American Education

Recently, I came across the news regarding a high school student and his father suing the school for giving out summer homework:

Summer homework dispute heats up
CNN.com - Jan 27 2:20 PM
CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Amid the dead of winter, a legal dispute is heating up in Wisconsin over whether students should be able to spend summer vacation free of homework.

Meanwhile, according to the Highlights from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003, American students lag behind on mathematics and science internationally.

I am speechless. Will America be as strong as she currently is when these American kids grow up?

Gentlemen

At times, I feel very fortunate to have considerate male friends. Even though I am considered to be very independent, I am touched by their attention to details. Here are some examples.

A very long time friend and I were walking along the street. I mentioned to him earlier that day that I needed to buy something. While we were having an engaging conversation, I glanced at a store. However, I did not say anything nor dragged him into it. I could always go back to the store later so that I did not bother him with my shopping chores. Surprisingly, my dear friend asked, “Would you like to go in?”

Another friend made a reservation at a restaurant a few weeks in advance. I was supposed to drive into town to the restaurant. After the big snow storm, street parking spaces were limited. He called the restaurant few days ahead to inquire about valet parking to make sure that I did not need to look for street parking. That was very thoughtful of him.

During the visit in my home town, I had dinner following up with coffee with a bunch of high school friends. We left the coffee shop when it was about to close. It was very late at night. I was going to take the subway, but this old friend volunteered to take me back to the hotel. He lived in the opposite side of the city and did not drive in, but he still made sure that I was safe and sound.

Once again, little things make me happy. Can we clone more men like them?

Romantic

Every time when I tell people that I like to travel alone because I think it is romantic, people give me a strange look. They wonder how romantic it could be without another person. I doubted my choice of word. Therefore, I looked it up in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Romantic
Pronunciation: rO-'man-tik, r&-
Function: adjective
Etymology: French romantique, from obsolete romant romance, from Old French romans
1 : consisting of or resembling a romance
2 : having no basis in fact : IMAGINARY
3 : impractical in conception or plan : VISIONARY
4 a : marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized b often capitalized : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of romanticism c : of or relating to music of the 19th century characterized by an emphasis on subjective emotional qualities and freedom of form; also : of or relating to a composer of this music
5 a : having an inclination for romance : responsive to the appeal of what is idealized, heroic, or adventurous b : marked by expressions of love or affection c : conducive to or suitable for lovemaking
6 : of, relating to, or constituting the part of the hero especially in a light comedy

Look, the definition 4a above is exactly my sentiment. Whew!

The Distant Past (I)

One day, I had a craving for old songs. Songs to me are bookmarks from the past. Some songs can bring back specific memories and snapshots.

Take My Breath Away by Berlin: 9th grade doing homework in the classroom during lunch time.

Joe La Taxi by Vanessa Paradies: between 9th and 10th grade one sunny afternoon doing summer homework in my room... (See a theme here?) Also, I was taking the subway with a classmate after English summer class.

傻女 by 陳慧嫻: 10th grade walking from school to take the mini bus home with an extremely intelligent friend. I specifically remember my bright white scarf and my navy blue winter uniform.

Laputa (The Castle in the Sky) theme songs: 11th grade taking the city wide standardized exams. I could vividly recall A picked me up at the different exam sites after my exams.

Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx: 12th grade on the other side of the planet writing letters under a dim yellow light to A at night. During winter break, I was back on his side of the planet riding on a mini bus to meet him.

To be continued…

Aging

I once had a discussion with a friend of mine regarding aging. In my friend’s opinion, as long as a person remains curious, he/she can slow down aging. Well, this friend of mine is no scientist. I agreed with him. Personally, I long for mental stimulation. I love learning new things. For some reason, people who do not know me think I am younger than my actual age. However, we did not have any scientific support. Now, we do.

Diet, Exercise, Stimulating Environment Helps Old Dogs Learn
Science Daily - Jan 21 3:05 PM
According to conventional wisdom, old dogs and new tricks aren't a good match. But a new study of beagles finds that regular physical activity, mental stimulation, and a diet rich in antioxidants can help keep aging canine -- and perhaps human--brains in tip-top shape.

2005 Blizzard

After almost 24 hours of constant snow fall...

Snow Storm Behavior

Today, the snow started at around four o’clock in the afternoon. The blizzard is going to last from Saturday late afternoon till Sunday afternoon. Since the weather forecast said the snow emergency would be in effect at four, a lot of people tried to finish their errands before the snow started.

There were long lines at the gas stations. It makes sense because no one wants to be stuck on the road. There were a lot of people in the supermarket buying groceries. The supermarket parking lots were packed. Another reason was for the New England Patriot football game with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There was a report that milk was in high demand at the supermarkets. Some lady was interviewed at a liquor store. She said that she had bought so much food that it could last for a long time. For God’s sake! This is very baffling. We are going to be stranded for two days only, and people are stocking up like there is no tomorrow. In fact, it is the best time to curl up and be lazy.

Baby Safe Haven

Lately, there were two commercials on local TV channels about the Massachusetts Baby Safe Haven law. Effective in fall 2004, any parent is allowed to surrender his/her newborn baby seven days or younger anonymously to any hospital, police station, or fire station without being penalized. No questions are asked.

In one commercial, a teenage girl did a monologue talking about how she had a choice of dropping off her baby after it was born. In another commercial, there were a group of teenagers singing a rap song on the baby safe haven. I have no problem with the first commercial. However, I am rather disgusted by the second commercial.

I am probably a bit on the old fashion side. I understand that this law is mostly catered to the younger population with their unwanted pregnancies. I agree that rap songs are a good way to communicate to the teenagers. I do not think it is appropriate for this purpose. To me, the song conveys a message that unwanted pregnancies are no big deal. All a parent needs to do is to leave the newborn with the authorities. Is this the kind of message the society gives its fellow citizens?

Whoever has an unwanted pregnancy could really think long and hard why and how it happened. People ought to be responsible for their own actions and consequences. The baby safe haven law is the last resort, not a lifestyle alternative.

http://www.babysafehaven.com/

Airline Industry

The airline industry has been in trouble for quite some time. There are many factors that can affect the industry such as increasing fuel costs, terrorist attacks, union contracts, etc. Several airlines have already declared bankruptcy. They received enormous bailout assistance from the government. Do they deserve the help? Aside from the external factors, could the airlines have done better to stay in business?

Unlike many seasoned travelers, I travel on leisure and business by air about six times a year combined. Through out the years, I have experienced different mishaps: flight delays, cancellations, lost luggage, over booked flight, mechanical problems, etc. No one is perfect. I can accept once in a while flukes. If so many incidences happened to me, I wonder whether I am utterly misfortunate, or the airlines operate in such inefficiency. In my opinion, most of the times, the airlines could have prevented customer dissatisfaction.

Flight Delays
No matter whether you are the passenger or the person picking up a passenger, flight delays are annoying. I agree that the person should check the estimated arrival time before heading to the airport. However, when the computer system suggests that a flight would be on time but it is actually late, I think the airline is responsible for the extra parking fees that people have to pay.

Cancellations
Many years ago, I was stranded in a foreign country due to a flight cancellation. I was put up in a hotel overnight and was provided with transportation between the hotel and the airport. That was an appropriate thing to do. Many years later, I was again stranded with the same airline, but in Chicago. Luckily, because my plane ticket did not specify the transit airport in Chicago, the airline put me up in a hotel. However, other passengers received no help just because their plane tickets indicated Chicago as the transit airport. Not nice. Why should the passengers be stuck between point A and point B and spend extra money just because of flight cancellation? In addition to accommodation, I think the airlines should also give out free miles or free ticket vouchers to compensate for the inconvenience.

I do not think I need to write down every single incidence to prove my point that the airlines do not function the way they are supposed to. As a passenger, I do not ask for much. I want my flight to be on time. I want the airline customer service to do the right thing for the passengers when bad things happen. Obviously, I want the tickets to be reasonably priced. If an airline can pride itself for customer satisfaction and be on time, I would not mind paying a little extra because I know I am in good hands.

To the major airlines, come on. You can do better than this!

Evolution Ruling and Inauguration Prayer

When I read the news on the evolution ruling, I thought of this atheist biologist friend of mine. He must be very happy today.

Evolution ruling gets cheers from scientists
CNN.com - Jan 14 7:58 AMATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Since 2002, Dr. Kenneth Miller has been upset that biology textbooks he has written are slapped with a warning sticker by the time they appear in suburban Atlanta schools. Evolution, the stickers say, is "a theory, not a fact."

On the other hand, I wonder what his reaction would be on the inauguration prayer ruling.

US court rejects attempt to block prayer at Bush inauguration
AFP via Yahoo! News - Jan 14 3:15 PMA US court rejected an atheist's request to bar prayer at President George W. Bush's inauguration next week, saying he had failed to show sufficient evidence that the ceremony would harm his constitutional rights.

Life is so balanced and fair!

Pottery Lesson

This coming Saturday, I will start my pottery lesson again. I am very much looking forward to going back to this class. I miss my classmates. I recall the first lesson I had last year… The teacher showed us how to prepare a slap of clay, how to get rid of the air in the clay, how to roll out a piece of evenly distributed clay. Afterwards, she told us to make something out of it.

I sat at the working table and looked at the slap of clay. I started measuring and drawing lines using rulers. I made some geometric shapes such as a circle and several rectangles. I made sure all the lines were straight, and the circle as round as possible. My teacher came to check on me. She asked, “May I ask what you do for a living?” I answered, “I do actuarial work.” She said, “That’s why you are measuring! I used to have a student who was an actuary working for an insurance company. I gave him a lump of clay and told him to make something. He just stared at it and did not know what to do with it!”

Oh my goodness, what have I become? That was one of the moments that I realized there was a difference between a group of artists and me. I used to be one of them when I was younger. I did well in my art classes and had received several prizes. I just took a different path into some other areas that made me a bit rigid. I hope to unleash my creativity again.

