BLOGPOST 6: Unicorns and The Fountain of Youth

Aside from the realistic approach on immortality by science, there are also some myths and legends about immortality. I have never given thought of this before because I was too absorbed by the Religion, Philosophical and Scientific perspectives on immortality. Opening our minds to the different sides of the issue would indeed make us see a better picture of it. Unicorns and the Fountain of Youth are only two of the many mythical legends of immortality.

I found an article entitled "The Unicorn" written by T'olar Jharn elaborated unicorns so much. After reading the article, it gave me a much better idea what unicorns really are. And also, after reading it, I realized that unicorns are not the same with Pegasus.

It is stated that unicorns are mythical creatures. It is so tall and could reach the height of around two ped when fully grown. It has a long horn on its forehead and a usually blue or violet eyes. It is strong, wild, fierce and is impossible to tame by a man. In legends, the only ones who can see or tame a unicorn is a virgin maiden. It is stated that the unicorns symbolizes virginity, chastity and purity. What does it have to do with immortality? Well, it's horn could cure any illness. But if you take its horn, it will instantly die not unless if it offered its horn to the sufferer willingly.

In the Harry Potter movie, unicorn blood can make you immortal. That's why Lord Voldemort have been drinking unicorn blood in the Dark Forest while waiting for the Sorcerer Stone to be stolen by his follower. If unicorns are real, are you ever willing to slay something so pure for your own desire of immortality? I hope not.

Another legend or myth that is linked to immortality is the famous Fountain of Youth. I admit I have never heard of such fountain before but I did hear something about Fountain of Fair Fortune. I've read that from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". In the story, the said fountain is found in an enchanted garden. Every year, a single fortunate is given a chance to fight his/her way to the garden to bathe in the Fountain of Fair Fortune and and receive fair fortune forever. It is quite the same with the Fountain of Youth but with different rewards. Fountain of Fair Fortune rewards fortune and the Fountain of Youth rewards eternal youth.

Like unicorns, Fountain of Youth is also fascinating. I have one question though, "Is it even real?". Through searching in the internet, i found an interesting article that is about the fountain of youth. It is entitled "Fountain of Youth - Just Wishful Thinking?" written by Willie Drye.

It is stated in the article that the search for the fountain of youth had started way back in the medieval times. Who would know that the greatest conqueror of kingdom, Alexander the Great, has been searching for the fountain as well? It also stated in the article that the search for the fountain of youth became even more intense when a Spanish explorer named Ponce de Leon claimed that the said fountain can be found in the oldest city in U.S, St. Augustine in Florida. Though no original documents about Ponce de Leon's Florida expedition survived, a certain fountain in the oldest city of U.S called Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park became a tourist spot because of the rumor that it is the real Fountain of Youth. There were some elderly visitors who drank in that fountain but didn't turn into teenagers. The said park has been a tourist spot ever since 1901 and is believed to be attracting tourists ever since 1860. One more question, what if that fountain is just mistaken to be the real Fountain of Youth and there is a real one somewhere? Would you drink from it? I would say that drinking from the it is way better that slaying a fluffy unicorn.

"It's not hard to understand why there have always been hopes and rumors that something soon to be discovered -- magic waters, say, or maybe stem cell research -- will do away with old age"

I agree with this statement stated by Willie Drye. Not all of us can accept the fact that sooner or later, all of us are going to get old and die. There are some who still have their hopes up that someday something will be discovered or invented to prevent the process of aging. But I must admit that in my own opinion, all they have for now are anti aging creams and anti aging pills :)

Those are just some of the many mythical objects in the legends that are linked with immortality. Whether they are real or not, we don't know but let me tell you this: the earth's shape was just a legend until the circumnavigation of Magellan and many other explorers proved that it is round. And also, in every heart of legend, there is a grain of truth. 

BLOGPOST 5: Avatar Immortality Project

The first time I watched the movie Avatar was when I was in third year high school. At first, I didn't understand the flow of the story because I was more preoccupied in admiring the characters. The blue-skinned creatures with golden eyes was jaw-dropping especially when you're watching it in the cinema. I only watched it twice and when I searched Google regarding my topic, immortality, an Avatar Immortality Project article caught my eye. I had to research a movie review in order to remember what the plot was of the said movie.

