陶明瀚

book review descending the dragon

2011-11-20T09:48:00.001-08:00

I had the impression right from the start and confirmed nearly to the end that this was a rich kid on a holiday. The author should have been Ngan, it would have been more credible. In my opinion Ngan's story and reactions were the best parts. Of course having been a fisherman myself I was fascinated with the Vietnamese fishing industry.

It is good to know that people are out there fulfilling missions of peace and goodwill, I am tired of reading about the war. My dad is a Vietnam vet who left a child behind that I have never met. This has lead me to a real interest in the life of the common Vietnamese. This book satisfies some of that curiosity.

The books major redeeming quality is in the outstanding photography by Rob Howard, and is worth purchasing for that reason alone. A great coffee table book.

I plan on giving the book to a Vietnamese friend whom I fished with. He used to tell me about fishing in Vietnam and the pictures added weight to his stories. I will update this review with his opinion of the book.

I had to snicker when the author continually complains about not being allowed to access certain areas that were off limits due to military sensitivities. Try paddling your canoe around an American naval base, say, Bangor Naval Substation, were it says to stay out, and see what happens. Do you think any governments military would be different, especially to an American? Or do you believe that your entitled to special privileges? It is an eyeopener to some people, I guess, to realize this world isn't about catering to your wants.

The acknowledgment section shows a more mature side of the author however, and seemed to negate my feelings about his spoiled remarks and leave me with a since that the book was worth reading. After all, its debatable if I could have done any better.

links
http://www.amazon.com/Descending-Dragon-Journey-Coast-Vietnam/dp/1426203047
http://www.vietscape.com/travel/halong/
http://travelblog.viator.com/vietnam-halong-bay/
http://home.earthlink.net/~2551/id31.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha_Long_Bay

2011-11-11T08:37:00.001-08:00

I'm back in the Seattle area, actually Mill Creek, a suburb north and a little east of the city. Mill Creek has easy access to transportation routes to Seattle, Bellevue, and Everett.

What did I miss being on a fishing boat for 4 months? On my friends list was Occupy Seattle (which I am still reading) the occupy declaration is here.
Looks like Neg9 "kicked ass" on ctf. ( CSAW ).
Obama is pulling the troops out of Iraq. I immediately wanted to play John Lennon "so this is Christmas"
SSL is having major issues. I'm reading this at the moment.
Fukushima is having more problems. My heart goes out to Japan.
Qaddafi dead! Wow, thats a load of reading already.

Please leave your comments. What did you think was the most important happenings of the last four months?

I have been searching all over for a Mandarin, or Japanese language class to take in the evening. Haven't found one yet, I am sure there is one out there. C'mon Seattle, Mandarin should be widely available. For now I am learning from videos like this.

placemark

2011-06-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

I thought I should put a note in here to explain the long absence. I am doing some work away from home that is taking up an enormous amount of time and I had to prioritize hobbies. Right now I am spending all my reading time in technology. I have not lost interest in my Asian studies, or Asian friends.

fyi: I still read your blogs and tweets for the most part, albeit sometimes late.

So to family and friends, I look forward to continuing later this year.

侯逸凡 Hou Yifan, Grandmaster

2011-02-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

Yea! My first issue of News China arrived today.
In the "Face of the Month" article Hou Yifan is given the introduction "16-year-old Chinese school-girl Hou Yifan has become the youngest female ever world chess champion, and the fourth Chinese female chess champion after winning the 2010 women's world chess championship held in Hatay, Turkey."

"Hou is viewed as an exceptional genius by her coach. The then nine-year-old girl surprised the master by being capable of identifying each of his weak moves during her first game against him." This is from the News China print publication, However, you can read the same information and more here here and here.

Gongxi Fa Cai!

2011-02-03T21:26:00.001-08:00

Gongxi Fa Cai!
Originally uploaded by Island Chic

China's next in line Xi Jinping

2011-01-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

Xi Jinping via flickr

Xi Jinping (credit Wikipedia)
(pronounced [ɕɨ̌ t͡ɕînpʰǐŋ]; simplified Chinese: 习近平; traditional Chinese: 習近平; pinyin: Xí Jìnpíng; born 1 June 1953) is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He currently serves as the top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, the country's Vice President, Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Principal of the Central Party School and the 6th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top power organ.

Son of Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping served mostly in Fujian province in his early career, and was later appointed party chief of the neighboring Zhejiang province, and then was appointed as Shanghai's party chief following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu. Known for his liberal policies, tough stance on corruption, and a frank openness about political and market economy reforms, Xi's combination of positions makes him the presumptive heir to current General Secretary and President Hu Jintao and the emerging leader of the Communist Party of China's fifth generation of leadership.

Link to Wikileaks cable PORTRAIT OF VICE PRESIDENT XI JINPING.
Link to China Vitae Xi Jinping.

This article came from the Gazette, but I got it off of China Digital Times;

"Until now, Mr Xi has remained a deeply mysterious figure. Chinese censors have been careful to delete almost all of his biographical detail from the record, even hushing up his former classmates and professors. No one can even be sure of his political allies within the Communist Party.

However, a detailed portrait of Mr Xi has now emerged which shows him to be “exceptionally ambitious” and to have had “his eye on the prize” of becoming China’s leader from “early adulthood”.

One disclosure suppressed from the official record book until now was that Mr Xi has been married twice.

His first wife was Ke Xiaoming, the daughter of a former Chinese ambassador to Britain, while his second is Peng Liyuan, a famous singer, with whom he has a daughter.

Hopes for greater reform of China’s political system in the next five years are quashed by descriptions of Mr Xi as a true “elitist” who believes that “dedicated and committed Communist Party leadership is the key to enduring social stability and national strength [in China]“.

Recent NY Times interview with Richard McGregor, who spent much of the last decade in China as a correspondent for The Financial Times and is recently became the newspaper’s Washington bureau chief. His recent book, “The Party,” tries to do what few if any other English-language books have done before: profile China’s ruling body, the Communist Party.

Q. Hu Jintao’s presumed successor as president, Xi Jinping, remains a largely mysterious figure to the West. What do you make of him? And do you expect the next administration — scheduled to take power in 2012 — to be different in any significant ways from the current one?

A. Mr. McGregor: When people ask me if Xi Jinping will be any different from his predecessors, I usually reply that I wouldn’t have a clue. Some China expert! But let me explain.

Xi Jinping is a largely mysterious figure, perhaps a little less so than Hu Jintao, but little known nonetheless. Xi is not bloodless in the way that Hu is. He is more gregarious and has had much greater contact with the west than Hu ever did before ascending to the leadership of the Communist Party. Unlike Hu, he comes from party aristocracy — his father was a revolutionary veteran, but he has worked his own way through the ranks, in various provinces, to get where he is. Much like Chinese politics generally, he is one part aristocracy and one part meritocracy.

Xi is married to a famous (in China) singer, Peng Liyuan, who performs with the People’s Liberation Army. He also has a daughter at Harvard, according to Newsweek. There is no gossip about any personal corruption, a topic that often dogs Chinese leaders. But we know little enough about Xi that when it was reported in a diplomatic cable through WikiLeaks that he had told the U.S. ambassador that he liked the moral clarity of Hollywood movies, it cut through as a rare personal tidbit.

The fact that we know so little about the person who is about to take over the leadership of a country of the stature and importance is both reassuring and scary. The scary bit is obvious. To precisely gauge China’s direction, to be able to engage productively with its leadership, it is nice to know something about them. The way the party system works these days, however, is that top leaders become more conformist and less human as they rise through the ranks. There are exceptions, but by and large, the party towers over its individual leaders these days.

That, in a funny way, is the reassuring bit too. China is far from the days of strongman rule, when leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, who both had revolutionary and military credentials, ruled the roost. The job of governing is far too complex for such a system these days. China couldn’t cope with a dictator, and nor could the rest of the world.

Like Hu, Xi will be a kind of first-amongst-equals in the Politburo. He will be increasingly nationalistic, which is to be expected. Which successful country or leader isn’t? He will struggle in the early years of his rule to put his own stamp on policy, because all of Hu’s people will still be in place. He will have to find ways to keep the economy growing quickly, before China’s demographic crunch in 2020 takes the wind out of the sails. And he will also struggle with China’s biggest challenge — to articulate to the world China’s real story and challenges, something that Hu singularly failed to do in the U.S. this week, as he repeated the same blandishments which the leadership has presented for years.

As you can see this all becomes highly repetitive. Surely there are some "China hands" out there with unofficial insight or hearsay! I would be most grateful for any further discernment.

[This blog is only for personal interests and has no political affiliations.]

Volunteering at interconnection

2011-01-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

I started volunteering at Interconnection -- a "non-profit organization that works to obtain used laptops and desktops from companies and individuals, refurbish them and put them in the hands of people in need. From our Seattle-based computer repair vocational program to non-profits and organizations far and wide, we make a connection that makes a difference. We create opportunity through computer reuse." -- on Tuesday. On Thursday I passed the test for their refurbishing vocational training class and am now refurbishing full-time.

What this entails is taking a PC that has been pre-screened to meet certain minimal criteria (careful screening and baseline standards eliminates shipping out e-waste) and putting the necessary components together for a basic system, then some preliminary software testing. The OS is not put on the box until the organisation knows where the computer is going.

At the moment we are shipping an order to Ecuador. In case you aren't good at geography I have embedded a little map.

View Larger Map

All in all this has been extremely rewarding, even though it is monetarily "free labor", there are a number of non-obvious benefits. Namely, keeping my resume sharp while I look for work. However, I want to add that I have a real interest in this organization because I too have been (albeit in a very limited fashion) doing a similar project on my own for a while. That is, fixing computers that no-one wants anymore and trying to put them in the hands of a young person that would otherwise never be able to have a computer.

With the help of family and friends I have sent a handful of computers to the Philippines and hope to send more. Unfortunately, my program has bogged down due to lack of funds.

I enjoy getting to meet some interesting people, learn about computer hardware hands on. If I get stuck, for instance, I had a media drive that needed to be switched on in the BIOS, we have several very knowledgeable people that are there to help.

This is an excellent environment to learn, and at the same time, know that you are making a big difference in peoples lives somewhere. (Yes, there is room for cynicism here:)

What I didn't know until my first interview was that we can barter our hours for computers. They have worked out an entire list of how those hours can be traded. I look at it as a great perk, and definitely not the motivating factor in my decision to volunteer.

I met a man from Columbia that was involved in the coffee trade. This was very interesting hearing about his life, I met another person who gave me a great tip on some funding for school I might be able to take advantage of. Another person was a computer technology teacher. Many and varied are the backgrounds, age, gender, and motivating factors present.

They run a retail store as well, all proceeds go to cover the NPO's expenses. (The biggest of which is shipping.) The folks at Interconnection have some very good and fair deals setting on the shelves waiting for you to take home.

In the market for a functional bargain computer? Want to make some new friends? Build confidence learning how to troubleshoot computers? Get real-world hands on experience applicable to the computer repair and refurbishing industry? Want to use your free time more constructively? Come on down.

I should also add that you do not need to have any prior experience, they have developed a nice "play-pen" to learn and grow in.

----

Interconnection on facebook, twitter.

re: ny times article 1/7/2011 Memo from Seoul

2011-01-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today's article, written by Martin Fackler, illustrates the resilience of South Korea. After watching this video yesterday, I was thinking that (probably obvious) it is not in China's best interest competitively for North and South Korea to unite, or for this humanitarian disaster to be corrected. I am not pointing a finger at the Chinese government however, because, every country behaves similarly.

The apparent reason that I made this assumption was the incredible vitality of Koreans in general.

Speaking of the current financial crisis Naoko Nemoto (81) 3-3593-8720, a banking analyst in Tokyo for Standard and Poor's pointed out that "Korea did a better job of moving quickly to clean up its banking system once and for all."

Moving quickly to rectify problems seems to me the appropriate response to a crisis. The recent pig crisis, another example of getting something done quickly without all of the U.S.'s propensity to argue over political correctness. (Is suffocation by burial any less gruesome then a bullet or having their throats slit?)

In Seattle there are many Korean people and in general I have found living with them pleasant. They are usually highly educated, professional, clean cut, motivated, and a positive, moral community. They have many Christian churches here and attendance is high. There are many other superlatives that I could mention. It is a shame that their North Korean brothers and sisters cannot enjoy the same opportunities. Go to a library in this area after school lets out and weigh the racial demographic of who is studying. Our libraries are full of Korean kids studying hard and working together outside of teacher and parental supervision. Were are all the other kids?

Maybe in this next generation we will see a Korean president, speaker, or supreme court justice. Here is a list Wikipedia provided of all the famous US Koreans.

This video was interesting to me because it shows the high quality standard of living and it has educational value.

New (Years) GPG Key.

2011-01-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

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This is on the Ubuntu key servers as well. For those who don't know what this is, there is a great tutorial here.

Saturday morning coffee with Solzhenitsyn

2010-11-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

I like to wake up to a cup of coffee just like most of Seattle. I could hear that four non blonde song faintly through my newly opened window.

"And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take A deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs,
What's goin' on"

Nice grey and drizzly day, so when I spied my notes from Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn from the first volume of "The Gulag Archipelago" I took them with me to the front porch were I like set and pray, or meditate over java.

In a discription of his Stalin era prisons' morning toilet ritual he recalls receiving two very small sheets of toilet paper, "The size of two railway tickets".

That is enough to fill any meditation right there! From the relative safety of my hovel, I at least have double-ply, fluffy, non-buzzcut variety toilet paper. And plenty of it. Oh the misery.

But the actual contemplation I wanted to share comes after that scene.

"At the Lubyanka this was not particularly interresting. The paper was blank and white. But there were enticing prisons where they gave you the pages of books--and what reading that was! You could try to guess whence it came, read it over on both sides, digest the contents, evaluate the style--and when words had been cut in half that was particularly essential! You could trade with your comrades."

Solzhenitsyn has a great sence of humor, and when I read the book I kept hearing the voices of three Ukranian guys I worked with on the fishing vessel Zenith echo in my mind. Their habit of laughing at adversity, making light of miserable tasks.

As I read the book I remember debating internally about the outcome of society in general. < click me for must see cartoon probably not related to the point > I cant help thinking of Orwells vision of the future when I read this book. But Huxley's fears certainly seem to have been realized.

Whats so frustrating is that in every instance of history repeating itself, you and I, the common people are far more numerous than the controllers in every case.

Take a look at some modern control methods in China... Darn, I was going to share this video at this point showing how the electronically and physically locked down entire neighborhoods in Bejieng. I'm unfortunately out of time for blogging. I will update this latter if I find it.

Dim Sum @ Duk Li

2010-11-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

Duk Li Dim Sum. This little gem is my current favorite. Don't let the small size and well known neighbors fool you. What Duk Li lacks in size is more than compensated by warmth and vitality and a feeling that this is authentic cuisine from Hong Kong (this is my fantasy OK!) comfortable, friendly, CCTV playing on the wall. Not much English spoken but definitely enough to get your order done right. I'm not sure if they are speaking Cantonese and my futile attempts at Mandarin are understood but not responded to.

So like if I say Shi -Shi or thank you 谢谢.I get a polite smile and acknowledgment of understanding but no response. Im working on the phrase to ask if they speak po-tung-wa 普通话 But still am to shy to use it.

(Dim sum is a Cantonese term for a type of Chinese dish that involves small individual portions of food, usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. Going for dim sum is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea" (yum cha, 飲茶).) Here in the greater Seattle area it's a little mixed up, for instance you will find Korean Teriyaki, Mexican Sushi, Anglo Vietnamese beef noodle soup, Jewish Palestinian food, Turkish without turkey to name a few.

This is the Shiu Mai I saw someone in the yelp comments complaining about. I found them very tasty and juicy. Maybe Helena H was given the "special shiu mai" that's reserved for New Yorkers =] joking.

As you can see from the comments not everyone loved it, I like that you can feed 2 people for $10-$15 and have food left over. Tea is brought without asking and I believe free. They do prefer cash, and the last detail I would impart is their pastries rock for the late night munchies.

I usually go with their excellent friend noodles or fried rice (if available) but I thought I would do something different. I can't recall the name of this dish, sorry, but I liked them. Fried sandfleas maybe. =] mmmm mmmm.

Combined language lesson and exercise

2010-10-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Highly caffeinated urban hiking, lots of steps, a scenic mountain bike trail, great conversation with friendly locals, great nearby dinning in any direction. Minutes from the U-district in Eastlake going up to Capital Hill.

If you continue to walk (going east) at the top of the steps you will come to the cemetery were Bruce Lee and his son are buried. A civil war cemetery lies adjacent. Many ghost sightings are reported here, especially this time of year.

Usually I walk with a Pimsleur audio language lesson. Mandarin, Japanese, or Tagalog.

So if you pass me and I am muttering something unintelligible, you're free to try to decipher or communicate in any of those languages mentioned above. (I would love to add Vietnamese, Korean, and Russian)

Home

2010-10-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

"home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells." time, pink floyd

Fishing just gets worse and worse. How far will the industry be able to sell the fantasy that were all up here getting rich?

Anyway, I am home, had a great weekend.

Seahawks stomped that crappy state were it's a crime to be brown.
I tried downloading Civ V from Steam and have had nothing but problems. Game wont play, tech support sucks, and have asked twice now for my $50 back.
Bought a new iPod nano multitouch for a friend only to find out that it can't be sync'd to a iBook G4 running OSX Tiger 10.4 the fix is to put leopard (not snow) OS on the iBook. This is no longer available, except via torrents. =] or use it with a Windows machine. Nice customer support Apple, you basically shit on your long time customers. Boo!
Found out my unemployment check will be smaller
Twitter gives me the fail whale whenever I try to log in, just discovered this is a known technical issue and am waiting for Twitter to fix the problem.
Peoples Bank of China raised their interest rates for the first time since 2007
Bought an AT&T track phone (gophone) and discovered that easy hookup was 3 hours on the phone with idiots and crappy automated computer help desk, several disconnects and 1 ton of frustration.
Went to Mass at St James on Saturday, started coughing uncontrollably during the homily and had to leave. Thanks to bronchial infection contracted while fishing, exasperated by 2 packs-a-day smoking stress habit.
Enjoying some great Oktoberfest beers, trying to put some meat back on my bones after losing 35lbs while slaving for less than minimum wage.

I have several new roommates that seem peaceful and private enough for my taste. been doing some organizing, computer time, reading, and enjoying my precious time off.

I started my Pimsleur Mandarin lessons again and thought I would look at some free University Mandarin courses offered through iTunesU. (Yes I hate apple but still use them) I'm even on Ping as Tao Minghan. follow me there.

OK, time to lay back and do some reading. Goodnight. I'm reading The Gulag Archipelago at the moment.

