Le Blogger

Awesome! Collective Soul was on campus today for the Last Day of Classes Concert. Got to hear lots of my favourite songs from them. I enjoyed watching the college camaraderie and of course, craziness. Reminds me of my college days! And of course, the good music always puts one in such a mood.

Never wear socks for more than a day. Otherwise your feet start to stink like phew! It's so bad too cause most stinky places you can get up and go away, find air that's fresher. But you can't do that with your own stinky feet, even if you extend the leg and move it as far as possible from the nose, it's still close enough! Cutting off the leg isn't a certifiable solution either (it's funny that certifiable, if you do a definition search on onelook.com, returns the following first "fit to be certified as insane (and treated accordingly)"). Perhaps its not too insane to part with the foot if its stinky enough! Anyways, putting stinky feet and dirty socks aside, this past week has been hell (it's also the reason for the stinky feet and unchanged socks)! Our new dilution fridge has finally arrived. The delay has been at least a year and a half or so? And the dewar housing the dilution unit does not actually fit spec, so in three months time a new one

What's going on with that? Supposedly KMT chairman Lien Chan is going to China and will meet with Communist Party leader Hu. I'm really confused with what's going on here. What would this meeting be labelled as? Lien Chan certainly has no authority as an official Taiwanese representative. In a nation with democratically elected leaders, he lost the race to President Chen Shui-bian. Even though it was a close race, he still lost. I don't think he understands that in a democracy you have to respect that and learn to be graceful in losing. The recent KMT trips to China both worry me and also, to be honest, if done in the proper way, could be beneficial to Taiwan. Dialogue is absolutely necessary. But this must be done in a way that does not compromise Taiwan's dignity and sovereignty. I fear Lien Chan has no idea what these two words mean. Even more so, what kind of image does this present to the global community? Taiwan needs a unified front against the Anti-Secession

The Taiwanese students hosted a farewell party for graduating members today. There was basically some free food, a slide show presentation, some parting words, and a genuine good time. It's nice to have a community of people with similar backgrounds in a place far from home. I have to admit, though I am not Taiwanese, I do relate to them more than with any other group. I spent a large amount of my teen years in Taiwan, and I think that has a lot to do with who I am today. Still, compared to a lot of my friends now, I've had a rather unique upbringing, and I feel rather blessed by that. Certainly, everyone's life is unique. We all have a story to live, and eventually tell. Anyways, it's funny how sometimes you feel like you are just about to get to know someone, and then they leave. Think of it this way, at least you got to know them. I believe very much in the Chinese idea of "yuan fen." I like to think of each one of us as strands, let's make 'em gold

Requiem for a pope. Despite the sadness of seeing an era and a great man pass, I was slightly happy for Taiwan as Pres. Chen Shui-bian was able to attend the Pope's funeral with full diplomatic dignity. He was referred to as President of Taiwan and given a spot standing alongside other dignitaries: Kings, Queens, Presidents, Dictators, you name it. I thank the Vatican for having the guts to stand up to China. After all, for the Church, the ultimate authority is God and his Will, and I'm pretty sure God is not afraid of China.

Is there life somewhere else besides Earth? If there were advanced civilizations, we should know about them by now. Why? Think about us. When we travel on land, every quite often someone will get into a car accident...or their car will break down, crash. Same happens with sea travel, or travel by plane. Even our own ventures into space are not immune to problems. So whats to say an advanced alien civilization wouldn't experience similar problems in their space-faring craft? However small the probability, surely an alien traveling on holiday would have taken a route close to Earth, and inevitably, one of these ships would have malfunctioned someway, leading to a fiery fireball heading straight for Earth! So, though I would rather not believe so, we are tempted to conclude that since no such occasion has occurred, and we must admit that as pure probability says that it has a chance of happening, or should have happened already, and yet it hasn't, perhaps there is no other alien l

I've been reading all the stuff in the news about the pope, and one thing that has come through is the level of maturity he had even as a youngster. Sure he would have the sports games and kidding around that all adolescents do, but his peers all recall how he stood out as being more serious and purposeful with anything he was at. There was a conviction to do something with all earnestness and seriousness. Interestingly my cousin who is still in high school asked me today to help him come up with a speech as he is running for high school treasurer. I told him to think about why he wanted to run for the position and what he would like to accomplish. It was interesting how his response was that most people wouldn't care. He suggested trying to find wooden boards and break them karate chop "metal-head" style. Thinking about this, and my own attempts to run for high school student organization positions, it seems so true. Most high schoolers could care less if you have a

I'm sure everyone must be saying the same things. The Pope, John Paul II, is dead. Although not a Catholic, I have the greatest respect for John Paul II. He is the only pope I have ever known. In my mind, all popes from now must be measured up to him. That speaks of the impact he must have on many people. Although exceptionally conservative, I respect him for the courage to move the Church, known for its great inertia to change. For example, recognizing Galileo was right! Apologizing to the Jews. On the time scale of the Church, he has made a tremendous impact, serving not only as Il Padre to the faithful, but as a beacon of morality to the non-believer. His reign is one of the longest in the history of the Church since St. Peter. May his soul rest in peace.