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Friday, March 31, 2017

Intriguing Thoughts #001



Ever heard the age-old argument about "If you replace the head of a hammer, and later replace the wooden handle, is it still the same hammer"? A hammer is just an example, though. It can be any object. But what about a human?

It is no secret (hopefully) that your body is constantly replacing old cells with new ones at the rate of millions per second. In fact, by the time you finish reading this sentence, 50 million of your cells will have died and been replaced by others. But don't worry, the life cycle of every cell is carefully controlled, so you should always have just the right number of each type of cell.[1]

Only a few cells don't get replaced: Those in the lenses of our eyes, and most neurons of our central nervous system.[2] So, physically, are you the same person as you were 7-10 years ago ( the average time it takes for all replaceable cells to be replaced)?

Monday, March 13, 2017

Post #002 | Rhymes

We all know what a rhyme is, right? I don't need to explain them, do I?

Almost everyone is exposed to rhymes from a very young age, from "Hey Diddle Diddle, The Cat & The Fiddle" to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Rhymes are euphonious sounds, which means "(of sound, especially speech) pleasing to the ear". Rhymes are used everywhere. Company slogans, mnemonic devices, poetry, and, of course, music.

Which is what I wanted to focus on in this post.

I love music. I'm really passionate about music. I also really love listening to rhymes. I recently discovered my affinity for rhymes when playing Batman: Arkham Origins, whilst fighting Mad Hatter and hearing some of his quotes (I always liked rhymes. It just didn't exactly click how much I liked them until then, does that make sense?). The quote that triggered the realization was one said when the player dies, "O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!".

I don't know what it is about that line, but it really woke up my thirst for rhymes.
(Eyyy)

About two weeks ago I was craving some rhymes, so I started thinking "Where can I go or what do I look up to find, like, people reading out rhymes?" Not nursery rhymes, mind you, just regular rhymes, like the quote mentioned above. Now, I know most music is based on rhyming words, but I was looking for something that really accentuated the rhymes. It was then that I had an epiphany.

Now, before two to three weeks ago I don't think I had ever listened to a rap song in full. But I decided that it's good to try new things. My brother really likes Marshall Mathers, more commonly known as Eminem, so I decided to begin there. I started with the classic "Lose Yourself". I was pleasantly surprised by the correspondence of the instrumentals and beat with the vocals, how they played off one another. At the beginning of the song, a slow thumping can be heard that sounds similar to a heartbeat. It begins to speed up until it reaches a steady speed and stays throughout the entire song, acting as the metronome. After it reaches that steady speed, it stays constant, but if you aren't paying attention to it you wouldn't even recognize it was there, yet you would absent-mindedly tap your foot to it regardless.

Before all of this all I listened to was stuff like Meat Loaf, Genesis, the occasional Beatles, Michael Jackson, etc., but most of all, Patent Pending (Strongly recommend checking them out! They're awesome and definitely deserve more recognition). Now, I've added artists like N.W.A., Xzibit, and MF Doom to my music library.

Rhyme on my friends.

Interesting Thoughts #002 | A House Divided

President Abraham Lincoln said that "A house divided against itself cannot stand." [1] Mathematically, however, a house divided ...