The Power That Moves Us

I have my own schedule.

You see, my father is a paediatrician with working hours.

With a house three cities away from school and a history of getting lost regardless of easy to follow directions, I am pretty much stranded in a faraway place, every morning I get dropped off to school.

My pick up hours are 3pm and 9pm, if it was in between 3 and 9, well... let’s just say I had no choice but to patiently wait until my dad arrives.

So it wasn’t that rare of a sight to see me aimlessly wandering around the university late at night relishing in the cold evening air.

 During one of those nights however, unlike most nights, a stranger said ‘hello’.

It was during the second semester of my second year, relatively close to summer vacation.

I had tired myself out from walking and decided to rest on a bench in the school’s plaza.

The school had almost emptied out.

Shamelessly, I occupied one whole bench to rest my legs, my head supported by a lamp post with another bench on its side.

One of my most favourite things about the school was the neon blue clock face that always shone proudly on the old main building’s facade.

With nothing much to do I positioned my head to the side and watched the slow moving hand tick away, wasting my time as It did.

“Hello” a voice greeted, so very close to my ear, like a knife cutting through the silence with an edge.

I turned from my position and saw a man in a red jersey shirt beaming me a friendly smile.

“Been here for quite a while now, thought I should say hello”

“Hello” I greeted back, adding a small bow in courtesy.

He was a lean looking man whose age one could only guess to be around 20 to 25, a very unimpressive fellow with a pleasant smile.

“By your uniform I s’pose you’re good in art?” He began lamely, trying to start a conversation.

After a while, words began to form, and sentences flowed like a river, pouring in rapid currents.

We talked about anything and everything, easily.

The dim lamp light obscuring our faces, like talking to someone very far away.

I learned his name, major, and year level.

He was an electrical engineering student a year from graduation.

He began talking about courses and professors, before finally bringing up his thesis.

“We can do our thesis in groups” he explained.

“We plan on creating energy efficient Railway stations by installing revolving doors that can charge energy! It’ll be great!”

I made a humming noise to show that I was listening.

Contemplating the simplicity of the idea.

The proposal was very elementary it was shocking, producing energy through friction? That must have been said and done a million times already.

But who’s to say I guess.

Before I knew it, our conversation turned into a mini lecture, animatedly he explained the different types of wiring, using jargon that went through one ear and out the other.

Until everything came down to energy once again.

I never thought that conversation would ever do me any good, until I heard these words a year later:

“Alternate Energy Resources”

The term "alternative" presupposes a set of undesirable energy technologies against which "alternative energies" are contrasted. As such, the list of energy technologies excluded is an indicator of which problems the alternative technologies are intended to address.



Common Types of Alternative Energy



Solar energy

Is generating of electricity from the sun. It is split up into two types, thermal and electric energy. These two subgroups mean that they heat up homes (and water) and generate electricity respectively.

Wind energy 

Is generating of electricity from the wind.

Geothermal energy 

Is using hot water or steam from the Earth’s interior for heating buildings or electricity generation.

Bio fuel and Ethanol

Are plant-derived substitutes of gasoline for powering vehicles.

Hydrogen 

Is used as clean fuel for airplanes, spaceships, and some cars.

New Concepts for Alternative Energy



Algae fuel 

Is a bio fuel which is derived from algae. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. The benefits of algal bio fuel are that it can be produced industrially, thereby obviating the use of arable land and food crops (such as soy, palm, and canola), and that it has a very high oil yield as compared to all other sources of bio fuel.

Biomass briquettes

Are being developed in the developing world as an alternative to charcoal. The technique involves the conversion of almost any plant matter into compressed briquettes that typically have about 70% the calorific value of charcoal. There are relatively few examples of large scale briquette production. One exception is in North Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where forest clearance for charcoal production is considered to be the biggest threat to Mountain Gorilla habitat. The staff of Virunga National Park have successfully trained and equipped over 3500 people to produce biomass briquettes, thereby replacing charcoal produced illegally inside the national park, and creating significant employment for people living in extreme poverty in conflict affected areas.