GNUPG

2010-07-28T19:55:00.001-07:00

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Inputing Pinyin

2010-06-29T10:44:00.001-07:00

陶明翰 this was imputed via the scim-pinyin input method from Ubuntu 10.04

I have been struggling with this for days. Lots of documentation and easy instructions aside, the solution was uninstalling everything and reinstalling. On my first install I selected 10 different languages, and that might have had something to do with my problem. I was able to use 15 other varieties of Chinese language input but when I tried to input pinyin, it wouldn't load anything into the virtual keyboard.

after uninstalling everything I then rebooted and reinstalled scim-pinyin only (and dependencies of course) then you fire it up once via the command line and *boom* there you go. I use the default Ctrl + spacebar to initialize the pinyin virtual keyboard.

If you would like further instructions, leave a msg as to what exactly you need help with and I will try to help you.

I recently purchased a great Chinese dictionary that uses a quick new approach to deciphering hanzi. Look for the link in my currently-reading list in the sidebar.

I also got some flash-cards to use at work. Wait! did you say at work? Yes, the phone sales job I had encouraged us to bring crossword puzzles, ipods, watch TV, read magazines while making our calls. Rational was that it would keep us in this relaxed conversational state I assume. So, I got Chinese language flash cards and was excited about using them when I went to work on Monday. Only problem was that when I got to work I was informed that there was no more work. Doh!

Know of any volunteer, internship, or job opportunities in the 206? I am open to anything legal, office based, and available via public transportation.

和平。爱。与幸福

China Business Law Table of Abbreviations

2010-06-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

AIC Administration for Industry & Commerce 国家工商行政管理总局
AMCs Management Companies
APA Advanced Pricing Agreements
APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC on Wikipedia
AQSIQ Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine
ARFIB Administrative Regulation for Foreign Invested Banks
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BLP Bonded Logistic Parks
BT Business Tax
BZ Bonded Zones
c.i.f. Cost, Insurance, Freight
CBRC China Banking Regulatory Commision
CIIC China International Intellectech Corporation
CISG United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
CJV Cooperative Joint Venture
CNOOC China National Offshore Oil Corporation
CNY Chinese Yuan
CPCC Copyright Protection Center of China
CSRC China Securities Regulatory Commission
CTMO China Trademark Office
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
EIT Enterprise Income Tax
EJV Equity Joint Ventures
EP Environment Protection
EPZ Export Processing Zones
FEIT Foreign Enterprise Income Tax
FESCO Foreign Enterprise Service Corporation
FIE Foreign Invested Enterprises
FTA Free Trade Access
FTAS Foreign Trade Agency System
FTBO Foreign Trade Business Operator
GATS General Agreement on Trade in Service
GPCL General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China
HC Holding Company
HNTEs High-New Technology Enterprises
ICSID International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes
IPO Initial Public Offering
IPR Intellectual Property Rights
JV Joint Venture
LUR Land Use Rights
M&A Mergers & Acquisition
MEP Ministry of Environment Protection
MFN Most Favorite Nation
MOFCOM Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China
MIIT Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
MOLAR Ministry of Land and Resources
NCA National Copyright Administration
NDRC National Development and Reform Commission
NPC National Peoples Congress
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PBOC Peoples Bank of China
PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty
PEB Patent Examination Board
PRC Peoples Republic of China
R & D Research and Development
REL Renewable Energy Law
RMB Ren Min Bi (PRC Currency)
SAFE State Administration of Foreign Exchange
SAIC State Administration of Industry and Commerce 国家工商行政管理总局
SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
SASAC State-owned Assets Supervision and Administrative Commission
SAT State Administration of Taxation
SDRC State Development and Reform Commission
SEPA State Environmental Protection Administration
SIPO State Intellectual Property Office
SOEs State-owned Enterprises
SPC Supreme People's Court 最高人民法院
SPVs Special Purpose Vehicles
TRAB Trademark Review and Adjudication Board
TRIPS Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
VAT Value Added Tax
WFOE Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprises
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization
WMSGR Wealth Management Scheme with Guaranteed Returns
WMSUR Wealth Management Schemes with Un-Guaranteed Returns
WTO World Trade Organisation

China Business Law

2010-06-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

I started this book by Paul Thaler this morning so I don't have much to say about this yet. Although my intentions were to add to this post. I had to enter the book manually in Goodreads and could not find a picture on line to share.

I was on Cap Hill yesterday heading for First Hill and I decided to swing into Central Community College and ask a few questions. It was shocking the blatant rudeness of the clerk. I hope this isn't a pervasive attitude amongst the staff at this college. Amazing that any business will put a person in a position to deal with the public that does not know how to deal with the public. (Maybe this should have been placed on my rants blog :)

I went to Swedish hospital and asked if there were volunteer opportunities at the hospital. This clerk was polite, however, she informed me that when school is out they are inundated with requests from parents trying to find something constructive for their kids to do all summer. She told me to come back September 1st and it would be possible, with the caveat that I can somehow prove I have had measles, mumps, and rubella shots. hmm. (Mom?)

This was my first week at work. There were 18 candidates, and by Friday there is only one person and myself left. So, I have been blessed thus far with surviving the horrible odds.

I noticed that a few of the blogs I follow haven't been updated in quite a long time. People must be very busy. =]

Last book

2010-06-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

Stardate June 11 2010

2010-06-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Due to personal upheavals in my life I have had a change of address three times in the last six months. This is a real pain in the ***, but at least I have had shelter and food.

I guess I would say that I still believe in miracles, or maybe coincidental events just keep occurring in the nick of time to instantiate my belief that I am receiving help from God. Thanks be to God.

I have hopefully found permanent residence back in the U-district, my beloved area of Seattle that I have missed so much for the last few years. (If you are family and would like my address please email me)

I have passed 2 of 3 interview/training appointments, and if all goes well tomorrow I will be fully employed with a phone based customer service job. Which is only 2 blocks from my house.

This walk through the valley of unemployed/seasonally employed darkness has taught me some hard lessons about bubble economies and why not to over extend your credit. So while not out of the valley, I have moved to the foothills.

I hope to attend Seattle Central Community College this fall, even if for just 1 class to start with toward an Associate in Elementary Education DTA/MRP with the hopes of making that actually a TESOL type employment. And I hope to fit some Mandarin language into that. Sounds like a lot of big dreams? I know, but in the words of Bruce Lee “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

Why not computers? Something I have been crazy about for a long time? I always work at understanding networks and computers and programing, but never was able to discipline myself enough to be competitive in todays tough market, so that will remain a hobby. I love to read, I like other cultures, and languages, and I think the outlook for employment is better in a new direction for me.

I have found a Mandarin Language Meetup group that I hope to tap into more fully in the coming future. I have not met with anyone from that group yet, so the verdict is still out...

I would like to go back to the Chinese church at some point just to practice language skills, but I need to first get some rudimentary language skills so they don't think I am some crazy white guy that got lost. I will be attending mass at the Catholic Newman Center, let me know if you want to come sometime as well!

The book "Piracy" that I am reading is a tough but rewarding read, and it seems like it is taking me forever to get through it, so I am going to be spending more time out of the day unplugged in an effort to crunch this mounting stack of reading material that I have started.

My special thanks to all the people who were praying that I didn't become homeless as they watched me spiral into the pit and as my expensive toys evaporated one after another. While I am not out of trouble by a long shot yet, I feel like things are improving.

One thing I noticed is that out of embarrassment of my predicament I began isolating myself from the very people that could help me. So I understand a further dynamic of what it is like to really broke.

Having said that, I understand that being broke is relative, that compared to some people, I was never really broke at all. Which is why I started giving $20.00 a month to Save the Children. I am still giving help to some poor children in the Philippines as well, even through all this hardship. When I contemplate just how poor some people are, it puts life into a clearer perspective.

Update 6/12: Yeah! I got the job and I start Monday. Hurray....

Hong Kong launches social network for dead people | CNNGo.com

2010-06-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong launches social network for dead people | CNNGo.com

Don't be put off by the sensational headline. It is really about providing a venue for a society that is forever innovating their use of "space" - in a city that has precious little room. As we scream toward the "singularity" this is just another example of technology changing the way we get things done.

Also remember Hong Kong resides in a culture that puts a high value on honoring their ancestors. I think once all this is factored, it's not so strange as it sounds.

Using Twitter as a Political tool in China

2010-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Edna Zhou, a graduate, occasional China blogger and contributing writer at Shanghaiist posted her Thesis on Scribd. You can follow Edna on Twitter @ednacz.

Economist take on North Korea

2010-05-30T00:59:00.000-07:00

North Korea: Not waving. Perhaps drowning | The Economist:

"But the Cheonan incident also comes at a time when influential voices in America, China and South Korea are starting to worry that none of the countries involved has a contingency plan to cope with an even more momentous event—such as a sudden collapse of the regime. Some outspoken Chinese scholars are raising that previously taboo idea in public, albeit with caveats. Zhu Feng, professor of the School of International Studies at Peking University, told a symposium in Seoul in April that, though Mr Kim appears in control for now, a combination of his poor health, soaring inflation and a succession crisis could finish off the regime. He stressed that the risks of such an eventuality were too great to ignore and that countries needed to prepare an “emergency plan”."

Art

North Korea, the most bizarre country...

Jong Tae-se is North Korea's answer to Wayne Rooney

Praying for peace in Korea

2010-05-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

While I'm nominally Catholic, (I hardly go to mass anymore) I still believe in our creator, and I still believe that prayer is useful. Call me old fashion, deluded, whatever!

I would appeal to anyone of any faith whatsoever to pray for peace right now as North Korea's "saber rattling" increases into a real threat of war.

As much as I despise Kim Jong Il and his ilk, I don't believe war is the answer.

In the latest round of accusations the North is blatantly denying that they sunk the South Korean ship [article]

In the article "the South Korean government quoted visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as saying Friday during talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that his country would "defend no one" responsible for the sinking — once Beijing is satisfied who it was."

What does all this mean exactly? I have no idea. Japan is tightening sanctions as well. Are we on the brink of disaster?

I have recently started adding more Koreans to my twitter feed to try to gain a better perspective. Relying on the news is only painting a picture of sure doom.

I hope and pray that people with level heads make good decisions, and not the antics of a Texas gunslinging cowboy.

I fear for the entire region because as everyone knows the North wont hesitate in using nukes. (Well, at least that is my belief)

I don't know how much of this news is being told on the TV, because I don't watch it very much, but there is plenty online.

Are we going to wake up in the morning with bright mushroom clouds on the front pages of our papers?

Is it totally irrational to worry about something that is so far out of my control, no doubt, however, I can't stop thinking about the beautiful and highly advanced South Korean country or people that will suffer because of this madman from the North should the "dogs" be loosed.

Albert Einstein was very against war, but at one point reversed his view in light of Hitlers insanity. Maybe there is a time when fighting is necessary, certainly if invaded.

Update: This morning the New York Times ran this article.

China offers Condolences Over Ship

"In Japan, the package is a thought" Roland Barthes

2010-05-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

""Envelopes as I learned the hard way, are more than mere packaging in Japan. They are more than simple wrappers that protect a private letter and are later thrown away. As a school uniform defines a student or knickers a mountain hiker, an envelope actually becomes a part of the message itself." from Travelers' Tales Japan, P's and Q's and Envelope Blues, by Bruce Feiler, who is the author of several books, including Walking the Bible, Looking for Class, Abraham, Under the big top, and Learning to Bow, from which this was an excerpt."

I wanted to fill this space with a clever Youtube video on how to properly address an envelope in Japan but could only find ones for making pop-up cards.

However, I did locate a few websites that discuss this very topic in detail. As a longtime subscriber to the Japan-guide.com e-newsletter, that was the first place I looked. Japanese Postal Information. I recommend Japan-guide as a rich source of information on anything Japan as well. also look at Japanorama.

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/ems/greeting/index.html

The story I was reading started off by reiterating how important it was in Japan to include formalities like Mr. or Mrs. (Sama)

Is your heart quiet?

2010-05-25T00:53:00.000-07:00

In a book I am reading called, "Travelers Tales Japan" --which is a collection of true short stories meant to deepen the understanding of Japanese culture-- there lies a short story called "When the heart becomes quiet", by Singaporean John David Morley. I'm sure the story is meant to speak on a few different levels, however, the stage is a Shodo studio were a man learning Japanese calligraphy falls in love with an art, and his female instructor only to find that she is married--to Shodo.

I have always loved this writing from the perspective of one observing art. Who knows, maybe someday I will try my hand in it. After watching this video, you realize that like most things Japanese, this is an art that you could spend a lifetime learning.

In the story the instructor tells him, after he queries her as to how long he should go on, "Until your heart is quiet"

Robot Priests?

2010-05-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Stanford Law School also has an article on the legality of such a wedding were it to be done in the US. See Robotics and the law.

I'm wondering what the Pope would have to say about this, my guess is that he wouldn't find it amusing.

I would also surmise that the party getting married are taking there vows as seriously as if it were a human priest and maybe thats all that matters in the final analysis.

What do you think?

personal update May 15

2010-05-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Coincidently with all the hubub about the (non)base closure in Okinawa Japan, May 15 was the day in 1972 that the US gave the island back to Japan after the 1945 conquest. I would have been three years old.

You have probably heard all the discouraging reports about Facebooks lack of concern and blatant disregard for users privacy. This isn't a media generated spin, trust me, they are evil, and I encourage everyone to delete their facebook account. Rebecca MacKinnon has a great article on her blog RConversations discussing fb's deletion of human rights groups that site. As an alternative a group of hackers ( = programmers) are creating a social networking site based on open source principles, security, and privacy as their foundation. Check out Diaspora.

I moved to Mountlake Terrace, and am happy to be back in civilization. Leavenworth starts to feel like an island after a while, claustrophobia sets in, the need for Sushi and Phở becomes more urgent. Rapid public transit that actually goes somewhere becomes paramount for a guy without a vehicle. Also, its almost time to go back on the fishing boat. Time is running short for finding stable local employment.

One of the guys that I fish with has been living in Thailand for about 12 years. He doesn't do email, or social networking and barely does phone. (unbelievable) Yet owns a beautiful Macbook pro. Anyway Chris, hope your OK! Lots of turmoil at the moment over their. Thankfully he doesn't live in Bangkok (I believe he said Chiang Mai) but I think you still have to go through Bangkok to fly out of the country. There has been a US travel advisory about Thailand warning Americans not to go. The Philippine government also has asked their workers not to go. I rarely watch news, getting all my news from the Economist or Twitter. A person I follow on twitter @lonniehodge has said this morning that the news about Thailand is being censored in Hong Kong and wanted to know why.

May 15 is also Aoi Matsuri, one of three main festivals held in Kyoto. See WP article. Tomorrow will mark the first festival held in Kyoto, Japan devoted entirely to craft beer known as Craft Beer Festa Kyoto. see --> article.

Enjoy the day, rain is on the way. =]

Visitors

2010-05-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had a few visitors (I regret that I don't own a camera at the moment). With wheels it was possible to see some of the surrounding area. The Cashmere museum was the first stop and I learned that it houses one of the top five collections of Native American artifacts in the world. I spent some time musing about the vanquished cultures of this land. The pioneer village was educational, all originals except for the Catholic church which had to be recreated because it had burned at some point. I wonder what a pioneer would think of our civilization. Would the cultural shock be as profound as the protagonist in Ms. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed". I also wonder if we really understand fully what it was like to live in that era.

If you ever make it to Cashmere don't forget to visit the candy factory called Applets & Cottlets a block west of the main street. Started by some Armenians who fled the problems of their homeland they have been making "Turkish Delight" for quite some time. The candy is shipped all over the world.

We also visited Lake Chelan, and Mason then went back to Seattle. I ended up driving back because they were terrified of driving over the pass with a fresh storm brewing and a car that would not do well in snow. From there I took the train back ($18).

As the train ascended Stevens pass the snow went from a light salting of the spooky looking pines and fog shrouded cliffs to full on winter. I purchased a bottle of wine, a sandwich, then proceeded to upgrade myself to a nice "reserved for 2 seat" I latter had to move because apparently I went to far forward from the only doors that would open in Leavenworth. (So- its ok to upgrade just stay close to wear they originally seat you).

I wasn't aware until I Googled it that the "Cascade Tunnel" is the longest train tunnel in the USA, actually I heard from another Leavenworthian that it was the longest in the western hemisphere although I couldn't verify that. It takes 15 minutes to transit, and coming out the other side the beautiful snow covered scenery was stunning.

The woman behind me had some kind of problem and kept cursing and growling to herself and saying she was freezing. I sneaked a glance back with the pretext of getting water, wondering if I should be moving to another seat. The old hag was trying to sleep but kept muttering obscenities. I then put my headphones on and played Civ to the Buddha Bar collection until Leavenworth.

I talked with the Peshastin librarian who was traveling with wife and son. I also talked with a man who works for the Leavenworth land trust. Property values being so high here even with the depression that the locals can't afford to even live here and usually move away to Peshastin or Cashmere. The land trust buys the property and allows people to purchase a house but not the property which remains on a 99 year lease. By separating the property from the house the price is greatly reduced.

This same man and I discussed Chinese history in the local area and he told me to go to Pendleton OR where there is a museum dedicated to the exploitation of the Chinese in that area who could not even come above ground and had to live in basements which they connected with tunnels. *An entire community was living and working but kept hidden underground. He also said that when he mentioned to a local clerk that he had just come from the museum he was instantly shunned and she would not talk to him or ring up his purchase. Apparently the ancestors of this tragedy still harbor there horrible prejudices. Interestingly the author of the book "Massacred for Gold" also experienced similar treatment when researching the Chinese murders in Hells Canyon.

It's easy to think that the world has become more progressive living in Seattle, but a quick jaunt away from the city and you see that there are many Americans who still have not changed much in the ways of equality nor given up their racial prejudices. (I'm sure there is plenty of prejudice still in Seattle, it just seems less visible.)

*wikipedia - "Chinese laborers dug 70 miles (110 km) of tunnels underground from 1870 to 1930. There were ice plants, butcher shops, Chinese laundries, and illegal saloons, bordellos and opium dens. There were once 18 bordellos and 32 saloons in town, mostly underground."

see also --> (pop-up warning) http://goo.gl/XXRZ
also http://goo.gl/eAxj

Vacation ends in the middle of June

2010-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

I finally gritted my teeth and made the unpleasant call to the fishing company and agreed to sail in mid June on the KJ for blackcod. My repetitive injuries are starting to abate and I don't experience long periods of numbness in my hand. The hot tub at the KOA has been therapeutic and the long walks and mountain air have been keeping me in shape. John at the office asked were I was at, and when I told him Leavenworth he replied, "that place with all the bars?"