I found a movie review of "Avatar" written by Roger Ebert. Reading the article made me remember the time I was actually watching the movie. The blue-skinned giants called Na'vi, the world called Pandora and the soldier guy named Jake Sully.

He wrote in his movie review that the movie Avatar was made by the famous movie director

named James Cameron. Some of his great works are True Lies, Piranha, Terminator, and also the most epic movie of all time, Titanic. The story of Avatar was set in the year 2154 and it involves an American soldier named Jake Sully. When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

Now, what does it have to do with the Avatar Immortality Project? In the Avatar movie, the avatars are the exact replicas of the natives of Pandora. They are controlled by the US soldiers by being wired up in a trance-like state in their base ship. That is exactly the concept of the Avatar Immortality Project.

Brain uploading is exactly the subject matter in the article entitled "Avatar Project Aims For Human Immortality by 2045" written by Dario Borghino. It talks about obtaining immortality by the year 2045.

It is stated in the article that an old media entrepreneur named Dmitry Itskov aimed to transplant a human brain in a robot body in 10 years time. A further explanation of this could be found on Dmitry Iskov: Welcome to the Global Future 2045 video How is that even possible? It is said in the article that Dmitry is going to develop four avatars within 20 years. The Avatar A is said to be the development of robots that will be controlled by the human mind. That sounds like the Avatar movie itself. The Avatar B will be the one that can host a flesh and blood human brain via surgical transplant. Down to the Avatar C, the "uploading" of the contents of the human brain will be transferred to a robot and with that, the immortality of body is achieved. On the last avatar, the most interesting phenomena was stated by Dmitry, himself. On the Avatar D, the so-called robots will be turned into holograms.

In my opinion, the concept of the said project is quite fascinating, yet, terrifying. With the said avatars, aren't we going to make our own cousins or something? Or in a darker picture, our potential new enemies that may soon take over us? Science is indeed advancing too fast. Before, a cough or cold could kill a human but because of science, different assortment of medicines are made. How about the issue of immortality? What if one day, we wake up and find ourselves "robotized"? 

BLOGPOST 4: Alchemy

I remember the first time i watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when i was in first year high school. That first movie in the Harry Potter series inspired me to save up my allowance in order to buy the books. After a few months of saving, I had my whole set of Harry Potter books. My favorite book is the first one which is the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and it is about Harry Potter, an 11 years old boy, who didn't know that he's a wizard until a half-giant named Hagrid handed him a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a shock for him at first because all his life, he thought he's just a normal boy. He didn't know that his parents were wizards and were killed by the most evil wizard named Voldemort. He went to Hogwarts and met Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and soon enough, they became bestfriends. The three of them found out that some very valuable is hidden inside the school and someone is going to try to steal it. They followed the culprit and only to find out that he's after the Sorcerer's Stone.

Out of curiosity, I researched about the Sorcerer's Stone and found an article entitled "The Golden Age Has Begun!" by Jay Weidner. 

 According to the article,The Sorcerer's Stone or also called as the Philosopher's Stone is not just a fictional substance found in the first Harry Potter books. The stone is a product of Alchemy. It is believed that the stone could turn any metal into pure gold and produce the elixir of life which will make anyone immortal. The alchemical lore speaks of men and women in the past who magically created an Elixir of Life that allowed them to live for hundreds of years. These alchemists also created a powerful substance they called the Philosopher's Stone which gave them long life, mental clarity and spiritual enlightenment.


In complementary with the Philosopher stone, i also found an article that talks about Alchemy. It is entitled "Lead to Gold? Elixir of Life? Alchemy Making a Comeback, Scientists Say" written by Philip Schewe. 

In the article, he stated that Alchemy, a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into pure gold, the discovery of a universal cure for diseases, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life, is making a come back in our modern world. Alchemy was said to be connected with witchcraft in the earlier time but now, it'll be seen as the modern chemistry. It is stated in the article that there were some famous alchemists way back in the medieval time whom engaged themselves in the work of alchemy. They are Nicholas Flamel, Robert Boyle, Paracelsus, the father of the modern physics, Isaac Newton and many others.

