends, go parachuting, dancing, sky diving, mountain biking, and hiking. If you buy our medicine, your life will change in the same manner. If you don't buy our product, you'll be down and depressed like the girl shown before. Don't be that girl; buy our product."

"Now that I've bought this new product, my life is full of excitement and joy! Look, you can even tell from the symbolic transition from greyscale to color!"

"Need help losing weight? Use our weight-lost product! We even have before and after pictures! Look at this before picture, the guy's overweight, smoking, badly dressed, doing drugs, sitting in dark grey room with a half-empty pizza box, and he appears to be sad with his droopy lips and eyes. Woah, look at this, in this after picture, he's smiling, drug-free, wearing neat clothes, and hugging his multiracial family! Go figure!"

Nothing much like a multiracial family to bring the family together.

The problem is, both of these methods are commonly used together. They'll try to sell you the fear of not having their product, and throw in the extra "benefits" of having their new products. As a real-life example, take account to how the water bottling industry, (i.e. Poland Spring, Dasani) managed to convince millions that the water inside of their taps are unhealthy and unfit to drink from, while their bottled water is healthy and good for you. While you're not likely to have your life change from reading this article, (Unless you have your checkbook out every time you watch a infomercial) it's always nice to know, right?

3 Important Things To Do In A Fight

2012-04-11T17:32:00.002-07:00

We've all gotten in a physical one-on-one fight before, right? Regardless of you being the person dealing the punches, or the one receiving all the pain, I think it's safe to say that we've all seen humanity's tendency towards conflict. Due to this, it would be an exceptional time to discuss three very important fundamentals that everyone should know before entering a fight. While you won't suddenly become the Bruce Lee in the battlefield after reading this article, it'll certainly help you get started.

At very least, it'll help you get 4.6% less dominated in the arena.

3. Curl your thumbs on the side of your fist (aka. Remember how to form a fist)

One of the most important thing you can do in a fight is to make sure your tools of fighting are in proper condition, before throwing the first punching. While we're sure that you have enough common sense to not fight someone if your hands are bandaged up from a severe chainsaw accident resulting in the lost of all your fingers, there are some precautions to take for everyone that are vital to the resultant fight. The first thing you can do is to curl your thumbs on the side of your curled fingers. (Consult below image if the your visual brain centers of your brain fail you)

Feel free to angrily shake your fist as such to celebrate such accomplishment.

But what's the big deal about it? Why not keep your thumb in its natural, outstretched position with four curled fingers? Why not hide your thumb away under your curled fingers to keep it snug and happily hidden? The reason it's a big deal to keep your thumb curled in front of your curled fingers is as simple as keeping all your digits intact, after the fight.

If you think that you're too cool to fall into society's traditions and keepsakes, you can feel free to break your thumb. For one, if your thumb is in any other position other than shown above, (in a fist fight) you risk damaging, "jamming", dislocating, or even breaking your thumb. Punching with your thumbs tucked away inside your fingers is as stupid as punching with your thumbs tucked away inside your fingers. Any force you put onto your finger, (as in the punch) will be directed onto your thumb and possibly dislocate it. Punching with your thumb outstretched forward puts your thumb ahead of your fist, making it perfectly possible to destroy the tip of your thumb, or get it caught in the after-punch resulting in a thumbs-up injury.

Following this concept of fist curled over fingers is the one of the only sure-fire ways to avoid getting your beautiful hands damaged during a fight. So unless your opponent is going straight for your thumbs with a vendetta, you should be as good as apricots.

2. Don't aim for the face

Now that you've got your instruments of pain ready to deliver a beating, we've gotta learn where to actually go for. Instead of teaching you how to fight, we'll simply give you a stern warning about aiming for the face. So getting started, we'll admit the appeal of punching someone in their disgusting, eraser-stealing, no-good face. However, no matter how many erasers they may have stolen from you, it's generally preferable to not aim for their face. Why? Is it some type of secret "gentlemen's honor code" that nobody's heard about? Actually, we can file this one under common sense.

Instead of going for the face, go straight for the flowers! Hah! Take that!

The reason that it's highly recommended to not go for the face is the same reason to not punch a bag of coins. You can easily fracture or break your hand as a resultant in punching someone in their face bags. The thing is, a large majority of a person's face is made up of bone, bone that is harder than your fist; that means that if things move slightly out of place when you go for the guy's cheek, you could easily hit him somewhere where it hurts, for both you and the other person. The thing is, while they may have a broken nose and a ruptured cheek, they still have both hands to get even. Unless you like to live life on the edge, you're better off going for their torso. (Better yet, not even getting in a fight at all.)

1. Keep your mouth close

One of the most valuable things you can learn here is to remember to keep your mouth shut. Sadly, we aren't talking about the trash talk that some opponents like to throw out, we're talking about literally keeping your mouth shut. Unbeknownst to you, you may be one of the few million/billion people that fight with their mouths open. While we're not suggesting that you drool out of your mouth and swing your arms around while making wind noises, people usually end up with their mouths open at one point in the fight. The reason people end up with their mouths open is due to the natural inclination to gasp for needed air with the fastest route available (their mouths) during a intense duel. (Or gravity just trying to catch you off guard)

"While you have your little petty fight over there, I'm just going to collapse the fabric of time and space here; don't mind me" - Scumbag Gravity

The reason behind it is as simple as keeping your jaw intact. With your jaw open and relaxed, it allows any lucky punches that make it through to make direct contact with your jaw and your jaw only. With it slightly tighten and shut, it'll most likely spread throughout your face (as unpleasant as it sounds) and thus protect your jaw from flying out. If not that, your force downwards will hopefully overcome the force flying towards it.

But even if you think that your jaw can take a pounding, allow me to remind you that with your mouth open, it makes it so much easier to accidentally bite down onto your cheek or tongue during a attack forward or a defense inward; and honestly, how much more beating do you need in your life?

A little more to be frank. *LE PUN*

Piracy: Who's the real thief?

2012-04-11T09:35:00.004-07:00

Ever since computers were made available to the public, software pirates made and distributed copies of software, and in some cases illegally sold their copies. With pirated copies being available much easier then ever before because of the internet, we must ask ourselves: Should we put an end to piracy to protect our software? Unfortunately, there are a few problems with just ending piracy. Not all pirates are thieves. The following examples explain who is a pirate, who is actually a thief.

1. One reason why you might pirate a video game is because the price is too high, and you are unable to afford to pay $60 every time a new game is released. Since software publishers claim that a download is a lost sale, it does not apply to those who cannot afford the software. Also, even if it was a lost sale, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

2. Sometimes software isn't just distributed by the developer, it goes through a series of steps to reach your computer. Coming back to the video game example, games are made by the developer (For example, DICE), then are sent through the publisher (EA) to reach the distributor (Gamestop, Origin...). The developer was already payed for creating the game, so if nobody buys the game, only the publisher and distributor would be at risk. Lets say that one person was to pirate a game made by DICE. This person dislikes EA because it was rated the worst company in the USA. (Source) He dislikes EA much that he has no problem with it going bankrupt, so he donates his $60 to DICE instead. Keep in mind that if the game was purchased from a distributor only about 10-30% would reach the developer. This is a win-win situation for the developer, the developer will have 100% of the money to create new games, while looking for a better distributor/publisher that would help them succeed. This may be considered dollar voting even though nothing was purchased.

