Internet Access in China

I've been having more problems accessing the Internet on this trip than before. The ADSL connection at PMI has been down for several days, even though we got the wireless router I brought to work. I think I broke both US and Chinese laws bringing the Netgear router to Chengdu. The US has strict export compliance laws regarding encryption and I think China doesn't want people bringing wireless devices. Anyway, I ended up installing Cisco VPN software on my friend's computer to bypass the Great Firewall of China. Sigh... all this work so I can update my blog.

Chengdu Trip #5: Hong Kong

It turned out we didn't stop in Korea after all. The flight only took 14 hours, direct from LAX to HKG. We also got one of the 747's with the new retrofitted interior which includes a true on-demand entertainment system. I think I managed to sleep for about 3 hours after the "dinner" meal. The rest of the time, I ended watching I Am Legend, Cloverfield, Kung Fu Basketball, and half of the 2nd National Treasure movie.

I bought one of those noise-canceling headphones for this trip. I didn't splurge for the Bose ones; there was a pair by Philips on sale at Costco. It worked out much better than I thought they would; it cut out most of the low-to-mid frequency engine noise. Before this, I was using my Shure E2 in-ear monitor headphones. They work by sealing your ear canal with rubber tips or foam inserts. They also work pretty good but they hurt my ears after a few hours.

I also took some NyQuil caplets at the beginning of the trip which helped me sleep for a few hours. I'm still drowsy now but I'm not sure whether it's the drugs or just more jet lag. It's raining now in Hong Kong so the air is a bit humid. I took a shower in the Cathay Pacific lounge. It was good to clean up after a 14 hour flight but a bit weird putting the same clothes back on after the shower.


Bradley Terminal is still under construction. Here is the view from gate 101; the A/C is not working so it was like a sauna with 400 people.


The bathroom/shower in "The Wing", Cathay Pacific's lounge near gate 4 at HKIA.


View from the lounge out to gate 3

Long Flight Becomes Longer

Just found out as we were checking in that due to strong headwinds, our flight from LAX to HKG needs to stop in Incheon, Korea to refuel. The 14.5 hour flight is now ~17 hours. :(

Postage Increase

I just bought a roll of 41 cent stamps last month and the rate changed again. Now I have to go buy a whole bunch of 1 cent stamps.

I still have 29 cents (Elvis!) stamps from years ago that you have to lick. To get to 42 cents, I have to add one 10 cent make-up stamp plus three 1 cent stamps. I'm going to run out of room on the envelope.

Aftershocks Update II

OK, I was probably a bit premature in my aftershock analysis. In the past 24 hours, there were 5 more large aftershocks, including a 5.6 that caused more buildings to collapse near the epicenter.



It appears that Dragonair canceled some flights between Hong Kong and Chengdu. Flight KA821 from Chengdu to Hong Kong (our usual fight) has been running ~3 hours late. Good thing we have a 6 hour layover in Hong Kong.

Aftershocks Update

Several friends have questioned my sanity about traveling to Chengdu this weekend. Even though it's still a huge disaster area, I think further threat to Chengdu is minimal. I've been following the aftershocks on USGS and so far, there are 53 major aftershocks.



However, being a numerical analysis geek, I plotted all 54 events (including the initial earthquake) by magnitude and date/time. The time scale only covers 4 days but it's pretty clear that the frequency and magnitude of the aftershocks is decreasing. On the downside, I read that there are 1200+ dead and ~6000 injured in Chengdu.



In comparison, here is the same scale map for California.

Donations

World Vision

American Red Cross

5 dates no guy wants to go on

MSN/Match.com Article

During courtship and dating, women — being the more creative gender — will often come up with the majority of suggestions for where they’d like to go and what they’d like to do with their romantic partner. You’d think this would be a positive thing. After all, their motivation appears genuine.

"Oh, come on, it’ll be fun!" they say to us. And yet according to my latest "Aw, Jeez, Do I Have To?" survey of myself and my friends, 96% of these suggestions are viewed by men as embarrassing, boring, or uncomfortable. Ladies, the following is inside information—a select listing of some of your most common activity suggestions, what men don’t like about them, and what we’d like to do instead.

