Socialism, Right

You may not like their system, but you can’t call it bleak & you can’t say they aren’t free

The last few times I’ve gone to YouTube, I’ve had to watch a manipulative, or should I say extra manipulative, political advertisement. It consists of an old many talking about his bleak youth living under communism, which he calls socialism.

I know what the man lived through was true. The black and white photos that the video shows might be from his childhood or before that. There are no photos of say Russia prior to the Revolution, when people also were dirt poor, uneducated, and living in squalor. Yes, life under Mao, Stalin and Lenin and the like was horrible. I don’t contest that. But Obama has not brought us down like that NOR does he want to.

The commercial is just rabble rousing. Nothing more.

It does not feature any of the success stories of socialism like Sweden, Norway or Denmark, where people are free. One can open a business and one can get healthcare no matter what if you have cancer, etc. Are there long waits? I’m not sure, but the wait times in the U.S. are long. If I wanted to see a dermatologist say, I’d have to wait months for my appointment. Yet, when I was in South Korea the wait was one day.

About these ads

A New Information Source


I could waste a lot of time playing with Wolfram Alpha. It is an intriguing information source that takes a different tact than search engines do.

American French Fry Brother

My two cents on the buzz around the American French Fry Brother. I think it’s great that this young man was so generous. Yet I don’t think it’s necessary to use this incident to shame people into acting with more generosity.  I do think that connecting with the marginalized is the best way to help.

Just telling the story will spur some people to open their eyes and give when they feel the time is right. It’s good to see some foreigners getting credit for doing good.

This week we’ve been a bit under siege I feel since the school has installed cameras outside the foreign teachers apartment building and motion detectors by the new patio. The motion detectors don’t turn on lights so they have no use. I suppose they would detect a skirmish or intruder.

Bad Luck

My Water Heater

My neighbor across the hall came home yesterday and thought someone had snuck into her apartment because there were mysterious bolts and things on her bathroom floor. Turns out that her water heater, a rather big tank attached to her wall had started to come detached and not in a good Zen-like way. The screws at the top had come out.

Luckily, it didn’t completely fall off and she wasn’t using the shower when it did. Yikes!

Thankfully, our liaison promptly called some repairmen who started to examine and fix it. I was called over to watch at one of the more comical points when they propped up the tank with an old piece of wood.

Last Thursday another member of our team had some misfortune as she fell when exiting a restroom stall. She’d forgotten that there was a step down. In China there often is so be careful here! There’s a lot of places where it’s easy to trip.When she landed she put her hand out, and thus fractured her wrist. She has been to the Shandong Provincial Hospital, a huge facility that reminds me of a train station as there’s so much coming and going.

Black Friday

I often don’t buy anything the day after Thanksgiving. I used to work in retail and from the sales associates point of view, a couple fewer customers would be fine. This day really is just to crazy in so many ways.

Yet this week I succumbed. I ordered an iPad 2 and cover. It was a bit less. Now if I’d gotten it in August I’d have gotten a greater savings in the form of $100 in aps, but I’ll take the discount, gladly. The frenzy is reaching me even here in China where the signs of shopping season aren’t so great.

I think the tough job makes retail therapy more seductive than usual. Though the iPad will be delivered to Chicago so delayed gratification is part of this retail high.

As an aside, what would retailers do if things changed and their day in the black came say October 1st?

A Quick Look Back: July

I’m staring a new monthly meme, short and sweet. Think about the month’s milestones, large or small. Don’t ponder these prompts too long.

What are some of the most memorable things you’ve:

  • Seen: Chinese art exhibit at Milwaukee’s Museum of Art, the film “Kabei: Our Mother” and the series “Downton Abbey”
  • Heard: thunder and rain which we’ve had lots of
  • Tasted: Dark cherries and sweet corn
  • Touched: n/a
  • Smelled: apple pie baking yesterday
  • Learned: How to install a hard drive, how to write a grant, and ebook publishing tips
  • Accomplished: overcame losing my hard drive, wrote 40 pages of a script nd 17 pages of a novel.
this month?
Write or respond (i.e. via photos, drawings, whatever floats your boat) as you please. Let’s see who joins this.

ABCs of Me

A Meme

A: AVAILABLE: sure if you meet the standards (joking – to a degree)

B: BIRTHDAY: Not going to put that online for identity thefts

C: CRUSHIN` ON: The actor who plays Luke on MI-5

D: DRINK YOU LAST HAD: water with lemon

E: EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: God

F: FAVORITE SONG: Impossible to choose one artist let alone one song

G: GUMMY BEARS OR GUMMY WORMS: the shape makes little difference.

[EXCUSE ME? WHAT'S WRONG WITH 'H' THAT YOU FORGOT IT, MR. LIST-MAKER?]

I: IN LOVE WITH: Creativity wherever I find it.

J: JUGGLE: Too many little tasks

K: KILLED SOMEONE: nope, really. I guess K is a hard letter for this sort of thing.

L: LONGEST CAR RIDE: Chicago to L.A.

M: MILKSHAKE FLAVOR: Chocolate or butter pecan

N: NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: four

O: ONE WISH: For unlimited wishes, of course

P: PERSON YOU CALLED LAST: Michele

[ALSO A PREJUDICE AGAINST 'Q,' I SEE!]

R: REASON TO SMILE: The Glee Project’s on tomorrow

S: SONG LAST SANG: can’t recall

T: TIME YOU WOKE UP: 7 am but laid in bed awhile

U: UMBRELLA COLOR: maroon

V: VEGETABLES: broccoli, stir fried, No Wait! Jinan style eggplant

W: WORST HABIT: extensive internet use?

X: X-RAYS YOU’VE HAD: dental x-rays.

Y: YO-YO’S ARE: toys

Z: ZODIAC SIGN: Not saying online

Random Questions About You:

Have you ever hit someone with a shovel? No

Spell your name without vowels: ss kll

What are your favorite numbers? 3, 7, pi

What color do you wear most: violet, khaki, black

Least favorite colors: Orange

What are you listening to: The air conditioner

Are you happy with your life right now: Sort of

What’s your favorite class in school: tie – English or History

Can you cross your eyes: No,

Do you believe in Santa: No

Do you know how to swim: Yes, but it’s not my thing

Do you like roller coasters: As long as they don’t corkscrew

Do you cry when you get an injury? No.

Do certain songs make you cry: Not particularly.

Have You Ever….

Have you ever been on a plane: Oh yes.

Have you ever been to the ocean: Pacific and Atlantic

Have you ever really cried your heart out: Yes

Have you ever cried yourself to sleep: No

Have you ever cried on your friend’s shoulder: No, too stoic

Have you ever cried over the opposite sex: Yes.

Have you ever been to jail? As a tourist, the jail in Noblesville, IN.

Have you ever mooned someone: Nope.

Have you ever laughed so hard you cried: Habitually.

Have you ever cried in school: Don’t remember, but probably. Grade school was hell.

Have you ever wanted to be a model: No.

Have you ever done something really stupid that you still laugh about: I try not to do stupid things. Or maybe I just don’t consider the things worth laughing about to be stupid.

Have you ever seen a dead body: At a wake.

Have you ever been on drugs: Only by prescription

Have you ever gone skinny dipping: No

Favorite eye color: Depends on the hair and skin color.

Short or long hair: I’ve got short hair now. I prefer long hair, but I’m born with fine hair that’s not great long.

Height: Short

Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi, I prefer the underdogs: Burger King v. McDonald’s, etc.

Chocolate or Vanilla: Real dark chocolate. Now I’ve discovered good peach ice cream and Cherry Garcia is always good.

Strawberries or Blueberries: Strawberries if I must. Raspberries are better

Meat or Veggies: Balance is better here. A little of both.

TV or Movie: Yes.

Guitar or Drums: Guitar.

Adidas or Nike: Nike.

Chinese or Mexican: Chinese, but I like Mexican – I am tiring of the dichotomies.

Cheerios or Corn Flakes: Corn Flakes, though granola, Raisin Bran, or Grape Nuts are better than corn flakes

Name one random thing about you: I can so easily waste time on these memes

Quelle horreur! More Computer Problems

Something dreadful happened on Thursday morning. I was starting a lesson for my online Internet Writing Class when Safari froze. That happens. I tried to force quit the program and couldn’t. I turned off the computer and tried to reboot. Quelle horreur! I don’t see my usual screen.

Rather I got a clicking noise and see a folder with a question mark on it. I tried again and got the same result.

A search on Yahoo! led me to some bulletin boards which suggest that probably my hard drive’s dead. Yikes!

Apple Store Trip #1

I made an appointment at the Apple Store and feared the worst. I don’t want to buy a new computer yet. This one’s isn’t even 4 years old. Yes, there are enticing new computers out there, but I think a computer should last 5 or 6 years. Besides I think I’ve had enough computer woes for at least a year.

I go to the Apple Store and they’re busy. They are efficient and there’s the usual fun buzz of the Apple store with its cool products and geeky, hippy-ish staff.

They check me in, I wait awhile. A clerk checks on me and assures me I’m next. Then he asks me what’s wrong. I explain and he agrees it’s probably my hard drive. He suggests some third party who can retrieve the data–for say $500. I stagger out of the store, my head swirling. Are the missing files worth that? What have I lost altogether?

Then he says I can replace the hard drive. I am tempted to just start over. Bite the bullet and buy myself a new computer for my birthday and Christmas. Still a little voice in my head says, “It’s only been 4 years–not quite.”

On Facebook, I saw someone added that she had the same problem and it wasn’t the hard drive. She had to get a new logic board. Hmm. Hope?

So yesterday I called Apple. After getting transferred around, I got a helpful techie. He says he had the same problem. Whether that’s true or not, that’s a great thing to hear a customer service person say. He had me start up my computer to check on one possible problem. We learned nothing from that so he apologized as he suggested I go back to Apple’s store and have someone diagnose the problem so that I could see what my options are.

He set up an appointment for this morning.

Apple Store Trip #2

Back I went hopeful. I waited awhile and then spoke with a genius bar guy. He connected my computer to a diagnostic hard drive and we soon saw that yes, my hard drive is gone.

I’m thinking I will just replace it and get a new computer in a couple years. I’m rather proud of my ability to resist that temptation to just buy a new one. Shocked really. I usually don’t have great sales resistance in this realm.

On Computer Forensics

Since becoming the victim of a cybercrime, I’ve gained an interest in computer forensics. I learning a lot. I suppose that’ll come in handy when I write my novel on KNUE.

Chapter 4
View and share presentations on PowerShow.com

It does seem like this would be a fascinating field to get into.

My Rising Sign


Aquarius

You are an interesting mix of introspective and outlandish.
Waving your freak flag high, you really do things your own way.

While you may seem distant, you care very deeply for humanity.
You just have no tolerance for fools, slackers, or dullards.

And while you’re fairly misanthropic, many are drawn to you.
Innovative and clever, people look to you for new ideas and trends.

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