3. People may also choose to pirate because of incontinent distribution. In software, it may be DRM. In video games, it may be on disc DLC. Would you really want to pay a full price for software when you can install it a limited amount of times, and when there are more features that are unlocked with a $20 key that should have been part of the total price?

We have yet to answer one question. Who is a thief?
A thief is someone who:
1. Can afford to purchase the software
2. Enjoys using the software
3. Supports the actions of the developer
4. Supports the actions of the publisher
5. Supports the actions of the distributor
6. Has nothing better to spend his money on (This depends on what your morals and values are)
7. Thinks that the software is worth the money

BUT HE PIRATES THE SOFTWARE ANYWAYS.

If you still don't understand, the percentage of thieves are too little to make an impact on the outcome of the developer. Therefore, ACTA, SOPA and PIPA only help the publishers/distributors make money, and not the developers.

EDIT: According to the US courts, code is not physical property and it cannot be stolen.

Baaahh... We're Back!

2012-04-10T23:09:00.003-07:00

Why hello there, loyal reader. While it may have appeared that we've died in the past three months, I can assure you that we didn't. Along with our return from our hiatus, we bring great news. The first great news is something you've probably noticed the instant you walked right in here, the layout is completely different. No longer will your eyes be distracted by my amateur photography, instead, you'll be faced with fantastic monotone white. What an improvement!

As we've always suggested, feel free to take a second to reflect the values of life as you stare into our apathetic white background.

Secondly, during our endeavors, we've picked up another fresh, aspiring mind to join the Skyakes' family. Without further ado, allow me to introduce to you, "Dr.Freeman", our new go-two guy for electronic-related news and information. But allow me to warn you, as an ambitious young man as himself, he is fully prepared to write controversial articles and defend them, and as long as they don't include the words "I'm going to murder the president", I'll simply moderate and review his articles before publishing. But at the end of the day, with a new, three-man-team, you can expect more articles being thrown at your face daily.

Here's his mugshot. He's a little camera-shy in-person.

In other news, along with a new writer, we've gotten our old writer, Eddard, back on the scene. In addition, we've removed the adbox on the side of the website to give you a better user experience. Lastly, we've thrown out the old-fashion, hard-to-use comments system, with an easy-to-use comments system based on Facebook. As long as you're logged into your account on your browser, you can comment away without any delay. (Ignore the rhyme that coincidentally occurred)

What this basically means for you overall, is that you can expect a slight 16.5% increase in joy and contentment in your life as a result of our [technical] relaunch. No need to thank us, it's a part of our job.

But if you insist.

4 Ways To Determine Time of Death In a Dead Person

2012-01-17T23:16:00.000-08:00

Regardless of your desire to know this information, we're here to discuss the four primary indicators of time of death in a corpse. (Because you obviously can't determine the time of a person's death if they're still alive) I would like to point out that all of these indicators can only help you estimate the time of death, since many environmental factors can change the observed events. Hopefully, you won't come back with pitchforks and torches if you come across a dead person (as often as you do) and quickly induce the person's time of death, only to find out how wrong you were, based on what we've told you.

If you look closely enough, you can see the imminent, post-apocalyptic future. On the other hand, there are some neat skulls there.

4. Livor Mortis

Livor Mortis is one of the first things you don't see on crime shows and movies, despite it being one of the first things that happen to a dead body. Livor mortis is the resultant color of a dead person's pooling blood at the work of gravity. What do I mean? Think of it this way, once you're dead, your heart stops beating. If your heart stops beating and your blood vessels stop moving, there is nothing to circulate your blood. Therefore, after you die, your blood simply flows down your once active blood vessels, into the lowest part of your body. (Regardless of body position.)

Livor mortis is clearly observed by a dark purpleish hue onto the skin in which the blood has flown and pooled. Depending on the time, this color can/will become permanently fixed onto the body in a matter of time. What this all means is that you can determine the position the person died, along with the the estimated time of death.

Don't worry, this is the most graphic picture in this article. (Even though I found hundreds of pictures of half-decomposing bodies everywhere, so you owe me one.)

After the first two to eight hours of death, lividity (pooling of blood in body) will be present on the body. However, it would be easily removed by pressing onto the afflicted area with a finger/any pressure. If the color disappears, the person probably died less than eight hours ago. If the color remains, the person must have died beyond the eight hour time frame.

Before you start jumping around like some type of leprechaun with your new-found knowledge, allow me to inform you about the factors that affect livor mortis. First off, the environmental temperature of the body can greatly influence how long it takes before lividity becomes permanent. If the temperature happened to be extremely cold at that time, livor mortis could be slowed down. (The opposite is true as well) Accessories and clothing such as tight belts and wristwatches could easily externally constrict blood passage as well, which can also slow down livor mortis.

3. Rigor Mortis

Anyone who has ever seen a dead animal, would have probably observed rigor mortis. Rigor mortis is basically the extremely stiffening of the body's muscles due to the build up of calcium in the muscle fibers due to the inability to remove the excess calcium, due to death. (Because when you die, things sorta go down hill for your body.) This stiffness is always temporary since the muscle fibers will eventually relax as they begin to dissolve by autolysis. The time it takes for full stiffness to occur, and for it to dissipate can be very useful in determining time of death.

Rigor mortis begins after two hours of death, starting from the head and slowly progressing to the feet. After twelve hours of death, the body will be at it's most rigor state. It's been said that it's possible to stand on the middle of a fully rigid body with only two platforms to support the head and feet, without snapping the body in half. After 36-48 hours, the body will resume soft-dead body status.

So yes, your corpse-bridge idea is possible.

Now, before you soil your pants in excitement of standing on the center of a fully rigid body with only two platforms while determining time of death, allow me to ruin the party. The progress of rigor mortis is largely dependent on the temperature, body weight, body temperature, and even sun exposure. Generally, the hotter the body, the faster the proccess, the colder the body, the slower the process.

2. Algor Mortis

This is one of the most rudimentary things you can learn about dead bodies that can help you determine time of death. Algor mortis, is the body's temperature after death. As simply put, the colder the body, the longer the person's been dead and vice versa. What you didn't know, was the rate of temperature lost in relation to a general ambient temperature. Basically, the body loses about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit every hour on average. (The rate of temperature lost varies if you're in the middle of a snow bank or on the surface of the sun.)

If your body happens to be here, it's unlikely that we can determine time of death.

1. Basic Decomposition

Here's a no-brainer, if a body appears to be only comprised of a skeleton, the person most likely died after breakfast. (Most likely.) Generally, a body will decompose in the stages of the following:

2 Days

Cell autolysis (Cell self-destruction)
Green-purple staining from blood decomposition
Marbled appearance on the skin
Discolored face

4 Days

Blistering Skin
Bacteria from the intestines will cause the abdomen to swell from all the gases (CO2) it produces as it digests delicious human flesh

6-10 Days

Random fluids begin to leak out of body openings
Eyes and other soft tissues are now liquefied
Skin begins/continues to melt away
The entire body will bloat up with CO2. Sooner or later, the gases will cause the abdominal cavities, along with the chest, to burst with gases, and then collapse.

