Philosophic Idealism, or Jacob's Ladder

This is part three of this series

Previous Post in this series
1. Educational Philosophy
2. Before We Begin

Philosophic Idealism; Jacob's Ladder

I'm not really satisfied with this post yet and it will be edited as time goes by.

It needs to be understood that when we speak of Philosophic Idealism we are speaking of a very broad collection of thinkers. They encompass Theist, atheist, Agnostic, Monist, Dualist and Existentialist from many cultures and time periods.

In order to be a Philosophical Idealist you must only believe one thing. That what is true descends from the general to the specific and is not built up from the specific to the general. Idealist ground reality in something thought to be higher, nobler, more rational or in some way more real than what we immediately experience.

At least in a metaphorical sense, most Idealist believe that truth is spelled with a capital "T" and comes from Heaven, that it is discovered or revealed not invented. Just as Jacob saw a ladder stretching to Heaven and heard God making promises to him from the top of the ladder; Idealist believe that by following their philosophic ladder they can see, find or discover a higher truth. If you think that this sounds strange to you then you probably should not consider yourself an Idealist. (Though you might be surprised if you really thought about it.)

Perhaps the most well known of the Philosophic Idealist is one of the earliest; Plato. While there were philosophers in Asia that wrote about similar ideas at the same time as Plato, or even earlier, nobody put it all together like he did. Plato is one of the most important people of all time. You really cannot over estimate his influence on civilization. To paraphrase Alfred North Whitehead, you have Plato and everyone else is a footnote (1).

So what is it that makes Plato so important? The answer is, at least as far as we are concerned, the theory of forms. Perhaps the clearest illustration of what Plato means is through the well known cave allegory that is found in book 7 of the Republic. The picture of prisoners in a cave naming shadows and believing them to be real things because they have never seen anything else is a powerful one. We can imagine the predicament they are in and understand their misconception. We can also see how it would enlighten them if they were able to turn around and see the actual thing that cast the shadows.

Plato is saying that what we see is often times a distorted picture or shadow of reality. We should look for the true "Form" rather than simply name shadows.

When we make an argument from natural law, or a universal principle we are thinking and reasoning like Plato. We should look for the truth behind the everyday occurrence. This does not necessarily imply an appeal to any kind of deity (Though others did and have used Plato to make such an appeal as Plato himself did.)

Besides the Theory of Forms, Plato has exerted tremendous influence upon education through his use of what has become known as the "Socratic Method." Socrates was Plato's mentor and is the main character in much of Plato's work. Socrates was a teacher who stood in the market and discussed issues of philosophy with his pupils. He developed an inductive, question and answer pedagogy that has continued to influence education to this day. Jesus used this method when dealing with both His disciples and opponents and I believe you can see its influence in the works John Dewey and Maria Montesori as well as the psychology of Henry James and in classrooms in many places today.

The Socratic method uses a series of leading questions to enable students to discover a truth or idea that the teacher is trying to convey.

Here is an example of Platonic thought using a Soratic method as it might appear in a classroom.

Teacher: Do you know what gravity is?
Student: Yes, I do
Teacher: Tell me, what do you know about it?
Student: Gravity is a force in the Universe. It is the law of attraction that holds things together.
Teacher: Is it everywhere?
Student: Yes, it is everywhere.
Teacher: And does it affect all things?
Student: Yes, it affects all things
Teacher: So you would call gravity a universal or absolute law of the universe?
Student: Yes, I suppose you could say that.
Teacher: So there is at least one law that applies to everyone in the universe. Are there others you can name?
Student: Yes, there are several, the speed of light, entropy, perhaps chemical bonds and the way that elements are organized to name some. There may be more.
Teacher: If there are universal physical laws that govern the universe might there not also be some universal laws that govern our behavior?

At this point the true object of the lesson has become obvious. The student is going to have to either show that moral laws are in some fundamental way unlike physical laws or to find out how a universal moral or behavioral law would work. There doesn't have to even be a cut and dried answer.

This is a powerful teaching tool. These type of arguments and this pedagogy can really help students to clarify issues and come to grips with difficult issues. But, it is first and foremost a type of philosophy.

Next: Philosophic Realism or the Aristotelian tower of Babel

They're almost here

This past weekend a group of 20 G7 Protesters arrived in Hong Kong to scout out places to riot. They complained that the area assigned to them was not public enough.

The Chief of police was also on TV saying that if the protesters get violent the HK police would bang a few heads. Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it.

Camp

Next week is the school camp for middle school.

Am I a bad educator if I say that I don't like to spend three days and three nights in the company of 4 sixth graders?

I didn't think so.

The Ugly Canadian

I had to go to a conference the other day.

Teachers, even in international schools have to keep their certifications up to date. So, I went to hear some consultant talk about ESL even though I'm not an ESL teacher and never plan to be.

Amazingly enough, I enjoyed the speaker for the most part. She was funny reasonable and only a bit strange. The problem was lunch. There were teachers there from all over Asia. One I ran into was a Canadian teaching at a school in Japan. Her first question to me was "Did you leave the US to get away from George Bush?" Before I could answer she dropped off into the most vile anti-American diatribe I've heard in months. I hate to say this but I've met lots of Canadians like this. Usually when I was on vacation in Florida. I always thought it was palm tree envy.

Actually, I left the US, in part though not completely to get away from Bill Clinton but I didn't say that. I simply said "I came to Hong Kong in 1997 way before Mr. Bush was elected; my wife is Chinese and this is home." It is a good evasive answer especially since it is true. It is also a good way to change the subject and get out of a potentially explosive argument. I've never been able to argue effectively with ideolouges from any political stripe because they aren't interested logic or truth. Ideolouges they are interested in their ideology and how it makes them feel.

I call what this woman did the "I'm normal like everybody else" complex. We all want to think that everybody thinks like we do. She assumed that because she was an American-hating-George-Bush-hating-Canadian, that I must be an American-hating-George-Bush-hating-Texan.


I think that many non-socialist do what I did. We pass the question off and move on. I think this gives the more left leaning people the idea that there are more of them then is actually the case. I can't say if the opposit happens but maybe it does. I attribute this to the admonition to be polite that many people are taught as children. You know the Thumper Rabbit principle; "If you can't say something nice then don't say any thing at all."

I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I do it because I don't like to be vilified and then blamed for being a villain. I can't speak for other people.

Unlike her, I realize that my politics are waaaaaaaay out there. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. That's why I try to keep political opinions to myself

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Closet Anarchist Blogger

Give Thanks - Even in Hong Kong

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

I like it because it basically can't be ruined.

Christmas is no longer a religious holiday but an excuse to spoil children. New Year's eve is simply an excuse, as if any was needed to get drunk. July 4th doesn't play well outside the US. San Jacinto day is only a big holiday in Texas. Memorial day is not celebrated in Hong Kong and they don't even want to learn about Labor Day here!

However, I find that many of my Chinese friends find Thanksgiving to be a wonderful holiday. They enjoy, what for them are exotic foods and the history of the holiday is a good introduction to American history. One year we had a group of mainlanders eat Thanksgiving with us. While they found some of the foods not to their taste others they really liked. But what was really great was that they came away from that table with a new and I think better and more true vision of America.

It is hard, I guess unless you are a turkey or a ham to not like Thanksgiving.

It is also I think, hard to grumble about people being genuinely thankful for having enough food and and adequate housing. If ever there was a good reason to start a holiday then Thanksgiving is it. Europeans don't seem to understand the holiday but the Australians I've met do. I don't know why this is.

I find it interesting that even the commercial aspects of Thanksgiving are still somewhat wholesome. Watching the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving day with our brothers and fathers and wives and mothers is a good thing. Indeed, the only day that I am a fan of American football is on Thanksgiving day. Washing the dishes together. Baking the pies and setting a table for Thanksgiving are moments that many remember as their fondest moments of childhood. The Thanksgiving day parades. The sandwiches. The casseroles! The three weeks of post Thanksgiving weight loss which is ruined by Christmas parties! It simply doen't get any better than Thanksgiving.

In my family Chinese vegetables such as Bok-Choi have replaced broccoli and taro once replaced sweet potatoes but we celebrate Thanksgiving every year.

This year our daughter will be gone and so my wife and I have arranged to have two seamen from a visiting US navy ship come and eat with us. The group that organizes this is hoping that some of the ex-pat families here will reach out to the sailors and make them feel less homesick. In my case I think the opposite will be true. Thanksgiving day is one of the two or three times a year that I really feel like an alien in Hong Kong. It will be a good thing to have my countrymen in our humble flat and eat and talk and drink some beer and maybe watch the Cowboys via cable tv.

So, this year. Whoever you are, wherever you are from; take some time on November 24 and give thanks. You'll feel better for having done it.

Until next time
Fai Mao
The blogger who gives thanks

Before We Begin: Part 1: Some Parameters

Previous installments of this series

Introduction
http://faimao.blogspot.com/2005/11/educational-philosophy.html


Before we Begin : Part 1

One of the buzz words in education the past 10 years or so has been the theory of "Multiple intelligences" which advocates teaching students based upon a variety of learning styles which are equated with "intelligence". I think when this fad started it claimed that there were seven types of intelligences and others have since added about 19467 types of intelligences to that number.

While there is great and demonstrated merit in a pedagogical sense to tailoring lessons to the interest, needs and culture of the learner, the theory is, I believe, philosophically and physiologically speaking, nonsense.

Thinking differently is not a different type of intelligence, it is simply using intelligence differently.

Underlying the multiple intelligence theory, it appears to me, is the assumption that people learn differently. That may be. Indeed, I would be surprised if it were not true. However, learning differently because of personality or heredity is not a form of intelligence.

