Win hearts

B: Win hearts! A quick survey: where did you hear about this word?
A: Military!
B: Bingo! And? (Expecting the situation such as the male winning heart of the female or vice versa)
A: Confucius Institutes!
B: Huh? Interesting.

All the disaster relief actions done by the military is a form of winning hearts, nationally or internationally. Though according the humanitarian principles military is against the “neutrality” and is a big debate about whether the military can be called as humanitarians, it’s cruel to take away the credit of humanitarian actions done by military. Military’s priority purpose is to win heart. I can say that the Chinese military has been doing a great job in disaster relief, and the stories such as soldiers saving lives regardless their own security, building tents day and night without considering its own family, etc become the familiar stories at the dinner table, and people do appreciate them a lot.
The humanitarian action of military can definitely win people’s heart.



Confucius institutes (CI) wins hearts? I am not surprised.
Already heard whole a lot critics about Confucius Institutes’ fast growing and winning heart is one of the strategic purpose. First of all, Confucius is a great philosopher and teacher in history, and somehow, the philosophy is rooted inside of the Chinese people, even not everyone values his words in this modernized world, the virtues are still valued. Unfortunately in reality the CI is merely about the language without any Confucius value or philosophy. It intentionally doesn't want to add its value and philosophy for modernization is the theme. When CI namely uses the ancient philosopher Confucius’ title without his philosophy, it creates a room to be criticized in the bipolar international political environment and the Heart Winning Round I is actually lost. However, all the teachers sent from CI are innocent, and highly qualified and educated; it will be a great opportunity to win the hearts. Just hope the teachers from CI do carries a great value of Confucius so that the heart winning Round II can be accomplished. At last, the scholarship offered by CI for the international world is amazingly generous and it wins hearts in a tremendous way in this Round III.
Thus, in this case, the teachers from CI are the key of winning hearts. Pray for them as you are following me. ( I believe they all are awesome teachers!)

Okay, so let’s talk about dating in terms of winning heart.
Huh?
If you think dating is a situation of winning or losing heart, the chance of winning is supernaturally low for:
One . - you are a player and it's a game for you.
Two. - you are a not a mature player for you play too serious.
-- Joke … please relax, period.

Education? Propaganda?

Education or propaganda?

These two concepts have been fighting in my mind for a long time.

From 0 to 100 as a ruler of measuring the truthfulness of information, education stands at 100, propaganda locates at 50, while at the far end 0 there sits the brainwash.


The outcome of the ideal education should be creativity, while propaganda won’t be necessarily invoking the sparkle of creation.

Though education is ideally good as we all are brainwashed to believe in education. In reality, most of the education is company with instructor’s belief as a way of propaganda. In another word, the pure 100% education is not possible, unless the learner is highly logical.

Interestingly, propaganda in English is codified with negative meaning, while in Chinese (mainland China) it carries merely positive meaning. I can associate propaganda with marketing, creative arts, and this is the first time comparing the difference between propaganda and education.

Clear mind is needed to distinguish brainwash from education. Even this blog entry, it is an education outcome for me; and it might be a form of brainwash for the readers.
:)

Folk or Classical?

What is folk dance?
Don't you ever consider folk dance as rural people's dance?
Is it done by the rural people as opposed to urban people, or the dance done by the uneducated opposed to educated, or non-literate opposed to literate, or poor opposed to rich, or lower class opposed to upper class, or primitive opposed to industrial?

What is classical dance？
Is Hula a classical dance or folk dance?
Whether it's folk or classical, it's all the labels and perspectives from people.
Hula is absolutely a royal classical dance for the Hawaiian people, but probably folk dance for lots of other peoples.

Like I have been considering the Tibetan dance as a form of folk dance for long time, but didn't even realize I actually didn't have that ownership of the Tibetan culture, nor the authority to proclaim I can do the Tibetan dance.

Dangerous labels! Whether folk or classical, we just can't stop making an order in the world and categorizing the world in a functional way, but some how we may need to think twice before labeling.

Chinese government should invest some form of the festival for Tibetan Dance competition as an empowerment and nurturing for the culture of Tibetan people.
:P

Choose the one you want ... or

In one of my classes, we were asked to write a paper of case study analysis. Dr.C read the four cases aloud briefly in the classroom:

1. A 12 yrs old child with deaf impairment from Japan living her with family in Oahu, with difficulty at home, neighbour and school.
2. A 10 yrs old Hawaiian Samoan kid with severe mental disorder living at the Big Island, with difficulty at school.
3. A young adult from Micronesian family, with the prolonged depression and extreme mood swings studying at the UH Manoa, and this young adult also fell in love with the neighbour with the same gender.
4. A middle age veteran soldier returning from the third tour of Iraq, with physical injury and traumatic brain injury.

After Dr.C reading all the cases, she asked us to choose one we wanted. Four cases, eight paper copies were distributed from Dr.C to the classroom, and we were told to choose it democratically.

I rated those cases in my head when Dr.C was reading:
- The Japanese culture is close to Chinese culture which is what I am familiar with;
Rate: 3, great chance,
- The Hawaiian Samoan child is really where I am curious about since I am living at the center of the pacific islands;
Rate: 5, probably will pick up this one.
- The young adult mental development and woman study are part of the area I am curious about;
Rate: 4, not a bad choice
- The veteran soldier with Africa-American heritage seems like the most foreign and challenging one.
Rate: 2, this is way too foreign.

By just listening to the cases, I was already overwhelmed by the tough situations and hoped it's not real case. Subconsciously, I decided for the Hawaiian Samoan case since somehow I could learn and seek the local community nearby.

Meanwhile, the class entered into a discussion about the possibility of the forth case. Some of my classmates commented that "no way for an African-American veteran back from Iraq without a job" and "it did not make sense."

By the time I almost picked up the Hawaiian Samoan case, one of my classmates, A, said that she didn't have any preference and would love to let those who felt strong about the case they wanted to choose first.
"Me neither, would love to be the last to choose." I answered, and put down the case I almost picked up.
Dr.C commented that we were socialist.
Big laugh.

Thanks for A's reminding to be humble, courteous, and to be the last.
Yet, it's always lucky to have a chance to choose,
but is that really important to choose,
or it is just happier to see other people chose the right one he/she really wanted?
Somehow, it's just so easy to be running in front of everyone, without the second thought of other people's choices.

At least, there is a great peace, when I got the case I rated the least.

Straw Tower - team play

Have you ever played the straw tower game? It's a remarkable team team game, and it sparkles me to think about the team work.

We were separated into five teams to play the Straw Tower.
Game rule:
Given two bags of straws, two tapes, each team with 4 - 5 people was signed to build a tower as TALL as possible in 10 MINUTES.

By the time the rule was explained, we started.

I gave a structure of two straws taped together, for it's bendable straw and the tape can make the straw stronger and more stable, while S. gave another structure of one straw inserted into another. Without second thought, I gave up my idea and followed with S's structure, for the goal is the height in a limited amount of time. So both S. and I started inserting one straw into another and producing the straw strings. In the mean while, team member A gave an idea of making a basement of the tower so that the tower will stand without falling. We were all supportive to the basement. I didn't know who took the strings I made or where the strings were put on that tower. At the end, we won (otherwise, I wouldn't write this entry).

The tower was not good looking at all, but it stood on the ground with a significant height among the teams.

Do we have a team leader?

There wasn't enough time to elect a team leader. Actually, the whole team seemed like working as a "chaos". S and I started two structures at the same time, the basement work seemed like taping trashes together and it's accomplished at the last second. The leader might be the conception of "making the tower as tall as possible", and the team work really was like a programming team fighting for the project deadline.

After the game, we were actually not that bad, and honestly quite successful. There was a creative tower made in an artistic way but can not stand on the ground; there was an extremely stable tower with the fantastic triangle structure but short for its height; there was also another chaos tower similar to ours but lost at the height.

What makes a good team?

1. Team leader? Yes, if it's for long term, the leadership is very important. Though different field has different perspectives signed to a leader, in general, a leader has to be respected among the team members.

2. Contributors - They are doing the mechanical work, but they are the foundation of the team.

3. Communicator? It's very important. In this case, as a contributor, honestly I had no idea how long should one string be like, while A, as the communicator, helped me to determine the vision of the string length. If it's not her, I might just keep making the string longer than enough, while forgetting the goal is to make the tower, not the long string.

4. Collaborator? They were the ones taping the strings together AND stable them with straws.

So many to say about this game.

The team work is about playing the role whole-heartedly, be creative as it's allowed, and be compromising when it's needed.

Money and Toy

The other day, I was babysitting for the Family Bible study. Basically, it’s a Bible study where parents gather and study the Holy Bible, while all the bachelors who are free on Saturday experience the real family life. My job is to make sure all of babies and children are happily enjoying the time without parents. Here comes the story:

One of the babies (let’s say, Baby A) wanted a toy far away from him and he wanted it so much that he had to cry to address his demand. With his eyes and pointing finger, I got the toy for him. Immediately, he stopped crying. Then there came another older child (let’s say, Baby B), took away the toy and ran to the other room. As expected, the Baby A started crying again and I went to get the toy back, but by the time I got the toy, the mom already shown up and the baby was back with a big smiley face.

Toy is actually not the issue, and Mom’s love is the key of turning the situation.


Toy to a baby is like the money/possession to a grownup. We might be easily depressed by the budget cut, the bear markets, the jobless, or the financial crisis, and the faith in policy and/or faith in God can reinforce the grownups remain calm and peaceful.


How much faith do we have? How much do we trust our governments? How well the stimulus package will be reinforced in this crisis?

Though the grown-ups are way more complicated than babies at brain activity level – we are way harder to be pleased comparing with the babies - the faith reinforcement from the trustworthy level of Paddling and Love is definitely helpful during the time when the toy or possession is taken away.


Some verses to read if you believe in the Bible.
Hebrews 13:3
Hebrews 13:5
Proverbs 16:33
Proverbs 19:21
Psalms 33:10
Isaiah 46:10
2 Corinthians 1:1-11
2 Corinthians 1:8-9
1 Thessalonians 5:18
The whole book of Job

Trouble shooting : Laptop

Symptom:
My laptop works fine without AC adapter. It acts retarded with AC Adapter connected.
It works fine after putting a book on the one side of the AC adapter, so with some weights on the AC adapter, the laptop works fine.

Diagnosis:
Motherboard problem (common problem in the same series)
or
AC adapter problem (potential cause for the motherboard problem).

Test 1:
to see whether it's the problem from ac adapter.
-> Change a new AC Adapter.

If Test 1 works, hallelujah.

If test 1 fails,
Test 2:
to see whether it's the motherboard's problem or the combination.
-> Ship the laptop to the factory.
It will cost another 2 weeks to say hallelujah.

Pray for the motherboard of my laptop.
:)

Possessed by the "hacker", what's the next?

A friend was “possessed“ by a hacker, in both hotmail account and facebook account. The hacker attacked friend's hotmail and Facebook account to send messages about his difficult situation in China, as well as asking for money. The message also mentioned that now he (my friend possessed by the hacker) has been working with a program called “Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and lack of Education”, with the bank account in Western Union associated with the address in China.

It's obvious that this friend is hacked. After searching the Google with the keyword of this program, it’s easy to find out this is just an old skin game someone from Nigeria successfully used years ago. The address the hacker offered is a business building in a downtown of a city in China, without specific room or office number. It's very possible that the name the hacker offered at Western Union can be also phony. Later on, after the hacker's identity was revealed on Facebook, he gave us his real attention was to get some money and buy the software he could not afford.

So it’s obviously a skin game but it’s annoying. First it’s about China’s well-known situation; second it’s directly harming my friends and friends’ friends’ security at the social network online; third it’s also an adorable hacker for he is still trying to get the help to get the copyrighted software instead of buying the pirate ones at the booth on the street in China(if what he said is true). He has been handled to the "cyber police", and his IP address will be traced. If the hacker was using public wireless, which is accessible in most of hotels, coffee shops and libraries, he is harder to be found, unless there was video camera caught him in the tape. Also, with the Proxy tools assisting, the hacker could protect his real physical location very easy if he planed ahead. From the information he offered, this should be a very sophisticated hacker and he planed everything ahead of time. So, Good luck with the tracings, "cyber police".

Now, back to the point, if all are a annoying trick, here is what we can do:
protect ourselves, pray for the computer scientists education and peace education and love the hacker.

1. Password protection
It's common that we use only one password in all of our accounts during the whole life and it's not safe. We may need to protect the online accounts with a more complicated password and change the password every other week if you think your account's stolen might be affecting a number of people, specially with the Facebook and web 2.0 exaggerating the effect. Also, please do NOT store your password online, for where you store the password might also be hacked. Write it on a piece of paper or memorize it in your head, then mark certain dates of changing password on the calendar. It's just a way of protecting yourself, as well as your online network. The more important you are, the more people you might be affecting, and the more complicated your password should be like, as well as the more frequent you might need to think about changing the password.

2. Do not add random software/ applications on Facebook.
Applications are attempting since they the tremendous tools to make the online socializing easier, but here is the reason why we'd better say no for applications. Application is the third party apart from Facebook. Your personal information might be collected by this third party, for developing the application, updating the application, marketing or commercial reasons. Now imagine this third party is attacked and all your personal information is exposed to the hacker, which is not bad, and the worst part is when the hacker is using the high speed calculating software to decode your password and access your important online account, banking account , social networking accont, or even email, it might be a bigger headache. This is just one example of how hackers work with web 2.0. Thus, to protect ourselves and friends, let's just be more protective at the password.

Here is an article about the facebook starter in how to start saftly, personally I think it covers most of the security issues about the facebook using and it's worthy to read.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2263&tag=rbxccnbzd1


3. Then, don't forget to set up your privacy as high as possible, sepcially in front of the strangers.
Here are the steps: After Login to facebook, at the top-right of the Facebook page, move your mouse on the “Settings” button, a menu will be dropped down, then click “Privacy Settings“, then the "Privacy" page will show up. Now click “Search” to set up who can find you and what kind of information can be found by the strangers. It's just let yourself less exposed to the unknown network. But if you want to be "popular" and be found by the random peoples, do NOT be too strict in the privacy settings, for you may also miss the chance of new relationship or connection by doing so.
It's open social and the innocent users are vulnerable.


4. Last, after preparing for the password, privacy settings, we are ready to go and love the hacker (if you are computer savvy, please do this step if you know some hackers email address/ facebook account. But this is not recommended for the starter.) It’s like offering another chick after got hit once.
What we can do now:
1. Pray for the hacker. (If you believe the Prayer)
2. Love the hacker.
Again, do NOT do the things below if you are NOT a computer savvy.
This friend/hacker is already deleted from all, but we can still search and find this "friend" by searching the friend's name. The friend/hacker will be shown on the top of your list if he was your friend before. What you can do is to "add him as a friend" or to "send him message". Please don't execute the former option, ut do send the hacker a message, a verse of love, or a willingness of offering help.

Good luck, friends, victims and hackers!

siren... out of focus

when 18% of the world population is illiterate ,
here we rush into another age of mass intelligence.


Rationally speaking, I might be out of focus...^_^

Noah's Ark Replica by Huibers

Good cubit !

----

The Dutch creationist Johan Huibers of Schagen, the Netherlands has built a massive replica of Noah’s Ark.

Johan’s ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high, and 20 cubits wide, which approximates two-thirds of a football field in length and three stories tall in height. As big as it is, it is only 1/5 the size of the original Ark, which was 300 cubits long, 30 cubits high, and 50 cubits wide.

Website:
http://www.arkvannoach.com/nieuw/ 

 A Bible Study:How big is Noah's Ark
http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/sizeark.html


Answers in Genesis: Johan Huibers and His Ark
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n2/netherland-ark

AOL News: Working Replica of Noah’s Ark Opens (with Pictures)
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/working-replica-of-noahs-ark-opens/20070428184909990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

BBC News: Dutchman builds modern Noah’s Ark
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4853890.stm

CBN:

• Replica of Noah’s Ark Opens to Public 

  http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/147622.aspx

• Dutch Town Sports Noah’s Ark Replica (with Video)

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/148994.aspx

CNN: New Noah’s Ark ready to sail
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/28/dutch.ark.ap/index.html

Sydney Morning Herald: Dutchman’s biblical mission
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dutchmans-biblical-mission/2006/03/30/1143441257033.html?page=fullpage

Beloved earth

The Beloved earth might be choked,
by a series of earthquake.

Latest Earthquakes in the World - Past 7 days
Volcanic Haze over Hawai'i

ETEC 645 - Future Education: Open Content & Open Mind (major points)

Future Education: Open Content & Open Mind (Major Points with References)

Lulu Liu, ETEC 645 - Fall -12/05/08

This article will discuss about the future education as a contribution for the online course in ETEC645.

As my own understanding, the open content is a concept of equal opportunity of accessing educational materials, while open mind is an ideal way for educators to treat each single student as a special individual without exclusivity.

1. Open Content

1) What is Open Content?

2) Open content = Free Content ? No.

3) What kind of license for the open content?

4) What other resources about the Open Content?

2. Inclusive Education V.S. Special Education

In general, special education is for the students with disabilities. It’s an educational treatment for minority/ students with special needs. Here, there are three points for future education.

1) Pay more attention to the words we are using, especially the "special education".
2) Inclusive Education: special education for everyone

3) Technology, as a support for students with special needs, can support the inclusive education to normalize every single student as a special one.

3. Technology for Education, not the other way around.
4. Comments on the Open content in China

Is open content ready for China?

- No yet. Open content not the best choice for the general public in China, since the education level of the majority is still below the world average and the lack of faith in the public may cause a uncivilized chaos. It is a long way to go before the content open. But it's good to dry to bridge the inequality of the society with the technology and information support. In another word, to avoid the public chaos and better educational environment, a moderated censorship is necessary for China.

It positive for the international medias to accelerate this open content movement in China, but more importantly, above content and mind, the open the souls first. Content can be bad, when the soul is lost.

With an emerging of technology, the vision of future education is the education with the equal access to open content education materials, and inclusive education addressing theh special treatment for every single student.

Open content, and more importantly, open mind.

Reference:

Sullivan, J. K. (July, 2008). Education faculty to make articles available to all. Stanford Report, July 9, 2008. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/july9/access-070908.html.

Liang, L. (2004). A Guide to Open Content Licenses. Piet Zwart Institute. http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/research/lliang/open_content_guide .

Davies, B., West-Burnham, J. (2003). Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management. P693. Published by Pearson Education. ISBN 0273656686, 9780273656685.

Vygotskiĭ, L.S., Cole, M., and John-Steiner, V. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Published by Harvard University Press, 1978 ISBN 0674576292, 9780674576292

Laun, C. (June, 2008). 100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner. College at Home Blog. http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/06/10/100-helpful-web-tools-for-every-kind-of-learner/ .

Down To the Earth

Down To the Earth, an attitude of loving life.

Like the hug to a Bird with Flu,
for you got the poinson, I got the remedy,

Give All Thanks to God with Dances,
for the liars
and narcissus,



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb-73iU6ubQ

trash categorization

Dream is good:

------------------
A bottle of chemistry,
For the man's age of 70,
Since I want to see him in the heaven,
And wondering whether God cares about his family
But the nature hesitates me from using or dumping;

Now I see the Heaven and Hell is actually a neighbor of zero point one degree,
And our heavens mean good but may sound as a hell for the age of 70.

Chemistry belongs to an agency.
and to love the soul of birds in the air and ants on the street.
and to dump the drash in the category.

Business is business

When you study the language Chinese, you may be told that never saying no directly to a Chinese, instead, using perhaps/ maybe/ thinking about it later to be polite and respectful for the culture.

Yes, it’s hard to be “business is business”, for in China, business is also with relationships.
In Mandarin, it says, 对事不对人. (dui4 shi4 bu2 dui4 ren2)

Unfortunately, in China, (traditionally) all the business is hard to be only business without personal relationships.
And it makes a perfect sense that for (traditional) Chinese, it's hard to say no, as the rejection of the issue might be taken personal.
So, saying no in a soft way, with "maybe" / "perhaps" / "thinking about it later" is an ambiguous disagreement on the business table in China.

