so, finally JP Morgan Chase&Co got WaMu, should i say congrats to Jamie Dimon.

and even though my opinion doesn't count, i am against this golden parachute too.

they don't deserve that much, simple as it is.

anyway, arrived home last night. it's cold in shenyang.....

read the letter that 122 economists, most from leading universities in US, including several Nobel laureats, signed together to oppose this 700 billion market saving plan. they argued that once this campaign be carried out, it would influence the next generation. however, the CEO of IMF proposed the same solution in an article, suggesting in the short-term, distressed assest should be bought, by at least one party....

yet there is this one concept that i don't quite understand.

by saying the taxpayer should not bail out the investors, mainly referring to those rich, institutional forces, i guess.

but if we take those people who complained about Lehman Brothers' mis-selling of Minibonds into consideration, aren't they also the taxpayers and at the same time investors?

there is ambiguity, admit it or not.

 

　　It should be hard, I like that it is hard. Putting your daughter through college, that's-that's a man's job. A man's accomplishment. But it should be a little easier. Just a little easier. 'Cause in that difference is... everything

 

在豆瓣上看到有人引用刘若英在《20，30，40》里面说过如下的话：“告诉我，谁才是我要找个那个男人，可不可以给我一点提示，比如说，当他出现的时候，正好有一阵风掠过我的发际。”

我想问的是，如果有一阵风正好掠过我的发际，我会记得那就是我的男人出现的信号么？

 

另外那个……如果是他出现的时候，我刚好醒过来，这个算不算……

昨天晚上接到一通电话，不知道该不该去。

晚上躺在床上怎么也睡不着，于是乎，我用手机上网了，于是乎，看到我期盼已久的回信。

虽然没什么实质内容，但至少证明了我没有说错话……

so, still don't know what i should do.

maybe god has sent me several signs, stupid as i am, i just cannot tell.....

 

why do we always get hurt in love?

isn't it supposed to be the most cherished thing in the world that we could possess?

being yourself, and loving someone else, are these two topics born to contradict each other?

like the way we were?

so what is the right thing to do? maybe we should define right first.

is the "right" thing always the right thing to do?

i really do not know.

but i still remember the poem that i read in junior high, about when love is owned, it could only wither and die.

i surf the intenet, like inside out and upside down, still cannot find this very poem, just like the old days.

god, i miss him, so much.

the west wing.....你让我怎么说你好呢，居然放加拿大的国歌。。。。我真的是，又被你猝不及防的撞了一下腰 啊！！！！

今天又查了一下，果然Frei. U09/10年度也有位置！！看来我给他们寄一份GRE成绩算是有先见之明，希望我考的好些，不然丢人丢大发了……

但是今年GRE成绩居然不是强制的，而且iBT也只要求了100.说实话，我现在都不知道这个100分到底算高算低了。。。

那个，学校让12号之前就交回接收函，估计那个时候还没面试呢吧？

不知道，爱怎么样怎么样吧。

台湾说会与大陆开放互相留学，那样就好了！！！！

我就可以看到我家少爷了啊！

可是，我还是，有点那个……（你们都懂得，我就不明说了啊）

还是没有收到回音，是我之前说错话了么。。。。还是他老人家很忙呢？

不知道啊不知道啊不知道。。。。

今天天气很好。

read some news today, disappointing, as always.

once you were there and you know how it was, and now reading these "stories", it's kind of like slapping in my face.

that is so not true!!!!

thought everybody was born equal and guess what, it is NOT!!!

for anyone's sake, is it really necessary to emphsize how many babies are locals?

so what they are locals!!!

sent an e-mail and waiting for a reply.

 

先解释下什么是债务通缩 a situation in which the collateral used to secure a loan, or another form of debt, decreases in value. This can be detrimental to the borrower, as it may lead to a restructuring of the loan agreement or even a loan recall. Also known as "worst deflation" and "collateral deflation".
A mortgage, which is a form of secured debt, presents a good example. Let's say you purchased a home by taking out a mortgage. That same home would be secured as collateral for the loan, meaning that if you defaulted on payments to the bank, the home would be repossessed by that same bank. If the potential selling price of the home decreased in value while you were still making payments to the bank, you would be in the middle of a debt deflation scenario

