Mathax: Fifteen Minutes Of Fiction

Crowds and Alcohol

When people are faced with moral dilemmas, several things can help decide the outcome. Not just your moral fiber and judgment, but also crowds, and alcohol. These and other things like them affect your judgment in different ways.

A crowd can help decide the outcome of events. Crowds and mobs can get people swept up in emotion. One person may not even consider doing something when they are alone or with one or two people. Yet when they get swept up in a crowd, they find themselves yelling and screaming along with everyone else.

The short story called, Shooting an Elephant, (Orwell, 1936) is about a young man in India in the 1920's. He was called by the police to deal with a ravaging elephant. The young man was interested and went to investigate. He was going to see if he could simply contain the elephant until his handler arrived. Before he could do this, the elephant killed a Burman (native). He then sent for an elephant-hunting rifle to defend himself with. He went after the elephant and the Burmans start following him, planning to get the meat off the elephant after he killed it. By the time he found the elephant, he was followed by about two thousand people. He ended up shooting the elephant because that's what the crowd wanted him to do. He said, “I had done it (killed the elephant) solely to avoid looking a fool”. If the crowd wasn't there, then he probably wouldn't have shot the elephant.

A crowd can make people do interesting things. In the Bible, in the book of Matthew, Chapter 27, Verse 11-25, the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate was questioning Jesus. His conclusion was that the people had brought Jesus before him because they were envious and that Jesus had done nothing wrong. The crowds, stirred up by the chief priests and magistrates, kept on yelling to crucify him. “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” Go crucify him yourselves. Some people speculate that if they were in Pilate's place they would have made a different choice. However, unless they have been in a similar situation, then they can't know.

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Calculators in College

Calculators should not be banned in all college math classes. Calculators are tools that were developed by humans to help with mathematics. Advanced math classes like Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Statistics should use calculators. The point of these classes is to teach advanced mathematics, not to teach basic arithmetic. Calculators are very useful for checking your answers and are used over a very wide area of topics. Science uses them heavily.

In a recent interview, Mr. Roger Twitchell, a retired teacher of 33 years in the science and mathematics department at Oxford Hills High School, stated, “When calculators first came out all they could do was add, subtract, multiply, and divide. I didn't have a problem with using them in my classes because I wasn't teaching what they could do.” When his physics students were solving a problem he said he didn't find anything wrong with letting them use calculators.” However, now calculators can do so many more things. Now graphing calculators can do matrices, draw graphs, make tables, and much more.

“If I was trying to teach my class how to simplify two equations and they can just punch the equations into their calculators and get the answers, it doesn't do me any good. It shows that they can use the calculator, not that they can do the mathematical process,” he noted. He finds it perfectly reasonable to not allow calculators in certain parts of a course, but trying to create a blanket rule on them is pointless. It is Mr. Roger Twitchell's opinion that it is the teacher's job to teach the students and calculators should be used to supplement, not replace, the curriculum.

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Problems with Personal Computers

Personal computers, or PCs, can be affected by a number of problems. One of the most common ones is malware (www.CA.com). Malware is a name that covers a wide range of software. It includes viruses and spyware. Viruses try to get into the computer and delete system files. Spyware tends to try to steal the personal information from the computer.

Viruses are easy to classify when they are trying to get into your computer. Like the viruses that affect humans, computer viruses replicate themselves by attacking valid programs, usually .exe files. They will sometimes use your e-mail to send themselves to everyone in your address book. Once a virus is on your computer the computer will slow down and eventually crash.

Spyware, however, has many different ways to hide. There are several different types: ad-ware, key-loggers, and rogue anti-malware software. Ad-ware is the type, pop-up where web pages show up trying to sell you something, and while being annoying, are not particularly dangerous. Key-loggers do exactly what their name sounds like they log the keys you type. This can be dangerous if you do a lot of online shopping and enter your credit card numbers. Rogue anti-malware programs look like anti-virus/anti-spyware programs. They will install themselves and then will tell you that you are infected with viruses and tell you to buy the product to clean out your computer. If you buy the product they may drain your credit card and could eventually slow the computer down so that it becomes unusable.

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Performing a Task

This is how to drive yourself insane.
First, count down the days until the new Star Trek Movie is coming out, since last September. Then, check startrekmovie.com for updates every hour or so. Spend the night trying to figure out the time-travel paradox that the movie presents. Buy all the Star Trek stuff as it comes out. Wait impatiently for the movie to come out. Watch clips and trailers online. Download pictures from the website. Now there is less than 4 days until the movie comes out. Tell everyone you know about the movie. Write a piece about the new Star Trek movie on FMOF. Wait a moment, is that a new TV spot that is online?

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Malware

I recently spent several hours becoming a certified Malware expert and I am a computer technician. I work about 10 -20 hours a week, so I have some experience. I thought I would share some of my knowledge.