Again, I'll like to stress how much different variables such as temperature, previous ailments, and even the amount of clothes on a person, can effect a person's decomposition rate.

Fun Fact: The reason you don't usually see lividity , crazy color dancing, or extremely quick decaying on dead bodies in caskets, is usually because of the quick embalming and draining of blood from the body before the body is presented and put into a casket.

That way, you can look good after you die.

Horrifying Tuesday: Casu Marzu

2012-01-10T22:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to Horrifying Tuesday! Wasn't the lack of something horrifying for the past few weeks, purely horrifying? Thankfully, we've saved something that's especially terrifying for today. Speaking of terrifying, is there anything in the world worst than rotten, stinky, maggot-infested cheese? If your answer to that question goes along the lines of "Why yes, good sir. There is certainly nothing more disgruntling than a rotten roll of cheese", then you're going to love today's topic.

Article may/may not be related to apricots*

The Casu Marzu is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, that happens to have a extra "umfp" than your regular cheeses. While we've all heard of those "aged cheeses" that cost a few thousands dollars due to the hundreds of years worth of effort put into them. Casu Marzu takes "aging cheese" one step further by going beyond the typical fermentation stage, and goes into some crossroad between insanity, torture, and decomposition. How? Why? We'll explain.

The Casu Marzu brings about this "super-advanced" aging process by using the helpful assistance of the Fruit fly. To be more specific, the larvae of the Cheese fly. In order to establish the natural soft texture taste, the larvae of the Fruit fly are introduced to the cheese in order to break down the cheese's fats and therefore bringing it to the next level of ~~insanity~~ ~~decomposition~~ fermentation. Before we go any further, allow me to explain how it's fermented.

To start the process, a roll of Pecorino, a hard sheep milk cheese, is brought outside with some portions of the outer layer removed in order to allow the cheese fly to lay their juicy eggs onto the cheese. Shortly afterwards, the eggs hatch by the thousands and the larvae begin to crawl around the cheese, eating what they can to become the top-dog of the cheese roll. After some time, the acid from the maggots' digestive system would soften the texture of the cheese, rendering the texture from hard and brittle to soft and luscious. After the entire cheese is "processed" by these magnificent, 0.3 inch, white-translucent worms, the cheese is ready to be eaten.

Pictured: Percorino

When I said that the cheese was ready to be eaten, I wasn't kidding. At that point, you can grab the roll of cheese and eat it maggot and all. In fact, it's considered unsafe to be eaten if the maggots have died. To make the experience more enjoyable beyond the thought of eating thousands of 0.3 inch worms in cheese, these worms are known to throw themselves up to six inches into the air, when disturbed from their restful home. If you were trying to cut yourself a nice block of cheese, you'll have thousands of blurred lines jumping across your face, falling onto your hands and clothes as you attempt to enjoy yourself.

For more civilized people that enjoy a nice block of maggot-less cheese, it's possible to seal the cheese in a air-tight paper bag and wait until the worms die of oxygen. How that works is that the maggots will begin to jump out of the cheese, making a sound comparable to rain onto a tin roof, as they run out of oxygen. Once the tip-taps end, you can open the bag, brush off thousands of dead worms, and enjoy your cheese. Elegant, right?

Deliciousness at its finest.

If you choose to eat the larvae alive, you may find yourself with another predicament (considering that you've just eaten a block of cheese full of maggots) involving a parasitic relationship. If these Cheese fly larvae are eaten alive, they can usually pass through your digestive system relatively unharmed and live in your intestines for a undetermined amount of time. These larvae can eventually create severe intestinal lesions as they attempt to burrow through your intestine walls and fail. (Hopefully.) The result of these lesions are nausea, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and pain. Eventually, these larvae will come out of your stool, deal or alive.

Unsurprisingly, this cheese was originally banned due to some crazy "hygiene" regulation. Apparently, you can't serve cheese that's been left out for a few months with a few thousand maggots inside of it. Go figure. However, the ban was subsided when Casu marzu was declared a "traditional" food, and was therefore unaffected by normal regulations. So if you ever have a craving for some strong cheese, look no further than Casu Marzu.

6 Most Common Forms of Psychological Defense Mechanisms

2012-01-09T23:32:00.000-08:00

Hello! Welcome to 2012! A fresh start in a new year, right? It's as if all your past problems melted away along with your hopes for snow, right? Sadly, the world doesn't work that way, and your problems of yesteryear are still present. Speaking of problems, wouldn't it be awesome if your body had a way with dealing away all your problems and woes to protect your little virgin mind? Wouldn't that be fantastic? It sure would! Thankfully, we have them. Below, you'll find the 7 most common, most observed forms of psychological "defense mechanisms".

Projection

Projection is described as subconsciously denying something about yourself and projecting it onto someone or something else. In a way, projection assists a person by helping them avoid that icky feeling accompanied by self-failure or fault. An example of projection could be being extremely prejudice, but refusing to accept that you are by exclaiming that everyone around you is prejudice. Another example would be blaming your mom's unceasing ranting to be the reason you didn't/couldn't do your homework.

"Blame my mom, all my problems somehow root to her."

Regression

Regression is one of most "top-notch" defense mechanisms on this list. Regression is the short/long-term return to childish or immature behavior at the face of a difficult situation. Instead of facing and dealing with a difficult situation in a adult manner, the person may regress back into toddler years. Thankfully for me, we've all be guilty of this and therefore, examples are easy. An example of regression could be a teenager being refused a extension of curfew and reacting to it by screaming, crying, and throwing a tantrum. Another example would be telling your friend to "suck it" after being asked to borrow your car.

"You want my car, do you?!"

Repression

With almost no relation to regression, repression is the psychological attempt to hide/bury thoughts, feelings and memories in favor of favorable ones. Why think about that time you failed your final exam when you can think of beautiful hedgehogs on YouTube? In all seriousness, a boy that was molested as a child may eventually repress such memories and just "forget them".

Sometimes, these memories eventually re-surface and the victim is found re-faced with the old problems at a possible new light. (You could get a hypnoHowever, I must remind you all that it was extremely common for a repressed memory to have never occurred whatsoever. While our brains are one of the wonders of the modern universe, it's not that good at remembering what happened between leaving the uterus, to today. A simple example would be being abused as a child and never recalling the abuse as an adult.

"My biggest regret is not remembering the warmth my my mother's amniotic fluids."

Displacement

Displacement is the subconscious redirection or displacement of a negative entity that is seen as unacceptable to another entity that is seen as acceptable. Instead of putting your psychological anguish into something your head deems as unacceptable or even dangerous, it is into something that appears safer. A rudimentary example would be getting yelled at in work and in turn yelling at your roommates when you get home. While that example may seem "uncommon" for you super-mature mind of your own, displacement is actually extremely evident in everyday life. Another example of displacement could be punching your pillow or posting passive aggressive updates on your Facebooks as a way to deal with your "stress". Pumping that stress ball around is a clear-cut example of displacement.

Pictured: Displacement

Rationalization

Rationalization is the subconscious attempt to justify and/or explain a controversial behavior with the use of logic, in a futile attempt to avoid a true explanation. In laymen's terms, it's making excuses. An example of this would be stealing from your dad's wallet under the rationalization that your dad makes plenty of money and wouldn't miss a few bucks. This defense mechanism acts as a way to protect you from guilt, telling you that it's going to be alright, even if it's not. Another example would be telling yourself that you've earned the right to cut class since you've been to class every day that term. It's all in your head.

