This year, the flu season comes really early, especially for me. I took my flu shot about one month ago, but miserably, I still cannot escape the evil hands of sickness. Fortunate enough, I am not having a fever, which means I am neither having a normal flu nor terrible H1N1 flu. However, a bad cold could be bad enough to kill me. Consistent running nose, nose bleeding, huge waves of mucus, horribly barking cough and dizziness totally beat me down. For pregnant woman should be especially cautious about taking medicine, I went to my doctor’s office for help. The nurse gave me a blue mask right after I entered the clinic. Although it seemed that I was a dangerous patient, I really appreciated the mask. I knew how hard it would be for people to get through a bad cold and I hope to keep my virus in my mask. It really was a critical time for everyone.
Back to my story, my doctor prescribed me some medicine to help manage the symptoms, especially for calming my throat and erasing the congestion. I got the regular Robitussin for my cough, which only contained dextromethorphan. My doctor said that it’s totally safe for fetus since tests showed it did not cause increased risk of congenital malformations in newborns. I don’t know what kinds of tests have been done to prove it and I believe that my doctor has no idea, either. Actually, there is a list of medicine which is considered safe for pregnant women to take, but no guarantee.
When I was prescribed penicillin one month ago for my inflamed gum caused by a wisdom tooth, I encountered the same problem—if it worth risking the chance to make myself feel better? My answer then was no. My pharmacist told me that any test to prove certain medicine was safe during pregnancy had been done only on animals. Any medicine has its side effects, especially during pregnancy. That’s why pregnant women are considered top priority for H1N1 vaccine. But, we all know that even the H1N1 vaccine is not an elixir but grasping at straws.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
"Returnees"
“Returnee” has not been a new vocabulary recently in China. Lots of Chinese who are currently or have been studied and worked overseas are thinking about going back to their motherland for better career path. Although living expenses in big cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing are almost as high as other international metropolis like New York, the economic boom in China is really attractive to most of them. Hundreds of thousands of IT major PhDs are dreaming of becoming the next Yibo Shao, CEO of China’s ebay or Yanhong Li, owner and founder of China’s google. Most of them have strong background of related knowledge and know about the industry. What they need might just be opportunities. Rather than being a normal engineer in a Silicon Valley company, creating their own business in China—the huge market—is somehow worth risking.
However, making a plan into practice could be a long process. Before they make their decision and eventually decided to be returnees, it usually takes a long time—could be several months or even several years.
One of my husband’s friends started his plan two years ago. He got his degree here and has been working in a famous High-Tech company at Silicon Valley for 3 years. He said that his parents wanted him to work in Beijing where they can help to take care of his kids and get family reunion eventually. However, after seriously considering about this for about two years, he finally made his decision—leaving U.S. But the destination is not Beijing but Singapore. He said that he wouldn’t feel that safe to suddenly be exposed to a total Chinese culture and Chinese special industrial politics, which he has been grown up with but has been so distant to for almost 10 years.
No matter what business one is doing, the so called “guanxi” (the network of relationships) is extremely important and determent. For most of the returnees, playing the game of “guanxi” is not their expertise, thus, setting up a new business could be really hard and desperate in some extent.
Another difficulty is that moving back to China is not a personal issue but a family one. Most of the returnees have settled down in U.S. with husbands and wives, moving back means change the whole family’s life style and fate. Moreover, the concern of identity is somehow annoying. Most of the returnees have got U.S. citizenships or permanent residents, working back in China could be a little bit strange. They neither want to give up their U.S. citizenships, which they have started to dream of once they landed on this continent, nor are happy to be considered as expatriates at their motherland. It is such a dilemma.
However, making a plan into practice could be a long process. Before they make their decision and eventually decided to be returnees, it usually takes a long time—could be several months or even several years.
