The Chinese are historically useless

This was an extended conversation with dad


"""
Me: Dad, I remember a childhood story recently. The old man said to young man, you cannot sell oil, because you have not mastered the craft. The young man obviously disagrees. So the old man put a coin (Chinese coin used to be round and have square holes in the middle 1/8" by 1/8") on top of a jar and poured from a ladle into the jar through the coin hole. The young man was impressed and gave up his dream to sell oil.

Dad: yes, I know that story well. the parable teaches young people to work hard at their craft and not jump into starting their own business to eagerly.

Me: Yeah, but look, I recently tried that with olive oil. I poured olive oil from a can into a bottle that has an opening not much bigger than a coin's hole, and it's actually pretty easy. Oil flows pretty smoothly and has lower surface tension and higher viscosity than water, so it flows in streams and tend to stay in stream even when you move slightly.

Me: I think this parable should teach Chinese kids not to listen to their parents and actually try these things and see how hard they are…

Dad:… ahh, but you didn't read the story very carefully, the old man poured oil from a ladle held in one hand above his head standing straight the whole time into a bottle on the ground with that coin at the opening. You were probably at your sink, the large jar of olive oil resting on the edge of the sink, two hands holding it pouring into the bottle, and you wouldn't even notice spillage because the bottle is used and already greasy.

Me: Yeah, but why would I ever want to pour oil from a ladle standing straight into bottle on the ground? That is absurd.

Dad: Nontheless, the moral holds true, people experienced in something can do harder things than people not experienced, that's why they should be in charge and not some young kid.

Me: Do you want me to buy you some Facebook stock when it IPOs?


Dad: Only for the short run, not too sure about "long term sustainable competitive advantage" of that company…

Me: …. Here we go again with the old people idea about how things should work.


"""

"Honesty is the Foundation to a Health Relationship"

"Honesty is the Foundation to a Health Relationship"

An old adage. I find myself thinking of this on this Easter Sunday Afternoon. Obviously, honesty facilitate happiness and operational cohesion inside a family.  But somebody says, trust is more important. It's okay to allow leeways for small white lies, but not okay if there is no trust.

This is stating an obvious effect caused by complete honest is that the couple trust each other both in what is communicated and in the the intentions and the actions of the other. But the observation is indeed correct that even if a couple is completely honest to each other but lack in trust, then the couple still cannot be happy.

Honesty in it's more general sense insist that we do not make inferences and decisions based on premises that are known to be untrue or ignoring information available to us just because it forces inferences and decisions in an undesirable direction.

However trust, in it's more general sense addresses our believes about the world. My trusting my wife means I believe what she says. My trusting my wife means I believe she has my, or our, rather, best interest at heart. Furthermore, I believe that her actions are to the best of our interest--that is to say, I trust not only in her intention but her ability.

Human faculties of observation and reasoning obviously play a very large role in both of these aspects of our relationship, however we should assume these to be god given and all well and sound enough.

Then it would appear that we have been missing an important aspect of relationship, which is that in addition to being honest, we must as well be trusting. Trust might mitigate our human frailties in earnestness. Honesty can help to moderate the negative effect of trust:

"Honey, I lost our retirement savings from last week's market crash."

"Oh, that's okay, dear, I'm glad you told me, because we can work on earning it all back. oh and also, let's take away your e*Trade account for now..." (because we have now adjusted both of our believes in "our" ability to make money in the stock market and also acted to the best of our interest.)


Humor aside, the new slogan will be:

"Trust and Honesty are the Foundation to a

Lasting Healthy Relationship"

I want to buy an iPad

I want to by the 3rd generation IPad. Recently Apple made major effort to improve the poor Chinese slave laborers working in foxconn's sweat shops and tried to raise their salaries to global income level.

Thank you Apple!

The sad truth is that this all comes out to be an insult to the brilliant Chinese people The western media began cooking a story about how the Apple were selling these products that are made by under-aged Chinese boys and girls, and if that is not to be believed, certainly underpaid (as compared to their Korean counter parts by orders of magnitude.)

