3Doodler Monkey on a Prop Balancer

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生
photo 2

3Doodler monkey on a prop balancer

Here is my latest 3Doodler creature – a tiny monkey swinging on a prop balancer that I bought for my RC planes. The prop balancer sat on my workbench collecting dust. So I figure it would be more useful as a prop for the new 3Doodler creation. Also check out the Miniature 3Doodler Corsair from last year. Both are made at the same time of the year – they are birthday gifts. It’s becoming a recurring theme :)

Unlike the Corsair, this one is made without a plan, and done with a free hand. That is because the monkey was made as a joke, after I got frustrated trying to create a 2D painting with the pen on canvas. Due to the impromptu nature of the work, it did not occur to me to take pictures of intermediate steps.

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Human Evolution by Germline Engineering is a Result of Natural Selection on Memes

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

(2015-10-13) I wrote this essay in 2014 as part of the Coursera course on “Human Evolution: Past and Future” by Professor John Hawks. Presumably a number of essays would be selected and published in a book. But that final selection fizzled and nothing was ever heard of the book…

Thesis

This paper shows that the near-term trend of the human evolution will be dominated by seemingly purposeful germline engineering, at the expense of traditional selection pressures that have hitherto acted on the human genome. The shift in the way humans evolve will be unavoidable and unstoppable. It is a consequence of the same old unguided natural selection acting on exogenous, parasitic memes, instead of the human genome.

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Night Flying with LED Lights on the E-flite Apprentice S 15e

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生
Apprentice S with LED lights. Green on right, red on left.

Apprentice S with green on right and red on left.

I’ve been intrigued by night-flying-capable RC planes lately. A few members from my local aeronautic modeler’s association flew planes with LED strips glued onto the wings and the fuselage, to allow them to see these planes clearly at dusk when other unlit planes would have appeared only as a nondescript black blob against the rapidly darkening sky.

I decided to resurrect my half-destroyed E-flite Apprentice S 15e, and endow it with abundant LED lights. But to my dismay I found no blog talking about such conversions. So I took pictures as I worked on the plane, whenever I remembered, with the goal of writing a great blog article when I was done.

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Rubik’s Cube Solution

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

2015__Elisha_Rubiks_Cube_8_1I remember figuring out my own solution to the Rubik’s Cube more than two decades ago. But I have long forgotten the exact moves past two layers of solved pieces. Recently Sheryl showed me a cube. I googled a random solution and solved the cube for her. This rekindled the the drive to personalize the solution and internalize its moves, again. It turned into a nerdy anniversary present for Elisha.

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Miniature Corsair made with the 3Doodler Pen

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生
Miniature Corsair made with 3Doodler Pen In Palm

Miniature Corsair made with the 3Doodler Pen In Palm

So I picked up a 3Doodler Pen to make a birthday present for my wife. Given my recent interest in flying RC model airplanes, the first idea that crossed my mind was the ultra micro Horizon Hobby Corsair I had been flying of late. So I 3D-doodled one with a wingspan measuring all of three inches long, modeled on a plan I found of the Vought F4U Corsair.

Boy, was the pen hard to use. It was near impossible to doddle straight lines and perfect curves, what with the inconsistent rate at which melted plastic ooze out of the nozzle. The fact that I could hardly see the miniature plane I was doodling in the air didn’t help either – I blame the aging process and its effects on my eyesight. To make matters worse, the pen and my hand blocked off ceiling light, and often obscured where I wanted to move to, even as liquid plastic inched out of the pen inexorably and hardened in seconds.

But it was extremely fun. And afterwards I bought myself a portable LED table lamp and a large soldering “helping hands” with a magnifier, to make doodling the next sculpture easier. Pictures that follow illustrate the end product.

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Debunking: The Caveman Mystique by Martha McCaughey

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

Debunking: The Caveman Mystique by Martha McCaughey
September 30th, 2010
by Fred Hsu

This is a diary I kept as I read yet another book an acquaintance who taught social science once recommended. The first book was dealt with in Debunking: Sex at Dawn by Rayn and Jetha. As with the first book, I rather enjoy summarizing and debunking this second book, The Caveman Mystique by Martha McCaughey.

It’s just a habit. Attempting to summarize a book allows me to organize ideas I read. If I can accurately and succinctly convey the essence of the material (emphasis on accuracy more than on brevity), I think I can be said to actually understand the material, whether I subscribe to author’s views.