So this doesn't explain anything with regards to my previous marriage since I've been on all 5 dates, multiple times.

Hiking: many hiking and camping trips, including being bounced awake in a tent during the 1991 Sierra Madre earthquake

Opera: went to see two operas at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; had tickets to a third right before the divorce

Travel: honeymoon was one long trip to museums and stuff in Europe; other trips to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Boston, Vancouver, short-term mission trip to Navajo reservation in Arizona/New Mexico, Vegas! (many times), all around California, plus a crazy 4 day/1700 mile road trip to Albuquerque and back

Clothes shopping: several "clothes shopping" trips to SFO at the Petite Sophisticate flagship store by Powell Square (see Travel)

Relationship workshops: not including counseling, at least one seminar by Neil Clark Warren

Not complaining of course... I did enjoy a lot of these trips/dates/whatever. OK, I did fall asleep during the operas.

Even More Aftershocks

Continued from the list below. There are still some pretty large aftershocks.

5.1 2008/05/14 21:01:07 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.8 2008/05/14 17:33:24 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.5 2008/05/14 17:17:22 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.2 2008/05/14 13:29:44 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
4.4 2008/05/14 12:27:59 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.6 2008/05/14 10:44:37 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
4.9 2008/05/14 10:00:30 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.3 2008/05/14 09:26:44 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 2008/05/14 05:54:59 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.4 2008/05/14 02:54:38 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.8 2008/05/13 19:51:52 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.8 2008/05/13 16:23:51 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.8 2008/05/13 13:31:34 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.0 2008/05/13 12:51:38 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
4.9 2008/05/13 10:16:06 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.9 2008/05/13 08:20:51 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.0 2008/05/13 07:53:02 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.0 2008/05/13 07:19:16 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.8 2008/05/13 07:07:08 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.6 2008/05/13 05:36:29 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
4.4 2008/05/13 05:25:47 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.0 2008/05/13 03:00:38 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.6 2008/05/13 02:15:16 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.3 2008/05/12 23:54:47 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.4 2008/05/12 23:46:19 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.6 2008/05/12 21:08:14 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.8 2008/05/12 20:51:26 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.3 2008/05/12 20:45:31 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.6 2008/05/12 20:08:48 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.4 2008/05/12 18:55:21 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.1 2008/05/12 17:54:32 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.8 2008/05/12 17:52:23 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.9 2008/05/12 17:03:10 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

SEC vs, Broadcom

Reuters Article

NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday it charged two current and two former top officers of chip maker Broadcom Corp with backdating stock options.

The SEC said it filed a federal court complaint against co-founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Henry Samueli and General Counsel David Dull, as well as Broadcom ex-Chief Executive Officer Henry Nicholas and former Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle.

The charges, which sent the company's shares down 2 percent, follow Broadcom's agreement, announced on April 22, to pay $12 million to settle SEC charges that it fraudulently backdated stock options.

The article also says that the SEC is seeking "officer-and-director bars" against all four. That would probably mean that Henry Samueli and David Dull would have to quit if they lost, and Henry can't be chairman of the board anymore.

Google Street View

I was messing around with Google Street View and found a picture of our house in Brea which we sold in 2006. It still looks the same except the new owners ripped out some plants and shrubs at the front of the house. I was going to repaint the house but we ended up selling it; after two years, it looks like it hasn't been painted yet. I hope the new owners are enjoying the nectarine tree we left behind... :(

More Aftershocks

Here is a USGS map of all the recent earthquakes near Chengdu:


All the aftershocks seem to track along a SW to NE line, starting from the epicenter of the 7.9 earthquake. Thankfully, that line runs away from Chengdu, the largest city in the area.


This is the intensity map for the original earthquake. The aftershocks appear to follow the region shaded in red.

No Foreigners Allowed Here Either

Predictable

YANGON, Myanmar - The United Nations said Tuesday that only a tiny portion of international aid needed for Myanmar's cyclone victims is making it into the country, amid reports that the military regime is hoarding good-quality foreign aid for itself and doling out rotten food.

The country's isolated military regime has agreed to accept relief shipments from the U.N. and foreign countries, but has largely refused entry to aidworkers who might distribute the aid.

