It is understandable, I am male. My sexual desire, if you really have to ask, consists of chocolate chip cookies and a river. Haha. Anyway, I don’t want to ask what’s your sexual desire, but what I’m curious about is whether all humans on Earth have a sexual desire. Females, specifically.

Having read the reasons I found on the Internet and through a little bit of survey, I slapped my arm in the forehead. I should have known all along! Anyway, this is another curious question that needs to be crossed off the Satisfaction List. Here goes!

First of all, what is sexual desire? Since it is a definition that should be addressed solely by the one who is asking, I therefore define -with the power bestowed upon me- sexual desire as the ‘desire to have sex’. Simple, yes, but convenient. Let’s get this vehicle moving, shall we?

This is quite a small article, since I have a limited number of sources.

Anyway, to answer my question, we all (at least the ‘normal’ humans) have sexual desires. Don’t deny it, I now you have little quirky thoughts that run on your head. Even so, it is good to note that there are humans that don’t have sexual desires. According to LiveScience.com, sexual desire is located on your genes, particularly the D4 gene.

However, according to a psychology class I attended this semester, the lack of sexual desire could be attributed to a psychological disorder in the, well, brain.

I also remembered Freud saying that even small children think of sex, err, like to their parents. As far as I could research, it was called ‘Oedipus complex’ for male and ‘Electra complex’ for female. I’m not really sure, though.

Also, as my surveys prove it, nobody dared to answer that they don’t have sexual desires. Each man has one, whether you like it or not. This kind of proves that human beings think of sex once in a while, whether in a scientific basis (“I need to have sex so I could study the conception of a baby”), religious basis (“I need to have sex to populate the Earth”), entertainment basis (“I need to have sex to enjoy the feeling of it”), proving basis (“I need to have sex so I could prove that I could do sex”), and other weird basis you could think of (“I need to have sex, period.”).

As I told you, this is quite a short article. It satisfied me, anyway, so that’s 5 numbers off the Satisfaction List.

Satisfaction List #5: Do each man has a sexual desire?

References:

“Sexual Desire in Your Genes“, Jan 18, 2008.

“Does each man has a sexual desire?“, Jan 18, 2008.

“The Oedipus and Electra Complex“, Jan 18, 2008.

“DNA” Image, Jan 18, 2008.

“Male Female Overlap” Image, Jan 18, 2008.

Days longer than nights, nights longer than days, quite reminds me of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Hahaha. Read it, King’s books are superb. Anyway, let’s go forth and try to find the answer to this otherwise intriguing question so I could cross it off the list with satisfaction.

Let us first define what day and night are. According to Wikipedia, day is that moment of time when the sun is above the horizon, and night is the time when the sun is below the horizon. It’s quite easy to understand when you got to see day and night by yourself. Try to go out once in a while.

Anyway, I discovered that the reason why we have such day-night difference is due to the axial tilt of the Earth. This axial tilt is also the cause why some parts of the Earth experience different seasons. What is an axial tilt, also known as the obliquity, you ask?

As stated from The Physical Environment in UWSP, “axial tilt refers to the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation which is inclined 23.5 degrees from being perpendicular to its plane in the ecliptic”. Earth tilts a little to the northeast (that is, the north hemisphere points to the Polaris; there is no real ‘northeast’ in space, I think), in other words.

Now, imagine Earth divided across the center (the equator). The upper part of the Earth, the one with the North Pole, would be our North Hemisphere. Likewise, the lower part would be our South Hemisphere. It is logical to say that if the Earth is tilted (which it is), then one hemisphere would tilt toward the Sun, while the other would tilt away from the Sun. This is the main cause why there is a day-night difference.

Why?

Let’s say for example that the north hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. Since the Earth is tilted, the Sun is higher on the North Hemisphere, so that hemisphere receives more light, since it takes more time for the Sun to set. So, in simple words, the north hemisphere would experience longer days than the south hemisphere.

However, since the Earth revolves around the sun, it is not always the north hemisphere that would experience longer days (also known as summer). After some time, the south hemisphere would be the one exposed to the sun. However, please take note that the tilt of the Earth would still be the same, it always point to the sky near Polaris.