One of my husband’s friends started his plan two years ago. He got his degree here and has been working in a famous High-Tech company at Silicon Valley for 3 years. He said that his parents wanted him to work in Beijing where they can help to take care of his kids and get family reunion eventually. However, after seriously considering about this for about two years, he finally made his decision—leaving U.S. But the destination is not Beijing but Singapore. He said that he wouldn’t feel that safe to suddenly be exposed to a total Chinese culture and Chinese special industrial politics, which he has been grown up with but has been so distant to for almost 10 years.
No matter what business one is doing, the so called “guanxi” (the network of relationships) is extremely important and determent. For most of the returnees, playing the game of “guanxi” is not their expertise, thus, setting up a new business could be really hard and desperate in some extent.
Another difficulty is that moving back to China is not a personal issue but a family one. Most of the returnees have settled down in U.S. with husbands and wives, moving back means change the whole family’s life style and fate. Moreover, the concern of identity is somehow annoying. Most of the returnees have got U.S. citizenships or permanent residents, working back in China could be a little bit strange. They neither want to give up their U.S. citizenships, which they have started to dream of once they landed on this continent, nor are happy to be considered as expatriates at their motherland. It is such a dilemma.
Monday, October 19, 2009
24/7 Streetlights
Last week I went to a Korea Market on El Camino Real. When I drove home, I happened to notice that all the streetlights along the El Camino Real from Lawrence Express Way to Mary Blvd were glowing. It was around 3pm. That really surprised me. Actually, it has not been the first time that I see streetlights all on during daytime at Silicon Valley. I could not imagine that so many lights were all on in a pretty nice sunny afternoon. I think that most of the people will have the same wonder—have these streetlights ever been off?
There have been so many debates about light pollution and environment pollution caused by public facilities, streetlights especially. It is really hard to figure out whether the government has not noticed that or it will cost more to turn the lights off. Although lots of cities have been using energy-saving lamps, keeping all the streetlights on during the daytime is absolutely not a good strategy. It is taxpayers’ money who affords all the facility costs, why don’t we just turn the lights off and use the money to support better education in our city or help more people struggling with poverty. According to an article on USA today last year, if a timer is placed on 3,000 streetlights that shuts lights off for 5.5 hours, $400,000 a year will be saved. How about we double the time? From 7am to 6pm, shutting 3,000 streetlights off for 11hours each day will save $800,000 a year! Moreover, I think we can shut far more than 3,000 local streetlights off in each city. If we also count on the lights on freeways, the amount of money that will be saved should be huge.
Despite of saving money, environmentally, shutting unnecessary lights off can efficiently help reduce carbon emissions. Although I am not a big fan of politicalizing global warming, I support any possible green movement to help sustainable development.
Last but not the least, personally, I don’t think that there is any technical difficulty with installing timers to control these public lights. In many other countries, as I know, streetlights could be on and off automatically. Even hiring a group of people to do that manually will still save thousand of hundreds of taxpayers’ money. Shouldn’t we do anything to save money, save energy and save our planet right now?
There have been so many debates about light pollution and environment pollution caused by public facilities, streetlights especially. It is really hard to figure out whether the government has not noticed that or it will cost more to turn the lights off. Although lots of cities have been using energy-saving lamps, keeping all the streetlights on during the daytime is absolutely not a good strategy. It is taxpayers’ money who affords all the facility costs, why don’t we just turn the lights off and use the money to support better education in our city or help more people struggling with poverty. According to an article on USA today last year, if a timer is placed on 3,000 streetlights that shuts lights off for 5.5 hours, $400,000 a year will be saved. How about we double the time? From 7am to 6pm, shutting 3,000 streetlights off for 11hours each day will save $800,000 a year! Moreover, I think we can shut far more than 3,000 local streetlights off in each city. If we also count on the lights on freeways, the amount of money that will be saved should be huge.
Despite of saving money, environmentally, shutting unnecessary lights off can efficiently help reduce carbon emissions. Although I am not a big fan of politicalizing global warming, I support any possible green movement to help sustainable development.
