Postcards From Planet Google
Google rocks!
Thursday, November 28, 2002
Saturday, November 23, 2002
Looking Over the Northern Border, and Over Their Shoulder
This article talks about the difficulties of maintaining a secure U.S.-Canadian border in light of 9/11. This line caught my eye:
Canadians keep post office boxes in the United States because mail service is better.
Whodathunkit?
This article talks about the difficulties of maintaining a secure U.S.-Canadian border in light of 9/11. This line caught my eye:
Canadians keep post office boxes in the United States because mail service is better.
Whodathunkit?
Friday, November 22, 2002
More media fun:
I'm determined to make some progress on my law school apps this weekend. Wish me luck!
- Hot laptop burns scientist's penis (Reuters/CNN.com)
No comments necessary... - North Korea names an air hammer a national 'hero' (The Age)
I guess you run out of human heroes when everyone outside of Pyongyang is starving to death. - Field of Screams (Forbes FYI)
The incredible (literally) story of how Washington PR man Nick Naylor was hired by North Korea to stage a celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament in the Axis of Evil.
I'm determined to make some progress on my law school apps this weekend. Wish me luck!
Thursday, November 21, 2002
A couple of articles that caught my eye:
Scientists Planning to Make New Form of Life (Washington Post)
Scientists in Rockville are to announce this morning that they plan to create a new form of life in a laboratory dish, a project that raises ethical and safety issues but also promises to illuminate the fundamental mechanics of living organisms.
To ensure safety, Smith and Venter said the cell will be deliberately hobbled to render it incapable of infecting people; it also will be strictly confined, and designed to die if it does manage to escape into the environment.
More worrisome than the risk of escape, they acknowledged, is that the project could lay the scientific groundwork for a new generation of biological weapons, a risk that may force them to be selective about publishing technical details. But they said the project could also help advance the nation's ability to detect and counter existing biological weapons.[...]
Let the slide down the slippery slope begin!
Black-White Harmony: Are You Kidding Me? (NY Times)
I've actually wanted to write about blackpeopleloveus.com for awhile. Thanks to Vic for pointing out the site to me initially. It's definitely meant to be funny, but works in really subtle ways to tackle a real interesting issue. As an Asian American, I've definitely experienced some of this, and I'm probably guilty of such behavior as well. The key point here is that there is more to American race relations than the more obvious issues like affirmative action and civil rights.
Now onto more important matters:
I've never had a "Turducken" before, but I'm convinced that I have to have one. Hmm...how am I gonna get one of those in Shanghai...?
Scientists Planning to Make New Form of Life (Washington Post)
Scientists in Rockville are to announce this morning that they plan to create a new form of life in a laboratory dish, a project that raises ethical and safety issues but also promises to illuminate the fundamental mechanics of living organisms.
To ensure safety, Smith and Venter said the cell will be deliberately hobbled to render it incapable of infecting people; it also will be strictly confined, and designed to die if it does manage to escape into the environment.
More worrisome than the risk of escape, they acknowledged, is that the project could lay the scientific groundwork for a new generation of biological weapons, a risk that may force them to be selective about publishing technical details. But they said the project could also help advance the nation's ability to detect and counter existing biological weapons.[...]
Let the slide down the slippery slope begin!
Black-White Harmony: Are You Kidding Me? (NY Times)
I've actually wanted to write about blackpeopleloveus.com for awhile. Thanks to Vic for pointing out the site to me initially. It's definitely meant to be funny, but works in really subtle ways to tackle a real interesting issue. As an Asian American, I've definitely experienced some of this, and I'm probably guilty of such behavior as well. The key point here is that there is more to American race relations than the more obvious issues like affirmative action and civil rights.
Now onto more important matters:
I've never had a "Turducken" before, but I'm convinced that I have to have one. Hmm...how am I gonna get one of those in Shanghai...?
