Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich today announced his pick to fill the senator post vacated by Barak Obama. Weeks ago Blagojevich was arrested by federal prosecutors for conspiracy of selling the senator seat to the highest bid. This is the greatest fallacy in American politics. Anyone with a little common sense, without the need to read the 76-page verdict that quoted this guy's profanity-ladden words from tapped-wire, would believe Blagojevich is a rotten worm. Yet the governor has the audacity and tenacity to keep on going to office after parole, do whatever he's entitled to do. The backstop for his amazing holdup lies in the grey zone of American judicatory system, no hard evidence that he has committed a crime. 'I so f-- want some profit from this appointment' is so different from 'I've already got big greenbacks.' Bravo, Mr. Blagojevich. Thanks for letting us know the other sides of politicians. You are even more sordid than Elliot Spizer. I do appreciate his tenacity, though. Be pervious against any adversity, that's a shiny spot on a dilapidated rod.
Israel had a 4-day air strike on Hamas targets in Gaza strip, while Hamas managed to strike back to the southern towns of Israel. Looks like Israeli and Palenstinians will never be able to live side by side peacefully, hatred is in the blood of the new borns, no one can solve the problem. This is the worst example of religion conflict, it obviously surpasses the contradiction of land, wealth, it is pure human ugliest at its nadir.
Russian politics pundit, Igor Panarin, is all the rage in Russian's state media. Professor Panarin predicts the US would split into 6 countries by 2010. Even President Obama is super smart and filled with resources, but 'nothing can prevent the trend but a miracle', yet Mr. Obama doesn't hold a miracle. Look at the map of the six new countries. Is it stunning? Eyes wide open, we are either witnessing a historical time, or seeing a contemporary drama themed at sour grapes.
80/20 rule. 20% of the scientific jounal papers get 80% of the citations; We use 20% of our time to do 80% of the supposed work; 29% of earth surface is land, 20% of Americans control 84% of net wealth; the world is roughly arranged like this. Whenever the distribution is off too much from the 80/20 cut, transition happens. the ratio 80/20 may not necessarily the strict one, the point is, the world is not flat, there is a tipping point for some dramatic change. Can we get a clue of what revolution is coming, for better or for worse? >80% population live in cities; >90% of shoes made in China; <10% of the population use the internet; 80% of people die of disease; 90% of movies and novels are junk; 76% of our body is water; 90% of political deals are dirty; 88% of the flights via Chicago are either delayed or canceled; 90% of women love shopping; 40% of babies are cute; 75% of French are picky on diet; 99% of Germans are racially proud; 45% of Chinese hold racial bias; 18% of my pictures are splendid...
We have been experiencing one of the heaviest snow in recent memory. On Friday I was trapped on the driveway back home, just 10 meters away from my parking spot. It took me 30 minutes to clean the near-knee snow to make the car move. It was fun to play with the fluffies. The next morning the snow was still on. To get out on the road took bigger effort, the short-cut I left on Friday night, Another 10 meters of snow road I passed with some speed, had me pay double work to clean up. I was shoveling the snow scoop by scoop for nearly an hour. This time I had no mood to enjoy the white and wet and bone-chilly winter.
Since most of the time I was contained at home, I got a chance to chat to my landlord, Dee, and one of her aides, Chu, for the store she operates. They came over to feed the cats temporarily left in the house. Dee and Chu are easy-going, friendly, with long and intertwined history which I tried to avoid prying. They barely speak English, amazingly, they manage to live life and run the business amazingly well. We aimlessly watched the TV, the rewind Chinese news program from Hong Kong Phoenix Station. Chu scrolled the remote controll up and down, passing some English channels, and said he felt sorry for Laomei, a teasing nickname for general Ameircan fellows, that they had little way enjoying life, 'They eat nothing but junk, have nothing to do at night but watching lousy TV. For the best, have a cheap beer to drink on.' I replied him with a question, 'But what Chinese folks do for a different life?' Dee cut in, 'Well, We Chinese people can go Karaoke, go to a restutrant and have plenty of delicious food and drink the finest alchohol. Or go bowling, play Mahjong, etc.' Chu couldn't agree more. He pointed out average American people lead a rather dull and uninspiring life, 'You know their best fun is to go to bar to have a drink, but that doesn't happen very often. Now the economy is bad, they have less chances to enjoy it.' Dee went on to complain how Laomei are lack of intelligence, they respond lethargically, stuck on rotten rules, 'Take my husband Joe, did you notice that half an hour ago I called him to ask him to pick up my prescripted medicine? he's still not back yet. Dumb!'