"alchemists could be considered as an early form of industrial researcher"

 I do agree in this statement said by Philip Schewe in his article because way back in the medieval times, an alchemist store is where people go to buy medicines. Only the alchemists were active in assaying metals, refining salts, making dyes and pigments, making glass and ceramics, artificial fertilizers, perfumes and cosmetics. They make money out of their works and discoveries and it also benefited a good cause for the people.

In conclusion, the quest for immortality has started way back in the medieval time. Alchemists have been seeking immortality in their own way: The Philosopher Stone. If they are ever going to get Alchemy back in our modern world, chances of achieving immortality will be higher.

BLOGPOST 3: The Undying Quest for Cheating Death

As I was typing the word "Immortality" in Google, I found something that really surprised me. Guess what? Immortality by Celine Dion. Out of curiosity, I listened to it and I found myself holding my breath and taking in each and every word of the song. After listening to it for five consecutive times, I realized that the song is about giving up the one you love in order to follow your dreams. Many who face having to make such a decision may find this difficult because they love that person, yet they want to achieve a specific goal, and therefore they may be reluctant to leave them. But the love they have for that person will never end, just like the word "immortality" itself. 

Moving on to my research, i found a short article entitled "The Quest for Immortality" by Bennett Gordon. I almost ignored that article because of it's length but i didn't know that even a short article could be as "meaty" with information as the long ones.


 "Medically immortal". That's what caught my attention in the said article. According to the article, Biotechnology and Medicine has a notion as well when it comes to immortality.  It is stated there that in 30 years' time, humans could be immune to diseases, unaffected by the devastation of aging and be able to live for like 150 or even 1,000 years long. It is said that Biotechnology and Medicine may soon begin to advance quickly than nature can find ways to kill us. It may be even possible to overpower death. We do take medicines whenever we are sick. The purpose of it is to cure our disease but to some people's cases, prolong lives. What if a medicine is already made to prolong our lives, literally? Too long that it might make us all immortals?

It is also stated in the article that there are only few people who are behind the quests for immortality. Some of them may have died without experiencing their works pay off, or some who are still alive but unable to continue the quest. If the possibility for immortality is proven, the credits will go with nobody else but them. However, there would also be some people who would contradict their works such as those who are a strong believers of Religion. In the article, they are termed "fatalistic" because they are in favor of people dying. 

"Of course, the shift toward immortality is controversial. For one thing, immortality confronts many of the traditions of religion and philosophy. Since most religions are, in some sense, ways to cope with death, the elimination of death could have drastic consequences on the human psyche"

I agree on this statement stated by Bennett Gordon  in the article. It is indeed a huge step for us to be immortals and of course, immortality will violates the law of nature, however, if there is something killing people, such as diseases, it is something that should be prevented. We can't just let people die even though there are some issues when it comes to immortality such as the scarcity of resources and overpopulation. No one has a right to hold up this research and impose their "fatalistic" judgement on the future generation.

 Endless, everlasting, eternal and undying. Those are the words similar to "immortality". As I was pondering those, a question formulated into my mind, "why do we seek immortality? What is it with humanity that pushed us to seek eternal life?". Once again, different opinions would come up. Some would say that "it's because of the fear of death", "to see the changes of the world", "to gain more knowledge" or some would just simply say "because i don't want to leave my love ones yet". There are so many answers to that particular question. We want immortality because we have our own reasons. 

Through further researching, i found an article entitled "Cryonics: in search of Immortality" written by Nick Scott. The article reminded me the fake trailer of Titanic Part 2 that i found in Youtube.com couple of years ago. In the trailer, several years later after the known Ship of Dreams or Titanic sank, Jack Dawson's body was found on the sea floor encased in ice. They brought Jack's body in a laboratory unfreezes it. With its success, Jack Dawson came back to life and only to find out that he's now in a completely new world. Everything he knew several years back are gone even the love of his life that he met on Titanic, Rose Dewitt Bukater.