I may be splitting hairs here, but the point is still a valid one. There are not a multitude of intelligence types, there are only learning styles.

I am aware this might all be viewed as semantics but I believe that the multiple intelligence theory is guilty of using terms in a fuzzy and confusing way. This is never a good thing and appears to me to be a rather larger problem in education than in other fields; though it could be that I read more in education than in other fields. However, the point here is to show that the theory of multiple intelligence has used a whole raft of philosophical terms and slightly altered the definitions of the words. In philosophy, words are tools. They have very specific meanings that are different from normal parlance. Thus, it is important to get your terms right or you generate confusion.

(Incidentally, I have just revealed a part of my educational philosophy)

Admittedly , I don't know much about learning theory but learning and intelligence are not the same thing though they may be related to each other, or be dependent upon each other.

I do, however, know something about what philosophers call epistemology or the nature of knowledge. Epistemologically speaking, there are only three ways to discover knowledge (thus learn) and two over arching paradigms to frame those three ways of obtaining knowledge. Every human has, does or will use these. There are no exceptions. If you think, and you are not an animal because research has shown that animals think in pictures not words, then you think using these structures.

That means that there are at most, only six ways (3- ways of knowing X 2-paradigms) to think about any problem. In reality, as we shall see there are only three that concern educators.

This is important to know because before one begins thinking about their educational philosophy it is good to know the form you place those thoughts into. It really does make a difference how you think about something.

While the various approaches to thinking have somewhat multivariate names, depending upon whose book you read, I will use the terms "Idealism," "Realism" and "Sophistry" to set them apart. All forms of thinking fall into these broad categories and there is seldom any overlap and what overlap there is caused by either confusion sloppy thinking. Once we understand the definition or meaning of these categories and see how we think we will be able to begin formulating an educational philosophy.

Next: Before we begin Part 2: "Idealism: Or Jacobs' Ladder"

Until next Time
Fai Mao
The gives you just enough to get interested blogger

Educational Philosophy

My undergraduate is in History with a minor in Asian Philosophy and Political Science which is effectively a pre-law degree. That degree got me a job cooking barbecue in a grocery store deli. Now don't get me wrong. I don't believe the sole purpose of education is to gain a foothold in the job market, but it helps. That degree simply begged for more education.

I also have an MLIS with a concentration in archives and academic libraries. This is the degree that provided job skills and got me out of the grocery store and away from the front desk of a hotel. While I was training to be a preservation administrator, I have ended up as a school librarian. Such is life.

My Ph.D. is in educational Philosophy. At this point, it is an open question as to whether I am a philosopher who supports himself by being a librarian or a librarian who dabbles in philosophy.

I pursued the PhD simply because I wanted one. Indeed that is the only reason to subject yourself to the mental anguish and stress of obtaining this degree. It is conceivable that I could find a position in a School of Education, a Department of Philosophy, or a Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Not that I'm a Polimath, but my degrees are broad and I have experience and publication in these areas. However, because international schools in Asia pay rather well, all of the jobs would probably entail a cut in pay to go along with the rise in occupational status. In this area, if no other, I'm a materialistic pragmatist, I'd rather have the money.

That doesn't mean the PhD has not changed my outlook about my job or education in general. It has. My philosophical studies have altered my view of what, why and how I do my job. I have come to believe that one of the major problems with education world wide is that too many educators do not work from a consistent, coherent or self recognized educational philosophy. This not only makes their job harder, it means that their students often receive a less thorough education than they could.

This is bothersome in two ways

First, it is bothersome because despite my gruff exterior, I believe that students deserve the best education that society can afford to give them. Not just for economic advancement but because if done properly, education makes them better people. This statement is in itself a rather complex philosophical statement which could take pages and pages to unpack. I'm not going to do that here simply because I don't want to. I have other fish to fry.

Second, it is bothersome because I feel compelled, because I see the problem, to do something about it. This is probably the legacy of the parable of the "Good Samaritan" I was taught in Sunday school as a child. I have been trained since childhood that to see a problem and to not try to correct it is sin. This is also a complex issue that deals with psychology much more than philosophy. I don't know much about psychology but I'm convinced that neither do psychologist. So I'll leave this alone a well.

However, I am going to, at least on an irregular basis, start posting on the subject of educational philosophy. I need to do this because I don't see teachers or teacher librarians working through these issues. These post make become the rough notes for an academic paper.

Then again they may not. We'll see what happens.

The goal is to create a document that can be used as a foundation that teachers, administrators and school support staff, especially at Christian schools and International schools in Asia can use to gain insight into their educational philosophy. I'd like to be able to help schools develop their educational philosophy into a coherent system. I think it would improve their instruction.

We'll see how it goes

Until next time

Fai Mao
The Educational Philosopher

Beggars

Compared to other cities in Asian Hong Kong is relatively beggar free. However there are some.

I find begging to be a fascinating profession.

Once I was waiting for an early bus to go to work. A taxi pulled up and a man got out who was dressed in a loin cloth type thing. He got a cardboard box out of the trunk and paid the driver with (No fake) coins and then threw the box down on the sidewalk and laid down on the box and began to beg. I don't make enough money to take a cab to work so I guess the guy was doing pretty well.

My experience is not an isolated one. The Chinese newspapers here often have stories about the staggering amount of money made by beggars. Some of these are sad because grown children force their elderly parents to beg. Other times young children are forced to help create sympathy in passers by.

This is unfortunate because there are, despite the opportunity and low taxes in Hong Kong quite a number of people who are destitute. I'd like to help them but don't want support fakes. Yet, I don't want my fear of supporting frauds to keep me from helping those in need. What do I do?

I don't give money to Buddhist monks or nuns because I'm not a follower of their religion.

I also don't give money to anyone who is trying to make me feel sorry for them. There are social services in Hong Kong for those with physical and mental disabilities. They have opportunities, they don't have to beg.

If a beggar wants me to give them change they need to standup and beg with the dignity God gave a beggar.

This isn't a perfect solution. But it seems to give me some guidelines for giving away a few coins.

Anyway, it works for me.

Until Next time
Fai Mao
The wishes he could be more generous blogger

Coffee

Is there anything on Earth to compare with coffee?

I don't know if I would be considered a big coffee drinker but I am a huge coffee fan.

There is nothing I know of, not bread, not fresh laundry, not a fireplace that smells as good as coffee. Not even bacon!

Nothing else can say: home, work, good morning, good evening, hospitality, time to get busy or time to time relax, I'm sophisticated or I'm a common man in the same way as coffee.

Coffee is the do it all beverage.

It doesn't have the kiddy appeal of soda which is good.

You can drink 3 pints of it and still legally drive home.

Coffee with a cookie for a snack.

Coffee with a sandwich as a late supper

Coffee with toast in the morning

Coffee with a rum or whiskey spike for that special conversation with a special friend.

Coffee while watching TV in my pajamas is nearly heaven on Earth.

Coffee on a cold rainy day when I need to warm up.

Coffee with chicory

Coffee with chocolate

Some would say coffee with cigarettes but I don't smoke

I take mine black with sugar

Fai Mao
The Coffee Drinking Blogger

Loyalty

Loyalty is an interesting concept. I was thinking about it today because I went to KFC for lunch.

I have been a loyal KFC customer for years. I know the chicken is greasy and the side dishes are over cooked and everything has too much salt and bla bla bla. However, I am a loyal KFC customer simply because of one middle-aged lady who used to work at a KFC in McKinney, Texas in September of 1987.

My wife and I were returning home through McKinney after visiting my parents and stopped at a KFC because we had a coupon. Our daughter was only a few months old and had been born slightly premature and thus very kolicy and hadn't stopped screaming and wailing and crying at the top of her lungs for more than 15 minutes the whole time. I have had much more patience with people who bring small children in to restaurants every since but that is not the point here.

There was an employee at this KFC, a middle-ages lady who came out from behind the counter, and asked if she could hold our daughter while we ate. She held our baby and rocked her and got her quiet. She showed her off to all the employees there (Our daughter has always been cute as a bug) and generally let us have the first meal we'd had in months without a screaming child in a high chair at the table with us.

What a blessing.

I've never forgotten it.

I have appreciated it more than that lady will ever know.

I've been a loyal KFC customer every since.

Until next time.
Fai Mao
The Chicken Eating Blogger

Autumn

This weekend, Hong Kong entered its 10 weeks of good weather. While I've lived in hotter places I've never lived in a place with this combination of heat, humidity, air-pollution and congestion. That combination is simply murder. This is the only place I've ever lived where you can sweat in a thunderstorm. The winter here is not cold but it is chilly and damp. None of the buildings have heat and the apartments have walls made from plaster covered concrete so your home is clammy and very uncomfortable. It isn't so much bitterly cold as it is that no place is warm. Really quite miserable.

However, every Fall we get 8 to 10 weeks of beautiful weather that almost makes up for the rest of the year. The wind picks up and blows the pollution out to sea, the temperature drops 4 or 5 degrees Celsius and the summer rainy season comes to an end and the humidity falls to a manageable level. It will be simply beautiful from now until about Christmas. It is in the contract, we must get this or God couldn't make anybody live here and not call it punishment.

My evening runs are simply incredible at this time of year. Because it is just a little cooler and dryer I feel like I could run forever or least 1/2 way to forever.

Something that is really a nice to know is that the Fall is low season when traveling here but it is the nicest time of year.

If you've never been to Hong Kong catch a plane! The weather is great.

Fai Mao
The Weather Watching Blogger

A Challenge for a Cyclist with Lots of Money and an Open Mind

When it comes to bicycle riding I am what is known as a Retro Grouch. A Retro Grouch is someone who doesn't believe that many of the "New, Improved" generation of cycling parts that have introduced over the past 20 or so years have made the sport or hobby better.