No Foreigners Allowed

Expressions of sympathy and offers of help poured in from the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others. Even rival Taiwan, which is frequently hit by quakes and has highly developed expertise in rescue operations, offered aid.

The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said relief authorities "are ready to make contact with relevant countries and organizations."

But Wang, the disaster relief official, said international aid workers would not be allowed to travel to the affected area.

"We welcome funds and supplies, we can't accommodate personnel at this point," he said.

Why? First Burma/Myanmar, now China. Is the impulse to control information so ingrained that they are willing to risk lives by turning away help? Or do dictators think they will lose face by letting foreigners help?

I also saw this paragraph in an English article from Xinhua (communist government news agency):

The strong quake was felt in 25 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, including Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, Shaanxi, Guangdong and Henan. But at the moment, the deaths were mainly found in the worst-affected regions such as Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Yunnan, Shanxi, Guizhou, Hubei.

Even in the midst of the largest earthquake disaster in 30 years, the writers at Xinhua managed to put a blurb about Taiwan as a province of China. Putting Taiwan on the list (at the front of the list no less) does not add anything newsworthy to the article. Maybe they get bonus points each time they write something with "Taiwan is part of China" theme.

Really, why do people in China even care? Most people that fought in the civil war are dead. Are they willing to kill 23+ million fellow Chinese people for nationalistic pride? Mongolia was part of China (or the other way around) during the Yuan Dynasty; I don't hear people bitching about taking back Mongolia.

Earthquake! Live!

Crazy! I was just on the phone with my friend in Chengdu and an aftershock hit while we were talking. It's not on the USGS site yet but I heard there were 300+ aftershocks, with ~30 above 4.6. My friend also said a 6-story hospital collapsed in Chengdu as well as an elementary school, trapping 300 children.

Not good. The 10,000 death toll will probably keep rising. :(

Still thinking of going to Chengdu this Saturday as planned. I've been through several "large" earthquakes in California so 5.0 aftershocks are fine. I'm just worried that the 7.9 quake shook something loose and another 8-ish quake is on the way.

===========

Here's the USGS entry:
5.0 2008/05/13 03:00:38 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

Leon called PMI and they said they felt this aftershock too.

===========

The airport in Chengdu is open. They had shut down the airport all yesterday but local news said that it's open today with at least 10 flights landing.

7.8 Earthquake

A 7.8 7.9 earthquake just hit 60 miles outside of Chengdu.

BBC News

NPR

==========

I managed to reach my friend in Chengdu. I couldn't get through using a regular cell phone but I was able to connect through SkypeOut. She was in her 10th floor apartment when the quake hit at ~2:30pm. Since then, she's been hanging out downstairs with a friend from school; they were told to evacuate the building. It's almost midnight now in China and I think she's going to head back into the building (electrical power was just restored) to sleep.

Aftershocks so far (from USGS):
5.1 2008/05/12 15:28:54 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 2008/05/12 15:05:30 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 2008/05/12 14:46:08 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.1 2008/05/12 14:15:26 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
4.9 2008/05/12 13:40:54 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.9 2008/05/12 12:15:41 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.8 2008/05/12 11:11:02 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 2008/05/12 10:23:40 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.5 2008/05/12 09:42:25 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
4.9 2008/05/12 09:23:34 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
5.1 2008/05/12 09:07:00 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.0 2008/05/12 08:47:25 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION
4.9 2008/05/12 08:26:12 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.2 2008/05/12 08:21:40 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.2 2008/05/12 08:10:59 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.4 2008/05/12 07:34:42 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.7 2008/05/12 06:54:18 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
6.0 2008/05/12 06:43:14 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
7.8 2008/05/12 06:28:00 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

Grandpa's Ashes

I picked up my parents from LAX this afternoon. They went to Taiwan, along with my 2nd uncle, to get my grandfather's ashes and bring it back to Los Angeles. The plan is to bury the ashes next to my grandma at Rose Hills. The internment ceremony is this Thursday (May 15th) at 3:00pm.


The box. My dad, being the eldest son, had to carry this all the way back from Taiwan.

It was heavier than expected. We thought the ashes were in a small box but it turned out to be a large, marble, coffin-like box. It also ended up being too big to fit in their outer lead box so we had to pick another urn/container to transfer the ashes into. The yellow cloth cost NT$1000; it is supposed to protect my grandfather's spirit on the trip over or something like that.


