Traveling Atomist

Year of the Google Dragon

2012-01-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! I believe today is the official new years day and according to the Chinese zodiac, 2012 will be the year of the dragon. For me, 2011 was the year of the Google dragon, so it is a bit serendipitous. It was not only the year Android and Chrome ascended to market prominence, it was also the year I got disenchanted. (I may conflate a bit of history. Do not take me too literally here).

Microsoft is the software company whose products I use the most. Comparing Google to them, over any given period of sufficient length, say, 6 months, I run into about as many Google bugs as Microsoft bugs. At the conscious level, I feel this is being kind to Google, but I also realize that I have used some Microsoft products for many years and they probably have some quirks I work around without thinking about it. The complexity of the Microsoft functionality I use is several orders of magnitude more than the Google functionality I use. By the time I booted my system and started my browser, I have already run millions of lines of code. During most weeks I will use a whole slew of Microsoft products, such as most of the Office suite, Visual Studio, Visio, SQL Server and other back-office products, not to mention several versions of Windows. (I understand that Google does have an impressive infrastructure, in both the logical and the physical sense, to serve up web pages, fast, to gazillions of users.)

I love my Microsoft products and could write other blog posts about why, but today I have been thinking more about Google. I keep running into annoying bugs. The worst is when they lose my blog post, and that only happens when I have been working for hours on one. I cannot remember the last time a Microsoft product lost my data.

It gets worse. I develop browser extensions for a living (OK, that is an exaggeration, but it is part of my job). In order to test these, I load various browser configurations and then hammer on it with automated tests until it crashes, or several days pass, whichever occurs first. I can tell you that with IE8 at least, the naked browser does not crash. (Earlier versions were also pretty solid, but they did have some CPU issues.) Once I start loading other browser extensions, such as the Google toolbar, the Yahoo toolbar, the Flash plugin, etc, that is when the browser starts to crash. Of these, the Google toolbar is by far the worst. The time to live goes from open-ended to hours, singlehanded courtesy of the Google extension.

Add to this that you have to be on your toes something fierce if you do not want the Google toolbar. That thing spreads like a virus. I have on a couple of occasions gotten it installed with some other software, probably overlooking some crucial checkbox, and have had to uninstall it.

I am a firm believer in Heinlein's Razor: Cock-up before conspiracy. I am fairly certain no sinister plan was in play here. It would have been a pretty neat trick, though: develop an unstable extension to your competitor's product, propagate it aggressively using any means available, then ship your own product and laud its stability.

I could say more, but I am going to publish my post before Blogger loses it.

Unintentionally Dislikeable Characters

2012-01-15T21:08:00.000-08:00

I watched the first season of Damages, the 2007 show with Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. The show is outstanding and now one of my all-time favorites. I wished they had stuck to legal and personal drama. It would have made the show more realistic and there is plenty of tension and suspense to be had using that theme. They added shocking violence, including several murders and attempted murders, which I thought was gratuitous. That said, I understand violence sells and it still comes out as a great show to watch. It is entertaining and the travails Ellen (Byrne's character) has to go through are real and poignant.

One thing I like in particular is that there are no good guys or gals. There are gradations, of course. Not all the characters are murderous villains. There are just no obvious heroes. Ellen Parsons comes the closest, but even with her, it is clear from the beginning that she is driven mostly by ambition. There are some villains, but they are not obvious. Frobisher (Ted Danson), the former CEO defending himself against Ellen's team, is the antagonist, and he is clearly of dubious moral character. Still, some scenes elicit sympathy even for him, and it struck me that at the end of the season, it has not been revealed to the audience for a fact that he is guilty of all the actions charged. It is also clear that Hewes (Close's character) is equally as heinous as Frobisher.

The character I disliked the most was Katie, Ellen's potential sister-in-law. She is initially pegged as a witness against Frobisher. I found her to be void of redeeming characteristics and full of despicable ones. She is self-centered, self-righteous, conniving, lying, and vindictive. She perjures herself out of spite, committing a felony lying about a man because she does not like him. (There is some indication she is a good cook, which would be a positive, but since that is a skill and not a character trait, I am not willing to let that exonerate her, my high regard for the cooking profession not-withstanding). I doubt it was intentional, but as written, Katie comes out worse than Frobisher himself.

This reminded me of another character partially fitting the same mold. In Dollhouse, the main character is Echo, the most talented doll in the house. Echo's real character, before she entered the Dollhouse and became a programmable doll, is Caroline. I like Echo as a character and several early episodes piques the interest. However, Caroline is naive, self-righteous and angry. That is a dangerous combination. I did not see a single scene that made Caroline come out in a good light, only as a rebellious, ditzy youth on a destructive bent. To be sure, she did not have as many bad traits as Katie, but her personality makeup was more scary.

Again, I am doubtful that either of these characters were meant to be so dislikeable. The shows work anyway. In Katie's case, because she is not a main character and because everybody in Damages are so shady that she does not stand out so much. In Caroline's case, because though Echo is a main character, Caroline is not and we see very little of her.

Love Stories from the Ancient

2011-12-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

The November issue of The Atlantic has an article, "All the Single Ladies," speaking about marriage in today's Western world from a woman's perspective. It is a good read, and if you are a single male it is a must. The writer, Kate Bolick, is successful, gorgeous (when I saw her picture on the front cover I thought she was a model), a woman in a marriageable age that has an abstract desire to maybe be part of a couple, and yet continues to seek something elusive, just like many of us, not clear on exactly what we would give up our empovered single life for.

Bolick interviews and quotes Stephanie Coontz, who wrote a book, "Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage." I have not read it. The point seems to be that love in marriage is a relatively recent thing. Bolick expands on this in the article, saying that marriage in the past was functional, something more like a business proposition than an expression of sentiment.

I have heard this before, and it is true that marrying someone because we like them and want to have that person in our lives is a product of the 20th century. The reason for this is progress. The desire to build relationships this way has always been there, only the ability is new. You can see this from the romantic love stories of the past, both real ones and fictional ones. For instance, from the middle ages we have the story of Abelard and Heloise and the poem of Romeus and Juliet, and from the greeks the most classical story of Paris and Helen. In Native American and Oriental folklore, I have heard several examples of young lovers paying the ultimate price for their stupidly romantic feelings.

I want to go even further back to the oldest story of all: Adam and Eve. (Assuming the bible is older than the legends informing The Illiad, which I know is not a given.) In the garden of eden, when Adam chose to eat from the apple after Eve did, and then side with her against god (by hiding with her), he violated the first commandment and like all other young lovers after him, paid dearly. So much so that, according to the legend, not just Adam, but all his descendants, had to pay the price. In my copy of the bible, this happens on the 4th page. I cannot think of either an older or a more dramatic expression of love between spouses.

Letter to an Old Contrarian

2011-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Hitchens:

I was sad to hear of your death December 15, 2011. I have no doubt many pieces have been, and will be, written in remembrance. There is little I can say to add or subtract from these, yet, my admiration for you is such that I must try.

There are several dimensions to this admiration. I will mention two of them, the first being the courage of your convictions, and the intellectual honesty to go where these convictions logically led you. You wrote scathing obloquies attacking sacred cows, with no regard how these might be received by your edidtors, your fan base, or the public at large.

Other writers have noted how this trait made you continually defend your position on Iraq. I find that curious; lots of reasonable people disagreed about that war. I have been more impressed with your dissection of the Mother Theresa myth. There was a time when I thought criticising Mother Theresa in the 20th century would have been like trying to criticise Hildegard in the 12th. Yet, your hostility to religion compelled you to pull this off.

The other aspect I want to mention is our shared contempt for the bullies of humanity: the fascists, tyrants, dictators, intimidators, thugs, puritans, all the various oppressors in their various guises. They make our lives miserable and you ceaselessly, resolutely, pointed that out. For this reason alone, your passing is a loss to us.

I know according to your own beliefs, there is nothing left of you to receive any part of this letter or my thoughts. Nevertheless, I offer my gratitude for what you left, in impressions and in print.

In memoriam.

Plutocracy Launch

2011-11-28T21:40:00.001-08:00

Last week I received the main shipment of Plutocracy. It has been three long years in the making. Lots of people have encouraged me along and helped me out. I keep telling people, in all seriousness, that this is a labor of love -- and it has all been worth it. In particular, seeing and hearing my friends having fun with has been some of the best motivation.

The Siege, Prescient Movie from 1998

2011-11-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

The Siege came out in 1998, three years before 9/11. It anticipated a lot of the controversies arising out of the reaction to this terrible event, such as the Patriot Act and the use of torture. Of course, the writers did not know of specific legislation ironically called "Patriot," and the issue of rendition did not come up in the movie. Nevertheless, it is an outstanding treatment of the issues surrounding the war on terror.

Below is one of the better bits in the movie. General Devereaux (Bruce Willis) and Elise Kraft (Annette Bening) is talking about how to get information out of a captured terrorist while a stupefied FBI Agent Hubbard (Denzel Washington) watches, then launches a supreme, if short, soliloquy.

The movie is not perfect. I found Bening unconvincing as a CIA officer, let alone a high-placed one. She is too emotional. I do not believe women (or men) with that kind of conscience are likely to end up in the position Kraft is implied to possess, or would at least not confess openly to strangers with no clearance.

In the movie, Washington plays the hero, a diligently principled FBI agent. In reality, the FBI is as big a threat to our civil liberties as other Federal agencies. The FBI got an undeserved favorable treatment in the movie, but I do understand they needed a Federal cop with some authority to get the script to work. I liked Washington's character here and believe there must be officers like him in the real world.

They went over the top a bit with the domestic application of the military towards the end, but it works to increase the action and the drama. If you have not seen this movie, again or at all, since 9/11, add it to your Netflix queue or run down to your favorite video store and get it now.

What Horror Movies Get Right

2011-10-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

Horror Movies are generally known to be so bad it almost constitute its own separate B-category. It is true the acting is sub-standard, the lighting is purposefully disturbing, story lines follow a predictable template and the dialog is cheesy. Yet, there are some things they get almost consistently right, at least as entertainment vehicles. These are things I often find lacking in artsy films and even mainstream ones.

(Caution: Youtube-links below are all viewer discretion advised...)

The most important is the pacing. Horror movies always move along at a good clip and keep the tension throughout. They are also generally short, where many of the more serious kind drag on way too long, the producer too fond of his own work to cut unneeded scenes.

Horror movies establish the conflict up front, often with an introductory scene where we see the first victim getting it. Not even in the worst C horror movies have you any doubt who is going to be after the protagonist. (The protagonist is often established later, because in horror, the monster is really the main character, even though POV typically follows someone else).

To stay with the conflict theme, in horror, the fight is not only between the monster and the people, but always between the people themselves. In the best horror movies, a group is trapped somewhere, whether on a spaceship, on an antarctic ice-shelf, or an old house. This is a terrific concept for drama.

Unlike many pretentious 'films' made by pretentious movie-makers, horror flicks do not take themselves seriously, even making fun of themselves. I usually get at least one good laugh out of them, something I do not always get from comedies.

American movies are fraught with invincible heroes and happy endings. This is true even for the more serious ones. Horror movies have no such delusions. Anyone can get it and endings are never happy. Nothing and nobody is perfect, just like the real world. Irony squared.

So if you get tired of the longish, boring, inflated, stale, or muddled fare, check out some gore!

He Could Not Even Cut Taxes Right

2011-10-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

When Elizabeth Warren's video went viral, it produced some furore. It surprised me a little, partly because it did not sound like she said much we have not heard before, and partly because I mostly agree with the first part of her speech. I was strongly against the Iraq war and the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit that Bush pushed through. I was initially on the fence about Afghanistan, but do think the US should have left long ago. I also was not a big fan of the tax cuts, and in response to the debate following her video and some recent comments from friends, I started thinking about why.

I think taxes should be low, simple and even. The Bush cuts realized the first of these with lower rates, but at the expense of the other two. In particular, by lowering the rates so much for dividends, we now have a skewed tax system where investors pay a lot less than wage earners.

There is a fairness issue here, but I want to focus on the economics of this. Many free-market economists are against the mortgage-deduction (as am I), because there is nothing that tells us, a priori, that home ownership is better than renting. By giving a big tax break to home owners, the ownership part of the equation gets a lot heavier, instead of letting people decide on more natural factors.

The same is true of the Bush cuts. By taxing dividends at lower rates, the government is moving the incentives around to favor investors -- but there is nothing that tells us income earned through dividends is somehow better than income earned through wages. From an economics perspective, I cannot see how this makes sense. We should not assume one is better than the other, and therefore, we should tax the two at the same rate. (Which rate that should be is a different discussion).

As an added defect, the sunset provision is bizarre. It was almost as if he tried to saddle his successor with a political hot potato, as he must have known it would not go quietly. Sunset provisions on almost any other Bush-era initiatives would have made more sense: Sarbanes-Oxley, the wars, the Patriot act (actually part of the Patriot act does expire, and some portion got renewed quietly by congress).

