Easter egg hunt

We had our very own Easter egg hunt in China. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny which is rare in Beijing. We didn't have to go very far to find grass (another rarity). This was taken in a small park about a 1/4 mile from our apartment.

Seth seemed to know exactly what to do. And he knows how to be efficient. When he's told to look for the eggs, he first looks in the container that he last saw them in.

Books I've read recently

Not that anyone cares, but here are some good books I've read the past few months:

• Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. If you enjoy good novels, please read this. If I start describing it, I'm sure some people will start to dismiss is it as "one of those books." Please give it a chance.
• Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. A suprisingly fast read for an economics book. Entertaining and informative as it helps the reader to understand the need to think through large data (not necessarily about money) to find underlying trends.
• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. This is not a fast read and was intended to be thorough explanation why some societies had advanced technology (and germs) and conquered those that did not. While it does get repetitive, it is very well researched and planned. It gives a very solid answer to why there were societal differences based not on racial explanations but on geographical advantages that gave some groups a head start.
• Fight Club If you liked the movie, you'll like the book. I'm not sure that's true in reverse. I was surprised at closely the movie followed the book. I could actually see the scenes in my head and some of the visual additions (like the movie cigarette burns). There were a few differences but not much. Short, fun read.

Free Time

I have moved into the part of the semester that gives me plenty of free time. My last class was last week on Thursday. The way the schedule is set up, my students don't take their math final exam until next Wednesday night. That's two weeks of sitting on my bum trying to fill the time. So I'm trying to catch up on my neglected projects, including this blog.

Some other things that I would like to accomplish includes: visiting some areas of Beijing I'm not familiar with, shopping, hanging pictures around the apartment, reading books, and playing my collection of video games.

If anyone has any suggestions for things that I could do to fill my time, I would appreciate it.

E3 late impressions

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) has been over for a couple of weeks now, and I have been passively following the news and impressions like I do every year. So here is my take as a Nintendo loyalist.

For Nintendo:

New Super Mario Bros. - I don't really care. Laurie doesn't seem like one to get into it, so it would just be a single-player 2D platformer for me.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Excited about this one. Laurie and I loved the first one and this allows us to play some new levels.

Metroid: Other M - While the hype (and trailer) look good, I am taking a "wait-and-see" approach to this title.

Wii Sports Resort - I suprisingly know little about this title even though there is a ton of media available. All I hear is that Wii Motion Plus works very well.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - I may be falling for the hype, but I'm really looking forward to this game, especially how the game changes around you based on your actions.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearer - I really, really want this game. Please, hurry it up Square-Enix.

Side note: It looks like the RPGs are slowly creeping back onto a Nintendo console - Dragon Quest X, Fragile, etc. 3 cheers! (I will wait patiently until they finally release a new game in the Ogre Battle/Tactics series. There's at least one customer to buy it on day one.)

For other systems:

The Last Guardian - this (and Blue-Ray) makes me want to get a PS3

Natal - Interesting, but I'm not sure how well it will do with the very fine movements of the wrist to play many types of sports games.

Everything else - looks good, but nothing so far that screams "Buy me! Buy me!"

Sequals to most everything - If I didn't buy the first game, most likely I'm not going to be interested in the second or 197th game (except Mass Effect).

Seth growing up

Seth keeps getting bigger all the time and not just in size. He's a little boy now and it is fun to watch him discover and play with new objects. He even takes old objects and finds new uses for them.

Of course, with him growing up it means he is hitting the "terrible twos." He is already throwing fits and it is a good day when there is only one or two minor skirmishes. The one place that I am glad that he has given up fighting is bedtime.

It all started about a month ago when he discovered he could climb out of the crib. He always hated going to bed and would demand us to be there in order for him to fall asleep. Sometimes we could indulge him, but not most of the time. Once he could climb out, he could come fetch us and there was little we could do to punish him. (Plus we were a very frightened of him hurting himself.)

Laurie and I sat down to plan a new sleep schedule which includes 30 minutes of getting ready for bed followed by 30 minutes of play time/reading books in the bedroom only. He's not allowed to leave. Once his time is up, we pray together as a family, put him in his crib, kiss him good night, and turn out the lights. Seth really likes this method and has not given us any problems except for the first 3 or 4 nights. He's slowly becoming a big boy.

Chinese classes resume

Ni hao. Wo xue Han Wu. Han Zi nan.

I think this says: "Hello. I'm studying Chinese. Chinese characters are difficult."

Tonight was the first Chinese class after a long break (4 months). I've been trying to keep my Chinese current with a language partner, and I think it has paid off. I stepped into class without feeling that I've lost much and have added a few words of my own.

If there is a more difficult language to learn for an English speaker, I don't want to know it. I have my hands full because I have 4 things to learn for a word, unlike a standard 2 for European language. There is still the verbal understanding (what it sounds like with consonants and vowels) and the phonetic representation (pinyin alphabet), but I have to create an extra space in my brain for the tone and the seemingly unrelated character. Since it is 4 things instead of 2, it should only be twice as hard to learn.

No, it is 4 times as hard to learn because it grows exponentially. Learning just one extra (tone or character) would make it twice as hard as learning other languages, but learning both means twice that again.

It is a slow, arduous process. I hope to make it to (close to) fluent someday.

At least before I retire.

Happy Spring!

Our first few weeks after the heat was turned off were a little on the chilly side, but the weather has warmed up, and we are enjoying the sunshine and higher temperatures. Today we snuck Seth out of the building with short sleeves on. As we were walking home from dinner, though, one of the ladies who works in our building spied us as she biked home. I suppose we'll get an earful tomorrow. Call me crazy, but I think it's okay for a little boy to wear short sleeves in 70-degree weather!

The Athiest Myth

I'm always intrigued when outspoken atheists claim that the world will be a better place once we eliminate the irrationality that is religion. I've ranted on this topic at great length elsewhere, but I'll sum up my ideas here.

a. Yes, atheists are good people that care for others and don't (always) look down on the foolish theists. aka: atheists are not evil people
b. Yes, many of the greatest atrocities in the world have been done in the name of a particular religion or God.
c. Yes, there have been no great atrocities in the name of atheism. They were committed in the name of social, political, or economic causes that happened to be atheistic. (correlation does not equal causation)

Unfortunately, this does not mean that the world will be better off with just atheism. That is because atheism lacks a central belief to claim what "good" is. Why is that?

1. There can be no objective good in an atheistic world-view. The human animal may live or die just like any animal. The species can thrive or perish at no harm to the universe or reality. Nature does not have a happy harmony, just a struggle against/with others to survive. Obviously, this should be my most controversial point that the others build upon.
2. "Good" becomes defined as a social construct. What ever most people agree is good or is forced upon them as by those in power will be defined as good. This would be seen at the most animalistic level as survival of the genetic material of the individual. At the highest level, this would be a peaceful, harmonious society where everyone prospers and no one suffers. But not necessarily.
3. There would be a competition amongst people to have their version of "good" be victorious. Anarchists, facists, capitalists, and hippies all have their own version of "good" and an ideal perfect world. This is not claiming there would be bloodshed, only that there is no central concept of what good is.
4. Evil could even be defined as "good," and a true atheistic rationalist cannot argue against it. All of the authoritarian futures such as 1984, Matrix, and Brave New World are acceptable because the society allows it (to the consternation of a few individuals). There is no greater understanding of morality to which a rationalist can appeal.

• Genetic material passed on - check. Though why humans have to survive, I'm not sure (see #1).
• Social consesus - check.

What am I missing? Why would the planet be better off without religion when "better off" implies a value judgement I don't think atheists can make? Why is peace a good thing in an atheistic world-view? What makes the survival of the human species, or even an individual human a desirable thing?

Friends or Enemies?

I recently received a Friend request on Facebook from someone from high school (I think). We had several Friends in common so I thought that I actually probably know the guy and I accepted. It got me to thinking about the nature of social network services (SNS) like Facebook and Myspace.

I understand the competitive nature of "who has the most friends", but SNS shouldn't be about acquiring the most Friends. It should be about acquiring the best Friends (not BFF) and leveraging them to your advantage.

By leveraging I'm referring to:

• staying in contact with important people over great distances
  
• playing games with a large group
  
• raising awareness for social causes
  
• understanding people better through lame personality quizzes
  
• find a long lost friend
  
• learning about job opportunities
  
• sharing funny videos
  

and many, many more cool possibilities. It should not be about "Hey, I kinda knew that guy, why don't we become Friends!" People need a better reason to be Friends.

Of course, this guy sought ME out, so who am I to deny him the awesomeness of Benjamin. He might have a perfectly good reason (or twenty).

Friendly-ism

A couple of years ago I was talking with my friend Harry, and the conversation shifted to communism, socialism, and capitalism. We were both in agreement that capitalism creates stronger companies through competition in the free market but it has no recompense to the people or society it survives in. It is like a cancer that tries to eat and grow without caring about the harm it is doing.

Socialism, at least the state-run socialism we've seen so far, doesn't seem to work or be as successful at generating wealth (for anybody: rich or poor) as capitalism. There seem to be two dangers that governments take when they interfere with companies.

1. The government protects failing companies, essentially throwing good money after bad. There's a reason companies fail, and when the government supports them, the companies will not reform. Lesson: Business need to be able to fail.

2. The government protects workers above and beyond what might be considered healthy. You often hear the wonderful perks that people have in some European countries (paid nanny for new mothers, mandatory 6 weeks vacation, 35 hour work weeks, extreme difficulty in firing people). However, this can cripple companies that would otherwise be healthy into failing status, especially when you cannot fire incompetent people. Google buys other companies many times not for their products but for their engineers. Google recognizes the advantages to having the smartest people on your staff. The corollary to this is that businesses need to fire people that have become dead-weight. Lesson: Let the market determine employment with government guidelines only setting parameters to make sure there is no exploitation.

So where does this leave us: I told Harry that instead of reforming socialism because governments are too rigid and beauracratic, we need to reform markets. Capitalism that cares. Or Friendly-ism (Friendlyism?). This can be done by switching the primary motive of businesses from "The largest possible profit for our share-holders" to "Enough money to sustain business, pay employees a livable wage, develop future plans, and save for future economic troubles."

Friendlyism should have several concepts within it. The highest paid employee should not exceed 5 times what the lowest employee is paid. Environmental responisibility is a bedrock foundation. Companies should be connected to the local community in a positive and tangible way.

I know many companies already do these things, but our current economic crisis was brought about because the underlying philosophy was "largest profit." Businesses need to be able to fail and compete with each other. But instead of a cut-throat, win at all costs model we need to embrace our competitors as friends striving to make a living in this world. What else was the first markets but people exchanging tools for clothes, meat for vegetables, knowledge for help around the house. Markets weren't about undercutting your competitor but about surviving, living, and communicating with your friends, family, and community.

First Random Thought

Why is it that I like philosophy so much yet spend so little time "doing" it? Do I just like to think myself smarter and more well-rounded than I am? Or is it that I don't really love it and am just fooling myself?

Either way, you don't learn by claiming something but by engaging the world. I need to be told where I'm wrong with some of my thinking and why. I need to struggle with my thought process externally as well as internally.

Then when people do engage my thinking in effective and foundation-shattering ways, I can dismiss their criticism for misspellings and bad grammar, feel better about myself, and prove how smart I am. That'll teach 'em.

Welcome to Just Another Blog

Keep looking elsewhere if you want the latest, most insightful, witty, and creative in the blogosphere. This here blog is about giving me the opportunity to get ideas in my head down onto some electrons (paper wasn't handy).

Prepare for rough, stupid, and emerging thoughts from me as I ponder the roles that we humans have in this wonderful creation. Either that or video game reviews. This place is much more for me than for you but you are more than welcome to leave your thoughts, feelings, and suggestions.

Zai Jian (see you later)