Committed, the Sitcom

I watched Committed, the new NBC sitcom. Yes, sometimes, I am a TV junkie. Nate, the main character, seems so lovable. There was one scene in particular. Nate is supposed to be this brilliant pessimistic guy who has genius relatives that went insane. In order not to become insane, he works in a record store instead of working in the university. He wanted to talk to the girl he liked. However, he was sitting at the desk, drawing out different diagrams of the whole process and possible outcomes before he talked to her. Very neurotic. I like it!

Love from a Biblical View

How many can you do?

1 Corinthians 13
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.

歌 林 多 前 書 13
4愛 是 恆 久 忍 耐 、 又 有 恩 慈 ． 愛 是 不 嫉 妒 ． 愛 是 不 自 誇 ． 不 張 狂 ．
5不 作 害 羞 的 事 ． 不 求 自 己 的 益 處 ． 不 輕 易 發 怒 ． 不 計 算 人 的 惡 ．
6不 喜 歡 不 義 ． 只 喜 歡 真 理 ．
7凡 事 包 容 ． 凡 事 相 信 ． 凡 事 盼 望 ． 凡 事 忍 耐 。
8愛 是 永 不 止 息 ．

Old Pictures

Little Stone, a high school friend of mine, has digitized the old pictures because he does not want to keep the hard copies. He told me that he would mail the actual pictures to me. One day, I came home from work. I opened up the mail box. I found an envelope. It was the kind of letter envelopes that I used to receive every week for a few years many years ago, but from a different boy. That surely brought back a lot of memories already. Nowadays, who sends handwritten letters?

I entered into my apartment, made myself comfortable, and opened the envelope. There were six pictures: four from alumni days (two in my sophomore year in the school playground, two in my junior year at the alumni banquet), and two from the time Stone visited me in Boston. These pictures are more than ten years old!

Looking at the two sophomore pictures, there were five people including me holding a computer club sign. We were the staff of the computer club. We set up a game counter for the alumni event. Yes, we were geeks. Out of the other four people in the picture, I remember the names of the three of them. I could not recall the last one. I recognized the face, though. I had funny glasses, and we were all in our winter uniforms. So geek!

The other two junior pictures... They were fuzzy. I finally did not need to wear uniform to attend the alumni day event. I moved up the rank! Wearing clothes other than uniform was a challenge when you did not need to think about how to dress growing up. I had a big grin in one knowing that Stone was going to take the picture. In the other one, I was at the banquet in the assembly hall talking to the senior boys. I did not know he took this picture at the time. Well, I like this picture better because, it is more natural.

The last two pictures were taken in my humble studio apartment in Boston along with another friend who attended MIT at the time. Stone was visiting me in Boston. It was nice to have someone visiting me from my hometown. While I was in class during the day, Stone toured around Boston alone. He was such an independent person! When I showed him around Harvard, we were lost. He was the one who found our ways to my car. The most wonderful gift that he delivered to me was a huge birthday card from the boy who sent me letters frequently.

The pictures definitely brought back a lot of memories. They first made me smile. Then, they cracked me up! Aside from the personal feelings and recollection, I looked at the way we dressed and the hair cuts. Oh my goodness! Our looks were hilarious. The people I thought they were nicely dressed at the time looked funny. In particular, the boys who were eccentric and quirky back then were no longer that special. Perhaps, I have seen a lot more throughout the years? I cannot help but wonder where they are now. I am so glad that Stone preserved these pictures. Those were my innocent days. Stone, thanks!

Can You Handle the Truth?

Recently, I saw a portable lie detector on the web. It is based on voice intensity to determine if someone is lying. It shows the level of truthfulness of a statement, and it shows the level of nervousness of the subject. Just like any other lie detecting method, it needs to develop a baseline for it to work properly. I am not sure how accurate this product is. However, I am fascinated by this gadget.

These days, a lot of people would not volunteer information about themselves. Sometimes, they hide it. Sometimes, they distort it. Some might view the behavior of hide and seek as an art of human interaction. They see this as a mind game, a psychological manipulation, a social dance, or trying to be mysterious and intriguing. They think, “What is the fun of being an open book? Others will eventually get bored, and they won’t be interested in you anymore.”

I guess the more important question is: do you really want to know if someone is lying to you? Recall the famous line in the movie A Few Good Men? Jack Nicholson said, “You want the truth?” Tom Cruse said, “Yes! I want the truth.” Jack then said, “You can’t handle the truth!”

The cost of knowing the truth can be high. What if you find out that people in general lie, either unintentionally or intentionally? What are you going to do then? Are you willing to accept human nature and face the ugliness? Let’s say we accept that not all humans are perfectly honest. Then, in order to protect ourselves, we need to seek truth through out our lives. Truth is precious. The more information we have, the more educated decisions we make as long as we know how to analyze it.

Flowers

A Turkish cleaning lady dropped off a bunch of flowers at the front desk asking me to hold them for her when she collected her things for departure for the day. This middle aged cleaning lady later came back, and told me a story:

In Turkey, her mother used to plant beautiful flowers in the backyard of their home. After she passed away, the cleaning lady buys flowers every week to put them next to her mother’s picture just to commemorate her mother.

I do not know how much flowers go for these days. For a cleaning lady to afford flowers every week to honor her mother, it is very admirable. I appreciate these little things in life.