Finally a Republican, other than "rage", has guts to talk back to me :)

School has begun. Good.

It's high time I talk about this upcoming elections. I'll vote for Kerry. Why? He may deserve those war medals, he may not. He may be stiff and aloof. He may be hideous. I don't give a flying fuck. I'm voting for the ideology not for the man.

Which'd lead to a better country: left or right? Most northern European nations are left. Can you honestly say they're worse off than us? Comparing to our cities, theirs are more beautiful, cleaner and less crime-stricken. Their citizens have higher living standards than ours. Higher education's either free or affordable. They have more vacation days to enjoy. They even enjoy more freedom than the Americans, supposedly the torch-bearers of freedom. Also, look at Sweden. Its socialism sure didn't stop corporations from prospering there- Ikea, Saab, Volvo, Ericsson, Absolut, etc.

Now, nations more right than us? Not too many of them. Singapore may be the only major nation with economic policies more conservative than ours. There's wealth but it's also overrun by poverty and corruption. Streets are full of STD-infected prostitutes.

Yes, I still say we live in one of the best countries in the world. It's just that it could use some improvement. Here's some hard facts that may shock you.

If you don't have patience to read the whole thing:

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/4Inequality.htm
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/6Economy.htm
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/8Comparison.htm

The way some people talk, the Reagan years were the most prosperous era in American history. In reality, Reaganomics had only one great year: 1984. Most of the rest of years were mediocre. It was during 1945-1964 that the economy was booming the loudest. The tax rate for the top income bracket? 88%! I think that's too high but it proves that trickle-down economics is pure horseshit. The economy also grew more during Clinton's years. What party did he belong to? Did he cut taxes? Refresh my memory.

While the rich got richer during the 1980s, the average salary of the middle class declined, falling from $24,520 in 1977 to $23,580 in 1990 (in 1988 dollars).

We assume we're the richest people in the world. But are we really? The richest 1% of America own 40 percent of its wealth. Keep in mind that the average salaries of Northern Europeans are very close to ours. If we eliminated the income of the top 1%, their average salaries would be likely higher than ours.

It's time to face reality: left's the right way to go. Moderate left, not communism :)

Olympicians that amaze me most are the gymnasts. The other athletes are strong and fast but at least I can visualize doing what they do. But to imagine tumbling around and spinning in the air then landing on my 2 feet? Back-flips on a narrow beam?! And all I can do is jump up and down. Kudos to those wonderous waif people.

Was good to see many people at Zack's last night.

Also witnessed the worst pick-up attempt. A guy told me he thought the best way to pick up women is to act like an asshole. I just knew I had to watch him try. I said OK, show me, go to that dame standing there. He walked up to her. He started sniffing and said, "I smell something. Do you?" She shook her head. He said, "I think I smell a cunt. It must be yours."

What's the dumbest way somebody'd hit on you?

Kayaking looks fun. Found out I can kayak near Harper's Ferry. Making plans to go there soon.

Students are trickling back into the town. From now till around Sept. 15 = most fun time of the year for Gally students.

Errands, errands. Gotta go.

Watched Fahrenheit 9/11 last Sunday. The sobbing of the woman sitting next to me certainly amplified the movie's impact on me. I left the theater in a daze. Anyone else seen it yet?

Whether you supported the war or not, it's heartening to see the Iraqi soccer team doing so well in the Olympics.

USA basketball team (AKA Scream Team) got drubbed by PUERTO RICO. It's becoming obvious that NBA's basketball and the international brand are very different games. It's possible to be a superstar in NBA and be a benchwarmer in int'l games, and vice versa.

Plus, beige Americans have pretty much given up on playing basketball seriously, seeing it as a black thing. So our team really represents a talent pool of about 36 million people. That's less than most Western European nations.

Last night, was raining so hard in DC that I missed a turn-right sign, and got pulled over by police. I used my patented technique to avoid getting a ticket. I'll go ahead and share it with y'all. It works only if you're stopped in a city or in the suburbs and you weren't speeding.

Act happy and relieved (don't overdo it) to see the cop and immediately tell him/her that you're confused and lost. Say that you're looking for [a street that you know is nearby]. Act like if he/she and you're in cahoots, on the same side. They'll be like oh oh sure, let me give you directions.

I tried that about 5 times so far and it worked every time. The cops deep inside are tired of being assholes who do nothing but ticket people and eat donuts. So when an opportunity arises, they're so happy to be the shining knight for a change that they forget about the ticket. They, too, bleed red.

Before that encounter, I was at Irish Times. A handful of us went downstairs to that dance room. Eric and I invented a new dance. "ASL dance"- we'd dance to what we were saying. Even if what we said was "Dennis Cruz told me we should lift weights 3 times a day, every fucking day, recovery days are not necessary." We'd say that in the most rhythmic, sing-songy way possible, while dancing. Then 2 hearing girls joined to boogie with us, clueless to what we were up to ;)

Sorenson games, anyone?

I'm bored out of my mind and will be for next few hours. An idea just occurred to me: play games with friends on sorenson. But not many great one-on-one games without cards. Any ideas?

Interesting website: www.play-analogia.com

Lemme know what your results are.

NOW that's a scary post :)

(copied from espn.com, an article about sex and olympicians)

Helen Stephens was a true heartland hero. Not only did she beat Stella in the 100 in Berlin on the way to a new world record, but she also turned down some serious sexual advances from Adolf Hitler.