I have not even gotten into the whole issue of cutting taxes while increasing spending. It's dreadful when they cannot even cut taxes in a way that benefit the economy -- or us, which is the same thing.

Food, Good and Bad

2011-10-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

"If it tastes good, it is bad for you." I have heard and read this many times. I wholeheartedly disagree. Plenty of things taste awesome and is good for you. I love raspberries, and they are full of fiber and B-vitamins and phytochemicals. I love pistachios and walnuts, and "Nuts are a powerhouse of good nutrition, packed with protein, fiber, monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, folic acid, magnesium, copper, and antioxidants. Although they are high in fat, it's unsaturated heart-healthy fats." I love eggs and I believe they are one of the most healthy sources of protein -- the double beauty of eggs is that they fill you up fast, so that you are less likely to eat too many of them.

Of course, you should not eat too much of what you like. That is true of anything, though. You should also not eat too much of what you dislike, it is just easier. Seriously, you should enjoy a varied diet. Eating (or drinking) too much of any one thing, especially something you enjoy on a daily basis, can get your body in trouble.

Epicurus advocated a simple diet designed for health, rather than an extravagant one designed for pleasure. I think it is possible to have both. Here is a recipe for a little desert or snack that is easy to make, delicious, and contains only ingredients that are good for you. The portion below should serve 3-4 people.

1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blackberries
a lemon or a lime
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup raisins (golden if you like them)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

Mix the berries. Squeeze some citrus on it, to taste. Sprinkle the raisins in. Stir the coconut milk and add it. Then stir the whole thing together. Top with the walnuts. You can also grate some of the citrus zest into the mix, after adding the coconut milk.

If you are used to using lemon or lime with dairy, be careful with the citrus here, though. The dairy takes the bitterness out of the citrus and leaves the sweet fruit-taste for you to enjoy. Coconut milk is not dairy, so does not have quite the same effect.

Another of my favorite things is yoghurt mixed with some fresh fruit and lots of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Here I wanted to go for a vegan dish, but you could use yoghurt instead of coconut milk.

Enjoy!

Tourists Are Like Wild Animals

2011-09-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Unpredictable
Clueless
Mostly dangerous when surprised

One of the bad things about living in a nice area is that other people also think it is nice and come here in droves over the summer vacation. Every year I suffer through four months of tourist traffic, from early June well into September.

I do not subscribe to a view that most drivers are worse than me. My theory is an 80/20 rule in traffic, where most of us suffer at the hands of the fifth or so of the worst drivers. That said, people not used to two-lane mountain roads drive terribly on them. I know this is true not just from observing the tourists, but also from friends that come visit. I frequently hear comments about how the driving is different, how it takes some getting used to, learning curves (no put intended), etc.

Number 2 above might be construed as an insult to animals; what I mean is that animals are clueless about the activities and motives of the people around them. So it is with tourists and locals. I believe this to be true not just in driving situations, but it really stands out on the roads. The depressing bit is that the sloppy tourist driving is not just a source of slow-downs, but is also dangerous. Crossing the center line and pulling out without really looking are two of the more common and scary errors I see.

If you are a tourist and you read this: please, you are welcome to visit, but pay attention when behind the wheel, both in front of and behind you, obey the rules of the road, and if somebody flashes their lights or waves or honks at you, it is time to look for the nearest turnout.

Mong Kok: Kernel of a City

2011-09-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Mong Kok is a special part of a special city. It is the most densely populated area in the world. It is a mixture of so many different kinds of sights and experiences it is difficult to describe. In Mong Kok, you can walk down an alley and come upon a traditional market in full swing, complete with vegetable booths, food stands and live chickens they will carve for you on the spot. You then suddently find yourself in front of a modern mall entrance with thick auto-sliding glass doors.

The street life is a perpetual hubbub that goes on well into the night. I have heard that "mongkok" means busy, and I totally believe it. The street markets close down early evening, but as night falls, activity just moves around a bit as residents are eating out or doing late shopping or just trying to get home. You see the restaurants filling up, many of them with tables or make-do furniture out on the streets.

Mong Kok is famous for its markets, for good reason. In some way it represents a microcosm of Asian commerce. There are traditional markets with the mobile booths and store markets with dozens of mini-malls on each block. Many of them have a theme, such as the Ladies Market or the Tech Market. Some are only open at night. Some of them are just a few blocks from each other and they are all busy all the time they are open.

I did not partake in the night life, but I did sometimes get back to my hotel quite late, and though activity does slow down after midnight, it was never completely dead.

One contrast that really struck me was with the stores. There were a lot of hardware stores, which was itself interesting. Interspersed with these were restaurants of all kinds, tea rooms, even massage parlours.

Top of the World: Remembering 9/11

2011-09-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

It was ten years ago today that evil terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers. Today we remember the victims.

There was an article in Reason discussing the lack of quality art about 9/11, but it missed 'On Top of the World' by Tom Barbash. I took a couple of classes from Tom, and have great admiration for him. His book about 9/11, and the almost miraculous saving of Cantor-Fitzgerald is first and foremost a heartbreaking account of what families of the victims had to go through, within the overall arch of what Lutnick and his executive team had to do to get his company back on its feet after losing 658 employees in the towers. Unfortunately, it looks to be out of print. Which is too bad, because it really is one of the better books about 9/11.

Inflation, Schminflation

2011-09-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about inflation lately. If you believe the standard numbers, as Robert Reich does, then it looks as if middle class income has been stagnant for 30 years.

This cannot be right. I digged around on census.gov and bls.gov for some numbers on how our living standards have changed over the last decades. The chart shows the growth in square footage of the median of US homes, and the number of homes equipped with central airconditioning. I picked these because they were easily accessible. Browsing around reveals a number of ways our living standards have increased: we travel more, watch more movies, go skiing more, etc. Recent posts by Russell Roberts and Don Boudreaux prompted me to think about the issue. As these posts show, the paradox that real wages have declined, while our standard of living improved, is largely a result of overstated inflation.

Inflation is a currency fluctuation where the value of money decrease, so that prices increase -- they inflate. Historically, prior to the advent of central banks in the 19th and 20th centuries, currency fluctuations went in both directions, so that deflation and inflation came in alternate waves. Central banks usually aim for a low level of inflation. They do this because it would be impossible to hit exactly at zero, or neutral. Economists largely agree that inflation is slightly better, or rather, less bad, than deflation. So central banks choose the lesser of two evils. That is one reason why inflation is ubiquitous now.

Just as it is impossible for the central bank to achieve a complete absence of currency fluctuations, so it is also impossible to measure it at that precision. Indeed, for some of the same reasons. To illustrate currency fluctuations, I will use Krugman's Dogs and Buns Economy.

Imagine a dogs and buns economy, where a dog costs one dollar, a bun costs one dollar and the hot-dog product costs two dollars. It doesn't matter how big this economy is, how many people are in it or how many dogs and buns are produced. If we change one variable at a time in relative terms, it will help to understand the difficulties in evaluating the currency.

What happens in this economy if the population grows by ten percent? Assume that productivity and relative consumption is exactly the same, so that the number of buns, dogs and hot-dogs also grows the same ten percent, but the monetary base -- the amount of dollars -- is the same. What happens to prices in this example? Under the theory that a unit of currency follows the same laws of supply and demand as every other commodity, one dollar is now worth more relative to other items in the economy, so the price of a hot dog would go down a bit. I doubt it would go down by exactly ten percent, but it is hard to say.

What happens if, instead of the population growing, productivity grew? Let us say that the productivity of dog production went up 25 percent, so that a dog now costs 80 cents, and productivity of bun production went up 11 percent, so that a bun now costs 90 cents. A hot dog would then cost $1.70. The price again fell, but for different reasons. (I am assuming a linear progression for simplicity; if there are no other products in the economy, it is not clear the price would actually fall that much, but the whole point is to keep things simple).

Now assume that in addition to the productivity increase, a new product is introduced: the double dog, which consists of two dogs and one bun, and costs $2.50. The double-dog is hugely popular and half of the hot-dog market is taken over by this new product. The average price of the products is then $2.10. To somebody at BLS (where CPI is calculated), it looks like the price of hot-dog products increased, though it actually decreased.

As these variables change, even in this simple example, I find it near-impossible to determine what the value of a dollar is. As the CPI article explains, the economists at BLS and BEA uses various measures to calculate it, but in a real-world economy, even the most heroic effort is inadequate and the nominal inflation will always be different from the actual inflation.

How important is this? Because of the compound nature of inflation, it is much more important than other econometrics. GDP is also miscalculated, but it is recalculated every year. If the GDP is off by, say, ten percent, it will be off by approximately that slice every time it is calculated. Errors in the rate of inflation is compounded over the period it is used. If you wanted to calculate the 2008 US economy in 1980 dollars, assuming a 2% annual inflation rate you would get $9,322 billion dollars, using a 1% annual inflation rate would get $11,470 billion dollars. That is a 19% difference. Assuming a 1.8% inflation, instead of 2%, gives a difference of 4% over the period. The articles mentioned before indicates that the measured inflation probably is off by a full percentage point. The econlib.org article mentions 0.08%. (That is the difference in the rate, not a relative difference).

Inflation is such an inaccurate measure that adjusting for it introduces as much uncertainty as it resolves. It is a useful excercise to estimate it, as it can bring some insight when comparing prices from different time periods. The important thing is to always take it as an approximation and to be careful drawing comparisons or conclusions when inflation is involved.

Anathem: Stephenson's Weakest Novel

2011-08-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Anathem is Neal Stephenson's post-Baroque-cycle novel, set in a fictionalized world resembling our own in important ways, different in certain interesting respects. Importantly, the characters, though we would consider them alien, have psychologies that are totally analogous to humans'. This is doubly interesting because Arbre, their planet, is not even in our universe.

To make up Arbre, Stephenson has developed a complete history, several cultures, novel institutions, some language and more. These are all impressive, and no doubt significant factors in its positive reception. I found it continually interesting that though the world is so different, especially the belief systems of its inhabitants, the internal psychology of the people in it completely mirrors our own. You can then speculate, as the author teasingly infers, how many parallels to find in our own history, past, future, and fictional.

It is also a terrific story.

Despite these awesome advantages, I was still disappointed. The first point of weakness was the slow start. The first 200 pages or so goes into describing the world -- not the entire world, but the world of Erasmas, the narrator. Of course, as all half-way decent novels must, the real plot starts on page one, but a discernible story-line with a direction does not take shape until you are a quarter way through. That is a long time for a reader to wait, and if I had not already been a Stephenson fan, I am not sure I would have done it.

Another weakness is a certain drone aspect to the writing. Stephenson's characters are never full-fledged, but some of them here are low points even for him. Ala, in particular, comes across as pure mystery. Ala is Erasmas' love interest, and I have no idea why he likes her, or why she likes him, other than that the author tells me. Ala ends up in some kind of executive role, not clearly defined but one of authority, and I have no idea why she is appointed to such a high position in a delicate and crucial world-scale operation. It would be like some graduate student appointed to coordinate the attack on Osama bin Laden's compound. This is true for the others as well. Erasmas ends up in the final, decisive operation, not just by himself, but miraculously along with all his closest friends. This is so unlikely that it distracts even in this fantastical setting, but at least a reader can give the author some artistic license in allowing his pre-existing characters to drive this section rather than invent and give us new ones. No such allowance exists for Ala, though: it seems she gets her position for no other reason than to impress the reader, though it succeeds only in the opposite, due to its arbitrariness.

My next point is more subtle and may only be of interest if you have already read the book, or at least read some about it. It is an issue that I thought about as I was reading the novel, which in itself means it may be a weakness that speaks to the novel's strengths, since making the reader think is a definite plus.

The avout in the mathic orders are purveyors of knowledge. They are philosophers, scientists and librarians. Stephenson gives us the impression they study all disciplines -- math, chemistry, biology, engineering, genetics -- and there are many examples of some incredible ideas, abstract and practical, that they have come up with during time. Yet, the social sciences are completely lacking from their repertoire. They do not study economics, political science, sociology, or even history, except in a meta-sense as it applies to other disciplines.

This is such a gaping oversight I was trying to find explanations. One could be that the avout are not supposed to study anything related to the saecular world. That does not hold up, because the mathic worlds have plenty of social issues of their own to study. One glaring example is when the fids graduate and have to select, or be selected into, orders. This is a process that recurs through millenia, so you would have thought the avout would have some ideas how best to go about it. Yet, Erasmas and his friends, as well as the elders involved in their selection, goes through this as if they were the first ever to encounter that problem.

Another social issue that comes up is more intricate and I found it fascinating, and thus even more disappointed Stephenson missed it. I do believe he missed it, because it comes up as an issue in the story, yet, again, it was never studied, but left alone, with no explanation why. Here it is: the mathic world, more than physical places, is a discipline involving certain rituals and creeds. The overarching theme is knowledge. Inevitably, these sometimes conflict. For instance, a biologist might want to leave the concent in order to study an organism not found within its walls, but mathic discipline does not allow it.

