Brain Contour

China vs Philippines

Statistical numbers are clear – we are outnumbered! The Philippine Navy force is no match against the powerful Chinese Naval force. Well, that is expected. China is now becoming one of the most influential and powerful countries in the world. It is just right for the country to modernize its naval forces to defend its seas and coasts. According to one article I’ve read, China operates the largest submarine force in Asia.

Eric in Nebraska's Sandhills

Here I am, taking the seat at the corner, the only elevated area of the coffee shop. I never take this seat unless nothing else is available. I always have this unusual feeling when elevated, like being stared at (although I do not possess the charming looks people would want to even take a glance at), jeered at (I’m thinking too much), and pestered by rowdy and vicious juveniles (alright, let me jog my memory — crumpled. paper. hit. face. New York. coffee shop). Crush out the last one, it is very unlikely that it could happen in Brookings.

Credit: QS World University Rankings

QS, the leading global career and education network, released the 2011 Asian University rankings with mostly universities from Hong Kong and Japan occupying the spots for best universities in the top 10. The rankings were based on Academic Peer Review (index), Recruiter Review, Student Faculty Ratio, Bibliometrics (Papers per Faculty and Citations per Paper), and International Factors (proportion of international students).

Facebook statisitcs from www.socialbakers.com.

I was reading an article from the Philippine Star today mentioning that as of January 2011, there are 21,759, 280 Filipinos who are using Facebook. Another website that publishes Facebook weekly statistics by country listed the Philippines at no. 7 with the most number of FB users (23,446,700 as of April 2011) among over 200 countries. While it is obvious that Facebook has reached and penetrated every corner in the world and tremendously increased its number of users over the past year, the Philippines is surely contributing to its growth. Crunching at the numbers, the Philippines has added 1,044,220 users over the last two weeks, putting the country on the list of high percentage of growth.

Book Cover: Will The World End in 2012

I recently got a copy of the book Will The World End In 2012? by Dr. Raymon Hundley. Will the world really end on December 21, 2012? The book analyzes the circumstances and theories behind the predictions by studying the claims of scientists, theologians, technologists, and others. Dr. Hundley listed the arguments circulating right now regarding the coming doomsday.

Eclipse Band

I was 10 blocks away and I could hear the sound of a music band playing. It was a little late, around 10 PM, when I followed where the sound of music was coming from and found out it was at the Sylvan Green, right close to the campanile, in the SDSU grounds. A band was playing; someone in the crowd whispered to me the group’s name is Eclipse.

Matt Might, University of Utah Assistant Professor, came up with a visual guide to explain in easy manner what a PhD really means. I am sharing the pictures to you.

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

Do you ever wonder why the dinosaurs become extinct and not the elephants? There is only one accepted theory: elephants hate dinosaurs.

See:

Thank you to whoever provided this picture. This, indeed, answered the question of why we don’t see dinos anymore.