a quick self-portrait
Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.
My folks told me that they wanted to see more pictures of people they knew (including me) in my photostream. This photo is in the spirit of honoring that wish. More to come!
Author Archives: Raymond Yee
Notelets for 2006.01.02
Professors' Politics Draw Lawmakers Into the Fray
is on David Horowitz's efforts to push for "academic freedom"
legislation. I am sympathetic to those who feel that academia as a
whole has a lot of liberal biases and that academics often don't even
understand their own predilections. (They aren't as fair and open
minded as they often believe they are.) Legislation is not the answer,
and Horowitz's effort is clearly motivated for partisan conservative
ends.
I jus saw an interview on CNN with Stanley Renshon, the author of The 50% American: Immmigration And National Identity in an Age of Terror.
I wasn't impressed with either the author or CNN. I was surprised by
the shared, unquestioned, and blatant assumption that in order to be
loyal to the USA, one has to detach completely from other countries.
There doesn't seem to be any room for being both fond and critical of
the country. That is the gist of what I got, but I could be wrong. Important questions on immigration – but wrong answers confirms my impressions though.
Often, I need encouragement -- even a kick in the pants -- to pursue
the biggest ideas and problems that intrigue me. I found such
encouragement in Paul Graham's latest Good and Bad Procrastination that points to Richard Hamming: You and Your Research.
Hamming would go around asking fellow Bell Labs staffers what the most
important problems were in their respective fields, whether they were
working on said problems, and if not, then why.
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right. Thinking is overrated. (inside joke)
Twenty Years Later, Buying a House Is Less of a Bite:
- In high-profile places like New York and Los
Angeles, home to many of the people who study and write about real
estate, families buying their first home often must spend more than
half of their income on mortgage payments, far more than they once did.
But the places that have become less affordable over the last
generation account for only a quarter of the country's population.
On Sunday morning, I read The New York Review of Books: The Strange Case of Chaplain Yee, a review of For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire.
It astounds me and saddens me that such egregious abuse of power is
tolerated in this country. You can listen to an interview with James
Yee at NPR : Muslim Army Chaplain Recalls Guantanamo Ordeal.
Best of Youth
Rome in Six Hours and Four Decades - New York Times includes a big plug for Best of Youth:
No movie did that quite as powerfully or completely as "The Best of Youth," Marco Tullio Giordana's
six-hour chronicle of recent Italian history told through the lives of
an ordinary Roman family. Originally made as a mini-series for Italian
television, this film gestures back toward the tradition of politically
astute historical filmmaking exemplified by masters like Luchino Visconti and Bernardo Bertolucci.
It is an intellectual as well as an emotional feast, with dozens of
superb performances, especially from Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni
playing two brothers caught up in the social and political turmoil of
the 1960's and 70's. Mr. Giordana has made a movie so full of life that
even after six hours of screen time and four decades of history, you
wish it would go on.
Laura and I just can't make it to the showing at the Balboa Theater so we'll just have to see it on DVD.
Back in town
Overall, Laura and I had a wonderful time in Toronto and Pittsburgh. I
consciously tried to rest and refrain from thinking about the huge to
do list for 2006. The huge storm last night
caused a two hour delay in our flight from Pittsburgh and a late night
taxi ride home from SFO. I got up this morning ready to go, ran some
errands, and uploaded the rest of my vacation pictures.
The big task today, besides marking the new year, is to put together a
draft of a reader for my class. That's enough to do today!
My wiki and I are on vacation
I'm writing from Toronto to confirm what is obvious: my online activities will be at a minimum while on vacation. I also want to apologize for my wiki's current offline status -- I don't know why it's malfunctioning at this moment and won't be able to resurrect it while on vacation. I'll get it back online when I can.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a have a wonderful New Year!
Last day before vacation
"I know I should exercise more" is a continually reoccuring thought. I renewed my membership to the Recreational Sports Facility (RSF)
but have yet to show up. Obviously, just paying money is insufficient
to get me to the gym. I will have to do something in the new year. In
the meantime, while I'm in Toronto and Pittsburgh, I plan to be active,
to walk around as much as I can. Such exercise will be important given
the holiday- and family-sanctioned overeating that is bound to happen.
Lots of wrapping up to do today. Laura and I get on a 7am(!) flight to
Toronto tomorrow morning. At least, we're on a direct Air Canada
flight, which means that food will be served to us and we won't have to
stumble around a third airport.
Getting the right presents (or even any presents at all) lined up for
Christmas is a task we will have to complete in Toronto. I have
considered setting up wireless networks at my parents', sister's, and
mother-in-law's places, but who would those wireless networks really be
for? (Should my family be game, I've printed out 4 steps to set up your home wireless network as a guide.)
Besides, should I be on the computer that much while I'm on holiday?
I've not worked out a way yet to make sure I get a good rest (which
I'll surely need for 2006) while still getting enough pieces in place
for my spring course.
Notelets for 2005.12.15
Digital Photos Even a Miser Can Enjoy - New York Times:
- Twelve manufacturers entered this fifth annual
camera cook-off. Each submitted the one sub-$300 camera (online price)
that it felt took the best pictures.
Several trends emerged. Picture quality continues to improve every
year, and the megapixel race continues apace; this year, five- and
six-megapixel cameras are standard. (More megapixels permit bigger
enlargements and more room to crop, but do not affect photo quality.)
Today, I bought an issue of Stone Soup Magazine as a present for a bright and energetic eight-year old girl. I'm glad for an ad in the New York Review of Books that prompted me into looking at a magazine that I had never heard of before a couple of days ago.
Chinese Christian dissident and lawyer
Legal Gadfly Bites Hard, and Beijing Slaps Him is a fascinating article about Gao Zhisheng, a fiery Chinese dissident lawyer and Christian.
Lloyd responds to my “Reluctantly Turning the Other Cheek”
Lloyd wrote:
At the end of Mimi's post is one response to Raymond Yee's reaction to a reviewer he found shocking and thoughtless: Reluctantly turning the other cheek.
I must say though, Raymond, there is more than a grain of truth in what
the writer said: it is an incontestable fact that millions of people
the world over and through recorded history have been slaughtered for
the sake of, and in the name of, "the one true god". However, from that
monotheistic tradition has ALSO come the very real idea that God is
love, which millions of other people have lived by and in so doing have
made the world a better place through that belief.
Lloyd, you won't hear me disagreeing with your statement that millions
have died at the hands of those proclaiming "the one true god". My
comment had more to do with my own conflicted irritation with the
reflexive yet popular bashing of monotheism at the hands of ostensibly
serious writers.
Busy last week before vacation
It's the last week before the holidays, and not surprisingly, there's a
lot to do! Not only are there major strategic decisions to be made but
also taking care of the business of daily life. (For instance, it felt
good to dig up my latest credit card bills and pay them this morning.
The Getting Things Done system is supposed to keep me on top of tasks
large and small, but I need to intervention of a higher power and
intelligence to get me back on track with GTD.)
Children Learn by Monkey See, Monkey Do. Chimps Don't. - New York Times:
- Mr. Lyons sees his results as evidence that humans
are hard-wired to learn by imitation, even when that is clearly not the
best way to learn. If he is right, this represents a big evolutionary
change from our ape ancestors. Other primates are bad at imitation.
When they watch another primate doing something, they seem to focus on
what its goals are and ignore its actions.