You would have thought the avout and the saunts would have developed theories about how to resolve this: tomes would have been written, theories developed, orders adopting this or that one and arguing, peacably, which is superior. Instead, in Anathem, these otherwise brilliant people act like sheepish doctrinairians adhering to dogma. When Orolo, Jad or Erasmas are challenged on their lack of commitment to mathic discipline, they do not have an established theory to help defend their actions, in light of it being within the reason for the existence of mathic orders, that of securing and advancing knowledge, and help the saecular world when called upon. This is a distracting omission and disappointing because it would have been so interesting to see where pursuing such a dilemma would go.

Like his other novels, Anathem is edifying. Reading Cryptonomicon, you will understand cryptography better, reading Snowcrash, you will understand cyberspace better, reading The Diamond Age, you will understand nanotechnology better. This is Stepheson's greatest strength. You will pick up clues and information through the stories, often without realizing it. Anathem is no exception. It is a great, if long-winded, story, and you will learn from it (unless you already know more about the subject than the author). I cannot say what you will learn from Anathem without spoiling it, though. If you are already a Stephenson fan, you will not want to miss it, but if not, I recommend you start with one of his other novels.

Note: I link to Amazon because it is a good source of information on books. I make no money off referrals.

Character vs. Screenwriter Drone

2011-08-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

I watched "The Killer Inside Me" and was bored so much I almost stopped it. It made me think why the movie failed. It was well-shot and well-directed. I liked the setting, a small Texan town in mid-20th century. The actors was a mix, but above-average. It had lots of sex and violence. It even had Jessica Alba!

The movie languishes because of Lou Ford, the main character. I like Casey Afleck much better than Ben, but his character here fizzles. The problem is that it is not a character at all. A character, even a poorly written one, will have some traits that makes his or her actions fit a pattern. A poorly written character fits a stereotype, is transparent in motive, or is defined by superficial characteristics. A well-written character will have more depth and nuance, and may do unpredictable things that the viewer might only understand upon reflection. Either kind must be established so that the viewer recognizes it as a human -- or a sentient being, if the setting is science fiction or supernatural.

There are good examples of such character action in Magnolia. There is a brief scene where Phil Karma, the nurse taking care of a dying Earl Partridge, is supposed to be relieved. Phil tells the other nurse that he will "see it through." At that point in the movie, it is unthinkable that the character would do anything else.

In "The Killer Inside Me," there is no such finesse. Instead, Lou Ford does whatever the screen-writer decides he should do. He is a screenwriter drone. There is no reason for him to beat up Joyce the way he does. There is no reason for Joyce to react the way she does. They just do what they do because the screenwriter wrote them that way. You can see by the comments in IMDB that I am not the only one who feels this way.

I have seen something similar in Battlestar Galactica, which I have watched some of in the last year. I am moving through it slowly, because it is somewhat of a disappointment. Part of it is that the story-line keeps taking annoying left-turns, but a large part of it is the drone aspect of the drama. For instance, an interested viewer might burn with the question, "who is going to be the next Ceylon revealed?" The answer: "whoever the screenwriter thinks it should be." There is no rhyme or reason to it. They just pull it out of their bottoms.

There are lots of examples of screen-writer drones, and I have lost patience with it. Give me some real characters, and leave the drones in computer games where they belong.

Honoring Milton Friedman

2011-07-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today is Milton Friedman's 99th birthday. To commemorate him, I am sharing an interview excerpt and a quote. The excerpt is a quick overview of all the problems with the Drug War and why it is counter-productive.

The quote is from Capitalism and Freedom, and succintly captures why I myself am often sceptical of aggressive government intrusion:

Government can never duplicate the variety and diversity of individual action. At any moment in time, by imposing uniform standards in housing, or nutrition, or clothing, government could undoubtedly improve the level of living of many individuals; by imposing uniform standards in schooling, road construction, or sanitation, central government could undoubtedly improve the level of performance in many local areas and perhaps even on the average of all communities. But in the process, government would replace progress by stagnation, it would substitue uniform mediocrity for the variety essential for that experimentation which can bring tomorrow's laggards above today's mean.

Denali Pictures

2011-07-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

I finally got my pictures from the Denali trip organized and you can see them on the Picasa album:

On the way back I spent a couple of weeks in the Portland, Seattle and Bellingham area. Below is a shot from the pictureque Chuckanaut drive.

Happy Fourth

2011-07-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

I am back from Alaska. Below is a picture from my Denali trip, the only one for now. It was our first view of the mountain itself, after three or four miles of climbing up the Kahiltna.

To honor America's Independence Day, here is a brief quote from the Declaration of Independence:

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Denmarks Liberation

2011-05-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

It was 66 years ago today that Denmark was liberated from German occupation, by nature of the Germans in Norway, Holland and Denmark capitulating to the English. In these days of earthquakes, terrorism and environmental alarmism, it is worth remembering that the second world war is the most devastating and atrocious event humans have inflicted on ourselves. Nothing matches it in destruction or evil intent. That is not to belittle the hardships incurred by current events, far from it. I just cannot help celebrating all the little, and big, milestones leading to Nazi Germany's defeat.

Almost exactly three months later, the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. Naho and I went to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Park, just before the new year broke. I succeeded in hitting the site on one of the three days in the year that the museum is closed. Still, we enjoyed the Cenotaph (pictured right) and the park (pictured below). You can also see the Memorial through the Cenotaph. The park had several peace-oriented inscriptions, commemorating the victims and expressing hope that mankind has learnt from the events. Judging the decades since then, that has sadly not been the case.

Not being able to visit the museum, we instead spent the rest of the day at beautiful Miyajima.

Disasters and Heroes

2011-03-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

The devastation in Japan is mind-boggling. I am sure you have seen lots of news reports on the carnage. I want to mention something positive about these events. What always impresses me is the heroic action of self-less individuals. For instance, 343 Firefighters died during rescue efforts after the 9/11 attacks. This time around, it is particularly the staff at the Fukishima plant that continually puts the safety of the public ahead of themselves. From the article:

"The longer they stay the more dangerous it becomes for them," said expert Margaret Harding. "I think it is a testament to their guts for them to say, 'We'll stay and if that means we go, we go.'"

Another thing I want to point out is that Japan provided awesome help after Hurricane Katrina.

Ronald Bailey writes a sober overview of the issues with nuclear power, from Fukishima to California.

I contributed to Americares.org. I picked them for two reasons: 98% of their funding goes towards programs, and just as importantly, 73% of their contributions come from individuals. I believe it is important for an organization not to be beholden to one or a few main contributors, whether corporate or governmental.

The Scenic Temple

2011-03-06T20:11:00.001-08:00

All the temples I have seen in Japan are in beautiful spots. Still, Miayjima, on an island outside Hiroshima, is situated somewhat perfectly between the lush hills, dramatic peaks and a blue ocean.

Miyajima is distinct for having its gate out in water. Believers have to pass through the gate when they pay their respects, they do not get a break just because you can fit a cruise ship between it and the sanctuary.

Some of the woodwork is centuries old. Notice the rice scoop with the inscriptions. I saw several of those spoons of many different sizes throughout the area. You would think there would be some ceremony or spiritual significance attached to them -- and so there is, but I was told the inscription is provided by a company that 'made a contribution.' Another sign that in the Japanese culture, there is no hard boundary between religion and commerce.

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

It is still Chinese New Year here in the States, though as of right now it is the day after in China. I am breaking out of my sequence and posting a couple of pictures from my last visit to Shanghai. Above is my friend Sharon, who were incredibly kind and attentive to me. Thanks to her, I got to see areas of Shanghai and facets of China I had not yet experienced, but I will have to share that at some later time.

To the right, yours truly in front of that unmistakable Shanghai landmark, the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Japanese New Year

2011-01-31T23:16:00.000-08:00

Above is a short video I took outside of Yasaka Jingu shrine, just a minute or two before midnight on New Year's eve. It was a different experience for me. The crowd was full of anticipation, while still calm and all I heard was chatting from all corners. There was a big woo at midnight, then we left. It was a challenge moving through the pack, but luckily we had another group breaking trail for us.

These are some pictures of the shrine from earlier in the evening, when we had a chance to go in and explore a bit. As usual with religious sites in Asia, inside was a mix of commercial booths and various chapels where people were revering.

We also saw this little chapel in another part of town. This one was in the middle of a retail area, the hutong maze of Kyoto. I am getting the sense that the line between spiritual worship and appeals to temporal fortune is very much blurred. This particular spot was designed as if its purpose was religious, and I understood it to be built and maintained by monks. Yet, the way people approached and acted here, and the way Naho talked about it, it seemed more secular in nature. Its location in between all the shops makes sense, since it is dedicated to fortune and prosperity.

Our meal on the morning of New Year day. Of all the terrific meals I have in Japan, on a repeat basis now, this one still stood out. I like exploring what is in the various bowls -- the lids add to the mystery!

Beatiful Kobe

2010-12-29T06:42:00.001-08:00

I am back in Japan, enjoying a few days in beautiful Kobe. I discovered some nice hiking in the hills above the city, which I have taken advantage off.

Stay tuned for more Japan pictures the next few weeks.

Wonderful Copenhagen

2010-11-20T18:33:00.001-08:00

I am one step from posting pictures from the previous trip from a current trip, and trying really hard not to get there. Back in Denmark, I spent an evening walking through Copenhagen and taking these pictures.

The first picture is interesting: my brilliant friend Hans is running Xena Networks out of the yellow building on the right, but I had no idea he was in there when I took the picture.

Computer Issues

2010-10-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have written about malware issues before. This time it is worse. Some virus killed my main PC, and I spent over two months trying to restore and clean it. Four security packages failed to do it automatically.

It was tedious work. I reinstalled the OS and available upgrades many times, too many to count. I scoured through registry settings, looking for suspicious entries. One evening, I manually copied 176 system DLLs from the XP installation DVD, one by one. I installed security packages and ran updates and scans, little of which proved productive.

Though I harbor little respect, and much disdain, for the malware authors, I have to admit the viruses are getting sophisticated. They morph themselves so that they are difficult to recognize, by programs or humans. They use counter measures, so that if you partially disable one, it will reconstitute itself. (This happened to me many times). They use indirection and one-way references, so that finding the root of each takes effort. They try to limit their system impact so that you might not notice them. Like biological viruses, they try not to kill their hosts, though in both cases, a lossage in the 10-20% range is perfectly acceptable.

I managed to get my system working and clean, and even got ESET Smart Security installed and operating. It is my favorite security program so far, because of its speed and relatively simple design (though the UI could use some work). Even it was not the silver bullet for me, though.

In the end, was it all worth it? I could have scratched the system and started over. (All my data is backed up regularly). That would have taken almost as long, though, and I would have lost a few assets -- some programs I would not have been able to reinstall and relicense. I would also not have learnt as much.

I have concluded that a few system settings and a security software package is not enough to protect you. You need more layers of security. I have become a fan of the limited user account. I have also looked for malware lists, such as the one found on malwaredomains.com. It is a non-profit, which I promptly donated to, because I like his work. Through it, I also found the Unmask Parasites blog, which reveals how some viruses work, security holes, and perhaps most importantly, includes tips and tidbits for end-users and webmasters alike.

I have also concluded that many viruses, especially the commercial ones, are so discreet that many computers and websites are infected, without the owners' awareness.

Browse safely.

Best of Both Worlds

2010-08-28T14:34:00.001-07:00

I am home after a trip to the Pacific Northwest and Denmark. Above is a picture of Mt Hood, taken from near the place where I was staying with friends in Portland. Though Mt Hood is much smaller than Rainier, it is much closer to the city, so Portland gets similar images of it as Seattle does of Rainier.

Steven Weinberg on Religion

2010-06-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

I have always thought of religion as being a moral lever: it can make good people behave better and bad people behave worse. Since I read this Steven Weinberg quote, I wonder if he has it right instead:

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

Mt Hamilton Ride

2010-06-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

My dad is back in Denmark. We did some fun things while he was here, and I will post as media becomes available.

Here is a video of a ride down from Mt Hamilton. You can watch it on the Youtube clips in two parts, or download the full .wmv file. The download is much better quality in both picture and sound, but may not work if you run some of that alt-ware from Apple.

Japanese Java

2010-04-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly, but thoroughly, surprised to discover that the coffee in Japan is so good. On reflection, it makes sense. Not only is Japan a food culture, they pay attention to the details that makes the difference between a so-so and an excellent cup of joe.

I have been told that Japan receives the best coffee beans. Again, this must be so, since the Japanese are willing to pay the premium for the quality. I have seen many complaints about Starbucks charging $2 for a cup of coffee, but in the high-end Tokyo shops, they think nothing of paying $5-$10 for a much smaller, but much better serving.