最近这是怎么了，我都开始不相信我自己看到的，听到的消息了。

先说说和我有关的。。。。

雷曼兄弟终于还是破产了，奥运会前我就是这样说得；美林把自己卖了，算是留个全尸；贝尔斯登？上个世纪的事情了都是……

现在摩根斯坦利也要出售49%的股份给中国人了，或者他们也可以和Wachovia合并，如果摩根斯坦利的股价再跌一些？

两房也国有了，AIG也国有了，下个不知道轮到谁，Washington Mutual Fund？

中国在其中的角色，我真的看不清楚……我们投资了那么多那么多那么多那么多美元，数以千亿记，在这些“看起来很美”的资产上，现在不知道是不是变成了负资产……

如果说美国大众在买单的话，我们是不是也在买单？在纳过税之后，我还真的是很关心我的税钱被谁花了，花在什么地方了。

如果真的是几个人拍拍头就决定了买了什么，是不是决定的有点草率……尤其是有时候我看着新闻，感觉这话怎么这么假呢，就明白原来指鹿为马这件事情，从古至今。

再说说和我们下一代有关的。。。。

又是奶粉，终于出事了。由于有前车之鉴，我真的怀疑，这事到底什么时候就被什么人知道了？

如果不是那孩子说出了皇帝，其实你没有穿衣服，我们是不是还在研究那衣料的美丽？

有那么多家企业都在做这样的假，这不是也是业内共识？

还能放心什么？

 

最后我真的想问问金钱的力量，难道所有这些做错事的人都不会blame themselves for killing lives, babies' lives?

 

第一次telephone interview....
教授从美国打来电话，我看了来电显示的时候还以为是从加拿大来的……后来一听是个什么教授，多么希望是UBC的教授啊！！！！
结果是WISE的。。。。
而且这个telephone interview我觉得做的不是很好，很多问题答得很一般。。。尤其最后两个英语的。。。本身华人之间说英语就让我觉得很别扭。。。。
anyway, 就这样了，要是真的让我去复试的话，我也不知道要不要去。。。。

The citizens of Forsythe have adopted healthier lifestyles. Their responses to a recent survey show that in their eating habits they conform more closely to government nutritional recommendations than they did ten years ago. Further more, there has been a fourfold increase in sales of food products containing kiran, a substance that a scientific study has shown reduces cholesterol. This trend is also evident in reduced sales of sulia, a food that few of the healthiest citizens regularly eat.

 

This argument concludes that the citizens of Forsythe have adopted healthier lifestyles based on a line of reasoning: (1) a survey result shows that more government nutritional recommendations appear in their eating habits; (2) a fourfold increase in sales of food products containing compounds that reduce cholesterol and meanwhile the reduced sales of food least preferred by the healthiest citizens. With more scrutiny, however, this argument is logically flawed in several key respects due to the untenable evidence listed above.

 

The threshold problem with the argument is that it fails to provide the proof of statistical credibility of the survey. Without further detailed information about the constitution of the subjects responded to that survey, I doubt if they could represent the whole population in Forsythe. In other words, it is entirely possible that the people polled in that survey did improve their lifestyles but the rest of the citizens of Forsythe did not. Or perhaps the people who respond to the survey are not the same group that answered the questions ten years ago. Either the scenario is, the argument cannot claims that healthier lifestyles have been adopted based on this unpersuasive survey result

 

Secondly, the argument unfairly assumes that the fourfold increase in sales of food containing kiran is tantamount to the improvement of lifestyle in Forsythe. Not only does the argument fail to provide the time period during which this increase occurs, but it also lacks the evidence to illustrate that the citizens purchase more kiran-related food out of their concerns towards better lifestyles. So it could happen more than possible that the citizens prefer the kiran food because of the flavor of it or perhaps this increase in sales happened recently due to large scale of promotion of the products. What’s more, kiran is not the single compounds that could boost people’s health and without offering sales information of other healthy food, this evidence could lend little credence to support the argument.

 

Thirdly, the argument cites the fact that there is a reduced sale of sulia, which is least preferred by the healthiest persons. Lacking a clear definition of the term “healthiest citizens”, this argument leaves the possibility open that maybe there are still healthier citizens prefer eating food containing sulia. Besides, even if sulia is indeed rejected by the citizens of Forsythe, it is not the solely food that may harm people’s physical conditions. Perhaps other foods that do so are enjoying a roaring amount of sale.

 

To sum up, this argument is not as convincing as it stands due to the incredibility of its assumptions. To strengthen it, the author may add more information about the statistical credibility of the survey and further detailed information about the sales increase of kiran, other things being equal. To better assess it, I would also like to know more about the decrease in sales of sulia and a clearer definition of the “healthiest citizens” as well.

这一篇纯属胡言乱语……

"People often look for similarities, even between very different things, and even when it is unhelpful or harmful to do so. Instead, a thing should be considered on its own terms; we should avoid the tendency to compare it to something else."