Last but not the least, personally, I don’t think that there is any technical difficulty with installing timers to control these public lights. In many other countries, as I know, streetlights could be on and off automatically. Even hiring a group of people to do that manually will still save thousand of hundreds of taxpayers’ money. Shouldn’t we do anything to save money, save energy and save our planet right now?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
about Trade Protectionism
“An escalation for restrictive trade could undermine economic recovery in both United States and China.”
— An official in American Chamber of Commerce in China
Since September 26, a tariff of 35 percent on Chinese tires for cars and light trucks has been imposed, which is about 9 times more than the previous one. According to an anonymous White House official, United States is just enforcing trade laws, not practicing protectionism. Whether the levied tire tariff on Chinese tires is a sign of commercial protectionism or not, any form of such protectionism is widely considered undesirable by world leaders and economists, especially the time period through this global economic crisis. People with a little background of U.S. history of the Great Depression period might know that President Hoover’s Smoot-Hawley Tariff—the highest tariff rates in American history—not only shocked the world but also sparked an international trade war and worsened the U.S. domestic economic spiral. That has been considered a typical and infamous example of practicing trade protectionism worldwide.
Although American Democratic Party somehow has cultural tendency of favoring protectionism, President Obama is the first U.S. president who supports such a punitive duty on U.S.-Chinese trade since President Ronald Regan. Such a heavy duty may not only cause about 100,000 Chinese workers lose their jobs but increase the cost for American consumers, as well.
It is understandable that President Obama’s first step toward U.S.-China trade is mainly driven by domestic political pressure, especially when he is facing difficulties for his health care reform right now. However, let’s think about international trade in another way. If people believe that importation is a disadvantage for domestic economy and local workers, then why bother about being a member of the World Trade Organization? I believe that WTO is such an organization that provides a frame for free global market and supports free global trading system. International trade could be a simply buy-sell process, but most of the time, it is more complicated and sophisticated than that—political tools is a good example.
There is a traditional Chinese saying—if you give me a fist, I will kick you back for sure. An immediate investigation that launched by Chinese Commerce Department on imported U.S. chicken meat products may validate such philosophy very well. Nobody wants to swallow a broken tooth without any kickback. Thus, does it mean that there will be an imminent international trade war in the near future? If there is one, it must be an interesting one.
— An official in American Chamber of Commerce in China
Since September 26, a tariff of 35 percent on Chinese tires for cars and light trucks has been imposed, which is about 9 times more than the previous one. According to an anonymous White House official, United States is just enforcing trade laws, not practicing protectionism. Whether the levied tire tariff on Chinese tires is a sign of commercial protectionism or not, any form of such protectionism is widely considered undesirable by world leaders and economists, especially the time period through this global economic crisis. People with a little background of U.S. history of the Great Depression period might know that President Hoover’s Smoot-Hawley Tariff—the highest tariff rates in American history—not only shocked the world but also sparked an international trade war and worsened the U.S. domestic economic spiral. That has been considered a typical and infamous example of practicing trade protectionism worldwide.
Although American Democratic Party somehow has cultural tendency of favoring protectionism, President Obama is the first U.S. president who supports such a punitive duty on U.S.-Chinese trade since President Ronald Regan. Such a heavy duty may not only cause about 100,000 Chinese workers lose their jobs but increase the cost for American consumers, as well.
It is understandable that President Obama’s first step toward U.S.-China trade is mainly driven by domestic political pressure, especially when he is facing difficulties for his health care reform right now. However, let’s think about international trade in another way. If people believe that importation is a disadvantage for domestic economy and local workers, then why bother about being a member of the World Trade Organization? I believe that WTO is such an organization that provides a frame for free global market and supports free global trading system. International trade could be a simply buy-sell process, but most of the time, it is more complicated and sophisticated than that—political tools is a good example.
There is a traditional Chinese saying—if you give me a fist, I will kick you back for sure. An immediate investigation that launched by Chinese Commerce Department on imported U.S. chicken meat products may validate such philosophy very well. Nobody wants to swallow a broken tooth without any kickback. Thus, does it mean that there will be an imminent international trade war in the near future? If there is one, it must be an interesting one.
About the film--the Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Last Friday, my friend recommended me a film of WWII subject, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which is a great film about people’s tragedy life in wartime. Different from other film with similar subject, its emphasis is on the dramatic change of life in a family with Teutonic ethnicity during the holocaust of European Jews by Germany Nazi in 1940’s. Although the story is told from a wartime friendship and experience of two children Bruno and Shmuel--one is a privileged son of Nazi family; the other, an “evil” Jewish boy in striped pajamas, the film also presents the subtle but dramatic conflicts and suffering within the Nazi family.
Their friendship is simple but special. They are friends separated on different sides of barbed wire fence. Their childhood belong to two totally different categories. When Bruno decides to do something adventurous to draw a meaningful period to their friendship before he leaves the countryside, nobody realizes, except audience sitting in front of the screen, that something horrible will happen eventually. Bruno’s commitment to his dear friend and his innocent brave lead him toward the edge of cliff. When undressed Bruno and Shmuel with other prisoner in the camp are herded into the crowd and dark gas chamber, it is really cruel and breathtaking for film watchers. Everyone in front of the screen knows what is waiting for the two boys. We know why Bruno is here. We know how fearsome and terrified these two little boys are. We also know how their precious friendship will end in. I was really moved and totally heartbroken when they hold their hands tightly together in the darkness; however, I was somehow released because, at least, they are not lonely at the very end of their life. They are lucky because they have the strongest belief of their pure friendship even at the last minute of their life. Therefore, Bruno and Shmuel might not be the most woeful victims of the war, instead, Bruno’s families are.
At the end, rain is falling heavily. Thunder and lighting are shifting. The elegant mother is screaming outside of the barbed-wire fence with her dear son’s clothes. Father is standing numbly in front of the gas chamber building. Who should be responsible for the distressing ending? It might the two boys’ innocent friendship and Bruno’s naïve and imprudent impishness. However, if there is no war, no Nazi, no holocaust, these two lovely boy will not end their life in the gas chamber and no parent will suffer the panic of losing their kids. It is undoubted that Bruno and his friend are one of the most pitiful victims in the war, as well his privileged Germany family.
There is a Chinese saying, “evil behavior eventually affects all those involved, including the perpetrators.” After the end of WWII, the president of Germany kneed down in front of the Monument of Jews. However, victims of the genocide by Nazi Germany are not only the 6 million Jews killed during the war, but the Germany people as well. Both of them was suffering huge physical and mental panic.
The catastrophic WWII seems to have been a history years away from us, but in fact, we are still living in a world surrounded by military conflicts and wars—Iraq War, Darfur-Sudan War/Genocide, India-Pakistan military conflicts and so on. Looking forward to the future, rarer natural resources and increasing populace in our planet will inevitable generate more conflicts, but no matter what excuse is used to launch a war, war is evil and people being passively involved in are the most woeful sacrifice.
Wish all the stupid wars vanish someday. Even though it is just a wish.
Their friendship is simple but special. They are friends separated on different sides of barbed wire fence. Their childhood belong to two totally different categories. When Bruno decides to do something adventurous to draw a meaningful period to their friendship before he leaves the countryside, nobody realizes, except audience sitting in front of the screen, that something horrible will happen eventually. Bruno’s commitment to his dear friend and his innocent brave lead him toward the edge of cliff. When undressed Bruno and Shmuel with other prisoner in the camp are herded into the crowd and dark gas chamber, it is really cruel and breathtaking for film watchers. Everyone in front of the screen knows what is waiting for the two boys. We know why Bruno is here. We know how fearsome and terrified these two little boys are. We also know how their precious friendship will end in. I was really moved and totally heartbroken when they hold their hands tightly together in the darkness; however, I was somehow released because, at least, they are not lonely at the very end of their life. They are lucky because they have the strongest belief of their pure friendship even at the last minute of their life. Therefore, Bruno and Shmuel might not be the most woeful victims of the war, instead, Bruno’s families are.
At the end, rain is falling heavily. Thunder and lighting are shifting. The elegant mother is screaming outside of the barbed-wire fence with her dear son’s clothes. Father is standing numbly in front of the gas chamber building. Who should be responsible for the distressing ending? It might the two boys’ innocent friendship and Bruno’s naïve and imprudent impishness. However, if there is no war, no Nazi, no holocaust, these two lovely boy will not end their life in the gas chamber and no parent will suffer the panic of losing their kids. It is undoubted that Bruno and his friend are one of the most pitiful victims in the war, as well his privileged Germany family.
There is a Chinese saying, “evil behavior eventually affects all those involved, including the perpetrators.” After the end of WWII, the president of Germany kneed down in front of the Monument of Jews. However, victims of the genocide by Nazi Germany are not only the 6 million Jews killed during the war, but the Germany people as well. Both of them was suffering huge physical and mental panic.
The catastrophic WWII seems to have been a history years away from us, but in fact, we are still living in a world surrounded by military conflicts and wars—Iraq War, Darfur-Sudan War/Genocide, India-Pakistan military conflicts and so on. Looking forward to the future, rarer natural resources and increasing populace in our planet will inevitable generate more conflicts, but no matter what excuse is used to launch a war, war is evil and people being passively involved in are the most woeful sacrifice.
Wish all the stupid wars vanish someday. Even though it is just a wish.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
About America's Sex laws
Weeks ago, I read an article about America’s Sex laws in Economist. The author argued the justice and necessity of the current American Sex laws. As a new home buyer and a mom of young kids, I do support strict curbs on any criminals, especially released sex offenders. Ratchet effect is one of the biggest concerns because sexual offense is considered as a psychological problem, which could be treated but not secured. If the current public sexual-offender registries can help homeowners and parents be alert of potential danger, there’s no reason to dysfunction it. However, I still agree with the author’s argument about making the punishment fit the crime.
When I used the California Megan’s Law website to check the safety of the new house we were going to purchase, it was convenient to check out any registered sex offenders by zip code and address, but on the other hand, it was not clear enough about what criminals those sex offenders convicted in specific. Most offense descriptions are like “lewd or lascivious acts with child under 14 years” or “rape by force”. As we know, registration is required for life by many states. Some offenders convicted their crimes decades ago and some did even when they were teenagers. On public sex-offender registries, there is no date of convicted crimes listed. According to me, it does not make much sense. If some of them are not recidivists with good record for a continuously long time period, it could be considered to remove them from the public registry. It is better for the Department of Justice to have specific assess of each individual offenders and mark the level the threats.
I believe that most sex offenders do not want to be titled “life-long sex offender” with most essential private information exposed to the public. Although their public personal information is legally not allowed to be used to harass offenders or their families, discriminations against them could easily ruin their life.
Personally, I believe in good human nature and support giving chance to anyone who’s willing to repent past mistakes. Therefore, any adjustment and reform that secures public safety and eliminates unnecessary difficulties for offenders’ life will win my vote.
When I used the California Megan’s Law website to check the safety of the new house we were going to purchase, it was convenient to check out any registered sex offenders by zip code and address, but on the other hand, it was not clear enough about what criminals those sex offenders convicted in specific. Most offense descriptions are like “lewd or lascivious acts with child under 14 years” or “rape by force”. As we know, registration is required for life by many states. Some offenders convicted their crimes decades ago and some did even when they were teenagers. On public sex-offender registries, there is no date of convicted crimes listed. According to me, it does not make much sense. If some of them are not recidivists with good record for a continuously long time period, it could be considered to remove them from the public registry. It is better for the Department of Justice to have specific assess of each individual offenders and mark the level the threats.
I believe that most sex offenders do not want to be titled “life-long sex offender” with most essential private information exposed to the public. Although their public personal information is legally not allowed to be used to harass offenders or their families, discriminations against them could easily ruin their life.
Personally, I believe in good human nature and support giving chance to anyone who’s willing to repent past mistakes. Therefore, any adjustment and reform that secures public safety and eliminates unnecessary difficulties for offenders’ life will win my vote.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Moving in Amercia
Usually, June is a season of farewell because of the graduation day. I went through it 5 years ago, in Shanghai. Back to 2004, half of my friends took their flights to Paris, half of them stayed and I arrived in Los Angeles International Airport. I didn't expect the season of "goodbye" came back again 5 years later. This time, it has nothing to do with graduation but our Mommy Club.
Our Mommy Club was formed back in 2006, when most of our kids were just starting their first walk in a park near our home. Except for having kids, we have a lot more in common. We all married, of course. We all came from foreign countries when we were young to chase our dream. We are all first-generation-immigrants, struggling for almost everything ourselves in this new land. Since we get little help from our distant families, Mommy Club becomes a big support of our lives. We not only share experience of childcare but also love each other as a big family. However, when our kids are taller and older, there are more to be considered, such as school district and a new home.... The place we are living now is a quiet and beautiful apartment community. The only concern is its "non-excellent" schools. Thus one month ago, Ontario's family decided to move to Austin and Taotao's family started their new life in Seattle. Just one week ago, Jonathon's family purchased a new house in cupertino and moved to their new house last weekend. Suddenly, most of the boys in our social net have left. I know it will take quite a time for my son to get used to it—making new friends and put old friends in best memories.
I still remember the day when we had our farewell party. Someone said that moving is just part of our life since our ancestors moved from woods to woods, tribes to tribes and continents to continents. Sometimes moving became adventure, and adventure evolved into epic, that’s how we got Iliad and Odyssey… In modern America, we are just average Joes, Jacks, Janes and Jeffs, trying to make a living here and there. If there is an American dream in this land, then moving is just something pragmatic—part of our life experiences, especially for immigrants. I am trying to count on my fingers that how many movings have I been through in America? LA to San Jose, back to LA, then Sunnyvale, back to LA again and eventually living in Sunnyvale now while expecting a big moving to Pleasanton the end of the year.
Definitely, we are enriching our life through moving, getting deeper involved in its culture and society.
Our Mommy Club was formed back in 2006, when most of our kids were just starting their first walk in a park near our home. Except for having kids, we have a lot more in common. We all married, of course. We all came from foreign countries when we were young to chase our dream. We are all first-generation-immigrants, struggling for almost everything ourselves in this new land. Since we get little help from our distant families, Mommy Club becomes a big support of our lives. We not only share experience of childcare but also love each other as a big family. However, when our kids are taller and older, there are more to be considered, such as school district and a new home.... The place we are living now is a quiet and beautiful apartment community. The only concern is its "non-excellent" schools. Thus one month ago, Ontario's family decided to move to Austin and Taotao's family started their new life in Seattle. Just one week ago, Jonathon's family purchased a new house in cupertino and moved to their new house last weekend. Suddenly, most of the boys in our social net have left. I know it will take quite a time for my son to get used to it—making new friends and put old friends in best memories.
I still remember the day when we had our farewell party. Someone said that moving is just part of our life since our ancestors moved from woods to woods, tribes to tribes and continents to continents. Sometimes moving became adventure, and adventure evolved into epic, that’s how we got Iliad and Odyssey… In modern America, we are just average Joes, Jacks, Janes and Jeffs, trying to make a living here and there. If there is an American dream in this land, then moving is just something pragmatic—part of our life experiences, especially for immigrants. I am trying to count on my fingers that how many movings have I been through in America? LA to San Jose, back to LA, then Sunnyvale, back to LA again and eventually living in Sunnyvale now while expecting a big moving to Pleasanton the end of the year.
Definitely, we are enriching our life through moving, getting deeper involved in its culture and society.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)