In some shops, they use the characteristic bulbs of the siphon brewing method. Another surprise to me was that the best coffee I had, at Cafe de L'Ambre in Tokyo, poured the water with a steady hand. The care and skill they apply to brewing is fascinating. These guys are my new role models.

Special thanks to Mike Kleindl for turning me on to Cafe de L'Ambre.

On the home front, here is a picture of Genevieve and Jenna-Sue, from my favorite coffee shop in the Bay Area, Jenna-Sue's Cafe in Boulder Creek.

Goodby Kobe

2010-03-29T17:01:00.001-07:00

I know I am in Tokyo, thanks to the unique high-rise architecture. I enjoyed my last full day yesterday, having lunch with my friend Hiro, who I met at Nishiho-Sanso. We had a Japanese hot-pot type lunch, the first I had of its kind, and it was outstanding. We called the waitress from an antique phone.

Various unrelated pictures attached.

A Little Cherry Blossoms

2010-03-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

I posted some cherry blossom pictures. Following is a link to the album and some samples. I did not get the full bloom, only the initial budding. It was already spectacular.

Enjoy.

Cherry Blossoms

Beware the Osaka Hutong

2010-03-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

The term 'hutong' originates in China, but I grokked its meaning in Japan. I think of it as a commercial alley. Oriental cities contain a plethora of such little streets and walk-throughs brimming with close-quarters commercialism. The difference is that in Japan, the concept is upgraded to the 21st century and incorporated into a modern cityscape.

In particular, Osaka, where the shopper's paradise makes New York look like Reykjavik, and even Tokyo cannot compete in sheer density, the alluring retail maze is everywhere. If you spot an entry, be careful. It will suck you up, and if you are low on will-power, it will not spit you back out until you max your credit.

In the following series of pictures, I have included one from Hong Kong and one from Beijing, to round it out.

Japanavia

2010-03-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

As I travel around Japan, I notice many details that are distinctly Scandinavian. Sometimes the illusion is so complete as to be uncanny. Following are some pictures that are not that interesting in themselves, except that they could have been taken in Japan or either Denmark or Sweden. To be sure, a native or an expert might notice a revealing detail, so do not take it in a technical sense.

Often, I will see a building or a tile pattern that looks similar to something I might see in Denmark, but something is a little off. For instance, the brick-sizes and methods used in masonry differs slightly, so that a brick building may only look familiar at a distance. Sometimes I cannot put my finger on it. At other times, I will see a house that looks perfectly Danish, but a mountain in the distance or a sign in Kanji destroys the illusion.

To be honest, I am not certain if I initially saw a couple of these patterns, then started looking for them. I will say that they keep jumping out at me in ways that do not happen in other parts of the world.

Poor Norway gets left out. I do not see the wooden construction particular to Norway and northern Sweden, and the mountains near the cities are not dramatic enough.

Himeji, Shogun's Castle

2010-03-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

I spent today at Himeji. It was the castle of the first shogun, with a history going back to the 14th century. The current castle was first built in the 17th century, making its history as old as that of Matsumoto, though as I can tell, the latter gets the nod in original construction.

The printed guides unfortunately provided only lackluster historical details, so I did not get a real sense of events surrounding the castle. I did enjoy some more of that wonderful Japanese woodwork. In the 50-60s, they replaced the central support pillar, and the old one is on display. Impressive pieces of wood, especially considering it has been dead for four centuries.

I noticed a repeated pattern of triangle-square-circle. I asked around, but could not find its meaning. I got a sense it was not original with the castle.

Washoku

2010-03-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have been partaking of Washoku -- Japanese food. All of it is delicious. The two features I like the most are all the little savory side-dishes, and the noodles. I have been trying noodles in Kobe, Tokyo, Nagoya and Sapparo, and I still think my first discovery is the best.

A hallmark of the Japanese quality is that even the meat-and-potatoes equivalent is tasty. Yesterday I had lunch in a place with a lot of working locals streaming through. The dish was a bowl of rice with some greasy eggs and battered pork, with noodles on the side. It did not look all that appetizing, frankly, but somehow, once I started eating, most of it disappeared.

Thanks to my friend, I have also this time enjoyed a lot of neighbourhood restaurants not featured in any guide, a lot of them vegetarian.

Tasty Vegan

2010-03-23T17:27:00.001-07:00

It is natural for an omnivore like me to wonder exactly how good vegan cooking can be. It seems severely handicapped, not using dairy or eggs. A visit to a vegan neighbourhood pearl of a restaurant put that notion to rest.

My main dish was a sauce on top of a bed of rice, with a flavor clearly inspired by Italian cuisine, and a caesar salad, one of the best I ever had. Though the lettuce itself was smothered in dressing, it did not have a heavy feeling at all. On the side, we had wonderful treats like simulated fried fish and a veggie-patty. My favorites was a little white marinated turnip, and a root-plant double-decker with some millet filling. The plainness of the ingredients belies the quality of flavor and texture. Every bite was delicious and cooked to perfection. For instance, the turnips had a flavor a bit like a high-quality truffle, but with the texture of a fresh apple.

We also had two dishes for desert. One was a cake with a cream filling and a special sauce. I say 'cream filling,' though the ingredients were all vegetables, grains, or extracts thereof. For instance, my friend tells me there are up to 18 different kind of millet grains they use. The other was a fruit-compot with a vegan custard that was actually creamy and sweet like a custard is supposed to be. It was magic.

In my case, it probably helps that although I am not a vegetarian, I am a veggievore.

Pacific Sweden

2010-03-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few days in Hokkaido, Japan's northern-most island. It reminds me strongly of Sweden. The snow, the firs and the birches could all have been supplanted from Scandinavia, although there is a bamboo-like shrubbery that looks out of place in the snow.

It is not only the fauna. A lot of the architecture is similar as well. I have seen houses throughout Japan that I thought could have been built in Denmark, but up here, whole neighbourhoods share designs with Scandinavia.

I wonder if there is also an affinity people here feel with the countries just across the pole. I see many names and other little nods that are clearly directed towards their European brethren. Perhaps part of all this is just that living in a cold climate leads to certain necessities and comforts, such as hot drinks and slanted roofs. Still, Japan is a surprisingly open country, and I would not be surprised at all if part of what is going on is an import of concepts.

Hokkaido is about level with England, but the coldness is similar to Sweden's, again showing the influence of the cold Pacific.

Of course, Stockholm is a retail backwaters compared to the shopping mecca in Sapporo.

Alien Aliens

2010-03-07T22:18:00.001-08:00

A recurring problem in science fiction movies is that aliens are often not really alien. Star Trek, for instance, is noted as being about Americans with different things plastered to their forehead.

Sometimes, the aliens are truly different from us, but hostile, such as The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and of course, Alien. In this category, though the aliens are completely foreign, both physiologically and psychologically, we get to only experience few aspects, consistent with them being an enemy of war.

District 9 introduces some aliens that really are different from us. They arrive in a huge spaceship hovering mysteriously over Johannesburg. The initial encounter when humans enter the ship is not what you would expect. Spoilers follow.

The aliens, called prawns, looks like they need help, so the South African government interns them all in a shanty-town depressingly reminiscent of Soweto. I have a feeling the parallel was intentional, though apartheid is fortunately never mentioned.

To introduce the situation, some experts are speaking on camera in the beginning of the movie. At first, I thought this was a bad sign. I was not in the mood to watch talking heads for two hours. This only lasts for a bit, until the story starts. The story itself does not break new ground, but it is well told and well acted, and you experience the protagonist bonding with one of the enigmatic aliens, as well as undergoing a transformation of his own, in at least two ways.

Many commenters have questioned the appearent simplicity of the aliens. Maybe they have not thought it through. How would Paul Krugman do in the Soweto ghetto? The prawns are certainly displaying values much different from ours, but that is precisely what makes them alien. For instance, to me it seemed like they valued many things above their own lives, yet, they had the ability to grieve for each other.

Daybreakers vs. Let the Right One In

2010-01-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

I have seen two great vampire movies: "Daybreakers" and "Let the Right One In." Of the two, I thought Daybreakers was better. Here is why.

Daybreakers had a few twists that made it interesting. Unlike practically all other vampire stories, in Daybreakers, the vampires are in the majority and running civilisation, while humans are scattered in hunted bands.

A subtler, but more interesting, twist is that the vampires do not change internally when they become vampires. Vampire-hood is brought on by a parasitic disease, so that nothing happens to the victim's faculties, soul or conscience. In other vampire worlds, the turned vampire is anywhere from a completely unrecognizable to seriously twisted version of the original human. In the Buffy world, for instance, many personality traits are retained, but the vampire has no conscience. This leads to a range of reactions, where some vampires take pleasure in the damage and pain they inflict on humans, but most of them are just hunters out looking for their next meal.

In Daybreakers, most of the vampires accept the situation, some with a hint of remorse, others with relish. The protagonist, Ed Dalton played by Ethan Hawke, is so conflicted about the situation that he eventually stops drinking human blood altogether, at the danger of becoming emaciated. In Daybreakers, the vampires do not die from starvation, at least not immediately, but rather turn into a creature like a giant bat.

There is a political undertone to this situation. The vampires retain the full mental capability and moral outlook that they had as humans, yet, when it comes to survival, most of them goes with the flow. If Bromley must lock up humans in a facility, keep them barely alive, and milk them for their blood; if they must fund the military to hunt down and wipe out the last human resistance; if the police must taser, imprison or even kill the poor weaklings that did not make it and are turning into vile bats, then so be it.

These twists make the movie interesting, and it is well done on top. As one small sign of the thoroughness of the world, consider that since vampires do not reflect in mirrors, these high-tech ones use video-cameras to view their own image. With twenty-first century technology, the traditional vampire weaknesses, such as not being able to withstand the sun, is easily overcome. It is not really clear if vampires are stronger, which is another facet I liked. When the characters are fighting with even 19th century technology, there is no reason strength should be an important advantage. (The humans use crossbows in Daybreakers, presumably because they do not have resources to make gunpowder).

Many users call the movie horrible, including one companion I watched the movie with. Let the Right One In got better reception by critics. It has an impressive 8.5 score in its IMDB user rating, where Daybreakers only gets 7.1 (still not bad). Why is this?

I believe it is because Let the Right One In is not really a vampire movie. To enjoy Daybreakers, you must accept the vampire theme. Let the Right One In, on the contrary, is a pretty traditional story about a young, isolated boy, Oskar, who needs to overcome his nemesis. It is a story told countless times. The movie could have worked equally well if his new friend, Eli, was different for any other reason than being a vampire, such as a religious outcast or part of a family of career-criminals. Sure, there are some scenes that play on Eli being a vampire, including a tense moment when Eli and Oskar is lying in bed together, Oskar half asleep. Yet, these scenes are not critical to the overall story. In Daybreakers, the vampire theme is central.

I could have done without a gratuitous explosion or three, but overall, I think Daybreakers adds wonderfully to our vampire folklore.

Yesterday Morning the Redwood Took Revenge on my Axe

2010-01-24T22:32:00.001-08:00

As I was cleaning up fallen branches after our recent storm, a chunk of my hatchet got stuck in the heart of a solid redwood log. It was not a small chip either, but a nice big bite.

The hatchet was an old one and no big loss. It has, over the years, cut up a lot of redwood, and I was impressed with how thoroughly the wood got back at it.

The Wonders and Dangers of Emotional Thinking

2010-01-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

Here is another great grook entitled A Psychological Tip:

Whenever you're called on to make up your mind, and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find, is simply by spinning a penny.
No -- not so that chance shall decide the affair while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air, you suddenly know what
you're hoping.

This is an example of emotional thinking. I find it particularly useful in dating. I can go on a date with a woman, and she can be smart, funny, pretty and at ease with herself. When I tell her I am going to call her again, I probably mean it at the time, but if a week or two passes, and I have not felt like calling her, we both have the answer we need.

Do not confuse my use of the term emotional thinking with emotional intelligence. The latter is the ability to identify emotions and their causes, in yourself and in others. Emtional thinking is when you use your feelings to make a decision or conclusion.

The danger with emotional thinking is that it is useless when abstractions of any kind are involved. Abstractions can invoke emotion, but those emotions are much weaker than those invoked by specifics. To make matters worse, large numbers are abstract, at least to most of us.

This is why relief organizations use pictures of a single child, and stories of individuals, to solicit contributions. The appeal, "Abebi is a three-year old, starving Nigerian girl" is more powerful than "A quarter million Nigerian children are starving." It is a bit absurd, but very true.

Emotional thinking is an important tool in our personal lives, but it is unfortunate when people let it guide their input to discussions about social issues, or at least, when it is the overriding guide.

Nosedive on Nosedive

2009-12-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a few days of skiing at Lake Tahoe.

The last night and day, it was snowing steadily and I got to ski in a few inches of fresh powder. That is always a treat.