"I think answering this single truth or false question on my homework has earned me a cookie."

Reaction Formation

Reaction formation is possibly one of most interesting defense mechanisms on this list. Reaction formation is the subconscious process in which you act as if you were in the complete opposite position. An example of reaction formation would be going around and protesting animal abuse while abusing animals at home. With this defense mechanism, you can easily live with what you've been doing, by simply following your body's instinct. It might not be as uncommon for a actual homosexual to openly criticize other homosexuals in a subconscious way to help protect themselves from social outcasting, subconsciously. (Works consciously too!)

So if you think that you've gone completely insane after laughing at a funeral, "take comfort to know that it's one of your defense mechanisms." (Rationalization much?)

"I hate this guy."

These defense mechanisms aren't here to guide you to mature mind, but you protect you from yourself. Instead of facing possible personal anguish about murdering someone, you may repress it in order to deal with it. You may find yourself trying to rationalize cutting class, or dealing with your anxiety by jogging around a few blocks. At the end of the day, these mechanisms are made to throw a sheet over a fire while what's best for you is jumping straight through it.

An Argument Against Multitasking

2011-12-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

We're all busy people right? At the given opportunity, wouldn't it be better to hit two birds with one stone? To nail that upcoming final essay and build a sailboat with good ol' grandad? Of course! What could possibly go wrong with that? For one, you may find that both birds are only moderately injured and they come back with an avian army with a vengeance. Maybe you should have used two proper stones instead. Maybe six-ten stones to make sure they were dead would have been better.

Maybe calling your friends to bring their guns over would be a even better idea.

Recently, due to the technical buzz of the recent decade, people have found it more productive to do two, three things at once. But rather than support these self-destructive tendencies, we shall challenge them. Bluntly stated, multitasking is one of those things that accomplish the complete opposite of what you want to get done. The main idea of multitasking is getting the maximum amount of things done in a allotted amount of time. The problem is, you'll probably end up doing below your average levels of productivity by trying to do two or more tasks at once. Why? we'll tell you.

First off, you weren't multitasking in the first place; your brain simply cannot do two conscious tasks at the same time. In reality, your brain is actually doing one task and quickly transitioning to another so quickly that you cannot perceive it. When you're driving your car and texting on your phone, you're actually switching between texting and driving with the help of visual cues, (Such as bright headlights shining into your dashboard as you drive onto the wrong road) auditory cues, (Such as your phone ringing to alert you that somebody has responded to your hilarious comments) and other such cues from your various senses.

Maybe those cute owl pictures can wait until after you escape a high-speed pursuit by terrorists.

The problem with switching tasks back and forth is that your brain is forced to change its "thought context" constantly, which can make you more prone to mistakes and slow you down. Every time you switch from driving your car to texting, your brain has to re-establish what its doing and restart from where it left off. The more things you try to juggle at once, the less attention will be given at each individual tasks, which is where errors will begin to creep in. Along with the constant re-establishment and restart of the thought process, you'll rank up even more wasted time, in your effort to save time.

But hold on, aren't some people "really good" at multitasking? Aren't there people on this earth that can text six paragraphs, read a book, eat a banana, tie their shoes, and juggle two apples at the same time? Sure. The problem is, those people have trained their brains to switch thought contexts efficiently and quickly. While this is great for eating bananas and tying your shoes, a problem arrives when you're forced to concentrate on one large task alone, such as taking a major test in room with peering teachers.

So unless you tie shoes for a living, keep reading.

When one's trained brain is suddenly forced into a situation in which they are only allowed to concentrate on a single task, the person may/will find it difficult to concentrate due to the fact that they've condition their brains to spend only a few seconds on each task and to get ready to switch contexts at a moment's notice. This person may find themselves having difficulties concentrating as their brain constantly rings a little bell to start another task. Multitasking teaches you to do a bunch of tiny tasks at once, life requires concentrated attention and effort.

While this seems to only effect those tiny "once-in-a-lifetime" tests or activities, it actually effects your entire life. How? Multitasking conditions your brain to take as much information as you can, as fast as you can and move on. What happens as a result is the increased difficulty to analyze things beyond what they appear to be, in daily life. The constant tendency to skim information will make it more difficult to go beyond what's presented to you, which can prove useful to big business, people trying to lie to you, and omnipotent-striving governments. Without studying daily life in deeper depth, one may find themselves lacking in life and fail to mature beyond the basics what life has to offer.

Those teens and young adults that treasure their ability to multitask quickly, should think twice before accepting multitasking as a proper way of processing information. At the risk of wasting more time, doing things wrong more often, and decreasing your ability to concentrate and analyze information beyond normal capacity, is it really worth playing your favorite shooting game while writing your final?

You: "Yep."

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T23:12:00.000-08:00

Why, hello there again. As you know, it's the end of the year and almost the start of the new one. But strangely enough, I believe that this weekend happens to include both Christmas Eve and Christmas. A yearly commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ or another day to give gifts, sing songs, eat food, and love each other. Regardless of your reason for celebrating Christmas or even how you do it, it's one of those holidays meant to be enjoyed and remembered. Because of this, we wish you a Merry Christmas from this side of the internet, into your glowing computer screen.

On another note, we won't post any articles until the holiday is over on Monday. Why? Because Christmas is no time to be on the computer, reading strangely awesome articles from your neighborly blog, Skyakes. (Sadly enough.) Go and enjoy your weekend; we'll see you on Monday.

Merry Christmas,

Skyakes' Staff

3 Crazy Ways To Boost Your Immune System

2011-12-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

As you know, it's winter. Thanks to the support of corporate advertisements on the media, you also know that everybody gets sick during the winter and therefore you ~~should~~ must buy brand-named tissues with expensive lotion inside of them. Putting those lotion smeared napkins aside, nobody wants to get sick right? Of course! You're a busy guy/gal with things to do and people to see; you don't have time for a nasty cold to punch you in your face when you least expect it. Below, I'm going to give you three "out-of-this-world" methods of boosting your immune system.

Unless they find you beyond this world.

Get Sick More Often

Don't worry, that's no typo. If you want to boost your immune system, don't fall into the social-norm of avoiding as much microbes as possible. Instead, expose yourself to as many diseases (non-fatal ones, obviously) as possible, in order to build up your passive defense. Do you enjoy sanitizing your phones and door knobs every weekend? Of course not! Just don't do it and embrace the disease! It's like taking the disease head-on, to settle the score once and for all.

Depicted: Being weak-sauce.

How does it work? It's as simple as building passive immunity against diseases by allowing yourself to become sick in the first place. Chances are, you're eventually going to fall into the clutches of said disease at one point of your week/month/year/life. Why not take on the disease when your time schedule permits it, therefore allowing you to go to those business meetings meetings on vacation days. Rock on, buddy!

Because we know how much you love work.

Eat Your Nasty, Nasty Nasal Mucus

Hookey smackled pickles! Yeah, I'm being serious. Here's something you've probably never thought of before; why throw away your nasal excrement when you can eat it? While it may sound like a crazy, disgusting, idea, it can actually help you build a passive immunity comparable to a extremely small vaccine given by your doctor. Instead of going to the doctor's office every few months or so to get a horrific shot, you can simply transfer your nose mucus into your gaping mouth hole.