And yes, the North and South Poles sometimes experience 24 worth of sunlight and darkness. In the same vein, places near the equator almost have an equal time of daylight and night per day, being in the center and all. Believe me, I know what it feels. ^___^

Satisfied? Cool. It seems I could cross this off from my list now. Thanks for reading, and have a fun day. I still have a class to catch. Haha.

P.S. Though far shorter, this article proves to be more demanding (and challenging, as well) than the history of television. Damn Physics.

References:

“Night“, Jan 17 2008.

“Why are days longer than nights?“, Jan 17, 2008.

“Why are days longer than nights at certain times of the year?“, Jan 17, 2008.

“Why are some days longer than nights?“, Jan 17, 2008.

“Axial tilt“, Jan 17, 2008.

“Earth’s Axial Tilt and the Seasons“, Jan 17, 2008.

“Axial tilt” and Image, Jan 17, 2008.

“Seasons” Image, Jan 17, 2008.

What’s a television, you ask? Well, Dictionary.com defines television as a…

But when exactly was television invented? How? This, dear friends, we will attempt to answer this afternoon.

According to the same dictionary referenced above, the word ‘television’ came the Greek tele which means ‘transmission over a distance’ and the Latin vision, which well, means sight. Take the two together, and you have far sight as the literal meaning of television. Constanti Perskyi coined the word when he wrote a research about television on 1900.

I initially thought that there was only one inventor of the television, but I was wrong. In fact, there are many inventors who helped shape the television we know and worship today.

However, we may attribute the first inventor of the television to be Paul Gottlieb Nipkow. He patented the first ever electromechanical TV scanning system, a kind of disk that transmits still pictures using the photoconductivity of selenium. It was good to note that without Willoughby Smith, the one who discovered the photoconductivity of selenium, Nipkow would have a hard time creating the electromechanical TV.

It was abandoned early, however, since inventors found another way to improve the TV.

The first inventor to invent a TV that projects moving things was John Logie Baird, using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images. He based his idea from Nipkow’s scanning disk, but developed the electronics of said machine. Thus, Baird was known as the inventor of the first electronic television on 1925.

He projected the first moving human face -set on grayscale and not silhouette- on Janaury 26, 1926, witnessed by the members of the Royal Institution and a newspaper reporter. It was a broadcasting milestone that was forever embedded on television history.

Baird’s TV also continued to flourish, as it was the first to transmit a signal 438 miles away, and also was the first to transmit an image from shore to ship. Baird was also the first to develop a video disk recording system known as the Phonovision. And since we’re at it, the TV was also the first to transmit live images of the Epsom Derby on 1931.

The television did not end there, however.

Karl Ferdinand Braun invention of the cathode ray tube (CRT) also marks the start of the rise of modern television. Braun’s original idea of the CRT, the cathode ray oscilloscope, was a screen that emits light when struck by a beam of electrons. Then Boris Rosing improved the CRT so that it would transmit cool geometrical shapes on TV. He was the first inventor to do so.

Then, here comes Philo T. Farnsworth, who improved the CRT so that it would transmit not only geometric shapes but also a full motion picture. He was also able to transmit live images using grayscale images, but his machine needs too much light that it has to stop.

Finally, though there was some doubts about this fact, Vladimir Zworykin comes and became the first one to invent the first successful electronic camera tube (the ancestor of our televisions today). They was some row though, as Farnsworth filed a case against Zworykin, saying the original idea was his. Zworykin lost and had to pay Farnsworth $1.8 million to obtain of the patent rights.

The modern television was then born. I do not need to elaborate further with the color television, since I’m not really curious about it. Remember Baird? The great inventor who took 70% of the firsts in television? Yup, it was Baird who first transmitted color televisions on 1928, the first color broadcast on February 1938, and the fully electronic color television display (the one I dubbed as the ‘Big Momma’) on August 1944.

I hope I satisfied your curiosity, for I was sure enlightened. Even if I nearly have a heart attack simplifying the history of the TV to 700 words, and please, don’t accuse me if I didn’t elaborate on the terms, it’s damn Physics. Haha. See ya next time, folks.

References:

“History of television“, Jan 16, 2008.

“Television History“, Jan 16, 2008.

“Television“, Jan 16, 2008.

