Michael Tsen's Saga
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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Is it a Fact or just a point of view ?


If you are one of those who like to find out what is really going on, you may want to understand some of these fundamentals.


First thing first, whatever happened is a fact. Even if you saw what happened, what you saw is only one aspect of what happened. It may not necessary represent the whole truth and hence what you see may not be the fact itself, but merely one way of describing the fact.

Many people assume what they see, feel and experience are facts. While this is TRUE for the person himself but it may NOT be TRUE for others. Hence when such person communicate with others about his 'facts', he may face challenges getting his message across.

But all your senses are the only inputs you can rely on. You can't just ignore them. So all you need to be aware of is that these are just inputs. Inputs can be wrong too. You should discard wrong inputs along the way. The more inputs you get describing a fact, the better it is for you to find out what the fact actually is. These are just your observation, not fact.

Does this mean we will NEVER find out what the fact is ? Well, although strictly speaking in theory and philosophy that might be true, however our real life is NOT just black and white by far.

While some facts require observation from ALL angles, some other facts can be easily identified.

"There is an accident." - a fact

"The driver is drunk." - a fact with test result

"The drunk driver caused the accident." - an idea/guess by linking 2 facts, acceptable by majority most of the time.

"That is a haunted corner, the ghost must have caused the accident." - an idea based on other past experiences, not relevant to current incident, usually less acceptable by others who have not gone through the same experience - haunting corner.

"The brake was broken even before the car was started, hence this is a mechanical failure. But the driver is also guilty of drink and drive" - report after 360 degree police investigation. An acceptable fact with many supporting inputs/views/observation.

So a fact can be identified as early as your first observation, it can also be found after a rather complete collection of observations. But the early fact you can identify is usually a general statement while the fact with many supporting observations is usually more specific with details.

Have you been treating whatever your observation is as fact to everybody else ?


Monday, February 22, 2010

Lost : Timeline

With the understanding of time in mind, these are the general timelines I have drafted. They relate mostly to the Land's time or as in our current time. Please comment, correct and dicuss ...

1845: Black Rock sail from England, presumably arrived the Island when Jacob and MIB talked about each other's intention. Ship wrecks, dead bodies and chains were found later on the Island including 2 unknown bodies named Adam and Eve.

1954 sep 23: USA Army went to the Island to conduct bombing activities. It was named as Top Secret OP264. Richard and his people (18-22yo Eloise) killed 18 soldiers, took over a bomb called Jughead. Danielle flashed back 4/14 and told Eloise to bury the bomb. Full statue is still up with man and woman figure at hands. Locke gave Compass to Richard.

1956 May 30: Locke is born.

1970: Dharma Inititive was started from University of Michigan mainly conducting researches in 6 areas.

1973: 7-10yo Ben told Richard he wanted to be one of the Hostiles. Richard told Ben to be patient.

1975: James, Juliet, Jin, Miles, Danielle stop flashing through time and joined Dharma Initiative. Miles met his father, Dr. Chang.

1978: Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sayid came back from 2008's Ajira 316 crash. Ethan is born. Ben was dying but saved by the Temple. Ben doesn't remember Sayid shot him. Juliet eventually bomb Swan using the Jughead. Losties + Juliet go back to 2008. 2004's plane didn't crash.

1988: Rosseau's ship left Tahiti. Widmore is expelled from the Island.

1988 Nov 18: Rousseau's ship crash on Island, Jin flashed to here 7/14.

1989 Jan 3-17: Rousseau said his husband is infected and killed him. Jin saw that & flash 8/14

1989~: Young Ben and 10 yo Ethan took Alex from Rosseau.

1992: Ben poison the whole Dharma team.

1996: Desmond met Danielle at Oxford University. Danielle hasn't had the formula done yet.

1997~: Miles is a 4-7 yo kid and his mom is renting a place to stay.