Because of western society, western media, western sensibility, this Taiwanese run sweatshop finally raises pay of its Chinese works. And I had found it insulting when an NPR broadcasters wondered out aloud on air why the Chinese people were happy about Jeremy Lin becoming a huge star in America. (because Jeremy was born and raised in America AND his parents wasn't even from China, they were from Taiwan, as that broadcaster emphasized, twice, on air)

Look at how these Taiwanese oppress their own people. Their own race. Their own genetic equals. All for the spare changes of American companies, they would pay these Chinese people little money because they are lesser people? because they are not worth sympathy? compassion? fairness in labor practices?

And the stupid Chinese people, cannot learn to rebel against these capitalist pigs! Could not say no to twice the pay but absolutely unfair treatment! Fucking stupid Chinese people! could not save their own. Fucking stupid Chinese government could not deal with BLATANTLY UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES!!

And get this!!! When the western media broke the news, took no action to correct this problem!!!

Now Apple has the glory of righting the wrongs.

• Apple corrected the problem of Taiwanese company not paying Chinese labors enough.
• Apple corrected the problem of China not having minimum wage/age and safe working condition laws.

Apple now has earned a medal for Capitalism! Apple has won a medal for White people! All those years of imperial practices, All those years of racism against non-white people... may not have been such a bad thing after all. Look at how happy the Asian Indians are, and Black President of America, look at how powerful he is. Look at all that cash these poor Chinese laborers have in their pockets!!! All those poor ancestors who suffered look at how happy the children are! 



Talk about hurting the Chinese. Sheeesh!!! Talk about a major fucking face loss!


One wonders, if the competition is lost, why bother making children? Their happiness and their suffering at hands of descendent's of those with power of Apple and Foxconn will only be evidence of my failures and my loss.


Alas,  I am looking forward to the hi-res retina display and 4G download speeds...

Swingers code

Around Christmas time last year (2010) I found out that there were such things as Swingers code. This is quite weird since Christmas is a family holiday--hardly the time to be swinging... And further, since I am unmarried, this was just weird.

But apparently, there are code words swingers use to hookup... so here are some:

key management and exchange system

Java Swing

致富光荣

为功名奋斗高尚.

中华民族万岁!!

sad

Facebook will file for it's IPO tomororw. We'll finally see how much money they've been making. Apparently most of my friends from yahoo/goog who have gone to facebook will have dollars in the tens of millions...

This makes me so happy, as I see them laughing at me... hahaha, have a great swim huan...


Indeed, the long swim... the deep dive I will take to the bay. These few short years, not a single open source project to be typed under my fingers, not a single satisfied female orgasm, also not produced by these fattening stubs of meat(stubs being finger and other stub like meaty things). The sleepover with the fishes... not even a single reader to this blog into which I pour the little creativity that eeks out of me. All those hours at my desk, debugging silly pieces of code that are ever so impatiently turned off, reconfigured, re-factored, replaced, or otherwise mutilated in ways that I can never dream in a nightmare as my butt is hit by the door on my way out of a layoff or other separations...


Man! Shakespeare is so good when chasing girls, cursing at those shits that messes with my work, and writing in deep misery and very very sedated from drinking and sleeping pills. I wonder what happens when I meet Shakespeare, will he enjoy my mods of his poetry? Or will he laugh at me as well ?

Time to exercise my options. Time for all those ISO's vest. Time to fund raise for a fertilizer startup. Time to implement one of the exit strategies. I need to liquidate my assets and start hedging on the exchange rates to heaven and hell. Time to fold.

It is high time to match the room's temperature. Finally buy that server farm I've always wanted, to check-out, update and to commit. Lock shall be released and critical section exited. Time to flatten*. Need to merge with universe. Time to reduce.

Time to meet the designer. Participate--fully--in that Carbon Cycle. Time to get invited to the DNA code review...


Time to go to bed.... with the water as my blanket and the bay as my bed, such scenic and serene resting place..