There are actually different levels of Retro riders from those who will only ride 1975 or older Rene Hearse customs to those like me who simply think much of the new equipment to be more trouble than it is worth. Some of it in fact is, I believe, as I shall explain later, merely expensive marketing.

I also have moral problem with some of the new parts. Not that they are inherently immoral or anything but the riders' motivation for using them is. The object of a race is to determine who is the faster rider, not who has the fastest bicycle. If someone beats me because they have a bike that is 20% more efficient but did not beat my time at least 20% I think I have a legitimate question as to whether they actually beat me.

However, I am not writing an excuse for my lack of speed. And, notice I am not doubting the benefits of some aero-dynamic parts assuming you can reach a high enough speed to gain the advantages they provide. I am going to challenge some things however quite vigorously.

One of the recent "Innovations" in cycling concerns the bottom bracket and "Crank" or "Chainset" for those of you from the UK. To be fair, crank design has been evolving for a long time. In the '60's and early '70's most moderately good cycles used what was known as a "cottered" crank. These used a cotter pin though the arm to secure the crank to the spindle. These were replaced by a "Cotterless" or "One-piece " crank that was lighter and held on by a combination of friction on the tapered spindle taper and a bolt through the end of the spindle. However, until recently the rational for the change in design was always improving the design. Cotterless cranks are better than cottered. They are much lighter, easier to remove and install less expensive to produce and more reliable than the old cottered cranks.

The newest version of cranks is an improvement in design in some ways however, they are not marketed in this way. They are held on simply by the bolt because rather than a tapered spindle. This means the crank can be removed without any special tools and that might or might not be an advantage.

A definite disadvantage is that it is now much easier for a company to have a proprietary design on the spindle splines that forces you to purchase their brand of Bottom Bracket and makes you have to replace the crank when (if) they stop producing that design.

There are other pro's and con's to this new arrangement but the real selling point has been that because the new bottom bracket have hollow, oversized spindle which is supposed to impart a stiffer, more efficient pedal stroke you transmit more power to the rear wheel. Thus, the new parts make you faster!

Bull

I've ridden both of these and it simply isn't true. Furthermore, unlike aero-bars and some of fancy pants spoking patterns on expensive new wheels I've seen absolutely NO evidence that these new bottom brackets make anyone faster or that the extra stiffness translates into extra power, or at least enough extra power to be meaningful.

The Challenge.
Take two bicycles that are EXACTLY alike except for the Crank and bottom bracket. Disguise the cranks so that the difference in Bottom Bracket cannot be seen and have a group of cyclist ride both bicycles. Have them guess which bottom bracket was the "new splined extra stiff" model and which was the old taper type.

My prediction:
The riders would not choose the new model more than could be accounted for by blind chance.

The new cranks, introduced by the hated Shimano, would be found to be simply expensive marketing ploys to induce bikers to part with their father's money for a more expensive piece of bike candy that doesn't work any better than the old design.

Shimano has basically taken cyclist for a ride

Come on prove me wrong. Bet you can't

Fai Mao
The Retro-Grouch Blogger

Blood for oil? Why not?

I try pretty hard to not get political on this blog but it seems as though about every third post recently has been about global politics. Historians like to talk about the seamless web of history and how nothing has a single cause (As if they had been able to view all events for all time and absolutely determine that nothing has ever had a single cause) However, my recent fixation on politics rather than my more normal naval gazing has but a single cause. The G7 conference here in my home town of Hong Kong.

As ranted about in previous post these people upset me not because I completely disagree with them, at least in theory but rather because they make it impossible to disagree with them even in part, without them throwing rocks at you. Thus, they make me have to adopt a position on issues that is more extreme than I would normally take just so that I am justified in throwing things back at them.

I also find them, as I have stated in previous post, to be somewhat duplicous and deceptive.

This weekend they gave me another reason to hate them.

Some big mucky-muck from the G7 was in Hong Kong this weekend. There, predictably enough were the protesters, many of them ignorant, **** ***ed baboon HKU students. (My wife is a professor at HKU so I have close contact with them and they make the most indolent, spoiled, self absorbed Ivy leaguers look like normal people) They had their signs and banners and stupid, sophomoric chants decrying the evils of capitalism and the glories of closed markets.

The sign that bothered me this past weekend was the somewhat universal anti-war sign "No Blood for Oil"

God, this kind of tripe bothers me. It bothers me for two reasons; but, not for the normal right winger type reasons. It bothers me because I would have liked to oppose this war for what I thought were very sound reasons but ended up supporting it because the anti-war movement seems to be entirely made up of certified 100% pure idiots, cowards and brain-dead dope smokers.

First, why I did not support going into Iraq.

1) I don't think "preemptive strikes" are a good ideas. Unlike the left which seems to think they are OK when Bill Clinton bombs aspirin factories or the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, I don't support preemptive strikes from any political wing. You wait until you are attacked or at least obviously threatened. The US invasion of Afghanistan was justified and correct as a reply to the 9-11 attacks because Osama Bin Laden was known to be in the country. Unlike the left, I believe that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with Al Qaida. However, the US should have waited to be attacked by weapons that were identifiably Iraqi in origin. Again, unlike the left I believe that such an attack would have occurred and it would have killed more people than 9-11. However that is price you pay for not becoming as bad as your enemies.

2) If you are going to invade one dictator because he/she/they are a threat or are so terribly oppressive then it appears to me that you must invade all of them. This becomes problematic in more ways than I wish to go into. If you can't see the problem then you probably couldn't understand the explanation.

3. Even though it wasn't, the invasion of Iraq looks like imperialism. Sometimes perception is stronger than reality.

Another issue inserts itself at this point that I think is worth mentioning.

I was against going into Iraq. However, now that the US has invaded they have a responsibility to stay until it is finished. Paradox? No it isn't. If your nation invades another nation, overthrows the government, destroys the infrastructure and generally does the kinds of things that military invasions do; then your nation OWES that nation something. At the very least you OWE them a better government than the one you overthrew! You probably also OWE them massive amounts of aid for years to come. That is one of the hallmarks of a righteous or just war. You are not invading them to simply make your nation a bigger place with access to more or cheaper resources.

The anti-war movement appears to me to be totally racist and euro-centric. I believe this because it is obvious that they don't give a nickel for the well being for the people of Iraq who have darker skin and eat different foods than the upper-middle class protesters who fly from city to city. They not only didn't want the war they want immediate withdrawal which would leave anarchy and the people there would have probably been better off under Saddam Hussein! The United States now OWES it to the people of Iraq a government and aid to make sure that the conditions, real or imagined that caused this war never occur again.

But here are these progressive wishing a terrible fate on 20 + million or so people for the sole reason of defeating a domestic political opponent in a future election. They, in effect, have just denied the people in Iraq the same level of political freedom they enjoy. That is a terrible crime that rises the level of a war crime. possibly genocide!

I'm sorry, even if you opposed the war you must support finishing it and giving the Iraqi people a better nation as a result. You've got to hope they become another Germany or Japan. Anything else makes you an evil ideologue worse than George Bush, worse than Saddam.

Now, the "No Blood for Oil"

The blood for oil folks took someone who would have been opposed to the war and made him a proponent of it. There are only really two reason for going to war. These can be summarized in the two words Ideology and Resources. Most wars are a combination of both. Wars about resources are easier to justify. This war is about ideology with almost no resources component and is therefore hard to explain. It is also harder to maintain a war effort on ideological principles. This should be the real lesson of Vietnam.

This war was not for oil and such simplistic slogans obscure the real problems with this war.

Think about it a minute. If the war was for oil then gasoline prices would not be over USD $2.00 a gallon in the US because all that Iraqi oil would be shipped to the US for free and turned into gasoline.

Besides if the United states was going to invade a country for its oil it wouldn't invade Iraq which is a long way and difficult to hold. If the US was going to invade a country for its oil the US would have invaded Canada because it has almost as much oil as Iraq, a smaller population and a smaller less able military. Contrary to the Canadians opinion of themselves the US would probably have received less international opposition because Canada is nation almost totally without influence. It would be easier to hold, easier to subdue and a significant percentage of the population would probably welcome the overthrow of the socialist government. Plus, the people who support the government of Canada are all Politically Correct wimps and the country is filled with Mennonites and other assorted pacifist who would whine but not fight back. Canada also has strict gun control laws so the population couldn't form the militias that appear to be everywhere in Iraq. Logistically it would have been easier and probably less bloody as deals could have possibly been worked out with at least some of the native tribes for independence in return for drilling rights not to mention cheaper since the cost of supplying an army in the Middle East is immense. The oil would be closer to home and thus transportation and maintaining supply lines issues would be easier.

This war is not for oil. It is for ideology. You can see that because Iraq was a bad choice for invasion otherwise. The problem with an ideological war is that you cannot be pragmatic about it. There can be no brokered peace. There can only be complete, unconditional surrender. That takes longer and is harder to achieve.

World War II for example was clearly about both ideology and resources. The Japanese were seeking to overrun the Pacific and China to obtain oil, timber, iron and other resources for the heavenly empire. Germany invaded the USSR to gain "luft" or living space for Aryans.

But, now that the US is in the war, it must be finished and won

All of this is beside the point

If fighting a war to maintain a supply of natural resources is not a good grounds for war then what is? Especially when those resources are controlled by governments that are hostile and expansionist. So why not a war for oil? I'd rather fight for oil than fight for a Post Modern interpretation of politics.

The G7 has no control over the US war effort. As such the sign was a worthless exercise in political grandstanding. If you are going to protest then your protest should be appropriate for the official involved. The G7 has at most very little say in the course of US military policy.

Growl

Fai Mao
The reluctant political pundit

Rats! Or possibly "I'm da man" or maybe what a narrow escape!