I spent one day cross-country skiing at Royal Gorge. They have an aptly named hill called "Nose Dive," which I worked a few times and indeed did take a nosedive or three. I busted my lip pretty good, but nobody has remarked on it, so it cannot be as bad as it feels.

View from Lola's Lookout, compromised by the gray weather but still gorgeous, and Henri enjoying the sunset, tired after a full day of x-country.

Betrand Russell on Asia

2009-12-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

In 1945, Bertrand Russell wrote this about European vs. Asian culture.

Our use of the phrase the "Dark Ages" to cover the period from 600 to 1000
marks our undue concentraion on Western Europe. In China, this period
includes the time of the Tang dynasty, the greatest age of Chinese
poetry[...]. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to
civilization, but quite the contrary. No one could have guessed that
Europe would later become dominant, both in power and in culture. [...]
Our superiority since the Renaissance is due partly to science and
scientific technique, partly to political institutions slowly built up
during the Middle Ages. There is no reason, in the nature of things, why
this superiority should continue. [...] It seems not unlikely that,
during the next few centuries, civilization, if it survives, will have
greater diversity than it has had since the Renaissance. There is an
imperialism of culture that is harder to overcome than the imperialism of
power. Long after the Western Empire fell, [...] all European culture
retained a tincture of Roman imperialism. [...] I think that, if we are to
feel at home in the world after the present war, we shall have to admit Asia
to equality of thoughts, not only politically, but culturally. What changes
this will bring about, I do not know, but I am convinced that they will be
profound and of the greatest importance.

This already sounds prescient, and it looks like the 21st century will prove Russell right on the mark.

Alpha Dog

2009-12-06T21:49:00.000-08:00

You should see Alpha Dog, despite its flaws. It slows down in many places with scenes and characters unrelated to the storyline. Some of the acting is a little over the top. On the plus side, there is a scene with a heart-broken, decrepit Sharon Stone doing a terrific soliloquy, and it is almost worth watching the movie just for that.

I am interested in kidnapping stories, I think because I am interested in freedom, and kidnapping is a personal, severe abridger of freedom.

Unlike many movies that say they are based on true events, the events inspiring this story did happen. Look up Jesse James Hollywood, the real-life culprit.

Red Rocks, 2009

2009-10-25T19:17:00.001-07:00

In October, Bill and I rock-climbed a few days at Red Rocks as an alternative after heavy snow-fall discouraged us from doing the Rae Lakes loop.

Climbing Johnny Vegas. The balanced rock on the left is pretty cool. If you look closely, you can see the V of a rappel anchor.

We had views all the way to Las Vegas city every day. Behind Bill snacking, I could see the Vegas skyline, though it is not visible in the picture.

Henri Rappelling off "Head Case," and Bill enjoying the wind tunnel in Panamint Valley. There were a couple of jet pilots playing around in their tin cans, but it was hard to get a picture.

Defensive Keynesians

2009-09-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

It has been interesting to watch the economics debate during the recent crisis. What I have noticed is that a Keynesian approach is used as a matter of course by the Federal government, which is depressing, but also that this time around, Keynesians have been in need of defending their ideas, which is encouraging.

One knee-jerk Keynesian is Jim Jubak, who writes for MSN Money. There are parallels between Jubak and Keynes. Like Keynes, Jubak is a successful investor. Like Keynes, Jubak is not an economist. Like Keynes, this does not stop him from making economics commentary.

In a recent article, Jubak blamed a reduction in Federal spending for the recession of 1937. He claimed that Federal spending decreased by 18% in 1937. This did not sound right, so I looked it up. I collected data for receipts (Recs), outlays (outs), spending change (inc), GDP, GDP Increase (GInc) and spending as percent of GDP (S/GDP) for the years 1935-1939:

Year	Recs	Outs	Inc	GDP	GInc	S/GDP
1935	3,609	6,412	-1.97%	$73.30	11.06%	8.75%
1936	3,923	8,228	28.32%	$83.80	14.32%	9.82%
1937	5,387	7,580	-7.88%	$91.90	9.67%	8.25%
1938	6,751	6,840	-9.76%	$86.10	-6.31%	7.94%
1939	6,295	9,141	33.64%	$92.20	7.08%	9.91%

Federal spending shrank 8% in 1937, not 18% as Jubak claims in his article. There are also several items he omits from his account. In 1935, when Federal spending was first cut since 1927, the economy grew by 11%. In the period he describes, 1937 and 1938, while spending slowed, receipts grew dramatically (37% and 25%), representing a large, effective tax increase. Lastly, the economy grew an impressive 10% in 1937, so while there was a recession later in the year, a better understanding of how the growth and the spending were aligned in time is necessary.

Dear Economist Column

2009-08-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

I did not know this: Tim Harford has a "Dear Economist" column. It is much better than the "Dear Aunt" type columns it mimics, by being both more entertaining and more useful.

Not only that, but Tim Harford gets more interactive by allowing readers to respond. The last exchange (June 14) is particularly funny.

Digital Vandalism

2009-08-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have in the past resisted security software (read: anti-virus packages), and relied instead on caution and manual system monitoring to ward against malware. Within the last couple of years, either Windows got too complicated, the malware got too sophisticated, or I became too rusty. I got infected by several viruses.

One of the reasons I am reluctant to use security software is that they typically install several services, an email plugin, browser plugins, and some of them even mini-port drivers. It would take a pretty nasty virus to have worse impact on your system! (Of course, security software do not propagate aggressively). I wish there was a passive security package I could run only whenever I choose.

I installed Free avg, then deactivated the extraneous services, drivers and plugins, thereby getting almost what I wanted. Yet, after several scans, deletions, and reboots, I still had a problem that the viruses had introduced, which was that I could not start certain programs or processes, such as procexp.exe, regedit.exe or even the anti-virus scanner and update programs.

At first, I thought that avg had missed a virus. I tried to deactivate or kill different processes that might host a virus, but still I had the problem. I could run the programs after I renamed them -- for instance, I could not run "procexp.exe," but I could run the same program renamed to "sysinternals_procx.exe." Thinking that there must be a malware system-hook running in one of the Windows processes, I checked each one and searched its image for 'procexp.exe,' still without finding it.

Searching the registry instead, I found that the virus had added the programs I could not start to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Each program had a "Debugger" subkey, with the "ntsd -d" options. 'ntsd' is the debugger (NT Symbolic Debugger), and -d tells it to attach to the kernel debugger -- which typically will not be present, thus failing the launch altogether.

I wrote this up in case you have, or get, the same problem. If so, just delete the 'Debugger' subkey under each program found at the registry key indicated above.

Since I am on the subject: Reading about convictions against black hats in the news, I have several times been disappointed at their light sentences. I looked it up for this post, and according to the Cybercrime watch list, it seems as if courts are issuing punishments more in line with the severity of the crimes now. The author of "Melissa" was caught and convicted, the damage was estimated to US$80M, and the perpetrator got 20 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

I think the damage is underestimated, though. They have to account for all the money and time we spent in prevention. Symantec makes $6 billion a year (mostly) selling anti-virus software. A big portion of that is a dead-weight loss we spend in protection against the digital vandals.

Red and Blue Conspiracy Theories

2009-08-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

I mostly find partisan bickering entertaining, except for the end result. A fellow blogger made an interesting comparison between the 'Obama is not American' and '9/11 was an inside job' conspiracies. Interesting reading.

Read in Economist

2009-08-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

The Economist is my favorite news-magazine. It is fact- and reason-based, with a broad scope, and best of all, the editors have a sense of humor.

Here's a quote from a letter they published in the current issue:
When I considered taking a degree in economics almost 50 years ago, I
was told that the exam questions would be the same from year to year, but that
the correct answers would differ each year.

The Art of Waitering

2009-08-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

I have alluded before to the passive style of Asian waitering. It can mess with your experience. Say, for instance, you misunderstand the menu and order a plain steak with no sides. A Chinese waiter will happily serve it, no comments. One of those friendly American waitresses would no doubt say something like: "just so you know, the steak doesn't come with anything." A Danish waiter would say: "Det giver sgu da ikke nogen mening, prøv nu lige at tage dig sammen."

Today I experienced some world-class dining in San Francisco, with professionally trained waiters. Though I prefer Asian to European food, I think the European tradition has the waitering art down. Food was served, cups were filled, plates removed, etc, with no interruption in conversations and you barely even noticed. With the best service, you don't have to flag, your needs are anticipated.

I once saw a movie about a young man tending hospitality school somewhere in Switzerland. He was doing well, but his friend had been there for years and failed several exams. By the time our hero takes the exam himself, he is doing it with the laggard friend. The referee poses the question: to which side should wine be served. They both agree that wine should be served to the right of the guest. The referee then asks if there are any exceptions. The laggard cannot think of any, but our hero says that you can serve wine to the left of the guest, if he or she is leaning to the right in conversation. Our hero passes and the laggard fails again.

It is a fictional movie with a dramatic story, but I believe they correctly showed the expected attention to detail in the high-end waiting profession.

Plant Resurrections

2009-07-27T00:31:00.001-07:00

I have two examples of resurrecting plants. One is a gift, the other represents a moral dillema.

The gift is a Rose of Jericho, which I got at Christmas, from my step-brother and his wife as my almondgift (transliterated from the Danish). Though I knew that it was going to unfold, I was impressed with the dramatic transition. The two pictures below are taken just a couple of hours apart.

For the record, I believe a fascination with plant life and organic wonders is perfectly compatible with technophilia. I'm a geek, through and through.

My Moral Dillema comes from a vow to never kill a tree, which I made when I was 18. Though I'm still an environmentalist, I am much more sanguine now than I was then. Still, a vow is a vow.

Last year, PG&E came to take down a dying oak that were threatening some power lines. I was notified, but not asked, so I did not feel conflicted about this part. Hower, the stump is sprouting.

I would really prefer to see the tree die, and make room new shrubs and trees, such as the new maple I planted nearby. I wonder if killing off the sprouts is a violation of my vow. If I weed the sprouts, am I killing the tree, or am I killing weeds?

Accolades to the Chinese People

2009-07-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

Though generalizations can be dangerous, peoples of different countries develop reputations for a reason. This is true even for large countries like Japan and France, but the people of really huge countries, like the USA and China, defy universal description.

My fascination with these two countries is linked with the range of attitudes, beliefs and cultures you meet in either place, though the specifics obviously vary.

In China, I met people of all kinds: brusque and friendly, rude and polite, busy and patient, nasty and sweet. Though the crowds were bothersome, and the pace and jostling anywhere there was a line got downright uncomfortable, sooner or later somebody would walk up to me and offer assistance. This happened so consistently to me that I developed an affection, which, though the samaritans were obviously a small minority, I tend to bestow on the Chinese people as a whole.

A good example was when I got off an inter-city bus in Chengdu, trying to get back to my hostel. I ended up at a different transit station than the one I left from. I had no idea where I was. This transit station was informal, with a line of bus stops down a main road, no central office or billboards to get information from. I got a fresh bite of pineapple from a street vendor, which I needed after the ride inside the hot, poorly ventilated bus, then looked around to see about taxis.

It was thick with people, spilling into the streets and not really thinning out anywhere within sight, so I hesitated a bit, wanting to determine the best direction to get away so that I had a chance of getting a cab. Then a car pulled up, and the driver, a bit chubby, got out and started talking to me in Mandarin, with his passenger yelling unintelligbly from the car. Since I could not understand him, he called out to others and soon a young, adult but tiny student appeared, acting as interpreter. They asked me where I was going, so I pulled out a map and showed the location of the hostel.

I tend to take map-reading for granted, but though this particular city map was in Mandarin, it took some discussion among the Chinese, in the group that had gathered around, to figure out where I was going. The driver then, through the tiny interpreter, offered to take me for fifty yuan. I immediately said no, since I knew I was close and a taxi ride should have been about half of that. I also would have hesitated to get in an unmarked car with two strangers, but since I generally felt safe throughout China, this was only my second thought.

The conversation went back and forth for a while, with more people joining us. The student politely and diffidently translated questions for the others, without responding to me, possibly because his English was poor. Several times, the group broke out in laughter. I had noticed before that the Chinese find a curious mirth in the presence of foreigners. Often when I walked into a store or restaurant, the clerk or waiter would suppress a giggle. Not in an offensive way, as I could tell. They just found it funny that they were serving a tourist.

A girl appeared and the driver said something to her, and then she asked me what I needed. I had to tell her a couple of times, though her English seemed a little better than that of the small guy. Once she understood that I wanted a cab, she told me she could help me and gently dragged me off by the arm.

The girl and her tall boyfriend, a guy I only noticed then, got me away from the crowds. I cannot describe how kind they were. They exhausted their vocabulary to try to talk with me, about where I was from and what I was doing in China. They refused to accept a ride, though I thought that was the least I could do and all three of us could easily fit in a cab. They were not going to leave me or let me go until they had gotten me a cab.

