Social Stability: The ability of a government to suppress free speech and action as a means of limiting descent and the inate rights and liberties of its people.
Economic Progress: The forced relocation of millions of impoverished citizenry for the purpose of providing labor conducted under inhumane conditions with little economic benefit for those performing said labor.
alt definition: halting humanitarian intervention in foreign countries committing genocide for percieved economic benefit
Healthy Life: Living in a city where the average person loses 7-10 days/year of productivity due to air pollution close to 5 times above WHO safety standards.
International Recognition: Inability of IOC members to see past heabily censored media coverage of a country with more skeletons in its closet than an anatomy lab.
On a more positive note, I was able to visit some of the olympic venues while I was there and they really do look spectacular (through the smog). The birds nest stadium is huge and really a sight to behold as an engineering marvel of the highest kind. The aquatics building sits just across the way and is equally a sight to behold. These both sit fairly close to the center of the city which I think will provide an interesting cultural backdrop to the games. A nice mix of an event determined to bring all countries together for competition and fair play and a government determined to eliminate competition to ensure its own survival and ignore international standards whenever possible for whatever reason. All that being said, China was a very interesting country and I wish I could have seen more because its seems impossible that a country with more than one city like Beijing could survive in a modern world. For certain, China has a long way to go before they will be up to my standards. Hopefully these games will have them on their way sooner rather than later and that the international attention will do some good to expose not only China to the world but also the world to China and its people. Patrick OUT!!!
Brian and I checked into our hotel/hostel on the first day and I would say I think we were both surprised by it. To begin with, it wasn't really a hotel...actually it was a church with some guest rooms in it. You wouldn't have necessarilly known it was a church but you definately knew it wasn't a hotel. Luckilly it was only about 3 blocks from Elsa's family's apartment complex. The room was pretty tiny...though I imagine not so much by hong kong standards. To put that in perspective, the whole thing would have probably fit into my youngest sisters bedroom...which is fine for one young girl but not as good for two guys with lots of luggage and such. All in all, we ended up fitting in OK there without too much adjusting save for two things in particular. Firstly, the beds were quite firm. Of course by firm I really mean...hard as a rock. OK, that might be overstating it, but not by much. It was firm enough that when I lied straight on my back, there was a space beneath the small of my back where the spine curved because the bed had no deflection at my shoulders and hips. I guess I kind of got used to it but it still felt good to be back in a western bed. The second issue was with our hot water. First two days we had fine hot water and actually exceptional hot water pressure (one of the few improvements hong kong utilities have over their US counterparts). Then suddenly, we no long had hot water. Brian and I showered in the cold one day (not togther but it was cold enough that it seemed like less of an absolutely absurd idea by the end) but didn't have a chance to talk to the hotel management on account of a busy schedule, so we showered in the cold for a second day. It wasn't until day 3 that we finally figured out that every room has their own hot water heater that can be turned on and off. That big box we thought was an exhaust fan was actually behind our water supply. Upon flipping the proper switches...proper water was restored...our pride was not.
Food...this could easily fill 3-4 posts but I will try to give highlights here. First off...food is abundant, and cheap, and you eat a lot, all the time, everywhere, with everyone...but I lost weight (that is the great conundrum...its like the french paradox but with chinese food). Also, as I'm sure you might have imagined the chinese food is quite a bit different there than here. In general, many more things are steamed and almost nothing is deep fried. Also, the chinese have a knack for backed goods of all sorts that is strangely ignored here. Food also tastes like the ingredients...which might sound like a truism of sorts but really the most notable absense is in the heavy sauces usually surrounding chinese food in the states. Outside flavors are much lighter and so food there tastes like its primary ingredients and not like the spice applied to them. Restaurants are different too...first off, they are a bit chaotic with lots of staff moving around serving lots of tables. Individual tables usually dont have a particular waiter or waitress but instead you can ask for anything from virtually anyone. Usually this is convenient, but sometimes you just don't ever get what you wanted. I guess that system is a toss up for me in terms of improvement over our methods. Menus were almost always in chinese which made it difficult/impossible for us gwailo to order but its ok because even when the menu had english i usually had no idea what things were. We typically ate whatever was placed in front of us. Thankfully (or perhaps not) things tend to not only taste like their ingredients but also look like their ingredients. One particular instance involved the ordering of pigeon (dove). The bird was roasted and quartered and put on a plate. It was cut and prepared to little that with a little stiching you could have reassembled the animal at the table and maybe even shocked it back to life. Along those same lines, after finished the bird, one piece remained that brian though he might try. After reaching across the table and fumbling with his chopsticks he managed to get the last piece that he was shocked to find out was actually the roasted head of the recently deceased. He didn't eat it (most people don't, but unsurprisingly some do). Also, everything is shared by the table which is not uncommon in the states but usually all the food is eaten, which is a bit more uncommon. Often times towards the end of the meal, it was a trial to see who would finish the last dishes. Sometimes even resorting to rock paper scissors to see who would take in the last bits of tofu soup or char siu bao (though that was a dish rarely left untouched, and unlike revenge...it is best served warm). More on food to come in my post of chinese commerce...also pictures. Patrick OUT!!!