I broke a chain on my bicycle today at the triathlon.

In 20+ years of competitive riding this was the first time I've ever broken a chain.

I was upset because I had trained hard and the teammate who swam had set a personal record and beat everybody else out of the water by (no fake) 10 minutes. I was slamming up the first hill of the bicycle portion at pace that surprised me. My chain snapped at the top of the first hill about 10 minutes into the 40 kilometer ride.

One of the rules of triathlon, as far as I can tell is that you are responsible for your own equipment. There is not a mechanic in a van to do emergency repairs. I was not carrying a chain tool. So, my goose was cooked and my team could not finish.

I was really upset. I picked my bicycle up and threw it across the road. I looked very hard for a dog to kick and, not finding one available, began yelling at a photographer and demanding that he stop taking pictures of me.

After about three minutes of venting I walked across the road, picked up my bike and coasted back down the hill to the start area and was forced to abandon the race.

There are several reasons why the chain would snap like that.

It could be that I have simply become strong enough to break it with the force of my pedal strokes. (Fat chance)

It could be that the chain was defective

It could be that the chain was installed improperly

Though it was probably my bike's immune system rejecting the new chain. I ride an Italian bicycle (Battaglin) that has Italian Components (Campagnolo) I had just installed a Shimano (Japanese) chain.

Yeah, that's it, blame it on the bike!

Breaking a chain could have been a a good thing. There was a horrific accident on the course caused by an inexperienced rider getting a plastic bag caught in his wheel while riding as fast as he could down a hill. This guy caused a huge problem and several people were injured one quite seriously and several very high dollar bicycles were destroyed.

I am not a good hill climber. I am a good descender. It comes with age. You learn how to ride. You learn how to handle your bike and you learn to stay within your limits. I set my bike up to descend well and be moderately fast on the flats. I grind up the hills. If I'd been in this race I would have possibly been one of the riders coming down the hill at 70 -100 kph. It might have been me in the hospital with a broken neck.

Maybe I've had a narrow escape.

I still wish I'd finished the race. I might have won.

Until next time
Fai-Mao
The Frustrated Triathlete

Guilty? Not me!

My wife and I are coming to grips with a new stage of our lives and marriage.

Our daughter just left for university in the UK a month ago. I expected to miss our daughter intensely; I haven't.

I worry about her. I hope she is doing ok. I helped her get her baggage together and purchase the things she needed before she left. I want her to be safe.

I am apprehensive about the University she is at. Indeed, I opposed her going to this university for a variety of valid reasons. However, the scholarship she received trumped fatherly concerns.

I expected to be overwrought with concern for her safety.

I haven't been.

In fact, my wife and I have really been enjoying our time since Sunyi left.

We go for walks in the evening. We can watch movies that we like without having to worry if she will find them boring. We have more storage space (A premium thing in Hong Kong) because we now have an extra bedroom that can be used as a small storage closet.

It is easier to eat dinner because we do not have to design meals that a 17 year-old on a perpetual diet will still eat. We get fewer strange files downloading onto our computer. Our telephone is not constantly busy.

This weekend is a holiday in Hong Kong and Kim and I have plans to go out to eat with a friend on Saturday and to participate in a team triathlon on Sunday where I will be a cyclist and she a runner. Those would be things that were harder to do with a child in the house.

None of this is meant as implying anything negative about our daughter. She is a well adjusted, normal young adult. It is just that teenagers, high-school students in particular tend to want to lead very different lives than their parents. As kids go our daughter was a joy to raise and gave us few problems. It is just that it is easier to find concensus with two people rather than three.

My wife got pregnant 6 weeks after we were married. So, in a very real way this is the first time since shortly after we were married that we haven't had to plan our life's around expecting or raising a child.

What a wonderful feeling it is to be an empty-nester!

I still miss our daughter but I am also enjoying being an empty-nester.

It is a good thing.

I don't feel guilty at all.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Empty Nest Blogger

I hate this

I've had to make a couple of post about the G7 meeting here in Hong Kong over the past few days.

I really hate to write about politics. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Politics is divisive. It has become petty and it is the realm of narrow minded bigots from both ends of the political spectrum. I hate having people box me in and be forced to take a position that I am uncomfortable with simply because I am more uncomfortable with theirs.

However, I am concerned about the effect that these people are going to have on my home. I find it really scary to think that these people are coming here with the intent to disrupt the normal life in my home. Let them work through the political process in their own country. If they feel that the process is irreparably broken in their own country then go home and start a revolution there and leave me alone.

What is really sad is that there are a couple of HK Legco members who will probably be out there with these clowns. But then I've wondered about the sanity of Long Hair Leung for quite a while.

I am bothered by these protesters because of the way that I perceive they misrepresent themselves. While the stated goal of helping the poor and oppressed is one that resonates with many people the actual people who are protesting often don't meet the test of being poor and oppressed.

One of the groups who have been in previous protest, and will probably be there again when they are here, will be Korean apple growers that receive huge government subsidies and benefit from high protective tariffs. Those subsidies and tariffs enable the apple growers to live in the lap of middle-class luxury while prohibiting apples from South America, China and the US Pacific North West from being sold in Korea. This puts people out of work in those countries and makes the normal apple eaters in South Korea have to pay more for apples and in taxes.

Abolishing the trade tariffs would benefit many people and only harm a privileged few. It also appears to me that protesters want to complain about the inequity in the US and Europe but I've never seen them complain about the the treatment of women or prisoners of conscience in middle-Eastern or socialist countries.

I still say if these people cause trouble or do not obey Hong Kong laws requiring protest marches to register and have liability insurance they should be given a ticket out of town

If they start a riot, break a window or try to use force or intimidation then the PLA garrison should be called on to help quell those activities.

One rioter one bullet - bury the bodies under the reclamation project being done in Wan Chai without identifying them.


God, I hate to say that. These people have repeatedly tempted me to hate them and I'm afraid that I've taken up their temptation.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Reluctant Reactionary

G7 Protesters and Hot Glue

TVB in Hong Kong reported last night that in preparation for the G7 conference here in December the government had glued down the bricks they use for sidewalks. They were afraid that that the protesters would pull the bricks up and throw them through windows.

I must admit I'm expecting the worst for this conference. The HK police appear rather too wimpy to confront this kind violent protest. It has been my experience here that the police tend to try to follow the Chinese maxim of "Make big problems small problems and ignore small problems" They negociate, they cajole and the try to defuse a situation. That won't work.

I have some some sympathy for the issues these people raise but I have no sympathy for them. They are out of line, over the top and beyond the pale.

I hope they don't cause any trouble. But, if they do cause trouble, I hope the government calls out the PLA Garrison for help.

One rioter one bullet.
Fai Mao
The Right Wing Reactionary Blogger

Home for the Holidays

Just exactly what does the word home mean?

I could look it up but I don't think I'd be satisfied with the definition. I don't know where my home is anymore.

This summer I had the strange experience of going to visit my family home and being intensely homesick for for Hong Kong at the same time. Makes me wonder where I am really from. Actually I was glad to see people I hadn't seen in nearly a decade but missed the cramped flat and steamy weather in Hong Kong. I almost wept through parts of Alabama. It is, contrary to what Hollywood movies portray, a beautiful place. I found my self longing to move back to a small house on some land.

But, I was excited to land at Chek-Lap Kok and ride the bus home to Causeway Bay. My wife and I are planning to travel this Christmas. It seems that our only family tradition is impermanence.

I feel like a hydroponic plant. I have no roots

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Homeless Blogger

Getting Old?

It is amazing how stiff I get after an hour's walk. I must be getting old.

Until Next Ime
Fai Mao
The rapidly aging Blogger

Technology

I am not normally, with a few exceptions, a big fan of technology. It has been my observation that many of the things that are touted as labor saving devices actually make our lives worse in some obvious way.

There are many items that I feel should never have been invented. Cell phones generally top this list but there are others. Most of these, strangely enough, tend to be kitchen gadgets. Maybe the world has become so Ronco'd that everybody needs more than a knife, unless it is a "Ginsu" to "slice, dice and make Julian Fries." Or maybe I'm just not very up-to-date.

Once you get beyond cell phones; electric carving knives and electric can-openers along with food processors and expresso machines top the list of bad technology. Goofy peeler's and sandwich-makers, Popcorn-makers, microwave egg cookers and bread-machines are also some of my least favorite things. These items take more time to setup, cleanup and put-up, cut with, chop, brew or knead bread than doing the same thing without them.

Sometimes, as in the case of the electric carving knife they appear to be outright dangerous and in the case of the electric can-opener are simply an exercise in laziness. Not to mention that many times they remove not only the tedium but the fun parts of the activity they supposedly relieve us of. Other times they simply seem to add work rather than save labor in which case I ask: "What's the point?"

I am, it seems normally more vocal in speaking out about the bad technology than I am fond of praising the good. I don't know why that is but it is so. Maybe I just expect things to work.

I do, however, also have a list of items that actually have made life easier or better. Oddly enough, most of my favorite technology items are also kitchen related. I guess I am just obsessed with food. Many of the items on this list are quite old inventions such paper, ballpoint pens and canned food. However, the microwave oven, the electric light and mechanical processes like lathing and grinding by other than animal power are also included as are the washing machine and the clothes dryer.

I also have some items like computers and televisions that I am ambivalent about. Sometime I like them and sometimes I don't.

My list of favorite technology recently changed. I used to put the microwave oven as my favorite thing. I am, when I want to be an excellent cook. Much better than my wife but I am also somewhat lazy. Thus, the microwave has been a favorite of mine for it's quick and easy heating and reheating for years. But, the microwave has fallen to number two. Number one is a new item and one that I must admit I'd over looked for too long. The refrigerator.

