The 22nd of July 2007, a day which on my side, witnessed me experiencing both the extremes ends in the switch of fortunes. In the morning, Nickie and I visited the US Education fair at which I was glad to be able to pick out another two potential universities for me to attend next fall. Namely, Purdue and Michigan Ann Arbor. Both ranked number 2 and 3 in the USA for Aerospace Engineering and with slightly competitive fees. On top of that, while visiting the Embry-Riddle booth to get some help with my application form, one of their staff, Kimberly Carly did me a very sweet favour in the form of not only waiving my application fee which is around USD 50, she also giving me a discount of 1000 USD per year off my potential college fee.
Then the evening proceeded well. But not well enough for me because I was uncharacteristically lazy. I did not reach my goals of completing certain things and this obviously leaves me with a very high and steep mountain to climb tomorrow.
Apart from that, I am really considering pulling out of the debate team. I know that this might already be close to the eleventh hour, but considering that I have more important priorities, and also a certain form of drawback, it would ultimately be wise to pull out of the championships which is this Saturday. But the problem is, if I were to quit, I would not only disappoint my lecturers, but also my team mates who are really counting on me to make an impression which I am dead sure I will never make. I want to do the right thing, but I also don't want to have to regret my decision in the future. There is only so much which I can accept, there is only so much which I can give. But the problem is, how do you become selfish and selfless at the same time without displeasing anyone?
Then at around about 7.45 PM, things started to go horribly wrong for me. Yes, the Nuerburgring race, despite it having the most dramatic starts in over 30 years of Formula 1, as some would call it, proved to be once again, as some would call it, the undoing of Kimi Raikkonen's 2007 title hopes. But I refuse to believe so and I will stick by him till the chequered flag is waved at the final race of the season.
First, Kimi started on pole. But halfway through the first lap, it started to rain, creating all sorts of mayhem. So, to solve this Kimi attempted to go to the pits for a change of wet weathered tyres. But unfortunately he missed the pit entrance due to to excessive speed, which forced him to go around the entire lap, once more on dry tyres. And then, as soon as he got out, the race was halted a few laps later due to excessive rai, which had already caused quite a few cars to literraly aquaplane of the absurdly slippery asphalt. This of course left Kimi in 7th place which was where he started from at the restart. All was well and fine with Kimi ending up in third place right behind Alons's Mclaren after a couple of laps. Then, at lap 36, disaster struck, right after crossing the start finish line, Kimi's car started to slow down and retired just before the pit entrance. The cause? Hydraulics faliure. At that point, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was absolutely exasperated. But considering that I am little more than a spectator behind the television set, there really was absolutely nothing which I could do to remedy the situation. Heck, even the mechanics could only look on in disbelief. Though the points gap between Kimi and Lewis still remained at 18, but it is the significant increase in points which were collected by Alonso and Massa that now needs worrying about. Nine more races left, a maximum of ninety points remain. Who will win the world championship this time around? Only time will tell.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Truth
If you know something, then you believe that that something is something, but you cannot say that you know that something unless that something is true. Because, for that something to be true, it has to have warrantability. What this means is that knowledge implies belief, but belief does not imply knowledge. Therefore knowledge is warranted, true belief.
The warrantability of truth is necessary for us to carry our everyday activities. For example, there are four types of warrantability which are the logical warrantability, semantic warrantability, systemic warrantability and lastly, empirical warrantabilty. Each of them reffering to their own ranch of how to explain truth.
There are three theories of truth. The first one is the Correspondence Theory which suggests that the truth is an agreement between a proposition and a fact. The second theory which is the Coherent Theory suggests that the truth is a property of a group of consistent statements if put together and argued with proper evidence, will become a truth. The third and last theroy which is the Pragmatic Theory suggests that the truth is only a truth if it effectively solves a practical problem which experientially satisfies us.
The warrantability of truth is necessary for us to carry our everyday activities. For example, there are four types of warrantability which are the logical warrantability, semantic warrantability, systemic warrantability and lastly, empirical warrantabilty. Each of them reffering to their own ranch of how to explain truth.