2001: Desmond sailed to the Island

2001 sep: Juliet joined Ben

2001-2002: Yemmi's Beechcraft crashed. Ethan shot Locke on leg @ 1/14 flash. Then Locke got back @ 3/14 flash. Dan told Desmond to go to his mother. Rules don't apply to Desmond.

2004 sep 22: Oceanic 815 crashed to Island
2004 Oct: Oceanic 815 didn't crash after Juliet Jughead in 1978.

2004 Nov 1: Claire delivered Aaron on Island, Kate helped her. Sawyer saw them while flashing through time 5/14. Locke saw the light shot up to sky where he bang on Swan hatch.

2004 Nov: Desmond failed to push button, use fail safe key instead and flashed back to 1996 but later flashed back to 2004. Desmond seems to be in a loop knowing what will happen next.

2004 Dec 30: Ben turned wheel and went to 2005

2005: Oceanic 6 back to main land.
2005 Oct 24: Ben went to Tunisia after turning the wheel.

2007: Flash 2/14 Richard fix Locke's leg and then pass a compass he got from fLocke to Locke

2007 Dec 12: Locke turned wheel to stop flashing and want to get Oceanic 6 back to Island.

2008: Ajira 316 landed on the Island. Locked used Ben to kill Jacob. Jack went to 1978 then Jughead is triggered and all come back here and stay in temple. @ Flash 5/14 Locke took boats to Orchid and was followed by gun shoots in dark.

Lost : 3 aspects of Time

First of all, Time is a very special element in Lost. We can't just assume we know time as the way it is. There are at least 3 aspects of Time in Lost.

  1. The Land's time: This is the normal time in our current world. As in Oceanic 816 took off from Sydney in 2004, Ajira took off in 2008 from LA and Rosseau's ship took off from Tahiti in 1988 etc. The related time period is from 1954 to 2008. Some may say it even goes back to 1845 when Jacob and MIB had a conversation watching the sail in ship, where Richard was a slave in the ship ?
  2. The Island's time: This is the time occur on the Island. The time on the Island may be the same as the Land's time in the past or future. But there is a special 108 days on the Island where this whole story is all about. So the Island's time usually refers to these 108 days. This would be from 27 Sep 1997 to 13 Jan 1998.
  3. A person's time. Everyone has their own time. Jack may be 34 years old when he board Ocenic 816 in 2004. Then he crashes on to the island in 1997. Jack does NOT turn younger. He is still 34 years old. As far as Jack is concern, his time stays the same. Although the environment's time has changed. More is explained in this old time travel article and the life path theory may also relate.

LOST : How to get on and off the Island ?

There have been a few ways to get on and get off the Island

  1. fly in at a particular time through a particular direction. ( not space but direction ) Usually a violent vibration will occur when you cross between the worlds. Hence may cause the plane to crash. So far only Frank can fly in and out without crashing.
  2. take a submarine. People in the sub need to take some medicine before crossing between the worlds. This is how the Dharma Initiative people get in and out quite frequently which later taken over by Ben when he leads the Others.
  3. turn the wheel down in Orchid station to leave the Island. You will appear in a middle east desert. Unlike the other 2 methods, this is only one way. You can't get to the Island using this method. This is also called 'expel' by the Island.
  4. Mind travel. When getting close to the island or near the entrance, a person's mind may get confused and flash back and forward in and out of the island and also time. This eventually lead to death if a 'constant' is not found.
It may aslo be worth mentioning that the Island exist since 1954 when USA was conducting bombing activities there. At that time, there should be no time differences between the Island and our world yet.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

My New Year Hair Cut

I thought my hair was fine and ready for new year but most don't think so ...


So I wet my hair and gave them a new look. No one fall for that trick and people still think I need a hair cut before new year ...


So I had to do it.


And they don't let me cut botak neither. *sigh* so much about social life huh ?

DIY Dog Food Dispenser

Recently I just realize I have no one I can rely on to help feed my dog if I leave home longer than usual. Due to incapacity to fund a dog food dispenser tool myself, I had to come up with something from nothing.

