Taiwan’s Former President Goes on Trial for Corruption by Michael Wines

The Taiwan former president is going to jail because of the corruption. Police has prove that he might use country's money to afford his own stuff. But he thinks he is good, and a perfect president. Before the trial, there was a statement from Mr. Chen and he mentioned that the whole trial was conducted by the current President Ma, Ying-Jiu, who wanted to win favor with China’s government. Mr. Chen said that it was a political suppression because he supported that Taiwan should be independent from China when he was the president of Taiwan. I wonder how much money did Ms. Wu take from the whole illegal matters? I wonder if all the former presidents “took” money as well. If they did, they must do something good in some ways so they were covered. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/world/asia/27taiwan.html?ref=world

Blood Red Horse Chapter 11

Saracens in Acre surrendered because they were not able to defend Acre any more. The Saracen hostages were more than 3000 in Acre. King Richard tried to have an agreement with Saladin, the leader of the Saracens. But Saladin refused to pay the ransom money. So the Christian knights decided to kill the captives. It was a massacre. I think what the Christian crusaders did at Acre was terrible and immoral. It was cruel to kill the people who had no hostility and resistance. I will never agree with what they did at Acre. I do not think their God will open the door to heaven based on the massacre they did. Their behaviors only showed that they were barbarians. Through this event, I think the Christianity here is not a good model to follow because they only did whatever satisfied themselves and did not care for other kinds. I think the Christianity let its owe people do whatever benefited and satisfied themselves. While activating the massacre, Hosanna refused to move forward and joined the activity. I think Hosanna tried to tell William that it was a wrong thing to do. The horse had some intelligence and can sense what was good and what was bad.

In Trinidad, a Painted Lady in Distress by David Shaftel

Port of Spain, Trinidad has a lot of historical buildings which can be traced to 1900. Even though they are beautiful and historically valuable, but they are not easy to maintain. Almost every rain season, there is a new leak in the building. In fact, the owners have to spend a lot of money to renovate the, sometimes three times of the expense to renovate than the price to buy. Right now, there are several buildings are for sale. Most of the owners rebuild the buildings with modern furniture and designs. Some run them as B&B. But there are also some preservationists calling for the preservation campaigns in Trinidad. They try to preserve the building as many as possible. There are also laws and fine for the owners and buyers who torn down the historical buildings. I personally agree to preserve the historical buildings. But the government or preservation organizations should help the owners fix their buildings down the line. Otherwise, when the owners cannot afford the expense, they will eventually tear the buildings down. On the other side, I also think everyone has the choice to rebuild his/her own house no matter what type of the building is. Is it fair to receive a fine by rebuilding one self’s house?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/garden/13trinidad.html?ref=americas

A River Runs Through It

The last sentence of the novel, the author says “I am haunted by waters.” I think he likes waters, especially the water his family and he went a lot when he was little. Also waters were the places his brother, Paul, and him spent most time together. Besides, they were waters he thought like stories. He mentioned that reading rivers was like reading stories. Also, the author started thinking of this story when he sat besides waters. So when he looked at waters, he also thought of his family, his parents, his brother, and his stories. Most the important events happened in his life were related to waters and rivers, such as his stories, fly fishing with his father and Paul, his mediation, and Paul’s death. So I think waters reminded him of his important moments in his life. So he said “I am haunted by waters.”

In the book the character I like the most is Norman. I think he is a very responsible person and he tries to take care of his brother. Also, he is a considerate person. Even though he does not like Jessie’s mother and brother, he is still polite to them .
The character I like the least is Neal. I think he is a selfish person who only cares about himself. He does whatever he wants and rude to people.

In terms of the major lesson we can take from this novel, I think it is about help. The major theme in the book is about giving helps to the person we think is in need. In the story, there are some people trying their best to help Paul live his life peacefully and happily. The story explains why the helps people need are not obtainable and why the helps people offer are not wanted. If the helpers and the people in need can understand the essence of the meaning of help, there will be a good chance to make a positive result of help.

New Status in Africa Empowers an Ever-Eccentric Qaddafi

In the article “New Status in Africa Empowers an Ever-Eccentric Qaddafi “ by Michael Slackman, it mentions how Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya became a leader in “United States of Africa.” The africa has a new leader and his name is Colonel Qaddafi. Everyone expects good results from him at the very beginning, but right now people are concerned about their situation.  Colonel Qaddafi tries very hard to be a leader in Africa and wants to be someone influential in the world. Last month, he was selected to leas the 53-nation African Union. He ran a campaign and made people believed that he will make their life much easier and they will all make money. However, the truth is that people suffer and the problem of illegal immigrants will slow down the progress of the civilization. Instead of sending these illegal people back home, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi kept them in Libya and showed people he had the sympathy. In fact, he just wanted his mercy to be seen by the other countries, such as European countries. So one day they will allow these illegal people to live their countries. The more important reason he did not send these people home is because he can save money in this way. In the end, the ambitious leader wants to become more powerful in his leadership in the future. After reading this article, I wonder how people in Libya can empower Qaddafi since the life in Libya does not become better. It looks like it only benefits Qaddafi. I wonder if the consequence is related to the average degree of education in Libya. I think if people are educated, they will not allow these kinds of things happened. Or I should say that all the problems existed because of the economic issues in Libya, a poor country. I hope the situation will change a year later since Colonel Qaddafi will serve only a one-year term as chairman of the African Union.

Nations Near Arctic Declare Polar Bears Threatened by Climate Change” by Andrew C. Revkin

According to the article “Nations Near Arctic Declare Polar Bears Threatened by Climate Change”, it mentions that the polar bears now are under risks of the global warming. The statement was from a three-day meeting in Norway, and the countries participating were the United States, Norway, Canada, Russia and Denmark. It is believed that the emission of greenhouse gases causes the global change and global change causes the climate change. Even though the polar bears are protected by cutting down the hunting, they are still in the danger of the climate change. From my viewpoint, no matter how we protect the polar bears from hunting, we still have to stop and slow down the climate change because the polar bears will not survive under the warm temperature. The polar bears are the icon for us to foresee what things will happen if the temperature continues rising. One of them is the extinction of many species. After reading this article, I wonder how and how much we can do about the climate change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/science/earth/20bears.html?_r=2&ref=science

Taiwan Culture- Taiwanese Foods

This video is from traveling channel, the Bizarre Foods. The host, Andrew,  goes to different countries and tries different kinds of bizarre foods. This time he went to Shilin night market. Firstly, he tired oyster omelette. It's oyster with eggs, cabbage and sweet sauce on it. He thinks it's sweet, light and a little bit chewy. He also mentioned that it tastes wonderful. Personally, I like oyster omelette very much. I like the taste of the oyster with the eggs. Also the sweet sauce makes the flavor even better. I always have a oyster omelette every time I go to the Shilin night market. Later on, he tried fried chicken butts. He likes it too and he said it is delicious, even thought he was reluctant to try it at the first place. Somehow, I did not think he will try it again since he still resisted to the chicken butts after his first bite. I do not like chicken butts either, no matter how they were cooked. I just think butts are not clean and somehow I feel they are disgusting. In the end, he also tried coffin bread. It's made of bread that looks like coffin. The host, Andrew liked it and he said that it is crunchy outside and soft inside, the filling. Overall, it is brilliant.  I personally like it very much and I agree with his statement.  In the end, he likes the bizarre foods in Taiwan and said there are the huge variety of  foods in Taiwan. I agree with him and I think the Shilin night market is also a place for families, couples, and friends to hang out. People will have wonderful time in this place.

Reading Journal #6 March 21, 2009

Two Quotations:

1. How can a question be answered that asks a lifetime of questions? (p. 103)

2. Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them (p. 104).

Reflection:

In the last pages of the story, the writer reflected the last fishing with Paul and his father as their last time to go fly fishing together. In the end, Paul was killed and his body abandoned in the Big Blackfoot River. After their knowing of Paul's death, his father continued to ask if anything will change if he help Paul in some ways. So Paul would not die and be killed. This reminds me that sometimes I will ask myself if things will change if I do not or I do something beforehand. For example, when I stay up and try to finish my homework, I will tell myself" if I do this earlier, then I will not have to stay up late and do my homework. The interesting part is that even though I have experienced staying up late to finish my homework so many times, I do not learn my lesson. I guess I just like to stay up late and enjoy the quietness of the mid-night.

Questions:

1. Do you think Paul will not be killed if the writer and their father do something to help him?

2. Do you think the write tell everything about Paul's death to his father? Why?

Reading Journal #5 March 19, 2009

Two Quotations:
1.Help is giving part of yourself to somebody who comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly (p.81).
2.When I was young, a teacher had forbidden me to say “more perfect” because she said if a thing is perfect it can’t be more so (p.88).
My Reflection:
After Paul and the writer went to their parents’ place from Jessie’s place, they had a great time with their parents. They first had a good dinner and a nice talk. The following day, the brothers went fishing with their father. During the fishing time, the writer mentioned that Paul always can catch every kind of fish he wanted to catch with very limited types of flies. The writer also said that Paul won over him because he never borrowed any flies from him. Well, I think some artists did a great job in their works with very limited tools. But I do not think this is the only criterion to judge their success. It is also based on the quality of the outcomes. Like in the story, Paul did catch good and beautiful fish and only used 4 or 5 types of flies. This is a success. However, I do agree that people who make use of their skill with limited tools and do an excellent job deserve more respect than those who have a lot of tools and materials. I guess it is also a good excuse when one fails catching big fish; just simply say that “I am short of flies.” I find out one of my friend used to apply the excuse every time he fails in doing something by blaming that he is short of the tools.
Questions:
1. If you were Neal, will you come back again and visit his family?
2.Do you agree that “more perfect” is incorrect? Have you ever experience “more perfect?”

Braveheart!

The movie”Braveheart” is a story about a Scotsman called William Wallace (Mel Gibson) and his fight for the freedom of the Scottish people from the English. After seeing the death of his wife, killed by an English man, William got together the Scott people’s power to fight with the English. Very soon the personal revenge turned into a national crusade. In the film, it showed that people in Scotland had distinct social classes. The outfits of the lower class were always grey and ragged. They lived in the village and there were no tiles on the ground. They were mud. However, the people from higher class had a feast very often. They drank and ate meat. They dressed themselves nice and clean. From the very beginning of the movie, I think the society in Scotland was a little backward. There were some privileges for the nobility. One of them, I found it is ridiculous, was that the lord of Scotland can have the right to spend the night with any newly married Scottish bride on the wedding night. It can tell the nobility has some many power over the lower class people. In the very beginning, people were obedient to the rules. It can be told that the Scottish people lived in the society of repression and fear under the ruling of the nobility and the England. But their passion for the freedom was arisen when William had a campaign about their freedom. A lot people were convinced and joined the “crusade” in the end.

Reading Journal #4 March 16, 2009

Two Quotations:
1.One of life’s quiet excitement is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful, even if it is only a floating ash (p.43).
2.Poets talk about “spots of time,” but it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone (p.44).
My Reflection:
The writer had a hard time to get along with his mother-in-law and his brother-in-law, Neal. So he decided to spend time with Paul and drove to their cabin away from his wife’s home. When they arrived there, the writer finally found a chance to ask if Paul needed help for money or anything else. This time, Paul did not answer and changed the subject to fly fishing. Later on, Neal and his companion, Old Rawhide drove all the way there to join the two brothers. Neal’s purpose for joining them was not that he liked to go fly fishing, but always from the home as well. Later, they went fly fishing together. This time around, Paul brought up an idea that he wanted to leave Montana and went to the West Coast. He wanted to go to a different place and do something different. Also, he wanted to be away from troubles, like the one he had few days ago. But a moment later, he decided to stay in Montana and will never leave the place. I think it is hard to leave a place where one is used to it. It is easier to live this way even though life becomes a cycle and every day seems the same. But I think maybe it will be fun to study abroad and experience something different. I spent couple years in Australia when I was younger and I found it interesting and enjoyable. If I had a chance, I will study abroad again.
Questions:
1.If you were Paul, will you make the same choice and stay in Montana forever?
2.On Page 45, the writer asked Paul directly if he needed any help. Would you do the same thing like he did, making the points directly? Why?

Reading Journal #3 March 15, 2009

Two Quotations:
1.I took my time walking down the trail, trying with each step to leave the world behind (p.37).
2.The hardest thing usually to leave behind, as was the case now, can loosely be called the conscience (p.37).
My Reflection:
After the writer took Paul home from the police station, they did not talk about what happened in that night Paul had a fight with a guy. Once they had a chance to talk, there were third person around them and also Paul was away from all the people. He basically went fly fishing upstream, instead of joining other people. Therefore, the writer was thinking about how to break the silence between Paul and him and tried to figure it out how to help him. This reminds me that sometimes I try to talk about something important to my friends after there is a misunderstanding going on between us. It is usually difficult to have a start/opening. Or I should call it ice-breaker. Somehow I just do not know how to approach them and start a conversation, especially after we have an argument. I guess sometimes a sense of humor is very helpful in this case. Sometimes I think it is easier to talk to a stranger than a best friend.
Questions:
1.Page 32, “There was something deep in Neal that compelled him to lie to experts, even though they knew best that he was lying.” What do you think of the something? Alcohol? Arrogance? Stupidity?
2.Do you have an experience that you do not know how to start a conversation with your best friend/sisters/brothers? What was that about? If you made the start, how did you do?

Reading Journal #2 March 12, 2009

Two Quotations:
1.Thoughts about fly fishing are often carried on in dialogue form where Hope and
Fear-or, many times, two Fears- try to outweigh each other (p.18).
2. Sunrise is the time to feel that you will be able to find out how to help somebody close to you who you think needs help even if he doesn’t think so (p. 28).
My Reflection:
During the reading from page 11-30, the writer mentions the relationship between Paul and him, including his experiences to go fly fishing together and to take Paul home from a police office after Paul hurt someone in a restaurant. It can tell that the write wants to help his brother to be optimistic to his own life, instead of street fighting and drinking alcohol. I think it is hard to help someone close to us if we, as helpers, do not understand the person who we are going to help. Or I should say that we want to help, but do not know how to do it. Sometimes we want to help the poor and the disable, but we do not know how to help them. So we choose the easier way, money donation.
Questions:
1.Page 11, the writer mentions that in his town, people know his brother and him are the Preacher’s kids, and most mothers prevent from pointing them out to their children. Do you think these women refrain from pointing them because they respect them as the preacher’s kids, or demean them because they are street fighters? Why?
2.If you were the writer, how could you help Paul? Go flyfishing?

After the Fall of the Roman Empire

When the Roman Empire divided into Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in 397 AD, people in Europe suffered from outside invasion. In 476 AD, the Germanic chief Odoacer successfully conquered the Western Roman Empire; it ended the history of the Roman Empire, which lasted for 12 centuries. During the period of Roman Empire, the emperors had absolute power in political and military aspects. In fact, Roman Empire was an autocratic empire and the emperors owned the empire. Therefore, after the fall of the Roman Empire, most people were confused because the empire/king lost the power. Somehow, there was no proud to be a Roman because the citizenship did not work. It was almost like that a membership in a club but cannot have any benefit. Therefore, people in Europe looked for comfort from the church and denoted themselves to their religion, Christianity. People followed the rules made by the Pope. In other words, the power of the empires transferred to the Church. In terms of the social class, there were different social classes in Roman Empire. They were divided based on the property and military force. For example, the richest class was Senatorial class because these people had political power and their own army. But the truth was that they had the wealth to own all the things. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the social status was ruled by the feudalism, which was the land-based system. The social classes can be easily divided into two, the upper class and the lower class. All in all, people in Europe changed after the fall of Roman Empire, as least from the governmental, religious and social aspects.

Reading Journal #1 March, 11 2009

The River runs through it (page 1-10)
We read about ten pages today in class. It is the introduction of the main characters. The main characters are the brothers, Paul and Norman. They live in Montana. The popular activity there is fly fishing. There father is the person who teaches fly fishing.
Two quotations: "Power comes not from power everywhere, but from knowing where to put it on." "All good things-trout as well as eternal salvation-come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy." While reading the section talking about the differences of the brothers, I wonder how it feels like when the siblings feel that they are different. Is it good to be different? Do the differences between the brothers make them apart and not that close to each other? I am the only child in my family and I do not know how it feels. I guess it is okay to be different from the siblings when there is no misunderstanding. I think the more important thing is to respect each other. Quesitons to discuss with my group: If you have younger brothers or younger sisters, do you think they are just kids? Why? If you have older brothers or older sisters, do you think they treat you as a kid? Why?

