Is There A God?

Brief Answers to Big Questions
                                             - By Stephen Hawking
Chapter 1 : Is there a God

     Recently I've yet again read another book, this time . As I read the first chapter: Is there a god? I found it quite interesting, and I shall briefly explain it without the big words.
Firstly, as I shall clarify as Prof. Hawking did, the 'god' here is not any particular god or gods, but rather just asking the question generally, is there a being that created the universe? So the Bible, Quran, Vedas, scriptures and whatever your religions have, because I am not here to start a religious debate, but to talk about science.
     So, to see if someone, or something created the universe, we must first analyze how it was created. We know that there was a Big Bang, which means that the universe started out as a infinitely tiny particle, or even nothing, and expanded with an immensely immense amount of time to form the universe. This can be proven from the observation that the universe is expanding. So if we go back in time, figuratively, then the universe is shrinking, so there must be a time when it was just a dot.
How does everything come nothing? One may ask. It's much more simpler than you think. It is observed to be possible that in a total vacuum, particles can appear, with one being a proton, neutron or electron, and the other become a negative state of the said particle that appeared. It may sound impossible but yet it is true and makes sense. Zero is equal to one minus one after all.
     Now we agreed that the universe started with the big bang, some might ask: maybe god caused the Big Bang? According to Einstein, when the gravitational pull of something becomes stronger, time becomes slower. This is because the movement of time depends on the speed of light. If you go really fast, time seems to slow down, and you become heavier, just to sustain its place as the fastest thing in existence. Since light can be slowed down be gravity, time also slows down to allow it to travel better. That is why in a black hole, an object with infinite mass and hence gravity, time stops along with light. I know how it sounds crazy. Time waits for no man, right? That's true, but they certainly wait for light.
     Hence, if the universe is to shrink down to an infinitely small space, it would have infinite gravity, as the amount of positive matter in the universe is more that the opposite. Since x divided by 1 over infinity is infinite as long as x is positive. Hence, before the universe, there was no time for a universe to be created. There was no time for anything to even exist. Hence, god cannot exist.
     Anyway, that is the simplified version of Prof. Hawking's explanation of why god does not exist. However, while he was focused on whether or not someone or something created the universe, I have to say that he overlooked the possibility that maybe instead of something creating the universe, that something created us instead. The possibility of the said scenario is well, quite high. Now I have no degree in biology, but there is indeed a possibility of us existing without external help within the 4.6 billion years that Earth had been through. Of course, the chance of this happening is incredibly low, no doubt about that, yet low chances does not mean it is impossible. Now that I think about it, the thing that we should be most appreciative about is the fact that we are alive as a species, since the chance of life to just exist without external help is extremely low. Though some may argue that the chance for our existence is impossible due to our intelligence and abilities, including several unexplainable phenomenon in our world, hence there must be a creator. To that I ask, if our simple world requires a creator to be possible, who created the creator? To have a creator so powerful that he/she/it can just create all of us at will, shouldn't we also question how did an entity of such power come from? Shouldn't it also have a creator? Then who created said creator's creator? As you can see, this assumption soon turns into an unending paradox. However, there is still the possibility that another lifeform helped in the process of our evolution, or perhaps they kickstarted the process of life on Earth by dropping the acids and DNA when they did not exist. Although this may explain why life could appear so quickly, it does not mean that they're god, as they must go through the same process of DNA randomly appearing and the random process of evolution. Henceforth, the possibility of a entity powerful enough to create humans is impossible, they could just be a species of themselves that are being curious and tried to simulate and observe the process of evolution at best. However, the thought that we are just test subjects are quite unsettling, isn't it?
     All in all, as explained, there is no powerful being above us judging us for everything we do just because he/she/it created us, hence there is no god. I however don't quite believe that this would change anyone's ideas, and that his should change your morals. Just because there is no one watching over us doesn't mean that you can do what you want. In fact, religions are not supposed to tell you how the world is created, they are supposed to tell you what is wrong and what is right. As long as you don't criticize anyone else's religion and do what is right, you're good to go.

Behind the Scenes

Today is Monday, and the time is currently three o'clock in afternoon. Michael is now currently speeding toward Mr.Angus' base. However the owner is still yet to be seen.  Over.

