To Click or not to Click

What is the first thing that you would find when you do a Google search? Now, most of us would notice the little yellow box in the bottom left corner of the first few searches, and avoid them, but what if you're tired? You're tired, it's 1 am, and you're locked out of your house and you're desperately praying for your phone to not die. You click on the first result that shows up. 


I'd recently watched a TEDx video which had a somewhat misleading title (link provided below). It was called "Wiretapping the Secret Service can be Easy and Fun". Intuitively, when we see such a title, we'd imagine the author to be a bored person living in their mother's basement, unemployed, despite their skills with a computer, looking for their 15 minutes of fame; anything to end the sheer monotony of their lives. This video, though, was something quite different. 


Watch the video


In 2014, Bryan Seely hacked the Secret Service and the FBI, and then turned himself in to alert authorities to the problem. What was the problem? He says that most of the results of companies provided by google are fake.  Preposterous, right? We trust google. I mean, I can type "google" with a lowercase "g" and not get that annoying jagged red line underneath it. That's how much google is trusted and respected. So how can this  be? But as it turns out, it's true. They're fake. 


I used to think these fake companies were just simply annoying. I mean, they're harmless, right? All they're doing is taking up space so that other, real companies can't... right... the real companies can't show up, so they lose business that they deserve. 


So what can we do? How can we distinguish between the real and the fake? Something about what he said struck me, though. I mean, if we know which one is fake.. These people, they have to pay google to display their ads, right? On a per-click basis? Well, what if we all just kept clicking on them? The fake ones, that is. I don't know. This may seem really childish and ignorant, but I'm just so angry right now. Why do people have to be just so horrible?

The Cake Problem

You're sitting on a couch. You've retired for the day. It's pleasantly warm, though you can hear the gentle patter of the rain falling onto the roof. There are no worries; no thoughts plaguing you, save one:

There is a piece of cake lying on the coffee table in front of you. It appears to be every bit of the type of cake you'd want to devour. But there's something stopping you from eating that cake. It may be because you're too full, or maybe you're craving for something else. Maybe you're just tired of cakes altogether. But the fact remains that you don't want to eat it at the moment.

You don't know what will happen if you go against all instincts and eat that cake. It may end up being tasteless. You may regret ever eating it in the first place. It might cause you to gain an unnecessary pound without giving you the promised satisfaction in return. On the other hand, it might end up being the most delicious cake you've ever had in your life. You don't know what will happen if you choose to eat that cake.

But what happens if you choose to just leave it there? This one is a little more predictable. The longer you leave it there, the likelihood of it disappearing increases exponentially. Whether into the mouth of another, or through Mother Nature's deviousness, you will eventually be robbed of that cake.

What do you do?

Makeup

Okay, so this is something that has been bugging me since I was twelve and figured out how to use the internet. Do women and girls from most western countries really apply that much makeup? I'm from Malaysia, which is in Southeast Asia, and I actually grew up wearing makeup. I mean, not everyday or anything. I was trained in Indian classical dance which meant that during stage performances, I was required to wear a TON of makeup. And jewelry. And hair extensions. I hated every minute of it! Dancing on stage in the heat while buried under all of that weight? It was one of the reasons I stopped dancing! When I asked my mom why I had to wear so much of it, she said that it was to make you appear more noticeable to the audience. So growing up, I thought that only performers and the people on TV wore makeup.

But as I grew up, I started reading all these teen fiction novels and I realised that in some parts of the world, little girls wore makeup everyday! I mean, at 15, I was actually sneaking into my mom's dresser, trying on all her stuff, and wiping it away as soon as I was done staring at myself in the mirror; and these little girls were going to school like that?

I've hear that only people with low self esteem wear makeup, and I think that's absolutely crap. I'm in college, and the only reason I dare to wear eyeliner sometimes to class is cause I wear glasses, and it doesn't really show. Yeah. I for one think that it takes a very high level of confidence to wear makeup. Wearing makeup makes you noticeable. It makes people stare at you. Sometimes when I wear my lonely eyeliner, I get so paranoid that I start to imagine people whispering things about me to each other. Maybe it's different in other countries or maybe I'm just a really weird person, but I honestly applaud those of you girls out there who are not afraid of wearing makeup.

The One

You know when people tell you to stop living in a fairy tale; that the perfect person is just a figment of our romanticized imagination, there comes a point when we start to feel that maybe they're right. Maybe we do expect too much from life. Maybe we do watch too many romance films. Maybe we are indeed blinded by the pictures that every romance author has painted for us. Maybe they aren't cynics, jaded by their own bitterness, but instead realists, who have experienced far more in life than we have.