A Place I Like to Live

The place that I want to live most is Australia. I was born there and studied there for 4 years. It is a beautiful place and it does not rain a lot like Taiwan. It has very pretty and natural mountains and desserts. I also remembered that I went to the beach a lot. People there like to go out and enjoy themselves during the weekend. Besides, Australia people I met over there are friendly and open-minded. Also, there are big shopping malls over there. I went there very often to buy candies and cookies when I was small. I had a lot of good memories in Australia. Therefore, if I can choose, I will love to live in Australia.

The Sun Also Rises!

The title of the book “The Sun Also Rises” was from the Hebrew Bible. The complete sentence was "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." This was just what Hemingway conveyed in this book. He tried to convince the “Lost Generation” to have hopes to their future. The time after WWI was bad but there were still hopes in the future. Therefore, the sun will also rise even though they had a bad time the day before. It also encouraged people to be optimistic to the future.

Nitrogen Passport Reflection

1. Why didn't everybody go to the same stations in the same order?
Since everyone started at different stations and the different number everyone rolled, the chance everyone had the same was very low. Some may start at the animal waste, some river, and some atmosphere. Also, dies controlled where we wented and what cycle we headed to. We cannot conrtrol the order of the stations we went in this activity.

2. Did you go to the same stations twice? If so, what does this tell us about cycles?
I did go to the same stations twice. The cycles repeats, but it doesn't
have to start at specific point in the cycle. In other words, the cycle can start any point of the cycle and will go back to the same point where it starts.

3. Was there one station that seemed to have a lot of people at it ? Why or Why not?
Yes, the Atmosphere station seemed to have more people in the activity. I think it is because there are more ways to get to the atmosphere. It shows that in the cycle of the atmosphere, there are many resources.

4. What do you think the point of this activity was?
I think the point of the activity was to understand how nitrogen cycle around our environment, including the atmosphere, animal waste, river, dead plants.... I learned that nitrogen can travel from one place to other place and have its own cycle. Also, the atmosphere had more resource from different places.

To believe, or not to believe

It is difficult to agree or disagree with that feudalism was existed in the Middle Ages. In fact, I think that most historical events were not 100% true. So I chose to believe whatever made sense to me. So, was feudalism really existed in the Middle Ages? I think so. Feudalism was basically a feudal system which the landlord (usually a king) gave his/her land to his/her vassals in return for military services/aids. Even thought the term, feudalism, was first used in 17th century, its ideology was first appeared in the Middle Ages. Most places in Europe in the Middle Ages had the feudal system. England was the last place in Europe to develop the feudalism system in 1066 by William the Conqueror. In other places in Europe, they already developed their feudalism before 1066. The first two places were France and Germany by the Norman in 9th and 10th century. Other places in Europe had the feudalism system later on. The places were Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, England and the Slavic countries.

The Science of Benjamin Button!

Benjamin Button TED Talk

Today we watched a video about the special technology in the film, Benjamin Button and how people in the film industry created the old Benjamin, who was 87 in the movie. But the lead actor who played the role of Benjamin Button was Brad Pitt, 40's. In addition to put some make ups on his face, they had to follow a few scientific methods to fill the age gap between the old character, Benjamin Button, and the young actor Brad Pitt. To solve the problem, they applied some computer technology. They first had to start shot the face of Brad Pitt and recorded all kinds of the facial movement and emotional expressions he can make in front of the camera. Then they transfered the pictures and files in a computer to make the pictures look much order. Besides, they had to do a bunch of stuff like lighting and act the body of Benjamin. In fact, the Benjamin character was composed by different people. In order to make the character look exactly like a old man, they used different people for different parts of body. It's a really hard and super project. They spent a lot of time figuring out how to make Brad Pitt look like 80's. I think this is such a real success for the film industry and special technology during this days.