The Polythróna with Hadrian Archo

  Tis supposed to be the season to be jolly But I find it ruined by corporate folly By this mean, I groan and sneer Meanwhile, all the normal people smile and cheer For what comes soon is entertaining But for me, I’m stuck with corporate trainings They search for gifts or something new, maybe crafts and trinkets too But for me, I have certificates to renew Many others get fuller shelves But for me they added something else? They say it’s for our good and safety but they’ve been taking so much more time lately “Did you submit this completement slip?” My father’s Christmas gift just shipped! Letters and packages loom While I’m watching this lecture on Zoom They stop on purpose to ask us questions I give them all the wrong answers did I mention? I get a chuckle or a laugh But unfortunately, it didn’t pass They ask someone else the exact same question Hoping to get the correct expression I see someone else did comply And gave the host the e...

  Premise Throughout the pandemic, there have been a small collection of strange cases or phenomenon that I have been taking notes on, but do not really exist in the literature. Some with an academic or questioning personality may approach such a blog post with a lot of skepticism. To try and alleviate this, I’ll provide some details about myself that should help with the legitimacy of my hearsay. I’m a mid-career scientist at a large research organization on the Eastern half of the United States. I previously worked in neuroscience, but I now work on clinical trials related to HIV and COVID19. We currently work on four clinical trials on COVID19, and two of them involve us reaching out to local hospitals in our region for current cases of COVID19. Our other two studies involve people who have recently recovered from COVID19 as we follow them over time. In other words, just trust me, bru. Tale 1: COVID-19 Vaccines and Surgery One of the nurses that I work ...

  With recent escalation in events between Ukraine and Russia [1] [2] [3], my friend sent me an article written this past summer outlining Putin’s view on the affair. Although I’m not an expert in Slavic politics and foreign relations, that doesn’t stop me from delivering a half-baked opinion on the issue of Ukrainian independence from Russia. I highly recommend that you as the reader read the full article below, it’s surprisingly well written and in a more-or-less heartfelt tone: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181 The Putin article is very interesting. I have only an elementary understanding of the region, and only from the viewpoint of the Russian Orthodox Church. While it's true about the history of the old Slavic lands, Holy Rus, and the shared use of Church Slavonic (the old language) [4], how does the former KGB agent of all people not realize how bad the extent of USSR propaganda is [5] [6]? This is the same theme that replays con...

Originally Written: 8/11/16 Introduction: Whether you’re walking down the street and come across a penny on the ground, counting on your favorite team to succeed in seemingly impossible odds, or hoping that you get that new job that you’re unsure that you’re going to get. Most of us seem to have some sort of intuition about luck. Some of us believe that luck is the determining factor for nearly all decisions and outcomes in our lives; while others use it describe both fortunate and unfortunate events that occur in our daily lives. And still, others believe that there is no role for luck in the world. Whatever the outlook, all of us can agree to have an idea of what it is. However, it seems that not many can seem to answer the question of “what is luck?”  There’s no doubt that many others have tried to answer this question before. Most, if not all religions carry a more deterministic sense of luck due to their tendency to attribute uncommon events in one’s life towards divine interv...

  Originally written: 06/27/16 A thought on science education. A recent observation has told me that it seems like critical thinking and reasoning skills tend to decline as one gets involved in the sciences. It may be that science is taught as a fact in its classes where it leads to more analytical thinking and not critical thinking. It seems as though critical thinking, or the ability to withdraw points of view and debate them as such are found more in disciplines where there is a lack of perceived truth. Many scientific theories are that (perceived truth), supported by evidence, and nearly set in stone. Only science education that explores research and development encourages critical thinking in the sciences as newfound discoveries birth new theories to be debated.  2021 Additions: It’s odd to read this entry that I wrote five years ago now. I wasn’t even done with my bachelor’s yet! But I remember why I had this thought in the first place. In the US, those who ...

  Premise It’s been almost two years since COVID19 pandemic containment and quarantine protocols began in the United States. Since the protocols such as masking and travel restrictions began, I’ve had the luxury of traveling and living between two areas of the country that have had completely different attitudes levels of strictness from the very beginning. The first is a suburb of a large metropolitan area on the east coast (Metroburb), and the second is a medium sized town approximately 60 miles away from the metropolitan suburb (Medtown). As I’ve been about my business in both of these two areas without a mask for a very long time, only in Metroburb have I been actively harassed for not having a mask. To recount my experiences in Metroburb over the past 6 months: 2 x kicked out of a store for not having a mask 2 x followed by employees urging me to put a mask on 2 x cashiers refusing to accept my payments without a mask 1 x employees debate me on mask wearing 1 x people taking p...

Originally written: 6/20/2016 Side note: At the time, I was doing my first reading of “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. To preserve the original text in my notebook. I will include it in this transcription of the original text. Book 11; 18, X, On behavior And one more thing from Apollo, That to expect bad people not to injure others is crazy. It’s to ask the impossible. And to let them behave like that to other people but expect them to exempt you is arrogant – the act of a tyrant. Why bother making anything on your own if you can just buy it? A question asked of me today, and as a response: I say, why not? Crafting something in this day and age is now uncommon in a society that thrives on consumption. To consume is easy, to build is hard. To walk to the store, pick up your item, and then hand money over to pay for it takes minutes. To think, design, build, fail, build again, and succeed takes time and effort that simply can’t be done by shopping. Even without the spiel ...