Day Twelve in Vietnam

24 May, HueAM: Arrival Hue station at 8am. Transfer to hotel. The rest of morning will be visit to Imperial Citadel.PM: Boat trip along Perfume river to visit Ming Mang mausoleum and Thien Mu pagoda and Dong Ba market.The train to Hue is a dive. Ken says this is much closer to how the Vietnamese really travel; I say "no thank you." It's not one single thing: herky-jerky motion of the train, the non-functioning AC, the blaring loudspeaker (a form of torture?) or the grimly grimy berths and dubious linens or the sullen, imperious staff...but put this all together with the toilet which consists of a hole in the floor of the train, and you have a recipe for true grodiness.We find that there is a (relatively much nicer) toilet with an actual seat in it in the car next door, and I go to investigate. As I am washing my hands, I hear a loud grating noise. Hmm.... I try the door. It won't open. I try again...it is locked. I am trapped in the loo. I try knocking on the door, calling out, to no avail. For the next ten minutes I alternate between tapping out an SOS with my chapstick on the metal door and calling out, "Help! I am trapped in the the toilet!!!" but the noise from the train prevents me from being heard. It is really hot and the sweat pours from my face. Surely one of my party must figure out I am missing... or perhaps they will find my body days from now, a victim of heat exhaustion, or terminal grodiness. "If only she had not drunk the water!" Tragedy in the Loo: film at eleven. The innate humor of the situation keeps me from despair....after all, someone has to come by...another five minutes pass and I go for the big guns, banging against the door with my foot. Finally the door opens and an enraged train official is on the other side, yelling at me angrily in Vietnamese. I yell back: "The door was locked!" He is not mollified. I give up and trek back to my cabin to tell the sorry tale. I use the hole in the floor for the rest for the trip, which is not much better.And then, finally, when we reach our clean, luxurious hotel in Hue, it is like Heaven. Absolute heaven.

Police Hassle Political Blogger Meeting

During a press conference at the forum on Friday in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Hsing Yun said that “both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one family. There are no Taiwanese in Taiwan and Taiwanese are all Chinese.”Most people see being a half breed something to be ashamed of. The Taiwanese though are proud of it (The Great One [former gate inscription at CKS Memorial] on Half Breeds) -- Kuo Kuan-yingThe Taipei Times reported on the incident of police visiting a perfectly ordinary and legal Taiwan blogger association meeting: Taipei City’s Department of Police apologized on Monday for interrupting a private gathering of political bloggers and promised to improve measures to respect people’s rights and privacy. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) and Yen Sheng-kuan (顏聖冠) criticized the department for sending two police officers to a private meeting held by the Taiwan Blogger Association on Saturday and intimidating the participants by asking them to show their ID.Yang Hui-ju (楊蕙如), a Web manager for former DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) campaign, said the association had invited Hsieh and former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) to a private meeting to commemorate Yeh’s husband, democracy movement pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who committed suicide in 1989, and discuss freedom of speech.Two police officers from the department entered the meeting and asked the association’s secretary-general to explain why they were there, while asking participants to provide their ID and cellphone numbers, said Yang, who was at the meeting.“The meeting was a simple and private gathering, but the two police officers abused their authority and undermined freedom of speech,” Chien said.Yen also accused the department’s Zhongshan branch of violating human rights, saying it had made several phone calls to the association before the meeting and shown up at the meeting to request more information.“The meeting was held at the association’s office and no illegal activity was involved. The police’s action was illegal,” she said.Hung Sheng-kun, commissioner of the department, later acknowledged the department’s poor handling of the matter and took disciplinary action against the director of the department’s security office, Tsai Wang-lai (蔡萬來), and four other officers.Political blogger Billy Pan has the story and photos in Chinese (h/t to the commenter who provided the link):5. ...the police further asked the name of the Secretary- General, so we gave it to him. They then asked for his ID number, but the Secretary-General balked, saying that was really too much. The police then asked for his date of birth, but we didn't give it to him. During this process of asking for everyone's personal information, city councilor Yen Sheng-kuan's (顏聖冠) office director appeared, and asked the police what law they were acting in accordance with, but the police refused to answer.If this type of overenthusiastic law enforcement keeps happening, sooner or later it is going to look like a pattern.Definitely looks like a cool organization, which I will have to find a way to join!

Home truths

A global alliance of the centre-left is (scratchily) back in businessTHEY govern in very different continents, but there is a degree of ideological kinship between some of the centre-left governments in South America, Europe and now the United States. All are trying to mix the economic efficiency prized by the right with the social justice championed by the left. Back in the days of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton this link was formalised in progressive governance get-togethers. These have been revived: the latest meeting took place in Vina del Mar, a Chilean seaside resort, on March 27th and 28th. Yet this time, thanks to the world recession, the differences between participants from north and south seemed wider. The leaders of Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and (less convincingly) Argentina reckon their countries have followed progressive policies more rigorously than their friends in the north. They expressed anger that the crisis has halted five years of rapid economic growth in Latin America. In an oddly racist comment, Brazils president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said it was all the fault of white, blonde, blue-eyed bankers. He added, even more bluntly, that three of his fellow-summiteers, Britains Gordon Brown, Americas vice-president, Joe Biden, and Spains Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero unfortunately carry most responsibility for the debacle.