When you look at what refrigeration has done to change the world it is a simply amazing invention. How many deaths have been prevented by refrigeration? Probably millions. Think of the cases of food poisoning that haven't happened because food was kept too cold for germs to grow in! Is there anything more refreshing than a cold drink on a hot day? Related to this would be airconditioning and that is another favorite thing.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online the origin of refrigeration can be traced to a cat named Carl von Linde who invented a feasible way of liquefying gases. The compression and expansion of gases is the heart and soul of a refrigeration system. What an absolutely wonder invention.

I think I'll stroll over to my family frig' and open cold one in honor of Carl von Linde.

Until next time
Fai Mao
The Airconditioned and refrigerated Blogger

Typhoon

This past weekend Hong Kong was near missed by a strong typhoon. 60+ mph winds 15 inches of rain (it is still raining) 9 to 10 foot waves. 1 person, a construction worker died trying to keep a scafolfding from falling over a road. Two surfers were washed out to sea (No great loss there) and the kids didn't even get to miss a day of school.
It did take me nearly 40 minutes longer to get to work today but there was no evacuation, there was no panic. Kids here actually pray for typhoons here like kids in Minnesota pray for snow days. It is just a chance to stay home and watch TV.
Perhaps the government of NO could learn a lesson. Don't build below sea level. Build building that can withstand the winds and then get on with your life.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Hoping for a Typhoon Blogger

Fai Mao?

In Chinese Fai Mao means Fat Cat

Thus this blog is the Fat Cat's sand box.

Now you know what it means

Until Next time

Fai Mao
The blogger whose name is a type of bathroom humor

T-Shirts

Hong Kong is a weird place.

One of the weirdest things however are the t-shirts. You quite often see people, especially women wearing things that are really meant to be bought as gag gifts at adult book stores and never worn. I've seen women wearing t-shirts that say things like "I'm a juicy bimbo." "Just do me; Please, just do me," "Super Rich & Super Bitch," "My panties your pleasure" and my all time favorite "Sex instructor-first lesson is free." This doesn't count the ubiquitous "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch"

This situation isn't helped by a clothing chain called "The French Connection of the United Kingdom" which trades under the acronym "FCUK" They sell shirts with the words "FCUK YOU" as advertisement.

Why would anybody buy clothing from a store with a name like that? Perhaps I'm just too up tight but I can't see that it is funny and if that is fashion then I'll stay with my plain green singlet and running shoes and sweatband.

You also see lots of funny but more innocent bloopers and misspellings on shirts. Unlike the obscene examples above, these can be quite funny and are generally worth a read. My wife has a mouse t-shirt with the words "Ingenuous Mouse" embroidered over Mickey's head. I can't help but think it was supposed to say "Ingenious Mouse."

Others simply make no sense at all. "The red and the green make a hard palette of colorful odor in my Tuesday stomach" is one that an office worker I know wears quite often. Clueless does not even begin to describe my reaction to this. It looks like random words that a MS Word program could not find a spelling mistake in.

All of this is a result of language. Most of the people wearing these shirts don't have a clue what they say. However, this theory breaks down when you see tourist wearing shirts. Tourists don't normally wear the obscene shirts but they often wear really provocative political shirts. Don't get me wrong there is a place for these shirts at conventions or party rallies. But, I do wonder about the wisdom of wearing them in public in Asia.

I saw a girl this morning in an Anti-George Bush t-shirt. I'm not going to go into what was on the shirt or even whether I agree with the shirt or not. The issue is that wearing that shirt in Asia is a bad move in several ways.

Foremost of these is that anti-Americanism is not limited to party outside of the US. Bashing George Bush and bashing John Kerry is the same thing here much of the time. The Chinese make think President Bush is a cowboy or warmonger but they also think that Bill Clinton was an idiot and buffoon. There is no love for either of them. Thus the anti-Americanism is not decreased by spouting or wearing anti-Bush stuff. That means that wearing Anti-Bush shirts, or Anti-Kerry shirts simply increase hostility generally rather than focusing it on a particular target.

Do Americans, or Europeans or whomever think that people in China, or Indonesia or Bali truly understand the problems and issues faced in the US? Do people really think that people in Asia even care? Isn't it somewhat presumptuous to think they are not more concerned about what goes on in their own country?

Worse, by increasing the amount of Anti-Americanism in Asia these tourist are making themselves as well as me, targets. I don't like people making me a target along with themselves. These shirts make you a target.

I believe that a lot of the Anti-Americanismm in the third world is also is simply political hyperbole. It is easier for politicians in struggling countries to blame their countries problems on someone else than to take the possibly dangerous steps needed to correct those problems.

In reality, the vast majority of people in the world have almost no clue as to the problems and issues being dealt wih in American politics. They are Anti-American because they have conditioned to be so by leaders with an agenda. This is not to say that the US is blameless, it isn't but very often the extent of blame the US receives for the plight of the starving in the third world is much less thant the blame that should be apportioned to the local leaders who live in luxury while their people starve.

Likewise, most tourist have almost no conception of what life is like in a different place.

In any case, for whatever reason, there is a lot of anti-Americanism in the world today. Do you really want to remind people in a country you are vacationing in that they don't like you?

At best I think people wearing these look silly and at worst they look petulant, mean and narrow minded. I've seen exceptions but this is a general rule. I don't wear political shirts. I wish others would follow my example

I could write more but this is probably enough.

Until next time I am
Fai Mao
The non-political logoed Blogger

My Sartorial Creed

I don't
1. Wear an Ascot
2. Do plaid, checks or paisleys
3. Buy what is necessarily in fashion simply because it is in fashion
4. Have an opinion on whether organic or free-range cotton makes a better t-shirt
5. Mind wearing leather
6. Ever want to iron anything
7. Think that silk underwear is practical
8. Think men should have spend more than 7 to 10 minutes total shaving and combing their hair every morning
9. Think that cowboy boots are passe.
10. Wear Birkenstocks
11. Think socks with sandals are ok in cold weather

I do think
1. I look better in dark colors
2. Silk shirts are better than cotton
3. That bell bottom pants are, unless they are used as naval uniforms, stupid
4. That the waist line on most fashionable pants for women are obsene
5. Fat women shouldn't wear bikini's
6. Fat men shouldn't wear speedo's
7. That most fashion designers of women's clothing are the spawn of Satan or convicted sex offenders
8 Those who design men's fashions are worse than the ones who design women's fashions
9. That t-shirts look best when they are 4 sizes to big
10. That guys who wear saggy pants are idiots
11. Ball caps should always be worn with the bill facing forward

My Emotional Creed

1. I don’t want to be touchy
2. I don’t want to be feely
3. I don’t want to be (other than in the physical sense on a cold day) warm
4. I definitely don't want to be fuzzy
5. I have no interest in being an “Alpha Male”
6. I am not and will never be a "Metro-sexual”
7. I’m not “in touch with my inner self”
8. I don’t think I need to be more sensitive
9. I’m not seeking to bond with any person or group
10. I don’t believe that “Love means never having to say ‘I’m Sorry’”
11. I don’t believe that people are rational
12. I don’t believe that people are basically good.



I do think:
1. That my choices matter
2. That I have find a way to live in peace with my neighbors
3. That I am sometimes responsible for the care of those around me
4. That I am always responsible for my actions and choices
5. That my past does not determine but may colors my future
6. That it is the responsibility of individuals to opposes evil
7. That sometimes there are no good choices
8. That sometimes there are no bad choices
9. That sometimes I am required to do something unpleasant
10. That sometimes I must not do something that would be pleasant
11. That sometime violence is, if not a good thing then at least a necessary thing
12. That I will be held accountable by God for my beliefs and deeds


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The emotionally stable blogger

Bowing down at the alter of Fud

This past spring I completed a PhD in Educational Philosophy from Central China Normal University in Wuhan PRC.

After making the obligatory pilgrimage back home so my parents could show off their new "Dr. Phil" son (That joke got old real fast) I came back to work and found that, gasp, absolutely nothing had changed. However I have more time to play video games and take walks with my wife and do the other things that were sacrificed to give typing time for the last four years.

I guess that getting the PhD was like earning the primitive camping merit badge in the Boy Scouts, something I am glad I did but wouldn't want to do again

until next time
Your over educated blogger
Fai Mao

Finding time

I am back

But it is at times so hard to find things to write. Not because nothing happens but because what could I possibly say that hasn't been said better by others? My area of expertise is school libraries, bicycles and Educational philosophy. writing about those topics are not exactly a gripping read for most people.

I try to avoid politics but will have to talk about politics in December when the G8 meeting comes to Hong Kong and the park across the street from my home becomes the staging area for the baboons that aren't too poor to fly to protest but seem to be too poor to rent a room and who make all of these meetings. My, God, I don't even see how a fairly left wing person could like those folks. At least not when they're in your town shitting on your jogging trail and blocking your route to work. But, I'll get to them when they get here. Until then, I's rather avoid political issues

Thus, I am in a quandry. I would rather not get too political yet and what to say?

Never fear. I'll think of something. I just hope I think of it soon

Until next time
Fai Mao
The experiencing writters block blogger

Home for or from the Holidays

Just exactly what does the word home mean? I could look it up but I don't think I'd be satisfied with the definition. I don't know where my home is anymore.

This summer I had the strange experience of going to visit my family home and being intensely homesick for for Hong Kong at the same time. Makes me wonder where I am really from. Actually I was glad to see people I hadn't seen in nearly a decade but missed the cramped flat and steamy weather in Hong Kong. I almost wept through parts of Alabama. It is, contrary to what Hollywood movies portray, a beautiful place. I found my self longing to move back to a small house on some land. But, I was excited to land at Chek-Lap Kok and ride the bus home to Causeway Bay.

