Alpha Brain Waves

Just read about something new to me, but it was discovered some decades ago together with the invention of the EEG. I first read about the Alpha Brain Waves from an advertisment of The Silva Method^TM. Later, I searched the Internet and learned more about it.

So, seems like science is showing more and more evidence to things that were once thought to be "spiritual" ... such as yoga and meditation. In a recent scientific seminar I attended, researchers have observed rise of temperature at the hands of a Qi-Gong Master when he was asked to concentrate his Qi at his hands.

Amazing! Actually, Science doesn't negate many spiritual phenomena. It is the misconception of many who wrongly think that whatever Science hasn't proved is false. Ooops, by the way, Science can never prove anything absolutely, but just to state how impossible something is not true.

How do computers socialize?

Just a couple of days ago, I attended a talk about fMRI and the speaker mentioned the difference between brain and computer. Both have different levels, from quantum mechanics to computer networks in the computer technology, and from biochemistry to sociology, which is about how people relate to each other. However, the main difference is that in computer, each level is affecting mainly its neighboring levels. Whereas in the brain, a cup of coffee triggers some biochemical responses that will affect how a person responds to others subsequently. Also, on listening to a sad piece of news may trigger some biochemical responses.

The era of computer is quite short, yet to reach a century. Yet, there were vast technological improvements in all levels from quantum mechanics and material engineering to architecture, software and computer networks. Unlike the brain, we don't need to know all levels of the computer ... in order to work with it. Currently, even though computer networks have been in lime light since the birth of Internet about two decades ago, this is still a very hot and potential area. Thus, for people interested in walking down an IT career path, this is a very important subject to study.

Cisco certification offers the environment to equip one with knowledge and skills from entry level IP Connectivity, to associate level such as Security, professional level such as Service Provider, expert ones such as Storage Networking, and specialist certifications like Unified Communications.

My basic degree is in computer science. However, I realized a little late that you don't have to be a computer scientist to ride on the then uprising IT industry. Yet, holding on to one certification is not enough. The continuously changing IT industry requires one to be always learning. At this moment, and in the many years to come, I believe knowledge on how computers socialize -- computer network technologies, is very valuable.

A reversi game ended with less than 64 seeds on board

I didn't know that it can happens until a game I played ended in this way. Two of the corners were unoccupied. Is there any price for this? ... See it for yourselfAfter the last move by white at B2, both black and white sides could not place seed on both the corners. Thus, the game ended in this state.

This is my first time seeing it. By the way, I played the black :)

Join me to break the vault

Taking part in online contests at BreakTheVault.com is

1) free,
2) convenient because it is online,
3) challenging but not impossible because you have unlimited chances to attempt to solve each one,
4) a fun way to learn new knowledge,
5) money making (for Americans) because the first one to solve will win cash or prizes ($400 already given out in the first two contests!).

In a previous contest, the winner got the answer, psittacus erithacus, with only 24 guesses while there are total of 1307 guesses from 204 contestants and only 9 clues given.

With many bloggers like me spreading this good news, they are increasing prize values even more!

Post Sponsored by Break The Vault.

Neural networks

I just read an article about the up bringing of children. There is a discussion about the two extremes, caning and reasoning, and also some mixtures of the two. I might have mentioned before, another article I read some months back stating that it might not be so much dependent on the method, but the consistency of the rule or standard that underlines the method. For example, when on different occasions, a child acts in a particular desirable or undesirable way and he/she receive different reactions or responses from the parents, the child will be confused, find contradictions and inconsistencies.

Actually, many computer scientists and engineers should be very familiar with this phenomenon. For a number of decades, artificial neural networks (ANN) were implemented using mathematical models. On class of these ANN needs to be trained in order to perform in an acceptable way. The training effectiveness depends on the training data. If there were substantial portion of the training data has error, the ANN will probably not able to fulfill in role.

Now, we have to know that ANN is an artificial version of the neural network that scientists found in brains. I agree that brain is not the whole of a human being and therefore let alone the neural network in our brain. However, if the neural network in a child brain is fed with wrong training data by giving them different or even contradictory reactions and responses to the same behavior, then the that neural network will not be trained properly. This would result in the child behaving in a way that we label as undesirable.

So, may be some engineers and some psychiatrists should start working together for a better parental guideline in the up bringing of children.