There are three theories of truth. The first one is the Correspondence Theory which suggests that the truth is an agreement between a proposition and a fact. The second theory which is the Coherent Theory suggests that the truth is a property of a group of consistent statements if put together and argued with proper evidence, will become a truth. The third and last theroy which is the Pragmatic Theory suggests that the truth is only a truth if it effectively solves a practical problem which experientially satisfies us.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Kimi
One more fight this week, and he will close the gap by a significant margin. But lets just hope that Lewis will not finish on the podium. Kimi must win and thats all would matter this weekend.
Windy Skies
At the dining table he sat, staring straight at his computer. Yellow lights emmiting from the mellow spinning ceiling fan. Giving him light as well as wind for the night outside is rather windy and showing signs of rain. He had just been invited by an old friend of his to one of her events. He pondered about it, wanting to attend it, at the same time wishing that he could spend the saturday night in the warm comfort of his dwelling instead. He smiled while shaking his head. Afterall, an invitation should never be turned down, but then again, I guess that we should all leave him to ponder about it. He had more important thoughts on his mind.
On the dining table lay strew all his books and bag which he had taken to college during the day. Beside them lay the newspaper which he had just read while having his dinner. Dinner that he remained thankful for, but never satisfied. He never was for when it came to him, food had to be perfect. But then again, he would be better off having a distasteful dinner rather than going all night on an empty stomach.
Then, while typing, he scanned the dining table to see what was on it. Beside the neatly stacked newspaper, lied his camera. His one possesion that has allowed him to capture so many moments of his life. His one possesion which he would never give up.
Earlier, he had wanted to take pictures of the night sky. Skies which were producing powerful gusts of winds and whose clouds were filled with lightning. But unfortunately, after a few pictures, the batteries on his camere died. Leaving him rather frustrated. So, he decided to get back to his laptop and continue to type on it.
At the dining table, lay his books and bags. In it were three different types of homework for him to do. His final exams are less than a month away. He wishes to do it, but he doesnt want to. He just wants to sit at the dining table and type. Somehow, whatever sense of urgency he had inherited during the day are now nothing more than distant memories.
Its been almost an hour now, he is still at the dinner table, unable to finish what he started. The skies are no longer windy,the clouds have dissipated, the rain never materializing, his dad is at the dinner table reading the newspapers while having his dinner. He no longer feels alone and whatever sense of privacy he had is all gone now.
But I guess that it doesn't come as much of a surprise to him. That has always been him. A person who would do just fine in solitary confinement. A person who appreciates and enjoys the pleasures of being alone in his own world. A world where there is only him and no one else. Just like the pictures of the night skies which he wishes to take, he is that.
On the dining table lay strew all his books and bag which he had taken to college during the day. Beside them lay the newspaper which he had just read while having his dinner. Dinner that he remained thankful for, but never satisfied. He never was for when it came to him, food had to be perfect. But then again, he would be better off having a distasteful dinner rather than going all night on an empty stomach.
Then, while typing, he scanned the dining table to see what was on it. Beside the neatly stacked newspaper, lied his camera. His one possesion that has allowed him to capture so many moments of his life. His one possesion which he would never give up.
Earlier, he had wanted to take pictures of the night sky. Skies which were producing powerful gusts of winds and whose clouds were filled with lightning. But unfortunately, after a few pictures, the batteries on his camere died. Leaving him rather frustrated. So, he decided to get back to his laptop and continue to type on it.
At the dining table, lay his books and bags. In it were three different types of homework for him to do. His final exams are less than a month away. He wishes to do it, but he doesnt want to. He just wants to sit at the dining table and type. Somehow, whatever sense of urgency he had inherited during the day are now nothing more than distant memories.
Its been almost an hour now, he is still at the dinner table, unable to finish what he started. The skies are no longer windy,the clouds have dissipated, the rain never materializing, his dad is at the dinner table reading the newspapers while having his dinner. He no longer feels alone and whatever sense of privacy he had is all gone now.