I responded that I spend my time at the coffee shops and library because I can't afford the bars, although I did get some beer and lunch at the Post Office Saloon yesterday. (I love Manny's and you can only get it at the bar)

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I finally tried this little bistro/coffee shop called Haus Dog Kaffee & Tea at the entrance to the main drag through the business districts west entrance (617 front street). It's outdoor seating under European style umbrellas and stunning (probably the best) mountain views make this an excellent choice for a place to hang out. There is a daily soup, sandwiches, and decent coffee. Klaus, the German accented barrista is extremely friendly and likes to visit as does his wife who frequents the establishment while walking one of the dogs she boards for travelers and tourists. This is a favorite among many of the locals and I was able to meet and visit with a gentleman who just completed the icicle loop on his bike and was taking a rest.

But do they have Wi-Fi? This is my primary consideration when choosing a coffee shop, that and electricity. There is several AP's I only tried one, and it worked fine with little interference. There is a power outlet in the corner by the entrance to the other shops in the building behind. If your thinking of a place to watch a parade or want to set here during a festival day, you had better call ahead and make a reservation (24 hour advance) 509-669-9666. (If your wondering if this is a paid advertisement, the answer is no.) I liked all the flowers, the blue tablecloths and the bottled water which you can uncork and drink (free, I asked. The ones with the stoppers).

In a small town its hard to hide your identity for long, especially if you like to visit and discuss the local history, both of which I do. So the bicycler had already known I was staying the summer and a commercial fisherman. Ha ha, I guess I've told a few people. But I find the people, for the most part, pleasant and friendly.

Being a conservative place it was no surprise when I saw a guy at the post office with a petition to impeach Obama. I am not opposed to differing views, thats what makes America great. Does anyone have one of those Obama T shirts they could loan me?

I am really liking Orhan Pamuk's the 'Museum of Innocence' primarily because I like his descriptions of life in Istanbul during the 70's 80's and maybe 90's (I don't know yet because I'm only halfway through the book.)

Seek and you will find.

2010-04-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

What at first seemed to be non-existent information on the Chinese immigrants to the Leavenworth (or Northwest as a whole) has turned into a cornucopia of trails to explore. Granted there is limited information about the Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese and any other Asian immigrants to this area, but there is information out there. I also have a suspicion that this is a subject that could be expanded on. It is a sad subject for the most part, so I don't focus all my time reading about it. Apparently the "American Dream" was only intended for white America.

I found a book called Massacred for Gold by R. Gregory Nokes. While the story doesn't take place in Leavenworth (it occurs in Hells Canyon) it is relevant to the story of the Chinese settlers at about the same time frame as my previous post on the Chinese placer miners of the Chelan area. Family members of mine will remember when our mother lived in that little town on the Washington border called Clarkston. This is the area near were the brutal slaying occurred of Chinese miners.

The book answers many of the questions about the Chinese of that era. It is well researched, and easy to read. I am about halfway through it now.

The jacket flap says the following;
"Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Massacred for Gold should be required reading in the American West" Jim Lynch. [why not the entire US, especially Arizona?]

"In 1887, more than 30 Chinese gold miners were massacred on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America. Massacred for Gold, the first authoritive account of the unresolved crime, unearths the evidence that points to an improbable gang of seven rustlers and schoolboys, one only fifteen, as the killers.

Massacred for Gold traces the author's long personal journey to expose details of the massacre and its aftermath, and to understand how one of the worst of many crimes committed by whites against Chinese laborers in the American West for so long lost to history."

"Sadly, it took more than a hundred years for someone to give this massacre the relentless attention and indignation it has always deserved..."

"Greg Nokes diligent and persistent historical research creates in M for G both a local and national context for the murder of some thirty Chinese men near Deep Creek, Oregon in the spring of 1887. It also makes clear why all the young murderers went free. Nokes describes two tragedies then, one of rapacity, the other of the communities willful denial of its past. Nokes' book, therefore, is an act of citizenship as much as it is a commendable work of history."

I had painstakingly streamlined this blog for quick load times on crappy Internet connections so my mother could read and comment here. She just informed me that she didn't have time to read about discrimination. (As a result you will probably see the flash start to slowly reappear, since most of the people I know have near Teraflop bandwidth.) Anyway the point I was making about my mother shows how deeply entrenched racism still is in this country amongst whites. Here is a church going all American (well now all Canadian) that didn't even take the time to explore her sons writings because upon glancing at the blog noticed topics about discrimination which always seem to make people uncomfortable that have deep rooted bias. This brings me to what is going on in Arizona right now were the Republicans are using their old tricks of preying upon racism to garner votes. In the most recent "history repeating" episode, a law was recently passed in Arizona that allows police to pull over anyone that has dark skin and dark hair and ask for their 'papers'.

Does this sound like the scenario every American was brought up to fear during the hunt for the evil communist era? What I see is the same scenario as 1887, were, because of a collapse in the economy, we see the ugliest of white peoples nature. It was OK to let mass people cross the Mexican border when we had a labor shortage, but as soon as it became apparent that our corporations have all moved overseas and jobs here are getting increasingly hard to come by, the people that helped bring in countless harvest are now enemies of the state.

The problem isn't Mexicans folks its the "Good Ole Boy" system that has allowed crooks to run rampant while we hunt for scape-goats.

If you consider yourself a Christian, Humanitarian, or just a good citizen consider that this isn't the first time other races have been targeted. Consider also that diversity is what makes this country great, and strong. So even if you don't like Mexican bag-pipe music or think that all Asians look alike etc. that these are humans, people, and probably tax paying citizens with ties to the US longer then you think.

An interesting unrelated fact I found out recently was that Filipinos were in California long before white people, and were some of the first immigrants around New Orleans as well, bringing the practice of shrimp drying to the other that lived there. I was aware that the Spanish had possession of California but I hadn't considered that many of their ships crew consisted of Filipinos (as well as others). They came to Morro-Bay California a long time ago.

It is a beautiful Saturday here in Leavenworth and I am starting to get hungry so if you leave a comment remember that I have to moderate it before it will appear, a sad fact, due to mass comment spam.

Before you fire up your retorts, I understand that racism isn't confined to white people. One of the reasons I went from blogging solely about Japan to the rest of Asia was learning what a bunch of intolerant racist bastards some of them are. The more I study and talk to people you find that each race feels justified in hating another, in general. I still love Japan and the Japanese but I've learned to look at things hopefully a little less starry-eyed . There is an old song that said, "these rose collared glasses that i'm looking through show only the beauty because they hide all the truth." (kind of my opinion of lafcadio hearn as well)

Chinese "Celestials" in the Chelan County area circa 1875

2010-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Among the earliest to come to this country were the Chinese. Placer mining was the object of their most sanguine hopes. Up and down the Columbia and its numerous tributaries they wandered and panned and rocked a satisfying, if not enormous volume of auriferous deposits from the various bars and creeks. A majority of these Celestials came from California, following the trails of Indians, fur dealers and miners. And thus it chanced that all along the banks of this big, roaring, treacherous stream, wherever wash soil could be found, on which water could be obtained, or to which it could be carried, one finds the abandoned prospect holes of the original Chinese placer miner. It developed a fruitful field; for many years it was worked industriously; frequently with astonishing profit. Opposite the mouth of the Chelan river, were it debouches into the Columbia, from the west, are the ruins of a Chinese village in what is now Douglas county. The remains of this early settlement may be seen from Chelan Falls, across the river half a mile away. It was built mainly of cedar boards split from the log, like shakes, pegged against upright posts, and roofed with logs and brush. At present nothing but the shells of these huts remain. In this early settlement there was a store. It was the first business enterprise in the country; the proprietor was a Chinese merchant. To the Chinese workers along the river he supplied goods, and he made considerable money. A pack train of forty horses he owned with which he brought in his miscellaneous assortment of English, American, and Chinese merchandise. It is stated that no stranger ever appeared at his store that was not made welcome by the old Chinese merchant.

A tragedy tinged with romance is connected with this oriental settlement. On one side of the site was a garden, now overgrown with mustard plants and weeds. It was enclosed by a low picket fence and a gate led inward. It was a token of advanced civilization. The proprietor of this little kitchen garden was a moon eyed youth with a voice like a muffled bell. He was in love with a dusky maiden who lived across the Columbia, on the banks of Lake Chelan. But this Celestial had made a peculiar vow never to declare his love. And this vow had been registered before the great joss of the little Chinese community. Hence he was moody and grew "queer," unsocial, melancholy and distrait. While others flocked to the gaming house he grew solitary and alone in his garden. Until quite late in the evening he would set there and brood over his unspoken love, when, 'Night hung her sable curtain out and pinned it with a star.'

So he sighed and dreamed away his life. Everyone sympathized with him in accordance with the old, old adage, 'All the world loves a lover.' But his friends could do him no farther good. One morning he was found dead in the little kitchen garden. No one knew when or how the death had come to him. Some of his comrades spoke of a broken heart, and then they buried him in the little patch he had so assiduously attended. When the village was deserted, no vandal hand disturbed the garden. Nearly fifteen years ago this settlement was abandoned. The finances of the old Chinese merchant were running low, for he had grub-staked to many of his countrymen in their search for gold. In a big mine up on the Okanogan river he had an interest, and there he moved, taking his lares, and penates, his goods, his horses and even the number of his store with him. One by one the others followed him, and wandered away up or down the trail. The 'diggings' are deserted; the village is in ruin; the cabins the abode of snakes and rodents. With the progress of civilization in the Columbia Valley these old placer marks will disappear; the cabins will be torn down and real prosperity will sweep grandly over the scene.

All this was in 1875. It was, practically, an Indian war against the Chinese that drove them away, but at the time this was not generally known. Along the Methow river the savages began attacking the Chinese of whom they killed several. The news rapidly circulated among their comrades. When the Siwashes came to the settlement intent on its demolishment, they found nobody save a few stragglers. There were several sharp skirmishes in which some were killed on both sides. A correspondent of the Spokesman-Review says:

"When the Indians reached a point on the Columbia a few miles below where Chelan Falls now stands they discovered a number of Chinamen at work on the benches three hundred feet above. The savages advanced cautiously and surrounded the Celestials on three sides, leaving only the steep bluff unguarded. Then began an uneven fight. The Chinamen were unprotected and unable to escape, and they proved an easy prey to their savage antagonists. How many were massacred was never known, but it is positive that not one was left to tell the tale. It was an awful fight that sent terror into the hearts of the other Chinese along the river. After that there was little placer mining done for months, then one by one the Celestials returned, but never could one of them be induced to go to the bench were the massacre occurred and open up the diggings again. Today they are in exactly the same condition as that in which they were when the workers were slaughtered by the Indians."

Source: History of North Washington published 1904 by Western Historical Publishing Company.

A further note to modern readers that in the love story above, the word 'queer' does not refer to sexual orientation. In the usage of the time it meant 'strange'.

update 4/22 I found a great resource from WSU called "Chinese Americans in the Columbia River Basin"

The bibliography provides an excellent list of books I would like to read.

Akerlund, Drew, “Walla Walla’s Chinese Population: the History of Walla Walla’s Chinatown 1862-1962.” The Annals of The Chinese Historical Society of The Pacific Northwest, 1984
Buell, Paul D. and Christopher Muench, “ A Chinese Apothecary In Frontier Idaho,” The Annals
of The Chinese Historical Society of The Pacific Northwest, 1983.
Chin, Art, Golden Tassels, A History of the Chinese in Washington, 1857-1992. Seattle: Art
Chin, 1992.
Clark, Hugh, Portland’s Chinese: The Early Years. Portland: Center for Urban Education, 1975.
Daniels, Roger, Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1988.
Daniels, Roger, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.
Daniels, Roger, “Outsiders in ‘the Land of the Free’ Aspects of the Asian-American Experience
in the Northwest.” Columbia 10:4 (Fall, 1996).
Derig, Betty, “Celestials in the Diggings,” Idaho Yesterdays 16:2, 1972.
Dougher, Sarah, Sent out on the Tracks They Built: Sinophobia in Olympia, 1886. Olympia,
WA: S. Dougher and N. McClure, 1998.
Hildebrand, Lorraine Barker, Straw Hats, Sandals and Steel, The Chinese in Washington State.
Tacoma: Washington State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1977.
Ho, Nelson, Chia-chi, Portland’s Chinatown: The History of An Urban District. Portland:
Bureau of Planning, City of Portland, 1978.
James, Ronald L., “Why No Chinamen Are Found in Twin Falls,” Idaho Yesterdays
36:4,1993.
Jue, Willard G. and Silas G. Jue, “Goon Dip: Entrepreneur, Diplomat, and Community Leader,”
The Annals of The Chinese Historical Society of The Pacific Northwest, 1984.
Lai, H. M., “Chinese,” In Stephan Thernstrom, editor, Harvard Encyclopedia of American
Ethnic Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Nomura, Gail, Washington’s, “Asian/Pacific American Communities,” in Sid White and S. E.
Solberg, editors. Peoples of Washington: Perspectives on Cultural Diversity. Pullman:
Washington State University Press, 1989.
Quong, Mabel. Interviewed by Jackie Day-Ames. Boise: Idaho Oral History Center, April 29, 1976.
Simon-Smolinski, Carole, “Idaho’s Chinese Americans,” in Mercier, Laurie and Carol
Simon-Smolinski, editors, Idaho’s Ethnic Heritage: Historical Overviews. Vol. 1. Boise:
Idaho Centennial Commission and Idaho State Historical Society, March, 1990.
Wunder, John R., “The Chinese and the Courts in the Pacific Northwest: Justice Denied.” Pacific
Historical Review 52 (1983).
Wunder, John,“The Courts and the Chinese In Frontier Idaho,” Idaho Yesterdays 25:1,1881.
Yee, Grant. Interviewed by Jackie Day-Ames. Boise: Idaho Oral History Center, March 19, 1976.
Zhu, Liping. “How the other Half Lived: Chinese Daily Life in Boise Basin Mining Camps,”
IdahoYesterdays 38:4, 1995.

thanks to Mario Compean, a member of the Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Project.

Mother Teresa's "Anyway" poem

2010-04-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

actually this was written by Kent M Keith
credit goes to http://www.dbooth.org/guat2000/small/teresa.htm

Surreal Leavenworth

2010-04-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

I accidentally discovered a new way to site-see. I get a pitcher of good beer in me, put headphones on and listen to H.P. Lovecraft on audio-book while walking around looking at all the antique and decorated shops around Leavenworth. Try the "Fungi from Yuggoth" for starters (It's in the public domain and can be found for free on Librivox)

I might just be a big chicken. As I looked up stairs and down into cellar-shops or down alleyways, the strange ideas coming from Mr Lovecraft's novel or poems make the town surreal and suddenly spooky. After all, I don't really know anyone here. That nice old man dressed up like a nutcracker, might just be a "nutcracker" and those boarded up windows, well maybe there is some back-packer from last year in chains with a muzzle. And what about those missing children?

The hairs began to stand up on my arms as these and other thoughts went through my head. What if... Well, every town has its share of weird looking individuals, and oddballs. But as my imagination ran wild, these people begin to look like the sinister specters of Lovecraft's horror stories.

I will not walk back to my camp after dark. After living in the city, these woods, mountains and rivers--so beautiful by day--start to look ghostly at night. Even the black birds act different here, seemingly talking in a secret magical language.

I saw a raccoon standing on its hind legs casing my tent, he wore a little Lone Ranger mask and he boldly stood there even though I was staring at him. The nerve! (can these creatures hurt you?)

Walking across the Wenatchee river bridge the other day I spied a beaver dashing up the rocks on the bank of the swift moving, snowy runoff. Mr. Beaver had little secret caves between the rocks and boulders and I was merrily observing when he must of noticed me and stopped transfixed on a rock. Five minutes passed and that critter didn't move a hair, its long flat tail stretched out behind him. I realized that motionlessness is a sort of camouflage, because he started fading into the rocks and could have easily been a branch or some floatsom from my eagle's airy vantage point. Finally I got tired of standing there in the middle of the bridge with trucks and cars blasting by and started walking, which at that very moment the beaver ran like an Olympian under the bridge and out of my view.

Am I losing my mind when it seems that the same little bird is trying to talk to me every morning? Well he has a reddish or orange breast, he or maybe she, likes worms, and enjoys singing to me as soon as the sun starts to come up. I find it comforting.

Leavenworth hiatus

2010-04-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

I am in Leavenworth WA, the picturesque Bavarian village on HWY 2 just over the Cascade Mountains' Stevens Pass. You can also take the newly opened Amtrak route that runs from Seattle, WA (SEA) to Leavenworth, WA's (LWA) Icicle Station for only $20.00 each way. I don't think you can even get gas that cheap!
[Seattle Parking]

"The overnight parking is in the garage directly to the west of the Amtrak station. To drive there, go as if you're driving up to the station and you'll see the entrance to the garage on the left just before the station. It's in the King Street Center.

There is a link to the King Street Center map on the Amtrak website:

http://www.amtrakcascades.com/Seattle.aspx

I had to pay for parking in advance - check with the attendant, don't just pull a ticket and park. The attendant provided a card for the dashboard that indicated that I was parking overnight. I paid $35 for about 32 hours of parking. The posted rates indicated that 10-24 hours of parking was $20, so I paid slightly less than the 2-day rate."

I got this info from trip advisor. That is typical of Seattle that it costs more to park then the ticket for the event or the travel. My recommendation, take the bus, leave your car at home.

Whats in Leavenworth besides the high-priced restaurants? There is camping, drier weather, Renaissance Fair this weekend in Wenatchee (a close bus ride away. Take the 22 then at the transit center take the 2 or 3) Here is the event calendar. There is a Safeway with cheaper food and a Starbucks inside (no wi-fi). Guess what, there is even some Asian food here!

Let me know if you want to come up and visit, I am at the KOA for the rest of the summer, I have an over-sized camp site but I will have to inquire if I am bringing company and possibly have advanced approval so no surprises please.

There is free Wi-Fi at the very comfortable and uncrowded public library. I noticed that the public terminals are all running Ubuntu Linux, imagine that!

Looks like I am going to add a little German language to my Japanese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Arabic studies. (I know I am crazy, you don't have to hurt my feelings by pointing out the obvious.)

What else? Bring a book, lawn chair, sleeping bag, and backpack with a change of clothes and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Oh, don't forget your lappy because even the KOA has decent Wi-Fi.

Leavenworth / Pine Village KOA

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Rediscovering Journey with Arnel Pineda

2010-04-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

Surfing through TFCNow I happened to watch this show called Profiles about a 42 year old singer who I didn't know about. Arnel Pineda's story is amazing and brings a fresh meaning to Journey's old song "Don't stop believing."

I spent some years growing up in California and although I was big on ACDC and other rock bands, Journey was that ubiquitous music that everyone knew and could sing along with. I remember having a few of there cassettes.

I am sure that unless you have some fetish with Steve Perry you will find that Arnel is amazing, as is his story. It was a great inspiration to me.