Like my review of Sex At Dawn, I want to post my feedback on each chapter as I read them. My views on the book may change as I read on. But I want to preserve my first impression in writing, at every chapter end.
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Debunking: Sex at Dawn by Ryan and Jetha

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

Debunking: Sex at Dawn, by Ryan and Jetha
August 26, 2010
by Fred Hsu

This is a diary I kept as I read a book an acquaintance who taught social science once recommended. The book presumably argued successfully against current evolutionary psychology theories and practices. I had my doubts. But as a rule I don’t criticize something I haven’t investigated. So I bought the book and read it. Following are my personal notes I jotted down after reading a chapter or two.
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Review of 50 Voices of Disbelief – Why We Are Atheists

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

50 Voices of Disbelief – Why We Are Atheists
Edited by Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk
Wiley-Blackwell 2009
ISBN: 1405190469

Book Review by Fred Hsu
November 22, 2010

Sometimes mistakes have a way of helping me expand my perspective.

A long time ago, I listened to a short essay by a presumably great magician on NPR’s “This I Believe” program. Unlike other essays read on this program, this one was a belief on the non-existence of something. It was titled “This I believe: I believe there is no God.” The essay brought me to tears, as it beautifully expressed my beliefs in exactly the way I could not.

A month ago I ran across a delightful blog entry titled “Imagine No Religion.” I said to myself, “what a well-written little essay for a blog!” It nicely captured essential arguments against organized religions. Then it stripped away from religious leaders their self-bestowed authority to prescribe moral truths.

No sooner had I looked at the footer of this page than I discovered that it was one of 50 essays from the book “50 Voices of Disbelief,” reposted with permission from the author of the essay, Edgar Dahl, and the publishers. I followed the link on the page to Amazon. Normally I would have stopped there, thinking that I could always get this book later when I had free time. But I spotted the name James (The Amazing) Randi on the list of essayists. I put two and two together, and bought this book, for surely it included Randi’s great essay I’d heard on NPR.

As it turned out, The Amazing Randi did not pen that NPR essay. I later learned that Penn Jillette of the Penn & Teller fame did. But once I started reading the 50 Voices of Disbelief, I found that I could not put it down. I am ashamed to admit that I had harbored an illusion of having read all that there was to write about atheism… that is, until I read, back to back, fifty wildly different essays by fifty freethinkers on this one topic in one single book. Suffice to say that I believe every skeptic out there will find at least some essays here written in the style they love, on some atheistic topics that interest them, argued in some ways they have not read before.
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Pastor Billy Graham’s Nightmare

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

(Translated by stillwaters in 2006 from 葛理翰牧師的夢魘 which I wrote in 2003 in Chinese)

Billy Graham is a retired pastor. He served God all his life and is considered amongst the most faithful of God’s servants. There are even people who say he is the most successful preacher in American history, and that when he dies and goes to heaven, he will surely share a table with Martin Luther of the Reformation, partaking in the glory of God and His son Jesus. But all this to a Parkinson’s patient who is in his last days seems to bear no more importance now. Billy nowadays often sits in a rocking chair in his backyard, idly staring at the withering lilies. He only wants to live a few more months, to enjoy the glory of Cuban cigars some more.

This day, Billy is sitting as usual and finds himself zoning out. But then the thunder roars, and he sees the skies open, and there is the spirit of God, descending like a dove, but after but an instant, it spirals down as an eagle. No, more like a giant ball, falling from the sky. At the same time, Billy hears a voice from the sky, saying, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased…” And another cloud appears before him, sweeping him into the giant ball.

Billy takes one last look back to the yard, but sees his body still sitting in that rocking chair. He recalls in the Bible that the prophets who have been taken to heaven bodily, such as Moses and Elijah, went to heaven whilst in their physical bodies, and as for his experience, which to him looks right like an out-of-body experience, it’s simply unheard of. But then when he thinks of how the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways men cannot understand, he feels relieved; his lifelong habit lets him know to wholly accept God’s plan for him.
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Introduction to Evolution

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

March 2009

Movies as the Only Source of Education for the Public:

1.      In Ninja Turtles, four turtles and a rat were exposed to liquid mutagen, turning them human size with ability to speak. Impossible.

2.      Hulk: physicist was exposed to gamma rays. Occasionally turns into a giant green monster. Only in your dreams.

3.      In Battlestar Galactica, robots “evolved” before they acquired the ability to “procreate”, and without selection pressure. Very funny.

4.      In BSG, V and Star Trek, alien reptiles/humanoids freely interbreed with human producing superpeople. In Star Trek, different races even “fuse” into one. Not based on scientific understanding of biology and evolution.
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