Friday, November 15, 2002
Hi everyone. Well I'm still alive. Just that life has been crazy for the last few weeks. /when I've had free time, I've preferred vegging out to working on anything. a nasty habit that's causing me lots of problems. Maybe I've been too pampered, and too indulgent of the feel-good whims of American society, feeling that it is my birthright to be able to veg out in front of a TV, or lie on my bed listening to music for hours at a time after any period of extended stress that lasts longer than a day or two. I sometimes feel that I spend more time rewarding myself for relatively minor achievements (i.e. getting organized enough to drop off my dry-cleaning) than actually putting in time to do the things that I really should be doing. Such as:
-My law school apps
-Trying to find some paid writing gigs
-Figuring out how i can actually get my work done at my job, rather than just despair that everything is too difficult and that i don't know anything.
This job is driving me crazy. I mean there's been a good side. I got to go to Taiwan for the very first time (albeit for only about 40 hours). Over 2 weeks I travelled to Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Taipei, and Beijing. Had over a dozen banquet-style meals, met CEOs, govt. officials, company directors. Talented movers-and-shakers all over "Greater China" (at least that's how the people at Oriented describe it.) Of course I was operating on very little sleep and subject to never-ending requests and demands from the head-honcho. He never seems to be satisfied. Every once in awhile he'll surprise me by saying something nice (and occasionally, actually doing something nice. But those moments often make me feel even more uncomfortable, like it should make up for all of my misgivings about him and the work.
Still, it is a good opportunity--though one I am screwing-up, albeit partially due to my fatigue of late. It didn't help to get back from the trip and then instantly catch a wicked cold. Now my hacking winter cough is in full-swing. One of my least favorite parts of the season.
********
It's obvious that the job is consuming me. I'm now bitching about work on a regular basis to DY. Unfortunately the business-world is totally alien to her, so she can't really respond to my complaints with any tips or advice. She can only snuggle up and tell me it'll be OK, which I appreciate, but isn't totally sufficient. Then there's the fact that since I'm so exhausted, I usually want to pass-out before midnight, since I have to get up at 6:30am to get ready for work. Usually she has to get up even earlier, but she only has to work 3 days in a row, then gets like 4 days off in Seoul. So she's perfectly happy to give-up sleep to make the most of our time together. I'd like to do that too, but I need to get as much rest as I can to try in order to be somewhat conscious at work, which is a serious issue considering all of the things I have to get done and have been failing or forgetting to do. Poor girl. She doesn't deserve a basketcase like me.
-My law school apps
-Trying to find some paid writing gigs
-Figuring out how i can actually get my work done at my job, rather than just despair that everything is too difficult and that i don't know anything.
This job is driving me crazy. I mean there's been a good side. I got to go to Taiwan for the very first time (albeit for only about 40 hours). Over 2 weeks I travelled to Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Taipei, and Beijing. Had over a dozen banquet-style meals, met CEOs, govt. officials, company directors. Talented movers-and-shakers all over "Greater China" (at least that's how the people at Oriented describe it.) Of course I was operating on very little sleep and subject to never-ending requests and demands from the head-honcho. He never seems to be satisfied. Every once in awhile he'll surprise me by saying something nice (and occasionally, actually doing something nice. But those moments often make me feel even more uncomfortable, like it should make up for all of my misgivings about him and the work.
Still, it is a good opportunity--though one I am screwing-up, albeit partially due to my fatigue of late. It didn't help to get back from the trip and then instantly catch a wicked cold. Now my hacking winter cough is in full-swing. One of my least favorite parts of the season.
********
It's obvious that the job is consuming me. I'm now bitching about work on a regular basis to DY. Unfortunately the business-world is totally alien to her, so she can't really respond to my complaints with any tips or advice. She can only snuggle up and tell me it'll be OK, which I appreciate, but isn't totally sufficient. Then there's the fact that since I'm so exhausted, I usually want to pass-out before midnight, since I have to get up at 6:30am to get ready for work. Usually she has to get up even earlier, but she only has to work 3 days in a row, then gets like 4 days off in Seoul. So she's perfectly happy to give-up sleep to make the most of our time together. I'd like to do that too, but I need to get as much rest as I can to try in order to be somewhat conscious at work, which is a serious issue considering all of the things I have to get done and have been failing or forgetting to do. Poor girl. She doesn't deserve a basketcase like me.
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