http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/ en Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:07:49 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/images/styles/PG_Dark_2012/misc/rss.jpg http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/ http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/ideas-worth-spreading-flipping-tradition-457/ Fri, 01 Apr 2011 22:48:04 GMT If Math were a person, I would stab it, and risk pissing off MIT students. You see, I was never any good at math. I always disliked it. Unfortunately... If Math were a person, I would stab it, and risk pissing off MIT students. You see, I was never any good at math. I always disliked it. Unfortunately for me and millions of others we have to learn math in order to advance in schools. And so, this year I have to give the dreaded SAT (A test which is required by colleges in U.S and is taken in High School) and it has a lot of Math.

In order to understand Math better, I embarked on a journey to find a nice class, online. I began my search on Youtube and soon enough, came across "The Khan Academy" a user on Youtube who teaches math, along with other subjects. I was intrigued primarily by the name. And to my surprise, it was a pretty good lesson. A few days later I came across "TED"


TED is an organization which gathers people with innovative ideas, and tries to spread them. Their speakers, are from Bill Gates to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and they are hundreds of others, who all share something amazing. Really amazing. Each hortatory TED talk starts with a bang and explodes in fireworks of awesome and fun. And among one of these inspiring speakers was Salman Khan, no not the Indian actor but the founder of "The Khan Academy" a graduate of MIT and Harvard and a former hedge fund manager. He actually quit his prestigious and well paying job to start this not for profit organization.

He was invited to the Talk by Bill Gates. And what a talk it is! It is about globalizing education, flipping the tradition and basically a classroom revolution with as little money as possible. Recently, Mr. Khan has been given large sums of money by both Gates and Google to help with his effort. I highly recommend you watch the video, not only that but I exhort you to check other TED talks, they are some even alot more amazing then the one below.

Here is the talk by Salman Khan:



What do you think of the idea? I personally think it is great. Can we incorporate this idea in Pakistan? Atleast in higher level schools? Do we need this? They are in the process of translating some videos to Spanish, Hindi and other languages.

Again, they are more TED talks, and if you are interested in watching more of the talks, I would recommend "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" and Steve Jobs Standford speech. ]]> Deadly Shadow http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/ideas-worth-spreading-flipping-tradition-457/ http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/talent-overrated-453/ Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:28:36 GMT The vast majority of people tend to believe that somehow, some people were born with a magical gift regarded as “Talent” Examples have been... The vast majority of people tend to believe that somehow, some people were born with a magical gift regarded as “Talent”
Examples have been scattered throughout history: Mozart, Tiger Woods, Warren Buffet, Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Benjamin Franklin, Einstein and hundreds of others. When you hear these names, the first thing that probably comes across your mind is they are "great and special, they were born with it." Somehow they are better and exceed in their fields for some "magical" reason. Like God choosing them.

However, I, like Geoff Colvin the author who wrote "Talent Is Overrated" beg to differ. He argues that Mozart and the likes are not some form of paragons. They are different because of "deliberate practice" not talent. (Shock!) He explains through various examples of people who come across as talented, but they rather went through intensive practice. Mind you, not normal "hard work" he spends the rest of the book trying to explain deliberate practice and how it differs from normal practice. And certainly, if this theory holds any water then there must be something different. Otherwise, the typical investor after 15 years of investing should be as good as Warren Buffet. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

For instance, Mozart was not born great despite being able to compose works at a very early age. His father was a composer, his father would mentor him. His early works were pastiches of other people’s work. He practiced with great rigor and therefore he is great. Similarly, Tiger Woods father was a golfer. He started training Woods at age 2. And from there on, Woods focused on his greatest weaknesses and perfected them. Then moved on to his next weakness and repeated the pattern, until complete perfection. Benjamin Franklin, regarded as a great writer, also did not magically possess the ability to write. He would pick a great essay of that time and take notes on it. Then after a few weeks (after forgetting) he would come back and without looking at the original essay would use his notes to carry the same idea of the original essay, but strive to have a better version. He then would compare his work to the original. And would learn from his mistakes and then repeat the process. As you can imagine, it was probably not easy.

The author provides many examples, (and scientific experiments) in his book (which I have not read completely) and has lead me to believe that talent is overrated. With great motivation a person can achieve great levels in certain fields. Having said that, there must be some role which talent plays. How did Benjamin Franklin create such a program to improve his writing? He possessed some sort of talent. Therefore, I am not arguing that Talent does not exist, as the book seems to imply. Also other factors such as luck also come into play.

Reading the book has brought out some magical feeling towards these people and feels...awkward. I feel as if I have no excuse, except for being lazy and having bad luck.

So, what are your views on this matter? Are people born, or made? Bringing us to the classical argument of Nature vs. Nurture. ]]> Deadly Shadow http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/talent-overrated-453/ http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/hopping-bandwagon-385/ Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:32:23 GMT We all know that Pakistan has her share of problems. But one problem (Yes, I will call it a problem) sparks my interest the most. I am not sure if... We all know that Pakistan has her share of problems. But one problem (Yes, I will call it a problem) sparks my interest the most. I am not sure if you have also noticed it…it is really common. It’s a problem which relates to education in our country. I noticed when I was a child, everyone used to say to someone a lot older than me “No…do a degree in medicine” or “become a doctor” and guess what: almost everyone was doing a degree in medical. A few years pass and what is the hot new degree? Information technology…everyone is doing IT. Time goes on, and now people are becoming engineers…almost everyone. And then the 2000s came and everyone is wants a degree in MBA or some form of business administration. And now 2010 is here, and I cannot confirm it, but many of the people are doing a major in finance. And sooner or later this “Finance” market will saturate, just like the Business management market did and the rest of the markets did. And then a new bandwagon will come and the majority will hop on to it. Now of course they are always people who do not do this and there always will be. But I am talking about the majority. I wonder if it is just me, or is this actually really happening. If it is happening is because of the lack of subjects in our universities? No I think not. If a fair share amount of people (about 20%) want to a different major such as in wildlife science or studio arts etc. I am willing to bet that the universities will introduce those classes…but the problem is the people do not want to. They want to do what “everyone” Is doing. Now you might say that this problem exists because of lack of jobs in our country, maybe or maybe not, because a lot of people do end up with a job in some other country.


