My pack list for Hawaii

This is the 10th time that somebody has asked me, “What should I pack for Hawaii?”

Still in the middle of all the deadlines with little time left, I can get very grouchy. The first thought that came to my mind? Some day I will charge a hefty but well-deserved fee for all these pieces of advice.

I normally fly from the Continental United States to Honolulu first, then switch to Hawaiian Airlines for interisland flights.

Hawaiian Airlines just changed its checked bag policy (speaking of less competition and more ways to milk money these days). The free luggage allowance drops from two to one checked bag. For the second checked bag there is an additional fee of $17. The carry-on policy, at this point, is still one piece of baggage and one personal item.

Sure, I understand it affects the way people decide what to bring and what to check. I do not check bags for any of my flights in the United States unless I am going to Hawaii. The reason: Bringing back Kona coffee and carry my bulky snorkeling gear.

So here is what in my check-in bag whenever I fly to Hawaii, besides the usual “you know what I mean”:

(1) Snorkeling equipment.

(2) 2 sets of swimming suites and rash guard.

(3) Cameras: Underwater digital camera (my green Olympus Stylus 1030SW) and my blue Panasonic DMC-TZ5. The Panasonic one has a “monster” optical lens among all compact point-and-shot digital cameras. I found it is extremely useful to shoot objects in distance.

(4) My Costco membership card. “Never leave home for Hawaii without it”. There are almost a Costco in every island of Hawaii. I typically load all my Kona coffee in Costco the day before I return to the Continental United States.

(5) A pair of hiking sneakers, and 2 pairs of comfortable sandals.

(6) Sunscreens, a lot of them. For body: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock (at least SPF 55) and NeutrogenaFresh Cooling Body Mist Sunblock (at least SPF 45). The latter comes in handy as I can just spray on. For face: Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Plump Perfect Moisture Cream (SPF30), and Pevonia Botanica Hydrating Sunscreen (SPF30). These are the two that I find do not leave white stuff on my face and do not break my skin out.

(7) Sunglasses and hat.

(8) Insect repellent and hand sanitizer. I prefer these towelettes in individual packs, such as Off! Deep Woods Insect Repellent Towelettes and Wet Ones Antibacterial Moist Wipes.

(9) The “blue books” and maps: I am referring to Wizard Publications tourbooks. They are fun to read on the airplane and are rather detailed. These days I do not need to carry their “Oahu Revealed“, but I do carry their other books for islands besides Oahu. For a reasonably good driving maps, I normally carry Nelles Maps for Hawaii.

(10) Handheld GPS. My TomTom XL340-S comes so handy. Before the trip, I run a map-update with the TomTom server. My GPSis set for speaking the street names with a British accent. The fun part of it in Hawaii is to listen to the GPS trying to speak these looooooooooooooooooooooong street names with a British accent.

(11) Medical and health stuff. Multi-Vitamines, Vitamine D, and Vitamine C drinks. Small first-aid kit, and because I snorkel a lot, I get often cuts from reefs. Bactine soothing infection protection first aid liquid is a must in my bag.

(12) A hooded sweater and a rain gear. The summits of volcanos in Maui and Big Island can be so cold.

Steve Colbert’s interview with J. J. Abrams

The Comedy Central’s Colbert Report did a funny summer movie review: “Movies that are destroying America”, on Monday, May 4th. The host Steve Colbert also interviewed the director of the Star Trek movie, J.J. Abrams.

I have not had a chance to catch up with the recent episodes of the Colbert Report until today. Then I ran into this clip. It was hilarious.

Finally, Sherlock Holmes movie trailer

Wow, finally, the movie trailer of my long-awaited Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes. It is about time!  

This is one of my most anticipated movies in 2009. Although it looks like I have to wait until Christmas day then.

Not sure I like that much of Guy Ritchie’s previous work, but there is no doubt that Robert Downey Jr. will shine again.

I surely hope he keeps bringing one blockbuster after another. In a way, this should be another big payday for such a talented actor.

The movie trailer looks good. As usual, Downey never disappoints his audience. Somehow, I also find Jude Law did a pretty good job as Dr. John Watson.

Love the way the movie is packed with actions and humors (the British type, looks like), kind of quite different from previous versions of Sherlock Holmes’ series.

Why not? I welcome the re-boot. J.J. Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek is the best of the Star Trek movies ever made.

Bai Yansong’s speech at Yale University

One of my colleagues told me that she is heading to Costa Rica for vacation, and she plans to do some serious hiking while enjoying the view. Somewhere during the conversation, my past hiking trips at Jiu Zhai Gou and Huang Long popped up.

