Forbidden Planet

Saw this neat DNA Personality test over at lunafish's blog (who is an Animanted Inventor) and decided it was worth taking (MIO has also taken it and she is a Benevolent Idealist). I think it categorizes me pretty well Reserved Experiencer . I was a little surprised to discover that 80% of people (who took the test) have more confidence than me because I have always had a very strong sense of self. However, perhaps self identity and confidence are different things ... hmm ... something else to think about. Other interesting personality oddities include being more open than 92% of people, but less trusting than 96%. As well as, I am, apparently, more spontaneous than 70% of people, but less extroverted than 84%. You can mouse over the coloured squares to get some little popups indicating what each on means. Reserved Experiencer You can read more here . Other choice tidbits include: At times other people's feelings are puzzling to you, and you wish that people were more rational...

I spoke with my mother last night for the first time in two weeks (I had been speaking to my dad though). She thanks everyone for their prayers, which she says have helped. After her autologous stem cell transfer, she developped a fever (as expected) and was moved into the hospital where she was on continuous monitoring and medication. She said that she spent a lot of her time dreaming or hallucintating. A large part of that time was spent imagining she was sleeping with Tania and Jason on either side of her. She gave the hospital staff a scare last week when her blood pressure suddenly dropped to 54/44 and her pulse shot up to 160. Fortunately, additional fluids helped restore balance. She described the cancer ward as a not very happy place with people crying or screaming from pain. For herself, while it was bad, she simply took it one day at a time. Last night she was released from the cancer ward, but still needs to go for daily visits for the next two weeks or so. The first year is...

"It is your assumption that we are entitled to it as well that is irritating." Blake's Seven, Bounty (exchange between Vila and Avon)

I picked up this book about a year ago because I was interested to read what Richard Lewontin (and others) had to say refuting genetic determinism (at around that time I underwent a fairly drastic shift in perception as I began to question the validity of free will). So, I was hoping they could provide me with good counter arguments to determinism. I only recently finished the book. You see Sofia and I play a game, I start reading something and then put it down as I something else draws my fancy. Sofia then picks up the book and puts it away causing me to (1) become disoriented, since my environment has changed unexpectedly, (2) forget about it, since it is no longer within my ordered space, (3) grief as I foolishly try to discover where she has put it. Anyway, it finally turned up again a few weeks ago. So I finished reading it. I have to say that the book is very disappointing. I really was expecting better from Richard Lewontin. I had listened to (and bought the book) of his lectur...

Picked up a very nice magazine the other day called Shop Notes . Unlike many magazine it is not a high gloss one, nor is it printed on low quality "newsprint" style paper. It also is not crammed with 3 ads for every page of article. It has lots of pictures, but does not overwhelm you. Finally, it comes prepunched with 3 holes for easy insertion into a binder. While not everyone may be into woodworking, I find this magazine and its layout to be very comforting and practical. To bad more magazine don't try to be more useful rather than flashy. As well, I find the quality of magazines to be going down (at least the computer ones). Used to love a magazine called Computer Language , sadly it is now defunt. They used to have the neatest cover pictures of any magazine. Then there was the C Users Journal (later C/C++ USers Journal) - which recently closed its doors. But, for the last decade or so, it had been a pretty mediocre shadow of its former self. Byte has been dead for a...

Seven years ago, my firstborn came into the world. The joy and pride I felt cannot be described except to say that I finally understood the elation of creation. Tania (meaning Fairy Princess) was the only girl born that day at the hospital - mirroring my own birth where I was the only boy born among girls.

Once again, in lieu of any real content, I post another silly blog test with flattering results. Your Values Profile Loyalty: You value loyalty highly. You're completely devoted to your friends and family. Even if they totally screw up, you're still there for them. Just make sure they're equally loyal to you! Honesty: You value honesty highly. You're unflinchingly honest, even when it's not easy. For you, integrity is very important - in yourself and others. People may not always like what you say, but they know they can trust it. Generosity: You value generosity a fair amount. You are all about giving, as long as there's some give and take. Supportive and kind, you don't mind helping out a friend in need. But you know when you've given too much. You have no problem saying "no"! Humility: You value humility highly. You have the self-confidence to be happy with who you are. And you don't need to seek praise to make yourself feel better. You...

While chicken menses may be on the ovo-lactic vegetarian's menu, duck embryos are not. In the Philippines, Viet Nam and China, duck embryos are considered a delicacy (and aphrodisiac). In the Philippines, they are considered perfect when they are 17 days, before the beak and bones start to form. While I have eaten many parts of animals (heart, stomach, liver, tongue, etc) and many different kinds of animals (guinea pig, horse, crocodile, llama, etc) and prepared in many different ways (raw, marinated with lemon juice, BBQ'd, boiled, etc), and desire to try still more kinds (raw camel liver, dog, cat, snake), I am not sure I could bring myself to eat a balut. There is some irrational squeamishness buried deep inside me that makes me balk at the thought. Actually, it is the same sqeamishness that makes me balk at eating bugs as well (not withstanding I eat shrimp and crabs and other shellfish - which are just like big insects in the sea. Incidentally, people who are allergic to s...