"Care to share some of those delicious nose fluids?"

How does it work? It works in the same manner of a vaccination, only slightly less effective. How a vaccine works is that it exposes you to dead or extremely weak microbes in an attempt for your body to easily destroy the already-weaken disease without a sweat, and thus creating passive immunity in preparation of when the real disease comes strolling by. Guess what's inside of your mucus? Millions of not billions of trapped, dead, or extremely weaken microbes. By simply eating mucus daily, you can expose yourself to thousands of diseases that are trapped in your mucus and slowly build passive immunity over them. (Due to the extremely small amounts in the mucus, it's not a overnight process.)

For more reasons to eat your mucus, please consult this article.

Get Enough Sleep

Woah, this must be the craziest idea on this entire list! Actually, without doing this simple task, any passive immunity you may build up, will be rendered useless. While you may be a busy man/woman with big ties and fancy suitcases, you won't be able to conduct much business if you're incapacitated by horrific diseases. The best thing is, it's as simple as getting a full night's rest.

This dog got the right idea.

How does it work? Sadly enough, one effect of sleep deprivation is a weaken immune system. Any passive immunity that you may have built up throughout your entire life would have been thrown away. You'll have the tools and weapons to combat the intruders, but your troops would be half-awake to do anything about them. Sleep helps regulate, re-coordinate, re-sensitize, and re-balances hormones responsible for keeping your immune system in healthy shape. (Along with hundreds of other things) If you have insufficient sleep, you might as well kiss your immune system good bye and roll in a bunch parasite-infested mud.

"Welcome back, friend."

3 Of The Worst Gifts Ever To Give On Christmas

2011-12-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

As you can probably deduce from your cheery surroundings, Christmas is almost here. It's about time to reach deep in your pockets and buy gifts for the people you most care about. But before you pull out those glass pencil holders, allow me to introduce to you, the four worst gifts to ever gift to anyone. (Unless you despise them secretly and you wish to act passive aggressive towards them.)

3. Trinkets At The 99-Cents Store

What's that? A shiny glass pencil holder that I'll probably never use? Gee, thanks, I'll certainly use it- for a week. One thing that people love buying for their friends, co-workers, and even families at last moment occasions are small-to-large, moderately cheap items they find at the local dollar store or grocery store. We've all seen these gifts; they range from pens/pencil holders, elaborate snow globes that are malformed, or even a dozen "business" pens that have ink equivalent to the amount of water on the sun.

Why do they suck? First things first, the fact that you picked up the gift from your local dollar store shows almost no effort in gift buying. Worst yet, the gifts usually cost next to nothing, usefulness equal to the cost, and physical quality striping any practical use of it. (If you can find any use for it in the first place.)

This, is a fire truck.

2. "Funny" Novelty Gifts

Don't we all have those friends that love practical jokes, and give people "fun" novelty gifts on the holidays for pokes and giggles? Sure you do. But despite the awkward laugh at the initial opening of the gift, that shirt with a sexual orientated joke will probably end up in the bottom drawers or in the garbage.

Why do they suck? Because they're darn embarrassing. When would I ever need to wear a shirt that pokes jokes about my parent's sexual preference for the entire world to see? Other than a few courtesy laughs at the start, these gifts are generally beyond the capacity of normal/daily use and can potentially hit the levels of offensive.

This White-faced Saki just saw your shirt and is now mildly disapproves of you.

1. Suggestive Gifts

Haven't we all been given gifts that point out flaws about our physical and psychological person, and suggests that we fix it or deal with it? Gifts such as stress balls, electronic bathroom scales, self-help books/DVDs, and even subscriptions to weight-loss programs all communicate to the recipient that they have problems.

Why do they suck? Because despite how helpful they may be to the person, the person may/will feel that the gift is a blunt way of saying that they need to lose weight. (If they DO need to lose weight, a private conversation could help just the same) Better yet, the gift giving is usually done publicly and the suggestion of such, is thus publicly implied. (Which is rarely appreciated).

I got you these chattering teeth to suggestively mock society and its current turning point towards becoming indifferent of modern struggles with inaction. Hahahaha, no. I got these to point out how yellow your teeth are. -insert smug smile-

How To Survive a Long Fall

2011-12-15T23:16:00.000-08:00

Haven't we all wondered what we would do in the worst case scenario of falling from a ten-story-building or plane? Of course you have, those horrifying nightmares of falling into the deep abyss, shortly before waking up and grabbing your bed in sheer terror have taught you better. But before you turn away and exclaim that surviving a ten-story fall is impossible, allow me to point out the hundreds of people that have survived even greater falls, after falling in a specific manner. (Both intentionally, and unintentionally.) So the next time you're standing six floors above the ground, remember these steps.

It'll be like this, but the smiles and excitement would be replaced by death.

1. Slow down your fall

Considering that earth's acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s^2, you might want to consider slowing down your fall. But it obviously can't be as easy as snapping your heels together and expecting to find yourself in a luscious green forest alone. Actually, it can. All you need to do (and can do) is attempt to increase your surface area in order to allow good ol' air resistance to work its magic.

All you need to do is to spread yourself out, stomach facing the earth, head and legs reaching for the skies, arms outstretched, elbows and knees slightly bent, and you're as good as gold. You may have seen this position in the thousands of movies that have included sky diving, the difference is, you don't have a parachute. You can actually shave off up to 80 mph off your speed as you reach terminal velocity if you stay in this position instead of going head/feet down.

So, no. They don't do this to simply look lame.

However this step only applies to you if you're certain that you have 30 seconds or more of air time otherwise, you'll just end up landing in a awkward position.

Also: While you're anticipating impact, find a nice place to land

If all you see below you are large slabs of cement, you can attempt to direct your body towards another direction. As you can probably guess, hard, rough surfaces are possibly the worst places you can land. Look for long slopes or soft surfaces that can help absorb some of the force. Also, remember that when you're trying to move around, don't act like you're swimming in water; staying in the position described above, simply twist your body towards the direction you wish to go, like a plane or bird.

Did you know: If you fall from an airplane, you can get up to three minutes of fall time, which can give you a few miles of turning space before you hit the ground.

2. Land on your feet

Once the ground begins to envelope you in its grey and green blurring shades, you can be 94% sure that's about time to land. Of course it's pretty clear that you can't simply land in any position you deem most comfortable.Thankfully, it's as easy as landing on your feet.

I now feel six times more comfortable falling out of a plane.

When you're about to land, simply turn upright, put your feet side-by-side, (to avoid landing on only one foot) and point your toes slightly down to absorb more of the fall into your balls of your feet. Remember to only do this when you're ready for impact, since doing it before hand will give you a smaller surface area and make you become a speeding needle through the air. However, remember that when you're falling, you're going pretty fast; when you're about 1,000 feet from the ground, it can take up to ten seconds to reach the ground.

Also: If possible, roll.

If you find yourself impacting the ground, and you suddenly feel an inclination to roll like in the games and movies, do it. It works. By rolling, you can push the force throughout your entire body, effectively weakening it for every second of awesome rolling you do.

