Random thoughts, Must-do chores & Everything else

Wars Fought to Maintain International Cooperation

2008-05-05T23:29:00.002-04:00

Introduction The deliberate taking of human life is generally deemed morally wrong. Whether one approaches this moral position from a rights-based perspective, namely, that no one has the right to take another human being’s life or from a duty-based perspective, namely, that one has the duty to respect the sanctity of human life, killing is equally objectionable because it is particularly

David Brooks on Kennedy's endorsement of Obama

2008-01-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

January 29, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist The Kennedy Mystique By DAVID BROOKS Something fundamental has shifted in the Democratic Party. Last week there was the widespread revulsion at the Clintons’ toxic attempts to ghettoize Barack Obama. In private and occasionally in public, leading Democrats lost patience with the hyperpartisan style of politics — the distortion of facts, the

Just War Theory

2007-11-29T01:28:00.000-05:00

I am working on a research paper these days on just war theory. The idea is very simple. Just war theory is about the admission that wars cannot be eliminated, but its frequency can be minimized. In order to minimize wars, the just war theorists draw a line in the sand and call some wars just, the others unjust. Then with the power of moral debate and public discourse, hopefully the unjust

一个故事

2007-05-12T13:36:00.000-04:00

写文章写了一半。心情乱糟糟的，也写不下去了。所以还是劳作些有意义的事情吧。我想说一个芒果和麦兜的故事芒果和麦兜老早就认识的。初中就是同班同学，大家一起玩着长大。麦兜对芒果有些蒙胧的好感，不过芒果只拿麦兜当作一个朋友来对待。麦兜的朋友丁丁很帅，毕业的时候芒果和丁丁开始谈朋友了。麦兜尽管心里有些难过，但都是蒙蒙隆隆的感情，摇摇头就忘了。高中麦兜去了一个新学校，每天忙着读书，生活非常滋润。麦兜也忘了是怎样有和芒果遇上的。芒果要高考了，麦兜已经报送了。所以麦兜就提议帮芒果补课。天天能见到芒果，麦兜很开心。然后忽然就想起了原来对芒果的好感。好像真的有点喜欢这个小姑娘。具体的事情太久远了，都不记得了。但麦兜清楚的记得在芒果参加高考的时候，他等在路上，祝芒果好运，然后骑着车送她去考试。考了几天就送了几天。哦对了，芒果填写志愿的时候，麦兜原来想叫她抱交大的。但芒果包了上外。不过麦兜有点混混厄厄的，

2007-05-10T08:30:00.000-04:00

i must document my feelings at this moment. i cannot remember the last time i ve been so emotionally distressed and utterly stunned. i used to believe that i was invincible. little did i know that no one could rise above the law of the cruel world. the wise used to say that only those that you care for can harm you the deepest. it is in the thounderous sound of snapping the

Crim

2007-02-08T17:41:00.000-05:00

A few quick reactions to my criminal law class with Rubenfeld: 1. Should we use tougher deterrence for crimes harder to deter? Rubenfeld raised the possibility that the difference in categorization and eventually in sentencing between 1st and 2nd degree murder is less than intuitive. 1st degree murder punishes cold-blooded killing that also has present intent to kill, premediation or

Interracial marriage

2007-01-20T18:07:00.000-05:00

JUST three decades ago, Thurgood Marshall was only months away from appointment to the Supreme Court when he suffered an indignity that today seems not just outrageous but almost incomprehensible. He and his wife had found their dream house in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., but could not lawfully live together in that state: he was black and she was Asian. Fortunately for the Marshalls,

gay couples' right to adoption

2006-12-13T18:19:00.000-05:00

This is a highly debated area. the supreme court employed a rational basis + a bite test in sexuality related cases, e.g. Lawrence v. Texas. But when it comes to adoption, I believe at this point in time, a pure rational basis test is adequate. First, to decide what level of scrutiny to employ, we must decide what's the source of this right or privilege. I guess it fits under either liberty or

Paper ideas

2006-12-08T11:31:00.000-05:00

I am deeply convinced that authoritarian governments also mean well and want to serve their people. It is simply a different approach they are taking. The jury is still out how it stacks up against a demorcratic society. There are a variety of forces at work, which makes the battle between these two systems interesting. The U.S. enjoys a significant geographic advantage by being separated out

2006-11-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

Match point"The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a litte luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe

1L

2006-09-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

Three weeks into my 1L year"God damn it!" I wake up to the inceasant noise every morning, murmurring to nobody, "couldn't you stop that for one fucking day, spare yourself a moment, if not for me, then for this god damn rain?" The colosseum is being taken down. Dynamite is scheduled for mid october. Out of my window stands the skeleton of what-used-to-be the symbol of the city's revival program,

Norwegian wood

2006-08-25T17:33:00.000-04:00

Murakami, Haruki. Norwegian Wood. Vintage International. 2000. Translated by Jay Rubin.I must begin how Murakami opens up his memories.“Eighteen years have gone by, and still I can bring back every detail of that day in the meadow. Washed clean of summer’s dust by days of gentle rain, the mountains wore a deep, brilliant green. The October breeze set white fronds of head-tall grasses swaying.