It has his name, place of birth, and both date of birth and date of death. I'm not sure what the bottom row of characters say.

What does one do with an old ash container anyway?

You have 7 years to learn Mandarin

Fortune Article

Back in 2001 when the International Olympic Committee chose Beijing as the site of this summer's games, the event was meant to mark China's debut as a player on the global economic stage. But a recent study by the economist Angus Maddison projects that China will become the world's dominant economic superpower much sooner than expected - not in 2050, but in 2015.

Hmm, I've thought about going to China to teach English... maybe I should stay here and teach Chinese! I probably need to learn how to read & write Chinese first. :)

Dictatorships

Dictatorships, whether military, communist, or fascist, don't really care about the people they rule over. It's all about maintaining power and wealth. That's why dictators like Robert Mugabe and Kim Jong-il will destroy an entire country and the lives of millions so they can stay in power.

For example:

YANGON, Myanmar - Hungry people swarmed the few open shops and fistfights broke out over food and water in Myanmar's swamped Irrawaddy delta Wednesday as a top U.S. diplomat warned that the death toll from a devastating cyclone could top 100,000.

The minutes of a U.N. aid meeting obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, revealed the military junta's visa restrictions were hampering international relief efforts.

Only a handful of U.N. aid workers had been let into the impoverished Southeast Asian country, which the government has kept isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control. The U.S. and other countries rushed supplies to the region, but most of it was being held outside Myanmar while awaiting the junta's permission to deliver it.

Amazing. Even when thousands of people are dying, the military dictatorship still wants to maintain control at the cost of the lives of their countrymen. I can't believe people whine/bitch about the U.S. government when this crap happens around the world all the time.

Balls of Fury

I've started playing ping pong with a couple of guys from NewSong recently. The last time I played on a regular basis was in high school. One of our friends (Junji) had a table in his garage and I used to go to his house to play. I even bought my own Nittaku paddle.

Since we don't have place to play, we've been meeting at a Korean pool hall in Garden Grove. There are lots of pool table in the front and hidden in the back, there is a small room with two tables. The fee is $6/hour so if we have 4 people playing doubles, it only comes out to $3/person for 2 hours.

Some pictures with the Treo. I forgot to bring a real camera.









BTW, I saw the movie on the plane during my last trip to Chengdu. I only saw the last 1/3 of the movie and thought it was really stupid... except for Maggie Q. :)

SEALs don't snitch

This stuff with Nick (Henry Nicholas) just gets more and more weird... and why are they asking a bodyguard to testify about stock-option backdating?

Judge sends ex-Broadcom CEO's bodyguard and former Navy SEAL to jail for refusing to testify

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A federal judge in Santa Ana has sent a bodyguard for former Broadcom Corp. chief executive Henry T. Nicholas III to jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the Irvine-based chip maker.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna sent former Navy SEAL Stephen "Otter" Otten to jail on Monday.

The 30-year-old Otten is one of several veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have worked for Nicholas to provide security and childcare.

Otten has refused to testify despite being given immunity by prosecutors.

Otten's lawyer H. Dean Steward told Selna "SEALs don't snitch."

The judge said he hoped jail time would convince Otten to "do the right thing."

Broadcom Corp. is under investigation for falsifying its reported income by illegally backdating stock options for five years.

Chinese American

I've been reading (and commenting) a lot on the Tibet/Olympic Torch fiasco lately. I'm not really surprised at the protests and controversy since every torch relay has drawn protesters. What surprises me the most are the comments from Chinese people, both in news articles and blog posts. A part of me always thought that since I'm ethnically Chinese and lived in Taiwan for the first ~9 years of my life, I would find lots in common with mainland Chinese people. Having visited Chengdu 4 times in the past 12 months, I'm beginning to feel more "at home" in China. However, I never discuss politics with any local Chinese people, and after reading news/comments, I am confused and saddened by what appears to be the public opinion about the West. Maybe I'm more American/Canadian/whatever then I thought.