To begin, I will start by describing malware. Malware is malicious software: viruses, spyware, and other garbage. Malware is very destructive. Malware exists because someone who takes time to write a malicious computer code. A malware program that looks like a legitimate anti-malware program and just 1 person in 10000 is fooled by it they could make a large amount of money.

If you do online banking or shopping, spyware will try to steal your credit card numbers and your back account numbers. Spyware is difficult to classify and sometimes appears to be legitimate software, like "anti virus 2008" or "Vista anti spyware". Programs like these will download themselves onto your computer without you asking them to. They will then "scan" your computer for malware and tell you that "you have x number of infected files. Please buy this software to clean it out." 99% of the time the program brought in the stuff it picks up, or it identifies legitimate windows files. If you buy the software it will then infect your computer more. You will also be supplying the person who designed the malware with your credit card information and they may clean out your account.

Viruses on the other hand are usually designed to cause damage to the computer and to destroy information. Viruses can spread from computer to computer across a network and can bring the whole network down. Viruses can come into the network from downloads of .exe files and other extractable files. They also come in from SPAM (junk email).

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The Three Musketeer's Book Review

The book The Three Musketeers was written in France in the mid 1800’s. The main characters are four friends named D’Artangnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Each of the 4 companions has a servant that is entirely devoted to them. The servants are quite helpful when traveling since people are trying to kill the companions. The servants fight with muskets and pistols. The four companions fight with swords and pistols. We get D’Artagnan’s story in the first 2 chapters of the book. His lifelong ambition is to join the Musketeers. There is almost no background given behind the other three companions until most of the way through the book, so I won’t spoil the surprise for you by telling you about them.

The Musketeers are a group of elite warriors in France. In order to get into the Musketeers you needed to have spent at least 2 years in a different branch of the military and demonstrate considerable skill or to have accomplished some extraordinary deed for the King.

How the Three Musketeers meet D’Artagnan is this: D’Artagnan was having a meeting with the head of the Musketeers at Musketeer headquarters. He sees his nemesis out the window and runs down to the street to find him. However before he can find him he is “rude” in turn to Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and they each challenge them to a duel: one at 12 o’clock, one at 1 o’clock and one at 2 o’clock. With Athos first in line for the duel, he brings Porthos and Aramis has his extras. Before they could fight 5 of the Cardinals guards run across them and those 9 get into a fight with the 4 new friends winning. They get into quite a lot of adventures in the book including going to England.

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Labor Day

“Hard to port,” said Captain Riker, “Evasive pattern Theta.”
“Aye, sir,” said the Helmsman.
“Return fire,” said Riker.
“Impossible,” said the Tactical Officer, for whom Riker had not bothered to get a name. “Phasers offline, and the photon torpedoes are down. Hull breach on decks 9, 13, and 25. Emergency force fields holding.”
“Engineering,” asked Riker, “What’s the possibility of getting weapons back?”
“Engineer Barclay here. Not good, the phaser power coupling is fused. I already have people working on the photon torpedoes. I’ll let you know when they are back up.”
“You do that. Riker out.” Turning to the Tactical Officer, he ordered, “Tactical update.”
“Their shields are at 5%. They have lost warp drive and torpedoes, but their phasers and impulse are not damaged too badly,” said the Tactical Officer.
“Engineering to the bridge.”
“Riker here,” responded Riker.
“Sir, photon bays 3, 5, and 10, are back up,” said Barclay.
“Helm, go to attack pattern Gamma. Tactical, fire at will,” said Riker.
The Tactical Officer responded, “Firing. Direct hit on the port impulse drive, they are leaking plasma. Firing. Their weapons array is gone. CAPTAIN, I’m reading a massive build-up in their engineering section. They are looking at a warp core breach.”
KABOOM.
“No survivors,” said Tactical.
“Cut,” said the Director.

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My Super Hero

You might think me weird, but I don’t have any dreams of being a super hero. I’ve watched very little in the way of movies or TV series about super heroes. (Spider Man is all, I think.) In my life I don’t need a super hero to save the day.
I have my own super hero - it would be a stretch to say “private”. He is the most powerful super hero there is. He is always there for me when I’m in need. He is so powerful that He can heal any disease and He can even raise the dead! When you compare your super heroes to Him you will find them hard pressed to come close to comparing to Him. Compared to the creator of the universe, nothing comes close.

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Jesus

He is kind.
He is gentle.
He is good.
He is joy.
He is peace.
He is faithful.
He loves.
He is patient.
He has self-control.
He is Lord.
He is Jesus.
He is God.

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Alphabet Soup - A

An Armada, it puts fear in the hearts of its enemies. An armada is terrible to behold. A vast fleet of ships on the ocean, in the air, in space.

It is also a very interesting piece of music.

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