The burden - A short story

"Thank you for you services, Doctor Allen! Remember to be careful on the road!" The nun at the orphanage called out as I put on my hat. "My pleasure." I called out. "Have a happy April the 1st!" I then stepped into the carriage and set for home. Before long, I arrived at my doorstep. After locking my doors and shutting the windows close, I removed a tea bag from the counter and started to boil some water. Just as steam appeared from the kettle, a knock was heard from the door. I ignored it at first but the knockings soon became more and more rapid. After assuring myself  that it is too early for the raiders to come out, I opened the door. To my relief and also my shock, the visitor was in a suit, which is not an outfit that raiders would have. Unfortunately he had a red handkerchief visible from the pocket folded in a shape of a triangle.
"I'm sorry, but you must have gotten the wrong house." I tried to explain, "I am just an ordinary doctor that neither has nor wish to have any part in the war between the rebels and the leaders."
However, to my surprise, he answered: "Exactly, that is why we have decided that you are the perfect person to assist us in our mission." He then continued informing me about how they have evidence that is important in their plan of overthrowing the leaders, and they will ascertain that they will relief everyone from the fear that we have to endure every night. Just as the sky started to fade, I agreed to his plan solemnly, to which the cloaked visitor shoved two files into my hand. "The file with the safety pin is a fake, just in case. We will return on 25th of December to retrieve the evidence. Remember, your innocence will the very thing that can save the victims from this raider's party of a country. Do not fail us."
After I locked the door once more, I hid the file with the evidence behind the teabags and coffee powder in the kitchen counter, then placed the decoy in the safe.
After the first time we met, I started to wait for the day of the 25th. However at the same time, I had to make sure and be aware of my every single action. I even avoided going to the bar to keep myself sober such that I do not spill the beans. Yet the process of guarding my secrets were even harder than I previously thought and feared. Avoiding conversation was not exactly the best way to complete my mission, as I soon required to explain for my anti-social behaviour. Fortunately, days soon turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and before long, it was the night of the 24th of December.
Just as I made sure that the files and the safety pins are in place, a knock came on the door. I hesitated to open the door, but it came again. After a brief moment of convincing myself that I did everything right, I opened the door to a suited figure, this time without a handkerchief.
I welcomed the visitor inside, who referred himself to be an inspector here to make sure that everything is up to code. However, before I could offer him anything, he started to grow interest in my safe, and ordered me to open it. Knowing his intentions, I decided that it would be wiser to oblige. Just as I expected, the inspector darted for the file inside. It was at this moment, that I noticed a peculiar object that is visible from the back. Hence, I grabbed a pen from the desk, yet when I pressed the button, the click alerted the cloaked assassin. He turned over, and just as I guessed, is his hand was a pistol, locked and loaded. The last thing that I heard was two shots at sounded like explosions, a ringing in my ears, and redness everywhere before the engulfing of blackness.
When I came to, I was on a white bed and in a hospital gown. There was a strong pressure on my stomach, which was probably the spot that the assassin aimed his weapon at. I turned over my head, to which I saw a nurse whom I knew. When she turned over, she cried out, "Mr. George, he is awake! Oh, Doctor Allen, I am so glad that you're alive."
I felt relieved to hear this, yet at the same time questions swarmed into my head. Did the rebellion succeed? How long was I unconscious? Most importantly, how am I still alive after being shot?
Then a moustached man came over. " Thank you very much, Nurse Joyce." He said, then turning to my confused face, he spoke: "Well hello Mr Allen, my name is George, and from your look I can infer that you have questions that need to be answered, and they will be, as we will have a lot of time to talk together while your body heals."
And talk we did. The man explained to me that due to the fact that one of the spies they planted nearby saw the assassin leaving without me closing the door for him, the rebellion were able to send medics over quick enough to save me from the brim of death, as if I were to be handed over to the common hospital instead, I'd surely be dead instead. Also thanks to that, all I had was a good night's sleep for a coma. It also appeared that my attempt to use the recording pen succeeded, as they soon overthrew the corrupted leaders with the help from other countries and states' officials, finally allowing public services to go to those who need it and the ones that defied the law to get what they deserved. Mr. George also informed me that a new system will be implemented, a system where people get to choose their leaders and decide receive gets special treatment. Along with that he also said plenty of things, some even so deep into politics that I cannot understand.
Before Mr. George left, he reminded me: "Remember Mr. Allen, when you get better, do come to the town square, we shall give you an award! Why, we may even name that day Allen day, and write you down in history books for all the youths to read!"
I smiled. Whether it is due to the pain or my shyness that I did not say anything more I do not know, but I can be sure that soon I will be able to finally relive the life I had long ago.