Chinese folks in America most go unnoticed. Once noticed, it is big. This afternoon my friend and I adventured out to the bookstore with flying snow flakes and 40 mph of wind gust. We went to the bookstore for our weekly inspiration reading. Three Chinese people already took a window table and enjoyed their coffee and gathering, One elder, one young guy and one young girl. At three tables apart, their chat was off and on to us. At the beginning the topic seemed to be on Bible. The young girl was obviously the mediator throughout the conversation, her innocent looking and rising tone of inquries gave the other young and the elder the perfect soapbox to elaborate the wisdom and versatile knowledge. The elder's voice is getting too eloquent and loud no to hear. 'The essence of Chinese culture lies exactly in the philosophy of metaphor. A Chinese medicine doctor would never fix your head because of your headache, or your foot for your foot ail. While the western doctors want so much that they could dissect the human body into many minute parts, and replace any one if there is a trouble...' 'Once you try to match Chinese characters with aphabetical pinyin, you lose the most of Chinese culture....' '...You should never speak a single English word to people in China, 'cause they would believe you are Americanized, their thoughts are so relentlessly stereotyped...' I almost had the urge to pass on the article I am reading to the deadpan faced speech giver, it is the highest laud to Chinese director Zhang Yimou for his unsurmoutable achievement for directing the opening ceremony of summer Olympics for almost 1.3 billion of audience around the globe. The author of the article? The renowned Steve Spielberg who withdrew from the ceremony directing role for very unwelcome political reasons. Yet Mr. Spielberg has the openness and altitude to proclaim a peer director who gave in to the oligarchy authority, a total of different ideology. I believe the wise elder must love another piece of evidence that Chinese wind overblows the western one. Somehow my friend got irritated sitting there, we returned the books, walked out of the door and stepped into the wild flurry world. Through the window, the elder's argumental face was still beaming, shinier than the cozy light in the store.
WHY RELIGION IS NOT IMPORTANT
Yoen was back from a 10-day vacation in Utah and we got together again. I asked her the best part of the trip. 'You know, I feel people there are really peaceful,' her eyes rolled up slightly and recalled, 'the kids' smile are geniune and beautiful, it seems to give me some inspiration...I felt I don't hate Jackie that much, haha...' Then she mentioned converting into a religion would be a very possible option, not necessarily the strongly bonded Later Day Saint in Utah, if a right church fits her as well here in New York.
A few weeks ago, I gave a ride to an old couple, who are Fa-Lun-Gong practitioners, banned in China. We chatted along the road. Since exercises literally cured many diseases throughout the wife's body, they became pious believers of the otherwise evil cult. The husband said, 'Back in China, whenever the winter comes, when we look at the hazy and gloomy sky on the horizon, we can't help but being stressed out. But now, our mind is very calm when this is happening.'
These are testimonies from a religion outsider and hard-core insiders. To say religion trivial is to risk offending many people in life. America is a huge religious country, to declare oneself one kind of church goer is equivalent to getting the pass of making new friends, blending in a new group. In China, religion is officially discouraged, but underground church is gaining ground to form groups and ease the tension. It is playing bigger role. But from an atheist's point of view, religion is not important to human's advancement and individuals' happiness. Here is why.
It is human nature to fear the unknown and be frightened by the death. One needs to find answers to curb the fear. Take the earthquake. A science person would grieve the loss and track the records, use all the equipments possible to find the study the plate movement in the hope of predicting the next one. But the problem is too complicated, science was unable to give a sure answer. A religious person would grieve on the loss and try to find the way to erase the fear, he would attribute it to an omnipotent holy divine who gets mad and uses earthquake to punish the people who didn't listen to him(translate, pray on him). This is a very convenient explanation, with no supporting clue but fully uses people's mentality of not being punished. So people pray, in different formation and rituals. It is a psychological exercise to find the balance for individuals, good, useful, no more other sense. Religion deals with death in the similar manner, 'You go to heaven', 'You'll be in Nirvana', sounds like a promise of ecsatic after-world life forever. A witty quote goes, 'Two things no one can avoid, tax and death.' If one takes the fact in composure, one would not be scare of death, one would not easily take the hollow promises beyond the demise. General people are not engaged to think of the life/death questions thoughtfully, church guys help them think, whether the promise holds water or not is another story. Religious stories are beautiful fables, but religion doesn't offer sounds answer to life. It falls short to help understand how the world actually is.
ps. No more pointless argument pieces anymore, my focus is on telling stories---hmm, maybe one or two more?
WHY SHOULD WE LIVE HAPPY
US economy is in official recession. Job cut news flies in every industry. Auto workers in Detroit put SUVs on the church altar and prayed God for the approval of 'bailout'. In China, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers hit the road home from the Pearl River Delta area where oodle amounts of world goods were fabricated. That wracks the nerve of the officials for the potential social unrest due to the large unemployment. While for Inidan people, economy slump is not the only anxiety, about 200 hundred people were killed by terrorists in blazing daylight and heinous evening. And there are news on suiside bombing in Iraq, in Israel; pandemic rampage in Africa, poor kids die of lack of clean water and first aid. The more we read news, the more gloomy the world looks to us.