A friend of mine is an ovo-lactic vegetarian. This means that in addition to the plant matter he consumes, he also consumes dairy products and eggs. Dairy products I can accept, but eggs? … hmm, I wasn’t so sure - it sounds a bit like those vegetarians who say they eat chicken and fish. After all, the egg is an animal product. His answer was simple and satisfying, "Eggs are chicken menses. The hen will produce an egg whether she is fertilized or not. Unfertilized eggs are the discarded products of ovulation akin to menses in mammals." Image grabbed from here .

I am always thinking about things. One that has been on my mind the past 2-1/2 to 3 years is "Why redemption?" Sin, in the classical Jewish sense is a debt that needs to be paid. As the Bible says, "The wages of sin are death." Paying the debt is one way of clearing it. However, it is not the only way. Someone can redeem the debt for you, i.e. they pay off your debt. Classical Christian theology would argue that humanity is incapable of paying off its debt and overcoming death. So, a Redeemer is born, one who not only redeems humanity's debt by dying in humanity's place but also has the strength and power necessary to overcome death. There are some wonderful apocryphal tales of Jesus' descent into Hell and how the gates could not resist against him, how He took Adam by the hand and led him and all holy people to the archangel Michael who ushered them into the glorious paradise. Humanity, which had been condemned by the tree of transgression, was redeemed...

Image grabbed from here .

Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies, that you are growing old in a foreign country, that you are defiled with the dead, that you are counted among those in Hades? - Baruch 3:10-11 O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the wearied spirit cry out to you. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned before you. For you are enthroned forever, and we are perishing forever. O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the people of Israel, the children of those who sinned before you, who did not heed the voice of the Lord their God, so that calamities have clung to us. Do not remember the iniquities of our ancestors, but in this crisis remember your power and your name. For you are the Lord our God, and it is you, O Lord, whom we will praise. For you have put the fear of you in our hearts so that we would call upon your name; and we will praise you in our exile, for we have put away from our hearts all the iniquity of our a...

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; "Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver — let him rescue the one in whom he delights!" Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening ...

Last night I went out and bought 5 dozen eggs. I will bring them to Montreal with me tonight and then tomorrow and Saturday, the kids and I can color them. Actually, we will probably only colour a dozen or so, but who knows, the kids might want to do more. Of course, we will drive Sofia crazy with the mess. I also bought a ham for breakfast Sunday morning. Eggs and ham are strongly ingrained in me as the proper way to start Easter morning (ok, after church). Of course, fresh baked buns are essential as well – although I don’t think I will be making any (principally because the oven still doesn’t work, and secondly, because it is a lot of work – yes, I have kneaded my fair share of dough in my life). My mother colours eggs using onion skins. Yeah, those thin brown papery wrappings will actually colour the eggs a nice reddish brown. You need a lot of them, put them in a pot, add eggs, add water, add caraway seed (if you like) and boil for a while (I am sure it was in the 2 hour range). ...

A big thanks to all those who have been praying for my mom or otherwise thinking positive thoughts. She has competed her 6 day marathon chemo treatment. Her bone marrow is now completely destroyed. She has been doing very well (no sickness or side effects) and is in good spirits. Today at 13:00 EST she begins the second phase which is the reintroduction of stem cells harvested from her blood a few weeks ago. These stem cells will form her new marrow. She will also likely need hemoglobin transfusion on Thursday, as her hemoglobin levels are very low now. Apparently, this is the more dangerous part of the treatment. She will also be given drugs to help stimulate the growth of the marrow. If everything goes well, perhaps another 4 weeks, she will have a virgin immune system – no memory of vaccinations or colds she has ever had will be part of it. About a year later, after her body has had time to heal and the immune system restore itself, she will need to be vaccinated all over again.

Cool! I got tagged. First time in more than a year of blogging (ok, ok, just barely more than a year) – thanks! Now I know someone really cares :-) Unfortunately, I’ve already done this one, you can take a peak at it here . Prince Romp also commented that in Singapore acquiring English proficiency is hard because it is a multiracial, multilingual country so people’s language skills are divided. Hmmm … all I can say is that of the Singaporean blogs I have visited, I have always been impressed by the high quality of the English prose I find (I cannot comment on those who write in Chinese because it looks Greek to me). However, I also notice idiopathic constructs and usage that sometimes make my head spin. Definitely there is slang I don’t get. Language purists would insist that this sort of Pidgin English is improper and incorrect. I would disagree (I would, wouldn’t I?). It is a distinct dialect and I am happy to be able to share in it – not that I use it (ha ha, I just comment in my i...

"Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see. His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart. For an instant it must have ceased to beat. His pupils were fearfully contracted. He did not speak, he roared ... The speed of the Nautilus was accelerated. It was preparing to rush. The whole ship trembled. Suddenly I screamed. I felt the shock, but comparatively light. I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur. I heard rattlings and scrapings. But the Nautilus, carried along by its propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a needle through sailcloth! I could stand it no longer. Mad, out of my mind, I rushed from my room into the saloon. Captain Nemo was there, mute, gloomy, implacable; he was looking through the port panel. ... I turned to Captain Nemo. That terrible avenger, a perfect archangel of hatred, was still looking. When all was over, he turned to his room, opened the door, and entered. I followed him with my eyes. On the en...