Which explains why I'm still only 100 pages into my current book "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star" by Paul Theroux. Not a chance I will attempt speed reading this book. I found a great author that I had previously never read. The pages are filled with interesting stories and thought provoking comments, some I would like to hear him elucidate. For instance I immediately disagreed with his comment;

"The odd but provable fact is that repression often has a salutary effect on writers, strengthening them by challenging them, making them resist, making their voices important, for at their best writers are rebellious, and repression is the whetstone that keeps them sharp, even if the repression makes their lives more miserable. A free country cannot guarantee great writing, and a public intellectual (albeit a reluctant one) like Pamuk hardly exists in Britain or the United States"

I've only read Orhan Pamuk's book Snow, I'll admit it has stuck in my mind and I find myself thinking about things he said in it regularly, even a year after I have read it. But is it accurate to say that the US or Britain hasn't produced a similar mind? I immediately think of George Orwell. How about those who stood up to the fascist Bush regime and wrote books like Naomi Wolf. What of intellectuals likeWilliam F. Buckley, Jr., Noam Chomsky, Ronald Dworkin, Freeman Dyson, Milton Friedman, Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Huntington, Charles Murray, Thomas Sowell, Gary Wills, Harold Bloom, Pat Buchanan, Alan Dershowitz,Stanley Fish, Al Gore, Paul Krugman, Camille Paglia, John Updike, Gore Vidal, Tom Wolfe, and probably another 1000 I missed. What are you really trying to say Mr Theroux?

Admittedly I probably missed the key point of that statement but thats the way I understood it. And also hasn't there been numerous studies done that have shown the correlation of repression and loss of intellectuals in a country? In a totalitarian society only the very brave will speak out, and for good reason. Do you want to have a knock at the door and a bag over your head in the middle of the night? Admittedly I can only speak from what I have read. I haven't lived in a country like that, but I have lived in a situation of extreme loss of freedom and tyranny while incarcerated as a young man here in the US that would allow me to imagine probably with great accuracy what it is like.

I think Theroux missed it on that one, I think that you only see those who speak out more visibly in that situation because there are fewer of them. For instance he talked about Elif Shafak who has published at least a dozen books or more and is a best selling author in Turkey but in her own words she said she was nobody here in the US.

How many Alexander Solzhenitsyn's would there have been if authors hadn't been imprisoned or murdered in Russia or other places!

At any rate, I'm sure if I could speak to the author and hear his explanation he would probably have a thing or two more to say. Here is a well read, well traveled man who isn't likely to make an arbitrary comment without some thought behind it. I really enjoy his humor, in Georgia he attends a baptism of an infant and his description had me in stitches;

"The baby was stripped naked, her bobble hat removed, and then I realized that the church was cold. Her skinny arms and legs began to thrash, and whimperings issued from her little red body.

The gnome-like priest adjusted his odd ecclesiastical Smurf hat and beckoned the god-parents to the baptismal font, which stood like a large marble sink at the side of the church. He took the baby and immersed her in the cold water -- totally, head to foot, as though he were rinsing a chicken..." lol

Then there is the great advise like when he is on the train to Baku and this conductor insisted on making his bed (sleeping car) then rubbed his fingers together and asked for 10 lari, about $5. "This seemed steep, but when a big ugly man wearing a uniform in a foreign country asks for a small, specific sum, I usually hand it over." point taken. note to self...

I noticed on twitter yesterday that my friends in Makati City, Philippines were experiencing 3 hour brownouts (electrical outages) city-wide. Then, I noticed that it was 90°, omg! How could you survive that? Does anyone have a brownout story to share? I don't remember having ever experienced this phenomenon although they say this is the 3rd time in a week this has happened. Wow!

Personal update Easter 2010

2010-04-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

So, I am simultaneously reading all the books shown below in my library with the exception of the book by Paul Krugman "The Return of Depression Economics" which I read from cover to cover the first time I picked it up. I'm almost done with Edward Kennedy's memoir; an excellent book on a number of levels from both a historical perspective and as instruction on how to be a great man. Paul Theroux's Ghost Train... is a book I am savoring slowly. I have never read this guy, but I will be reading more. I will reserve judgment for after I am done.

I checked out a stack of books about the "Silk Road" but will probably have to take them back to the library and re-find them again in a King County Library. I am moving on the 14th to Mountlake Terrace/Shoreline WA area.

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Since I am right on the border of both towns and my mailing address is Shoreline I decided to register at St. Marks instead of St. Pius X. ( St. Marks has a great mini orchestra with 3 violinists, a beautiful pipe organ and a lively atmosphere)

I have placed a Google Voice widget in the sidebar. If you click on that and put your phone number it will connect you with my voicemail for free (US & Canada) and once I have checked that you are not spam I will call you back. Try it, it wont cost you a thing (Mom).

Do you have a Youtube channel? Here is mine. If you already have a Google account your ready (i.e. gmail). Share your favorite videos.

Filipinos will be happy to know about the TFCnow site that is way cheaper than getting Philippine broadcasting through your cable company. also on Twitter.

Please leave a comment and tell me how your Easter went. It's unfortunate that my friend Terrance (陶旭) is trapped behind the GFW and wont be participating in the comments for a while. He did get accepted at a
US University and should be coming to the states soon. School of Visual Arts in Computer Arts in NY.

More check-ins at saint mark church & school 18033 15th pl. n.e. shoreline, wa 98155

Remembering to laugh

2010-04-01T00:52:00.000-07:00

I have been so caught up in survival mode since I got back from fishing this "A" season that I think I never really unwound or relaxed. Well tonight Captain and Coke are my friends (rum and coca cola) and I am having some fun.

Luckily there are people out there that seem to make you laugh. We all need to have some fun, no matter what is going on. Seems that everyone I know is having issues anyway, so at least I don't have to feel like the Lone Ranger--well even he had Tonto-- [link has commercial, but in case you are to young to know who the Lone Ranger was click here] anyway, that old video is funny but is not what lifted my spirits. (Easy to see from that why us white folk are all messed up in the head :)

Enter the communitychannel . enjoy... I am now totally hooked on this thanks @Natalietran

Sound track for my Silk Road studies

2010-03-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

All the talk about the roots of Stoicism and how it influenced Marcus Aurelius, for me, has been painfully boring to wade through. Mr. McLynn has devoted part of a chapter on Sino-Roman relations of that period which was very informative. So once again I risk plagiarism to point out what I found valuable.

(McLynn - Marcus Aurelius: A Life)

pg. 199 - Before Marcus A's Parthian war, Rome had chosen to trade with China and the East by sea, cutting out Parthia altogether. By the time of Marcus's Parthian war the Romans had been trading with India for about 200 years. Two key events made this possible. First was the discovery of the open sea route to India by the Greek navigator Hippalus, sometime before 31 BC. He observed the pattern of the south-west and north-east monsoons that blew across the Indian Ocean and, setting out for the Arabian coast, reached the mouth of the Indus in forty days... How lucrative this trade could be can be gauged by a simple set of statistics. Just one shipment contained 1500 pounds of spice, 4500 pounds of ivory and 600-700 pounds of silk. Kaveripattam and Arikamedu emerged as the real meeting points of East and West...

pg. 201 - It is in the context of this general trade between Rome and the East, and the changes in it wrought by the 'unique conjuncture' of victory over the Parthians, that one of the most sensational events of Marcus's reign has to be understood. In short, it was during his principate that the first direct links between the Roman and Chinese empires were achieved. Chinese sources relate that in the year 166 an 'embassy' from Marcus Aurelius arrived in the capitol of *Luoyang during the reign of the emperor Huan of the Han dynasty.

*Luoyang (simplified Chinese: 洛阳; traditional Chinese: 洛阳; pinyin: Luòyáng; Postal map spelling: Loyang; IPA: [lu̯ɔji̯ɑŋ]) is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast. Situated on the central plain of China, one of the cradles of the Chinese civilization, Luoyang was one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.

Sino-Roman relations were indirect throughout the existence of both empires. The Roman Empire and Han China progressively inched closer in the course of the Roman expansion into the Ancient Near East and simultaneous Chinese military incursions into Central Asia. However, powerful intermediate empires as theParthians and Kushans kept the two Eurasian flanking powers permanently apart and mutual awareness remained low and knowledge fuzzy.

Only a few attempts at direct contact are known from records: In 97 CE, the Chinese general Ban Chao unsuccessfully tried to send an envoy to Rome.^[1]^[2]Several alleged Roman embassies to China were recorded by ancient Chinese historians. The first one on record, supposedly from either the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius or the later emperor Marcus Aurelius, arrived in 166.^[3]^[4]

The indirect exchange of goods on the land (the so-called silk road) and sea routes included Chinese silk and Roman glassware and high-quality cloth.^[5]

In classical sources, the problem of identifying references to ancient China is exacerbated by the interpretation of the Latin term "Seres" whose meaning fluctuated and could refer to a number of Asian people in a wide arc from India over Central Asia to China.^[6] In Chinese records, the Roman Empire came to be known as "Da Qin", Great Qin, apparently thought to be a sort of counter-China at the other end of the world.^[7] According to Pulleybank, the "point that needs to be stressed is that the Chinese conception of Da Qin was confused from the outset with ancient mythological notions about the far west".^[8]

Silk road notes

2010-03-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

I am going to start researching aspects of the Silk Road. I became interested just recently and really haven't read much of anything yet on the subject. So basically this post isn't designed to teach as much as it is just a notepad of my journey down the silk road.

I am currently reading about the *Roman Parthian war of around 161-165 ad.(see below) Parthia was a kingdom in what is now Iraq and Iran. (This is a historical map overlay on Google Earth of Turkey in Asia, Asia minor and Transcaucasia).

I was experimenting with trying to embed a Google Earth map tour of the route and after much frustration decided to just embed a little map showing relatively point A to B which was commanded by Avidius Cassius. cont.

View Avidius Cassius route to Ecbatana in a larger map
(I found it fascinating that this area was referred to as Asia, always thinking of Asians as east Asians only.)

Parthia was the west end of the "Silk Road" and tried to hold a monopoly on the trade from China to the west, obviously a valuable peace of real-estate.

Once I get done with the current (and many) reading projects I thought I would start by tracing these cities (KVM) <---open in Google Earth or your browser plugin then look in places section of the sidebar and check silk road. Browser preview here. Thank you goes to histfan. That should be quite a bit to digest.

If you have any favorite websites about the silk road, during any era of history please leave a comment. I had to turn anonymous comments off because of the massive spam invasion of my site.

* War over Armenia broke out again in 161 AD, when Vologases I defeated the Romans there, captured Edessa and ravaged Syria. In 163 AD a Roman counter-attack under Statius Priscus defeated the Parthians in Armenia and installed a favored candidate on the Armenian throne. The following year Avidius Cassius began an invasion of Mesopotamia, winning battles at Dura-Europos and Seleucia and sacking Ctesiphon in 165 AD. An epidemic, possibly of smallpox, which was sweeping Parthia at the time now spread to the Roman army, leading to their withdrawal.^[18]

I wanted to include some relevant passage from my book as well. (thanks to Mr.McLynn)

From "Marcus Aurelius" Frank Mclynn 2009 Da Capo press pgs 196-197

The East was now definitively pacified, and it is possible that the Roman triumph of arms had more profound medium-term effects than is sometimes realized. One of the deep seated motives for Roman wars against Parthia was economic, in particular the Parthian dominance of trade routes. The state policy of the Parthian empire was to encourage the passage of goods from Lake Helmund via Susa over the old northern route used by Assyrians, Medes and the Persian empire; it is already been remarked that such a policy could only ever be successful because of the trade links between Kushans and Nabatean princes. The Roman campaigns of 163-5 tore further holes into this middleman fabric, and may have encouraged a growth in the silk trade between Rome and China. Most scholars agree that in the second century AD there was a flourishing east-west trade along what has come to be known as the Silk Road. [There is considerable literature on the Silk Road. See David Christian & C.Benjamin (eds), Realms of the Silk Road: Ancient and Modern; J Thorley, "The Silk Trade between China and the Roman Empire at its height, circa AD 90-130", GR 18 (1971), pp.71-80.] Of the Roman passion for silk there can be no doubt. The Senate vainly issued several edicts aimed at prohibiting the wearing of silk, on the grounds that its import led to the export of precious metals, especially gold; the fact that everything emanating from the 'Seres' (the Chinese) was thought to connote decadence was an additional consideration. Seneca notably fulminated against the fashion for wearing silk: 'I see clothes of silk -- if materials that did not hide the body nor even one's decency can be called clothes…

Virtually any overland trade route between China and the Mediterranean had to pass through Parthia. The starting point for the silk trade was the capital of the Chinese empire at Loyang, whence caravans began along the inside of the Great Wall to An-His before splitting into two great loops to bypass the grim Taklomaken desert. The two trials reunited in Kashgar, and from there the route wound round the Pamirs to Bactra. Goods headed for India and South-East Asia branched off at Balkh and, at the upper Indus, this southern route bifurcated, with one branch flowing the river down to Barbarikon while the other headed east to Siagkot, Mathura, Ujain and Barygaza. There was a shorter but more difficult itinerary that struck south from Kashgar through the Pamirs and reached Kashmir via Gilgit. As far as the western route was concerned Bactria was the nodal point, from here the route from China met the overland trails from the Mediterranean.

Great Firewall Video

2010-03-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

An entertaining yet educational look at net censorship in China and with a positive and funny ending.

On other subjects...

Lately I have been ramping up on Windows PowerShell. The shell, at the resolution and size I like, conforming to my already limited real-estate of viewing area, is hard to see and read. In answer to this issue, I opened windows 7 magnifier ( Control Panel / Ease of Access Center / Start Magnifier ) and have been using it ever since. In its default mode it opens the top inch of my entire screen to the magnified viewing area and follows your pointer. This can be customized to your specific needs and blindness. I was going to include a screenshot with the snipping tool however, it doesn't capture the magnifier area.
A massive sand and dust storm in China over the weekend has been imaged from space, revealing a shape much like a weather front. [full article --> Live Science]
Parlez-vous français ? With millions of web pages on the Web, it's inevitable that you'll come across a page written in a foreign language. Google Chrome's built-in translation bar helps you read more of the Web, regardless of the language of the web page

from a fishing job to a phishing job

2010-03-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

I finished the "A" season for the longline cod fisheries and have been back home collecting my unemployment for several weeks now. Not liking to set around idle, and quite frankly disgruntled with the down-hill slide of the fishing industry, I have been looking like mad for employment that would at least be substantial enough to pursue some college classes, room and board, etc.

There are many wonderful advantages to job searching since the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of highly usable tools to facilitate the journey. For instance I have a resume in my Google Docs that I can easily share via attachment, post to the web, and do numerous other cool things with.

So my day to day method has been to scour Craigslist and the WorkSource database and email my resume as a .doc attachment to the prospective employer.

Craigslist (which I dearly love) has fallen victim to massive amounts of phishing and scamming. So if you to are seeking employment be aware, be really aware! The level of expertise is definitely made it harder to tell the scams apart from legitimate responses.

A healthy amount of skepticism and a questioning attitude can go a long way toward protecting yourself.

So far I have received a job offer to pick someone up at the airport and be there driver for a month. Upon receiving the second email the red flags started to go up but there was still nothing blatantly obvious--unless you've studied a few of these before. Long story short, when I asked politely for the prospective employer to clarify some things I never heard from him again. Wow, what a change from "stand by I'll be mailing you a bunch of money to procure the Mercedes.... etc etc."

Then I received an email saying that due to the large amount of spam and phishing they wanted to verify my phone number, so would I please go to this random site and start putting in other details as well. haha.

It doesn't matter that it is pure evil to prey upon a person who doesn't have any fricken money worth speaking about anyway. Thats why I'm looking for a job, duh!

Anyway, that is the status of my job search. All answers have been phishing attacks. Welcome to the economy 2010.

So what is it like to live in an economy as viscous as China? What is their job searching like if its already that bad in our relatively tame environment? I don't know, but from what I've read and heard it's a "jungle" (to coin Upton Sinclair)

I can only imagine it getting more competitive. If the economy is going to be increasingly more global, it wont be long before we are job hunting with tens of thousands of qualified applicants.

Looks like I might have to fish in Alaska until I am old and grey and be happy to have that slave labor employment. I can't bring myself just yet to stand on the corner with a 'work for food' sign, and thankfully it hasn't gotten that bad for me yet.

So while i'm jobless i'll keep self educating myself.

Goodnight.

Civ V due out this fall

2010-03-16T02:57:00.001-07:00

More Sid Meier's Civilization V Info

Yokosuka Japan

2010-03-10T01:41:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map
I was born in the year of the monkey 1969 at the Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan, a "US Navy medical treatment facility catering to the medical needs of the Seventh Fleet, their families, base occupants, retired military service members, and civilian government employees. The hospital is located on Yokosuka Naval Base and the hospital has been present in various forms since its original construction by the Japanese Imperial Navy in 1881." wikipedia.

Yokosuka has twin-town relationships with four other cities. One of these being Corpus Christi Texas in which, coincidently, my younger brother Gavin was born.

Quoting Yuto Yoshida Mayor of the Yokosuka City "Yokosuka is a city of blue sea and rich greenery, blessed with a mild climate and scenic beauty. People have been residing in this area since ancient times. The Miura Clan flourished in the Middle Ages and was vital in the establishment of the Kamakura Bakufu. William Adams, an Englishman who became adviser to the Tokugawa Bakufu, owned a fief in Hemi; and approximately 150 years ago American Commodore Matthew Perry arrived off the coast of Uraga and landed in Kurihama. Upon this followed the construction of the Yokosuka Arsenal through the efforts of French engineer Francois Leonce Verny and of Oguri Tadamasa, accounting magistrate of the Tokugawa Bakufu; and the subsequent development of the shipbuilding industry, a cornerstone in Japan’s modernization. These are just a few of the highlights of Yokosuka’s very rich history.

Japan’s opening to the world was triggered by Commodore Perry’s arrival, thus Yokosuka became Japan’s initial doorway to the rest of the world. Today Yokosuka City, with its rich culture and genuine international character, aims to be known as the “International City of Culture by the Sea.”

Located within a one-hour train ride of Tokyo and Yokohama and with convenient access to the historical town of Kamakura, Yokosuka is in an excellent position for both business and pleasure."

The city's famous foods are Beigun curry and radish. It's called Miura daikon. See Wikitravel for all the details of what to do and see while you are there. While researching this post I found JapanBases.com to have a ton of information. check it out here.

Korean Astronaut

2010-03-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

I have this nagging interest to find out more about Koreans because there are so many Korean Americans in the Seattle area, and also because I just like Asian culture in general. Anyway, while hunting around I started reading about Yi So-Yeon. I regret to say that I hadn't heard of her before.

