Recorded this pumpkin carving contest at work.
Happy Halloween!
Monthly Archives: October 2014
Movie Review of “Dead Poets Society”
Dead Poets Society is one of the best movies that Robbin William ever performed in. Today I watched the DVD with my 13-year-old daughter. I remembered when I first watched the movie at the movie theater, I was quite moved by the message that one must “seize the day” (“Carpe Diem”). I often found people, myself included, allow days to go by as if it’s another day to check off without living each day to the fullest.
One doesn’t have to join the Dead Poets Society to the suck the marrow out of the life. But it does help to have people around you push and encourage you.
I was taken back by Neil’s suicide because his Dad commanded him to drop acting where his passion lied and forced him to become a doctor. I hope none of the youths should take away from the movie that it’s the proper approach to resolve the conflict with their parents. And I also hope that parents nowadays (tigers or not) are more inclined to listen to their kids’ plead to pursue their own passion.
On one hand, I do not agree to the old academic way of cramming the students what they think the students should know – often the dry and boring materials. Teaching the kids to think for themselves is one of the critical teaching objectives. I cheered when Todd could break out of the shell and poured out a beautiful poem when pushed by Mr. Keating and Charlie could push himself to win the heart of his dream girl (though it’s mostly hormone driven). Of course, Neil Perry went against his dad’s command to pursue his acting gig. On the other hand, I also do not subscribe to Mr. Keating’s (Robbin Williams) ripping (literally) the pages out of the old ways as the young children can easily misinterpret the message as the license to rebel without the right reasons. The tragic suicide of Neil was a case in point.
Having watched the movie when I was younger empathizing the high school kids and now watched the DVD as a parent of a teenager, I can now see the both sides clearly. It’s important to have good communication between parents and children. The children must see the good intention of the parents and force the conversation upon encountering conflicts. No reason to wrap up the negotiation too quickly or jump the “gun.” After all, it’s your life any how. The parents must not push the kids beyond the “breaking” point. They may need guidance sometimes but they have the free will. It’s best they hold on to their passion to achieve happily something great than to live their lives like a zombie.
I especially like Mr. Keating for asking the students to step on top of the table and forcing them to see things differently. It’s a nice trick to keep life interesting.
What a great movie! Robbin Williams was brilliant in this movie and suit his character well. I truly feel the loss of his talent.
Tour of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffet Field – 75-Year Anniversary Open House
To celebrate the 75 anniversary of NASA, it held an open house at the Ames Research Center in Moffet Field of Mountain View, California – the heart of Silicon Valley.
Despite the reservation system to limit the number of people, it was like a zoo traveling in and out of the center. The bus shuttle between the front gate and the center of the complex seemed a bit silly that created lots of traffic and long lines for the visitors. And there were many long lines trying to have a hands on cockpit experience and a few popular spots.
For me, it’s the first time visiting the center, having lived in the valley for well over 25 years and driven by almost every week day going to and from work. I was surprised by how huge the place was. The hanger, long a symbol of Moffet Field, where it served as a garage for the aircraft was a lot bigger and elegant than I thought. The old planes and helicopters were museum pieces and had lots of history behind them. Here are some of the pictures I took:
Overall, it was a good day to venture into a place long held a mystery and pride in the minds of the Silicon Valley residents.
Book Review: “The Chemistry Between Us” by Larry Young PhD and Brian Alexander
Until reading this book, I didn’t know how much of our behaviors are shaped by the chemistry in our brain, especially the ones between the sexes. Many kinds of our bodily chemicals are introduced here: oxytocin, dopamine, vasopressin, tosterone and etc. I learned a lot about the sexual behavior of animals like Angler Fish, Bonobos, and etc. This is a very interesting book. In a way, it ruined my perception of love but it explains a lot of our human behavior between sexes. We owe a lot to our human evolution that shapes our brain to propagate our species. Most of time it’s above our “free will.” This is an excellent book if you’re interested in how the various chemicals affect our brain.
A short summary is here:
Chapter 1: Building a Sexual Brain
The story of machihembra was the first I read about. Interesting that girls turn into a boy at twelve years old in Dominican Republic. Society does not make sexual gender. Boys and girls are made differently started in the brain, not dictated by socialization nor the genitals which they’re born with.