Don't be frustrated by that culture if you are from Europe (traditional), for that's the way of the unique communication in Ancient Asian culture.
It just represents a moderate attitude of saving your face in the public for the sake of achieving harmony while resisting conflict.
So, if there is a direct “no” hitting your face, it may interpret as a death penalty, if the person doesn't know or consider the western way of communication at all.

Adding into that, Chinese turns more into confronting business and person together, especially when it comes into conflict.
If there is neither Love nor Faith nor Respect in the communication, a “death penalty” is very easily to be made.

Thus, can we (Chinese) really confront the issue rather than the person, when there is a disagreement, discouragement, or even an attack?
Can we still remain Loving for those who are trying to destroy, steal or kill?
( -- Absolutely, we can, and we should, for Love Redeems. )

It is funny, before, when people jumped in front of me (I'm Chinese) and showed something disagreeable, I would turn to be "aggressive", which means either I would convince them mine was better for this and that (very preachy), or give an absolutely cold look (typical blessed child). Ironically, I called myself a soul lover, which proved I was just one of those hypocrites.

Reading the Bible, we were commanded to Love.
Reading the Words from Confucius, we were told we would be absolutely "agreeable at the age of 60th".
(-- Bible is a hard core to make a person look old.)

So, all communication based on Love will be a success Communication.
Love, is the Power, shaped well, spiritually and scientifically makes sense, crossing cultures;
Love, is for all the Souls; no matter the soul is with what color or nationality or faith;
Love, is a progress of learning to be gentle and forgiving;
Love, is from an absolute pure heart, with single mind, loving words and gentle open-armed gesture.

Biz is biz, and we'd better not take it personal, if it is with a traditional European.
Biz is biz, and we'd never say no directly to a traditional Chinese, for “perhaps yes” can be a better way to save there face.
When culture is mixed, we'd better be an agreeable Soul Lover.

Biz is hard to be biz in this post modern new age, we'd communicate with Respect and Loving all Souls.

Thanks for the Strange Stranger

Keep running into random people, with love and care.
As I was told, it's the Symptom of being overflowed by the Love from Above.
:D

-------------------------

Thanks for the Strange Stranger,
Showing me the elegance of the fat from fish,
and the importance of the omega three,

Thanks for the Strange Stranger,
Giving me a perfect reason why vegetarians crave for tofu and nuts fatty,
and the flax seeds on the shelf at costco for my mind and body,

Thanks for the strange stranger,
making me feel I am even loved and cared,
by random people in my life.

Thanks for the strange stranger.

combined the blog

Blogs are combined, lead by One Loving Spirit,
Powerless doubt, broken in front Aloha,
Stories are republished, without weary,
Meditation and dream, like a giant combination,
Keep blessing n' loving, from that 6000 miles away Family.

http://www.youtube.com/v/EkHTsc9PU2A
Love the Sky...

Google health - open content starts from health?

Google health - open content starts from health?
https://www.google.com/health/p/

Google flu trend:
http://www.google.org/flutrends/

From the friend of God to Enterprise

to boldly sit in a basement
Originally uploaded by Genista

Friend of the world = the enemy of God ->
(Here, world means the comfort, luxury and materials)
So being friend of the God = Not the enemy of God = Not friend of the world = Not chasing for comfort, luxury or materials. ->
For us, it means to lead a life simple, without luxury, avoiding waste ->

Yes, simplicity and details are God ->

It reminds me the Life at the Enterprise in the Star Trek, since everything is basic life support system on the ship.
--- I bet no crews (or at most one out of a hundred) from Enterprise can be the enemy of God, for the simple and detailed life on the Space Ship with a good leadership well demonstrates the meaning of being a friend of God.

------------------------------------
Finally got one of the presentation slide done,
and the Star Trek seems always my inspiration.

Duck Tales Inflation Lesson

Duck Tales Inflation Lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_LWQQrpSc4
Cute lesson.