Last Year's Personal Ad

I wanted to take this Christmas day opportunity to post a funny Personal Ad I put up last year in a Chinese dating site called 2redbeans. It's not thing as articulate and detailed and funny as the one used in the movie If You are the one (I), it needs some polish, but funny as draft:

本人黑白分明, 上能踢第七天堂,下可踹第十九层地狱.能吃好干,省食耐用,爱才如命,尊老爱幼,昵称欢欢也.


English translation by google;
Huan's a nice guy. He watches a lot of tv, like 7th heaven and the 19th level of hell. He likes to eat and do it, loves money as if it was his life, but he is abstemious when it comes to himself; Will take care of your parents and raise kids. And his first name repeated twice is another way to refer to him.

The headshot to this, btw, is Kungfu Panda kicking the 7th heaven ;-)
 

You've lost weight

Today, some hot chicks at work said that my compliment to her "hey! you've lost weight" was not a compliment. That it implied that she was overweight before.

"That's not how you're supposed to say it, say, you look nice today"... one of them helped out...

"Have you lost weight?" I added..

"No, that still meant you think she weight too much"

"But it's really noticeable!!" I said! (slimmer waist on a big boned girl is very very visible)

The pair of girls gave up in frustration...

"Well, you look really good!" I said, trying to make up for the mile in my mouth...

"Thank you" she said, and disappeared before I could say another word.

sigh... it's nice to hear an honest response to my compliment...

Regarding age, sex, and the quantity thereof

I feel compelled to post a link and copy this article by By Dr. Seth L. Haber, MD, FCAP posted on a site called yourdictionary.com, which, I've gathered dervies from his book named Innovations in Pathology. The portions reproduced here are not with knowledge and approval of author or publisher.


The ones related with medicine are especially funny: a bundle of neurologist, a smear of obgyn... A Scam of corporate officers...