Yi also pronounced Lee I think is really cool and not like you would imagine a person that beat out 36000 competitors. She's very smart, cute and friendly personality. ( based on this video interview)

Sunny return

2010-03-05T22:42:00.000-08:00

The f/v Zennith pulled through the locks and into our dock space near Ballard Oil on Saturday. It was a very short season, the shortest I can ever remember in my 10 years of fishing. Jubilee fisheries inc, whom I work for has sold the KJ and the Zennith to Prowler fisheries, a company from Alaska.

I didn't take long finding a relaxed place to soak up the news and happenings I missed in the last couple of months. Google Scholar and Google News, were my primary sources. I've read a few papers about Hong Kong - Taiwan relations, Shanghai's real estate boom, and found the audio files of the Economist for the last week. I still like Twitter for trending topics and random news. I can't stand Facebook for some reason and have just ignored that.

I watched an old Japanese cop movie called "Stray dog" very interesting viewing Tokyo before the sky scrappers went up. At any rate, the movie froze about 1/3 of the way into it.

Happy year of the Tiger. I'm planning on sleeping for the next week. =]

Liu Xiaobo jailed

2009-12-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

The reality of freedom of speech is nonexistent if you anger the wrong people, whether in China or the US.

Liu Xiaobo jailed for subversion [article here]

cases in the US of people jailed over speech issues. (not complete:-)

The online racists. [here]
Veteran in 08 [here]

I thought Ray Barry's "Americans have free speech" article an excellent dispeller of this myth.

Among our bundle of exaggerations pleasant to believe, none is more alluring or deceptive than "We have Free Speech."

"...Few seem to understand that the First Amendment does not confer ANY absolute right of free speech. What it does is place a limit on the power of one branch of government to control speech, the legislative branch. And even that limit is more myth than reality..."

Even more, did you really expect the Chinese government to behave any differently? They view him as a dissident.

It is sad that this man will spend the New Year incarcerated for what should be a basic right. I offer my prayers for his release and safety, for what its worth.

I feel Liu Xiaobo is a hero for putting his personal freedom 'on the line' to speak out for what he believes are gross injustices in his society. I also believe we have had plenty of mini Tiananmen squares of our own right here in the US (if your willing to look and read some history).

Thus when China says we are meddling in there affairs, maybe they are really saying 'practice what you preach'.

Could this man have made a better impact with his life without losing his freedom to make his point?

Maybe the publicity and the length of his sentence will one day sell some books or place him as the head of a future legal political party?

from the article:

Mr Liu is a prominent government critic and veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.

We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes

Charter 08

A writer and former university professor, he has been in jail since 2008, after being arrested for writing a document known as Charter 08.

The charter called for greater freedoms and democratic reforms in China, including an end to Communist one-party rule.

Mr Liu is the only person to have been arrested for organising the Charter 08 appeal, but others who signed it have reported being harassed.

Amnesty International said it condemned the sentence imposed on Mr Liu and was "deeply concerned for other Charter 08 signatories and freedom of expression in China".

"Liu Xiaobo's detention and trial show that the Chinese government will not tolerate Chinese citizens participating in discussions about their own form of government," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty's Asia-Pacific Programme.

Christmas 09

2009-12-18T08:23:00.000-08:00

Amazing how many tools there are for learning anything that you might set your mind to. The trick is to harness those tools through use--something which I have not been very disciplined about lately.

The Oxford University Press has a talking Chinese dictionary and translator (.exe program use wine for Linux users). I haven't really explored this much, but I do have it working on Ubuntu 9.10

Another (.exe) program that I have been using is Wenlin. I like its simple interface and think it is easy to use. (see wine hq wenlin 3.0)

I just acquired the 2793 page Encyclopedia of China that I haven't started reading yet (still getting through the madam chang book)

Also I plan to start reading and using MacMillan English dict and the Oxford English dict. in the hopes that I can improve my horrible use of the English language.

Using Google Wave for cultural exchange

2009-11-30T16:20:00.000-08:00

As you've probably heard Google Wave is the next generation peer networking / social networking / whatever new thing. It is definitely generating excitement, as of this writing it was the 3rd top trending topic on Twitter and probably 2nd on the search suggestions when you type google. This video explains everything and yes I watched Firefly and Serenity.

So I was very happy when an acquaintance on the Internet sent me an invite and I got to see for myself.

One of the first things I wanted to do was embed it in everything or embed everything in it starting with a map. I have a small screen on my laptop and the Wave interface wasn't showing me the little red pin in the editor toolbar. When I minimised the (?) search window, the one next to the navigation pain, and was able to view everything better it was visible.

As far as using it for a cultural exchange I just started a "public wave" I wasn't quite sure how to advertise this yet. You should be able to search for this if you have Google Wave by entering with:public tag:China tag:Seattle if this does not work leave me a comment. Should be me (stuart), my friend 陶旭, but I hope that others interested in China, Chinese language, or any cultural exchange like Seattle for instance.

There are already many many public waves, so many that they adopted a follow button to keep from inundating your inbox.

To make a public wave of your own click the + in contacts to add a contact and then enter public@a.gwave.com into the search, ignore the error message and just hit enter. Then drag or add public to the wave you want to be public.

You can easily search for others by typing a variation of the above command.

It will be interesting to see how far this goes. I stumbled on to it quite by accident when visiting my friends site Metrix Createspace. Matt had a public wave for the Hackerspace tag.

weekend studies

2009-11-23T11:54:00.000-08:00

Im still reading Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han, I thought this couple of paragraphs about ancient China was still appropriate in our time. I guess the adage about history repeating itself proves to be true again.

" Thus, the state organized for war, as analyzed in the Book of Lord
Shang, requires not only that all the energies of the people be devoted to
agriculture and war but that there must always be another war to fight,
another enemy to defeat. Ultimately, war was fought not for gain but for
loss, to expend energies and wealth that would otherwise accumulate in
the hands of those who, by virtue of their growing prosperity, would
come to serve their own interests rather than those of the state.
Such a state sucks in more and more resources to be consumed in wars
that no longer serve any purpose save to keep the machine running.
Sooner or later the energy and resources expended in the wars become
too great for the state to bear, at which point it implodes. It is a “suicide
state,” “destined to self-destruct.” As we shall see, this fate, which is
implicit in the Book of Lord Shang, would work itself out explicitly in
the fall of the Qin empire."

Could our US civilization be falling into the same trap as the Qin empire?

I also watched a great documentary about the upheavals in modern China called "Up the Yangtze" a Canadian film by Yung Chang. In the docustory a manager laments the fact that most Chinese youth that he has to train are spoiled rotten single children that are self-centered and ego-centric. While this may have been true in his case, I think it is easy for a person to hear something like this from a film and create a generalization of China as a whole. I think it is best to remember that China is a very large and diverse place. This video illustrates that being spoiled is not a prerogative for all Chinese boys (or girls).

Would a coach in the US be allowed to use these tactics?

I remember reading Jackie Chans biography, and his description of life at the theatre were acting and martial arts instruction was learned. It was an incredibly brutal regimen for youth to endure, so maybe this is not so bad in comparison. One thing is certain, these kids are tough.

Got Zhongguo?

2009-11-18T12:18:00.001-08:00

Zhongguo aka China (or middle nation) has an amazing amount of languages that I was previously ignorant of. In the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, the author D Bradley of La Trobe University, Victoria Australia has classified the languages of China into ten main groups which I will quote directly from the encyclopedia but show links to other resources around the web. (The Encyclopedia goes for around $6K usd so I don't expect there will be many in the hands of curious ametures like myself, I got my version off the Pirate Bay, link)

1. Sino-Tibetan, including Sinitic (Han Chinese, the suggest a close link of Sino-Tibetan languages with majority nationality) and Tibeto-Burman
(17 nationalities, more than 100 languages) throughout the country;
2. Manchu-Tungus (Manchu, Xibo, Ewenk, Oroqen and Hezhe nationalities, seven languages) mainly in the northeast;
3. Mongol in the north central region (5.5 nationalities, including half of the Yugur, seven languages);
4. Turkic (6.5 nationalities and seven languages, with the other half of the Yugur);
5. Austro-Asiatic or Mon-Khmer in the far southwest (Wa, Bulang, De’ang, and Jing nationalities, plus some small unclassified groups, more than 12 languages);
6. Tai-Kadai in the southwest (nine nationalities, more than 20 languages);
7. Miao-Yao in the southwest central area (Miao, Yao, and She nationalities, 27 languages); 8. Indo-European (two nationalities, Tajik and Russian, plus creole Portugese in Macao);
9. Korean; and
10. Austronesian (the Gaoshan nationality, a dozen languages indigenous to Taiwan, with few speakers on the mainland.

So basically thats about 200 seperate languages. What really got me to thinking about this was the incredible diversity of languages in the Philippines, which being such a small place comparatively with China, got my curiosity up. All I had ever heard about was Mandarin and Cantonese.

Were does Mandarin and Cantonese fit into all this? Well, going back to the Encyclopedia he goes on to say that Outsider linguists [whatever that means] often say that the Han Chinese speak seven distinct, mutually unintelligible languages. Those are Beifanghua or 'northern speech' which is what we in English refer to as Mandarin. Wu, from Shanghai. Min, in and around Fujian and in Taiwan. Yue, known as Cantonese in English around Hong Kong and most of Guangdong. Hakka aka Gejia in Mandarin, which is widely scattered across the southeast and the inland varieties Gan and Xiang.

Now if your head is hurting from all this-- as mine was after trying to read all the links (which I only touched on so far) --make sure that if you are interested in China that you stay "abreast of the most interesting liberal-leaning social and political commentary on the Chinese Internet, Twitter is the most effective way. Since all of the Chinese domestically hosted social networking and blog-hosting services are heavily censored, China's liberal digerati have had to move outside the "great firewall" in order to have an un-censored real-time conversation with one another." Rebecca MacKinnon

a more in depth video here, (embedding was disabled)

I started a list of relevant Chinese people on Twitter (by no means is this list complete) but it will offer a good starting point and you can look at who they are following. Make sure that you have your Google translator or hanzi tools ready =]

http://twitter.com/#/list/rfmonk/china

Perceptions

2009-11-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by a blog post from an Internet acquaintance to contemplate perception. My initial perception is that if I left a comment in the sea of her fans it would be picked apart, scrutinized, and ultimately I would be found out to be a fraud due to my lack of command of the English language, the randomness of my ideas and for not creating a valid response to the essence of the post for which I was commenting. Obviously this perception of my interaction is incorrect and is more telling about my character and world view. Perception is such a big area that it cannot be summed up in a series of books a mile long.

I think it is important however, that we analyse our perceptions of ourselves and our world, especially in this renaissance of online personae, were it is easy to cast a perception that we are more than our physical self. We can become captive, not wanting to dispel the myth.

So what does this have to do with studying Asian languages and culture? Well maybe the whole premise of my desire to study Asian cultures is based off of perceptions I have created and romanticized. My perception that somewhere in the world I can fit in, if only...

This is not going to change the fact that I am fascinated with Asia, although I have to wonder when and if I can climb out of my current situation and travel, possibly live in China or Japan, how my perceptions will be altered. Will it be for good or bad.

So as I patiently await resolving my issues that are keeping me grounded I continue on absorbing Asian culture. Currently I have been well disciplined in listening to Mandarin language lessons from the Pimsleur collection.

It looks as though I will be going back into the void of the Bering Sea soon, maybe sooner than I thought, away from my self-proscribed academic pursuits. Hopefully I can eventually pay off my failures and put myself in a better position to go to school full time.

The clock of my life is running out and the pressure to make my dreams a reality are extremely heavy on my mind. That song from Coldplay comes to mind but I think the reality is that I spun the web myself. It is only our perceptions that make us feel our problems are because of others.

I am patiently waiting for Blogger/Google to fix an issue with new posts that are not updating. see this thread if you are having the same problem [here]

I survived "B" season 2009

2009-10-29T01:39:00.000-07:00

I flew into Seattle on Monday via Alaska Airlines from Dutch Harbour. I had previously mentioned leaving on August 1 and have been at sea with only a few very brief interludes since. The fact that I have lost 20-30 lbs since then-- while eating 3 large meals and several smaller ones a day--attest to the fact that fishing is probably the best diet plan going.

I did not have the chance to finish near as much reading as I had hoped. I have come to the conclusion that magazines are probably the best medium for reading in this line of work due to the constant wet environment it was easier to read a blurb with gloves on, fold the magazine into a dry hole somewhere go back to work and resume latter. By the time I finished a book in this fashion it had fallen apart, magazines being easier to finish lasted until a few people had perused them, at which point we could safely pass them on to the illiterate co-workers to look at the pictures, colour and draw "funny" additions or clip out favourites to adorn any number of locations around the vessel.

Popular magazines around the boat were The Economist, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, High Times, News Week, And of course all car magazines, all "guy" magazines like FHM on down into the gutter. I was able to grab a copy of CPU magazine in Dutch, and my shipmate found a UK Mac magazine.

I brought home some cod fillets and have already taken a few to one of my favourite Phở restaurant and given them to the nice Chinese lady that has fed me many meals over the last few years. (Yes I am aware that Phở is Vietnamese)

Mostly I have been catching up on sleep and reading, but I did venture out today for hacknight and to visit a few friends.

As for language practice, not much beyond reading a Tagalog dictionary when I set on the throne.

The first blog I wanted to catch up on actually was RConversation and the other ones in my sidebar followed.

While I didn't get rich this season, I earned some well deserved time off which I plan to spend reading and sleeping and hanging out in coffee shops visiting friends and hacking on various projects that interest me. Hopefully I can get motivated to attack the Japanese language with some rigour. It would have been useful to speak Japanese when we offloaded our fish at the tramper, maybe I could have negotiated a successful deal for sake.

Well, my rss reader needs some attention so bye for now.

gaijin studies Seattle Filipino festival

2009-07-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

My sunburn attests the fact that I stayed out enjoying Pista Sa Nayon today much longer than I should have. Mostly the burn comes from the Seward park amphitheater were my friends and I sizzled like lumpia in hot oil while watching traditional dances from Cebu and Luzon, speeches from politicians mayor @GregNickels and others.

Cute well dressed kids, gorgeous scantily clad ladies (and regular dressed ladies), ginormous families, and lots of non-filipinos as well turned out and were still pouring in when we had enough sweltering sun for the day and headed for our air-conditioned car.

The food was spectacular, I spoted Epies catering service (can't seem to find a link or maybe I am spelling it wrong) and headed right over for tocino, pancit, and lumpia which I washed down with a mango ice drink and an especial halo halo. Epies was at the Bite of Seattle and I had some murrienda (sp?) there as well.

I really liked the tinikling dance that looks something like the video below.

To be fair no event is ever perfect but if you want my opinion they could have kept me there all day if they would have had a beer garden serving San Miguel, more shade (I mean, it was ridiculously hot and all the shade was sooo taken) although, some smart people brought there own shade and I learned a lesson that umbrellas aren't just for rain. The only other complaint was charging for water, come on people, the Bite of Seattle had free drinking water sponsored by some water vendor, couldn't They, in their 20th year of the festival negotiate a free water deal as well. OK, I have griped enough, they at least did have bottles of water for a dollar (the kind you get at Costco 100 for $4)

I can't leave this post without mentioning the terrific rock and roll groups that were shredding guitars nearby and banging heads. I baked for another hour (double pun intended) to some great metal.

My sincerest apologies for being so lame that I couldn't get a camera for the day, (mine is as broke as my bank account and my phones camera is worthless) so I will just link to flickr

The Seattle All City marching band, the 808 hawaiian + Filipino pride tatoo, the boobies almost falling out of this one laddies shirt and the Jeepney T shirts were other highlights of the day.

Once again let me say that if your not used to being around Filipinos, have no fear, they are very friendly people and very involved in community, local politics, and extremely family oriented. It was a safe place to take young kids, don't miss it next year people.

wild vs farmed fish

2009-07-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

The Maui weekly article "Farmed and Dangerous" is notable because it addresses yet another issue of smart environmental management--in this case farmed fish vs wild--and the growing demand for seafood that population explosion places on our planet.

I say notable because the article shows both side of the argument and provides an alternative to offshore fish farming. Personally, I am all for wild fish, but then again I am a fisherman so I am somewhat biased. Take note that there has been much research on this and its impact on the environment.

I picked up a pack of farmed salmon at Costco and on the label it says the color of the fish has been altered by something they feed it. Don't waste your money if you are used to eating salmon from the Northwest (US) or Alaska because in my opinion it does not taste like salmon.

I don't agree with this offshore fish farming and I like the idea of farming the fish in ponds on shore were it won't affect the ecological balance of the ocean.

Back to the Bering Sea

2009-07-10T14:12:00.001-07:00

Blue Gadus
Originally uploaded by J.P. EVERETT

Well, apparently there is no good employment left in Seattle without major skillz. So--its back to the Bering Sea. Fortunately I have some experience fishing (7-8 years) and it shouldn't be long until I am making some ca$h again.

This is the boat I will be going on. I have fished with the Blue North company in the past and the mate was my deck boss on the Blue Atu. (update: I'll be fishing with Jubilee on the Zennith)

So see you latter Seattle.(Actually I won't leave until the end of the month.) I don't think I will be living around here anymore. Maybe Alaska or Hawaii.

Panic set in when I realized I forgot how to tie a gangion knot! This is like the easiest of knots known to a longline fisherman. Not to be stymied I cut myself some string line I had for local crab fishing and stared at it. Suprisingly I could not visualize the knot even though I had tied this year after year millions of times. As my fingers searched around suddenly as if my fingers had a memory of their own I expertly tied the knot, and a big s@@t eating grin crossed my face.

I realized that anything else I might have forgotten will come back as easy as relearning to ride a bicycle. I blew a long sigh of relief and drained my glass of Chardonay.

Lately I have been interested in learning more about Maui culture and I found a great YouTube channel that has been highly educational for a Haole who has never even visited the islands.

By the way, can anybody comment on the "Kill Haole Day" article I read on Wikipedia? Kind of wondering if they are scalping white people out there. =]

Comments on "The Living Reed" Perl S Buck

2009-06-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

[disclaimer: If you stumbled here looking for deep insight, my advice is to go elswhere. I am not a professional or an acclaimed critic. I do, however, possess a deep love of Asian culture.]

Ms. Buck is an excellent resource in my opinion because she weaves a fantastic tale around solid facts making learning so enjoyable. In this case learning about Korea.

My knowledge of Korea is still very limited, I have never been there--although I hope to go some day--and when I think of what I have read on the subject it amounts to about 3 books. (I say 'about' because one was a juevinile work which was highly informative but brief.)