Based on the said article, that scenario of Titanic 2 is possible because the article talks about Cryonics. Cryonics is known to be the practice of freezing a person who has died of a disease in hopes of restoring life at some future time when a cure for the disease has been developed. In the article, it is stated that there are two major cryonics organizations in America and they are The Alcor Life Extension Foundation and The Cryonics Instituted. Based on the article, the two organizations are already handling more that 200 people and a handful of animals for the experimentation. Those corpses are pumped with a substance called Vitrification which will make their flesh become glass-like when the temperature plummeted. Though no one has ever brought back from the dead by this experiments yet, they are still not giving their hopes up that someday we'll be able to cheat death by cryonics. 

"Cryonicists believe that conquering death is not only possible, but an imminent reality."

There is a part of me that agrees and disagrees on this statement stated by Nick Scott in the article. The part of me that agrees with it says it's indeed possible. No one can ever stop the advancement of science. Just give it a little more time and it might be ready. Immortality through cryonics is now almost in our hands. But the part of me that disagrees with it says that how would they say that if, until now, they haven't brought someone back from the dead yet? And cryonics might indeed make us immortal by preserving our body while we are unconscious, but it doesn't stop us from aging once we are unfrozen. That's not totally the concept of immortality, is it?

Some of us are truly engaged in the in the matter of immortality. There would be some who are willing to take handfuls of medicines just to be immortal or even take an icy bath to preserve our body and wake up in a different era. But there would also be some people who would just turn their noses up when it comes to those ideas. Which of the two do you belong?

BLOGPOST 2: Life After Death

When it comes to the word "immortality", different opinions would come up for sure. We view immortality based on our own beliefs and culture but sometimes we can't help it when it gets so confusing because of the mixed-up ideas. If you're going to ask me, I view immortality as the "Life after Death". That's what I'm used to hear during mass every Sunday. But of course, being open to other opinions and perspectives will make us more knowledgeable regarding this issue.

Looking up for something that would justify my point of view, I found an article entitled "Life After Death - Fact or Fiction?" written by Jack Viljoen. The article caught my attention by the title itself. After reading the said article, my the concept of immortality that I believed in got stronger.

He started the article by asking intriguing questions like "Is your life really in your hands?", "What if you die right here, right now?" and "Have you given a thought on where you will spend eternity?". Those questions alone made me pause the music i'm listening to right now. According to the article, we may not be sure how to answer those questions but there is one thing that we are certain of: Sooner or later, we will all die and depart this life. But was it really possible that there is a life after death?

Jack pointed out in the article that there are two types of people when it comes to the issue of life after death: those who believe it and those who doesn't. According to Jack, those who doesn't believe in life after death think that when you die, you die. that's it. No more consciousness, feelings or whatsoever. You will just simply cease to exist on this earth with nothing but memories for your love ones. Think of this scenario, if you are on a plane and that plane is about to crash due to some technical problems, you
already know it. You'll know that you'll be dead in few minutes' time.  Of course, you couldn't help it if you panic or hope for something like "luck" that would prevent you from dying from the plane crash. But if you are not a believer of life after death, why would you panic in the first place when you know in yourself that you'll feel nothing when you die? Why would you hope for something that you don't even believe in? Now, let's put the spotlight on those who believes in life after death, same scenario. Say you are a believer of life after death, of course you'll panic, or even hope for survival but of course you'll also ask yourself that when you die, where will your spirit goes? Did you do enough good deeds in your life to deserve a good spot in Heaven, or your good deeds wasn't enough and you'll end up in Hell instead? You see the difference? Those who doesn't believe in Life After Death often change their minds when they are faced with death itself.

The article stated that the best reason why we believe in Life after Death is the Christianity. Like I said in my introduction, I often hear that in mass every Sunday. We are all familiar with Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection in the bible stories. I guess that's the hope we believers of Life after Death are grasping. After all, God himself promised us Life after Death only if we surrendered ourselves to Him.