During college, I took several Chinese history classes even though I was an engineering major. Imperial history was interesting but impersonal; one class we studied the life/culture of commoners during the Ming dynasty. What disturbed me most was modern Chinese/Chinese-American history. It was one tragedy after another, from the Boxer Rebellion to the Rape of Nanjing to the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. On this side of the Pacific, the Chinese were treated poorly even though Chinese immigrants helped build the transcontinental railway.

Back to current events, a couple of things I took away from all those history classes seem relevant:

1. A lot of white people (including Americans) and the Japanese beat up on China
Maybe this explains why there seem to be a huge mistrust of non-Chinese opinions, especially Western media. Every time a foreigner questions news censorship in China, the typical response is that all Western media is biased and anti-Chinese. To me, that is totally ludicrous, but how do you communicate with people that equate differing opinions as dangerous or outright lies? I don't talk politics when I'm in China, especially about Taiwan. Since I was born there, I have very strong opinions. What I don't understand is why the average person in mainland China cares one way or the other.

2. Democracy doesn't work very well with Chinese people
For most of its long history, China has been ruled by emperors until the Republic of China was formed after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. However, I feel that the period from 1912-1949 was even more chaotic then before, with warlords vying for power followed by the war with Japan.

$4.08/gallon

Since I drove to UCLA and back yesterday, the gas tank in the Z was near empty this morning. In addition, I haven't washed the car in many many months so I went to a gas station with an automated car wash. I ended pumping 15+ gallons of super unleaded and the total came out to over $63. With a 20 gallon tank, a complete fill-up could have cost me >$80.


$8 car wash

2008 Global Energy & Power Forum

I went to a forum at UCLA yesterday. For a cleantech gathering, I ended up driving 100+ miles round-trip in my Z, probably burning 5+ gallons of premium unleaded. Actually, traffic was not too bad on the 405 until I got to Venice Blvd. It took about 90 minutes to drive up but I managed to get home in about 40 minutes.


John Turner from NREL; he probably had the most interesting presentation.

The event was held at the Tom Bradley International Hall and the event coordinator said that over 300 people showed up. There was not really a theme since the speakers talked about their own stuff but most of it was marginally connected to cleantech. The speakers blew through lots of slides in about 90 minutes. They even had people from the Turkish and Kenyan consulate speak. Afterwards, they had a Toyota Prius that had its gasoline engine converted to run on hydrogen. It emits no CO2 and just a bit of NOx but the engine was pretty noisy.


Here's a shot of the audience. I can see myself... checking email on my Treo! :)

Portland Zoo

The polar bears were just playing around... no mating involved.

Portland Trip

I went up to Portland to visit my sister's family this past weekend. To conserve my vacation days for China, I took off from work at around 3:30pm to catch a late afternoon flight and returned on the early flight this morning. I got back to the office around 9:45am which is pretty much my normal time. We didn't have anything specific planned for the weekend; I just hung out and relaxed.


OSU Beavers plane... why?!


Addison and her new hat


We went to the Portland zoo Saturday afternoon. The zoo was pretty small compared to the San Diego zoo... no pandas either. There was a petting zoo with some goats and sheep; this one got too close and scared Addison a little bit.


This is the only decent dim sum place in all of Portland. We rushed to get out of the house at 9:30am Sunday morning and arrived at around 10am. This is the line to get in the restaurant as it opened. Crazy. I think we managed to get one of the last open tables. When we left at 11am, there were lots and lots of people waiting for tables. Seems that there may be a market for a second decent dim sum restaurant.


Unfortunately, this is representative of the typical Chinese restaurant (plus lounge!) in Portland. Hung Far Low... since 1928!


Hey, is it nighttime already?


We went for a nice walk in the woods after dinner Sunday. This is literally around the corner from my sister's house. They told me they tried to cut across the woods (to the right) to get to a Starbucks and got totally lost. This is inside the city of Portland.


Waiting to take off in typical Portland weather. I got to the airport at 6:15am for a 7:00am flight. Like at John Wayne Airport, my AAdvantage Platinum card let me cut into the first class line so I got to my gate in ~5 minutes.