Whether you are the sorry dog that was affected by the worldly haplessness, or you are the fortunate bastard living in a corner immune to the social turmoil, you have reasons to live happy. Being happy is psychological state that strongly ties with corporeal ownership, being happy is also an attitude that you can choose to face the world. Everyone has ups and downs. When we are in a difficult time, or under the weather without obvious reason, we better look at the whole thing in different perspective, rather than gripe like a whining baby. Here is why. It is the year of 2008/9, There are 6,800,000,000 people living in the world. Most likely, you are not among the hundred who just experienced horrifying terror attack in Mumbai, nor living in Iraq where the whole country is topsy-turvy, or back to the a little more, you were not in the horde of peple who were affected by 9/11 attack. In fact, most of us haven't had suffered anything out of war, the world has been peacefully developed for over 60 years, give or take. This is a rare time window in human history that we don't see many natural disaster and man-made atrocity. Mostly we live in a comfortable zone more than ever, we live better, eat better and travel better. Thanks in large to technology advances and scientific breakthough, we get good care whenever some illness strikes. Back a hundred years ago, a simple viral mosquito bite could possibly cause your death. Actually Black Death disease wiped out three quarters of human population by then. We've been all lucky being alive at this period of time, maybe our most misfortunate account is merely out of job, temporarily, or boss is bitchy, or feel bored, we are spoiled to remember that we are not the other end of the spectrum.
Actually we have the urgency to live happy if we look ahead. Human's history to burn fossil fuel is no more than two hundred years. About hundred years ago, some geniuses invented internal combustion machine, now the world is running on wheels. The fossil energy source will be depleted for another hundred years or so. Our broods will have big worries to harness the solar power and other alternatives. By the way, where are the natural gas, coal and crude oil coming from? They are all deeply buried forests back millions of years ago from volcanos eruption, asteroid strike or other humanly unbearable earth crust events, i.e., catastrophes. We are simply taking full advantage of what's left during a long history of cumulation for a few hundred of years period. We are indeed in a golden time. Still not convinced? We all seem to have heard of global warming, that human produces too much carbon dioxide gas into the air, hence prevents far infrared heat from radiating out of the space and heat up the earth. A less known but much looming trend is Ice Age. Record shows Ice Age has a rough cycle of 220,000 years, lasting about 100 years with average temperature of -80F (-50C). Guess when did the last Ice Age happen? Right, 220,000 years ago. Needless to say, there are many small scale dangers hanging around. In 1856, A volcanic eruption in Indonesia caused black sky in most European area and no summer in 1857. You might have heard that volcanoes underneath of Yellowstone in America and Japan are predicted overdue in geological term. So is the earthquake in Southern California. The same holds that the earth is subject to outer space rock hit which has the similar impact of the one landed in Chicxulub, Mexcio 6.5 millions year ago and killed the dinasours---although the killing theory is debatable.
It is not the intension to create doomsday panic by telling those apocalyptic tales. The intention is to remind an unhappy soul tries to appreciate what one has had. Human are extremely intelligent and adventerious. The earth has existed for 4.5 billion years. Life started a few millions year back. Human history with paleontology record can be tracked roughly 50,000 years. Yet the level of human power to reach out into space or comprehension of the universe was reached within tens of years. The potential of advance is unpredicatable. However, by briefly understanding human's bruised history and forseeable predicaments, we are left with the luxury to live in this short, Gilded Age among our ancestors and descendants, we have every reason to manage our happiness. On the other hand, most of us are fortunate enough compared with others who suffer from poverty, regional war, natural disaster, diseases, etc. In most cases, we can choose to be happy, rather than let negative emtions take us away and lead a miserable and short life. It is not the purpose mothers give birth to us.
Want some fun in a winter night? Try to sum up your life in just six words. It best reflects one's attitude towards life. USA Today ran a small article commenting on the coming book titled 'Not quite what I was Planning.' Good enough not to skip it, here is the copy of many cited entries of people from all walks of life, some famous, mostly unknown.
It has been a living hell;
Liars, hysterectomy didn't improve sex life---Joan Rivers;
Well, I thought it was funny---Stephen Colbert;
Maybe you had to be there----Roy Blount Jr.;
Revenge is living well, without you---Joyce Carol Oates;
Followed yellow brick road. Disappointment ensued---Kelsey Ochs;
Should have risked asking, he sighed---Gino Serdena;
On the playground, alone. 1970. today---Charles Warren;
I wrote it all down somewhere---Ben Greenman;
Take a left turn, then fly----Hillary Carlip;
Outcast. Picked last. Surprised them all---Rachel Pine;
I colored outside of the lines---Jacob Thomas;
Never really finished anything, except cake---Carletta Perkins;
Many risky mistakes, very few regrets---Richard Schnedl;
It got better after middle age---Ruth Haworth;
Secret of life: Marry an Italian---Liz Wilson;
Dad was Santa. Downhill from there---Craig Wilson (article's author)
And what is your line? Mine is
I have other side, you idiot. ____________________________
ps. More inputs from readers at the website. Excerpts of the colorful:
Left the farm, never looked back---yea_right;
played it safe, wonder 'what if'---justaniceguy;
You can't be perfect. But try---pachy;
I really thought he LOVED me---ladyace118;
Accomplished so much. Passion was unmet---trout;
My life? My family. 'Nuff said---herr_howard;
Twinkies are all you'll ever need!!!---SmileyGirl;
Married him then...love him still---seamus;
Windows is still loading...please wait---thesoupfan;
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