"""
...
birds are a flock, a congregation, a flight, a volery, or an aviary. The nightingales that sing you to sleep are a watch. Several rooks are a building or a clamor, hawks a cast, snipes a walk or a wisp, quail or larks a bevy, grouse a brood or a cover, pheasants a nide, and partridges a covey. Peacocks, as we all know, are an ostentation, a muster, or a pride. Plover are a stand. In flight, ducks are a team or a skein, a paddling on the water, or a brace if only a pair. Mallards, in particular, are a flush, a paddling, a sord, or a sute. Geese are a gaggle on the water, but a flight anywhere else. Herons are a siege, where'er they may be. Swans are a herd, a team, a bank, or a wedge. Eagles (bald or hirsute) are a convocation. Parrots are a flock. Cormorants are a flight. Ravens are an unkindness, and crows are a murder (most fowl?). Swans are a herd, a team, a bank, or a wedge. Turkeys are a rafter. Starlings aggregate as a murmuration, larks an exaltation, turtledoves a pitying, and goldfinches a charm. Woodcock are a fall or flight and woodpeckers a descent
...
elk are a gang, foxes an earth or a skulk, sheep and goats a trip, tribe, herd, or flock, lions a pride, sowse, sault, troop, or a flock, bears a sloth or a sleuth, and hares a drove, husk, or a down. Deer are a herd. For the gatherers, too many nouns of multitude are a plethora. Buffalo are a troop or a herd, wolves a pack or a rout, domestic pigs a doylt, litter, trip, or herd, wild swine a sounder, oxen a drove, and
leopards a leap. Dogs come as a kennel or a brace; if wild, a pack
...
wish for a barren of mules, a herd or haras of horses (I know it may seem a contradiction, but there sometimes seems to be more horses' harases in this world than horses). Colts are a rag, and chamois are a herd, although I would have imagined it would be a rag of chamois and a herd of colts. Badgers are a cete or set, moles a labor, kangaroos a troop, and ferrets a feamying. Those cute little kittens are a kindle, cats a clouder, tomcats a clowder, cluster, or glaring, curs a cowardice, and apes a shrewdness. Boars are a singular and some humans are singularly boaring. Ferrets are a business
...
[fishes are]a school, draught, haul, run, or a shoal. Commercial fisherman refer to them as a catch. Herrings are an army, perch a pack, sardines a family, jellyfish a smuck, and lox a mekhaya
...
Witches are a coven, boys a blush, girls a bevy or a giggle, beauties a galaxy, children a troop, butlers a drought, hermits an observance, consultants a maven, and some editors a pain. Worshippers are a congregation and angels a host. Thieves are a gang or a skulk, ruffians a horde, blackguards a mob, robbers a band, and some people a crowd
...
[Physicians are a]college, and often a bore. In conventions, they may be a caution. In days of yore, they were an independence; now, they are a review of peers and an inadequacy of reimbursement. Medical students often are a disappointment, and interns a trial or a tribulation. Residents come by the rotunda, although I have heard some refer to a term of residents. Orthopoedists are a brace, osteopaths a joint, and podiatrists a parade. Dermatologists are a rash. Surgeons are an incision, a pack, or a stitch. Many an anesthesiologist is a gasser.
...
Neurologists are a twitch or a bundle. Analysts are a dream, psychiatrists a complex or a detachment, virologists a strain, geneticists are a gene or a succession. Don't forget, there are some cytogeneticists who look great in designer genes. Immunologists are a complement, mycologists a tuft, parasitologists a cycle, and epidemiologists a plague or a vector. Gastroenterologists are a rumble or an eructation. Cardiologists may be a cor, a thrill, a flutter or a murmuration, diagnosticians a guess, hematologists a clump or a blast, and radiologists a ray, a screen, or a scan. Both electrocardiographers and electroencephalographers are a squiggle, and ultrasonographers are a sounding
...
gynecologists are a sexion or a smear, cytologists a cell, obstetricians a push or a labor, and pediatricians a nursery or a squall. Urologists must be a stream or a puddle. Otolaryngologists are a gaggle, otologists a herd, and ophthalmologists an ogle or a see. Plastic surgeons are a pride, a tuck, or an augmentation, and dentists a drill
...
Anatomists are a corps or a gross. Pathologists, those gentlemen and scholars, are a section or a tissue, some say "a lesion." Forensic pathologists are a slew or, like crows, a murder. Occasionally, hospital administrators and governmental bureaucrats may be a plague
...
physicists, a big bang or a cosmos of astronomers, a reaction of chemists, a slither of herpatologists, a wilt of horticulturists, or a testing of psychometricians (those souls who time men's tries)? What about a lynching of attorneys, a number of accountants, an assemblage of factory workers, a scurrying of gofers, a typing of secretaries, a fraud of auditing/accounting firms and a scam of corporate officers
...
A couple (mating pair) of ducks, known as a drake and a duck, may have a duckling. The group would still be known as a team or a skein, a paddling on the water, or a brace if only a pair, and a flush, a paddling, a sord, or a sute if they're mallards. But, let's move on.
...
Mr. and Mrs. Goose, a gander and a dame, is a gosling. A cob and a pen swan, may produce a little cygnet. The mating of a cock and a hen eagle produces an eaglet. Grouse produce a cheeper or a poult, hawks an eyas, partridges a squeaker; and cock and hen pigeons a squab. Of course, everybody knows that a peacock's mate is a peahen, and that a cock pheasant mates with a hen. Cock and a hen fishes may have fries
...
mating of a jackass and a she-ass will produce a colt or a foal. A boar and a sow badger will produce a set, while a bear and a she-bear will beget a cub. A bull and a cow, whether buffalo, camel, or whale, produce a calf.
...
kindle of kittens. A stag or a hart red deer, mating with a hind, will produce a fawn or calf. A buck and a doe fallow deer produce a fawn and, if they are roe deer, a roe-buck and a doe produce a kid or a fawn
...
billy-goat and a nanny-goat produce a kid. Ferrets are a dog and a bitch. A dog-fox and a vixen produce a cub. A buck and a doe hare produce a leveret, not a bunny rabbit. A dog and bitch produce a puppy. There is no such thing as "a hare of the dog," although the condition necessitating the search for one may be a bitch
...
horse and a mare produce a foal which, in its teenage years, may harass its otherwise stable parents. Big cats, including the leopard and leopardess, the lion and the lioness, and the tiger and the tigress, all produce cubs. A dog and bitch otter also produce a cub. The boar and souse pig, if domestic (sounder, if wild) produce piglets. A hob and a jill polecat can produce kittens. Ram and ewe sheep produce lambs
"""