“Early Television Foundation“, Jan 16, 2008.

“Dictionary meaning for tele-“, Jan 16, 2008.

“John Logie Baird“, Jan 16, 2008.

“The History of the Cathode Ray Tube“, Jan 16, 2008.

“John Logie Baird” Image, Jan 16, 2008.

“Cathode Ray Tube” Image, Jan 16, 2008.

“The Early TV” Image, Jan 16, 2008.

So, yeah. That’s what we’re going to talk about; it’s all about mathematics, folks.

Anyway, let me first clarify that I’m talking about Advanced Mathematics in my discussion today. Whether you like it or not, we do need mathematics in our life, like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and a little bit of algebra and geometry. However, this is not the case. The real question is, ‘Why study trigonometry, calculus, epsilons, deltas, theorems, conjunctures and hellabajuvas even though we’re not going to be scientists and mathematicians?!”

Don’t feel alone, many others sympathize with you. So in order to put this case to rest, let us do a little research, shall we?

According to Jcs of Yahoo! Answers, “…we need Mathematics as much as need Music, Poetry, Philosophy, Great Literature and Theatre. It is a noble part of our heritage, …it is one of the not-so-many things that our species could be proud of.”

Galileo even once said that until we could read and write well the mathematical language, we could never ever understand universe physically. The universe, he said, is written in circles, triangles, and other geometrical figures.

Mathematics also train our minds. No one could argue that Math is a challenge, and we all know that to overcome a challenge, we need to use our minds. Without you knowing it, every time you solve a mathematical question you didn’t encounter before, your mind begins to exercise.

Without a doubt, you might be asking now that you are already posed by many challenges, from History Class, Psychology Class, Theology Class and other classes. However, nothing is more complicated than Mathematics, that uses not only the power of letters but also of numbers.

As Henri Poincaré put it, mathematicians do not study math because it is useful, but because he delights on it, and he is delighted because it is beautiful.

Ah, the concept of beauty. If you happen to see Mona Lisa on Louvre, I am almost certain that you would exclaim that the painting is beautiful. Ah, but if you know that certain painting follows a certain law known as the Divine Proportion, you would feel amazed, and not only your view of da Vinci’s work would intensify, your view on life would be much critical.

Also, Doctor Ken of the Math Forum also states that you need mathematics in everyday life. Doc Ken puts it this way, “…let’s say you’re looking for the biggest TV that will fit on your TV table, which is 15 inches wide. But TV screens aren’t measured by how wide they are, they’re measured by the diagonal distance across the screen. Ding! Pythagorean theorem!”.

My roommate’s answer to the said question is more down-to-earth than the others. Take, for example, that you have children in the future (you already might have one or two today). If one of them suddenly asks you to help him/her in his math assignment, you could do it because you already took the course years ago. Apart from that, my roommate says with a smile on his face, you could (1) save your child from humiliation, (2) save yourself from humiliation, (3) grow some kind of a child-parent relationship, (4) deliver your child from cheating so he/she could finish the homework. Ah. What a fine example that was.

Anyway, I hope you have fun in our discussion today, and that’s another question crossed off the Satisfaction List.

References:

“Ask Dr. Math: Why Study Math?“, 16 Jan 2008.

“Do we need Mathematics?“, 16 Jan 2008.

“Why study calculus? A brief history of math“, 16 Jan 2008.

“Why study mathematics?“, 16 Jan 2008.

“Why do we need Advanced Mathematics?“, 16 Jan 2008.

“Mona Lisa Golden Ratio” Image, 16 Jan 2008.

“Advanced Mathematics” Image, 16 Jan 2008.

Maybe you are saying right now, “No, Eric! Not just one snake, but two snakes! The rod even has wings on it!”

After a few research here and there (the sources are found below), I found out that the latter rod is called the Caduceus while the former is better known as the Rod of Asclepius. As we try to know better about them, take note that both found its roots from Greek Mythology, and only one of them is the ‘correct’ sign of medicine.