Experimental codes

Tomorrow is a Monday, just like it should be and have been, for every week that have ever passed. Normally, this is one thing that Michael would really look forward to but this time, it is not having quite the same effect to him this time.

What friends are for

Today is yet again a punctual Monday on the endless weeks of the year. Normally, this would be a good thing for Michael, as this is the only day that he was allowed to visit Dr.Angus. Not that his parents are disallowing him from seeing the genius yet weird doctor, since they don't know about him anyway, but it is the doctor himself that tells him not to.

The Worst Case Scenario

Today, I made a huge mistake. This mistake actually consists of a lot of different mistakes put together at the same time.

It all started when in the morning, due to the train under service, we were unable to use it and the bus that were allocated were too slow. Then my father had to call a taxi to bring me to the school that I needed to go for competition.

The competition was very hard, so I was only sure about half of the questions, which I later was so worried that when I took the bus, I came down at the wrong station, and since I wasn't sure of the surroundings, I walked the wrong way and soon found myself walking towards a highway-like road. So I decided to use the nearest bus stop and took the bus that would soon lead to a train station.

When I finally boarded the train, my parents called as I was obviously late. When they heard my situation, they told me to go to another station for lunch. Sadly, exactly after that, my phone's battery died. Then when I got there, I was actually there before my parents were. I then panicked, because I cannot find them. I tried to call them using the public phone but sadly I forgot their number. I then decided to go to the information counter, where they allowed to to charge my phone. With that, I was able to talk to my parents and later after that, I finally met them.
So from now onwards, I would have to make sure that I have my phone fully charged and powered off when unused for a long time. I also need to remember my parent's phone number and be more aware when I take public transport especially if I do not know the place.

Clockwork

Today is yet again a Monday. Everybody knows that in the town of Olympia. The citizens know that, the mayor knows that, the elders know that, the kids know that. So does Michael, and he is happy that he does. Because if he had forgotten about it, he would miss the most exciting thing of the week, which is also the only thing that really motivates him for the day.

Motivational Monday

Today is Monday, and a very ordinary one at that, even in the popular town of Olympia. Some of the residents will get the blues and get stuck to their warm blankets and sort pillows, while others will rush to meet their pals at wherever they may be. The optimists take it as another beginning, the pessimists take it as a end of their beloved Sunday, while the realists take it as another day. No matter how and what one would take it as, it is just another punctual Monday on the schedule of the never-ending looping time where they just pretty much repeat what they did exactly seven days ago.
That is also what it is to everyone in Olympia, that is, except for Michael. Today is no ordinary day for him. However in what way it will be, he has no idea, but that is exactly what he is looking forward to.

Hello Neighbour

Today is Monday.

The town of Olympia

There was a town, which is called the town of Olympia. The town is full of people, just like any other town you would know, with perfectly normal people with perfectly normal origins. But there is more than that. This town is actually the most popular town in the state! If you would have to ask anyone, it is very likely that they can tell you all about Olympia. In fact, there is not a single soul that would tell you truthfully that he or she does not know Olympia. Some even call it an act of a miracle. The biggest reason this is so is due to its generations of athletic men and genius women. These townfolks have made the biggest records in their subjects. Not only so, this town is one of the biggest town, and also full of exhibits that would attract anyone. Compile that with the dense population, Olympia is easily the quickest flourishing town you could ever find.
However,

Visiting Ang Mo Kio

This weekend, because my parents are in Malaysia, I will have to stay in the boarding school by myself this weekend. And on Saturday, I have nothing to do, so my father suggested that I may go to Ang Mo Kio Libray during Saturday to spend my time, which I decided agreed. So today at 10:30, I left for the library.

As what my English Drama teacher told my class, whatever can go wrong would go wrong, since I was not very sure of the bus stations, I went pass the correct station. Luckily I realized it quick enough that I was able to come off the station directly after it.
Then when I entered Ang Mo Kio Library, I decided to first check out the restaurant, then I realized that the things there are expensive. Ice cream was more than 2 dollars and pizza was almost 10 dollars, and it's not like it was big and that nice(from the looks). Luckily I noticed a McDonalds across the street, so I decided that I will go there for lunch instead.
After a big 30 minutes of looking for interesting books, I gave up trying to find my favorite books at the ground floor.  However I was not having much luck at the second floor either. I took a whole 45 minutes to find something that I would prefer. However after 10 minutes of reading, I realized that I need to grab my lunch.
As I crossed the street to approach McDonalds, I realized the sign was further than I thought, that's also when I noticed what looked to me at that point in time like a plaza building and some signs saying food centre, so I decided to go back across the street. However upon closer inspection, it was not that all exciting, and the only restaurant I saw was a French one where they also sell expensive food. So I had to go back across the street, where I once again realized another mistake, the McDonalds was not really as far as I saw, it's only the sign that is on the far side. So I got there bought a burger and ate with content.
After eating, I decided to go back to the library. Just a few more minutes before I decide to leave, I found my favorite book. So I sped through it and it was nice. At least I got a bit of what I wanted.
Moral of the story: always have a map, or you'll start seeing(or maybe not-seeing) things that will cause misjudgment.

Project work proposal evaluation

During life in Hwa Chong, there is a type of subject called IS, or independent studies. This is a subject that is graded over the whole year. How is it graded you ask? It is mainly graded on a project called PW, or project work. It is a project that requires 3 to 4 people in a group, and you can choose from over 10 categories, for example there are math, Chinese, art, infocomm and so on. Also, you would also need to have a teacher as your mentor. The one that I chose is math, and what I do is to analyze Bingo using math(that's the simple way of saying it).

So basically, you need your team to come up with an idea which also goes with the category you chose. One mistake that people often make is that they choose categories that focuses on a school subject and have their project on making a product which helps others to know more about that particular subject. Well, if that's what you're doing, my advise is that you convert to the category called resource package before it's too late. The thing about resource package is that it is the project where you create informational products, and if you choose to be in other categories like math or infocomm, you are supposed to use that to do something instead of teaching someone else about it.
Anyway, once you have an idea on the basic structure, you need to have to have a few components, which is around 3 objectives, which is what you would do. Then before March, you much have a presentation about what you would do.
Anyway, on that day, my team have was the fifth presentation. In our presentation we introduced Bingo, then our objectives and questions, rationals and the sort. In the presentation, I was a bit scared, but overall, I had it under control. 

SOAC Camp diary

During the 7th of March, or last week, I attended the school camp called SOAC, or Secondary One Annual Camp, which is compulsory for all secondary ones of Hwa Chong.
Firstly, we gather at the Khaki hall, where the guys from the scout camp give a briefing of the theme of the camp. I am not sure about the ones last year, but this year they base it around 24 human qualities, where each class needs to create a cheer which contains around 3 to 4 of the qualities, which will need to be recited at the Campfire section of the camp. Not only so, at the end of the camp we also need to dance to a song that was chosen by the organizing team.
At about 10 o'clock, we start to board the bus, which obviously as you might expect, when we finally arrives, it was noon and lunch time. During lunch time, they told us to have this weird goofy cheer called the Makan cheer.
During lunch, they just gave (probably three-quarter cooked)rice. Then for meat, they gave (a lot better cooked)chicken and ordinary vegetables. Then they gave that type of weird tasting red syrup for drinks. The good thing was that they gave water-proof oil paper, so if you fold it nicely into your container, then you do not have to wash it. Yeah, just in case you were wondering, you have to use your own containers and wash them yourselves.
After lunch, it was conveniently raining, so we can not have any outdoor activities, instead we played Werewolf. If you do not know how to play the game, you should search it yourself, as I might spoil to much, and explaining it also takes forever on a computer.
Okay, so you are back with the full knowledge of the game of Werewolf now? I will continue on then. We played for quite a while, and it is pretty easy as long as you are really observant and have a constant face. If you really want to be a pro though, you would need to up your game and not only be really protective of your identity, but also try to know each other's identity, no matter which side you are on, so you know who you should trust or be careful of. Not only that, always be the sheep during the voting session. Vote too early, too late or have different opinions and people may suspect you, it does not help when you are trying so hard to keep your identity a secret. However, of course, you may reveal you identity as a seer, oracle, augur or detective once you have enough information to know who or at least most of the werewolves are.
Just before dinnertime, the rain stopped, so we played another game instead where one third of the participants play as attackers, one fourth as defenders and the rest as civilians. It is really simple, the defenders and civilians stay in a circle, and the attackers each have a ball to throw and kill the civilians. The defenders are invincible so they can block the balls. If a defender or a civilian pick up a ball, they can pick it up and throw it at an attacker to make them freeze for 30 seconds.It was really boring, especially when only 9 people were playing.
After dinner, there were more activities. One was where the OT(organizing team) tossed like a hundred or probably two hundred balls onto a field. Around thirty of them had stars on it.If you find one of these you get a point for your class. However, some of them have stickers that are not stars, and you cannot keep the balls without stars. In the end my class won.
After that, they let us use clothing as eyemasks, then we formed a line and everyone put their hands on the shoulders of the person infront, then everyone walked forwards together and the facilities tried to spook us. I did this 4 years ago!
Just after supper and before lights out, I took a shower. The cubicles were mostly occupied so there is a big chance you would need to use the public shower.
At night, our class slept in the dorms, it was really dusty and sandy. My classmates also made a lot of noise, which was a pain.
In the morning, it was a miracle I did not feel like dozing off, because I only slept like 6 hours due to my classmates.
For the morning activities, we went jungle trekking. The problem was that the main part was instead walking in mud. Yep, that's it, the trekking was a cheap one. thatlasted a few minutes with nothing interesting. There was also this milo pond thing where everyone has to go down a slide into a muddy pond. I wonder if the pond is muddy due to the amount of mud from the jungle trekking?
For the whole afternoon, we practiced our cheer and dance. Our song for the dance was Symphony. The problem was Symphony was not only a song you would not normally dance to, it is also a hard one to dance to as it is not only slow but the words are hard to be shown by actions. We ended up posing everyone 5 seconds.
At the campfire night, we found out that not only the classes have to dance. The OT, consortium representatives and student councilors also danced. The OT made a joke by starting off with a Rick-Roll, then bleeping it off to some Korean song. I do not listen to Korean songs, nut not because I hate them, but I just prefer songs with understandable meanings. Do not judge me.
Speaking of the campfire, the facilitates put up a treat for the eyes. Instead of normal wood, they added fireworks. Now that answers what happens when you burn a box of fireworks. They all go off at the same time normally(I guess).
The lights out was just as before, no need to go that far. During the last day, they made all of us cheer one more time under the sun, then they showed a montage of the two days. It was not that special though.
Anyway just like on the first day, we boarded the bus and arrived at school at noon.

Debunking the Films - Superman's X-ray vision

So one day I was watching a Superman film, then I saw Superman using his X-ray vision, a power that would be extremely useful, but does not make sense, and I am going to tell you why.
First, how most would interpretate how this power work, is his eyes can receive X-rays when our eyes are only able to see visible light, this would make a lot of sense, until you think about how does these X-rays come to Superman's eyes? Because even if he has this ability, it cannot work without actual X-rays going through objects. And if that is how it works, it also makes the Earth in the story a lot more scarier, as X-rays is extremely harmful and can cause cancer under long exposure, making the only way that the humans in the story can stay alive is that they are immune to X-rays, which would contradict a lot of things I won't go into here.
Or some of you may be thinking, maybe Superman can create X-rays! Well, that won't work either, as X-rays cannot bounce off objects like visible light. Furthermore, there is also the contradiction stated above.
Want to know the biggest problem in this logic? Superman is weak against X-rays, and that is a fact in the story. Superman gets his power from sunlight, but any other rays would be harmful to him.
So there you go, either the story of Superman is just a big fat lie or his X-ray vision isn't X-ray after all.

HCIBS Orientation

Hey guys, today on this blog I will be writing about the Boarding School Orientation I have had.

The subject that I will talk about will be mainly about this Goalball game we played.

Basically it is a game for blind people. The ball that is used is a special ball where it has a bell on it, so you have to listen for it. Then, the members basically have to sit/squat in a row, and they use themselves like a wall to make sure the other team's ball does not roll over their base, cause if that happens, you lose. If you catch the ball, you get to roll the ball over to them, of course, to be fair, you must roll it, so no throwing.