Stephens, writes Wallechinsky in "The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics," made the obligatory visit to Hitler's box after her victorious sprint. She offered a firm handshake (Americans didn't give the Nazi salute), but Hitler offered a firm grope. "He gets ahold of my fanny," the Fulton Flash said, "and he begins to squeeze and pinch and hug me up, and he said, 'You're a true Aryan type. You should be running for Germany.'"

Then Hitler laid on the big offer: a weekend at his retreat in Berchtesgaden. She turned him down.

Noticed the speed limit on highways is awfully low? It's because speed limits haven't changed much since the 1950s. So they're based on road tests of the 1950s cars, with their 1950s engines, 1950s tires, 1950s brakes, and so forth.

The government doesn't want to update, God forbid it gets less of your moolah.

Thursday: BAK called Jesse and me to help out with some stuff with Tower Clock (Gally's yearbook). Then we headed over to his house. I saw Bren S. and to witness how much he has deteriorated almost brought me to tears. His mental illness has become obvious. When Jesse and I were joking about if he didn't vote and Kerry lost PA (his home state and one of the so-called battleground states) by one vote and Bush ended up starting WWIII that'd end the world and it'd be all Jesse's fault, Bren was yelling, "What's so funny about it?!" His behavior was bizarre, erratic, unbecoming and haunting. I expect him to start private conversations with me soon about CIA's surveillance on his activities.

Nah, Bren was just playing. BTW, he wrote some great blogs when he was interning at Democratic National Convention.

Friday: arrived at DPHH late. The Reef's pretty cool with all those fish tanks.

Yesterday: went to a wedding. Took place in the outdoors. Lots of beautiful tall trees. The bride first met her future husband at Deaf Way 2 (at that ill-fated $75 Hard Rock Cafe party, no less) when they were waiting in the line. She found him annoying. Women always seem to say they found their boyfriends/husbands annoying at first.

Today: I rested.

When's it ever not fun to look at pictures of your parents' heydays?

My dad's bottom left.


A good pic even if Dad ain't in this pic- he was the one taking it.




My mom (R) in high school.


Pics of my mom in her roaring 20's are scarce. She chose to record 'em with a super 8mm movie camera. Lots of cool footages. She was more of a hippie than my dad was. I know this because when she was at RIT, she made a bunch of "make love not war" posters ;)

I've never felt like I was raised by ex-hippies. They were stricter than most of my friends' parents. Much more than my childhood best friend's college professor parents. Go figure.

Why our team is starting to suck...

Just watched USA Olympic basketball team edge Germany 80-77 in an exhibition game, on a last-second half-court wild heave by Allen "Bubbachuck" Iverson. That was after the team got blown out 95-78 yesterday. And Germany didn't even qualify for the Olympics. So USA's prospects don't look too good for this Olympics.

Only 12 years ago, the original Dream Team's closest game was by something like 35 points. USA teams have become worse and worse since. NBA players are losing interest in international games. Shaq, Kobe, KG, T-Mac and others declined the invitation. I can't say I blame them because it's a no-win situation- if they win the gold, it's like "but of course" and nobody cares. If they only got silver, shame on them. We have to admire those rare stars like Duncan and Iverson for even showing up.

Another factor I think is that international players are more hungry. Not just to embarrass the Americans, but if they play well against them, they probably will gain attention from the scouts and maybe land a multi-million contract with a NBA team. It's like an audition. They have a lot to gain and nothing to lose.

Holoscan

Finally got holoscan working. Automatic installion didn't work. So comment away. Talk back to me. The masses are no longer silenced.

eerie

Had a coupla nightmares last night.

#1. This is a recurring one. The semester's nearly over and I suddenly realize there's this class that I'd completely forgotten about during the entire semester. A fat 'F' waiting for me.

#2. I see somebody who I've met only once in real life. She's nonchalently wearing a button-down shirt, only it ain't buttoned down. It's open, with her boobs barely concealed. Sexy? It would be except that her chest's hairy. I don't recoil at the fact that she has chest hair at all, but that she didn't shave it. I wake up sweating. Women, if you wish to intrude into my dreams, please have a full chest wax first :)

Last Friday, went to a small party. I looked at Dana S. and announced she's the Kate Hudson of Gally. Sadly, the observation wasn't so original– she had heard it over 1000 times. We turned our attention to Bellamie and decided she was Natalie Portman. She had heard it for only 2nd time.

Later, somebody was asking me and others if we thought he was crazy. Bellamie said, "Well, you can be...sometimes." When he wasn't looking, she told me, "I was just being nice," and we laughed. Joy said he was indeed a crazy man. He got mad and insisted that he was a crazy boy, not a crazy man, because there's a difference. Crazy boy as in "ha ha he's a crazy ol' boy ha ha", while a crazy man's just psycho. Good point, boy.

Hell, I don't know what's blog-worthy anymore :)

Last night, watched "The Gods Must Be Crazy" at a friend's place. Always good for barrels of laughs. There was also a documentary on the DVD about a guy tracking down N!Xau, who played that charming bushman "Xi". Turned out the bushmen's carefree culture as portrayed by the movie was just a filmmaker's fantasy. Real bushmen wore shirts and pants and didn't live so well– they were starving. Very unfortunate.

Yet another mundane weekend. I looked back to all of my previous summers and realized it's turning out to be my most mundane summer since...1989. I'm mad as hell that I didn't plan it better ha. Hey, self-anger can be good sometimes, like an inner drill sergeant screaming in my face to do it better next time.

At least things are looking better ahead.