I'm Feeling Lucky - Picasa 2

Mount Hood (I think):


Before


After... pretty amazing filter

Work Elevator

We have two elevators in our 4-story building. For brand new equipment (~12 months), they run pretty slow. Each time I'm in the elevator, I think, "I must be in the slow one again." Just to make sure, I timed both elevators from the time the doors close on the first floor to the time it opens on the 4th floor. After many trials, both elevators are equally slow at 26 seconds.

Skype Bandwidth Limit

It seems that Skype is bandwidth constrained. At the bottom of the Skype application window, it tells you how many people are logged-in. Right now, it shows about 7.9M users. I've noticed that the system is pretty stable up to about 9M users. As the number increases over 10M, the call quality deteriorates significantly; I've seen huge delays, especially video, of up to 3 minutes. During morning hours (Pacific time), sometimes there are ~12.5M users online and Skype is barely operational. Sigh... but at least it's free.

College Tests in China

My friend in Chengdu told me about a test she took in school. Evidently, they pay to take a proficiency test, in this case, a computer literacy test. It's done on a computer and the only result they see is the final score. There's no opportunity to look at questions afterwards to review your answers against the "correct" answers. Predictably, no one passed the test; a passing score is 60/100. However, a lot of people, including my friend, got a score of 59. If they want to pass, they need to pay to take the test again. I'm pretty sure that if I took their English proficiency test, I probably will score a 59 as well.

What an awesome business model!

Jimmy Carter is Senile

WSJ Article

"In a democracy, I realize you don't need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels," he said over the weekend, responding to a question from an Israeli journalist who noted that Mr. Carter had been snubbed by most of Israel's top leadership and reprimanded by its president, Shimon Peres. "When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that's the dictator, because he speaks for all the people."

Riiight. I'm sure Kim Jong-il speaks for all 23 million North Koreans, especially the million that died of starvation in the 1990s. Instead of talking to the Tibetans or people in Taiwan, Jimmy should just talk to Hu Jintao. Sheesh...

Yet a dictator does not speak for the people. Properly speaking, a dictator speaks for none of the people. A dictator speaks only for himself, while "the people" are transformed, through force and fear, into an abstraction, an instrument, a rhetorical trope. On the contrary, it is only in a democracy where the government can morally and lawfully be said to speak for the people, since it was morally and lawfully chosen by the people to speak for them. Which means that Mr. Carter has matters precisely backwards: It is in democracies such as Israel where the views of the leadership matter most, and in dictatorships such as Syria where they matter least.

Forecast: Big quake likely in California

AP Article

LOS ANGELES - California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said Monday in the first statewide temblor forecast.

New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent.

Almost 100% chance there will be a big earthquake within the next 30 years. I've been in SoCal for ~23 years and I've been through at least 3 big ones so I think they're a bit conservative on their forecast. Maybe it's time to move to China!

- 10/1/87 Whittier Narrows, 5.9
- 6/28/91 Sierra Madre, 5.8
- 6/28/92 Landers, 7.3
- 1/17/94 Northridge, 6.7

Kai Tak Airport

I'm so glad that they built a new airport in Hong Kong. I don't think I want to experience a Kai Tak (old Hong Kong Airport) landing.

Summer Is Here

Today's high temperature in Costa Mesa is going to be 95ºF or 35ºC. I think I'll turn on the A/C and take a nap.

==========

It was 95ºF again today (Sunday) and it's only the first few weeks of Spring.

Car Soccer

1st half


2nd half

H.RES.1077

The House of Representatives voted today on a bill regarding Tibet:

Calling on the Government of the People's Republic of China to end its crackdown in Tibet and enter into a substantive dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to find a negotiated solution that respects the distinctive language, culture, religious identity, and fundamental freedoms of all Tibetans, and for other purposes.

The vote was 413-1-17. The lone "no" vote was cast by Ron Paul (R-Texas)... and he thought he could be president?!

In other news, the torch relay in San Francisco today was rerouted to avoid protesters and the crowd in general. What's the point of having the relay if no one sees it?




I guess all these people came out for nothing

Tax and Spend

Charlotte Observer Article

Should she become first lady, she said she'd focus on family issues.

"If we don't wake up as a nation with a new kind of leadership...for how we want this country to work, then we won't get universal health care," she said.

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."