3. Relax.

One of the most important thing you can do is, relax. Relaxing will give you the best chances of survival to opposed to tightening your muscles and embracing impact. Why? Because by tightening your muscles, the force of the fall is placed more so on your inner organs than your muscles; think of it as an egg inside a cement shoe. Unless you can tighten your internal organs as hard as you can clench your arms against your chest in a desperate scream, try embracing the self-realizations of imminent death.

Assume relaxing positions!

Studies have shown that people generally suffer from less injuries from long falls after reportedly "relaxing".

4. If you bounce, protect your head

Believe it or not, but there have been cases of people actually surviving the initial long-fall and ending up losing the game after the bounce. Bounce you say? After impacting the ground, you might find that the earth will re-propel you back into the air if you've fallen high enough. If you find yourself back in the air after falling, be sure to protect your head by interlocking your fingers behind your head with your elbows forward.(Just a suggestion, there may be other methods) Failing to do so can increase your chances of dying an unfortunate death after surviving a seven-story-drop, only to snap your neck on a misplaced soda bottle.

Curses!

Horrifying Tuesday : Antlion

2011-12-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the week again, Horrifying Tuesday. Today, we're going to talk about a creature that brings your sand-dune-sink-hole nightmares to a reality. (On a miniature scale of course.) Allow me to introduce you to the Antlion or better known as, the "doodlebug" due to the mysterious marks it leaves behind in the sand. (Which happens to resemble doodles in the sand by young child)

These lines must indicate that young-hearted fiends are nearby!

With no relation to the Antlion in the Half-Life series, these creatures are well known for their sand pit traps which comprise of capturing small, unsuspecting creatures in a rapidly decaying pits. It all starts with a humble-sized larva and its basic instinct in the big, bad world. The larva would dig a pit into the sand about 2 inches deep and 3 inches wide at the edge, creating a downward-facing cone shape in the sand. (Unless they manage to bend the laws of physics and make the sand particles stand with magic.)

Luckily for you, these are the video game versions.

In order to build such magical pits, they would mark out a specific area in the sand, begin crawling backwards and use its "stomach" to push dirt and sand out of the hole as it sinks down. Using one of its front legs to push heaps of sand onto is head and with a quick jerk to throw the sand aside, the Antlion slowly spins 'round and 'round until the slope angle of the pit reaches the steepest angle the sand can maintain without collapsing. When the Antlion is done and satisfied with his new nifty trap, he'll sit in the bottom with only his jaws exposed and wait for his next prey.

"These gas prices are outrageous!" - Attempt to gain your trust

Any small creature unfortunate enough to find themselves at the edge of one of these traps will find themselves tumbling down the cone as the walls of sand collapses around them. If the poor creature manages to grab hold on one of the sides of the pit, the Antlion has a clear-cut solution in which he'll throw sand at the terrified creature until they lose footing or until the walls of the pit collapses, bringing the delicious, delectable prey into the Antlion's gaping jaws.

After the unspecified creature finds themselves at the teeth of the Antlion, they can expect a death that's beyond non-heroic. The Antlion larvae will use its jaws to chomp onto the prey and effectively suck all the fluids out of the victim before flicking the spent carcass into the warm sand above-- not a particularly glamorous death. The process begins again when the Antlion cleans out the collapsed pit and re-steepens the walls for the next meal. Obviously, you wouldn't want your little spider babies to know that you died in this terrifying manner.

Unless you've got a thing for this sorta stuff.

Okay, I'll admit it here, this animal won't really change the way you live in the next five seconds. However, it'll give you another story to tell the girls at the club so that they'll ignore the fact that you're empty inside.

This shallow stream is the physical manifestation of your personality. Just so you know.

4 Of The Most Annoying Facebook Posts

2011-12-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

Chances are, you live in the 21st century, and if you do, you've probably heard of this website called Facebook. (If you haven't, it's a a wonderful marketplace for selling pastries and popsicles. You should check it out.) Inside of this website, it is likely to find millions of little devious creatures of the night that scratch comments onto mystical contraptions called "walls". Today, we're going to discuss the top four most annoying Facebook posts that are commonly seen in modern culture.

4. Passive Aggressive Posts

We can usually observe these activities among the weaker portion of the species. (Although all members are still susceptible) Late at night, often exhausted and beyond the normal capacity of logic and reason, these lifeforms fall into the perfect conditions needed to strike their foes passively with little to no shame or regret. Through extremely vague terminology, analogies, quotes, poems, we can easily discern the difference between these passive aggressive passages towards unknown individuals and everyday articles from mom and pop. Here are some examples:

"wtf. i wish he would just leave my life 4ever."
"go shoot yourself."
"i saw her with him again today. if only i had a car........ rofl jk........... 6_6"

3. Self-Glamouring Philosophical Posts

In this modern culture, many people find themselves inclined to express newly-found philosophical ideas and concepts, ten seconds after discovering them. One possible reason for this exemplified enlightenment might root from the individual's need to spread their self-deemed, "highly advanced"
trail of thought, in order to impress the peers of their species and show off their mental and emotional maturity.

The problem with these posts is that most people who write these comments usually write a cliche single sentences, exclaiming their deeply philosophical conclusion without any background, which provides a unpalatable backdrop which often causes people to disregard the comment. People who do provide background, often go into paragraph rants that don't come together into a coherent point.

"Sometimes, life is like a box of apple sauce, you always know what you're going to get."

Along with the egotistical purpose of the post, the best thing you can do for yourself is to keep the philosophical discoveries to yourself until you truly understand, interpret them, and apply them.(Not in the first 5 hour time-slot in which all you want to do is rant about the topic.) Who said individual growth isn't cool? Here are some examples:

"Life has no meaning"
"Life is like race, you just gotta keep pushing. rofl cats."
"sometimes, u gotta let him go so that you can move on with ur life"
"even if life pushes you down, the only thing you can do is dust yourself off and get back up. am I cool now? lol"

2. "Facebook is Twitter" Posts

Other members of this mystical society feel the need to treat their intangible "wall" as a personal literary outlet of physical action and/or other emotional situations. The result are hundreds of endlessly pointless posts detailing small actions and thoughts that are meaningless (or rather, valueless) to everybody who isn't the original poster. Even if they do make sense however, the multitude of the situation is so large that the result is comparable to the lesson learned the the fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Here are some examples:

"lol, I'm going to go pee."
"wtf, I just tripped on my shoe laces xd!"
"I think im going to sleep now"
"work r so boring!"
"OMG. I WAITED FOR THIS TRAIN FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES. OBVIOUSLY, SOMETHING CATASTROPHIC HAS OCCURRED. ohlol, the train is here, kthxbai."
"If you think about it, particles exhibit both properties of physical particles AND waves. rofl, my cat just tripped over! LAMO."

1. Facebook Application Advertisement Posts

Some people of this cyber community have discovered the gaming portion of the "Facebook" website. Both sexes may generally play these games to past the time, which is no problem alone. However, most of the games require the player to inadvertently advertise the game to their friends with computer generated posts that attempt to gain one's interest with quotes that suggest you play a specific game otherwise risking horrible intangible events.

"I didn't buy my non-existent puppy a picture of a sofa that doesn't really exist! How do I sleep at night!?"