There are essentially two kinds of people for every field of knowledge or skill: the incompetent and the competent. In relation to the incompetent among us the authors state that overestimation of ability is a consistent problem.
"The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it." More plainly, idiots tend to think they are not idiots and overestimate their own abilities because they have no ability to realize that they are in fact idiots. Perhaps this is all a truism and while I find the paper entertaining, it also gives me cause for worry that I might be in that sorry group and that I would never know it if I was. The other group, those top performers in society, tend to perform in the reverse...there by assuming that they are less competent than their actual abilities would suggest.
This,I suppose puts me at a bit of a cross-roads...a mix of extraordinary self confidence in some situations that may betray my ineptitude and a constant need of outside affirmation suggesting the opposite. It then follows that I am left somewhere in the middle of mediocrity. Of course, the theory breaks down a bit when for instance I know that I really suck at dancing and that I am not in that top tier that tends to underestimate their abilities...or maybe I am...dancing with the stars anyone??? Patrick OUT!!!
So it happened again...I almost became a hockey fan. This has happened perhaps 10-15 times over my 25 years on earth. I sit down and watch a game and think, "Man, this is pretty cool...why don't I watch this all the time." Then I get wrapped up in something whether it be the return of ray bourque to the garden for the last time (I was actually at that game), UMass making it to the frozen four, or most recently the Bruin pushing a game 7 against the montreal canadiens (otherwise known as the Yankees of Canada). Of course, I was let down once again as the bruins get beaten like a rented mule and are forced to settle for eating snow cones made from the shavings created by the Habs goalie. Alas, it was not meant to be. All hope is not lost though, the Red sox swept a four game series against the Texas rangers which is pretty good and they do continue to look better as the season goes on. In other news, I was in the car with elsa this afternoon and she casually looked over and said, "Its such a nice day, I want to drive your car without a top." I thought this was a little forward of her but if she wants to pull a lady godiva on me...who am I to complain. Of course, she meant that she wanted to drive the car without its top...which of course is a bit more reasonable. What was really a bit unreasonable was the movie "300" to which I promised a faithful review. In the interest of full disclosure, I hated the movie Sin City which more than a few people told me was similar to "300." Both being Frank Miller (I think) creations. Actually, I should probably clarify the second to last statement...I hated the plot of sin city...actually I hated the lack of plot in sin city. It was like one neat visual sequence after another and then a shoddy half-assed attempt at linking them together. The movie was brimming with star power which is what first drew me to it but I was soooo let down by the whole thing. On the other hand, it did look cool and 300 looks cool too but in a different way. I watched 300 and all I could think of was that if the ancient greeks had blockbusters, 300 would be to the spartans what independence day was to 14-18 year old boys in the United States. By that I mean, its a hyper action movie with soooo many glossed over intricacies in favor of rock 'em sock 'em action that you really don't notice until after its all over and you say to yourself...what was that. Its also crazily patriotic in that kind of fascist way...but for greeks. Of course, the antagonists in the movie are the persians who are one of three things, androgynous, disfigured, or mindless thugs (actually the "Immortals" reminded me of the "foot soldiers" from TMNT). Its never really explained how a rag tag bunch of freaks and mind numbingly dumb ground pounders got to conquer most of the western world but I guess you don't need to. The other side of things are the Spartans who are led by their king whose physique is like He-man. This of course, could also fit into the same category of movie right along side Independence day and 300 as the most masculine of movies. I mean seriously, "he-man" as if both "he" and "man" were not masculine enough on their own we need to combine them into a single over pumped individual. I'll save the rest of that rant for another post because I really am a fan of he man and want to do him justice. Back to the spartans that all have the physique of a greek god...or i guess a greek soldier but thats somewhat circular. Anyways, they are all in impeccable shape and if they were wearing purple spandex underwear you could see them in the WWF next week. Apparently, in between building great monuments and worshipping at the oracles, the greeks had a lot of time to lift weights and drink protein shakes. Also, I could have sworn in the back I saw Jose Canseco and Brian McNamee...maybe that was just me. I spent most of the movie feeling brutally inadequate at the CGI'd physical prowess being displayed on screen. Of course, that didn't stop me from having two beers and polishing off the last of a box of cheeze-its. There'll be time for the gym next week. My final verdict on the movie...cool to look at but still trying to be too close to history and too far from reality to be of much worth. Patrick OUT!!!
So it finally happened. WBZ, after 30 years, has had enough of Bob Lobel. To be honest, I've had more than enough of Bob Lobel for some time. As a frequent contributor to Patriots broadcasts both on television and radio and as a guest on my preferred talk radio station to talk about all things sports...I should probably like him. He is obviously a fan of my sports teams...he cares about their success and he can talk to any personality he likes and get the inside story. But...I can't get it out of my head that he constantly sounds like a drunk or a stoner. I am all about social drinking and I even favor the legalization of marijuana but it occurs to me now that there should be a caveat to such policies. My law would be written as such..."No person involved in the broadcast of news or sports shall do so under the influence of any controlled substances." I mean seriously, Bob Lobel is sometimes so unintelligable I can sit with my mouth agape in awe at how a station manager could let someone so far from being lucid onto the air. It got even better when he was paired with a Dan Shaughnessy or a Steve Burton who I think were almost as surprised as me that they let this fool on the air without his meds. Even with all this, WBZ dealt with his crap for a good many years...so why now. Well it seems that it was a cost-cutting maneuver on their part...flushing out the old guard to be replaced with a cheaper younger, polished crew. Or perhaps it was something more, a new WBZ random drug testing policy...coupled with the station wanting to save the old man some dignity in his waning broadcast years. Now, if we could just get rid of cedric maxwell from those celtics games and if tommy heinsohn could quit it with the obnoxious tommy points. I kept thinking, do people really keep track of this shit...is there a tommy point leader board (answer: Yes, www.tommypoints.com)? Supposedly, he gives them out for risking life and limb for the better of the team. Come to think of it, I watched a bunch of games in the old garden in the mid-90s...don't i deserve a tommy point for that. Or how about the games I watched last season...my head covered in shame as I left the building or the risk to life and limb upon asking the bartender to put on the "C"s. By my count, being a celtics fan over the last decade entitles you to at least 500 tommy points...more if you bought season tickets at any point in that period. We'll give you a plus 50 if your fondest memories in celtics history involves any part of Dee Brown winning the slam dunk contest or if you were born after 1986 and are still a fan. On the other side, -50 points if you ever considered rooting for the pistons just because Bird went there or if you ever considered lobbying for the return of chris ford or rick pitino to the coaching staff. Maybe bob lobel could go down to philly and cover mr. ford again for a time or if that doesn't work out...I heard that High Times magazine needs a sports editor. Patrick OUT!!!
So I recently saw an article in the New York Times that talked about the benefits of having a child experience alcoholic beverages in the home before the age of 21. I am a strong proponent of this and really see it as vital to bringing up a responsible young adult capable of dealing with the pressures of excess. My own personal experience from being in school and seeing two sides of this issue form the basis for my opinion on the matter. It always seemed to me that those freshman or otherwise who came from overly restrictive homes (in relation to alcohol) were the ones who drank to get drunk exclusively and otherwise abused the new found liberation of the college drinking scene. Those who were brought up with responsible drinking in the home by and large had less issue. I am certain that the reason behind it all is that there is really only two ways to view alcohol consumption. The first is that the purpose of wine, beer or otherwise is to get yourself inebriated or as self-medication for ones inability to deal with the trials and tribulations of being a person. The second view is that these things comprise a key part of "the good life." As such, they should be enjoyed but only to the end that they comprise a part of that ideal for consumption and not by any means as a way of getting wasted. Of course, your average college student probably doesn't think about it in those terms but the particular mores and norms associated with alcohol are most certainly shaped by one's family life before college and these two scenarios definitely come into play. Having been party to responsible drinking before the age of 21 (gasp!!!) I can say that I think it made me much more responsible with alcohol after the age of 21. I know some of my readers are now thinking to themselves, "Pat...thats just because you don't remember when it didn't work out that way." I of course don't have a response to that except to say that those instances were few and far between...I think. So perhaps, I am not really the best judge of this particular theory but in my own defense...I have never been arrested (for alcohol or otherwise), driven drunk, or put myself into any serious physical danger whilst under the influence. I have however, had a lot of really good times and been able to enjoy that "good life." I suppose what it all comes down to is a lesson in parenting from someone who is not yet a parent. But of course never being afraid to give advice where it is neither asked for or needed...give your kids a drink and they won't drive you to. I also think that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or ideally removed entirely...but thats a post for another day entirely. Patrick OUT!!!
So Easter weekend came and went. I managed to not go into the lab for a second straight weekend which is pretty good I think. If things go well this week, I might make it three in a row this coming weekend. All in all things have been pretty low key except for the NCAA tournament now being in full swing. I completed my bracket based on the number of graduate students a given school has. A quick recap, my picks focused around the ratio of graduate student to undergraduates with lower ratios winning out over higher ratios but schools without any graduate students never winning. Given that criteria, I managed to predict at a rate of 72% correct for the first round and also pick more than 50% (4/7) of the underdog victories. Unfortunately the second round has been less kind. Of my remaining 23 teams following the first round...only 7 have survived into the sweet 16 which comes out to a prediction rate of only 43%. Additionally, only 2 of my final 4 teams still remain, Washington State and Michigan State (which have ratios of 0.21 and 0.23 respectively). While I haven't looked at the actual vegas odds for such a final match-up...after doing some quick mental math I would estimate it at approximately 376,592:1 odds that those two teams will form the match-up for the championship game.
In other news, I finally bought a suit for Em's wedding. Really a pretty painless experience, walked in and in just a mere 45 minutes I was out of there with the suit being tailored as I write this. There is a real utility to having men's clothing be based on measurements and for certain styles to always be there. A large selection quickly becomes mangeable when one can quickly eliminate large swaths of items for one of a variety of reasons. I ended up with a fairly classic three-button chalk stripe gray suit with subtle peak lapels and a single vent. The pants were pleated but they are fairly small so i can deal with it. I think it should look nice...assuming the tailor does his job. In other news, there might be a trip to bangkok in my future. In planning this trip to China over the summer, Elsa found some pretty stellar deals on hotels and flights through some chinese travel agency which was really good because things were getting expensive pretty quickly. In addition to running things to beijing (one of our primary travel goals)...they also run trips to thailand which is really cool as well. Since we don't need visas to go there it really isn't any more work to head on over and explore a bit. I think Elsa is probably pretty excited to be going someplace where I don't have a major axe to grind with the government. Of course, I don't know much about Thai politics so there is still time for that to happen. : ) Anyways, more on all that later...Patrick OUT!!!
Heres a link to a blog I found a while back and have been meaning to post.
Its exactly as it sounds. He has a pretty comprehensive list of things that white people do in deed like. Of the 90 items currently listed, I would say that I like 42 of them or approximately 46%. At first I thought, "Damn it I am soooo white...what a cliche I must be living." Of course then i figured that its taken me this far might as well just keep on with it. So with that, I am probably going to be putting a down payment on the new prius before going to see Juno for the fifth time after meeting up with my gay friends for sushi at the little japanese restaurant thats right next to the quaint little coffee shop and breakfast place I like to go to and read the sunday new york times. ahhh...i feel right at home now. Anyways, check the list out and let me know how you score. Patrick OUT!!!
So its that time of year again when the snow has finally started to melt away and the sound of birds can once again be heard echoing through the newly flowering trees. Unfortunately, the other thing we have now started to hear echoing is the voice of the inimitable dick vitale. The voice of college basketball and the NCAA tournament is back BABY. Another year of listening to his rants about the quality of the Duke program and coach K...when they aren't even playing. They made the tournament this year...again and as a #2 seed no less. I hope they lose. Don't get me wrong, they have a strong tradition but they are the yankees of college hoops and just the fact that I can reasonably make such a comparison means they must be despised to their very core. Of course, when I fill out my bracket they will do well...not because I favor them but because I know better than to fill it out on tilt. However, my pick for the end...the other ACC powerhouse, North Carolina. Sure, i've only seen two of their games this year but I can already tell that they are going to win it all...its a lock. UMass didn't make the tournament this year, which is good because now I don't feel the obligatory alumni response of pushing them exactly one round further than they could ever be expected to get. There are a few new teams in the tourney this year though and I figure if I've never heard of the school then what are the chances of them actually winning. I mean seriously, is UMBC actually expected to go anywhere or Coppin St., I have absolutely no idea where that even is. I think that all state schools should have at least somewhere in their name, the state that they represent. Another surprise for me was Oral Roberts University, which together with occidental should, in my mind, turn out the finest dentists and orthodontists in the world. In stead they turn out religious right conservatives and california uber-liberals...ahhhhh, the worst of both worlds and neither one has a dental school. Furthermore, neither is going to win the big dance this year. Anyways, we started a pool for the lab /office so people can get their gambling fix in regardless of what deval patrick and sal demassie figure out. I still need to fill out my bracket and I'm thinking about filling it out based solely on the number of graduate students they have. Those with lower percentages of grad students indicate to me that their focus lies elsewhere...like in basketball. Thus the number of grad students is directly proportional to the importance of graduate research to the administration and thus inversely proportional to the quality of the athletic program for a good example see WPI Div III champions in lots of stuff. The inverse being UMass...lots of grad students but a somewhat lackluster athletic program ( I know the swimming team and gymnastics teams are both top notch but nobody really pays attention to them anyways.) Following the tournament, an update will follow as to how my strategy turned out relative to random guessing and picking higher seeds. Patrick OUT!!!
In a crazy mixed up place like Iraq...there apparently is one ounce of sanity and its name is Chuck Norris.
The last line is by far the best thing I have ever seen in a reuters news article and truly sage advice for not just the Iraqis but for us ALL. Patrick OUT!!!
So I figure I have two choices for this entry. I can either write about the political drama that is quickly unfolding before our eyes or I can write a review of Jumper. Being that I saw jumper more than a week ago, i'm not sure I could really do this film the justice that its scathing review really deserves. What I will say is that it was an hour and half of an insult to celluloid. Seriously, if I was a film roll and my fate was to be printed with the likes of Jumper...I would be totally pissed right now. That said, it may be both hayden christianson's finest performance and perhaps sam jackson's worst. That not withstanding, sam jackson is still better than hayden...though not by much. In short...this movie SUCKS.
On to the political season of a lifetime. Clinton vs. Obama...steel cage match of a lifetime. I watched the big debate on tuesday between these two democratic demagogues and I was thoroughly impressed. Not so much by either candidate but by a political process that allows for a neoliberal neophyte like the big O to go so far without so much as a clue as to what he is really doing. I am really blown away by the sheer number of voters out there who are eating his "hope for america" and "america's soul needs fixing" stuff for breakfast. It reeks of jonestown and the peoples temple but on a massive scale. No end game in sight...no need he is going to walk away with the nomination and just might stroll into office. I remember an SNL clip (unfortunately I couldn't find it on YouTube this time), wherein Mike Dukakis is listening to George H.W. Bush in a "debate" and remarking..."I can't believe I'm loosing to this guy." I think it followed some lines about "staying the course" and "thousand points of light" or some bullshit like that. If you replace...those "thousand points of light" with "change we can believe in" you have barack obama with a bad haircut and a more palatable spouse. Normally, I wouldn't pick on the family of a candidate...unless that candidates last name rhymed with "blinton" and then of course all bets are off. BUT...Michelle Obama kills me...not proud of america until just now. I mean maybe she means politically but even still...what about all the great politicians of the past. Even as a liberal...she must be a little proud of reagan and the end of the cold war in 1989. She is old enough to remember when MLK was alive and the great advances made politically during that time. The passage of the civil rights acts of 1964 and 1968. Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969 etc. It is really a sad state of affairs when a candidates family is willing to sell out the accomplishments of a country for a cheap political ploy. But back to the main event...Barack. Where did this guy even come from...he has no right to be a successful candidate. In any other election year he would have been out many months ago but this year the rules are seemingly a bit different and he is the benefactor of that change. Had America changed...i don't think so. I think they are being fooled and will quickly be made fools of when he is allowed into office. I am no fan of hillary but I can acknowledge that she is intelligent and a leader with a track record of achievement. I disagree with her on most everything but I understand why she is a viable candidate and could understand her presidency. Obamas got nothing but the support of limousine liberals and short sighted college kids who have become so wrapped up in his speech that they forget about the substance of it all. The debate makes it clear...hillary tries and tries to poke holes in barack's armor bestowed upon him by the media and political elites but to no avail. He makes her look foolish without ever saying a thing. How frustrating must it be to know you haven't a snowballs chance in hell to win a race that you should be winning...if logic was still the rule. Meanwhile McCain sits back and waits for his opponent and he must be worried...watching what is happening to the clinton campaign machine...perhaps the most well oiled and battle tested of them all. It would take a "vast right wing conspiracy" to defeat obama now. Maybe hillary should have been focusing more on gaining a vast left wing conspiracy back in '98...then she might not be in such a bind today. I guess it comes down to Ohio and Texas but even those are looking increasingly out of reach for the she-devil. I guess we are too far past the old "ask not what your country can do for you." We've moved on to "ask not what your candidate can do for you but ask what you can do for your candidate." My answer...not much. Patrick OUT!!