We eventually found a clear spot with little competition, so that soon a taxi stopped for us. The boyfriend negotiated with the driver, his whole lanky body leaning through the window, to make sure I would not get cheated. We said our heartfelt goodbyes and I was off.

This post is in honor of all those kind Chinese people, including some special friends I met, who helped make my time in China so extra-special.

Grook for Today

2009-06-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

Piet Hein is famous for his Grooks. Here is a timeless grook pertinent to me these days.

T. T. T.

Put up in a place
where it's easy to see
the cryptic admonishment
T. T. T.

When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it's well to remember that
Things Take Time.

China Pictures and Great Pop

2009-06-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

I want to write more about China, but in the meantime, I put a Picasaweb album together with about a dozen select China pictures for your enjoyment.

Magnificent China

As a bonus, I want to share a link to David Brin's essay on Tolkien: Enemy of Progress. Tolkien's seminal work, Lord of the Rings, is one of my favorite books of all time. I hold The Enlightenment to be the foundation of modern progress, freedom and prosperity. Thus, I enjoyed Brin's juxtaposition of the two. Plus, having your most cherished works and authors subjected to sage critique is a healthy excercise.

In general, there is a lot of Great Pop out there. A lot of junk, but many gems as well. I have found that I enjoy blogging, so when I am not traveling, I will point to more good stuff. I created a "Great Pop" tag for that purpose. I hope you enjoy.

Chinese College Quiz

2009-06-14T22:17:00.000-07:00

Every year, about ten million Chinese students compete for about five million college placements. A critical factor is the Chinese SAT, the main difference being that it lasts for two days.

The Chinese students call it Gaokao. Take a look at some of the open-ended essay questions. How would you do? Bear in mind that these questions are always tailored to the education the students go through in their schools, but it is still interesting to ponder.

Pictured is Tree, a Chinese student I met and became friends with on the way back from Japan to Shanghai. I hope he did well in his tests this year.

Japanese Water Zen

2009-06-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

Water is important to Japanese designs. In their version of Feng Shui, it's best to have some kind of water running through a setting. Thus, you'll see little brooks and ponds in unexpected places.

The little canal on the right, which I noticed in a historical neighbourhood in Takayama, could be mistaken for a gutter, but water will flow through it at all times.

Though I'm no Feng Shui nut, I do find the presence of water both aesthetic and soothing.

This stream in Kyoto had steps so you could literally walk across -- or through, depending on your perspective -- the stream.

Pond designed as part of the restoration of Osaka Castle.

Sweet Boulder Creek

2009-05-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

I am back in Boulder Creek, where the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming. I hope to post some more pictures and comments on the Asia trip, in between catching up, so stay tuned.

Adult Playgrounds

2009-05-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

The central piece in a playground is a cool structure for kids to climb on. Yet, when adults build cool structures, at least in Europe, they don't make them climbable. I think there is some aesthetic rule that dictates people should not defile a beautiful piece.

The Chinese and Japanese have no such inhibitions. If they build something big worth looking at, they attach something so you can walk it, climb it, or otherwise ascend it and check it out from the inside and the top.

When I went up into the Pearl Oriental tower, there was a "sightseeing walk." The name was not that inspiring, but I was surprised to find out that this was a glass surface exposing you to all of the 250m of air underneath you. It was really cool.

The Sightseeing Walk in Oriental Pearl Tower

Compared to the World Financial Center, I thought the Pearl Oriental Tower was the better experience. You don't get quite the same exposure in the former. The World Financial Center had a cool space-theme going, though, with moody electronic music and interesting light effects.

In Tokyo, I went to view the International Forum, and again, was pleasantly surprised that they had built ramps so you could walk along the insides. It enabled me to view the structure from another perspective and get a better appreciation. The Kyoto Train station had the same feature, with stairs and 'skywalks' enabling you to walk up and down and across the appealing structures, viewing it and the surroundings from different angles.

Inside the World Financial Center

King of Consumerism

2009-05-25T07:18:00.001-07:00

Famous Binh Trang market in Saigon

I don't want to hear another word about American Consumerism. When it comes to retail, Asia has America whipped twice over.

Everywhere you go, there are shops, markets, stores, malls, merchants, joints, marts, street-vendors, cafes, restaurants, businesses, pitchers and peddlers. If I hiked for three days into the desert, a hawker would show up offering a marked-up drink. It would probably be cold, too. They are nothing if not crafty.

Ads are ubiquitous. I have never seen a higher density of advertisements as on the Japanese metro cars. China doesn't seem to have any codes or norms about sound pollution, so speakers and multimedia ads blare at full volume wherever there is a concentration of people. I saw lots of clever marketing gimmicks. In Beijing, there was a long LCD display in a train tunnel, where an ad would animate and then follow the train for a minute, perfectly aligned so that it would display right outside the window.

China and Vietnam do not seem to have any zoning or licensing restrictions. Any joker can sell junk straight from the sidewalk, and any wheezer can run a laundry out of the back door. Thus you get the traditional hutong, where businesses of all kinds are crammed together. Hutongs have charm, but they are essentially strip-malls with history.

The retail market was not introduced by the West, or by tourism. Some of the local markets are older than Jamestown. I can be driving in the country, out where they almost never see a foreigner, and suddenly traffic comes to a stop because a market is in progress.

In Kyoto's history museum, they had created a model of how a market street in 17th century Japan might have looked.

The oldest tradition is perhaps around the temples, where peddlers sell incense, oil and other offerings and gimmicks to the worshippers. When you mix retail with religion, I don't think you can get more consumer oriented.

It shouldn't surprise us that people want to spend their money, but the point is that it is not a western thing. Hard as it is to believe, compared to Asia, America's consumerism seems a bit muted.

Osaka must have the largest retail area in the world. The shops and malls continue for miles in all directions. There are underground, maze-like tunnels with even more shops and cafes. As elsewhere, half the stores carry women's clothes and bookshops double as reading room for students and the stingy.

The Superbrand Mall in Shanghai is probably the largest mall I have been to. You can get the sense of its size only in one dimension: in the other two, it seems to sprawl on forever.

Notes on Japan

2009-05-23T21:42:00.001-07:00

Japan is a land of ironies. For instance, it's the cleanest country I've even been to, but you can't find a garbage can anywhere. I was carrying my trash around for days. It's expensive, but few places take credit cards and few ATMs work with your card. The latter is not just an international problem: you can walk past a bunch of unused ATMs, then see one with a long line of locals. I learned to look for 7-11, where the ATMs consistently worked with my card.

My dad would have loved Japan. He would have loved the food, and the attention both diners and chefs pay to the meal quality and experience. He would have loved the baths. He would have loved the nifty toilet seats with heating, spraying, mini-flushes, automatic lids, etc. I saw toilet seats with more complexity than programmable VCRs.

The legendary Japanese politeness is real, and an interesting study in the difference between politeness and friendliness. I found the Japanese almost consistently polite, but few were outright friendly. On several occasions, I had the sensation that a Japanese not speaking a word of English would receive much better help in America than an American not speaking a word of Japanese is likely to receive in Japan. Barring some Beavis Redneck tending counter.

That said, I did meet some truly friendly people. In Fuji-Yoshida, a lady in a tea shop gave me a free treat and some prints of local scenery. In the same place, I met a sculpturist, Ishibori. He makes some really interesting figures, check out the gallery. They didn't speak much English, but showed interest nonetheless. I enjoyed this experience of generosity. I wouldn't call it an isolated incident, as I experienced this kind of warmth several times while in Japan. In general, though, I found Japanese people curiously passive and intransigent.

Goodbye, Japan

Accidental Tourist

2009-05-23T04:25:00.001-07:00

One of the advantages to traveling without a set itinerary is that you discover neat things that don't get much attention in the guidebook. By chance, I got to Matsumoto later in the day than I had planned and chose to spend the night there. By chance, in the hotel I stayed at, I saw something about a historical castle in town. I took a few hours the next day to go and check it out.

It happened to be one of the oldest, perhaps the oldest, original castles in Japan. It was certainly older than anything I saw in Kyoto. It was also a more fulfilling experience, because you got full access to the inside -- all the historical buildings in Kyoto were restricted.

The castle doubled as a history museum, with an old gun collection, historical samurai armor, pottery, art and other artifacts. It was more tourist friendly, with descriptive texts in English. Overall, I had a better view into history here than my entire time in Kyoto.

Farewell China

2009-05-23T03:34:00.001-07:00

I'm back in my beloved Hong Kong, free speech land.

On my last afternoon in Shanghai, I had coffee on the Pudong side of the river. The sun was shining on the boats drifting by while China's national flag wafted in the breeze. It was perfect for my last hour in the People's Republic of China.

Now that I have unfettered Internet access again, I hope to catch up on my blogging a bit.

Blocked Equals Gagged

2009-05-17T03:34:00.000-07:00

I am back in censorship land. Right now, all Google blogs are blocked, and posting is hard. I am using vtunnel to post these few lines, but it is a little dicy and I cannot post pictures. Email has also been slow and inconsistent.

Once I'll be able to post normally again, things will be out of order, or at least out of chronology. I will do my best to get back to the regularly scheduled program.

Japan: Gourmet Paradise

2009-05-13T23:09:00.001-07:00

The food in Japan is quite possibly the best in the world. I think it's better than in France. It's so different it's difficult to compare, but I found the Japanese consistency mind-boggling.

I learned to look for the vegetable displays outside the restaurants. At first, I thought these indicated a vegetarian restaurant. I think it means that the restaurant serves Kaiseki. They are delicious meals, though the tab can run up with all the little dishes. The prices look innocent, but soon you've ordered for $50 worth of items.

The reason they are vegetables out front is probably that meat would go bad.

There was a disparity in the quality of savory foods in the restaurants and noodle-shops, vs. the sub-standard sweets they served in the tea-rooms and coffee-bars. A good friend of mine has a theory that you cannot make good deserts without good dairy. Japan in a way both proves and counter-proves this. Throughout Asia, the dairy is mediocre. One casualty from this is that after twenty years of insisting on a little cream in my coffee, the last couple of months I have been drinking it black. I'm sure the low quality of dairy is at least partially responsible for the varying quality in Japanese sweets, of which there is a plethora. Yet, you can find the occasional gem, as in the near-perfect green tea ice-cream I had at Tempura Fukamachi.

Parfaits are served in nearly all their "coffee and cake" places. One I got in Tokyo was quite good.

This noodle shop in Osaka serves the best noodles ever.

These noodles are so good, one meal here converted me to a noodle fan.

These noodles are so good, I could have dinner in another place, then come here and have noodles for desert.

These noodles are so good, if you visit, I dare you not to finish the bowl.

If you decide to look for it, go from Namba subway station towards the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. It will be just past a McDonald's on a road something like "Nansai." (Citing from memory, which is unreliable with Japanese proper nouns).

One of the advantages to paying $200 for a world-class barbecue, besides the perfect food, is the decor and the views. Kamon is at the top of the Imperial Hotel, where you can look over the Imperial Palace and get a rare view of the interior of the Imperial Gardens.

Of course, I had some of the worlds best sushi too, at Kanesaka in Tokyo. I had to wonder how you get sea-food to be so consistent in quality and flavor. I think they need to send a qualified cook, or team, down to the fish market every day, perhaps multiple times in a day, and pick out, by hand, the best of the best of each type of fish. That's time-consuming, and you need trained people to do it. I'm sure they pay a premium both for the quality and for the skimming. No wonder world-class sushi is expensive.

It doesn't hurt to have access to the world's largest fish market.

Note on Acclimatization

2009-05-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

When I climbed Aconcagua, we tried to take advantage of the "climb up, down, then up again" paradigm in acclimatization. According to this method, you climb up above where you are acclimated, spend at least a night up high, then climb back down and spend a day or more down below. Sleeping high will send the signal to your body to produce red blood cells. Climbing back down will enable the body to produce red blood cells much faster, so for the next four days, the count will increase.

According to this theory, I should feel great on Mt. Fuji, coming from the Alps and then spending three days in Tokyo. This was so. I didn't really feel the altitude until well above 10,000 feet.

I couldn't reconcile this with another datum about high altitude climbing, which is that it can be dangerous to go down when you are acclimatized, spend time low, then climb back up. I think I realized what's happening in this case. When you go down after altitude, your cells will compress from the added pressure. You will retain the red blood cells, perhaps even produce more, now that your body is more comfortable. When you climb back up, you will feel great, not being much restrained from the low oxygen. However, your cells will still expand, and if you don't give it the time to do so slowly and uniformly, you will get sick. Edemas occur when cells of different kinds expand at different rates in the low pressure of high altitudes.

Fuji-san

2009-05-10T15:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I climbed Mt. Fuji. It was a bit touch and go, not with the climb itself, but in getting to the start. Not to mention the timing with the weather.