I feel like a hydroponic plant. I have no roots

Coming back

I'll be back to blogging in a day or two

Bye Bye - For Now

I will be in the United States for the next several weeks for a wedding. Look for me in Late July

Fai Mao
The World Traveling Blogger

Give them a Centimeter and they'll take 2.54

I am a member of a computer user group and this post originally appeared there.

One of the members was complaining about computer monitors still using DIP or "dots per inch" and the metric ruler on the word processor using 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 measurements.

Just to play the devil's advocate here a minute.

Libraries, and book binders do divide up centimeters into 1/8's so that is the reason for centimeters appearing in eights on your word processor. 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 are easier terms for most people to work with and make more sense than pure decimals unless you need a great deal of precision.

BTW I live in China so don't confuse me with an American. I am however, a committed Francophobe and would hate the metric system simply because it comes from evil, decadent, France. However, there are other reasons not to like it as well.

Most of this information comes from an article in a science magazine (Discover, Scientific American, or something like that) several years ago that talked about the metric system and how unscientific and unrealistic the metric system is. Other parts of it are my own observations

Some examples of problems with the metric system:

The most common recommendation of the metric system boils down to statements like "It is easier to use a decimal system and that it is a finer scale. (The second of these does not apply to centigrade). That is true but over played. If you get past the 12 inches in a foot rather than 10 based system there is no significant difference in the ease of use. The 12 comes from ancient Rome so blame the Romans. In some ways the metric system is harder to use because the measurement units are confusing because they are in a dead language. People must learn that it goes millimeter, centimeter, meter, kilometer, decameter. All the words end in "meter" and many people don't know why a millimeter is one 1000th of a meter and not 1000 meters. The reason is actually Latin grammar. Thus the names of units in the metric system are only more logical if know Latin. Otherwise they are, just like the old English (Inches predate the Empire so the term Imperial is incorrect)arbitrary names and both are confusing because of Latin (12 inches in a foot and Mili, centa, Etc.)

What is a meter? How do you find one?

A meter Has at times been defined as:
1. A percentage of the distance between two French cites.
2. The length of a certain bar of platinum in a vault in France
3. Currently, A meter is defined as a single wavelength of orange light emitted by some element charged to a certain polarity in a vacuum at zero degrees centigrade or some such. Yeah, real common and easily to get measurement.
If you lost a meter stick and if you go through all the definitions of a meter you might be really tempted to conclude that the best definition of a meter is still 39.25 inches. The fact is that a meter is an arbitrary number just like a foot or yard. But unlike a foot or yard it is not an arbitrary number based upon any easily observable distance.

By contrast a mile 1/24000 of the Earth's diameter at the equator. Thus a mile works out to a 6 second delay in sunrise time at the equator and could in theory be figured with two cheap digital watches.

An inch is about the distance from the middle of the first joint to the end of a man's thumb. This is, contrary to what you may have learned in university, the origin of the term "Rule of thumb."

A foot is still about the average length of a average man's foot in a pair of pointed toed boots.

A meter is also too long for many measurements and the sub units do not conform to any easy to reproducible distance.

As a meter is too long a liter is too small.

A gallon is actually based upon the size of a bucket. Buckets developed under trial and error (scientific method) and a gallon bucket is the largest size that can be comfortable carried in one hand. There is no equivalent measure in the metric system.

A teaspoon is a small bite table spoon is a large bite

An ounce is fluid mouthful cup is eight such mouthfulls Pints, quarts and gallons all fit together in that they represent normal units used by normal people.

In the end the only real reason to use the metric system is a finer scale. It isn't any more scientific or logical than any other system. The names are not easier to learn and it does not conform to the real world but imposes itself upon the world.

Don't even get me started about horse Power versus Newtons.

So in the end the only real advantage of the metric system is that it is based on 10's and is thus easier to move between units. In other words, it works better on a calculator. That is fine and good if you are doing calculus. Otherwise it is simply a pain.

Fairenheight vs Centigrade

Fairenheight is nearly twice as fine a scale as centigrade. The 32 degree freezing and 212 degree boiling is a bit wired but is actually not too bad. After all, it doesn't matter which two numbers you memorize as the freezing and boiling point of water because you still have to remember two numbers. But if you want to advocate changing the starting the point of the Fairenheight scale to zero as freezing point the we could simply subtract 32 from each side and you end up with freezing a zero and boiling at 180.

This incidently shows how much finer a scale fairenheight is than Celsius. It is in fact, almost twice as fine a measurement. Once again we end up in everyday life. One degree of fairenheight is actually the smallest amount of difference that a person can detect a change in temperature. But because it is a finer scale it works better for all sorts of every day things like baking and Argonaut. The rest of this argument makes itself. Centigrade is an inferior system in every way except the freezing/boiling point of water.

I'll wait until another time to deal with pounds versus grams.

No flames please

A Lingering Death

I've been thinking about the purpose of dying.
Why am I so morbid?

I was talking to my wife this past week. We were talking about her mother's condition trying to decide if we should file a complaint with the HKHA about the bed-sores, the surly staff, the negligence and other problems we have encountered with this situation. This is a problematic question because not only would the complaint take a fairly large amount of time to file and pursue but because the Hong Kong government is good about letting you file a complaint, or have a protest march but then doing nothing to alleviate the grievance. Thus, is it worth filing a complaint about something when there is basically no chance that the system will change? It took nearly 25% of the population marching in the street two years ago to get the government to reconsider an ill-advised measure dealing with the freedom of speech. To put this into perspective imagine what would happen if sixty-million people marched to the steps of the Whitehouse. This would be considered a near revolution. Yet that is the only level of action that will cause the HK government to change. What good is one letter from a school librarian's wife?

As worthy as that topic might be of a post on this blog it is not my purpose today. My purpose is instead to think about the purpose of a lingering death. I don't know how many times I have heard people hope out loud that they do not experience a lingering death. Indeed, it seems almost a truism to say that people should die "with dignity" and without "suffering". I have, through experiencing the lingering death of my mother-in-law, come to the conclusion that her slow drawn out death serves two very real purposes. I am almost, not quite; ready to say that those who wish for a quick, painless death are both misguided and selfish.

The first purpose served by taking a long time to die was revealed to me by something my wife said. On Saturday when, with tears in her eyes she told me, "You know, I just wish she would die." I can understand the sentiment. Both my wife and her mother have had a difficult row to hoe with this final illness. My mother-in-law is obviously exhausted physically and emotionally. The bedsores, the strokes and the cancer have all taken their toll on her. My wife and her sister must spend hours each day at the hospital and it is a strain to see their mother slowly starve to death because she cannot eat. Providing the additional care that the hospital cannot or will not provide in addition to their other jobs is a very difficult position to be in.

But, I realized when my wife made the statement above that the grieving process is already well underway for her. That is a good thing. Indeed, she has already accepted that her mother will soon die. Thus, the lingering illness has helped both my wife and her sister accept the fact that their mother is about to die and allowed them see that there are things worse than death. Indeed, I am not sure that my mother-in-law is not now in a state somewhere between life and death. The release they will experience at the death of their mother will allow them to move on faster. I saw this when my paternal grandfather died after a long illness. I am seeing it again here.

I do not know of anything sadder than the people who refuse to let a loved one die. Most of us have met or heard of those people who still have their dead child's bedroom ready up stairs; or the widow who sets a place at the table for her husband dead these twenty years. My father has a 1941 Ford that he purchased from the daughter of a man killed in WWII. It was a new car when he enlisted in the Marines on December 8, 1941. The man's widow kept the car in the garage as a memorial to him until she died. She washed the car, waxed it and did what she could to keep it in good condition for the husband who would never return. When my father purchased the car it still smelled like a new car. The invoice sticker was still on the right rear window. The widow never drove it. She never remarried. She never got over her husband's death. How tragic.

Because their mother has been in the hospital for nearly three months Kim and her sister have already begun cleaning out their mother's apartment. This appears to me to be a precursor to letting their mother go and it is a good thing.

Thus, the first purpose in my mother-in-law's lingering death is actually three purposes. One it gives the family a chance to grieve and recover before having to deal with the actual death. Two, it helps them to accept the impending death and prepare for it emotionally. Three, it will help them to let go of her memory.

My wife and her sister will be able to get on with their lives after their mother dies. There will be no pinning "I wish she'd lived another three years" or "If only she could have lived to see her granddaughters get married" when my mother-in-law dies. The grieving has already been done. There will be no promises made that are still unfulfilled. That is a good thing. It is a hard thing to say.

The second purpose to a lingering death is more abstract. When I look at the amount of work that Kim and Ling have put into caring for their mother I am amazed at their love for her.

It is easy to clean a baby's bottom when they need a diaper change because babies are cute and they smile at you. They are also small and light enough to roll over with one hand. You receive pleasure from the act of cleaning a baby.

After at least six and probably eight or nine strokes it is an open question as to how much of my mother-in-law is still there. The best that my mother-in-law gives you is a vacant stare with a drooling mouth. How hard is it to love someone who cannot respond? This is the point where love and duty meet. It is a point that is often as sharpe and as capable of cutting as any sword. It defines the meaning of love into actual acts of caring. As far as I know this is only point in time where the depth of love between parents and children is tested to this depth or this clearly. How difficult it is to care this completely! How many of us would fob the job off onto a hospital staff and simply complain? How many of us would simply fail?

This point often reveals much more about us than we are comfortable letting others see. But the essence is this. To watch a loved one die a slow lingering death and to aid that person, to love that person through that process makes those of us who live better people.

I don't know if I am quite ready to wish a painful, lingering death upon myself. But I do see that such travails can serve purpose that is both beautiful and even holy.

Until next time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is not obsessed with death

Less Life and more Death in a Hong Kong Hospital

I retract my apology to the HKHA.