 

Should we consider everything separately rather than comparing it to something else because the tendency to do so is unhelpful and harmful? Though I have to admit that sometimes seeking similarities could help us understand things more quickly, yet I fundamentally hold the same opinion with the speaker that we should make our decision on a case-by-case basis.

 

First, I would like to turn to the merits of looking for similarities between different things. As is known to all, the world is now under an unprecedented situation called the information age, where knowledge explodes. With tons of new trends being formed on the street, new substances being synthesized in the laboratories, new ideas being expressed at the podiums, sometimes to extract the similarities between various things could make our vision clearer and bigger the chance to identify what the connection between these discrepancies.

 

However, the merits could not outweigh the harm effect of seeking similarities excessively, especially when it comes to fields of study like medication or law cases. When a doctor is assigned to diagnose a certain patient, what he needs to do is to fully examine his patient rather than sitting in his office and scrutinizing the file of this patient to his former ones and trying to figure out what they share in common. Or take a look at the law cases where a single piece of detailed information could decide what is right and what is wrong, that is to say, every single law case should be studied on its own terms but not the others’.

 

The last but not the least, to dig out the similarities between things or even persons would promote the tendency of putting labels on others. In retrospect of history, it is not hard to find examples to illustrate this point of view. Take Dr. King’s world renowned speech as an example. If we think that people under the same color skin are of no difference, if we think that people enroll in the same school or the same walk of life are undoubtedly of the same characteristics, then why bother to argue about how resources are allocated? Because we believe that a hero could be raised up in a chaos neighborhood, because we believe that a model could be found under the most commonplace job titles, and that’s why we try to judge each human being one by one.

 

To sum up, a thing should be considered on its own terms. Even though sometimes we need find out the similarities to help us understand what is going on around us more quickly, still the case-by-case study plays a major role in the fields of medication and law. What’s more, to better judge a person we also need to consider everyone not as duplicate of others, but a true unique at best.

alright, have to admit that more persons are over there, at least one more than i have expected.

明天就要去上机考试了，今天去踩了点。。。。买了回家的车票，thanks to my dear lan.

anyway, made some tough decisions, partly due to this sick rule the school has promoted.

i just hate when i am cornered and left with only one single choice, god, just hate it!!!

reminds me of some harsh memory....

kind of miss him.....

dreaming of meeting my family

and i'm going to take back the precious icewine

try to figure out a fancy restaurant where the food could match the quality of this so good icewine...

so excited, finally home.....

The Mozart School of Music should obviously be the first choice of any music student aware of its reputation. First of all, the Mozart School stresses intensive practice and training so that students typically begin their training at a very young age. Second, the school has ample facilities and up-to-date professional equipment, and its faculty includes some of the most distinguished music teachers in the world. Finally, many Mozart graduates have gone on to be the best known and most highly paid musicians in the nation.

 

This argument concludes that the Mozart School of Music should be the first choice of any music student who knows about its reputation, following the line of reasoning that (1) intensive training and practice is provided; (2) the facilities there are arresting; (3) a large number of its alumni have become famous and highly paid nation-wide. However, with scrutiny of this argument, it suffers several logical flaws that render it unpersuasive as it stands.

 

First of all, the argument unfairly assumes that intensive amount of training works for every music student equally. But common sense informs me that this is not the case. Many students, especially those with great talent, may not be much fond of boring practice and instead, they may focus more on the cultivation of their ability to appreciate the beauty of the melody. Or perhaps many music students would prefer a diverse life including other respects to explore in school time besides mere music training. Either the scenario, the author’s point that the Mozart School of Music will attract numerous students is dubious and thus not convincing at all.

 

Secondly, the author emphasis the good condition of their equipment without providing information about the cost of tuition fees and so forth, which leaves open the possibility that this Mozart School of Music may not be the first choice for those students whose families are not so well-off financially. Besides, given the consideration that a school may not need very fancy facilities to offer a fully-developed education on music, there is probably other schools that would meet a student’s requirement as well without crashing a family’s savings. If this is the case, maybe there won’t be as many enrollments as the school has expected.

 

Thirdly, this argument cites the fact that many of its alumni are now renowned musicians around the country. However, being highly paid and famous is not the goal of every student who pursues music as their lifelong careers. Some of the students may simply want to be a school music teacher or a theorist specialized on the subject of music. Even for those who intend to be like those successful graduates, the author failed to provide a reliable statistic evidence showing that a large percent of alumni have reached that high level in their careers and thus make it unconvincing.

 

To better assess this argument, the author needs to provide further detailed information on the tuition fees and other costs as well. Beside, a more specific description about the intensive training should also be helpful. I would like to know more about the percentage of the graduates who became nationally renowned, too.

Will the world as a whole benefits from the progress of global networks, whether economics, politics, or education and so forth? Though there is the wave of anti-globalization happening around us, I fundamentally agree with the speaker that the global networks in many fields will make numerous aspects of human’s endeavor come to fruition.

 

First, I would like to turn to the fields of science. With the global network, scientists and researchers could communicate with each other in just one second, meaning much more possibilities for international cooperation. Unlike decades ago, in order to share their discoveries or new theories, scientists have to work under the same roof, nowadays, the spread of internet and personal computers render this process almost effortless. As a result, more original inventions are brought out at a more rapid pace and they always involve multiple national co-work.

 

Secondly, not only in science but also in the fields of education, the global network is of significant assistance. Take the curriculum outside campus as an example. Rather than staying at the same classroom at the same time, now students, especially college students and MBAs are offered more flexibility in terms of taking courses. Thus, they could better arrange their schedules and make a balance for both school and personal life. What’s more, there are several international programs carried out by the United Nations that focus on education in less developed countries. With global networks handy, sitting in their own classrooms, pupils could receive academic knowledge provided by better educated teachers from other territories.

 

The last but not the least, politics benefits from the global networks as well. After the tragedy of 9/11, the world has come to an agreement that the global safety needs more than taking care of one’s own security; instead, it needs multiple national levels of communication and cooperation. In response to that agreement, the major countries in the world form a unity to attack terrorism and thus provide their citizens a safe environment to live their lives.

 

To sum up, I would hold the conclusion that global networks benefits several key respects in every society, including sciences, education and national security. Due to the help of the internet and the spread of computers, scientists could share their gleaming intellectual thoughts without boundaries, students could get equal access to academic knowledge despite the limitation of their own countries, and politicians could work hand in hand to provide us a safer home.

Argument 161 the reading habits of Leeville citizens

In a study of reading habits of Leeville citizens conducted by the University of Leeville, most respondents said they preferred literary classics as reading material. However, a follow-up study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Leeville was the mystery novel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.

 

This argument concludes that the citizens of Leeville misrepresented their reading habits in a survey. To justify this point, the argument cites two seemingly contradictory results from two surveys, one of which shows that respondents prefer literary classics while the other one claims that the most check-out books from public libraries are mystery novels. However, as it stands the argument is not so convincing with its line of reasoning.

 

First of all, the argument provides no detailed information about who constitute the respondents for the two separate surveys. Without the proof of statistical reliability, the author cannot prove that the persons who answered the first surveys are those who would go to public libraries and check out books regularly. Thus, it could be entirely possible that those who prefer reading literary classics are those who prefer reading at home as well. Or perhaps the mystery novel lovers often go to the public libraries and were simply not polled in the first survey. Either the scenario, this argument is just unconvincing as it stands.

 

Secondly, even if the argument could offer other evidence to proof its resources’ credibility, still it did not express any further information about the situation of the books in public libraries. The author unfairly assumes that the condition of all the books in the libraries are the same and people have equal access to either kind of books, that is to say people borrow whatever books they want according solely to their preference. But the reality might be exactly the opposite. The condition of literary classics may be under poor state because of repeatedly checked out. Or perhaps the public libraries have set a limit of the maximum classics a person could take home for one time. Without considering these possibilities, the author’s hasty conclusion that the people misrepresented themselves is not appropriate.

 

Thirdly, the argument also failed to provide any information about the time interval between these two surveys, and thus leave the possibility open that people’s preference may vary from time to time. Instead of misrepresenting themselves, the citizens of Leeville probably view the mystery novel as a handy alternative after they have had enough reading literary classics.

 

To sum up, the argument is logically flawed in several critical respects. To strengthen it, the author may add more information about the constitution of the subjects in the two surveys. What would also be helpful is the condition of both kinds of books in public libraries and the relevant regulations on checking out books. Besides, to better assess the argument the time interval between these two surveys is indispensible as well.

only 15 days left before the 500day's countdown event.

guess they must be extremly busy.

hope everything goes smoothly there, at the end of the earth.

 

Issue 235 is loyalty always a positive force?

"Most people are taught that loyalty is a virtue. But loyalty—whether to one's friends, to one's school or place of employment, or to any institution—is all too often a destructive rather than a positive force."

 

Is loyalty indeed a virtue, as we are taught or a destructive force described by the speaker? As for me, the judgment of the nature of loyalty should be carried out on a case-by-case basis, rather than unfairly generalizations. In other words, whether loyalty is virtuous or not depends largely on the purpose of exerting it.