Fuji from Fuji-Yoshida

I had reserved a hotel in Fujiyoshida, not knowing the bus to the mountain actually leaves from Kawaguchiko. I got up early in the morning and hiked over to Kawaguchiko at 5AM, but the bus wasn't running that early. I had conflicting information about it from the web. The bus only runs from around 9AM to around 3PM this time of year (May).

I ended up taking a taxi to 5th station. It cost $130, but I figured it was my only chance to climb Fuji.

The climb wasn't hard. I did need an ice-axe the last 300 feet before the crater, but I wasn't about to turn around at that point! There was a runout 1000 feet below me, so I went for it anyway. Notwithstanding my comments about the Japanese and their crampons in my last post, on Fuji, the last 1000 or 2000 feet would have been faster with crampons. Had I been there earlier in the day, it would have been uncomfortable without them.

View of the North Alps

I did the Kawaguchiko route, mostly because I thought that was the one I could get to. It comes up to the crater about 120 degrees away from the actual summit. I went the long way around, which was a mistake as the snow was getting soft and it was a trudge.

View North towards Tokyo, on the crater, and on the summit

Compared to Mt. Shasta, I felt Mt. Fuji was about half the effort. Climbing Mt Fuji the route I used corresponds pretty closely to climbing Shasta from Bunny Flat to Thumb Rock. Except you start a little higher at 7,800', end a little lower at 12,500', and you might feel a little better from more oxygen at the lower latitude. When doing Shasta, Thumb Rock is three quarters of the way in elevation, but due to the exponential nature of altitude, often it is little more than half way in time.

The Actual Summit from across the Crater

Nishihodaka-dake

2009-05-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

You got to say it fast, or the locals won't understand you.

From Tateyama, I went down to Takayama, which was a tourist trap I promptly made my escape from by taking the bus to Kamikochi. Kamikochi is famous for its natural beauty. I didn't see the big attraction to Kamikochi itself. Sure, it's a nice river valley, with good views of the surrounding mountains, but all the hotels, shops and crowds give it a city-park feel and there isn't much to do. Kamikochi makes Yosemite Valley look like the backcountry.

Kamikochi from Nishiho ridge

However, it does work well as transit to the surrounding alpine destinations. I had wanted to make it up to the Dakesawa hut, but it turned out to be closed, having been crushed in an avalanche. I ended up going up to the Nishiho-sanso instead, and I loved it. Sanso is a Japanese hut. Nishihosanso is up on a ridge, so protected from avalanches and you get better views. The drawback is, there is only that one ridge to ascend. Climbers do use it to reach routes on Mt. Okuhodaka, Japan's third-highest peak.

Sunset view from Nishiho-sanso

Not having any equipment with me, I just wanted to climb up Mt. Nishihodaka.

The Japanese must really like crampons. At both Tateyama and at Nishohosanso, when I told people I didn't have crampons, I got the ominous little "ooh." Yet, on neither route did I encounter any sections where I would have wanted crampons. If I had carried them, I never would have donned them. I saw many Japanese hikers or climbers wearing crampons through miles of perfectly good snow.

Okuhodaka from around Nishoho-doppyo

I made it up past Nishoho-doppyo, a worthwhile destination in itself. It got a little more technical from there. I would call it class two, with a couple of short class three sections where I skirted a hard patch of snow. Although I got some exposure, there was really only one spot where I would have been a goner if I fell.

On Nishoho-doppyo, on the way up

At the sanso, I met the nicest Japanese people so far. I find that outdoors people tend to connect, even across language and cultural boundaries. I got a new friend, Hiro, who shared his lunch and was terribly concerned about me. I felt bad about making him concerned, but fortunately he got good reports of my progress.

Nishiho-sanso is recommended, but if you go, bring a stove to melt snow. They charge $3/500ml of water.

On Nishohodaka Summit, descending from the summit, and Nishihosanso

Japanese Alps: Tateyama and Murodo

2009-05-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Tateyama in the Evening

I'm back in town after spending a few days in the Japanese Alps. I went to Murodo and climbed Tateyama. Some maps refer to it as Mount Onanji, so I'm in the annoying position that I'm not sure of its name.

If you are in to the outdoors at all, and are going to Japan, try to make it to Murodo. Transportation will take you all the way to the huts at 2,500m/8,000'. You will use a combination of trains, cable-cars and bus. The steep cable-car ride is almost worth the trip by itself.

Murodo is a skiers paradise: tons of snow, accessible, nice huts, many bowls to choose from. The main drawback is that it has evidently been discovered by all the Japanese skiers. Climbing Tateyama was a little reminiscent of Shasta, with the ant trail going up.

From Murodo, you can make it all the way across the mountains to Omachi. That seems a cool route. I wanted to make it South to Kamikochi instead. It was easier for my plans to backtrack, so that's what I did.

View of Murodo from Oyama. You can see the tent village camp. Raicho-so is the building left and up from the camp. In the blow-up image, you will see lots of little dots, which are people.

The snow at Murodo confirmed a theory I have that the West Pacific is much colder than even the East Pacific. I suspected this from the cold temperatures in Shanghai, which is about the same latitude as San Diego, yet has a climate more like that of Portland. Western China was much warmer. In the mountains there, snow levels were well above 10,000'. In contrast, at Murodo, it was at 4,000' -- same as California in winter. Murodo is level with Los Angeles. We are in May, and the bus still drove through 20' snow ruts at 7,000'. Not enough to impress a Norwegian, but the locals seemed awfully proud of their steep snow banks.

In Murodo, I stayed at Raicho-so. I had accidentally picked the hut furthest from the bus terminal and it still added 20 minutes to my climb. It was cool to hang out in the Onsen tub, though.

Shrine at Oyama, 2990m

On the Summit of Tateyama

[Ed: In the original post, I confused the East and West Pacific. It can be confusing because the West Pacific is by the far east, and the East Pacific is by the US West coast. It's not difficult when you think about it, but appearently I didn't think about it.]

Jiu Zhai Gou

2009-04-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

I have seen a lot of mountain areas, but a visit to Jiu Zhai Gou still stood out. It's unique with all the azure lakes and the meadowy water-falls. The overall terrain reminded me a bit of the Canadian rockies, probably because of all the limestone in both places.

I shall let the pictures do the talking; here are some tips for anyone going.

I had seen several references to a bus from the airport to the park, but I could find no such bus. I got on a shuttle bus from the airport, but it was a hotel courtesy shuttle, and I was obliged to lodge with one of the hotels it went to. The taxi getting back to the airport was quite steep, as the meter rate goes up for longer trips. That was something I hadn't expected, and I ran out of cash.

Inside the park, get the bus pass, even if you plan to mostly hike. The first three or four miles are not that interesting, compared to the rest. The bus rides will take longer than you think, because they stop often with mandatory changes. Some go straight through, but you can't tell which they are or when they leave.

I spent two days there and didn't feel the need to spend any longer. Spending a night in the park is dicy and you shouldn't plan on it.

There are a lot of Chinese tourists, but as with most nature areas, you don't have to move that far from a bus-stop to escape the worst of it. All hiking is on gang-planks or similar artificially constructed trail works.

Long Lake is the highest spot the bus goes to, at 10,500'.

Hottest Meal Yet

2009-04-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

In Chengdu, I had a hotpot dinner that was the most spicy meal I ever ate. I have perhaps tasted food this spicy before, as for instance when cautiously dipping a chip in the extra-hot salsa in a renowned taqueria. It is very different consuming a full such meal. You know you are eating spicy food when you pour raw garlic on it to soften the flavor!

In general, the Chinese food has been a pleasant surprise. The variety is amazing. It shouldn't really be, given the size and the history of the country -- I think my perception has been colored by the limited experience at Chinese restaurants in the states.

One of many culinary delights: The famous Shanghai squirting dumplings. You cannot really tell they are squirting, except if you notice they are sagging with the liquid inside.

In contrast, the food in Vietnam was a disappointment. The best meals I had in Vietnam were French. Curiously, the main Gaelic influence there seems to be a slight over-representation of French restaurants, plus a few loaner-words.

I did have some really good hotpots, but even here, China has outshone Vietnam so far, both in variety and overall quality. Two problems with Vietnamese food is that you have to spice it up yourself - which can be tough with unfamiliar sauces and herbs - and the best places are often local hole-in-the-walls that don't have names or addresses. Also, they often change around, as they go in and out of business. Thus, for the best experience, you really need to go with a local.

Vietnamese hotpot meal from Lau Tu Xuyen in Hanoi

That Other Chinese Wall

2009-04-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

I have escaped momentarily from the Chinese firewall. In addition to blocking content, and some sites outright, it slows things down more than I had realized. My impression is that sites fall into a green-amber-red spectrum, where greens are passed through, reds are fully blocked, and ambers go through a filter that slows down access, sometimes to a crawl.

I will try to get some posting in while my access is unadulterated.

The Old Great Wall

2009-04-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

Two features make the Great Wall of China impressive: its age and its length. It's also neat how they used natural features, but that is a corollary to the length. When you build something that is 5600 km long, incorporating terrain becomes mandatory.

I have mixed feelings about the Great Wall.

On the one hand, it is a testament to human accomplishment. It is the largest man-made structure in the world, and the only one visible from space. Its length is nearly equal to Earth's radius. It was built over a thousand year period. Its newest sections are 400 years old, not considering renovations.

The Wall also signifies Chinese freedom from Mongol rule. I don't wish oppression on anyone.

On the other hand, the Great Wall also stands as a symbol of isolationism and protectionism during the Ming dynasty, which was partially responsible for bringing China from the forefront of civilization to a backwaters relevant only for its size.

From a military perspective, the purpose of the wall must have been to stop a large, horse-based army. It seems to me that smaller raids conducted at night could not have been prevented, except with a massive guard along the entirety, which is unlikely. The wall was defensible from both sides, and has internal defensive features, so that one breach would not compromise the whole defense works.

The Two Towers

2009-04-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Shanghai is awe-inspiring. Above is a picture of two of the largest buildings in the world. On the left is Shanghai World Financial Center, the second tallest in the world. On the right is Jin Mao tower. The latter has an observation deck on the 88th floor, where I went up. I couldn't see much, thanks to the clouds, but it was still an impressive experience. The last 30 floors is a hotel with an atrium you can look into.

Neither building is boring. They each have interesting architectural features. Jin Mao tower took an idea from ancient pagoda construction, with the decorative terraces all the way up.

When we went to the Yu gardens in the old town, we got glimpses of the Pudong skyline, which created an interesting contrast.

The Poor Vietnamese

2009-04-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

That should be taken literally. The Vietnamese economy is a shambles. I knew that decades of communism had devastated their economy, but I thought they were escaping that and joining the tigers. I did see some new buildings and construction around Saigon and Hanoi, but it seemed haphazard.

Picking up the pieces

I spent an evening with Tiet, who works in Saigon translating to and from Japanese for a Japanese company running a factory there. He makes $300/month, while the factory workers make $100-$150. That's well below the per capita GDP, which is $2600. GDP captures more than national income, so a difference is not unusual, but it should not be by several factors. It suggests that little of what wealth there is gets into the hands of ordinary people. Tiet told me that the policemen around Saigon are well off, better than even doctors. They get bribe money and lots of special favors.

I spoke with another woman in Nha Trang making $3 working in a guesthouse. That's barely double the UN poverty threshold.

Like in other underdeveloped economies, activity follows the sun. Nightlife is scant, but the Vietnamese are bustling shortly after first light.

Eking out a living

What's extra sad is that in addition to poverty, Vietnam shows stark inequality. Contrasts between paucity and opulence are everywhere. In Hanoi, you'll see street vendors like the one on the right, selling meager pickings straight out of a basket in front of a big, marble government building. Another example was my hotel in Hue, where I literally stepped from a dinky gravelly alley into a clean, air-conditioned hotel with flashy floors and shiny mahogany furniture.

Pollution is palatable. The cities are covered in a visible haze. A long ride on a scooter, and you'll rub guff from your eyes and cough up crud from your lungs for at least two days.

The Vietnamese deserve much better. My every impression is of a hard-working, conscientious people. Judging from all the police checkpoints I saw, it seems that, like other communist countries, they also lack civil liberties.

Middle Class Living

This style socialism results in poverty, inequality, pollution, and a police state.

I don't see the upside. I understand Scandinavian style socialism. My Danish friends don't have to worry about whether they can retire in comfort, send their kids to college, or will go bankrupt from a big medical procedure. They may choose a reduction in choice and effeciency to gain this tranquility. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. If there is a benefit to Ho Chi Minh socialism, I haven't seen it.

It doesn't stop the Vietnamese from revering him, still.

A Ride in Vietnamese Country

2009-04-08T04:54:00.001-07:00

I went for a ride in some beautiful country. Similar limestone cliffs that make up Ha Long bay can be found west of Hanoi.

This geography is not representative of Vietnam. It's flat around both Saigon and Hanoi. There are mountains in Central Vietnam, but not this dramatic.