Biogas

 Digestion deals with harnessing the methane gas that is released when waste breaks down. This gas can be retrieved from garbage or sewage systems. Biogas digesters are used to process methane gas by having bacteria break down biomass in an anaerobic environment. The methane gas that is collected and refined can be used as an energy source for various products.

Biological Hydrogen Production


Hydrogen gas is a completely clean burning fuel; its only by-product is water. It also contains relatively high amount of energy compared with other fuels due to its chemical structure.

2H2 + O2 → 2H2O + High Energy

High Energy + 2H2O → 2H2 + O2

This requires a high-energy input, making commercial hydrogen very inefficient. Use of a biological vector as a means to split water, and therefore produce hydrogen gas, would allow for the only energy input to be solar radiation. Biological vectors can include bacteria or more commonly algae. This process is known as biological hydrogen production. It requires the use of single celled organisms to create hydrogen gas through fermentation. Without the presence of oxygen, also known as an anaerobic environment, regular cellular respiration cannot take place and a process known as fermentation takes over. A major by-product of this process is hydrogen gas. If we could implement this on a large scale, then we could take sunlight, nutrients and water and create hydrogen gas to be used as a dense source of energy. Large-scale production has proven difficult. It was not until 1999 that we were able to even induce these anaerobic conditions by sulphur deprivation. Since the fermentation process is an evolutionary back up, turned on during stress, the cells would die after a few days. In 2000, a two-stage process was developed to take the cells in and out of anaerobic conditions and therefore keep them alive. For the last ten years, finding a way to do this on a large-scale has been the main goal of research. Careful work is being done to ensure an efficient process before large-scale production, however once a mechanism is developed, this type of production could solve our energy needs.

Floating Wind Farms 

Are similar to a regular wind farm, but the difference is that they float in the middle of the ocean. Offshore wind farms can be placed in water up to 40 metres (130 ft) deep, whereas floating wind turbines can float in water up to 700 metres (2,300 ft) deep. The advantage of having a floating wind farm is to be able to harness the winds from the open ocean. Without any obstructions such as hills, trees and buildings, winds from the open ocean can reach up to speeds twice as fast as coastal areas.

Back then, impatience got the best of me and I closed my ears off, nodding absentmindedly.

“There you are! Why are you waiting here of all places? We’re going home” My dad called, walking towards us in big steps.

“Your dad?”

“Yes” I answered glancing at the clock to see the small hand, right at that moment, strike 9.

“It was very nice talking to you” I said, hurriedly slinging my bag over one shoulder.

“Yeah, it was nice talking to you too”

He said, giving a wave and a smile as he swung his legs back and forth where he sat.

“See ya!”

I never met him again.

No matter how much I rattle my brain, I can’t seem to recall his name.

Neither do I remember his face.

All I can remember is taking my Earth and Life Science Quiz, and cursing my luck for letting his words pass me like the wind.

“Revolving doors huh?” I breathed, scribbling down anything and everything I could think of.

Anything at all that seemed like the answer to number 1.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_energy

Checked By:

Prof. Crisencio Paner

Measuring Hearts in Carats

In elementary English, I, as well as my other, then, six years old classmates, was taught that nouns could be classified as either 'abstract' or 'concrete'.

Now, we already knew that nouns were names for people, places, things and the like, but what was far more interesting was the concept of ‘abstract nouns’.

Time, days, numbers even emotions, were allocated with names.

Things that cannot be seen, held, heard, things that were so invariably weightless they live only on the tip of our tongues before evaporating into something even less than air.

Small thoughts at the back of our mind, given shape by letters borrowed from the alphabet.

After explaining the difference between what words were abstract and what were concrete, my English teacher proposed a game in which, she would write down a word on the board and we would have to guess under which type of noun it fell under.