Today my emotional state is definitely on the down side, bringing with it shades of despondency. I'm not sure if this is a side effect of the cold (both my kids have the same and are really emotional) or if it is the angst of dissatisfaction rearing its malevolent head or if it a side effect of the potato chips I ate last night (we watched "Get Smart Again"). Other thoughts today include: why is it so hard to find a decent pencil sharpener? They don't sharpen at the right angle, they always break the lead. sigh. I used to have a fantastic Staedler Mars brass pencil sharpener about 20 years ago. It worked like a charm. But I lost it. Since then, I have never been able to find another decent pencil sharpener (not even another Staedler Mars).

Love is not motivation. Love is inspiration. To be your best, you must go beyond motivation - to inspiration." - Jeffrey Gittomer's Little Red Book of Sales Answers I picked up this book today while browsing the computer books at Chapter's. It was sitting on a chair. Random luck or fate? Anyway, I need to work on my marketing skills - I have none. My problem is that I say something once and expect people to respond thoughtfully and rationally. The book seems to be chock full of little gems like the one above. It is light on prose and focuses on being direct and succinct.

Today Forbidden Planet turns 1 year old. I have considered a web presence since 1996, but eventually it was Ingrid and her Ice Cream that inspired me to start. Initially I expected the content to consist of pontifications and technical entries (princiapally focussed on programming and my sceptical views on conventional knowledge in various fields of science). In the end, it has turned into a more reflective blog. This has actually turned out better for me, since it reminds me of younger days, coffee shops, long walks and deep talks. I have kept my original rule which was to only post one entry per day (actually less than that sometimes). One interesting thing I learned was that "being found" is quite hard. People did not come tripping over my blog in the early days – even now they don't. It still requires a fair amount of browsing other people's blogs and leaving comments to generate visits. I am very gratified with those who regularly visit my blog and leave thou...

Today my mother begins a six day chemo marathon designed to destroy her bone marrow. In January of 2005 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (cancer arising from lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell). It was later narrowed to an aggressive form of large diffuse B-cell lymphoma. She began chemo on 06-April-2005, finishing 8 sessions on 31-Aug-2005. Despite going bald, there was no question that she looked much better for the treatment. Prior her lymph nodes were extremely swollen. Unfortunately, a check up in January-2006 revealed that the cancer had not been arrested and a new round was begun 21-January-2006 (the weekend of her birthday). This latest round, is her final chance. It consists of 3 chemo treatments. The first two comprised two 2 full day sessions spaced about 4 weeks apart. About 4 weeks after the last session she went in for two days and they harvested stem cells from her blood. Today, she begins a six day session to destroy her bone marrow (the productio...

Thus spoke the doctor as he looked into my right ear. I came down with a cold last Friday – nothing out of the ordinary, a raw throat, some congestion, a phlegmy cough, but no fever. It lasted this way through the weekend and then Monday. Tuesday morning I woke up with my left eye sealed shut because of dried mucous (a programmer here, who used to be a doctor in Serbia, told me it was likely my drainage tubes were blocked, so it came out my eye – ick). Anyway, yesterday, the congestion in my nose started to clear. "Hey! That's good!" I thought. Then I had a sharp pain in my left ear around 14:00, which passed and was replaced with a dull pressure. Around 16:00 I started experiencing pressure in my right ear. By 18:00, I had lost all ability to hear high frequencies. At 20:00 the doctor was peering in my ear and getting agitated. Well, I'm on Amoxicillin. The normal dose is 1 capsule 3 times daily. I was instructed to take two capsules immediately, followed by two more...

Your Quirk Factor: 65% You're so quirky, it's hard for you to tell the difference between quirky and normal. No doubt about it, there's little about you that's "normal" or "average." How Quirky Are You? Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is! What's Your Blogging Personality? You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace. You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions. You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected. It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional. You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of ...

I suppose that could be a tag to talking about Sofia’s arrival from Brazil yesterday … but it is not. I have mentioned and hinted that I went through a rather protracted period of feeling unhappy. I call it my despondency period. The initial stages centred around my unhappiness in my work (not that my job is bad – it is excellent, but I really have little stimulation or fulfillment from what I do – and I am addicted to the pay and benefits). This resulted in about 2 – 2-1/2 years of me being in flight mode and simply looking for ways to escape (change jobs, new career, go independent). I read tons of books on self-esteem, career change, motivation, starting your own business, etc. Then I got a 6 month unpaid leave of absence – which was excellent (even if I didn’t accomplish much, at least I was able to refocus a bit). A few weeks into this sabbatical, around this time a year ago, something changed in how I perceived myself and the world. All my life, I have been confident of myself. ...

From "The Sleeping Tsarevna and the Seven Giants" (a Russian variant of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves")