On Flight MH17

     Much like Jon Stewart, I was really surprised to get home from vacation and learn that the world had gone to crap while I was lounging on the beach. This post was originally going to be about my vacation by the ocean, but I think we can all agree that there are some much more important matters to be discussed, namely - Flight MH17.

On the FIFA World Cup

     Lately everything from Google to Facebook has talked of nothing but the 2014 FIFA World Cup. I get it, we're all excited to see which country produces the best soccer players, but there is more to life than kicking a ball around on artificial turf. At least when the Olympics come around, we can all see a nice big variety of sports. Unfortunately, FIFA forces us to endure to weeks full of a single event, namely the aforementioned ball kicking on artificial turf.

On Binge-Watching

     Has Netflix taken over control of your life? If you answered "Yes" to that question, you're not alone. Online streaming has ruined the existence of many individuals, myself included. If by some strange act of God you actually haven't been corrupted by the ability to watch one TV show for hours (and hours) on end, run. Run and never look back, because there is still hope for you. Hope that one day, you may be a productive member of society. As for the rest of us, we're screwed.

'Tis Finally Summer!

     I'm going to apologize right now for my last post about Graham's number, as it was pretty awful. In my defence, I was studying furiously for exams that evening (and/or marathoning Torchwood on Netflix.) But I am oh-so happy to announce that this school year is officially over! I've had a great freshman year and I've made some excellent new friends at my high school, but I'm just ready for the year to be over at this point.

On Graham's Number

     Graham's number, named after its creator, Ronald Graham, is a very, very large number. It is in fact quite a lot larger than you or I can understand. It dwarfs numbers even as huge as googolplex (10^10^100). To see just how staggeringly big Graham's number is, take a look at the Numberphile video below.

On the United Nations

     The United Nations (UN) is an international organization with the sole purpose of promoting peace and justice. I find it disappointing that the human race is capable of mucking up something with such good intentions so much. The UN is controlled mainly by the "big five," namely China, America, Russia, the UK, and France. Not much can happen in the organization without unanimous approval from them. You can imagine that's a problem.

On Gun Control

     Columbine. Newtown. Santa-Barbara. These places are scarred with tragedy. All too often, a person with serious mental illnesses gets their hands on a firearm, and uses it to kill people. We've seen it happen before, and unfortunately, I believe that we will see it again before meaningful changes to a broken and outdated system can take effect. Every time we see this kind of atrocity, we swear that changes will be made, our politicians insist that they will do everything in their power to prevent anything like it ever happening again, but then news cycle turns over.

"I am Become Death"

     J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the lead scientists of the Manhattan Project, is among the founders of the atomic age. He was present at the Trinity Test, the first-ever detonation of a nuclear weapon. After the Second World War, he remarked that the Trinity event brought to mind a phrase from a Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

On Artificial Intelligence

     In the past century, the human race has expanded at an unimaginable rate. Our knowledge of the universe and its workings has grown more profound with each year. Our capacities for innovation and creativity have proven themselves time and time again. But among all of these developments, there's one that has horrified science-fiction writers and conspiracy theorists for decades: artificial intelligence.

On Stephen Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo

     The Cellist of Sarajevo, told from the viewpoints of four individuals caught in a time of war, is Stephen Galloway's in-depth exploration of human nature. Throughout the novel, which revolves around The Siege of Sarajevo which took place from 1992 to 1996, Galloway depicts the horrors of war, and makes us all question what it means to be human.