Wittgenstein's Poker

2006-08-07T20:15:00.000-04:00

Edmonds, David and Eidinow, John. Wittgenstein's Poker -- The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers. HarperCollins, First paperback edition 2002. pp. 16. "Don't try and shit higher than your arse," which Wittgenstein applied to philosophers like Popper who thought they could change the worldpp. 33. "To learn from Wittgenstein without coming to adopt his forms of

In Shanghai again

2006-06-14T03:33:00.000-04:00

Gloomy sky overshadows the skyline. I am in Shanghai again. I can't figure this city out. So many encounters are underpinned by inquisitions into other people's wealth, salaries and social status. People are indulged in their money thirst, adding no other meaning to life than making more and more money. Should we take a quick minute to think about the most successful money makers against

The unbearable lightness of being

2006-05-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. (1999) Translated by Michael Henry Heimpp. 8 There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?pp. 31 Not

perhaps its time to move on

2006-04-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

I am a firm believer that in fact I am a very unique guy. I embody a number of great qualities: smart, funny, interesting, curious, energetic, etc. I am so certain that to those that can recognize these charateristics and are able to appreciate them, I am a rarity, difficult to find, but once found forever to cherish..It is somewhat discouraging when I find out that Juliee is wavering, not

Sharp debate over ideology

2006-03-12T20:49:00.000-05:00

March 12, 2006 A Sharp Debate Erupts in China Over Ideologies By JOSEPH KAHN BEIJING, March 11 — For the first time in perhaps a decade, the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-run legislature now convened in its annual two-week session, is

The world is flat

2006-03-05T04:20:00.000-05:00

Tom Friedman in his book The World is Flat describes the global playing field is being leveld at lightning speed compared to what human history had witnessed in all its existence. This leveling trend however was first observed and predicted by Karl Marx in his Communist Manifesto -- The inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries frictions and restraints to

BAT

2006-03-05T04:18:00.000-05:00

The following scribbles were jotted down before / during / after my BAT trip to Munich, Kitzbuhel and Vienna.Jan. 7, 06 9pm ShanghaiBack from dinner with Julie at Lan Xin. She apparently did not enjoy the food as much as I did, especially the "oil fried shrimps." But I took her by surprise with a nice swarovski necklace. It is a beautiful necklace with a simple but elegant crystal -- exactly the

Rubicon

2006-01-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

I finished reading Rubicon a few months ago. Bought this book at the airport in Cincinnati when my flight was delayed and I was basically bored out of my mind. Such little occurances sometimes in a strange way bring something significant to your life for the months to follow. Let me spend a few minutes discussing how I bought this book in the firstplace.I am bored, sitting, waiting, staring into

dreams are powerful

2005-12-20T04:33:00.000-05:00

i saw this girl. leslie something from r&i at the shanghai xmas party. it was weird. i swear to god i saw her in my dreams before, wearing exactly the same dress. she was not even that attractive althougn yu ning disagrees with me violently on this point. it is so strange to see people, places, and things in dreams first then again in real life. Life is planned out and all encounters are fates.

3 months in china

2005-12-20T03:54:00.000-05:00

i've spent almost three months in china so far. it's been quite an experience and i am still not so sure what i think about it. one thing is for sure though, i feel i will need to give it a few more years before i move back permanently. there are a number of good things about this country, but i will come back at a later time to detail them out. the main problem is that i am not mentally

Fanatics

2005-10-11T18:17:00.000-04:00

Paul de Sa gives a concise definition for fanatics: those who double the effort and lose sight of the goal. I might fall victim to my desire of working in China and prove to be a fanatic. But what can you do?

back in dc, only to leave again

2005-10-10T11:18:00.000-04:00

For a couple of months, life can be depicted with endless, abysmal disarray. almost from the v end of my outcry, things start to spiral downward until it all gets out of control, until hope is lost and until white flags are flying over my head.Nothing is more devastating though than the mentally ready myself finds no place, no work, no sympathy in my hometown. I was ready to stay, and was

so few days left in dc

2005-09-04T12:47:00.000-04:00

She has really broken my heart. I sat in front of my house all night, one cigarette after another, singing songs that only I could understand, aloud, as if there were only me existing in the universe. I was lonely, helpless, not knowing where life is leading toward. Perhaps every end feels the same, this one hurts particularly bad though especially after knowing about van. why i cry out why...