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Showing posts from May, 2009

Your Morals

What are your morals? And how do they affect your political leanings? Try some of these quizzes to find out... Go to: www.yourmorals.org You have to register, but the results can be illuminating. It's quite interesting to see how your answers compare with what is called the left or the right.

Shining Hope?!?

Is there a shining beacon of hope for baldness?!? [photo from taipeitimes.com]

包粽

As we don't get a lot of good Asian food in the area, we have to cook ourselves. This weekend, a couple of my friends got together to celebrate the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival. We cooked both 南粽 and 北粽 with the following ingredients. Yummy! 糯米 肉 香菇 栗子 蝦米 紅蔥頭 粽葉 粽繩 壽司海苔 蒟蒻 蘿蔔乾 筍乾 蔥油餅 (breakfast) 豆漿 (breakfast) 清粥小菜 (breakfast) 甜辣醬 粽子!

Mr. Nice Guy

Here's an article about Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/25/090525fa_fact_toobin The swing of the court's views seems to be heading rightwards, whereas the rest of the US seems to be heading center to left. Is this dichotomy good...or bad? In particular, the article focuses on Roberts extreme attention to the issue of race. On the one hand, I understand that to be truly free of racism, we need to not include race as a factor in any decision making (Roberts' view). But on the other hand, we all use race as a judging factor, whether consciously or subconsciously, and to ignore that would be to potentially deprive some people of the opportunities they otherwise would have deserved. It's a tough issue, but Roberts' take on this is somewhat troubling to me. What we don't want to see, is a ruling that might take us back to pre-Brown vs. Board days. In my mind, the question is, if at some point the court'

Angels & Demons

I just saw Angels & Demons, and I thought it was pretty good. The reviews were not that hot, but I enjoyed watching. I think having read the novel helped too, as I knew more or less what was going on. In some ways, I think the director made the movie assuming most people read the book, so some of the scenes were more about visualizing in a big way what was written. That can certainly break the flow of the storytelling, but I thought it was still pretty smooth. Overall, I had a relaxed good time. I think another factor that made the movie enjoyable was that I had only recently been to Rome, and visited most of the important movie locations in person! Recognizing all the scenes and locations was a real enjoyment booster, because in my mind, I kept going "Wow I was just there!" Angels & Demons attempts to tackle the Science versus Religion problem by phrasing it in terms of the Illuminati versus the Catholic Church. Of course, in the end, we find that the Illuminati isn&

A very Descript Man

A very Descript Man .... J H Parker I am such a dolent man, I eptly work each day; My acts are all becilic, I've just ane things to say. My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt, I'm gusting and I'm span: I look with dain on everyone And am a pudent man. I travel cognito and make A delible impression: I overcome a slight chalance, With gruntled self-possession. My dignation would be great If I should digent be: I trust my vagance will bring An astrous life for me.