"True Christianity does not consist of rules, regulations, rites and rituals controlled by man. It is a relationship built on love and trust between an Almighty God and mankind"

   I couldn't agree more on this quote stated by Jack Viljoen in the article. Christianity is not measure on how many times you go to church every week, how you always follow all the ten commandments or even how important you think it is to take the Body of Christ every mass. It is measured on how strong you believe in Him. Your faith with the Almighty God is enough for you to have a spot in Heaven but of course, doing good while you're still alive is a HUGE plus.

   The Life After Death concept is often viewed as crackpot old joke by some people but there are some who see it as their only hope to be united with their long lost love ones. It all comes down on everyone's perspective. We should respect everyone's beliefs on how they see things. But there's one thing I learned from the article, though. Whether you are a believer of Life after Death or not, that should not stop you from doing good things on earth while you're still alive. Who knows? What if, just what if?, it's true? You won't have to say "Regrets are always in the end".

   I know I highlighted the believers of Life After Death perspective in my first article but of course, I would never end this blogpost without taking note on what science, which do not believe in Life After Death, has to say.

  Science is the progressive way of attaining knowledge, never claiming absolute truth or infallibility. It is rather obtaining facts from experiments, never from dogmas, doctrines, oral traditions and the like. In my opinion, science is the absolute opposite of religion and never will be reconciled. It always contradict issues in religion such as God, Adam and Eve and of course, Life After Death.

  Browsing on the internet about how science view Life After Death, I found a very interesting article that had kept me fully awake as I was writing this. Its title is "Stephen Hawking: Life after Death" written by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. The article was about an interview on Stephen Hawking himself about his view on life after death. To give you a brief review, Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest physicist living today. He is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. Some of his significant scientific works are Hawking radiation and gravitational singularities theorems. He was diagnosed with ALS or also called as motor neurone disease.


    In the article,  Krishan Guru-Murthy asked Hawking if he ever believed in the so-called "Life After Death". Being the kind of man who doesn't believe in such thing answered that life after death is a fairytale to those who are afraid of the dark. However, a different view on "life after death" can still be attained only in a way that everyone of us is not expecting. According to Stephen Hawking himself, our brain is like a program in the mind that can be copied onto a computer. When the physical body dies, it is theoretically possible to transfer the brain onto a computer and so provide a form of life after death. So technically, he was saying that our memories, knowledge or whatever it is that is in our minds are like computer files that can be uploaded to the computer. What if those so-called files are transferred to a robot or something? is this how science defines "Life after Death"? Turn us all into robots after the death of our physical bodies? What do you think religion has to say about that?

   After researching the said articles, I therefore conclude that Life after Death is a two-faced issue. Religion and Science. With one contradicting the other, it is indeed confusing. Which one is right? which one is wrong? It is now up to us what to believe in. Would you rather believe that when we die, our soul will depart our body and find its peace in Heaven or its doom in Hell? or that when we die, our memories, knowledge and experiences will be preserved in a flash drive and will soon be maintained in a pile of metals that we now call ROBOTS?

BLOGPOST 1: Why do we age and die?

   Last year, August 9, 2012, my great grandmother died. Cause of her death? Old age. She died in her sleep at the age of 89 and it was quite a shock for us when our relatives told us about her death. We were all sad about it but we were also relieved because we all know that she died a natural death. As I was at the funeral, I went to my granny's coffin and asked her a silent question, "why do you have to die?" but of course, i didn't get an answer. All I got was my granny's peaceful face that looked like she was just sleeping. 

   I did not leave that question hanging, though. I found an article entitled "Adam and Eve Bible Story Summary" written by David Peach. I didn't know that our forefathers Adam and Eve have something to do with my unanswered question nor did I know that my question would lead me to the time God created the first Man and Woman.

  According to the article, on the sixth day of creation, God created the animals and a man. He named the man Adam and he created him on His image. God thought that it is unnecessary for a man to live alone so he made Adam sleep and then cut him open and made a woman out of his flesh. He named her Eve. 

