http://time.com/4860367/winnie-the-pooh-xi-china-obama-ban/
http://time.com/4860693/twitter-reaction-ann-coulter-delta/
July 17, 2017
February 2, 2017
The hedgehog and the fox
Things are usually not all black and white, and worth further study before jumping into conclusions.
The travel ban of the seven Muslim majority countries is both cruel and ineffective, even though it might help me recruit students.
https://twitter.com/liyiwei/status/825427856868007936
As reported in this NYT article written in 2015, the current H1-B visa system has plenty problems. Instead of a random lottery to address the over-demand (by mostly outsourcing firms), it is better to use a more market-driven system, e.g. giving higher priority to higher paid foreign workers.
In general, a skill-based immigration system, similar to what currently exists in Canada, can be better than the current family-based system in the US.
October 30, 2016
US election 2016
All people are not equal across all space and time in human history.
Such inequality used to be determined by hereditary traits such as race and sex, but more by merits such as character and capability nowadays.
This election has been driven by a large negative force from those who want to revert to the old days of hereditary discrimination and protectionism.
But doing so is only going to make everyone much worse off.
I have cast my vote that can (albeit very slightly) reduce the chance of this disastrous outcome.
[after the election]
Like many people, I was initially very surprised by the upset.
But surprises are part of my day jobs: failed experiments, rejected grants, negative reviews, etc.
I am excited to see convention wisdom turned upside down.
A fully functional democracy can work things out even with a non-conventional president.
Maybe history will show that is exactly what we need.
February 2, 2016
Clinton versus Rubio
Barring major unexpected events, I could not see any other way for the 2016 US presidential election, and this will be a very interesting match-up.
π
November 8, 2014
What I like the most about democracy
Is that voters get what they deserve; when things go wrong they cannot blame others such as deity in a theocracy or rulers in a dictatorship.
June 27, 2014
Image from a 1930 Japanese magazine
It is interesting to note that the Japanese (and the Korean) used more Chinese characters in the past than now, as they have been trying to rid of the Chinese influence. If you are a Chinese you could probably read this image fine, even if not modern Japanese or Korean writings.
August 7, 2013
Father’s day haiku
A Y-chromosome
passed from dad to son
unchanged across millenniums.
April 2, 2013
Ancestry
According to my family history I am of northern Chinese descent. DNA analysis indicated that it might have to go a bit further north, across the Great Wall. Specifically, since my paternal haplogroup is C3*, it is closer to the Mongols than the Manchus (whose emperors carried C3c, a related but different thread). There is also a non-trivial chance that my Y-chromosome came from Genghis Khan, who has left a wide genetic footprint across the former Mongol empire.
To clarify, the paternal haplogroup only traces the Y-chromosome, not the entire ethnic composition. I am pretty sure it is not uncommon for northern Chinese to have some Mongolic blend.
Furthermore, my maternal haplogroup is D4e3 (likely coastal Chinese). So I am probably some combination of Mongolian and Han Chinese.
My grandfather once told me that our last name came from one of the seven warring states. Clearly, he thought we were (pure) Han Chinese. I am having fun imaging his reaction upon hearing his true ancestry.
I plan to use this to explain away my past and future behaviors.
π
February 9, 2013
Wedding photo of my grandparents
My father dug out this old photo of my (paternal) grandparents’ wedding, which took place near the end of WW2 in Jiangxi province, China.
I am not sure why, but such old photos tend convey a unique sense of beauty.
This particular one also carries some historical background.
My grandfather was a KMT air force officer, *lucky* enough to have spent the best part of his life in the most *interesting* segment of the Chinese history.
He has fought the warlords and the Asian theatre of WW2, which was almost done during his wedding. He probably thought the peace was finally coming without realizing that the commies were around the corner and a full scale civil war would break out just a year later. (As a further twist, Jiangxi province, where he stationed and married, was the origin of Chinese commies.)
It is just so romantic to get married in the middle of all these shit-storms. I can imagine the photo declaring to the whole world that “we know there is a lot of crap going on right now. But screw you all. We are getting married today. This is our world and nothing is going to stop us”.
Date: April 4, 1945
Place: Jiangxi Province, (likely) Jiujiang City (δΉζ±), China