The first word my English teacher wrote on the black board was ‘love’.



Let’s go ahead and jump nine years.

To a certain black out of my fifteen summers.

My paternal grandparents were what one would call, the ever bickering couple.

They’re probably the only people I know, and will ever know, who could turn simple, conversational topics into long, drawn out arguments.

To illustrate:

One talks about the weather
If what he or she had said was a pleasant commentary about the weather being fairly even (not too hot, not too cold), the other would debate how scorching the sun was or how rain clouds were seemingly forming on the clear, cloudless summer sky.

And if it was the other way around, he or she would tell the other how complaining about something so out of human control was like getting pissed at a stranger sitting next to you in the library for breathing too loud.

Completely irrational.

But that pitch black night that felt so detached from modern day, my grandmother, for the first time, told the story of how she and my grandfather came to be.

My grandmother is a mestiza, born to a Spanish exile and a Filipina.

She was fair, and brown eyed, and, though their family’s wealth was modest, she looked, walked and spoke like an aristocrat.

Men lugging guitars and make shift drums were not a rare sight outside their small bungalow.

Among those men was my grandfather.

My grandfather is a tall, dark man that saw to it he always walked with a straight back.

The epitome of average.

... This story is straying a little too far so let me go ahead and jump right to the point.

‘Love’ was not present for both parties.

But certain circumstances (the urging of my great grandfather) led the two of them to marriage.

As my grandmother finished her story she held up her hand towards the light of a nearby candle.

Her ring glimmering faintly in the dim orange.

It was fool’s gold embedded with what I presume, are, white crystals in lieu of diamonds.

She gave a deep sigh and fell silent.

Her silence, stretching over the rest of that pitch black night.

Like a void so perfect, it sucked her from the inside out.



Before I finish my story, let me first discuss to you the many ways of determining real gold from fake:


1. Magnet Test:
Though not completely full proof (as some counterfeit gold use non-magnetic metals as well) this test can help determine gilded metals from real gold.
Bring a magnet close to your ‘gold’ if it pulls towards the magnet or sticks to it, it is a fake.

2. Nitric Acid Test:
Caution to the wise, Nitric acid is a dangerous chemical; this method is best left to professional hands.
Place your item on a stainless steel sheet or container and drip nitric acid on your ‘gold’ if it discolours you are dealing with either a base or gilded metal. Real gold will not react to nitric acid.

3. Streak Test:
A word of advice, this method will damage your ‘gold’ and there for, is best left as a last option.
When dragged across a streak plate, real gold will leave a gold trail where as a fake (pyrite) will streak black.


And how to determine real diamonds from imitations:


1.News Paper Test:
Place the ‘diamond’ on a piece of newspaper with the point side up. Real diamonds have high refractive index (bends light in faster speeds) and when looked through, will distort the text, rendering it unreadable. If you can still read, or manage to even barely distinguish the text whilst looking through the ‘diamond’, it is without a doubt, fake.

2. Dot Test:
On a piece of paper, draw a black dot and place your ‘diamond’ over it. Similar to the news paper test, you must not be able to see the image on the bottom. If you see the dot’s refection through the stone, your ‘diamond’ is a fake.

3. Reflection Test:
Real diamonds reflect in various shades of gray, if the light reflected produces a spectrum akin to the colours of a rainbow, your ‘diamond’ is a fake.

4. Fog Test:
Like fogging glass, breathe over your ‘diamond’, real diamond will disperse heat instantaneously. If your ‘diamond’ fogs over, it is unquestionably, a fake.

5. X-Ray Test:
Real diamonds are radiolucent (Has greater transparency, permeable to radiation) and will therefore not appear on X-Rays.

6. UV Test: 
Most diamonds will show signs of blue florescence under UV light.  Green, yellow or gray are tell tale signs of a fake.


Going back to that day in English class,

Every hand went up the air, including mine.

