My 18 months old son

My son is almost 18 months old. Time just flies. He is just adorable at this age. I’ve kept reminding my wife that we should spending more time to enjoy being with our son this year. When he grows older, he will be different. Cos, our son is really different day by day.

He picks up words quickly, after telling him 2 or 3 times, he can repeat after ourselves, and he does that sometimes without our special attention. He is just like a sponge of knowledge. That’s why one of my friends told me the other day that we should keep him from watching TV as long as we can, not even commercials. That’s very true. To these days, I still don’t know where did he pick up the term ‘Television’? When we said that term, he would point to our LCD in the living room. Honest to God, none of us intentionally taught him that word. Since he likes to watch TV, we just don’t turn that on unless we want to watch news shows. Also, we would mention the term ‘TV’, rather than ‘Television’, so he won’t know what we are talking about.

The other day when we were talking to the teacher in our son’s playgroup, she was very surprise when we told her that our son can not only recognize but also repeat almost all alphabets. Well, so far, he can almost say it out loud almost all of them, except D, E and Z. He is also a bit confused of E and F, and keeps saying the E is F. Certainly, his tongue and vocal structure is still developing, he still lacking in making certain sounds, like S and X, he still hasn’t been able to say them correctly. For 1 to 10, his ‘8’ is the accurate one, but the rest are fine that at least I can tell he pronounces them differently. Anyway, I’m very happy with what he can do so far.

Certainly, developments of different aspects proceed differently. He is learning how to use his mini-toilet bowl. That takes time. Also, he is still not very good with telling the difference in color. I don’t think he is color-blind. I think it has something to do with the fact that there are so many colors and he just got them mix up. Also, he can’t walk down stairs yet. Anyway, just playing with him and watching him make my day!

Use our senses

When the economy was good, most of us indulged in our works and enjoy our leisure time with family and friends. It was actually okay to be ignorant of the society, let alone the world out there. Though I'm not one of them, many folks did live those lives. That's why there are many people who didn't know world events or knowledge beyond what the stupid headlines or topics in casual chats in front of water fountain.

When the economy was bad, many folks can still live the life mentioned above as long as they still have a job. Certainly, the job security is an issue and people will start paying more attention to the local economy. As local economy is closely tied to the global one, the latest recession (or possible depression) really get many people anxious. The recent nosedive of major stocks in the local stock index does get on many people's nerves. Yes, that's still unrealized losses, but come on, how many folks' wealth are in real paper money under their mattress? So, I think that the tanking of market will really further dampening the local retail market as the only brighter spot in the local economy so far. That's deemed to be changing.

Many folks are asking 'why?' but what they get in return is hearsay and soundbites from the media. How many will really spend sometimes to read and think? Not the majority, it is said that folks with all the information accessible at their fingertips and not use it to find out more. They may see, but they don't 'read', they may hear, but they don't 'listen'. It is just sad! Cos, a lot of behavior changes are usually triggered by social events related to political, economical, or health. The current economic catastrophe should be a triggering event that make people think, especially the sense of value, what is important to that live. What they did? what they are doing? and what they should have done? will all affect what they will do in future.

I just think people should spend more time to use their sense to find out what is going on in the society and in the world. That can help them to understand the 'rings in the chain' that link events together. See what can be done, at least on a personal level. For example, should we live a more 'green' life? That can save us money, save the environment at the same time. Especially after I became a parent, this just get me thinking more about what kind of life he will live in future. What kind of things that we are doing now and what would they lead to in future? Before doing anything, use our senses to link ourselves to the world, then think! That's what I'm trying to say....

中国古代姓氏图腾

Retirement

There are many financial companies offering advice to working folks for retirement planning. If you don't wanna bother by those commission hogging experts. We can always DIY by picking up books or searching the net to find information to plan for retirement.

Unless we are civil workers who can still get funds from the government after being retired until death. Most folks are worried about how they gonna live during retirement. The usual concern is that we don't want ourselves outlive our money, not the other way around. Though some folks believe that the most success life is that you can spend your last dime on the day you die. However, unless we kill ourselves (well, most sane people won't), we don't know when we will die. So, most of us are just working on the other end - managing our money so we can afford to live when we don't have income anymore.

Do we really have ZERO income after we retire from our job? Well, if we have 'nice' kids, they may give you some pocket money. The government will still provide few cents as a nice gesture if it is not broke. However, the above two options are not very reliable or dependable. The best way is to taking care ourselves on our own if we can. We can invest in stocks and bonds to get dividends, interests, or simply profit. Or, conservatively, put in deposits or some capital-saving accounts, so we can have relatively reliable source of funds to live. Of course, nothing is really guaranteed. Like I saw the news few weeks back, a man in his nineties coming out of retirement from teaching profession to become a clerk in a local supermarket because he loss most of his retirement funds in the subprime crisis. Imagine that! living 30 years of retired life and has to get back to work again! Thank God that he got a job, but still, I don't think it is something that most of us wanna face.

I'm not an expert of such. However, one of my hope is that I can continue to work as long as I can. To be honest, I've never thought of early retirement even when the economy was good. Do I enjoy working? Well, it is a matter a relativity. I don't need a job to prove my value. I'm sure I can find enough things to occupy my time and my mind if I don't have a job. However, being working is not a bad thing. As long as the job with dignity, and I'm comfortable with. Sure, all kinds of emotion, up and downs are happening during the working hours. Cos, we can't guarantee that won't happen without a job. What really matter is that we can have a respectful life that we feel comfortable in. For others, may be retired in their 40s and go travel the world. For me, I wish I can do that, but I'm worry about having to come out of retirement and couldn't find a job when I need to. So, it is better to stay in the workforce if I can. I can always enjoy my life in after work hours and in the weekends.

Drugs

There have been news about teenagers and celebrities on drugs lately. Well, drug is nothing new, it has been with human beings for thousands of year. It has never gone away, and it won't as long as human exists. What should be thought about is to study why somebody use it, but some don't, and how to manage it.

In the old old days, even for now, folks on drugs because they give them pleasure. The major difference between nowadays and back then are the knowledge of health effects and legal implication of drugs.

Back in the history, the rich did drugs for leisure, to bond with others, a mere social event. On a personal level, they found drugs pleasurable and help them to relax. For the poor, drugs are simply a way out of their miserable reality. Regardless the rich or the poor, they didn't know the long term medical problem that they would have when they were addicted to drugs. So, part of that was ignorance. Also, they were indulged in the short term pleasure. They just didn't want to think about the future. Besides, there were not that many rules on drugs. The matter was really whether you could get it or not. The rules are more to do with the financial aspect of it. Like should the government tax on it, who could distribute them, etc.

Nowadays, people's addiction to drugs for similar reasons at the personal level like our ancestors. The difference is that there are tremendous amount of medical studies and proof that drugs are harmful to our body. If you wanna die young, and suffered a long period of time of miserable pain, rejected by society and broke, then do drugs. Otherwise, better not even touch them. Also, there are the legal aspects that monitor the production, distribution, and usage of drugs. With the illegal stamps on most of them, it creates an economy around drugs, that make people die for/of drugs without even taking them themselves.

I think that at a personal level, people should not take drugs. Cos, most people are weak, though they deny it, drugs do have an addictive effect. However, I don't think it should be treated as a illegal act. Cos, I think it is better to look at it as a medical and moral problem rather than a legal issue. I would say if you take drugs, your body will go haywire, and will not function properly. So, you need medical attention to help you quit. From a moral point of view, you do drugs and make yourself incapable to perform your own duties on an acceptable manner. You should be shameful to yourself, your family, and as a member of the society. Taking drugs should be made it as a sinful or shameful act like committed adultery or prostitution. They would be more appropriate and effective in terms of prevention. At least, as long as drugs are legal, it will destroy the drug economy and the current resources that are spent on dealing with the problem can be allocated better on medical treatment and prevention. Certainly, certain drugs on certain medical usage should be monitored, regulated and acceptable.

I don't think my view is new, but certainly mine is not in line with the mainstream. Sometimes, I think it doesn't hurt to step back and think out of the box, especially for some problems that seems to have no void solution.

Ideas that may "change" the world - #2

Problem - Racial Discrimination
Suggestion - Governments provide economic benefits to racially mixed births
Rationale -
- Number of racially mixed marriages have increase over years, and so do the number of births from those couples. However, economic incentives do help people to have kids. It applies to same-race couples as well. So, it should work towards mixed couples too.
- If there are getting more racially mixed people in the world, I think it is the ultimate solution to the problem. Yes, education can help, but when your parents, and grandparents are from different races, it doesn't really make any sense to discriminate anyone. At least not by their races.
- Racial issues usually happen to society that are more of 'black' and 'white', or I would say more 'color-distintive' society. However, if there is a 'rainbow' of colors in the population, and they are the majority. Things should be better.

Ideas that may "change" the world - #1

Problem - Erosion of the wild and global food shortage
Suggestion - Mandatory field trips to slaughter house and alternative-nutrients presentation for all ten years old and their parents in developed countries
Rationale -
- Many people don't know how to they get their meats, except going to supermarkets.
- According to some studies, many people find the treating of animals, the ways the are housed, transported, and slaughtered are so appalling that, they eat less meats, and some even become vegetarians.
- If the animals are shown to be treated nicely, the kids will find the too adorable to be killed for food. On the contrary, when the animals are treated badly, the suffering that they go through will make people have second thoughts about consuming them.
- 10 years are old enough to understand things and before they hit the puberty that will consume large sum of meats.
- Parents need to be there, so they see things first hand, cos what kids will eat has a lot to do with parent's choice, so the presentation can provide them alternatives to meats.
- People in developed countries are relatively larger meat consumers than people in developing countries.
- This suggestion is trying to reduce the demand side of the equation.
Besides deforestation for wood supply, many natural wilderness are destroyed for herding of livestocks. Also, farmlands have been eroded due to the more lucative business of using land for animals farms.
- A same piece of land can provide larger volume of plant-based foods than meat. So, more people can be fed.

