Nothing to blog about, really.

This is my first blog online. But I haven't really done much with it at all.

The past year has been pretty much event-less for me. But it has been a bad year all around. Michigan's economy has been going down the drain for a while, with the down fall of the Big-Three auto industry giants. Their bad luck may have been made inevitable pretty much by themselves, IMHO. But their incompetencies will leave the state and the people in the ditch for a long time to come.

The latest bad news in Ann Arbor is that of Pfizer closing its research facility in town, laying off some of its 2000+ employees and moving a large portion of them elsewhere. That is just one latest example of big business carelessly trumping over the lives of people. The real estate market in Ann Arbor is already down with a large inventory. Now the housing price will stay down and flat for even longer.

One good news is that Google is coming to Ann Arbor. The word "coming" is still accurate at this point although it has been announced by Governor Jennifer Granholm for a while with a little bit of local media fanfare. It is indeed very easy to put too much hope into this Google move. Michigan's economy rides heavily on automobiles. It will take no less than that industry's revival to lift up the state. There are a lot of science, technology and research can be done around that industry. High-tech doesn't have to be life science if the Republican controlled state legislature simply does not have the vision to invest money in that. It is amazing to see that California invest huge sums into stem cell research and renewable energy while Michigan can't seem to get out of survival mode.

I am also contemplating moving to a different state. Leaving this town where the kids are born and grow up won't be easy. However, what have kept us here for years are the small college town life and the good public schools. Now the Republicans are cutting fundings to education because of the state's budget crisis, I fear that they will sink the state further.

Well, I'll see if I am really back to blog more.

This page is ugly!

I haven't posted anything for a loooong time.

I think it partly has to do with the ugliness of it. I want to use the full width of the window. Why does Blogger.com has to stick a <div style="clear:both;"> tag in front of every paragraph? Use a class or something for humanity's sake!

The Pope and Hypocrisy

John Paul wanted world leaders to show compassion for suffering people like these girls, not for dead popes. Mr. Bush and other world leaders flocking to Rome could truly honor the pope by meeting there to establish a protection force in Darfur.
-- By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF of New York Times.

长城：A set of pictures

Posted a set of picture taken at Badaling（八达岭）last June. Number 6 and 7 are oilified using GIMP -- an open source image processing software.


The sky was full of smog that day. And I was told that Beijing is often like that these days.

I should add, most of the walls in these pictures have been renovated. Photo number 5 shows a spot where the wall ruins are almost invisible. Badaling is likely the most visited section of the great wall by tourists because it is the most accessible. I believe there is still a regular tourist train running between the city and Badaling several times a day. There are other sections of the wall -- all north to Beijing -- open to tourists for many years but much less visited. My favorate was Jinshanling (金山岭). I also hope to make a stop at Juyongguan（居庸关）someday, which is on the way to Badaling.

沉默：Silence

This picture is taken in a neighboring subdivision. The houses have been there less than 10 years and the tree is dead -- I don't know how long the tree has been there, or if its death has anything to do with the houses and streets around it. But it is something that has happened in the interaction of man and nature.

Quimby's Quill

I hit the NEXT BLOCG button and got to Quimby's Quill and an interesting post about Chris Hedges and his book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. It's interesting because I have read the same book and have had much thought about it -- but could not articulate those thoughts either.

Flickr

Flicker is an interesting photo sharing site. I have opened a free account there a while ago. Yesterday I have read about the it in a Business 2 article Why It's Pouring VC Cash. It has been in the rumor that Yahoo! has bought Flickr.

Since I only have a free account, I will start to blog my own photos here.

Google AdSense code installed

Just have Google's AdSense code installed in the sidebar of this blog -- I am not expecting anything. But if any click-through happens, it should be good for the Annhua Rainbow Project which I volunteer for.

2004-11-03

布希竞选连任成功了。

今天早上 11:49，CNN 登出了 Kerry 认输的消息。Kerry has my respect!

这一结果虽然令人失望，但不是很出人意料。在美国民众大多数人至今还深信美军在伊拉克找到了大规模杀伤性武器、伊拉克与 9/11 恐怖袭击有关的时候，这样的结果有其必然性的一面。美国民间的宗教让许多人排斥异己的倾向十分强烈，这对于我个人而言，加深了我对于宗教的“毒药”特性的认识。对于异己的排斥实际上是宗教派别由来的根源，记得是 Matt 曾经告诉我，有的教派可以由于对是否可以穿牛仔裤这一问题上的分歧而产生分裂。布希入住白宫四年以来，宗教在美国民间与政治生活中的影响越来越沉重了。这一点应该让世人警醒。

对于民主党和自由派的人们来说，其实不论这一次选举的结果如何，都只是艰巨任务的开始，而不是终点到达。布希的当选，共和党人在参众两院的胜利，只是让本来困难的事情变得更困难一些。但是，在美国是没有放弃一说的，我们每一个人都应当更多地负起责任来。再过一年，我将开始取得公民身份。

下一次选举再见。

2004-11-02

今天是美国第四十四届总统大选。现在午夜已过，计票尚未结束，不过看来布希当选。

美国是一个民主国家，民主选举，法律并不禁止蠢人担任总统。不过今天的选举结果告诉我的，是民主政治的参与是每一个公民的责任。虽然我在这个国家还不是公民，但是我已经把这里认作家园，我已经不耐等待了。

美国人有“包容”的名声，然而这种包容精神经过 9/11 这一次打击，显然已经不再是同样的“包容”了。个人对于同性恋并没有太多同情，但是我不赞同修改宪法来限制个人行为。此次选举，右派基督教团体的影响甚深，令人不安。人称 Evangelical Christian 者对于民众有如此的控制力，是应该让人警醒了。我的思想，不需要共产党控制，也不必基督来操心。如果国家机器今天可以由一群人操纵来对付另一群人，明天他们还可以操纵国家机器来对付另一群人。从网上找来这一段警世之言，以证我心：

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up (Martin Niemoller).

此次布希的成功，我想无非说明美国人胆怯了。军事力量的强大，并没有让美国人在自己的家里觉得安全。从这一点来说，恐怖主义者已经达到了他们的目的。看着 CNN 的那些媒体人在电视上轻松地谈论什么样的人物将可能被提名进入最高法院，也许这些法官的意识形态对于美国人来说无关紧要。就象那天老布希总统在 NPR 上说的，他并不认为美国民众对于宪法有多么关心。或许他是对的 -- 至少他们没多少记性。

美国人多数是保守的，此次选举证明了这一点。我一向怀疑布希一流的“道德价值”值几个蹦子儿，现在我依然怀疑。Americans will get what they deserve, that's the only sure thing here. 希望这个世界不要跟着美国遭受太多的灾难。虽然我不信上帝，我觉得美国需要上帝的保佑。