The treatment of my mother in law has regressed to worse than I have seen. Because of the strokes she can no longer chew. Tuesday night when we arrived at the hospital the staff had already fed her dinner. "Fed:" is a poor term in this case. She cannot chew or swallow. They simply shoveled food into her mouth and left. When we arrived she had so much in her mouth that she looked like a squirrel carrying nuts into a hidding place for winter. My wife had to physically clean her mother's mouth out by digging out all they had packed in. The old woman could have easily choked to death and while she is suffering from cancer and strokes and death could very easily seen as a release to die because you choked on hospital food is a rather horrible death.

Once again Terri Shivio's husband would love this place.

The Ride of a Lifetime

Have you ever wondered why we like the things we like? Is it merely association with those things or is there some type of genetic predisposition for certain hobbies? I confess, that in my more logical moments I am tempted to think that things like hobbies are in the same class as whiskey, an acquired taste.

However, I only think that when I am not riding my bicycle. When I am on one of my bikes. I know deep down in my heart of hearts that I was born a bicyclist. I could not have acquired the taste for cycling because nobody in my family but me is a cyclist. Therefore, being a bicyclist must be in the genetic code. I must have some latent genetic attribute because since my first bike (A bright red one from Sears that I got for Christmas in 1966) my favorite thing to do has always been to ride a bike.

Bicycling is a strange hobby. I know of no other sport or hobby that elicits such devotion. Not only are cyclist devoted to the sport but also to the actual equipment of the sport. It seems to me that tennis players play the racket that gives them the best shots. Runners are loyal to a shoe maker only so long as those shoes fit. Golfers are always looking for a better club regardless of brand. I have a friend whose husband is an ex-world class badminton player. He couldn't care less about what company made his equipment so long as it was good stuff. Cyclist, by comparison are often very loyal to brands and companies

I've never seen a runner, tennis player or golfer with the name of a club manufacturer tattooed on their body. They may enjoy the sport but they are not loyal to the equipment they use in the way that cyclist are. How many tennis players have custom built rackets? Maybe Leighton Hewitt or Andrea Agassi but not your normal Joe Ballwhacker. In cycling it is not uncommon to see even middle aged riders with the word "Campagnolo" tattooed somewhere prominent. There are literally thousands of custom, built to order bicycle frames made every year. Are there any companies that make custom basketballs? Here are two that make custom bicycle Frames: Here & Here

Do runners, tennis players or golfers have a web site comparable to the Campy only web site? I don't think so.

I have traveled all over the world. Wherever I go I look for bicycle shops. But you know what, I'm not the only one. When I worked in a bicycle shop in the 1980's it used to happen several times a year. Some tourist or business traveler would just stop by to look around. Do tennis players look for tennis shops in London, Phukett or Beijing just to go in and say "hi" to the shop employees? Not as far as I know. Yet bicyclist love to do this. The highlight of my vacations is always finding a bike shop to purchase a tube or cable that I might not even need and could certainly get near my home. I do this because when I am around bicyclist, wherever they are, whoever they are, I am around people who, even if I don't like them are like souls. People who understand what it means to be a cyclist. In a strange way, they are family.

Cycling also changes your perception of the world around you in such a fundamental way that it is difficult, if not impossible to explain it to non-cyclist. You experience the world differently on a bicycle than you do in an automobile or even on foot. Part of this is having to dodge traffic and see your family, neighbors and friends as potential murderers in their cars as they intentionally or inadvertently try to run you down. However, these changes go beyond this simple aspect of self-preservation.

There is a sensation of speed of grace of elegance that is inherent in riding a bicycle that simply is not found in almost any other activity with the possible exception of sailing. When you are a cyclist you see the world through a different gestalt. You see the world not so much as a place but as art and art through which you move as a living sculpture. I think it is a good way to see the world.

There are simply not words to explain the pleasure of cresting the last hill on an afternoon ride and coasting the last 1/2 mile home. If you have never smelt the fragrance after a summer shower while riding along a county road then I pity you. The sense of accomplishment you get when you finish your first 100 mile ride is incomparable. The simple joy at moving faster than you can run under your own power is a pleasure that is surely the most intense on earth.

If you haven't ridden a bicycle lately or even since childhood then I would encourage you to get a bike and rediscover the joy of cycling. You won't be disappointed. You might also find that you were born to be a cyclist.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The bicyclist blogger

Welcome Shambles.net

My blog has been listed on the Shambles.net Librarian blog list. Yes, I am a librarian though my post have little to do with libraries as a general rule. However, they were looking for librarian blogs in Asia and I certainly am that.

Actually, I'm not sure what this blog is about. I seem to write about a lot of things and most of them are topical rather than thematic. If someone at Shambles or anyone else for that matter, finds this blog then I ask that you look at the intial post in the archives titled "Why Me"

Fai Mao
The Librarian Blogger

Apologies Required

Why am I always so surpised when people pay attention?

It seems that the HKHA reads my blog. At least it looks that way. Since shortly after posting "Life and Death in a Hong Kong Hospital" the treatment of my mother-in-law has improved. I still wouldn't call the treatment good but it is better if still surly. I thank those responisble for the improvement.

They have since found that a large part of her problem is actually caused by a series of strokes that we did not know that she had had. I do not think that she is long for this world.

Life and Death in a Hong Kong Hospital

I can sometimes be called grumpy but I don't normally think of myself as threatening. Indeed, most of the time I am a rather genial, if slightly paunchy middle-aged guy. There are times, however, I wish I were more intimidating and one of those times was last night. But, before I tell you why this is so I must give you some background

My mother-in-law is dying a slow and lingering death from liver cancer, compounded by a series of strokes.

She can no longer move her left arm.

She can no longer feed herself.

She hasn't been out of bed in two months.

She is incontinence and on a catheter.

She wears a diaper.

She is loosing weight at an alarming rate.

It is physically taxing for her to speak.

She cannot even roll over by herself.

She has had a chronic ear infection for several years and is deaf in one ear.

She has cataracts.

My mother- in-law has open bed sores. Yet as far as I can tell the hospital does little if anything to treat them. They cannot or will not change my mother-in-law into a water mattress to alleviate the bed sores.

Despite the FACT that she cannot eat without help they have not placed her on an IV for even fluids, much less glucose. How hard would that be?

They never talk to her that I can see.

They don't help feed her.

They only change her when absolutely necessary and then they do not clean her well.

She has been in the Caritas hospice in the So Uk area of Hong Kong for just over two months. The hospitals in Hong Kong, even those like Caritas that are partially funded with non-governmental money are abysmal places. The staff, with some exceptions is uniformly rude and calloused to the point being un-professional.

I hope that when this life draws to a close for me I don't have to be confined in one of them. This whole experience has left a very bad taste in my mouth. A simple truth has intruded itself upon my consciousness. Socialized medicine is an evil. It is dehumanizing to the patient and the patent's family. The best that can be said is that it is a cruel joke. When the government controls the whole system there is effectively no higher authority to appeal to for justice.

Now the hospital wants us to put her into a nursing home because she has used up her allotted time in the hospice. So, in a socialized medical system it isn't about need it is about rationing. Don't you dare take longer than 21 days to die you evil free-loader you! I don't think they have a set amount of time that one can be in this hospice but they have a greater need than they have space. Because of that they try to limit the entry to the most severe cases. This principle breaks down when all the cases are severe.

Think of the description given above. Should the staff ask that a patient in that condition be moved to a nursing home? My wife has been asked several times, "When are you going to find a nursing home for your mother?" It has gotten to the point where she avoids the nurses because she knows what they are going to ask her.

Pardon my misconception. I thought that a hospital hospice for terminal cancer patients was an appropriate place for an old woman with a few weeks to live to go to die of liver cancer; especially since she needs constant supervision. Am I wrong about this?

They have suggested that we hire a Filipino maid, rent or buy a hospital bed and keep my mother-in-law at home. Would you as either the patient or family like that option? This is despite the fact that we do not have the room for either the mother-in-law or the maid in our apartment. Is a teenage maid from Manila a suitable health care worker? I understand that they have a waiting list. I do not think that simply shuffling people who need help out of the hospital to homes where they are cared for by domestic servants is an adequate answer to that problem.

I am not asking that they giver her care like a 5 star luxury spa-hospital. I do wish that they provided adequate care. I don't think that most patients in most Hong Kong Hospitals get adequate care if the situation is indicative of the whole system. Indeed, Caritas is doing a better job than the government hospitals such as Yan Chai or Princess Margret.

The promise of socialized medicine, espoused by well meaning politicians was adequate treatment for all. This is a promise that they have not kept. I could, quite honestly understand this if the whole medical establishment in Hong Kong were not run by the government. I cannot understand it when there is a socialized system in place. The government needs to either do the right thing or get out of the health care industry.

I am speaking of this because my wife had a late meeting and I went to the hospital last night (April 25) to feed this sick, feeble and dying old woman. While it is a good thing to do, the problem is that we HAVE to do it. If one of us doesn't go she doesn't get to eat. That is a different thing than saying I don't want to do it. There are just nights we cannot do it and, in truth, it shouldn't be our job anyway because the hospice should not be a self-serve hotel room but a medical facility. But, if we don't go then the hospital staff will let her dinner sit there until it gets cold and then maybe try to shovel a few bites into her mouth, if they have time, before they remove the tray.

She is dying of cancer but the way the hospital treats her you'd think we wanted her starved to death. Terry Shivio's husband would love this place.

On second thought, maybe a teenager from Manila could do a better job.