... and I made this at last minute. Once my dog finishes eating his portion, the food will automatically dispense more portion slowly. I adjusted the height so that the auto dispense portion is just nice for his appetite.


The dog eating motion will automatically shake the container to dispense too. Everything works ... relatively fine. And there is no training required to the dog. Everything works under mother nature (gravity) and instinct.


Methods I used
  • Take an empty water container,
  • Cut the bottom out with a knife, ( don't throw away, I used it as a lid later )
  • punch one hole at the center of each side of the container
  • use 2 ropes
  • each rope goes through the adjacent corner holes ( not opposite nor cross )
  • tight each rope somewhere higher
  • test put some content in it and see if it works
  • adjust the height so that the portion is as desired
I did all these in less than 10 minutes at first go. So it shouldn't be too tough a job. I spent most time in testing the portion size with height.

It works best with water.

You can add a one-flip-lid to the opening too. In that case you don't need to adjust the height. But then you will need to train your pet how to open the lid herself. I didn't have time so I skipped that part.

Hope this helps just in case there is such person in this world so poor and so lonely who can't even find someone to feed his dog.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Have you ever lay down on naked grass ?


Have you ever lay down on naked grass ?


The tickling of the mother nature on your skin may at first irritate a little bit. But when you fully let go off your body to the land's contour, you will have a sense of belonging.


At first the splashes on your face may scare you a little bit but soon you find out you can tilt your head a little bit and you can open your eyes looking front instead of just straight up to the sky.


The thundering sound puts you on guard, wondering if the next strike will be on you. Scaring the loud sound, scaring the sudden strong light, scaring uncertainty, scaring death ...


If you wake up and leave at that moment, that will be the end of your experience. But if you choose to keep laying there, you may soon realize you have been scare for too long. You have no more energy to be afraid. You start to really look into the lighting. You can tell how close or how far the thunder is by its first reach. You can finally look straight up to the sky and rain drops aren't that scary after all.

Eventually ... sun came. Its the sky, the breeze, the birds ... I can close my eyes now.


When enough is enough, nothing else matters. What you have now is what you have. Its really a choice of guarding yourself against it or letting yourself be part of it. If everyone stay long enough, we will all reach this stage. Its just a matter of sooner or later.

Have you ever lay down on naked grass of a thunder night ?

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Why Global Warming matters to you ?

Well, if you don't care ... then by the time you have money to visit Antarctica, you won't see these views anymore ...







Friday, February 05, 2010

Migration and Immigrants

I am a middle age Malaysian. 2nd generation Chinese born and raised in Malaysia. That means my grand father came to Malaysia from China. Many of my friends are like me - raising a middle income family. I happen to have many foreign friends working in this country too. I can't help to notice how people move in and out of our land.


Most of my friends have migrated, are migrating and planning to migrate. Almost all of them are happy with the new environment. There are always some minor draw backs (usually home sick, emotion etc.) but almost always the purpose of their migration reassure them they have made the right decisions, indeed they are. The new lands are safer and has better living standard.

Most of my foreign friends turned out to stay in this country for good. They find here safer and has better living standard. Sometimes they find themselves home sick but the excitement in new environment quickly settle them in.


Almost every single bad and good thing I heard from my friends about the new land, I heard it too from my foreign friends about our own land. Every curse my friends made about Malaysia, I heard it too from my foreign friends about their own countries.

Sometimes I wonder ... why do my friends disgust on my foreign friends while they are so much alike. My foreign friends are begging for fair treatment as much as my friends in their new lands.

I just hope one day I can just call all of them friends, without the word 'foreign' anymore ... because they are just the same ... Its just 2 different political locations.

More Lost Season 6 Premier

Parallel Universe ? NOT !
So did the bomb blast everything back to where they started ? Well, yes and no. The funny thing is human always look at the world from one angle and assume thats it! Its either this or that. Sometimes we forget it can be both and it can be none and most of all, it can be so many other choices too (as shown in life paths article). What will happen if the plane didn't crash ? Well, this episode will tell you some, and enough that you should be able to see how the story will go ( if didn't crash ).