Let us first talk about the false one, or the Caduceus. According to Greek mythology, the seer Tiresias made the Caduceus possible. As he was walking, Tiresias found two snakes copulating (that is, they were having sex) before him. I don’t know what’s up with Tiresias, maybe he’s jealous, but he struck his staff between them so the snakes would separate. Crazy it might sounds, it’s a myth anyway, Tiresias suddenly became a woman. He (or is it She?) remained so for seven years, until he repeated his action, in which he became man again. Tiresias was probably scared, so he gave the staff- complete with the snakes and all- to Hermes, which became his symbol.

But what’s up with the medicine stuff, you ask? Well, it was believed that early alchemists adopted the Caduceus since Hermes is in fact, the god of alchemy. Then, in the 16th century, the alchemists not only succeeded in being great chemists, but as doctors as well. This might be the reason why the Caduceus was confused with the Rod of Asclepius.

The symbol first appeared on the Medical Department of the United States Army in 1902. According to Wikipedia, a certain Captain Reynolds promoted the idea of having the Caduceus as the medical insignia, and although was rejected many times, managed to squeeze it in with the help of W.H. Forwood. The symbol then began to spread around the world, representing 76% of commercial organizations.

Now that we concluded the Caduceus as wrong, let us know its lesser known counterpart, the Rod of Asclepius.

Asclepius, a skilled physician who practiced in Greece about 1200 BC, was the god of healing. He was so good that he even revived one of his patients from the dead. Concerned about this, the god Zeus decided to kill him with a thunderbolt. He died, of course. But due to Apollo’s (Asclepius’ father) request, Zeus placed Asclepius as stars on the evening sky, now popularly known as Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer.

OK, we now know him, but what about the rod? Well, I’m not really sure, but it was said that the sign originated due to an infection by a worm known as Dracunculus medinensi (or the guinea worm). The worm crawls under the patient’s skin (yes, I know, it’s damn gross) that doctors, to treat the illness, cut a slit on the patient’s skin so the worm would crawl out. As the worm goes out, the doctors wound the pest around a stick, until it completely leaves the patient’s body. The illness was so common that time that the doctors advertise their skill by placing a sign of a worm on a stick on their clinics.

As time pass by, it was used by doctors as the symbol of medicine, with the serpent representing fertility and rebirth due to its ability to shed its skin. Some of the famous organizations that use this symbol is the World Health Organization, EMS (emergency medical services) units, the British Royal Army Medical Corps, and the rest.

Although the rod of Asclepius is the correct symbol of medicine, only a significant few only uses this sign as their symbol, as the Caduceus is the one used by many organizations around the world.

And these, my friends, is what the sign of medicine really means.

Satisfaction List #1: The serpent and cross of medicine.

References:

“Rod of Asclepius“, 15 Jan 2007.

“Caduceus“, 15 Jan 2007.

“Caduceus vs. Staff of Asclepius“, 15 Jan 2007.

“Star of Life“, 15 Jan 2007.

“Caduceus” Image, 15 Jan 2007.

“Rod of Asclepius” Image, 15 Jan 2007.

I am Eric Palma, a freshman college student from the University of the Philippines, located, obviously, on the beautiful country of the Filipinos. I am 16 years old, and even though I’m young, I have this vision to know the answers to everything that I was curious about. I’m not asking to know everything, that would be next to impossible, I just want to satisfy my curiosity about the world, even the most simplest things like toilet papers.

It all started when a good friend of mine decided to give me a book titled ‘Veronika Decides to Die’, a book that you probably might have heard. Made by Paulo Coehlo, it is a story of a woman who suddenly, in the peak of glory and success, decides to die. I won’t try to spoil you, since I want you to grab that book from the shelf and read it. It’s a good read.

Anyway, that book made me realize that I am not living my life to the fullest. It made me think that if I die tomorrow, that would be really devastating. I want to live, I don’t want to die (but that doesn’t mean I don’t acknowledge I am going to die someday, in fact, that’s my motivating factor), I want to know more about life before I go to the place people call as Heaven.

And yes, I believe in Heaven.

So, in lieu to my goal to satisfy my curiosity, I made myself a Satisfaction List- a list that questions everything I want to question. I might add one or two questions everyday, but I won’t cross anything out unless the answer comes to me. Some might be too complex to answer, like what it feels to die, but I would try my best to provide what others might think as a good ‘hypothesis’. Only then I would cross it out of the list.

So, yeah.

Welcome, and please, feed the curious.