Ideas that may "change" the world - Preface

Obama talks about "Change". I believe in "Change" as well, just as the name of blog has shown. But why there are changes? I'm not talking about those changes due to natural causes, or something initiated by third parties. Rather, I'm talking about Changes that we want to carry out, something we are hoping for.

Such changes are usually happen when we recognize that there are problems. Those problems that we see could be no issue to the others. Like high gas prices would be a problem to drivers, but it is not an issue to environmentalists who want to develop alternative energies. So, after we define what the problem is (as a point A), then the next step is to see where point B is. Namely, what do we want to change to. Cos, point B is not necessary better than point A. So, we need to define what point B is carefully and make sure that is achievable. Otherwise, we are going nowhere. If point B is not realistic, then we may end up at point C that could be far worse than point A.

After we lay out what point A and point B are. Then, we need to draft how do we get from A to B. There could be more than one path, so there must be pros and cons for each that would need to be analyzed and weighed. Then, pick the best choice.

Sometimes, the problem that one person recognize could be shared by many others. It is a fact that no way all folks will agree on the selected path. Thus, for some large scale problem, what we can hope for is to pick the path that will benefit most people in number.

After all the illustrations above, I would like to suggest some wild (could be weird) solutions to some problems that I recognize. They are not in any particular order of importance, just some thoughts I wanna share...

Being Alone vs Being Lonely

During my adult time, certainly before I got married. I've experienced a quite long period of time of being alone. Yes, I'd friends and family. But I did felt lonely every now and then. That's why when my wife mentioned that some friends of her who are still single in late 30s and how they feel about being alone and feeling lonely, it was quite easy for me to identify or empathize how they feel. I'm glad that I'm not them at their ages. However, as I always believe that 'things have more than one side.' i.e. the 'half-glass' argument about things.

Being Alone is more a physical condition. Namely, you are the only person in your premise. Like you are left home alone, you go driving alone, etc. You live on your own. It actually is a sign of independence. You have all the freedom you want in your premise. You can be selfish and expressive without being considerate. You don't need to reach consensus or compromise. 'You eat what you cook!'

Being lonely is psychological. It is a feeling that you have. You can feel lonely on a busy street. It doesn't really depend on the physical environment.

So, being lonely doesn't mean being alone and vice versa. Being alone is demanding, like you need to be able to afford that, like renting/buying your own place to live. Or having your own car. Otherwise, you need to find a place to be alone is not easy for most citydwellers like us. For example, if your are living with other folks, and suddenly you want to be alone in the middle of the night. You can only lock yourself in your bedroom and put on a headphone. Otherwise, I wonder where can you go? Being lonely is a feeling usually only happen when you are not busy. i.e. got nothing to do and your mind can float....and think....and drift.... Or when you want to do something, but you can't find anyone that can accompany you. Busy people are not lonely people.

So, there are a lot of trade-offs for this topic. Some folks want to be alone, but they don't want to feel lonely. So, the work hard to afford living on their own, and work hard to keep contact with friends, wooing lovers, and joining group activities. In other words, they only want to be alone when they want to be, like after party to go home, and don't bother me when I don't want to be bothered. However, as I mentioned, most of folks that my wife mentioned to me are able to do just that. However, they just can't do one thing. It is that 'others' are not always available when they want them to be around. Cos, those others do have their own lives. They may have their friends, family, and other engagements as well. So, it is quite often that those lonely folks have to work hard to plan things ahead for Friday evening and weekends. Also, they do have to adjust their expectations and satisfaction thresholds on being with others. Cos, those that they really want to spend time and those end up they spend time with could be....different. They need to learn to settle for less.

For those folks who live alone, they may not need to develop hobbies that are for loners. Surely, they can read books, listening to music, doing photography of still objects or scenery, watching movies, jogging, swimming, playing racket ball, etc. Activities that they can enjoy or at least do alone. However, for lonely folks, they better try to do the opposites, like going to learn ballroom-dancing, rather than hip hop. Join tennis club, football club, rather than taking pottery-making class. To be more social and meet people, that's the way 'out' from being lonely. If they really wanna go for something long term, even going to dating services or match-making services would be advisable. Just need to be open-minded. Cos, I think that the wall between lonely folks and the rest are built by the former. They built it and they have to tear it down themselves. Being lonely is all in the brain!

iPhone Design (Reprise)

Though we all know what iPhone looks like these days. However, before it was release in 2007, it had been a rumor that Apple would make a phone and many people did try to guess what it would look like. I got some times to look some old pics that I've in my harddisk and found the following. Just find them quiet funny retrospectively. Actually, if some of them were really what iPhone look like, I'm sure they would be sold quite good as well. Certainly, many product designers were into look and art, not functions, and programmers were into the contrary. So, here we go....and enjoy!

Da Da Da..The real thing!