I have to ask though, aren't we all worth it? And I'm not just talking about The One. I'm talking about all the relationships we build and break throughout our lives. Our friends, our mentors, our non-blood-related siblings. Are we just supposed to just settle, because we might never find a special connection, and we're too afraid that we'll end up spending our lives alone? 

I find that our friends, the really good ones, not the ones we say hi to as we pass by, they are supposed to mean something to us. I would like to have ONE friend that I could really talk to about anything at all, and not be afraid of judgement. I'd like someone who would be there for me no matter what, even if I try to push them away, or if I've hurt them. I realize that this seems to be a very selfish and idealistic way of thinking, but I would be wholeheartedly prepared to reciprocate. If such a special person exists, I would never let go of them.

I'm young. I know nothing of the world. I still think that people are good no matter how many times they(we) prove me wrong. But most of all, I believe it is not wrong to wait for that person because I'd rather spend my entire life, searching for them rather than spending an discontented life with anyone else.

Topsy-turvy

I just came across this post by Collective Evolution while I was on Facebook. Yes, I was wasting my time.

Psychedelic Honey

Anyway, it got me thinking about all these substances that supposedly cause hallucinations. I've always wanted to try to experience one. Unfortunately though, I've yet to find a method to induce hallucination that isn't illegal, extremely rare and costly, or extremely toxic.

It's really fascinating to think about though. What exactly happens? Do we suddenly start seeing things that aren't there? Or are we transformed into some other dimension? Is it similar to having a really lucid dream? Or maybe for a small period of time, our eyes are really opened and we see the world for what it really is?

Popcorn anyone?

I think that the most unappreciated thing in this world are the movie credits that roll at the end of most films. I mean, who in this world stays after a film to watch some random dudes names just roll up the screen? Even if the aforementioned "random dudes" were in fact the ones who've created the movie you just enjoyed (or slept through).

Well, for me, the only film credits that I've stayed to watch are those of The Deathly Hallows Part II. But I admit, I was just being nostalgic about my childhood ending..... Anyway, I digress. Back to the point, who really wants to watch film credits? Have the film producers noticed this? How could they not? Maybe that's why some films have credits at the beginning of the film as well. 

I think that the other members involved in the making of the films, I mean those besides actors and producers and directors, might actually eagerly anticipate the credits. For example, a makeup artist. I mean, sure, she/he would be able to actually see the makeup on the characters of the film, but I'm sure there's nothing like seeing your name roll up on the screen. I mean, I would wait eagerly, and sit through the entire film just to watch my name just roll up the screen. I mean, that's the best part about the film, right? Seeing your name in it (or face).

All Mixed-up Inside

I get very emotional when the topic of God comes up. Recently, that's all everyone seems to be talking about. It's either religion or spirituality. Both of them seem to be at war with each other. Why? Everyone is just doing the best they can to make sense of their own world. But how can they do that? That's where the problem arises.

Spirituality is both the oldest and the newest concept. It has always been ingrained in mankind since the dawn of time. It was from spirituality that Religion was born. The difference between the two titans is the same as the difference between morality and law. Neither one is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. It's just that one is firm, and the other is flexible. In other words, religion is set in stone, while spirituality is fluid. 

But the problem is, religion is often misrepresented. I mean, something that's has been going on for thousands of years, spreading through either word of mouth or through editable literature. To make matters worse, there seems to be a spouting of certain irrational beliefs about the Word of God which haven't seem to have been written on aforementioned religious scriptures. 

It all comes back to perception. We should all have an inner sense of what's right or wrong, right? Wrong! We've all studied our history. We've all laughed at our ancestors' mistakes, and their silly beliefs and customs. We've all shaken our heads at their pointless wars over religion and money and power, all the while believing that we could've done everything so much better. How do we know that in 50 years, our great grandchildren wouldn't point their fingers at out, hysterically laughing, while we shamelessly defend our actions. After all, we did what we thought was right, didn't we?

I believed that I could change all of this. If only people would just listen to me. If only they'd all just mind their own business, instead of prying into other peoples'. If only everyone would just stop hurting other people, and instead just live their lives as well as they could without harming others in the process. I mean, that seems so simple. It's the perfect solution. And then I realised that I was doing the exact same thing that everyone I'd despised was doing. Believing in something and trying to mould everyone else's beliefs to suit mine. 

Everyone's just doing the best that they can, in order to make sense of this world. There's no right or wrong answer. Life isn't so simple. If it was, we'd just find a way to make it more complicated. Religion was an approach to simplify Spirituality. In doing so, it made it God a much more complicated concept.