But I guess that it doesn't come as much of a surprise to him. That has always been him. A person who would do just fine in solitary confinement. A person who appreciates and enjoys the pleasures of being alone in his own world. A world where there is only him and no one else. Just like the pictures of the night skies which he wishes to take, he is that.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
How Low Their Levels
It is of my opinion that all men and women have brains in order to perfect the quest of not only seeking knowledge and making the world a better place to live in, but to also fulfill their moral obligation of using their brains to develop themselves intellectually. But lately, in a country which I live in and also in a few places in and around the world, a certain bunch of people have indeed been using their brains to the contrary of the statement which I have just described. Though I do get irked by people who display such manner, I rarely make it a point to grumble and get very angry about it. But what happened today set me of like a volcano.
When I first signed up for the American Programme, I was full of hope that I would now be able to have lecturers who were at the very least intellectual and well presented. To be honest, I have had and still am having many great, excellent lecturers. But unfortunately, like all beautiful fruit baskets, there has to be that one bad apple. And that bad apple allowed for something that I will never approve to happen under the circumstances in which it sadly did.
Today, we were practicing for our impromptu presentation which will happen next week. So, what the lecturer did was to assign the class into four groups, make them sit on four opposing of the classroom and then have the members of that group decide a topic for the group sitting directly opposite them. After which the members in the opposing team would be given five minutesto prepare a five minute presentation. Sounds fair? To me it does, so far. But what happens when you find out that the topic assigned to you is something so ridiculous and at the very least quite personal to the female gender? A topic which even I am quite embarresed to write about. What happens when no matter how hard you protest, the person who is administrating this practice allows for such an issue to be presented? What happens when that administrator reprimands you for the inability to gather any thoughts at all on that given subject? Best of all, what would happen if that person goes on to say that it is okay for such a topic to be presented and that everybody should have perfect knowledge about it? What if that person were a woman for god's sake? How would you feel?
Well, that was what happened to me. I stood right in front of the class unable to even start the topic off. Not that I didn't know anything about it but, I just wasn't ready to speak about it. And therefore, I refused to talk about it. I just went up there, scanned the class and went back to my seat. Everybody wa staring at me. Of course, she reprimanded me for that, but the one thing which made me proud was that I stood my ground and said no when I had to. I for one, will never allow myself to sound stupid.
When I first signed up for the American Programme, I was full of hope that I would now be able to have lecturers who were at the very least intellectual and well presented. To be honest, I have had and still am having many great, excellent lecturers. But unfortunately, like all beautiful fruit baskets, there has to be that one bad apple. And that bad apple allowed for something that I will never approve to happen under the circumstances in which it sadly did.
Today, we were practicing for our impromptu presentation which will happen next week. So, what the lecturer did was to assign the class into four groups, make them sit on four opposing of the classroom and then have the members of that group decide a topic for the group sitting directly opposite them. After which the members in the opposing team would be given five minutesto prepare a five minute presentation. Sounds fair? To me it does, so far. But what happens when you find out that the topic assigned to you is something so ridiculous and at the very least quite personal to the female gender? A topic which even I am quite embarresed to write about. What happens when no matter how hard you protest, the person who is administrating this practice allows for such an issue to be presented? What happens when that administrator reprimands you for the inability to gather any thoughts at all on that given subject? Best of all, what would happen if that person goes on to say that it is okay for such a topic to be presented and that everybody should have perfect knowledge about it? What if that person were a woman for god's sake? How would you feel?
Well, that was what happened to me. I stood right in front of the class unable to even start the topic off. Not that I didn't know anything about it but, I just wasn't ready to speak about it. And therefore, I refused to talk about it. I just went up there, scanned the class and went back to my seat. Everybody wa staring at me. Of course, she reprimanded me for that, but the one thing which made me proud was that I stood my ground and said no when I had to. I for one, will never allow myself to sound stupid.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Thought
Hard work does not guarentee you success, but a keen eye just might do the trick. For an eye that overlooks details without any regard, will never be the pair of eyes that will look down upon the crowd from the top step of the podium. And here we are, taught to work like donkeys but yet it is the ones who fly like eagles who gets all the success.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