11/17/2011

Looking back

I'm reading through my backlog of unposted blog entries. Below is a copy of a draft circa q4 2010, a slight repeat of this entry. This thread of thought continues in my mind, though now has transformed, hopefully, to a more material facts based and quantitative analysis.

There are probably some social trends that cannot be overcome by individual efforts. Like, why is it that I feel gay people are more welcomed in high-tech work place than straight people? Is it just my imagination? There has to be something that I'm missing here. What is the economic benefit to the company if more employees are gay? Some of their sexual behavior tend to increase the risk for diseases which in turn increases cost of health insurance. Their being single or not married does not seem to impact the company's taxes...

I wonder if it is because of their spending habits? Do gay people spend more money than straight people? As below, do Koreans and Indian people spend more and save less of their earnings than Chinese? is this why they appear to be more welcomed in the US?

"""
The Chinese (the country P.R. of China) are flexing their muscles. The Nobel boycott being the most notable, but also an attempt to buy American soil in Nevada to mine rare earth metals. What audacity!! Buying American land? In the history of America only Americans have money buy other people's land !!

But to be honest, I think this recent bout of struggle for a fair place in the world ("global dominance" according to american media) may end in failure. HuJintao's term may end voluntarily 10 years from when he took power in November of 2012, which is exactly two years from now. I feel this may be the case because I, among many Chinese, have no faith in the Chinese government. So what if every few terms there come a fairly successful, young, and reasonable leader? It's only been around for sixty some years. Look at the American democracy, two hundred odd years of continued survival and dominance in its semi-sphere and certainly within its continent.

Added on top of that, for the most part of it's existence, it had been a country that exercised government mandated discrimination and public acts of hatred toward it's own people. I, being of Chinese origin, know that my people have been seen as the lowest and treated the worst. 

The fact that American openly embrace Korean and Indian more so than Chinese is not because the Chinese are a lesser people, as they would like you to believe, but it is because of the spirit within these people whom tho physically participate in the economy and labor force resist the continuing the fact of segregation, persecution, and enslavement within the United States of America. I continue to feel that there is not one accent that I can speak with that makes me feel acceptable among those in power, not the worst accent used by my Indian colleagues, nor any of those rounded cutesy Asian accents. Coworkers have for the most part will take any and all opportunity to mock me. The grass is definitely greener on the other side of the glass door (glass door is the replacement for the glass ceiling, on the surface, you are on the same level with the others, but you know they're being treated differently on the other side of the glass and you can see it!)

Because of this, the Chinese is bound to fail. Despite it's large population, overcoming the adversities of America is not something on the horizon. And even if the battle is won, there is still a war in progress... and you're either with them, or not.

"""

Happy Marriage!!

A great friend of mine is married right now, previously, I had written about the Han Chinese marriage ceremony (which consists entirely of kowtowing and bowing). Tonight, I'd like to copy down for you some well wishes Chinese guests give to their hosts during a wedding, all of which I wish upon my friends marrying, married, or will marry:

• 新婚快乐
• 早生贵子
• 白头偕老
• 比翼双飞
• 美满爱情
• 感天动地
• 天赐良缘
• 永结同心
• 百发齐眉
• 举案齐眉
• 天长地久
• 翱翔蓝天
• 情投意合
• 白首齐眉
• 鸳鸯比翼
• 天作之合
• 喜庆洞房
• 相亲相爱
• 永浴爱河
• 缘订三生
• 乐赋唱随
• 佳儿佳妇
• 君子好逑
• 美满缘缘
• 唱随谐乐
• 相敬如宾
• 花烛筵开
• 宜室宜家
• 瓜瓞延绵
• 德业同修
• 心心相印
• 美满家庭
• 鸿案相庄
• 五世其昌
• 良缘夙缔
• 美满良缘
• 欢迎淑女
• 缕结同心
• 郎才女貌
• 诗咏好述
• 天缘巧合
• 鸾凤和鸣
• 喜溢华堂
• 金石同心
• 爱之永恒
• 百年好合
• 琴瑟在御
• 佳偶蜜月
• 宜尔室家
• 钟鼓乐之
• 夫唱妇随
• 莲花并蒂
• 笙磬同音
• 花开并蒂
• 如鼓琴瑟
• 情联碧合
• 玉树良枝
• 神仙眷属
• 才子佳人
• 关睢志喜
• 福禄鸳鸯
• 锦绣龙凤
• 情投意合
• 亦绳系足
• 甜蜜的爱
• 并蒂长生
• 琴瑟友之
• 花好月圆
• 蓝田种玉
• 佳偶天成
• 珠联壁合
• 爱情结晶
• 凤凰于飞
• 同德同心
• 喜耦天成
• 月圆花好
• 亲爱精诚
• 永在爱中
• 风美河洲
• 书称厘降
• 麟趾呈祥
• 琴瑟和鸣
• 螽斯衍庆
• 风雨同路
• 凤凰于飞
• 琴瑟相调
• 天作之合
• 琴瑟和鸣
• 同心同德
• 夫贵妻荣
• 以沐相濡
• 柔情似水
• 佳期如梦

The Fourth Mouse!

Recently, at a dinner party with close friends, I had the opportunity to explain an interesting analogy for startups. It was the wise old tale that tells of three mice trying to overcome hunger and their human conditions:

The first mouse wasn't hungry, it saw the cheese on the trap and made a pass at it. It was caught by the trap and killed. Its spine broken and its blood drains and soaks the cheese

The second mouse was a little hungry, and saw the cheese, so it ate the cheese despite the blood. Because the trap was tripped by the first mouse, the second mouse did not get hurt.

The third mouse came and was very hungry. But the cheese has already been eaten by the second mouse, so it wondered away. Third mouse wasn't hurt, but probably dies of hunger eventually...

The fourth mouse came and is famished. It ate the first mouse.

(Sorry... on several occasions in my teenage years, I had seen perfectly fine animals that I saw the day before eat each other the next day (well, I saw a fat one and a missing one), I'm sure that has something to do with my telling of this story)

But it made sense--everybody nodded, half in disgust, half lost in thought. Despite the merry buzz that our grogs have given us, reality quite rudely, and quite suddenly came into focus, even for me, and that we all understood the perilous nature of the journey on which we were all about to embark.

Red Riding Hood

Loved Amanda Seyfried as Valerie the little Red Riding Hood. man, I can hear Catherine Hardwicke whispering "savage me..." as she sees her beloved appear in front of her in the woods. oh, and Gary Oldman is just as creepy as all of his other characters... But anyways, I want to copy down the dialog during the dream sequence (sorry about the spoiler)

"What big eyes you have, grandma"
"The better to see you with dear!"
"What big ears you have, grandma"
"The better to hear you with dear!"
"What big teeth you have, grandma"
"The better to eat you with!!"

There is something so titillating about a innocent maiden in presence of absolute evil and threat of certain physical harm. Here's one longer version from here:

"Grandmother, what big arms you have!"
"All the better to hug you with, my dear."
"Grandmother, what big legs you have!"
"All the better to run with, my child."
"Grandmother, what big ears you have!"
"All the better to hear with, my child."
"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"
"All the better to see with, my child."
"Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!"
"All the better to eat you up with."