It also stated in the article that God bestowed them many gifts such as personal communion with God, Himself, eternal life without getting sick, old and dead and a beautiful garden called Eden in which they could live with bountiful of plants and trees for food. However, there was a certain tree called Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in which they are not allowed to eat the fruit otherwise, they would die. But why did Adam and Eve disobeyed God? David Peach stated that a devil took a form of a snake and tempted Eve to eat one of its fruits. The devil was so cunning and the fruit was so beautiful so Eve ate it. Because of its delicious taste, Eve offered some to Adam and just like Eve he was tempted too. Without knowing that the future of the humankind will totally change with just one bite, Adam and Eve disobeyed the only command of God. 

"God told Adam and Eve in the beginning that they would die on the day they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One death was immediate. They were spiritually separated from God."

At first, I disagreed in this statement because Adam and Eve DID NOT die on the day they ate the fruit but later on, i realized that the death which was meant in the statement was about the death of the life God intended them to have. 

From the beginning, God created the first man and woman to be immortal. Adam and Eve resembled God very much except that they have a body and God is a sacred spirit. However, because of the original sin, they lost it all. They lost the personal communion with God and the eternal life. Even the Garden of Eden because they were sent out by the garden's guardian in God's order. They lived the life God never intended them to have. They got sick, aged, and died. Their first son killed their second son. But what if Eve didn't get tempted with eating the fruit? What if she refused the snake and turned her back on it? I'm sure we are all immortals right now because we don't have that original sin we inherited from Adam and Eve because they did not do it in the first place. I guess my great grandma will still be here with us telling us stories and singing us Visayan songs.

   We all grew up hearing the story of Adam and Eve and how a single bite of a fruit from a forbidden tree changed the humanity. This legend was quite a reasonable answer to my question, however, since we are now living in an epoch of modern technology, i also sought the answer to my question in science's perspective. 

  Browsing through the internet, i found an article entitled "Why we get Old" by Gary Vey. The article was quite interesting because it elaborated a certain reason why we age and die. The said article was well equipped with information about the answer i'm seeking for.


  According to the article, the reason why we age and die is because of the telomeres. The word "telomere" is new to me so i had to search its meaning in a dictionary. In Merriam-Webster dictionary, telomere means "The natural end of a eukaryotic chromosome composed of a usually repetitive DNA sequence and serving to stabilize the chromosome" It is often been compared to the blank leaders on films or recording tape. Indeed, telomeres do perform the same function. On the replication process of DNA molecules, they must split in half to be able to copy itself. the "old copy" dies and the new one goes on and soon will replicate itself and so on. What does the telomeres do?

The article stated that the best analogy to explain the telomeres in a layman's terms is the margin in an important type written document. Imagine that document being slapped on a photocopying machine a lot of times. A copy is made and that copy is also used to make another one and on and so on.      Telomeres serves as the white space or the margin because it protects the main data on the document itself from being chopped out of the following copies. The more copies are made, errors and misalignment accumulate. After enough copying, it is probable that the white space will diminish and some of the actual text will not be copied. That's what happens inside our cells and it is the reason why we age and die.

"As any cell gets older, it is under attack by oxides and free-radicals in the body and environment. We survive as living beings because our cells have the ability to duplicate and replace themselves before being killed by these natural causes. Each time our cells divide, the DNA molecule makes a new copy of itself." 

   This statement emphasizes the "photocopying" process of the DNA cells. This is the reason why our wounds heal, why our fingernails and hairs grow. But damage is also inflicted during the replication process because, as the cells get old, they become frail  because of the continuous process of replication.

    We are all programmed to believe that everything has an end. But what if the bright scientists nowadays are able to do something to prolong our lives? And better yet, prevent death? What if they discover something that would make our whole world upside down? The discovery of Immortality.

Introduction

Have you ever wonder what it feels like to be immortal? Living on earth without worrying that you will die eventually. If yes, you'd better read the following blog posts.

In our research writing subject, we are all required to choose one topic and post blogs about it. In my case, I chose Immortality. This subject fascinates me more than any other topics I had in mind. I'm sure it does fascinate you as well. To give it a clearer view, I researched different articles with regards to my chosen topic and gathered it all in this blog post. I also added my own opinions with the articles. More opinions and suggestions will be much appreciated :) 

-Jane