March of the Penguins

Evolution is so economical.

Penguins warm their eggs between their legs! How awkward this is! They can't walk fast, they can easily drop the eggs, and the male penguins need to maintain that posture for 4 months of the year!

What if there is a predator around the icy corner?

No, there isn't. That's the point. Evolution is not about elegance but practicality. It works for the little tuxie birds. No natural predators around, so they can afford to look awkward and be clumsy.

However, if there is ever a designer, His better work is obviously something with a pouch, hopping high and far gracefully. Penguins are perhaps the early prototype and most likely never went on to beta testing.

But they are still cute, so it's not an entirely lousy design.

Sicko

My Dating in the Bay Area

Plus on vieillit, plus on devient difficile と言われている。Fast vor einem Monat habe ich mich von einem ziemlich attraktiven Mädchen getrennt. Avant ça, une autre rupture était en janvier. ところで、彼女が今年の夏にもう結婚した。Die meisten meiner Freunde haben innerhalb von vergangenen ein paar Jahren geheiratet und ihre Erstgeborene bekommen. ピアプレッシャーの本物の意味を今だんだん分かれ始める。Ne te méprends pas, autant j’aime la liberté célibataire, autant je suis prêt pour une famille. Aber ich habe « the right girl » schon nicht gefunden. Mais j’ai déjà cassé avec deux filles au cours des 10 dernièrs mois. 沢山の友達が同じ質問をあると思うだろう。Bin ich dafür zu wählerisch?

Je ne pense pas, mais il doit en être ainsi. Ich denke, daβ ich eine vergleicheweise groβe Auswahl von Interessen habe. スポーツもよくするし、文化や芸術も好きだし、ずっと自分を忙しくならせる。Si je veux parler d’Orsay à Paris et ma compagne seulement sait tous les nouvelles de Paris Hilton, ça ne marche pas. 相手が同じじゃない言葉を話す人と話したくなければ、難しいね。Mann könnte fragen ob es etwas narzisstisch ist. Je ne crois pas que une fille sait tout ce que je sais, parce qu’il y a beaucoup trop de choses que je ne sais pas. 中国の哲人が『闻道有先后』や『三人行必有我师焉』といったように、だれでも僕の先生で、ずっと周辺の人から習ってきた。Il ne faut pas que la fille idéale soit sophistiquée ou parfaite, mais il faut qu’elle soit ouverte d’esprit et ait le potentiel pour être parfait.

今週末ハイキングに行こうと思う。Zusammen gehen vier Familien und zwei Paaren...mit mir. Dois-je céder à la pression de groupe? Something’s gotta to give ?

分からないね。未来へ…

Last words on God

"It is very important not to mistaken hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God."

- Denis Diderot in response to Voltaire

Don’t get me wrong. Not that I don’t care. It just seems that we don’t have any direct evidence for or against the existence of God.

(A little disclaimer is hereby warranted by now.

"The figure “God” discussed here is not associated with any earthly religion, especially not with Judaeo-Christianity. Any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental.")

However, many circumstantial ones do exist. If you watch as much Law & Order as I do, you should know by now that circumstantial evidences hardly make a case.

Here is my logic that the existence of God is possible and cannot be disproved by mere common senses or primitive observations. Following is a list of things that seem intuitive and appear to agree with casual perceptions.

- The earth is flat
- The earth is stationary
- The sun moves around the earth
- Things are made of fundamentally different elements.
- The space has three dimensions
- The universe is static

And so on. Most of us now agree that the things listed above are false. Imagine 6-dimensional creatures live among us but we can’t see them, or you can get the shortest distance between two points by warping the space, or the universe is mostly composed of dark matter. Many times, things we cannot perceive or even possibly fathom do exist.

That the earth is moving and circling the sun was as ridiculous to the Europeans in the 1500’s as the existence of God to the atheists.

Nevertheless, Buddha once cautioned that we shouldn’t believe something just because it’s possible. It’s possible that God exists, but it doesn’t mean that it does.

If God does exist, it should be nothing like the one depicted in the Bible, in either volumes.

A popular Chinese fable goes like this:

『An armor peddler claims to make the best spears and shields.
He says: My shields are so strong they cannot be penetrated by any weapon. He then points to his spears and says: My spears are so sharp they can pierce any shield. A bystander asks: What happens if you throw your spear at your shield?』


If we take the Bible literally, we should believe the universe is only a few thousand years old. If we argue that the biblical definition of time is different from our common understanding, we then have no way to understand the biblical definitions of “good” or “evil”.

Therefore, if a Christian God exists, He will be restrained to the Judaeo-Christian logic and face such paradox as: Can God create a rock so heavy that He himself can’t lift?

However, I do hope there is a God in the universe. Life would be so simple. All the questions can be answered easily or have the potential to be answered easily. But He sure knows how to run and hide. So far we can't find him. He is like the ultimate Mr. bin Laden.

C’est bon. Genug gesagt.

Miss Teen South Carolina vs George W

Bush at APEC 2007

Talking at a business forum on the eve of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney, Mr Bush told Mr Howard: "Mr Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit."

He continued his blunders by thanking Australian premier John Howard for visiting 'Austrian troops' in Iraq.

There are no Austrian troops there, although Australia has 1,500 military personnel in the region.

fantaisies africaines

magnifique.

Transparent Screens from Apple (iScreen)

Following its sensational successes of iMac, iPod and iPhone, Apple presents the next generation of computer screen: iScreen. It's transparent! Suggested retail price: $799 (14").

You are a Chinese if...

A list of old stereotypes, but some are still funny and true. =)