Introduction to Non-Genetic Darwinism/Physics of Self-Organization

The Red Shift ← Older revision Revision as of 01:26, 15 April 2009 Line 62: Line 62: Now an interesting problem occurs when you can reach out and gather the spectra from more distant stars, and that is that the further away the star is, the deeper the frequency is shifted to the Red. What this seems to suggest, is that the Universe is expanding and the further away a star is from us, the faster it is moving away from us. As our telescopes get better, we can see galaxies further and further away, and detect deeper and deeper red shifts. Now an interesting problem occurs when you can reach out and gather the spectra from more distant stars, and that is that the further away the star is, the deeper the frequency is shifted to the Red. What this seems to suggest, is that the Universe is expanding and the further away a star is from us, the faster it is moving away from us. As our telescopes get better, we can see galaxies further and further away, and detect deeper and deeper red shifts. - The problem is that this doesn't jibe with our calculations of how fast the Universe should be cooling, and how quickly it should begin to collapse back into itself after the Big Bang. Either the Big Bang is wrong, or the second law of thermodynamics is wrong, or both. There could be a different interpretation there are so many other factors when we look at astronomical intergalactic distances, but the biggest things should follow the most basic laws more closely, if only because individual variation is lost in the details. + The problem comes from the fact that we can also detect from the dimness of stars how far the light has travelled to get to us. Distant galaxies are too dim for our current calculations of the distance they should be from us, even according to the red shift to be correct. Either there is some change in the speed that galaxies are moving now than they were then, that throws off our calculations, and indicates that the galaxy is expanding faster now than it did then Can Black Energy Exist? Scientific American April 9 2009, or all our calculations imply some sort of black energy that forces the Universe apart, something that is not found in our current physics. + + The problem is that this doesn't jibe with our calculations of how fast the Universe should be cooling, and how quickly it should begin to collapse back into itself after the Big Bang. Either the Big Bang is wrong, or some laws including the second law of thermodynamics is wrong, or both. There could be a different interpretation there are so many other factors when we look at astronomical intergalactic distances, but the biggest things should follow the most basic laws more closely, if only because individual variation is lost in the distance. ====Galaxy Formation==== ====Galaxy Formation====

Mateen's "One Shining Moment"

Yes, you're sure to hear this story at least once this weekend. Shit, you've probably already read it and this is simply beating the dead horse. However, we can all agree the signature moment of the NCAA tournament comes just after the nets are cut and drum roll...it's one shining moment. The thrills, chills, spills, agony and glory are delicately cut and spliced into a magical little montage. Well, who doesn't love that moment? Some more than others. And on the eve of the Final Four and yet, another Tom Izzo team entering the final weekend, this only seemed fitting. Izzo has forged the Michigan State basketball program into something beyond special. The win over Louisville was signature Izzo, heart and soul. And that heart and soul was forged from a warrior by the name of Mateen Cleaves.Along with Izzo, Cleaves helped to shape a new culture for Spartans basketball. For many, Magic Johnson will always remain the face of Spartans Hoops, but notching 1A on that list has to be Mateen. Everything you see from the Spartans of today was forged through Mateen's dream. Izzo preached this dream in his pre-game speech prior to the Spartans simply dismantling Louisville. And we certainly won't hear the end of Mateen's dream story this weekend, that's for certain.Shit, we'll probably even see Mateen sitting at Ford Field in one of his vintage sweaters. Regardless, I can't help, but sift down memory lane in appreciation. The Spartans went to three Final Fours and won a Championship in my time at Michigan State. The first Final Four trip incited riots when we lost to Duke. Nowadays, the Final Four just seems logical every single season for Sparty. A lot to do with Izzo, but also a lot to do with Mateen Cleaves. So, check out some nostalgia with this good link and back story from Mateen and Izzo, but also for all Spartan fans...relive the glory and hope for another "One Shining Moment" come Monday. Lord knows Mateen deserves to see another dream fulfilled. Sparty On!

'Half-Blood Prince' Release Date Moved Up!

No doubt you recall the dark days last August when Warner Bros. announced that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was being pushed from its Nov. 21, 2008, release date all the way back to July 17, 2009. Surely you still bear the emotional scars of those troubled times, and I apologize if my mentioning it has reopened old wounds. But you will pleased to know that Warner Bros. has heard your plaintive weeping and done the honorable thing. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is being moved up -- all the way from July 17 to July 15! That's two whole days sooner that we'll get to see Harry, Henrietta, Rob, Haggad, Prof. Mumblecore and all the gang do battle with Vadermort!Astute readers might notice that July 17 is a Friday, making July 15 a Wednesday. Those readers might also recall that pretty much ALL of the biggest summer blockbusters have been coming out on Wednesdays lately. Cynical readers might wonder why HPATH-BP was ever scheduled for a Friday in the first place, and if indeed it was the plan all along to "change" it to Wednesday as a means of drumming up a little extra publicity now, in April, when most people wouldn't be thinking about the movie otherwise. To those readers I say: You're probably right. Still, good news. A Wednesday release date means it's really coming out late Tuesday night, at midnight, maybe even 10 p.m. No word yet on when the pirated copy will be avilable on the Internet.

Greenlight gets brighter

Good news (for the people of Wilson, NC): Greenlight is now offering Internet-only service! Before Greenlight would come bring its blistering fast and fairly inexpensive Internet service to your door as part of a larger bundle of services. I'm upset over Time Warner's want to tier services. Why do I struggle with unreasonable upload speeds and minimal download speeds when I have equal service at the Outer Banks for less money a month and no caps via Charter Cable? Why do my parents, who happen to live in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area, an area much larger than RDU where environmental conditions make it 1000 times more difficult to bury anything, get 17 meg down and over 2 megs up on basic Interent service via Cox?This is just a money-grab by TWC plain and simple. TWC has an effective monopoly in the area and they are flexing their muscle around your neck. Why does TWC offer 15+ meg service (buried in the article) down in Wilson where they have actual competition? Is it any mystery?Why is Greenlight the only Interent service in the state that offers equal up and download speeds? If my office were 15 minutes closer to Wilson I'd move my household there by force if necessary just for Greenlight access.