It was a good break with many little fun incidents. For instance, I was stormed by school kids and had tea with the locals.

Descending Dragon

2009-04-06T20:02:00.001-07:00

Ha Long means Descending Dragon. The story is that during a crucial battle with the Chinese, the gods intervened and sent two dragons down to help. The islands in Ha Long bay are supposed to be the jewels the dragons spit out to stop the invading armada. It was the site of one of the most famous battles of history.

I went in for a couple of days, including a kayak trip and a cave tour. The kayaking was the best part.

Hue, City of Kings

2009-04-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

I spent today at Hue, the capital during Vietnam's latest dynasty, early 19th century to 1945. The most impressive thing about it was the scale. The buildings went on for miles, it seemed. In reality, the main compound is about one square kilometer.

Some of the buildings were well-maintained, others were in disrepair, and interspersed were ramshackle worker or tool huts, broken rock and even garbage. This picture from the moat demonstrates the contrast a bit.

The temple at Tien Mue was almost more impressive. It was in a scenic location, with views over the river and to the mountains. It had some impressive Buddha statues, and the gardens were, well, zen-like.

Saigon Scooters

2009-03-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

The scooters in Saigon are driven along the same principles, and thus approximately the same speed, as bumper cars. Looking to the sides or backwards is not done, so the horn functions as an important, low-tech proximity indicator.

Pictures or words won't do it justice, so here are a couple of videos. They are noisy, so check your volume.

Serenity in Saigon Temples

2009-03-30T03:30:00.001-07:00

I saw a couple of temples in Saigon today, and had the most serene experience so far. The temples in Hong Kong were impressive, more for their size and design than the peace and solemnity one would expect to find at a temple. The Taoist temples weren't full of tourists, but still bustling with locals that were visiting in a worshipping capacity. That seemed to involve as much hanging out as praying or meditating. Kind of like a modern American church.

I'm no expert, but I find buddhist worship confusing. As I understand buddhism, it's different from most other religions in that it preaches internal spirituality. A sort of extreme existentialism without a divinity. Yet the buddhists are clearly worshipping Buddha. If Buddha himself was a buddhist, surely he did not advocate this type of worldly behavior. Offering incense and other little items such as fruit seems not just orthogonal, but downright opposite to what he taught. I don't see how he could have condoned offerings, a direct execution of gain and loss.

There must be a wide-spread need to worship, since the buddhists seems adamant about worshipping Buddha, whether that is buddhism or not, as he himself taught it. It also seems that all religions suffer from perversion.

The inside of Vinh Nghiem was quite impressive. There was a ceremony going on, and I was not comfortable taking pictures. You can see some here.

The Vinh Nghiem temple and another I went to but didn't get the name

Inside the Jade Empress Pagoda. Small yet elaborate.

Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta

2009-03-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

I stole that title from Kate Braverman. I don't have tall tales, but I did get to hold a Python, navigate small canals and see the sunrise over the Mekong.

I also tried some coconut candy. It was sweet like pineapple and creamy like Danish butter -- quite a treat.

Hong Kong Stats

2009-03-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

Leaving Hong Kong with such an impression of perfection, I decided to look up some stats. I compare some data between Hong Kong, USA, Netherlands and China.

I won't fill up the blog with the numbers, but here are some observations.

Hong Kong does best for health and safety. Life expectancy is the highest there, its infant mortality is lowest, and its death rate is also the lowest. The death rate is a crude but useful aggregate indicator of things like fatal work accidents, traffic safety, violent crime, etc.

The USA was richest in purchasing power of its residents, but Hong Kong was close behind, higher than Netherlands.

Literacy and education is better than China, but not as good as USA or Netherlands. It's a little tricky to evaluate these things as 'literacy' is defined differently in different countries.

Hong Kong has by far the highest Gini coeffecient, measuring income inequality (crudely). This is in line with my own observation. I didn't see a lot of outright poverty; you'll see more homeless people in San Francisco or Seattle than in Hong Kong. However, a lot of low-level positions that are being automated in the West are still done by people in Hong Kong. You see a lot of parking attendants, receptionists, footmen in lobbies, street cleaners, etc.

I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Low-level jobs are good as gateways to the job market. There's also an advantage to immigrants. It's better to be cleaning in Hong Kong than unemployed in the Phillipines. Unemployment is at or near the natural rate even in a recession year. Still, if there is a class of people stuck in low-level jobs, that would be sad.

Finally, Hong Kong has an extremely low murder rate, #4 from the bottom, with only Japan, Saudi-Arabia and Qatar ahead.

Hong Kong's Fabulous Foods

2009-03-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

For me, traveling is very much a culinary experience. A major reason I like Hong Kong so much is the food.

You can evaluate foods in two ways: 1. What's the best food you can get? 2. What's the average or consistency in food quality? Hong Kong has excelled by either measure: I've dined at a couple of the best restaurants in the world, and I have not had a bad meal.

Service has been a bit of hit and miss. Asian service seems to be hands-off, to the point where you need to flag the waiter to do the ordinary parts of a dining experience, such as ordering or paying. Language problems can amuse, as for instance the vegetarian restaurant offering me chicken, ham, sausage and seafood, neither of which I wanted.

Luk Yu teahouse has been my favorite -- authentic, friendly service, and the dim sum is the best I've had

Fairytale City

2009-03-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

You walk down an immaculate street, wondering if you can make your itinerary for an ambitious day. Your shoes never stick, you see no discarded paper cups, no errant paper blowing in the wind. The tiles are even and none are missing or cracked.

You come through a beautiful park with green shrubs, colorful flowers and an elegant fountain.

Fairytale Fountain

You descend into the metro station on a ramp that is smooth and shiny like marble. You get to the sprawling underworld with several levels and halls leading in all directions. Bilingual signs everywhere guide you to where you need to go, past neat shops and automated ticket dispensers that always work.

The train arrives on time a few minutes later, and you get into a car with clean, comfortable seats. The train moves quietly and fast, and you get to your destination as scheduled.

Again using the helpful signs, you exit the metro station by one of the numerous ramps within a block from where you need to be.

You get to the teahouse you want and a friendly waiter seats you and immediately serves you refreshing tea. You feast on sumptuous dim sum and other little meals until you are fat and happy.

You go outside and hail a cab. You get one immediately. The cab driver is polite and turns on the meter automatically. You drive down an even road with no cracks or potholes. The markings look like they were put there yesterday.

As you drive past the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, you notice that while it's a crowded city, and there are people everywhere, the traffic moves and you are never stuck or crammed.

You get out by the harbor to wait for the ferry. Unsurprisingly, it departs on time a few minutes later. The ocean air hits your nostrils and you get an incongruous whiff of sewage. As the ferry carries you to another scenic island, you take in the view of the stupefying expanse of high-rise below the green hills.

Fairytale Ferry (I cheated here: of course the commuter ferries didn't look like this)

You get off the ferry and walk down a lavish promenade. You are getting a little tired, so you take one of the ubiquitous escalators up the hill to your destination. You notice the handrail looks new and its motion is perfectly synchronized with the stairs.

At the top, you turn around to enjoy another arresting view of Fairytale City. You are well ahead of schedule in this town where everything works and everyone hustles. You relax and enjoy.

You are in Hong Kong.

Fairytale Flowers

Cleaning Fairytale City

Fairytale Paths and Staircases -- notice the perfect tile work

Temples

2009-03-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

Today was temple tour. I visited Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin, Fung Ying Seen Koon and Ching Chung Koon. They were each sprawling compounds with many buildings, lakes and gardens.

Garden Pagodas at Sik Sik

Bonsai at Sik Sik

Pictures from Ching Chung Koon

Taoist Murals at Fung Ying Seen Koon

Today's Word: Opulent

2009-03-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Adjectives come to mind like raindrops as you bum around Hong Kong. Today's word is opulent.

Fountain and Walkway at base of Central Plaza

Bank of China

Flower garden at the top of Victoria Peak

Judging from the designer furniture on display, the inside of Hong Kong homes are as luxurious as the outside. I realize this is a poor indicator, but somebody must buy this stuff.

Elliot, Forgotten Father

2009-03-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

I was at the Museum of History today. I found the presentation of Hong Kong history to be really good, and the interior was characteristally elegant and clean.

One thing that struck me in the presentation was the somewhat dichotomic approach to figures and events, in the sense that something or someone either failed or succeeded. For instance, both posters and movie presentations referred to Macartney as having "failed," where a Western account may just have said that he had an impossible task and did as well as he could under the circumstances.

It was not surprising, but still disappointing, Elliot should receive such little attention. If Hong Kong has a founding father, it is Charles Elliot. (Not to be confused with the bigotted Eliot that came to Hong Kong much later). Elliot not only was the first to suggest Hong Kong as a suitable location to the Colonial Office, he also defied orders and stipulated its cession at the first convention with the Chinese. He was also the commanding British officer taking possession of the island.

Elliot is a fascinating figure. Although his appointment to China was nepotistic, he dispatched his duties with energy and compunction. Like a 19th century Picard, he acted judiciously, taking his office seriously while maintaining respect for the local population and a policy of peace and restraint.

A case in point is when Dent was stuck in Canton just as hostilities were about to break out. With just four sailors, Elliot proceeded to enter Canton, outmanouvering a small fleet of junks trying to block him. He hoisted the flag over the super-intendent's office, indicating official UK presence and thereby showing government support for the compatriots and making the issue international. It is unclear what would have happened to Dent with a less dutiful plenipotentiary, but Elliot's actions were surely both daring and keen.

Hong Kong First Impressions

2009-03-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

One word: splendor.

Everything is big, posh, clean and well-maintained.

The skyline goes on forever. Manhattan got nothing on Hong Kong.

Here's one little detail from Hong Kong's cityscape. The square where this tree grows is quite big, squeaky clean and I saw no cracks or bulges in the pavement (it probably helps that it never freezes here). Notice the plants in front of the sushi shop. They were real plants and lined up all along the marble facade.

Travel Preparation Tips for China

2009-03-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Here are three important things I learned in preparing for my China trip.

1. The most useful site I used for research: Seat61. It mainly contains information about trains, such as time tables, description of the classes, where to get tickets, etc. I'm counting 18 Asian countries in the index, and the other continents are also represented, with an emphasis on Europe. While it's mostly about trains, other information for each country is also summarized, such as visa information, currencies, etc. There are links to many other informational sites, including embassies and booking sites.

2. Using an agency for getting the Chinese visa. At the consulate, I was blocked by onerous documentation requirements. They wanted to know my booking arrangement for each day and night I will spend in China, something that would have been literally impossible in my case, since land-based traveling can only be arranged within a few weeks of the local trip. After a recommendation from some friends, I used the agency instead and it was smooth sailing.

3. Vaccinations: If you want inoculation against Hepatitis B, start more than one month before the trip. It's a three-step vaccination process, and the second injection needs to be administered one month after the first. Getting just the first injection does not give any immunity, from what I was told.

The Mirror Metaphor Mystery

2009-03-14T23:38:00.001-07:00

I'm reading a Chinese short story collection which includes the story "The Floating City" by Xi Xi. I'm sure "The Floating City" is a metaphor for Hong Kong, but several of the other metaphors escape me.

One of them is about mirrors. In "The Floating City," mirrors reflect the back of things, so that if you look into one, you see the back of your head instead of your face.

"In the floating city's mirrors you can't find any answers or forecast the
future. But you can know the past, and this is not necessarily a bad
thing. History can teach lessons, and this is one of the good things
about the mirrors in the floating city."

I wonder if this is a reference to the enlightenment philosophy of reason, knowledge and science, which focuses on describing things as they are in the here and now, and how they came to be that way, without divining about the future. This seems opposed to many other philosophies, including eastern and religious ones, with prophesies, oracles, astrology, etc, many of which contains a divination aspect.

If that is indeed the reference, it is a profound insight by Xi Xi.

Length of Posts

2009-03-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

My aim is to keep blog entries short.

Atomism Underrated

2009-03-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

The classical Atomists are known for accurately describing chemical processes over two thousand years before empirical evidence corroborated their account. Given their limited starting point, this accomplishment is impressive.

There is something else, and more important, that distinguishes the Atomists from their contemporary philosophers. Their approach anticipated much of what we now know about science and knowledge. They were content with describing mechanical processes, instead of pursuing teleological dead-ends.

Bertrand Russell writes:

"[...] experience has shown that the mechanistic question leads to scientific knowledge, while the teleological question does not. The atomists asked the mechanistic question, and gave a mechanistic answer. Their successors, until the Renaissance, were more interested in the teleological question, and thus led science up a blind alley."

The curse of teleology is not confined to the natural sciences. In the social sciences, the undying quest for a desired result, without a full understanding of the processes and structures involved, has led to much disaster.

I named my blog after the Atomists, partly in honor of these insights -- and also because the mirthful Democritus was known as the laughing philosopher.