It also projects a sense of 'no matter what you do, you will end the same' unless or until you take that one single significant action. Much like Desmond's repeated explosion of the hatch he was looking after. But there are no clues given that the story will be just that.

Many people commented that is alternate reality. Generally alternate reality has been denied in the show before and this is definitely not one of them. Their timelines are different. One occurs before ( on the plane ) and the other one occurs after ( on the island ); according to the time line of the story told of course ie. season 1 to season 6. They don't happen at the same time, ie after the bomb went blast.

Smoke Monster
Actually there isn't concrete evidence that the identify of black smoke is revealed. But if season 6 is the finale then it should be it. They have no time to come back to revert this hint. So now we know who is the black smoke. The immediate notion should be .... we also know who will be the white smoke. Or most likely white clouds.

why I said the smoke monster's identify is not necessary be revealed ? For one, the new Locke went in an internal side corner but the smoke appears from the outside entrance. Then the new Locked appears from the side corner again. In season 5, there was once the black smoke appeared as his daughter and asked Ben to obey the new Locke but the new Locke seems like not knowing that Ben has already agreed to obey him with no question asked. The meaning of 'me' becomes interesting in "I am sorry you have to see me like that".

IT Works!
This is what Juliet wanted to say before she ... Sometimes the world has changed but because all your surroundings look the same so you didn't even know the world has changed. This is especially true when some other stuff has occupied your feelings. ie. you feel very sad or very happy and therefore you didn't notice those little differences that have already been in place. Much like No.5 in the life paths article.

Nothing is Irreversible
This is what Jack said to Locke. This is one of the few 'bright' messages shown in this premier. This may also give a hint how the story may end. Will Jack finally be getting something right ?

I don't like the taste of English on my tongue
I don't know where this comes from. Is Lost trying to please the rising eastern power as the successor of great America in this century ?

.
.
.

there you go, this should be enough for those of you who haven't watched yet. I am sure the show will become more interesting if you watch again.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Lost Season 6 Premier - Life Paths

Everyone have their own life paths. If we start looking at any one single point, ie. as shown in below the triangle tag with 'YOU' (1), many paths are laid in front of you (2). Depends on what you do on that particular point (cause), you will head to a different path (effect); as in causal.

Different path may leads to different endings as in (3) circle and (4) a square.

Sometimes the paths get so close to each other as in (5) that we couldn't tell what the differences are in the beginning. But eventually their differences will show by themselves. As in you tell a white lie.


Our life paths are connected to each other in dash lines. As shown in below, no matter which of the 3 right most paths you took, you will meet a He.

Sometimes life paths cross each other like (6) giving you a chance to change path. At that particular cross, all the things you did in the past didn't matter, you feel like you ended at the same place anyway. But not for long.

Sometimes there may be one special path that can cross all the other paths (7). You may have realized life and become special spiritually or it could just be a high EQ and IQ thing in relative to your ecology that you are able to do some super human being stuff.

Usually this power comes to existence after you have gone through some special experience as in (8). There is a blue line on the left side drawing from top to down. The right side of the blue line represent 'normal'. It could mean human, earth, common sense, consciousness. The left side is something special like god, heaven, sub-conscious etc.

Sometimes this super power allows you to create a path that goes opposite direction as in (9). As a result you may cross another path at reverse time. As time travel explained in details in Season 5 Episode 11.


Don't forget at any point of any path, a new spread of paths can occur depends on what you do at that point. Hence, the whole path thing may look complicated.


So far all above are just lines drawn on a piece of paper, a 2D world. In fact the world we really care about is 3D. Hence the paper can be fold and therefore carry out other type of possibilities.


And at times, the paper can be fold many times in very unique way ...


Many others just mentioned alternate reality but I think this life path explanation can cover a bigger area for this story. I am not sure if this is adequate to explain why and what the experience of Oceanic 815 passengers are going through but this is basically what Episode 1 gives.
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