The problem is most evident in those that play these games and use their virtual database of friends to blast such blasphemous advertisements to their friends daily. The equivalent would be sharing a room with a friend, and coming home to hundreds of stuffed Coca Cola bears that cry unless you buy a soda. (It would be fair if you don't get the metaphor, it doesn't happen to everyone everyday)

"John just found a lost puppy! Will you take care of this puppy? If you don't, he'll be put down! Can you live with that? How do you sleep at night?"
"Join Sarah in MobsterFights2.0 and build the biggest crime empire that the world will ever see!"

Horrifying Wednesday : Blowfish (Fugu)

2011-12-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

We've all heard of the legendary Fugu pufferfish, one of the world's most poisonous fish that people actually consume without being severely beaten and threaten first. Why's that? Because almost the entire fish is toxic and will murder you horribly. Now, without further ado, I present you the Fugu.

"I do not respect you." - Fugu

In Japanese, "Fugu" literally means "river pig" and is commonly used to refer to the "pufferfish" in general. This fish is well known for it's lethal neurotoxins that can kill you in the worst way possible. So if neurotoxin didn't quite scare you off yet, hopefully death by asphyxiation will. If digested, the toxin will paralyze muscles, and muscles only. What this means is that you'll remain perfectly conscious throughout the entire process before you die. The method in which you will die is simply put, suffocating in air.

When I said that the toxin will paralyze you, I wasn't talking about that awesome buzz you get from drinking, I'm talking about every single muscle in your entire body, including your lungs and heart. Eventually, your body will be unable to provide enough oxygen to the body from both inadequate oxygen intake by your lungs, and inefficient oxygen distribution via. heart. So while you won't feel a thing, you'll practically fall into a motionless, immovable sack of flesh as you slowly black out as you watch everyone scream in panic and point at you. For this same reason, Fugu is the only food that is officially forbidden for the Emperor of Japan for his own safety and was banned in multiple time periods in Japan and currently banned in the European Union.

Such deliciousness!

There is no known antidote and the only treatment is emptying the stomach as soon as possible to stop toxin intake, feeding the victim activated charcoal to absorb remaining toxins in your stomach, and putting the person into life support until the toxin wears off. So unless you decide to eat Fugu with a bunch of life support machines, charcoal, and tongue suppressors, maybe you should reconsider that bet with Uncle John.

Why don't you play something you have a better chance at winning? Like the lottery?

If you ever decide to eat this food however, you can thank society for the strict regulations that they put in both fishing and preparing the food. Every chef that works with Fugu must have a specific license to prepare and sell fugu to the public. In order to get it, they must join a 2-3 year apprenticeship and eventually take an examination that involves a written test, a fish-identification test, and an actual practical test in which they must prepare and eat the fish. Just so you know, not your average Joe can get these licenses, only about 35% of the applications pass and get their license. Think of fugu as ten landmines strapped together with a bit of crab meat twisted around in the center.

If you ever decide to eat fugu, be prepared to dish out the big bucks. You can easily pay from $20 to $200 for a single dish.

Alternatively.

3 Effects Of Sleep Deprivation - Why You Should Sleep Earlier

2011-12-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

When was the last time you've had a full 8 hours of sleep? Last night?! Well never mind then mister "I sleep a healthy average of hours deemed healthy by doctors around the world", obviously you're too good for us everyday Jills and Jims. For everybody else in the world, we probably sleep a little less than what doctors recommend, which is 10 hours for children, 9 hours for teenagers, and about 7-8 hours for adults. But what's the harm, right? What's the worst that could happen?

You could spontaneously combust. There's food for thought.

3. Weaken Immune System

Remember your good ol' immune system? How it would take care of you day and night, ensuring that parasites, viruses, bacteria, and fungi don't simply march into your body and start decomposing you while you're still alive? Well, regardless of how many vitamins and exercises you eat or do, (Surely, you don't exercise vitamins) your body can still become susceptible to disease by simple things you fail to do daily. Ranging from basic hygiene to your mind-set, your conscious and unconscious mind can play a big role in the physiology of your working, functioning body.

One sure-fire way to weaken your immune system is to deprive your body of sleep. Instead of allowing your body to re-build it's natural defenses and fight the evils of the world another day, you can sit around on your computer all day and slowly destroy your immune system. The result is as obvious as for any weaken immune system; you'll find yourself contracting diseases more often and that the diseases last much longer in your body due to your body's inability to fight the disease quickly and effectively. Sounds like fun, sign me up.

Congratulations, you are now a proud owner of a weaken immune system.

2. Memory Loss

Hah! Heard of this before, right?! Regardless of what you've already heard about this type of memory lost in the past, there are actually much more severe ramifications of avoiding or losing sleep. What most people don't pay attention to is the sleep-associated shriveling of one's ability to store information from the past day. Of course, this doesn't just mean that you'll forget about that TV show you watched during dinner, it also means that you might forget important information such as school/work notes, social interactions, and even plans. Did you touch fire and learn that it was bad for your health? Well too bad, you forgot.

The thing is, anything that you've learned in your everyday life is consolidated, organized, and moved from your short-term memory, to your long-term memory while you sleep. Without enough sleep, you would only be able to recall small details from your past day, making your life slightly more insignificant due to the wasted day. Along with that, your long-term memory itself will suffer, thus making it harder to recall memories from your past, which can not only make it difficult to recall that time you did that crazy back flip in the park, but make it more difficult to create judgement based on past knowledge. (If you learned that a extremely racist and violent gang lives ten streets down of your block, you may find yourself wandering down those same steps that you took ten months ago before your legs were broken by steel pipes.)

Unless you establish extremely convincing signs along the way to remind you.

1. Decreased Cognitive Ability

Including the normal drowsiness that you get after a night of partying, your brain will experience decreased cognitive potential during the period of exhaustion. One thing that happens during sleep is the revitalization and re-sensitization of your neuro-receptors/transmitters during you period of rest. An example of this in action would be the tenth surprisingly short buzz you get from the tenth redbull you down in a night. Of course, a more serious example would be the difficulty to "feel" emotional satisfaction and well-being due to the decreasing sensitivity of all your active neuro-receptors that need a break. (Due to the inability for the neuro-receptors to effectively and productively perceive the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is known to be responsible for your sense of well-being, happiness, drive and even motivation, you may find a slight change in personality.)

Along with the voices in your head telling you to give up, sleep deprivation will by no doubt make it harder for you to concentrate and evaluate situations. Almost 250,000 accidents every year are related to sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine even recommend exhausted drivers to pull over and take a 15-20 minute nap to help alleviate their drowsiness as needed. Some studies have suggested that driving beyond 21 hours of sleep is equal to driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08, the legal limit in the United Sates, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Even if you've got 290 IQ, your body probably won't cooperate with you long enough to to win a Nobel Peace Prize under a day's time. Sorry.

Pictured: "=("

Fun Fact: Some studies have suggested a link between sleep deprivation and Alzheimer's. [Link Here]

4 Common Forms of Gang Initiations

2011-12-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

Since the humble beginnings of mankind's need to group together and mankind's need to join such groups, people have created some form of "rite of passage" to test a individual's loyalty and willingness to abide by the group's code of ethics and rules. On the other hand, you get to make people do ridiculous things that you can all laugh about a few weeks later. Thankfully for gangs, they won't ask you to do "ridiculous" tasks such as wearing underwear on your head for the next two weeks; they'll expect you to accomplish big tasks or endure large challenges in order to earn lifetime membership of said gang. Four common gang initiations are listed below.