In Perl S. Bucks book "The Living Reed" --so named because one of the protagonists uses this as his alias--the lives of a family spanning three generations weave a tale of a proud and illustrius culture. The book mostly covers the tragic era of Japanese occupation and the horrors that occured during their rule, but it also illustrates what life was like prior to that in Korea. I was not aware of their near 4000 year history. (Imagine the Pacific Northwest 4000 years ago).

This book also gave me a clearer understanding of why there is still some animosity (might be an understatement) between Japan and Korea. The Japanese have a long history of aggression against Korea. To this day, at least from a political viewpoint, Japan remains largely unrepentent about the pain that they caused Korea which must further exaserbate those emotions.

At any rate by the end of the book I had a greater appreciation of Koreans, which, I might add are very numerous here in the Pacific Northwest. For instance, I understand that education is a deeply embedded cultural requirement from Confusciousism and I still see that. At the library, at college, Koreans work very hard at educating themselves. It made me want to know more about this small civilization that has long been wedged between other giants (Russia, China, Japan, or even western interests).

I was amazed to discover that Koreans have a very effective alphabet that has been around for a long time. (As opposed to Hanzi or Kanji) Which, as I understand it, allowed culture and education to spread rapidly among the common people.

So not only was I entertained, but I learned a lot of different things, I highly recommend this book for those with an interest in Asia. I have found it's easy to be blinded by the glorious Chinese or Japanese cultures because there has been much written about them, but to truly understand Asia I am learning that one must understand all the other cultures in the region which are equally important "pieces of the puzzle".

I would like to mention that the description of the silkworms was incredible, I never really thought about the creation of silk. There is a fascinating discription of this process.

Got Asian Studies?

2009-06-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

MIT Opencoursewear does (and a whole lot more). If your not familiar with MIT OCW check it out. And lately realizing the absurdity of trying to learn 10 languages at once, I have narrowed my focus back on Japanese. Well, are there free courses on Japanese? There are many, and while there are nice shiny books at the book stores for learning Kanji and everything else, if your like me, allocating $40.00 USD for a book is the real absurdity.

Just look at the free Courses you can get your hands on, all that is required is bandwidth and a computer--think $250.00 netbook and the library's free wi-fi (not free as in P2P, free as in "beer") <-- this is an OpenSource/Free Software analogy. Japanese popular culture -
Introduction to Asian American studies -
Traditional Chinese Literature - (OK, well I got really interested in Chinese and am not giving up on it, just putting it on the back burner for now. There is an extensive group of Chinese language courses by the way)
Japanese literature in cinema - (I've been watching quite a few of these old Japanese gangster flicks, last night I watched "The worst day of my life" which was quite good)
Beginning Japanese - I
Beginning Japanese - II
Intermediate Japanese - I
Advanced Japanese - I
Advanced Japanese - II

Wow, there is actually quite a bit more, however, I am still neglecting my Livemocha class and a number of other free resources.

I was able to get some side work yesterday, working on computers, and so I took a bus down to Chinatown and got some groceries. We are experiencing a heat wave here in the Puget Sound area so I bought some things I could make on my hibachi, that and rice is the only cooking I have been doing.

Making Sense of Japanese and other things

2009-06-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have been working through "Making sense of Japanese" and listening to Pimsleur Japanese CD's lately. But what I am finding incredibly interesting is the book "Notes from Toyotaland" (see librarything in sidebar for links) An american working at a factory in Japan tells what it is really like to work and live in Japan, seriously dispelling many of the myths that well known books on Japan have perpetuated. He really dis's some well known books and from his candid approach to writing and my experience's I tend to believe what he is saying.

I also reread the last 100 pages of Musashi and have been reading a few books on Samurai, which I haven't listed yet in my library because I'm not sure if I will read the whole of the books at this time.

I could possibly be heading up to Alaska soon to work the salmon season as an administrator. This is where I would be working

View Larger Map

The Army is continually draging their heels. They have a system for rating you based on ASVAB, physical, etc. and I guess I have scored well in all areas thus far. (Its called PULHES) and I have scored 111111 which my recruiter calls a picket fence and says is good.

I am hoping to get into crypto-linguistics, or some computer related field. A lot will depend on my background check. When your 40 theres a lot of life that has to be searched and verified, but at least I know I am not dieing of any wierd unatural disorder- that can be clinically verified at any rate.

I found it interesting to note that the government classified Japanese as a "killer" language and that to gain profeciency studends study fo forty-seven weeks at thirty hours per week for a total of 1410 hours.

By the way the government's definition of "Limited working proficiency" is "Sufficient comprehension to read simple, authentic written material in a form equivalent to using printing or typescript on subjects within a familiar context. Able to read with some misunderstandings straightforward, familiar, factual material, but in general insufficiently experienced with the language to draw inferences directly from the linguistic aspects of the text."

update

2009-05-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't devoted a great deal of time lately to Asian studies, with the exception of a book I am currently reading at a very slow rate called "A comrade, lost and found" by Jan Wong.

On a separate note I encourage everyone who is interested in freedom of speech to educate themselves on the importance of what the EFF and FSF are doing to protect our rights. Probably, one of the most important issues that doesn't get fair airplay is the battle for copyright and intellectual property. (also see.)

An excellent article I read recently on torrentfreak.com should enlighten you on the topic of which I am speaking. Also pay attention to the reference to Mr. Stallmans article about misinterpreting copyright.

I was very unhappy to find that "Obama himself has already appointed Tom Perrelli and Donald Verrilli, both former lead attorneys for the RIAA, to be associate and deputy associate attorney general." as well as Biden assuring the MPAA that President Obama would find the “right” copyright czar.

I applaud Courtney Love when answering the charge of piracy by saying: “What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an artist’s work without any intention of paying for it. I’m not talking about Napster-type software. I’m talking about major label recording contracts.” (quoted from article previously mentioned).

Amazing Lego build of the battleship Yamato

2009-04-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Easter

2009-04-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

I spent a long weekend with my brother and his family in Tacoma celebrating Easter. I arrived Friday and took my nephew Sam to see some artwork in Seattle, we spent all day sight-seeing, including a tour of the free areas at Sakuracon. There were many excellent cosplay's and pretty ladies. I grabbed this off of flickr, I do have a few of my own that Im waiting on, and will upload them soon

Saturday I just hung out and did some hacking etc. (installed BackTrack 4 on my Fujitsu) Watched some movies and ate some good food, Sunday I went to mass early at St Charles, then went with my brothers family and friends to his church. Afterward, we ate some excellent food (lamb, potatoes, and other American holiday fare) had some good wine and visited, and we also watched the movie called Fireproof, which I highly recommend if your married or going to get married. I could have used that advise many years ago.

I finally made it back to the sanctuary of my humble room and comfortable chair today. Hope everyone else had as great an Easter as I did. I am thankful for family and friends, health and relative wealth (even though I am now currently unemployed I still feel wealthy compared to my filipino friends). God has richly blessed me (but I am a spoiled brat) and I wanted to publicly express my grattitude for all that he has done for me, a sinner.

House warming party

2009-03-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I was invited to a house-warming party from some Filipino friends. My only regret was not taking a ton of pictures. The food was awesome! They had a whole pig in a box in the middle of the table, but by the time I got there, it had been carved up really well (almost all gone) especially any skin which is prized. around the pig was about 20 different plates of food, lumpia, pancit -I cant remember the name of this one that is like a pork meatloaf with hardboiled egg in the middle- mmm good,

I had about 4 plates of food, maybe more, and a lot of beer. The had Heiniken instead of San Miguel but thats ok, Im not that picky, and Heini's work for me. Filipinos are very generous people and I never went without an offer of a beer (if mine got low) or an invitation to get more food.

I was out on the patio with most of the guys, although there is not a strict division of men and women like the Mexican friends I knew down south (Texas), most of the guys stayed outside and sang songs while one guy played the guitar, reminisced about the good ole days, told lies, laughed, and generally had a grand time.

My Filipino hosts would digress into Tagalog, but (even though I totally was OK with hearing there native language) from time to time would explain to me everything said and talk in English for a while, making me always comfortable. I would have been happy, even if they weren't so attentive, however, I believe that this is a cultural norm to be very gracious to guests.

Inside the house the women and young were singing karaoke and visiting. Latter we all came together and some of the guys sang karaoke as well, some people danced. Everyone had a good time. I think a friend mentioned there was some argumentative asshole, but I did not meet him. I guess he was self concious because he was Filipino but did not understand any Tagalog or other dialect at all, and because he was from California he probably had a persecution complex which is typical. (Californians generally believe that everyone outside of California hate them, which usually has nothing to do with were they are from so much as what assholes they can sometimes be)

Anyway, everyone that I met was very polite, very cool, and totally laid back realaxed and having a good time, with lots of laughter and meriment.

I highly recommend going to a Filipino party if you get the chance. This was one more reason to want to someday visit the Philippines for me.

Happy St Patricks day

2009-03-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

I had a great weekend celebrating my brothers hundred and 11th birthday at bag end. There was plenty of food and company. I took a hiatus from computer and books and we watched movies and shared views on politics and philosophy. My brother has slowly remodeled his home into a very cozy nest.

My nephew has grown into a man and it is quite fun to have conversations with him now that he is older and is developing his own views. He is very much into art and music, being a painter and a fairly well rounded musician. (piano, drums, guitar, keyboard)

We watched Babylon AD, Eagle Eye, Bangkok Dangerous, and also Rick Steves trip to Iran were I learned that the Iranians are not Arabic but Persians and speak Farsi. Oh, I can't forget to mention that I watched V for Vendetta again.

I am still in limbo on my new job, I am waiting to go for another round of testing. The primary tests went really well. I aced the aptitude test and placed well on the physical tests.

I need to start finishing some of these books I have started. I finished Ghost this morning, and am continuing on 3 different books; Counterinsurgency Field Manual, A World of Trouble, and Benazir Bhutto.

a little monkey-business

2009-03-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

Not that I put great stock in astrology, but I always thought I was born under the Chinese year of the Rooster because it is for 1969. Upon closer inspection I found that (I should have known this) because the Chinese year falls differently than the western new year that I was in error.

Apparently Feb 15, 1969 is a Monkey. Wikipedia says this about the Chinese zodiac for monkey:

The Monkey is the most versatile sign of the Chinese zodiac. Such people are often inventors, plotters, entertainers and the creative geniuses behind anything ingenious, including mischief. They have natural quick-wittedness which enables them to understand what is happening and then make a right decision. Even during a conversation a person born in this year is aware of what is going on around him/her, and then makes a mental note of who said what and stores it away for future reference. In general, with their agile minds and multiple talents, monkey people can master any subject. They are reliable and honest people so that any secret is safe in their hands. These people are also honest in their dealings and are very good at problem-solving: knowing how to listen closely and work out solutions at the same time.

Although these people are trustworthy and unlikely to hurt someone out of spite, they would never let people escape if they have behaved badly or damaged a monkey's reputation. Their stamina and determination to achieve their main goals can make these people appear vain or manipulative. People born under this sign should be careful so they do not damage their friendships. It is important to remember for these people that it would be wiser sometimes not to pursue their goals and simply let things pass.

Monkeys have flexible principles and serene self-confidence so they are completely content; but they usually manage to complicate the lives of others. After yet another plan or project has gone wrong, they are seldom there to help clean up the disorder and confusion that they leave in their wake. Monkeys can handle that too; with their charm and persuasiveness they can make people believe that just knowing them is a privilege. The Monkey person is most compatible with Rats and Dragons. They also get along quite well with the Rooster and the Horse. They are least compatible with Tigers.

My brother who's birthday is coming up soon is a Hare

Those following traditional Chinese astrology consider people born in the Year of the Rabbit to make ideal diplomats or politicians. In Chinese astrological thought, a "rabbit person" is graceful, cultured and well-mannered. Although Rabbit people get along well with many people, at heart they are considered to be basically reserved creatures, and are only truly happy when engrossed in some sort of scholarly or intellectual activity. Rabbit people are considered too sensitive for the world around them; they are not able to thrive in competitive or aggressive environments, and are anxious when others force them to take risks. Their inner world is considered too delicate for unsettled or unpredictable situations, and they tend to create peaceful and comfortable atmospheres--like rabbit dens--instinctively. According to traditional Chinese astrology, this characteristic makes them very hospitable and attentive people, who take care of those around them.

The average Rabbit person emphasizes the importance of small details. They pay attention to everything from color, design and furniture to food and conversation. And only when they are sure that everything has been arranged as they wish can these people relax and have fun.

People born in the year of the Rabbit often lead a conservative lifestyle where one of the most important things is their security. This quality also has a negative side: opting for safety over risk, they may miss good opportunities. These people are not frivolous or irresponsible, for when they truly believe in something, they are serious, persevering and capable.

Calm as they are, it is not easy to provoke Rabbit people. They are sentimental and compassionate. They can be moved by the personal problems you share with them.

stormy seas ahead

2009-02-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

Personal update, I haven't had the time to do much writing and if your following "my librarything" you will notice a pile of books about Iraq etc. I will explain this in time, I don't want to be to premature talking about a few changes in my life. One thing I can say is that my job situation is going to change due to this economy (no one is building houses, at least not on a scale that justifies our management jobs)

One possible outcome is a company I am applying for that will more than likely require Arabic language skills and travel to Iraq. Nothing is formalized and there are potentialities that could quickly derail my plans, however, I have successfully past 2 interviews and it looks good so far.

If I am required to start learning Arabic, I have been trying to decide whether to modify this blog to also include my new studies or create a separate blog. My thoughts are that gaijinstudies can just be the repository of all my studies, because regardless of what I study I am still a gaijin =] Furthermore, I am not sure yet if there are restrictions on what I will be able to blog about.

At any rate I appreciate the comments and concern, and I will try to update this blog as much as possible in light of added demands on my time.

Bainbridge Island March 30th 1942

2009-02-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

In defense of our neighbors by Mary Woodward is full of astonishing photos that take you back to the small community of Bainbridge island that was forever shattered by the events during WWII and the Japanese exclusion. Since I have already blogged about the Nisei, I would like to point out a particularly favorite part of the book for me entitled Filipino-Nikkei Friendships. I have not been able to locate much on the Filipino communities history here in the North West (US) so far, so this was a gem.

"The Kitamoto and Narte families have a special friendship that began after Felix Narte arrived in this country in 1926 from the Philippines. 'Felix Narte--he was my parents top hand--moved into this house and kept the farm going' recalled Kitamoto's oldest daughter, Yuriko, 'When we came back my parents gave Felix part of the property"

It goes on talking about how during the exclusion, when the Japanese were forced into incarceration and moved off Bainbridge how if the property was unoccupied it became the target of vandalism and theft, However there were some families that had loyal friends that remained and worked the farm or occupied the house and spared the property.

All in all an excellent piece of local history with a great heart warming story to tell of a remarkable couple (Walt and Milly) who would not sacrifice their principles though it isolated them and cost them dearly for sticking up for their neighbors and friends.

There is also a nice list of further reading in the back that I plan on hunting down. I will list what I can find latter.

Japanese Occupation in the PI

2009-01-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

A lot has already been written and written well on this subject. I don't have any first hand knowledge of the occupation, with the exception that a friend of mine told me she remembered her grandma saying that they had to hide in the ground for days, fearing for their lives, and of the rapes that were commonplace.

I finally got back to reading "Inside GHQ" by Takemae--I put the book down to finish a few others--and when I came to the part early in the book were this great scholar tells of the Philippine occupation from the view of a Japanese I thought it interesting enough to share his text. (I am a firm believer that intellectual property IP laws that would frown on me quoting from this book can go to hell, IP monopoly is criminal)
I quote:

Objective: The Philippines

The Philippines under Japanese occupation
On 2 January 1942, the day Japanese expeditionary forces seized Manila, General HonmaMasaharu issued a proclamation liberating the Philippines from American rule. The Imperial Army's purpose, he told the Filipino people, was 'to emancipate you from the oppressive domination of the USA, letting you establish "the Philippines for the Filipinos" as a member of the Co-Prosperity Sphere in the Greater East Asia and making you enjoy your own prosperity and culture'. Japanese authorities undertook an extensive administrative reform of the government and 'reoriented' the education system to erase Western cultural influences. As part of the education reform, English, the language of instruction under the Americans, was banned, and Japanese and Tagalog were taught in public schools alongside Philippine history. In September 1943, a new Constitution was promulgated and on 14 October, José Paciano Laurel y García declared a Japanese-sponsored Republic. Despite Laurel's militant nationalism and his efforts to ease the hardships of occupation for the common people, it was clear to most Filipinos that his was a puppet regime whose days were numbered.
After the fall of Corregidor in May 1942, USAFFE survivors had taken refuge in the mountains where they organized guerrilla resistance to the Japanese occupation. These soldiers were soon joined by Filipino partisans, whose ranks swelled as the people realized that imperial troops had come not to liberate them from American domination but to impose on them a new colonial empire. On 3 January 1942, General Honma issued a proclamation decreeing the death of anyone who disturbed the public tranquility or resisted Japanese forces in any manner. Military Police (Kenpeitai), two Filipino historians have written, 'began a career of wanton disregard of human lives. Houses with unregistered radios were raided and their occupants maimed and thrown into the dungeons of fort Santiago, where inhuman punishments were meted out to them as daily excersise'. The people lived in constant fear of arrest and torture. Rape was common and degrading treatment a common occurence. 'A Filipino was slapped for not bringing his residence certificate with him. He was slapped for not bowing properly to the sentry. He was slapped for not being understood by the sentry. He was slapped for having a face the Japanese did not like.'
By late 1942, scattered guerilla groups had established radio contact with GHQ/SWPA in Brisbane. Japanese forces answered peasant based partisan operations with terror tactics, including the execution of local leaders, but Filipino franc-tireurs resisted tenaciously and gradually intigrated their disperse commands. Freedom fighters eventually established parallel military and civilian rule in the areas they had liberated, and Manuel Quezon, president of the US-backed government-in-exile, accorded these official recognition. Guerilla military and administrative successes combined with the savagery of Japanese counter-insurgency operations destroyed any lingering popular support for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and its inovative cultural reforms. by mid-1944 virtually the whole populace was cooperating with guerilla forces, which American estimates placed at 270,000.

In all my reading on this matter thus far I have yet to see were the Japanese government has ackowledged their depredations or made reparations for their war crimes to the Filipinos or for that matter to any country that they had occupied.

To be fair, if someone can point me to a link that shows this not to be true I will revise this post, or for that matter, if I discover such material in the future I will come back and rewrite it.

I love the Japanese people and it's culture (most of it) but I find the fact that the government can ignore these cries for justice to be done as deplorable.

Grandchild of Nisei, Wakamatsu, Mariners new manager

2009-01-22T23:14:00.000-08:00

"On Wednesday afternoon at Seattle Nisei Veterans Committee Hall, the local Asian-American community rolled out the red carpet for Wakamatsu with a standing room-only crowd of about 250 coming out for an enthusiastic welcome reception." great pi article.