Chapter 2: The Chemistry of Desire
Estrogen or production of progesterone receptors during ovulation (in estrous) puts animals (mouses, cats) and women in heat or more receptive to mating. Testosterone drops when men are near their babies or losing a sports match. It rises when encountering another ovulating female, also more mate-guarding behavior.
Chapter 3: The Power of Appetite
Our appetite is based on MPOA (medial preoptic area), nucleus accumbens, the amygdala, and the VTA. Dopamine hits D1 receptors of MPOA, we become attentive to sex-related cues. MPOA directs the parasympathetic nervous system to send blood to the genitals, creating erections in males and clitoral engorgement in females. VTA transmits dopamine into the prefrontal cortex (disinhibiting sexual desire and giving us tunnel vision for cues that lead to satisfying the desire. After orgasm, Endocannabinoids, the brain version of marijuana, make use a little sleepy. Serotonin gushes, inducing a feeling of calms, satiety, and satisfaction. Endorphins floods into the limbic system and hypothalamic area. Fetishes or partner preferences can be developed from early sexual experience due to satisfying the specific appetite via dopamine release.
Chapter 4: The Mommy Circuit
Oxytocin causes contraction for giving birth and induces maternal behavior. Prolactin stimulates the breasts to make milk and stimulates the MPOA, which signals the amygdala to suppress the fear and cause the mother to be calmer. Dopamine rewards the mothers for caring for their children.
Chapter 5: Be My Baby
Prairie voles (Monogamy, mated for life) vs. Meadow (Polygamy) voles. More oxytocin receptors in the accumbens, reward center in the brain, are seen in the Prairie voles. Bonding takes all oxytocin, dopamine, opioids, and good social memory (recognizes faces/smell) with the partner when the feel-good cocktails are released. Couples when nose sprayed with oxytocin (or having the vaginal-cervical stimulated as in sheep) tend to be exhibit more “positive” behavior/communication toward each other and create the bond. “A man is a woman’s baby.”
Chapter 6: Be My Territory
Vasopressin in males stimulate territory guarding behavior. Switching on the avprla gene makes the male meadow voles monogamous and good bonders due to increase of Vasopressin receptors. “A woman is an extension of a man’s territory.”
Chapter 7: Addicted To Love
Drug addiction is parallel to falling in love.
Vasopressin serves as a chemical trigger (like in a loaded rifle) in the CRF system to fire off the HPA axis during separation from partner or drug in an addict. For humans, “falling in love is like putting a gun to your head.”
Chapter 8: The Infidelity Paradox
Normal self control, your prefrontal cortex’s talk with your amygdala, ventral tegmental area (VTA) and accumbens, said “cut it out!” before cheating takes place. Once married/bonded, male’s testosterone and stress hormone drops, hence having less sex. This is a phenomenon named after Calvin Coolidge: slow death of passion experienced by many human couples, and rejuvenation of sexual appetite and performance by lure of novelty and infidelity. There is a D4, cheating gene, associated with human ability to resist impulsive desire or yield to temptation.
Chapter 9: Rewriting the Story of Love
Knowing how all the various chemicals work in our brain, do we feel we still have the free will or are we puppets of those “drugs” inside our brain. Is love induced by a drug still a love, real and true? That’s the difficult question.
A Volunteered Sweet Potato Flower In My Garden
One of the funnest things about gardening is that you often find things that surprise you. Sometimes they are bad (like pests) and sometimes they are simply pleasant.
Two weeks ago, I discovered that there is a sweet potato growing in my raised garden – a volunteer. Its vines are growing all over the raised bed. It must have stayed behind from last year’s harvest – a pleasant surprise.
A couple of days ago, I discovered that it actually grew flowers. See below picture:
For a tuber plant like the sweet potato, flowers are almost redundant because most people grow them out of “slips” or slices from the “eyes” of the potato. But I like the way it adds the white and purple color to my raised bed.
There are just a couple of months left before the weather gets too cold and the day gets too short to grow something like a sweet potato. But I probably keep it as long as I could. The potato leaves makes a healthy green sauteed dish too.
Sweet!
My Watermelon Harvest
I waited long enough to harvest my Orangeglo watermelon that I planted from seeds since March. I planted 3 and only this one survived. It’s my first time planting watermelon. I will definitely try again next year.
Please enjoy the video: