What I have been up to for the past month...

1. Lollipops I received at a Pro-Sex Presentation held by the Traveling Tickle Trunk during Gender Equality week. I must say the presentation opened up my mind to the wide range of ways people can express themselves through sex. The weight of individual opinions and societal influences can really create inhibitory environments for self-expression. (Yes it does say "Let's f***")

2. Instructions for making reusable pads. I participated in a reusable pad making session for women in Africa a few weeks ago, a concept new to me. I cannot imagine living under conditions where being a woman would inhibit my day to day functions (ie. without ways to suppress symptoms of menstruation). There is great value to these pieces of fabric, enabling women to go out to work or school just like men. As I carefully cut and trace the fabric, I picture their shining faces of gratitude. Still, I find it difficult to feel their pain of not being able to toss it in the garbage and replace with a new one after use.

3. My new found love and peace- Yoga. This was amongst many valuable things I discovered during Gender Equality Week. Stretching, breathing, balancing- it encompassed the perfect combination of a workout and stress reliever. I had been trying hard to balance my life during exams to disappointing results. My strife to attain balance while hopping up and down during my first yoga session demonstrated this exactly. But now, I think I know what to do to in order to come to peace with myself.

4. Steamed Bun Festival at T&T. (Say whaat?) Yes- it's a made up festival celebrating Chinese food, but aren't these steamy dessert buns so darn cute? (and delicious too!) Yes...eating was definitely one of the things I've been up to lately!

White Water Black Gold: what's in between?

        There's no better way to unwind after 2 hectic weeks of exams than a short and sweet independent, local film in honor of Water Week. The advanced screening at the Garneau tonight was a documentary showcasing the negative outcomes of Alberta oilsands development titled White Water Black Gold (By David Lavallee). As a pro-oil industry resident of Alberta who has worked closely with some of the cast at work and at school, this film hit close to home.
        The onslaught of problems presented- from the muderous Syncrude tailings ponds to the issues of water scarcity to the threats of fish and wildlife, and human disease was simply horrific. Although the fingers of the First Nations were pointed directly at oil giants like Suncor, Syncrude, Enbridge, and government agencies such as Alberta Environment, Environment Canada, Energy Resources Conservation Board, and National Energy Board, I did not feel this to be the solution.

Yes. Oil sand tailings have killed countless numbers of birds and fish and threatened the habitats of other wildlife.
Yes. The use of tremendous quantities of water to generate the oil has put our water supply in danger.
Yes. Environmental pollution contribute to global warming.
Yes. Environmental chemicals have led to an increase in outbreaks of human disease such as cancer. 

What is the underlying problem here? Is it the Oil industry's insatiable thirst for economic gains? Or the simple principle of supply and demand?

Figure 1. The faster than exponential growth rate of the global human population.

This says it all. More people means higher demand for essential resources of survival: food, clothing, shelter- all of which depend on oil. Is this growing global demand for oil triggered by the federal government or the oil and pipelines industries? Or is it self-inflicted?

White Water Balck Gold scares me because we don't have an answer. (And by posing these unanswered questions to HR reps of oil companies will most definitely  make them look stupid, as the case for anyone else) We do not know where the carrying capacity of our planet lies- nor do we know of any alternative efficient, reliable and environmentally friendly methods of obtaining energy. Before we put the easy blame on government and oil companies for the damage, I encourage you to think about whether you are really ready to return to a primitive way of life.

And do you have a better solution to satiate the global demand for energy than oil? 

An Afternoon At the AGA

Art Gallery of Alberta. It has lived up to its expectations as a dynamic housing of national and international art while incorporating light, shadow, shape, and texture. I  intended to visit it since its opening just over a year ago. It was perfect for a Saturday afternoon expedition in snowy Edmonton.

Brian Jungen Display. Whale skeleton made of plastic lawn chairs to highlight the paradox between the present and the past. And how evolution is redefined under the influence of globalization and consumerism.

Asians + Math = No Mystery

About a week ago I was introduced to a game called Brain Age. It calculates the speed and accuracy of the player's knowledge in a certain subject area such as mental math, memory, or creativity and spits out a score between 20-100. I was age 21 in math. I did not second guess my result because all Asians are good at math. It is simply innate! It has to do with the stringent Chinese education system and how we pretty much invented mathematics...Right?

I had always been proud of my ability to perform tasks involving arithmetic or counting at lightning speeds. When I witnessed dad painstakingly trying to help my brother memorize the times table, I simply suggested he think of numbers in Chinese, where every number and character is read as a single syllable. This was my epiphany.

While casually reading school-unrelated material, Malcolm Gladwell confirmed my hypothesis in his book "Outliers". It appears that the Chinese, Korean and Japanese language employs a highly logical numerical system, where numbers 1-10 each contain 1 syllable and any number above 10 reads as "ten one, ten two, ten three..." in comparison to "eleven, twelve, thirteen...". This gives Asian languages a timely advantage against the brain's 2 second memory window and undoubtly allows arithmetic calculations to take place faster.

Yes. Many Asians are great at math but don't feel bad because it is certainly not innate. We simply have the unspoken advantage of language that helps us to perhaps appear younger in Brain Age.