"an unusual step: They arranged to purchase the barracks in which they had lived, and had it moved to Hood River, Ore. His grandparents, now in their 90s, still live in the house they formed from those barracks."

Credit for this blog post goes to:
P-I reporter David Andriesen davidandriesen@seattlepi.com

Lately I have been scouring libraries for information on our regions Asian history, I've actually found a few good books that I am 'chomping at the bit' to read but have been under time constraints. (Which you all can relate to)

As it turns out there is quite a rich history of not only Japanese but Chinese and Filipinos in the Seattle and Pacific Northwest area and I plan to get around to documenting it all sooner or later, or at least reading everything that I can on the subject.

More on Wak in the news.
MLB.com
Seattle Times.

My fellow citizens

2009-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land--a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today, I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America--they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted--for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things--some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions--that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act--not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions--who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them--that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works--whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account--to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day--because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control--and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart--not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort--even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West--know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment--a moment that will define a generation--it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends--honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism--these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility--a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence--the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed--why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to [the] future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet" it.

America: In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Critique of the Mr. Presidents speech from the New York Times.

二世の娘

2009-01-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

In Nisei Daughter Ms Sone paints a vivid picture of what life was like for second generation Japanese Americans (日系アメリカ人 Nikkei Amerikajin) in Seattle. The book is incredibly funny in some parts, incredibly sad in others.

One thing that strikes me as even sadder than the story is that some people will still voice the opinion that Japanese internment was Justified. I imagine that these are the same kind of people who, had they lived in Germany during WWII would have condoned the creation of Jewish Ghetto's and thievery of Jewish property, (not to mention all the other diabolical things).
Actually I could also add the way Israel treats the people of Gaza now that they're behaving like Nazi's.

As Wikipedia and many other sources show it was blatantly racially motivated, a not-so-thinly disguised 'ol west land grab of valuable agricultural and urban real estate. The fact that Japanese Americans finally received redress substantiates this. (U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided for a formal apology and payments of $20,000 for each survivor.)Personally, I wish I could meet a person of that opinion face to face to debate my point of view, but it would probably do no good.

Quoting Sone from the preface of the 1979 edition, "So that their story will not be forgotten and lost to future generations, the Nikkeis are telling the nation about 1942, a time when they became prisoners of their own government, without charges, without trials. This happened because the President and the Congress yielded to the preasures of agricultural and other economic interest groups on the West Coast, which for 50 years had tried to be rid of the Nikkeis. Mass media assisted in molding public opinion to this end. Most astounding of all, the Supreme Court chose not to touch the issue of the Niseis' civil liberties as American citizens. In the Hirabayashi, Yasui, and Korematsu cases the court carefully avoided ruling on the basic constitutional issue of curfew and mass incarceration of a particular group of citizens, selected soley on the basis of ancestry. The court overlooked the vital American principle that consideration of guilt and punishment is to be carried out on an individual basis, and is not to be related to the wrongdoing of others. Justice Robert Jackson, in dissent wrote, "The Supreme Court for all time has validated the principle of radical discrimination in criminal procedure.""

Professor V. Rostrow of Yale delineated in his writing: "Until the wrong is acknowledged and made right, we shall have failed to meet the responsibility of a democratic society...the obligation of equal justice."

Even in light of Bush's formal apologies, and other rulings, have we as a nation made right those who were wronged? I don't believe so, we can spend trillions on destruction and war, but we haven't paid a drop in the bucket torwards our nations rascist crimes against Asian Americans, Native Americans, or African Americans.

I have blogged about this issue in the past so I won't continue dragging it through the mud. I was especially interested in hearing the details about geographical locations, streets, etc as they related to the era. The City of Seattle spreads north and south between two bodies of water--Elliott Bay to the west on the saltwater side, and Lake Washington to the east--and is somewhat constricted in the middle in an hour glass form. Main Street, a west-to-east street that bisects the city at the waist of the hourglass, could in 1930 be described as the main axis of the Japanese community. Skid Road, the "area of homeless men" were Ms. Sone's father managed a hotel and were she grew up, lay at the western end of Main Street between the waterfront and Fourth Avenue.

Here's the Google street view of Main St. today. To bad we couldn't somehow recreate a historical street view with photosynth.

View Larger Map

View Larger Map
More about Nisei
THE HAWAI'I NISEI STORY Americans of Japanese Ancestry During World War II
Niseiweek.org
Nisei Farmers League
Seattlenvc.org
'There's no use crying about the past'

update
I found a book at the library called, "Seattle Past and Present" written by Roger Sale a former professor of English at the University of Washington. I was especially interested in finding out if there were other Anglo Americans that were ashamed of the internment of Japanese Americans as I am. So I went though his history book wondering if he would gloss over the subject in a few sentences or give a credible account. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this,

"Within the memories of people now living in Seattle there is nothing more shameful then the awful fate of the Japanese Americans, who were captured like criminals, hauled away to concentration camps, and made to bear collectively a guilt that in fact was not even the responsibility of a single one, since no one in Seattle was ever charged with collaboration with the government of Japan."

As Mr. Sale searches for the reason why no one stood up or protested this heinous act against there neighbors, he attributes it largely to cultural naivety in general he says this,

"Perhaps the most revealing evidence offered by Seattle newspapers concerning the capture and incarceration of Seattle's Japanese is the matter-of-factness with which the whole affair was reported. Between December 1941 and May 1942, various plans were proposed, locally and nationally, and some were finally enforced, so that the city had almost no Japanese Americans six months after the war began. The news was reported with something close to blandness, neither played up nor hidden. There were few vitriolic racist letters to the editor, few cries of protest. There were pictures of some uprooted families and stories of farwells told with wan exceptance. It was as though it were an event taking place somewhere else. For this reason if no other , the best testimony comes from the Japanese themselves, and luckily they have left three stories that can be assembled... Monica Sone, "Nisei Daughter", Gordon Hirabayashi, and John Okada, author of No-No Boy."

He continues with another four pages from the accounts of those people. I am inclined to think that he did a fair representation of the facts, however, I am not a Japanese American history scholor so I am making a lot of assumptions.

Current Reading: China, Getting Rich First by Duncan Hewitt

2009-01-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

I have just finished Orwell's massive book "Essay's" a sharp political appraisal of the books of his day, also addressing social problems with an exceptionally keen eye. This set the framework for which I have been viewing Duncan Hewitt's book[ISBN-13:978-1933648477]. He must have read Orwell as well because he seems very perceptive to how his book will be scrutinized. So far, the book has taken many perspectives. What is it like from the underdog as well as the "well-heeled".

I am only 5 chapters into the book. I've read numerous other books about the cultural revolution aspects, but the first who has talked about the Chinese perception of IKEA and its impact on culture. The stories made me chuckle, like the man sleeping on the bed for an hour and people having pic-nics.

Recently some advice I had read about writing good posts was first Googling your topic for what else has been said already. Sage advice! Firstly, I found my copy at the local library, but here is a quick link to amazon to save you a few clicks [China, getting rich first by Duncan Hewitt] I use LibraryThing to track books and here is their quick link. I will have to write a review on there when I am done with the book because I noticed that there were none yet. (Any ideas on questions to pose toward a good book review would be appreciated, leave a comment.) I noticed there was no preview available on Google books.

The China Beat, an excellent blog were I got the idea to look for the book in the first place said this about the book. Check out the video clip for the young and restless in China as well--looks good.

Vic, another blogger had this to say China Getting Rich First, by Duncan Hewitt. "This book gives you a fair and reasonably objective perspective of a foreigner who has lived in China and interacted with people on a ground level." Well put Vic.

A reader from Singapore had this to say, "There have been many books written about this 21st century phenomenon called China but few to my mind have been particularly insightful, mostly because they are either of the blatantly pro-western ideologically tinged variety that would like nothing more than for China to fail, playing on the country's many shortcomings whilst conveniently forgetting its relatively short history of modernization or the adage that Rome was not built in a day, or the other kind written by hacks who have never set foot in the country but are nevertheless tempted to cash in on a subject that's on everyone's mind..." more

If you know of other reviews please leave me a link, comment, or your review (promise not to treat it as comment spam if its relevant) Because there was not a whole lot of public opinion out there that I noticed with a quick search, and it is a fine book on a very worthy subject.

Update 1/9/09 The book just gets better from were I first commented, I was pleased that Duncan has gone into great depth about the humanitarian issues surrounding the migrant workers of China, and how they become the most blatantly prayed upon population group. Chapter 9 is titled the floating people and would be a valuable read by itself. The book continues to educate and ask all the right questions. I was also impressed with his well researched history in chapter 5 on the media, the impact of the Internet and its role in changing social problems.

Im adding links to people mentioned that I plan to come back and do more reading on latter.
William S Burroughs
Yang Xingfeng
Sohu.com and Charles Zhang
Sina.com
Eastday.com
Gao Xingjian
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Confusing interpretation

2009-01-02T00:59:00.000-08:00

The website Global Voices attempts to translate the intent of this class's recital and a huge debate ensues. http://tinyurl.com/8savhz Are they teaching hatred of the west in Chinese grade school or was this a gross misinterpretation. Like I commented on twitter, if it is taken literal it sure dashes my hopes that our world is evolving away from petty nationalism and xenophobia. Obviously this is not one sided and it even feeds on feelings that the west does the same thing to China. Back in April 08 an article in the Herald Tribune stated this.

Century of Revolution

2008-12-30T23:34:00.000-08:00

I watched a century of revolution this last weekend. I thought it represented a fair perspective of the events showing views from multiple political perspectives. (Based on my reading of China, not first hand experience). Some graphic executions so be warned, its for a mature audience.

Directly after this I read an interesting article mentioned by Rebecca Mackinnon, (a repected voice on Chinese Internet and free expression), titled 'Two Faces' of Deng Xiaoping. That adds some current depth to this man who followed Mao.

Early in the documentary when they were discussing Chiang I was predisposed to think of him in light of the book I read on the Korean war (the coldest winter-see library thing in sidebar) which portrays him mostly in a negative fashion as a thieving dictator who let the oportunity to create healthy change slip away because of brutal repression of his rivals. The documentary seems to substantiate this view. However, in the bygone days of the times, Chaing had a lot of support from the US and there was a very different opinion of him then.

I am reading Orwell's book of essay's and it makes me painfully aware how cheap my political assesment of this topic is, so take it for what its worth, hopefully at least a pointer to an interesting subject that is garnering more attention lattely.

Christmas reading

2008-12-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I'm supposed to read the 1st Christmas story--and of course the one in Luke was always my favorite--but I have been floored by this book I checked out the other day by Muhammad Yunus "Creating a World Without Poverty". Another tweeter on twitter recommended Banker for the poor which I have procured through the library.

This is not a pep talk, reiteration of CNN, or an opinion column (like common wealth, which I only lasted 4 chapters before it got sent to /dev/null ) This is a book of solutions, a rare read, a bending and an awakening of the mind. A book that fly's in the face of current conventions and shows that the current paradigm needs to rethink whats possible.

I was thinking that this guy should get the Nobel then I found out that he did. haha.

Christmas 08

2008-12-24T01:21:00.000-08:00

I've acquired a smart looking Christmas tree several weeks ago, yes it was a living tree -- not a plastic replica. The smell of pine is very refreshing and with the garish strings of lights and baubles it shines Christmas joy out to the snow covered streets. An angel with wings of pine needles tops the tree and looks down at me from my couch.

I've forgone Television in favor of books and Internet and recently became inured with a popular social networking tool (Twitter) over IRC (although I still use the latter.) I just finished Fahrenheit 451 which has further entrenched me into a lifestyle devoid of perpetual reality programming. I am not opposed to television or movies per se, just annoyed with the distraction to my lust for learning. I recently watched James Bond Quantum of Solace at the theatre, and the Chinese movie "To Live", "Blue Kite", a few Samurai Champloo anime episodes, along with Initial D and Inyuasha on my computer--so I am not a purist hater of the boob tube.

My heart goes out to all the lonely people who will spend the Christmas holiday alone, I've felt that terrible pain but for some reason don't worry about it so much anymore. I have loaded up on books from the Library and have Internet and best of all 5 days off to enjoy all night reading binjes. (Starbucks as my aid) I have finally wore myself out on Civ4 and am back to trying my hand at the Ruby programming language once more.

(time stamp on photo was incorrect, it is the 24th)

Symbol of Peace

2008-12-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

I don't believe Greece qualifies as Asian studies (the theme of my blog) but I wanted to share with you all some stunning photos from the Riots stemming out of the police slaying of a 15 year old boy. Greece needs our prayers and wishes for peace this Christmas. article.

Rocks

2008-12-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Something I have been wanting to do is expand my knowledge of Korea, which up until now has been limited to a few acquaintances that were there in the army, the book the Coldest Winter (check my librarything)and eating at Korean restaurants in the Seattle area. There is definitely a thriving Korean community here in the northwest and one can see as many Korean signs as Spanish ones. One of the first things that comes to mind was the current controversy over the Liancourt Rocks, also known as Dokdo or Tokto (독도/獨島, literally "solitary island") in Korean or Takeshima (竹島^? literally "bamboo island") in Japanese, (pictured below)

Well as I started to research it (who knows were those rss blurbs went to) I noticed that this blog has already done a fine job explaining it from a near first hand perspective. According to Jo-Anna these islands were seized during Japans early 20th century expansionism and should have been returned. There are many that say that Korea has no substantial evidence to lay claim to these rocks and the author of Japan probe claims to have thoroughly investigated it. It should be noted that the American cartographers view is that they are "Undesignated Sovereignty" here is a historical website that will give you a little more background.

This leads me to wonder; could this video have been inspired by the current pissing match over the small islands known as the Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan? Even if it is not, its a hilarious waste of 5 to 10 minutes.

dispelling cultural naivety

2008-12-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Being a westerner who hasn't traveled in Asia since I was a young boy my head is full of preconceived notions and ideas about the orient. I was born in Japan, does that make me a Japanese? No, but it did give me a deep and abiding love for all things Japanese, all things that is, except for a common view of their superiority over their neighbors. After reading a great deal of history about the great wars that were fought from numerous sources both pro and anti Japanese, (and benefiting from the current trends of modern historians to dispel age old bias in the retelling of history) I started to have a clearer picture of the magnitude of misery inflicted both by the Japanese and upon the Japanese people.

What has really helped me to balance my perspective was befriending a Chinese student at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tao Xu, who has graciously shared his friendship and perspective on how the Chinese still feel toward the Japanese has greatly tempered my blind love affair with Japan. Let me explain that he does not hate Japanese, but does get angry with the way the Japanese treated his country during WWII.(and what I have now read about Nanjing, is understandable) furthermore there is a great perception-real or imagined that the Japanese by and large are unrepentant for there actions. Friends who have visited Japan recently talk of Japanese dislike for foreigners (gaijin) and outright racism against non-Japanese.

The only thing I as a westerner can compare this to is the great divide our country (the U.S.) over racial issues such as the subjugation of native Americans or slavery, or the ongoing duplicitous nature of Mexican imigrants and the horrors they face. However, being a white man, I only know of their problems in a sheltered sort of way.

What I see and imagine is a changing world with hope. I might be naive, but I see relations improving amongst the nations of the world, I see Japanese who are repentant, I see native Americans that have become rich off of the same white mans greed through their casinos and I am not envious. I see a black man as our president, in itself an unprecedented change. I see new relationships between the US and China. A possible healing between the US and Cuba. I could go on.

My point is that if a person looks around them outside the bias and propoganda that poisons our minds we can answer that song "were is the love" by pointing to the good things that are occurring.

In closing I would like to share the following photo of a letter sent by the afore mentioned friend. I am grateful for this friendship and would like to point out the giving nature of the Chinese people in general. Although we have not been corresponding for even a year he has put his heart into this letter, what you see is a ticket from the Beijing Olympics, stationary from the University and a little golden fan and a unique stamped envelope (stamps are on the back) and a sincere letter of friendship that thoroughly touched my heart. I can't tell you how happy I was to receive this letter today. So you see, with a little effort people can change the world little by little by just being cool to one another.

Revisiting the Golden Pavilion

2008-11-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

You'll remember that in an earlier post I blogged about a book I was reading by Yukio Mishima called "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion". In this fictional book Yukio bases the protagonist off of a true event. I am revisiting this topic because I stumbled on this YouTube video that shows the location and the recreated temple that was in the book. OK, it's got some interesting stuff on Geisha as well.

You think you have problems?

2008-11-28T21:53:00.000-08:00

My friend TaoMingRui said he will be making an appearance in China and that he might be able to get some pictures of that on his blog soon. Also thank you for finding this youtube video here.

Teach English in China: Sichuan, Guanxi, Gansu Volunteers

2008-11-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

Notice at the end there was an offer to assist in placing of teachers who wanted to stay in China, this would be a great opportunity, check it out. link.

I heard about it on twitter from a guy who was setting down with the founder of Sichuan Vol Teachers group. http://onemanbandwidth.com/wordpress/ and Lonnie B Hodge's twitter

In this video I could not figure out why they are all crying.

數碼港

2008-11-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

The Hong Kong Cyberport is an area designed to attract quality IT companies to help make Hong Kong the digital city of the Asia-Pacific region. Cyberport - Hong Kong’s IT Flagship - is a US $2 billion (HK$15.8 billion) landmark project managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited and wholly owned by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The project is being developed on a 24-hectare site at Telegraph Bay in the southern district of Hong Kong Island. It comprises four office buildings, a five-star hotel, a retail entertainment complex and a deluxe residential development, aiming at creating an interactive environment that will be home to a strategic cluster of about 100 IT companies and 10,000 IT professionals. (link to the home page) Apparently it is going to be a university as well. This is really cool, I intend to find a way to at least stay at the 170-room five-star Le Meridien Cyberport hotel.

Asian stock market news

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T22:19:00.000-08:00

Bruce Schneier a respected voice in the information security business and a legend amongst hackers everywhere posted a great observation about how spending mega tax dollars on the latest security measure will inevitably fail; said Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz "You show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border. That's the way the border works," Napolitano told the Associated Press. link . What is amazing is the ignorant comments people will make. I say ignorant because the majority of commentators on his post missed the whole point of the observation. One asshole even made the remark that we should shoot people crossing the border, which shows why the movement conservative people are able to continually win elections by playing off fears and racial issues that are illogical and largely incorrect. Thank God that people finally woke up and started moving to the left again, because quite frankly I was becoming ashamed to admit that I was a U.S. citizen, anyway enjoy this very funny video that sums up my thoughts on the matter of immigration perfectly.

(they pulled the video off their server, oh well, you might have seen it anyway, it was from the point of view of Native Americans who were looking at the new whites as illegal immigrants, with all the cliche dialogues of immigration prejudices.)