I suppose there is reason behind the removal of "Little" from the original fairytale. The movie talks about her falling in love, being engaged but having relationship outside of engagement, witch hunt subplot, love, hate, betrayal, religion, torture, affairs and the products there of, man versus nature,... some very very serious adult themes and scenes. Supposedly the original moral of the story is that young kids should not speak to strangers. (And actually, more gruesome, if you imagine wolf wearing grandma's skin when she asks her these things.) A slight more thoughtful interpretation is that young women should not be talked into sex by man-wolves. But this modern interpretation has the red riding hood already in love with a man eventually becomes the big bad wolf. The father, who is already a big bad wolf, dealing with his human daemons. ugh! this story is so ugly and seems so real. I wonder if the writer, David Johnson, who wrote for another one of my favorite movie: "The Shawnshank Redemption", has experienced such... wolf claws her wife's face, kills the daughter that is not his.. But the wife survives on... Seems like what a stepfather might want to do...

alas, Innocence is corrupted by love, and succumbs to evil, elopes to the mountains and the forests... lovely, but breaks with the whole reason why this story even existed in the first place!!

I feel like I did something bad enjoying this whole thing. It's so wrong, and yet feels so right!!

ugh, the tortures of humanity and beastiality!!!

Google and Anticopyblogism

Google blog announced recently that they downgraded sites that copy other sites.

"""

and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful...

"""

oh shit! Google finally caught on and decided to downgrade my copy blog! :(

Sadly, copy blogs often do serve some purpose. For instance, in my drunken haze I posted to facebook something about "Time is the fire within which we burn"...

If you search the quoted text on google (with or without quotes), you will find half a page full of text none of which leads to Delmore Schwartz's poem Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day, actual text here.(which btw, is also not mentioned on Delmore's Wiki entry) which contains the phrase "...that time is the fire in which we burn." The text is fully reproduced here, just to spite google I guess. hahahaa, man, I feel so pathetic, much like Don Quixote, charging at a large man made giant whose mechanical motion cares nothing about what it is that I'm typing... sigh... maybe, some day, descendant of Watson will laugh at this, standing on human skulls and bones, saying "oh man, I could parse that and figure out those two are basically the same"

"""

Calmly we walk through this April's day,
Metropolitan poetry here and there,
In the park sit pauper and rentier,
The screaming children, the motor-car
Fugitive about us, running away,
Between the worker and the millionaire
Number provides all distances,
It is Nineteen Thirty-Seven now,
Many great dears are taken away,
What will become of you and me
(This is the school in which we learn...)
Besides the photo and the memory?
(...that time is the fire in which we burn.)

(This is the school in which we learn...)
What is the self amid this blaze?
What am I now that I was then
Which I shall suffer and act again,
The theodicy I wrote in my high school days
Restored all life from infancy,
The children shouting are bright as they run
(This is the school in which they learn . . .)
Ravished entirely in their passing play!
(...that time is the fire in which they burn.)

Avid its rush, that reeling blaze!
Where is my father and Eleanor?
Not where are they now, dead seven years,
But what they were then?
No more? No more?
From Nineteen-Fourteen to the present day,
Bert Spira and Rhoda consume, consume
Not where they are now (where are they now?)
But what they were then, both beautiful;

Each minute bursts in the burning room,
The great globe reels in the solar fire,
Spinning the trivial and unique away.
(How all things flash! How all things flare!)
What am I now that I was then?
May memory restore again and again
The smallest color of the smallest day:
Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn.

Delmore Schwartz

"""

copy posts from recent foray into dating

was on a date recently, captured an entry for the 肉麻博客:

"你的手好小....好小巧...小巧玲珑....俗话说的好，人是十指连心，美丽的手说明你有一颗美丽的心...."

First words, the morning after

"Did you make any audio or video record us last night? I'll Have you know you wont be the only one with an embarrassing artifact on me..."


And interesting observation:

"人才如粪土，人情值千金"

and

"Blogging is the e-soup for the soul..."

girl problems

"""
Some girls are 北极上面的冰激凌沙漠里面的干燥剂, there's no heat in my loin warm enough to melt her heart, nor tears real enough to make her wet.
"""

note to self, buy flowers for girls following the 100 flowers rule

I was reminded of the 100-flowers episode recently. I think popular media in American tend to make people believe that those people who speaks out, who differentiate himself will win more often than those who don't. Although, now I feel that perhaps it's not right. Perhaps the best is to remain anonymous and unrecognized.

If a movement is started to try to find problems, I think maybe there is a larger probability that it is an effort to discover a few dissidents (for lack of a better word) than the probability that it is an earnest effort to make improvement. 80/20 rule rules. find that 20%, cut them off, and keep the 80% who will keep you happy.

I mean, that's the only rational thing to do. And in a democracy, it will actually work. 51/49 rule will work!

So, in sum, it seems that one should not fall pray to innocent request for comments and suggestions from their bosses when the request is made en masse.

anyways, some residual thoughts from 2010... happy new year everyone!

misc end-of-the-year pileup

From preview of "Your Highness"

Portman:

For some reason I just couldn't stop thinking about you.

Guy we just saw pouring midievil lamp oil on his hands in bed:

That's odd, I was just about to finish thinking about you!

Economists: there is such joy in having economist as friend, and a continuation in the commentary on modern culture:

"We should take rational approach and consider the time value of respect. This, however, is very difficult, considering the payoff would never come before your expiry..."

Job with Benefit:

As a failure in the department of personal relationships I wonder if I approach things from the exact wrong angle. For instance, I have observed that all girls that work will flirt with male coworkers. This unfortunately cannot change very quickly because for a very very large majority of our civilization's history, that has been women's role with regards to men. It is unnatural, to both parties, for her to act the opposite. (and this is not to say that she can't or that it is inappropriate for her to do so.) However, as a male member of this game in life, what should I think of this fact? That her success depends on her ability to manage and leverage her effect on her male coworkers?

Is it an occupational hazard, or is it a perk? Is it a cost, or a benefit?

Because if you think about it, her response, if she is young and healthy, to male attention is arousal. And, if she is a good women, she will not act on the arousal, but accumulate it's effects until later when it is appropriate to react to them--in your presence, of course.

Big perk!

But of course, there is the distinct possibility that she becomes desensitize to men after a day of arousal, which will bring you much misery and frustration.

But of course(2), if she's not a good women, and... well, you know, if she's not a good women in most books of good vs. bad, and to be explicit, if she responds to the arousal with her co-wokers behind your back (or worse, dear god forbid, in front of you, hmmm, or maybe that's for the better, not sure...), then it should be seen as a risk. (not a cost of course not... I hope not...)

Anyways, I guess it will be a happy new year, now that I've got this figured out, I can straighten my life up and finally have a successful relationship with a gf, knowing that I should appreciate the perks and benefits of her having a job, and not be so negative by looking at the possible down side of it.

Copy 2010

wohwa, it's the end of 2010 already. Ouch!!

Here's one last copy for 2010, from NPR news article on the arguments between Santa Clause having fights with their organizations (Mall Santas not the real santas)

So, one of the separatest Santa's has three motto's that he lives by that I thought was interesting:

never be lied to or about.
never steal or be stolen from.
never be laid hands upon.

Goina be hard to keep these all inline. :)

The Virtue of Adversity--You Know You're an American If...

In America, we grow people who excel in adversity. So after some two centuries, there only people who can work under severe adversarial situations. And the consequence is that organizations are built to provide adversity. Organizations are not designed for efficiency of operation for the precise reason that everybody only work when they're poked and prodded. Americans are only able to function when they're an army of one at war. Americans only behave when they're constantly watched. Americans only apologize when they are caught doing something atrocious. Americans only feel comfortable if there are residual and lasting problems in their product.

You may say that you are religious, and perform according to God's commands and rules, but you know just as well as I that you are an American.

So, you know you're an American if you fit the above descriptions.