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.