The teacher surveyed us all with a contemplative expression, before choosing the boy at the back whose name I’ve long forgotten.

“Concrete” he answered.

We all turned towards him, the teacher requesting an explanation.

“Well, aren’t concrete nouns, nouns experienced through the senses? My mom tells me she loves me all the time, I also, feel that I am loved”

 A low hum of murmurs began, all questioning if he was right.

He was wrong though.

The teacher explained once more the difference between the two and why ‘love’ was not ‘concrete’ despite the correctness of his answer.

After the black out,

Every now and then whenever I see my grandparents bicker, that memory would resurface.

And I begin to ponder, would it have been better if that nameless boy’s answer was right?

Like the carats of a finely cut diamond, would ‘love’ be better off measurable and exact?


Till now I sometimes wonder, if in some small part, ‘love’ might actually weigh somewhere between a base metal and low class gold.

Nothing too precious.

Just something solid and reassuring

Like my grandmother’s ring, though treated like something unwanted, very, very much worn.

Checked By: Professor Crisencio Paner

The Science of Advertising

In all honesty, advertising (the course I am currently majoring in) was never my first, my second, or my last choice for college. 

My heart was set on literary arts, my second, liberal (psychology), and my last? Well, though I’ve never thought of more than two, I can assure you, it would have been anything but advertising.

To briefly explain, I live with a predominantly artistic family.

I have a mother with a degree in advertising; an older sister who, similar to my mother, also has a degree in advertising, and lastly, an older brother, though taking up architecture, someone who was also fairly artistic.

This was not a carefully planned out attempt at creating our very own small time family run advertising/design firm.

No.

In my case, in fact, it was like a humongous looming shadow that always followed, like a persistent itch that you couldn’t get rid of. Not fate, simply something we we’re inclined to give into sooner or later.

Why bring this up so suddenly?

Well...

For our Earth and Life Science class, we we’re asked to talk about Natural Science and Advertising and the relationship between the two in a blog.

Let me say this straight.

I am the worst person to ask this of.

That is, if this was three years ago.

You see, what attracted me to the prospect of studying literature and psychology was not simply the idea of being able to immerse myself in books and close my antisocial self off with the excuse of taking my studying very seriously (though that may partly be the case).

But the absolute joy of understanding the human puzzle. To comprehend the differences from what is said, and what is implied. To hear what is not spoken, but acted out. To be able to know people, not vaguely interpret them.

That said, Advertising didn’t feel like the type of major for me.

It was the absolute opposite of what I wanted.

Instead of catching the baseball, I was being asked to throw it.

Advertising was like a complete 180 degree turn.

Here, the first rule was. To sell, it doesn’t matter what, an idea? A product? A service? Sell! That’s all there is to it.

It was the speaking end of a conversation.

My words, my ideas, my whole self being bared to the public, open for acceptance or criticism.

A one way game of persuasion.

It took me quite a while to realize that there was more to it than a gaudy presentation and pretty words strung together.

Quoting the great Sun Tzu “In order to defeat the enemy, you must first know your enemy”

In order to effectively sell, you have to first, understand the target market. Their way of thinking, their level of understanding, the worries they have, and the words they want to hear.

It was a game of catch.

A science that dealt with the human mind.

A more involved form of what I was seeking from a psychology or literature major, and much, much more.

Advertising dealt with so many sciences, my mind was in a pleasant state of confusion (which I plan to organize once I get all the information in)

Cognition, Human Behavior, Sociology, Critical Theory, Psychology, Anthropology

Before I knew it, I was having fun.

Like a chess game, near a stale mate, I was always eager to take my next move.

There was a permanent question mark floating about in my head at the end of every sentence.

“Would they buy it if I said this? Would it catch their attention if I presented it like this? Is it better to go for print? or tv?”

 Advertising and natural science are inseparable.

A puzzle I plan on piecing together no matter how unsolvable.