If only it was as easy as this.

4. Beat Down

The most common form of gang initiation is one you would expect from these type of people. In order to prove yourself as worthy to be in said gang, you must endure getting beat up by either a specific large individual, or the entire gang itself. I'm not talking about a little "middle-school" round of bloody knuckles either, you could (will) be thrown against the ground, jumped on repeatedly, smashed in the face a hundred times, kicked in the privates another hundred times, and punched in the gut all while people hold you down and restrain you. (Some gangs may even use weapons such as baseball bats)

Some more recent gangs have resorted to even more barbaric initiations.

If you're lucky, you could expect a couple bruises on your face and back along with a few scrapes and cuts on your legs. In other cases, you could be beaten to the point of permanent psychological and/or physical damage. Worst yet, some people have been known to die from such initiations.

Alterations have been made of this initiations such as receiving a single semi-fatal blow into the sternum, being forced to fight and beat your future gang "amigos", fighting your way out of a circling group of pain and even picking up randomly dispersed pennies off the ground as you push through a crowd of gang members trying to beat your eyes out of their sockets.

3. "Blood In"

There's a common phrase in the social structure of gangs, "blood in, blood out". What this means is that it requires "blood" or murder to get into the gang, and your "blood" to get out of the gang. In other words, kill someone to get into the gang and if you try to leave the gang, they kill you. Almost nothing else says "hey, I'm a loyal, well-committed guy" than murdering someone for the right to enter such gang, which is why "blood in" such a common gang initiation.

It's so common that they have books written about it!

If you are to join a gang by the "blood in" initiation, you might be given a target ranging from an innocent bystander across the street from where you live, to a police officer. It doesn't matter how "high-profile" the target may be, you must finish the job using any means necessary, in order to get in. Obviously if you fail and are caught in the act, you'll find yourself a new group of friends in your cozy jail cell.

2. Jacked in

Instead of having to fight or kill someone, they may ask you to steal a valuable trophy item or even commit petty theft as the cost of joining said gang. You must literally "jack" the assigned item and return it without six police helicopters behind you, and you're as good as in. This is commonly depicted in TV shows and movies since it's one of the most "innocent" crimes you can commit as a minor, and can easily lead the protagonist to convenient capture, and life-changing realizations of moral values and almost instantaneous acceptance and satisfaction of life.

"Thanks to the power of gangs, my life is now full of fulfillment and content!"

1. "Sexed-in"

This initiation is most common among female candidates. Since nobody has the guts to beat a "girl", (I mean, their parents must have taught them better than that!) they'll force you into sexual relations with multiple gang members in order to get accepted into the gang. Sometimes, to test your guts, they'll force you to have sexual relations with someone that is HIV-positive or some other sexually transmitted disease, just to see if you're willing to give up your body for the sake of the gang.

All I can say is that it'll be a lot less artistic than this picture.

Horrifying Tuesday: The Mantis Shrimp

2011-11-29T22:17:00.000-08:00

The Mantis Shrimp is possibly one of the most innovative creatures of the ocean due to its cleverness and undeniably powerful jabs. If you thought that you were a good boxer, wait until you meet this little guy and get introduced to a whole new world of pain. But how could a small marine crustacean pose any threat to your masculinity? It may or may not be related to the fact that they're common referred as "sea locusts" and "thumb splitters".

"Why hello there, my good man!" - The Mantis Shrimp

To emphasize how hardcore these creatures are, the Mantis Shrimp are commonly placed into two different groups depending on which type of claw they have. There are "Spearers" which have spiky appendages with barbed tips, which are used to rapidly stab and break prey. The other group is called "Smashers" which have their appendages in a blunter form which gives them a more developed club that can be used to smash their victims apart like a hammer, while making their stabbing less effective as a result. But you can't win them all, right?

But despite only having a "spear" or a "club", these creatures are capable of taking on and killing much larger victims with these rudimentary weapons. They are commonly known for their unbelievable quickness in both spear and club, capable of firing a single jab/smash at the same acceleration of a .22 caliber bullet. Their lunging punch can be shot at their prey with an acceleration of nearly 335,000 ft/s^2. What does this all mean? It means that by the time you finish your first punch, this little guy would probably be starting dinner.

"Would you like a plate? I've made way too much for my own appetite." - The Mantis Shrimp

Their strikes are considered so quick, that they create a "cavitation bubble" between their fist and their prey. These bubbles add an additional 1,500 newtons to the strike, shortly after the initial smash/jab. What this means is that they can hit you twice, with a single strike. Even if the first strike misses the target, the shockwave from the bubbles can still stun or kill the prey; these aren't those little bubbles you used blow in the blissful summer air of your childhood.

But as everyone knows, speed isn't everything. Even if you're firing a million shots every two seconds at someone, if each shot were to be equal to a gentle breeze in a lazy summer afternoon, you'll probably lose the fight. Thankfully for the Mantis Shrimp, their "spears" and "clubs" are easily capable of smashing/destroying shells of snails, crabs, and even rock oysters. Some larger members of the Mantis Shrimp species have been known to be able to break through aquarium glass with a single strike from either club or spear. So yeah, they can probably crush your toes and fingers without breaking a sweat.

Pictured: You After One Punch

To make things ten times better, they are known to have the most complex eyes in the entire animal kingdom; allowing them to pick out their prey out of the dark and muddy ocean, while distinguishing the difference between prey and foe. It goes as far as perceiving both polarized light and hyperspectral light. (Light that you and I cannot perceive.) Some people have suggested that the reason for such advanced eyesight is that their hunting requires extremely pin-point information about their surroundings in order to avoid them from randomly stabbing at seaweed until they die of starvation.

Their advanced eye-sight doesn't stand alone though, they've been known to show complex behavior that is usually unheard of in such a small species. They are capable of learning, remembering and recognizing individuals that they see often. It goes as far as recognizing other animals/objects from visual cues and even smell. Other Mantis Shrimp have been recorded using florescent patterns on their bodies to easily identify their own group from others.

A majority of these Mantis Shrimp have gone as far as developing advanced social behavior to defend their space from enemy species and other hostile Mantis Shrimp. Unlike thousands or millions of other species both larger and smaller than the Mantis Shrimp around the world, they are capable of bonding into long-term relationships with a single partner for up to twenty years. (Most species that mate usually find hundreds of other mates to spread their gene pool.) They'll share the same burrow, coordinate their activities, and keep a watchful eye on their eggs together. In other cases, the female looks after the eggs while the males goes on to hunt for the both of them. Sounds like they can hold a better relationship than most people can in their lifetime.

But the problem is, 99% of crustaceans don't do 3/4s of the things that the Mantis Shrimp can/will do. While they can wait for their prey to simply float down to their coves like their crustacean kin, they can/will hunt, chase, and destroy any prey they deem delicious.

Either that or they'll come up with some elaborate dance to convince you to insert yourself into it's mouth.

Did You Know: Mantis Shrimps are not "shrimp" or praying mantis. Their name is only derived from the fact that the creature closely resembles both of the species, nothing more.