The feeding is hard for me because I cannot talk to her. She speaks only a somewhat obscure form of Chinese which I do not so there could be no conversation. I have nerve damage down one arm so feeding her requires using fine motor skills in my left hand which is difficult for me. Nevertheless, I went and spent three hours with her and fed her and brushed her hair and gave water to drink. She is my wife's mother; how could I refuse?

When I left the hospital I was angry. I simply feel that the level of care is so incredibly bad. I wish I were more intimidating. Perhaps then I could confront the system here. To do that I'd need Li Kai-Shing's money or Hu Jing-Tao's political clout; not much else really counts in Hong Kong. I have neither.

Perhaps instead, I'll just find somebody in the hospital authority that makes a bazillion dollar a month income doing essentially nothing except finding ways to avoid a well deserved pay cut or early retirement and punch his/her lights out. (For those not used to Americanism; to punch someones lights out is to beat them until they are unconscious) But then that would make me as evil as the people in the hospital authority that are more concerned about their huge salaries than actually running hospitals. So I guess I won't do that either.

Until next time
Fai Mao
The non intimidating blogger

Death and ......

Friday was the deadline for filing US Federal income taxes.

If you live overseas then you have until June 15 to complete the forms.

I find it absolutely repugnant that I must fill out tax forms for a nation that I do not live in and have not set foot in for nearly 10 years. The overseas income allowance is a joke. The complaint that the wealthy would use this as a way to avoid income tax is overstated as most of the people who live overseas are not wealthy. Indeed, a large percentage of them are missionaries and I've never seen a rich missionary. Don't get me wrong, I believe that people should support their government. I pay the income tax I owe in Hong Kong. However, I live in Hong Kong. I derive very little if any benefit from being a US citizen. Indeed, in some countries in Asia, rightly or wrongly, I pay higher visa entry fees and am a target of terrorist kidnappers simply because I carry an American passport.

The US needs to change this law. As awful as this sounds the US Congress needs to look at Canada. This is perhaps the only area where the sniffling, whinning, limp-wristed, socialist pig, cowardly beavers have a better law than the US. (Can you tell I don't much like Canada?)

The Canadian law works something like this:
If you are a Canadian citizen who lives outside of Canada and
you have no property in Canada, or a bank account, drivers license or Canadian ID other than a passport, or a residence in Canada and you spend at least 335 days outside of Canada then you do not owe Canadian income tax. Period, end of issue.

There are probably some tweaks I would give this with regard to IRA's and things but if Mr. Bush wants to reform the US tax code I suggest he start with this law.

Your over taxed blogger
Fai-Mao

Bitch and Moan

Why am I so slow? Perhaps because I'm lazy or perhaps I just don't care. Or, perhaps I take the time to think issues through a little longer. That's it. I am simply more mature. At least that is the answer that strokes my ego the best.

There has been quite a bit said about the lack of journalistic qualifications of bloggers; especially in regard to the issue of statements made by Eason Jordan and the episode with Dan Rather and Texas National Guard records (TNG). Now that I've thought about these issues and milled them over and had time to formulate a response most of the articles that were plastered on the internet in weeks past have disappeared. Luckily, there is one that I could find that perfectly illustrates what I want to say. (here) Indeed, it precedes the current controversies by nearly two years and thus shows that the issue has been around for longer than Eason Jordon's problems.

I, in my lassitude would have let this issue slide if it were not for the fact that I've heard and read journalist and even journalism-students in universities bitch and moan about this in many ways for many years. Not against bloggers as a rule but against anyone who challenges the importance of the journalist role in the world. The gist of the argument is always the same "I'm a trained professional, don't try this at home."

I actually had a fairly long entry written about this issue filled with linked sources and lots of pithy comments. But the more I wrote the less I liked the essay. It is really hard to call someone or some group of people names, even if the names are true and deserved, without sounding like a jerk yourself. So in the end I'll just say that I have found most of the journalist I have met, with two notable exceptions to be entirely too full of themselves and to have completely erroneous perception of their value to society.

The problem with mainstream journalism in my opinion is simply that the reporters are too arrogant. Arrogance is problem because it blinds you to your faults. There have been studies done that show that People who perceive themselves as competent in their jobs are often time the ones that their peers judge to be the least competent. At least it appears to me that one of the worst ways that a Journalist can exhibit arrogance is to let facts and truth become subservient to some other, generally thought of as a "greater," cause.

When your cause becomes the truth and the facts are subservient to the cause the journalist is no longer journalist but propagandist. It is just that simple.

It is arrogant to think that you are better able to be impartial and divine the truth from error more correctly in all areas than others with more training in specific fields.

It is not arrogant to think your politics are better than mine but it is arrogant to hide your politics in a fake news story to convince me of your position and then think I'm stupid enough to believe you. In this case it is not only arrogant but unethical as well.

Journalist have no corner on the truth. They don't always know better. They are not always better at seeing the facts or truth. That is why people go to a medical doctor when they are sick and not to a journalist working for a medical newspaper.

Likewise I would expect a lawyer to write more cogent analysis of legal matters than a court reporter.

Thus, when bloggers who are printers point out errors in CBS memos they should be commended by journalist not browbeaten. A true professional knows how to say "I was wrong" an arrogant ass says "How dare you question me?".

This is why the best journalist I read are almost invariably sports reporters. Many of them really understand the games they cover. Also, sports is probably an area where fundamental disagreements are not life or death situations. I don't know that I can say the same about someone who covers the city beat.

This was Eason Jordan's real problem in claiming that the military was targeting journalist for execution. If he has proof of this then print it. If not he should not have said even off the record. This was Dan Rather's problem with the TNG memos. If he was duped by a huckster then he should admit as much and offered apologies to President Bush and moved on in ways that would have preserved his credibility.

Both men had lost track of what is importance and were trying to use their position to influence the world rather letting the facts make the story. I would think that the first rule of reporting is to speak to the facts not what you believe but cannot prove. Neither man did this.

That's all I really have say about Eason Jordan and Dan Rather. I don't know that I've said anything at all but I feel better about myself for saying it.

Until next time Fai-Mao the mature and civilized blogger

Batteries

I have five watches. I only have two arms. Why am I so obsessed with time?

It is almost a law in Hong Kong that every citizen must have a gaudy watch. So, I have an Adidas sports watch that has lots of gold and brushed stainless steel. It isn't Rolex gaudy but it'll do. I also have a cheap digital watch that I bought to jog and hike with. It only cost me HKD $20.00 which is less than USD $3.00. I also have a really strange watch that is a tourist thing that clips onto a belt. I keep it on soft pack that functions like a brief case. There is also the cheap pocket watch that came in a delux edition video game. Lastly, I have beautiful old Swiss pocket watch that I inherited from my grandfather. It used to be gold plated but the gold has been rubed off. He bought it in 1932 and used it everyday for many years. It has a weak spring and needs to be wound every 15 minutes so it stays in a drawer until I find a jeweler who can fix it. I bring this up because all but one of my watches, the Swiss one uses a battery. Now I cannot by most measures be called an environmentialist. However, batteries in watches bother me. It seems to be a law of the universe that the one day every three-years that I actually need a watch the battery will be dead. Three of my four battery powered watches are, at this moment, dead.

This mean that I am seriously considering purchasing a self-winding watch.

Yes, it would be expensive. But, I have the money.

Yes, they are gaudy. But, have you seen any of the nicer battery powered watches lately. They aren't exactly understated.

I know that a battery powered watch is less accurate. But, three minutes a month is not that big a deal to me. Besides If I'm running that close to being late I should have left earlier.

I guess what I'm really complaining about here is the propensity to change or "upgrade" technology simply because it is new. Does a battery powered watch actually offer any improvement over a mechanical clock? Well not really, at least none that I can think of and battery powered watches have one huge drawback. The battery will eventually die. If you wear a self winding watch everyday it will never stop provided you wear it everyday and walk around a little.

I have a friend that has an expensive digital watch that allows him to store phone numbers and that has a calculator pad. I don't see that as a convinience. It is troublesome and it doesn't save him any work. By giving him a way to organize random contacts it helps to ensure that he has to contact them. He can't simply forget them. I believe that most people are already too busy.

This get even worse with a cellular phone. I think I am the only person in Hong Kong to not have a cell phone. I simply refuse to carry one. My time is my time and don't want people calling to ask what I'm doing with it. But, cell phones are another rant for another day

Hong Kong 12 Days of Christmas

Why is it that every Christmas carol is set in a cold place? Why did nobody ever write carols for tropical places?

Here is my lame attempt at a re-write of a favorite Christmas carol from not only a tropical but Hong Kong perspective


Hong Kong 12 Days
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A pirated CD

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Three cake shop vouchers,
Two soy sauce chickens and a Pirated CD

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Four cell-phones calling,
Three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Five golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD!

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Six taxis honking
Five Golden rings
Four cell-phones calling, Three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD!

On the seventh day of Christmas my True love gave to me
Seven (Filipino) maids a shopping,
six Taxis honking
Five Golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the Eight Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eight ferries crossing
Seven (Filipino) maids a shopping, six Taxis honking
Five Golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Nine Realtors lying
Eight ferries crossing, Seven (Filipino) maids a shopping, six Taxis honking
Five Golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Ten ledge-co members
Nine Realtors lying, Eight ferries crossing, Seven (Filipino) maids a shopping, six Taxis honking
Five Golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me.
Eleven buses parking
Ten ledge-co members, Nine Realtors lying, Eight ferries crossing, Seven (Filipino) maids a shopping, six Taxis honking
Five Golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A 12 square foot flat
Eleven buses parking Ten Ledge-co members, Nine Realtors lying, Eight ferries crossing, Seven (Filipino) maids a shopping, six Taxis honking
Five Golden Rings
Four cell-phones calling, three cake shop vouchers, two soy sauce chickens and a pirated CD

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Christmas Caroling Blogger