 

First I would like to turn to one side that loyalty is to some extent a destructive force. In retrospect of history, we could find that it is replete with the cases where dictators took advantage of their citizens’ patriotism to implement the evil purpose: announcing a war towards other countries or claiming racial discrimination the right thing to do. Take Hitler as an example. Not only did he manipulate the people of German, who showed great loyalty to him and to their nation, to believe that the Jews were inferior to the Aryans but also declared wars to the rest of the world. In such extreme cases, loyalty without pre-judgment using common sense could be considered as prejudice without a good reason.

 

On the other hand, however, I must disagree with the speaker’s statement insofar as that loyalty is exerted in a good way, which refers to a firm relationship between intimate friends or family members. As infants, we learn how to walk by falling down again and again. Without the support of our dearest parents we may never find a way to stand up on our own feet. As adults, we learn how to go through those hard times in our lifetime together with our cherished and caring friends. No wonder why the song “bridge over troubled water” could last for so long times, for it simply express the trust and loyalty between true friends, who fix you when you are falling apart.

 

When it comes to loyalty, there is one other aspect worth mentioning: the loyalty between customers and sellers. With emotion involved in the business relationship, especially if the customers show great loyalty to certain brands, one company would find its business much easier to create profits. Take a look at how advertisements campaign target teenager’s market as one of their priorities. Admittedly, teenagers are more irrational shoppers but undoubtedly the companies also view it vital to attract younger customers and cultivate the sense of recognition towards their producs among the youngsters.

 

To sum up, whether the nature of loyalty is positive or negative depends largely on the circumstances that it is carried out, that is to say “context matters”. If people’s loyalty is manipulated under evil scheme to justify wars or other atrocities, then it is a destructive force. But with loyalty between friends and family members, we live our life more comfortably. Even in business, the establishment of loyalty among the customers can be quite helpful to a company.

Issue 120  Studying the past to help us live in the present

"So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present."

 

Has today's life change so much or has it become so complex that an understanding of the past is of little guidance for living at the moment? Though at the first blush, it may seem to be the case; However, I fundamentally disagree with the speaker and hold the opinion that only with a fully understanding of our predecessors could we better live in the present or even forecast the future.

 

First I would like to turn to scientific fields of study, where tons of new and complex inventions are brought out everyday. Few people would disagree that these fields have developed in a scale far beyond our imagination and anticipation, yet most of the originality in these fields are improvement of their former models, both empirical and theoretical. Not so many inventions or new theory comes from nowhere but from the combination of the old ones. Try to think about the engineers in the time of Industry Revolution. They invented this "cart" driven by steam engines rather than horses and thus announced the birth of cars. Without the understanding of the time before them, how could they come up with a vehicle like that?

 

When it comes to subjects like law or literature, almost every statement or line conveys the idea from the past only in a new way of saying it. Take laws as an example. It is actually a rule that every amendments or acts must comply with the Constitution of America. What's more, one of the most significant functions of the Judge of the Supreme Court is to give clearer and further illustration of America's founders' idea. Or take a look at the novels. So many of them, especially the long-lasting ones, they depict the pictures of how people live their life decades or even centuries ago. In order to be precise about the background, writers tend to search for the mores and customs of that specific times and thus create, or should I say imitate vividly the exact atmosphere of that times.

 

The last but not the least, arts is another field that could lend plenty credence to support my opinion that with the guidance of the past, one could better understand today's world. Artists are always inspired or touched by the work pieces created by their earlier counterparts and to some extent they learn from their senior generation about how to convey their inner thoughts of the world. With this connection of the past, the new comers could better assess their own feelings towards this world and express them in a more mature way.

 

In sum, not only in scientific fields of study, but also in literature, laws and arts, the understanding of the past society and the achievement of that time plays an indispensible role in living one’s life at the moment. Equipped with a better comprehension of our ancestors, we may better judge the world around us with more sophistication.

又是中秋节了……

这些年都是怎么过的呢。。。。。今年我跟我老公吃了顿饭，中间她一直讲电话。电话那边的人在德州遭灾了。。。。早上在报纸上看到的新闻，突然就变成身边的reality,这个世界真的很小吧。可是这么小，我怎么还是到不了你身边呢？

下午made some phone calls,我又一次说错了话……好吧，都是我的错，i apologize.....

要是什么时候有一百万给我的话，我就会安安静静的把它存到银行，或是拿到可靠的黑市放贷……一年8%的回报率，现在资本利得应该还是不上税的吧……我每个月就够生活了。

老公说我没有富足的平和，需要加强锻炼啊！！！！很多人也都没有啊……

好吃的螃蟹，为什么那么贵。。。