Mother

2008-11-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb
Mother do you think they'll like the song
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls
Ooooh aah, Mother should I build a wall
Mother should I run for president
Mother should I trust the government
Mother will they put me in the firing line
Ooooh aah, is it just a waste of time
Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mama's gonna make all of your
Nightmares come true
Mama's gonna put all of her fears into you
Mama's gonna keep you right here
Under her wing
she won't let you fly but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cosy and warm
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
Of course Mama's gonna help build the wall

Mother do think she's good enough for me
Mother do think she's dangerous to me
Mother will she tear your little boy apart
Oooh aah, mother will she break my heart
Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mama's gonna check out all your girl friends for you
Mama won't let anyone dirty get through
Mama's gonna wait up till you get in
Mama will always find out where
You've been
Mamma's gonna keep baby healthy and clean
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
You'll always be a baby to me
Mother, did it need to be so high.

lyrics by pink floyd

The Humans are dead...

2008-11-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

Thoughts of an outsider

2008-11-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

I should clarify from the start that I am not an economist, nor an expert in Sinitic studies. Recently I finished the book I was reading "Future perspectives of the economic development of Asia" (link in sidebar) and immediately started reading what Suisheng Zhao has billed as "...a remarkable tour de force of the 'one country, two systems' actualization in Hong Kong", another book granted through the inter-library loan system, "The Dynamics of Beijing Hong Kong relations a model for Taiwan?" by Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo.

I think that it probably goes without saying that there are great changes underway all over Asia, and it is one of the reasons I am delving into Asian studies. I have lost faith in the belief that the media will ever bring enough information to fully understand any noteworthy subject, a true tragedy of our age.

[What a great time to be alive! All around us there is a renaissance taking place on many levels. Technology is increasing faster than most people can comprehend, whether its electronics (robots, implantable memory, military spy insects, satellites, vision for the blind, voiceless communication, software defined radios) or genetics (cloning prehistoric animals) which raise whole new questions of ethics similar to Gatica. I mean, has there ever been groups like the federation of mind control that seem to proliferate like today?]

What I am finding right now in my studies on Hong Kong is that if you just count beans, so to speak, you wind up with facts like "Hong Kong did not adopt an explicit industrial policy but focused more on establishing good relations with China, Taiwan, to facilitate the flow of commerce." (future perspectives page 30) which while might be accurate is misleading without knowing the bigger picture of the politics behind such decision process. While it might be true that after the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to its motherland and although there were specific laws left in place to ensure autonomy we find that "at the middle and lower levels of Hong Kong judiciary, however, the local courts can deal with cases ranging from tort to family law, criminal to the law of inheritance in a highly autonomous manner, yet in the area of constitutional law and these policy issues that involve Beijing's relations with the *Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (or HKSAR), such as the right to abode, political reform and the office of the new chief executive, the local courts including the court of final appeal do not really have a high degree of judicial autonomy as promised in (the basic law)" [Dynamics... pg 14] It is important to note that article 106 of the basic law stipulates that the HKSAR shall use its financial resources exclusively for its own purposes and that they shall not be handed over to the central government. (In fact the central government does not Levey taxes in the HKSAR) ...Yet Beijing can extend resources from the HKSAR by floating the shares and bonds of mainland enterprises in HK...{Dynamics pg 28]

What does this all mean? Aside from the fact that I have a lot more studying to do, it simply means that even with predictions like Hong Kong having a higher standard of living by 2020 than the US [Future perspectives...pg 63] It is obvious that even with all the great tools of statistic gathering and projecting, economies are so interrelated, complex, and volatile that only God could possibly know how this is going to turn out.

That there are other factors shaping Hong Kong than the pure pursuit of money that it is accustomed to. What is occurring has webs of politics deeper than most Americans realize or care to realize. Namely, China's ultimate goal to have Taiwan back in its fold.

I conversed briefly with new found friends who have lived and done business in that area and globally, who understand these things first hand.

One thing is certain, the Chinese will be a formidable force in the hedgemonies of the world in this coming generation and it would be wise for people to realize this new paradigm. I believe that China will swallow up and dominate all of Asia before to long, not that this is either good or bad. If it weren't for the way China is so willing to enforce its will with draconian measures like in the Tiananmen protests, If it could do away with the "Guanxi politics" of nepotism and cronyism -- wait a minute-- Isn't that what the Bush administration was doing?

I don't think we can logically divide the world into communism and democracy like most Americans are so ready to do anymore. There is an apparent equilibrium that both sides seem to be rushing to.

In closing, in my recent studies of foreign politics I started becoming more aware the glaring flaws in US politics. Currently I am reading The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman who has some very interesting observations about the direction our country has been going and why we are seeing the rapid disappearance of the middle class. All through the election process I was very distrustful of Obama, and as a matter of fact I didn't even listen to one of his speeches, but anything has to be better than the Bush regimes shipwrecked policies, and personally I am hoping that we take a drastic swing away from the right and maybe even craft a new 'New Deal' before its to late.

*footnote: Special administrative regions otherwise known as special economic zones (SEZs) generally provide tax exemptions on raw materials, duty free imports of key materials, and cheap, accessible and reliable support infrastructure services including transport (road, sea, air) power and water. They also include site rental at reduced rates and tax holidays or other tax breaks. [Future perspectives...pg37]

further reading;
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hongkong25-2008nov25,0,4001132.story .
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1wzSod5oHgY&refer=home .

The World of Wan Chai

2008-11-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

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"Wan Chai (Small Harbor in Cantonese) is the most crowded and bustling area on Hong Kong island. For most Chinese locals, this is where the real action is. The gently gaudy, playful look of its most notable landmark, the magnificent Central Plaza tower, captures the indigenous energy of this area. Wan Chai is the only district in Hong Kong that prominently displays its insignia on major streets. It contains only four Chinese characters: Wan Chai, Health, Vitality" Leo Ou-fan Lee (I also borrowed the title of the 3rd chapter of his book "City between Worlds" for my blog post)
The chapter goes on to discuss the resistance to urban "renewal" in Wan Chai, so when I saw this article about the Wan Chai Mega Tower project I was of course intrigued. Not having ever been to Hong Kong I will reserve opinion as to whether it is a good thing or bad that it was reduced 31 percent to heed complaints by conservationists and residents.
If this is the very same project that Leo was referring to "the project has met fierce local opposition. Especially those who grew up in Wan Chai seem determined to preserve a sense of the districts past, if not through the preservation of every old street and building, then through commemoration. A host of personal reminiscences have appeared in the last decade, written mostly by native writers who grew up here in the early 1950s. They conjure up a community of poverty and suffering, punctuated by occasional joy..." and he continues to add his memories of places that are now no more. Actually a large portion of the book carries this theme.

This map borrowed from Wikipedia shows the changes in the area due to land reclamation. So, it will be a chief question on my mind when I get a chance to talk to my Hong Kong friend from church what his opinion on all this is. Ironically he and I and the Cantonese translator gentleman I mentioned in a previous post are all involved in construction so I anticipate a varied view point. I am for historical preservation to a certain degree when I think of Seattle, but mostly I would like to see things go vertical and unlike many people I know wouldn't mind if the viaduct became a bunch of tall buildings. Whats wrong with a tunnel? (Be warned! this is a highly unpopular stance around here.)

There was mention in the Mega tower project that there would be a public park, and extensive trees planted. I think that is the key to urban development, that there be a compromise between expansion and nature. I think they can coexist just fine.

Food for thought

2008-11-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

Asia/Pacific Equity Strategy: 2009 â€” Deja Vu 1998?
M. Wood, R. Tsai, C. Ng
Asia is far better placed than it was in 1997 to withstand a financial crisis, in our view. Together with Asia's large external surpluses, low levels of leverage, and liquid and well-capitalised banking systems, low inflation should support significant policy easing to counter the global downturn. Based on various criteria, we conclude that Greater China - China, Taiwan and Hong Kong - is best placed, while Australia, Malaysia, and India are worst placed.

Mandarin and Cantonese lesson

2008-11-16T13:16:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned in previous posts about venturing out to the ECC (Evangelical Chinese Church) , well, I am still going every Sunday and this makes my 3rd visit. Directly after the Cantonese service is the Mandarin service so to attend both I would forgo socializing past a few polite exchanges, however, today I was witness to an especially excellent linguistic treat. A Pastor that spoke Mandarin was giving the service and it was being directly translated by a Cantonese gentleman.

This was very exhausting but at the same time such a remarkable event because I could listen to well crafted Mandarin from pastor Alex Cui who had taught Chinese history among other jobs then have it directly spoken in Cantonese from a gentleman that I actually spoke with after the mass but have since forgotten his name. (An interesting coincidence is that Alex arrived in Seattle on February 15 (2003)which also happens to be my birthday.)

If you are wondering if I was getting any religious teaching during all this, the answer is yes.

Since my first visit I have made the acquaintance of Mr. Szeto formerly of Hong Kong who has shown the truest Christian hospitality in numerous ways, from introducing me to others and saving a spot for me to set, to making sure that I got a snack afterward. (Thanks Raymond Szeto) He has more importantly shared his bible with me so I can at least find out the nature of the sermon. (His bible is a Union New International Version that is both English, and Simplified Chinese.

I recognize the songs and I even have began to mumble the Chinese under my breath. Mr. Szeto has encouraged me to focus on Mandarin, which he says will not only be easier but more useful in the long run. I totally agree and respect this opinion, however, I am adamant about learning both Canto and Mandarin.

I am progressively making more acquaintances and becoming more familiar with the faces around me. These people are incredibly polite and friendly and I feel right at home. Not only that but it gives me greater assurance that I will someday find my place in Asia amongst the Chinese people not an insurmountable barrier.

I had prepared a Cantonese greeting, but it never seems to make it out of my mouth. I am also very aware that if the tone is said wrong it can change the whole meaning of the word.

I found this terrific article about teaching in Hong Kong from first (and second) hand experience. It is well worth reading and far more meaningful than my ramblings.

Tiger Talk

2008-11-15T05:49:00.000-08:00

Before the economy started falling apart Paul Krugman had given a speech at the Google campus which, when I saw it I thought he was on to something but not much more than that. Latter I learned that he won the Nobel for economics after his predictions were shown to be correct. Aside from these 2 observations and what is on Wikipedia I had made my judgment that I liked him. (and still do.)

While reading East and West by Christopher Patten (the Last Governor of Hong Kong) I came upon his opinion of Paul Krugman and thought it noteworthy to mention it here. I have always valued getting a different perspective on our politics and critical thinkers from outside the US to balance what we are bombarded with in the media. I don't know if that is even enough to get an unbiased view but it at least gets a second opinion.

Here is an excerpt from East and West (all credit to the author)

"One school would have us believe that the Asian tale has not been extraordinary at all and that before the 1997 crash, it was stuttering toward its end. These pessimists such as the distinguished American economist Paul Krugman, argue that Asia's so-called miracle is the result of perspiration, not inspiration. Krugman compares the Asian economies to the Soviet Union's, arguing that their growth was the result of massive investment and a big switch in the labor force from farms to factories. He suggests that their has been no significant productivity gain in Asia as a result either of advances in technology or of changes in corporate or public sector management and organization.Economic momentum has been achieved by the sheer weight of cash and labor, a process that cannot be repeated.

Before the crash, Krugman's arguments were furiously refuted. Some economists claimed that the productivity gains in Asia had been much greater than he suggested. Others pointed to the effectiveness of investment in Asia, to the skill of Asians in acquiring technology from elsewhere, and to the successful mix of macroeconomic and labor market policies followed by Asian governments. They argued that East Asian and Southeast Asian economies still had a lot of catching up to do, which they would take in their stride as the gap in capitol supporting their own workers and the much larger figures in the old 'rich countries' started to close.

The events of 1997 and 1998 may have tipped the scales in favor of Krugman's vision of economic history, but it seemed to me that anecdote added its unscientific weight to the case that something rather more special happened in Asia. What you saw in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, or Seoul, looked like much more than perspiration; it often looked pretty smart to me. It was not just the rolling up of sleeves that enabled Hong Kong to make so smoothly and successfully transition from being a low technology manufacturing center of cheap goods to being a higher value added economy with services and more profitable sectors of manufacturing most prominent. Inspiration as well as sweat went into creating Asian products that have often driven western competitors of the shelves and counters. Economic mangers in Asia like John Cowperthwaite in Hong Kong, and Lee Kuan Yew's team in Singapore looked inspired in comparison with some of their perspiring western peers. What is more, as hundreds of millions of Asians discovered market forces for the first time, they seemed to take naturally to capitalist entrepreneurialism, like West Indians to crikket, or Puerto Ricans to baseball.

Nevertheless, there are two essential truths in the arguments that surround Paul Krugman's thesis, and they are more important to a comprehension of Asia's future than any dispute about productivity figures. First of all, as the second halfof 1997 demonstrated in the spectalur market collapses throughout the region, Asia has not found a way around all the usual economic rules. Second what has been happening in Asia is not alien. It is not in the literal sence a miracle. You cannot explain miracles; you can, on the other hand, explain Asia's economic advance (and its recent pandemonium). Asia's advance is wholly explicable: What has happened there is very similar to what lifted every other economy in the past off its agrarian knees, but the process has dramitically speeded up as technology has advanced. So miracles may have happened in Fatima and Lourdes, but there has been no economic miracle either in Asia or anywhere else."

Being that this book was published in 1998, and the fact that Krugman has now been right on several major crash's his opinion is not to be triffled with. I did like Lord Patten of Barnes experienced comment based on 5 years of observing Asia first hand. I am not going to attempt to make my own uneducated comments on this matter. My education on the East has only just begun. I am constantly looking out for newer and more current books and articles, and just yesterday the library contacted me about one of my books on order from another library that is so rare I have to pay $12 to borrow it for a month. (better than paying $100 for the book which I don't have.) It is actually not an economic book, it was titled Understanding the criminal justice system in Hong Kong.

I just received a link to a relevant article on global economics. decoupling. Thanks Jim.

On another subject I thought this was unique; A trip to Ushika Daibutsu.

Teaching English in Hong Kong

2008-11-14T00:18:00.000-08:00

My Asian dream is starting to come into clearer focus. I had known about English teaching jobs in Japan already, but after following some of these teachers blogs and I wasn't so sure if this was for me. I have been trying to dream up a way to live in Makati (a swank section of Manila) for a while because for the cost of an average condo in the Seattle area, you could have a super nice life style and live like a millionaire in the Philippines. (I also have extensive friends in the PI).

OK, so how would I support myself? Well, it is inexpensive because the jobs are not paying what we are used to here in the US either, which goes without saying. Yesterday I was intrigued by this article that I read about teaching in Hong Kong. Today after a little more research--and it wasn't that difficult to find--this turned up.

So basically if you have a BA preferably in English and a license to teach in North America you can make between $2000-$6000 per month USD plus a $1800 per month housing allowance.

Needless to say, I am hell bent on wanting that degree now. I am going to really buckle down because as I see it, it could be an exellent way to stack up my retirement, learn Chinese language and Culture, and basically do what I have long dreamed about. Getting the heck out of the US, leaving my bad memories behind and starting a new life.

So for those who have watched my blog progress, I am now seeing my birthplace of Japan more of a place to visit and not a place to live. I especially liked the part of that article that said that the Chinese have a very high repect for education and teachers, which I thought was true with all of Asia but have been hearing differently. (some of the Japanese blogs I follow are from English teachers in Japan who talk about the utter lack of respect that they receive, or at best just total indifference. When I read that I was shocked, I was thinking that it is no different than the US educational system then. Another selling point was that English is the official language, so one could adjust to Asia and not be overwhelmed by culture shock and the apparent Japanese tradition of unacceptance of giajin.

Don't get me wrong now, I still am very much infatuated with most things Japanese. I hope to someday put pictures of Japan here on my blog. But after reading those articles and noticing that the round trip airfare between Manila and Hong Kong was less than $200 it felt like a light went on and I suddenly had a direction to go in.

It would probably do me some good to take some English classes anyway, just so my rambling isn't so painful to read

Learning about Hong-Kong 香港

2008-11-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

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Hong Kong is, in the words of the Chinese journalist Tsang Ki-Fan "The only Chinese society that, for a brief span of one hundred years, lived through an ideal never realized at any time in the history of Chinese society--a time when no man had to live in fear of the midnight knock on the door." Hong Kong had a competent government, pursuing market economics under the rule of law. It was a government that fully met the Confucian goal--"Make the local people happy and attract migrants from afar."

In my current reading "East and West", written by the controversial last governor of Hong Kong, Christopher Patten says that Hong Kong "swishes and stirs most of the better ideas that have been adduced for explaining the nature and causes of economic growth. It supports the proposition that growth is essentially an urban phenomenon, the unplanned consequences of one bright spark's energies animating the prospects for other less talented citizens. The economists call this, rather dourly the externalities of growth. Both Adam Smith and Milton Friedman would find much to celebrate in Hong Kong's record.

At a time when it was politically and bureaucratically fashionable in the postwar years to plan, subsidize, intervene, and control, Hong Kong's special fortune was to be blessed with a small team of colonial administrators eccentric enough to believe in free markets and cussed enough to stick to their guns despite efforts to see social democratic sense. It is a mark of the extent to which the sovereign power, Britain, left Hong Kong to its own devices, guaranteeing its autonomy in domestic matters, that while the home country flirted with many of the famously well known ways of impoverishing a nation (nationalization, high taxation, rigid labor markets, excessive spending), it allowed its colonial dependency to practice the ancient economic virtues with conspicuous success.

Natural entrepreneurial flair, randomly and sometimes brutally suppressed at different times in China's long history, also contributed its vitality to the Hong Kong economy, and this quality was given an especially fleet footed audacity by the fact that Hong Kong is essentially a refugee community, not rootless but markedly able to dig up and put down roots at high speed. Those who had made fortunes in Shanghai (in textiles, for instance) only to see them stolen in the name of Marxism-Leninism remade fortunes in Hong Kong. Those who had starved elsewhere in China, especially in the southern provinces that formed the colonies hinterland, came to Hong Kong to make a fortune for the first time.

The Hong Kong story is at its most remarkable after the Second World War. Broken-Backed by war and ruthless occupation, attempting to reestablish the institutions of government and to rebuild its modest fortune as a trading center in the bleak days of the Korean War's embargo on China, Hong Kong found itself having to provide a home for wave after wave of refugees from the turbulent events of modern Chinese history. They fled from the brutalities of war and revolution, from the famine spawned by the Great Leap Forward, from the insane cruelties of the Cultural Revolution. Sometimes they climbed over barbed-wire fences to get into Britain's Chinese colony; sometimes they cheated sharks in Hong Kong's waters and swam; sometimes they clung to the bottom of railway carriages or hid in baskets of fruit and vegetables. They came by the hundred thousand...."