- Michelle Obama

What is it with Democrats and income redistribution? I have given up enough of my pie already. The government needs to be more efficient with their existing pie before sucking more tax money out of me.

MacGyver

Season one of MacGyver on CBS.com. I used to love watching this show. The plot was kind of predictable but it's always interesting to see what MacGyver could do with a pocketknife, dental floss, chewing gum, and his belt each week.

Naruto Episodes

A friend from church told me yesterday that the storyline for the first Naruto series only goes up to 70-something. Anything after that, all the way to episode 220, are not part of the original manga series. The story actually picks up in the 2nd series, Naruto: Shippūden. No wonder the last 100 episodes I watched seem to jump all over the place plot-wise.

A co-worker gave me a DVD today with episodes 1-13 of Darker than Black... looks pretty interesting.

Olympic Torch Relay

London:





Paris:

The round-the-world trip is the longest in Olympic history, and is meant to highlight China's rising economic and political power. Activists have seized on it as a platform for their causes.

Beijing organizers criticized London's protesters, saying their actions were a "disgusting" form of sabotage by Tibetan separatists.

"The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. "It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure."

I don't understand how the communists keep saying it's about peace and the Olympic spirit when everyone knows the whole thing is about politics; the torch relay was started in 1936 by the Nazis as part of their self-glorification propaganda campaign. Also, I think the Chinese government has miscalculated the global response to the riots and crackdown in Tibet. It's not just a few "Tibetan separatists" gathered in London and Paris to protest. Maybe China is not used to protests where they can't come in and beat-up or shoot the protesters as they do domestically.

The torch comes to San Francisco on Wednesday. It should be interesting to see what happens in the protest capital of the world.

Final Four

UCLA vs. Memphis game starting now...

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UCLA down by 3 at halftime, 38-35

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UCLA loses, 78-63 :(

That's 0-3 in the last three years after getting to the Final Four

Marketing 101

Of all the classes I took in business school, I think I did the worst in Marketing. Still, my first reaction when I saw the above ad was, "Wow! That is really stupid!" Absolut vodka is famous for their print ads, and this is part of their "In An Absolut World" campaign.

The ad was produced by a local advertising agency in Mexico. V&S is a large global company with almost US$1.7 billion in sales in 2007 so it's pretty amazing that such an ad was actually produced and published. I can't believe that no one--either in Sweden or in the U.S.--raised a red flag. Illegal immigration is a huge issue here, especially in states bordering Mexico. Fringe groups have pushed for the "return" of land that Mexico lost to the U.S. during the Mexican-American War. The ad shows the border of Mexico before the war.

Anyway, back to marketing. V&S sells a lot of vodka under the Absolut brand, about 11 million 9-liter cases in 2007 (from annual report) or ~US$1 billion. By far the largest market was the U.S. at ~50%. The second largest market is Canada at ~4% and Mexico accounts for ~3%. The whole point of advertising is to gain market share. How much additional revenue did V&S expect to get in Mexico versus potential losses from pissing off customers in the U.S.? Stupid.

V&S published a response on their blog. Judging from the ~500 comments, it's not helping. The government of Sweden just sold V&S to Pernod Ricard for ~$9B, pretty expensive at ~6x 2007 revenues (BRCM market cap is ~3x). It will be interesting to see if anyone (Ms. Eriksson?) loses their job over this fiasco.

In an ABSOLUT World according to Mexico
Posted Friday, April 04, 2008, 5:26:34 PM

The In An Absolut World advertising campaign invites consumers to visualize a world that appeals to them -- one they feel may be more idealized or one that may be a bit "fantastic." As such, the campaign will elicit varying opinions and points of view. We have a variety of executions running in countries worldwide, and each is germane to that country and that population.

This particular ad, which ran in Mexico, was based upon historical perspectives and was created with a Mexican sensibility. In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues. Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal.

As a global company, we recognize that people in different parts of the world may lend different perspectives or interpret our ads in a different way than was intended in that market. Obviously, this ad was run in Mexico, and not the US -- that ad might have been very different.

By Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits

Heh, the ad may have violated their own responsible marketing guidelines. They didn't think this ad was political?!

V&S marketing activities shall not:
• blah blah blah...
• be used in any political, religious or pornographic context.