Now, I need to know this: Is just me or do you think that this problem exists. ]]> Deadly Shadow http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/hopping-bandwagon-385/ http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/murder-car-320/ Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:47:59 GMT It was a completely normal morning, except for one thing. There was apple Jam on my bread rather than butter. I did what I usually did on a Saturday.... It was a completely normal morning, except for one thing. There was apple Jam on my bread rather than butter. I did what I usually did on a Saturday. But this Saturday was not usual. In the evening my cousin informed me that there was an unusual car in the parking area, across our flat and when someone went to close to the car, to see who it belonged to or for whatever purpose, a dead man was found in the car, on the driver’s seat. I have no idea when this man went to the car and revealed what he found and by the time I was informed of it police had already came and took care of the matter and car. I was shocked to hear this news, yet also curious. Slowly, I received more and more information on this matter. The man on the driver’s seat, who was found dead, was not a man from our community. More surprisingly the man was shot and killed, in other words…he was murdered. A week later we all had forgotten the matter. But more news came in, the man who was murdered was a driver and he was to pick up a small child from school and drop him off to his house. But rumor had it that the driver was involved in some kind of kidnapping of the child, and the driver took a little de-tour. And apparently there were some disagreements between the driver and the gang, most likely over the driver’s share of money. And the result? The driver dead and no child in car. But rumor also had it that the child was later found. The only thing that I can say for sure is that the there was a dead body in a car that was shot. I do not know why. But that kidnapping rumor was quite convincing. It was just another strange thing that is not usual. But come to think of it, in Pakistan I wonder how common this really is. I mean how many people are murdered overnight and most likely some of those murdered peoples bodies are not even found. Some are killed for revenge and others for money, and many for reasons unknown. ]]> Deadly Shadow http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/murder-car-320/ http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/mad-eagle-318/ Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:37:11 GMT We never had an intercom system in our flat in Pakistan, instead we looked from a window to see who was ringing the bell, if we recognized the... We never had an intercom system in our flat in Pakistan, instead we looked from a window to see who was ringing the bell, if we recognized the person, we would press a button on a wall right next to the window, and that would open the door. We lived on the second floor of the building, and right across our building there was a huge Neem tree which my dad planted over 25 years ago. The main occupants of living nature of the tree were crows, crows dominated that tree and did not let the birds or other animals live on the tree. But soon, in late 2009, an eagle appeared on the tree, when I looked from the window I was shocked! I quickly brought my camera and took some pictures of it, and as days passed the eagle remained on the tree and the crows were forced to shift to another nearby tree. And in a short time the eagle made its nest there.
And then came the mad eagle’s first ever attack. It was Friday and I came home after prayers, someone rang the bell, so I went to see who it was. I saw my mom from the window (The Window had no grills, so If I wanted I could stick my body halfway without the danger of falling) so I went and pressed the button but apparently this button was not working, so I went and got the keys. As I had the keys in my hand, I went to the window and threw them, so my mom could catch them. And then in an instant, I felt something cold right above my eyes and between my forehead, that “thing” was strong. So strong that my head (as it was being pushed by that “thing”) hit the window’s wood border, and then I felt that cold “thing” lift it pressure and as it was doing so it was a large scratch right above my eyes. And all this happened in less than 2 seconds, literally, and finally after 5 seconds when the initial shock wore off I finally realized that thing was the mad eagle and the cold sharp feeling on my head was its feet. As I told my family this story and how strong it was they laughed at me, until the mad eagle attacked my mom one day, as she was throwing the keys for someone, she also claimed that the push was strong and very unexpected from an eagle. After 2 days from the “first mom” attack, my mom was attacked again by the mad eagle, but this time the wings of the eagle only touched her face. After about some more days, my friends rang the bell, and so I started talking to them from the window, completely forgetting about the mad eagle, and then suddenly I felt that the mad eagle was coming from behind my viewing angle and I with almost cat like reflexes backed my head about 3 inches from previous position, and as I did I saw the eagle pass 3 inches in front of my eyes and I could feel the wind on my face as the Mad Eagle passed.
Soon enough the eagle learned the humans living across meant no harm when they looked down from the window, and so it did nothing except also look down to see if anyone was standing there. If no one was standing there it would start screaming as a warning to go back inside. It would also scream if you looked at the eagle for more than 3 seconds. After months passed the Mad Eagles eggs hatched and the babies learned to fly and when they grew-up in a matter of weeks they left thier nest. And after another week or two later Mad Eagle herself also left and never came back to the tree again.
Here is a picture of Mad Eagle. (I could not find a pic with the eagle on the tree.)

]]> Deadly Shadow http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/blogs/deadly-shadow/mad-eagle-318/