I spent three days hiking inside these two UNESCO World Heritage sites. I am not a person that is easily impressed to begin with, and the experience was truly remarkable. (Click here for some pictures of Jiu Zhai Gou from internet). So I said, “If you like hiking, maybe you want to check these two out–they are so different and beautiful.”

She replied, “Yes, of course I will check it out sometimes. I always want to go to China, but I am a bit afraid.” Realizing me raising my eye brows, she added, “Well, you know, I do not understand Chinese, and it is a country so big and so far away…”

By no means I would attempt to impose my views on anyone, but I also did not do a good job of hiding my surprise.

What’s the point of travel in the first place? When I went to Paris the first time, I did not speak single word of French. When I visited Italy, I do not speak single word of Italian (still cannot speak any of the two these days either), and had to take a local train from Rome to Napoli and then ferry to Capri. And I enjoyed my trips so much.

Maybe I am just being ignorant, by assuming everyone else with the means and resources also has the same mindset. For example, the other day I mentioned that I still need to visit Egypt and South America (they are on my must-go list of my life) to another colleague, and he was confused: “Why?”

Then it was my turn to get confused, “Why not?”

Does he ever know the science and beauty behind these pyramids? Does he ever appreciate the wonders of other cultures? I was breathless when I was visiting the Pergamon Museum, in front of the remains of ancient Babylonia culture. That was the fall of 2006, my first trip ever to Berlin, Germany. Although I studied German in college for a couple of years, I never had a chance to use it, and by the time I managed to get to Germany, I could no longer speak German besides a few basic words.

But that does not put any stop on my appreciation for what these museums can show me.

Maybe this is the way I has always been educated. Maybe this also comes from my Australia mentor’s influence. And maybe I am being harsh on my colleagues.  However, it is always my belief that the biggest nightmare that could ever occur to any intellectual is to lose his/her curiosity, and to lose his/her appreciation for other (different) cultures. Our mind stops advancing and our vision becomes short-sighted.

A while ago I read Bai Yansong’s speech at Yale University in Chinese. Today, I googled an English translation by Nimrod. I fixed some obvious typos and copied the translated speech below.

Bai Yansong (here’s his biography), the famed CCTV anchor, was on a trip to film his travels and observations in the US, when he gave this following speech at Yale University recently. (Here is the original.) It has a “commencement speech” style to it and is of general interest.

My Story and the Chinese Dream Behind It

By BAI Yan Song

Translation by Nimrod

Source: http://blog.foolsmountain.com/2009/04/17/my-story-and-the-chinese-dream-behind-it/

In the past twenty years, China has faced three American presidents, but till coming to Yale today, I never realized that China really just faced one university. Although, through these three presidents, I understand that the quality of Yale graduates is not so even.

Let me begin my main subject and let me give it a title, called “My Story and the Chinese Dream Behind It”. I want to talk about five particular years. The first is 1968. That year I was born. But it was also a chaotic year for the world. In France, there was this huge street disturbance, and in America, too. Then President Kennedy was assassinated. However, I really did not cause all of these! But that year what we remember more was the assassination of Mr. Martin Luther King. Although he fell that year, his words “I have a dream” stood up, not only stood up in America, but across the whole world.

But sadly, not only for me, but for almost all Chinese, we did not know such a dream. It was hard to describe each Chinese as having his or her own dream. China and America were so far apart, no less far apart than the Moon and the Earth. But I didn’t care about any of that. All I cared about was could I have a full meal. Clearly, I was born at a very inconvenient time, not only for China, but even for the world, there were problems.

In 1978, ten years later, I was 10. I still lived in the very little city that had only 200 thousand people at the time I was born. It was 2000 km from Beijing. If you wanted to read the newspaper from Beijing, you waited three days. So for us, there was no such thing as news. That year my grandfather passed away. Two years before that my father passed away. So there was just my mother left to take care of me and my brother. Her monthly salary was not even ten dollars. As a result, even though I was 10, the word “dream” was still not in my vocabulary, and I would never think of it. I could not see hope in this family, but only felt bitter cold every winter. Where we lived was close to the Soviet Union. Yet the 1978 in which I could not see hope was also the year that a huge change took place, whether for China or for the relationship between China and America. That is a date that everybody here today should remember.

December 16, 1978, China and America officially established diplomatic relations. That was a big event. And two days after that, December 18 was when China opened the 3rd Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee. That was the beginning of thirty-one years of Reform and Opening. History, two great nations, and a very pitiful family all became intertwined in a theatrical way. Truthfully, from the small personal family, to the big family of the country, nobody then had any idea what the future would be like.

In 1988, I was 20. At this time I had already come out of the little border town to Beijing as a university student. Although we have many people in China today criticizing China’s university entrance exams and see many many deficiencies in it, it must be said that it is such a system that allowed very ordinary people like me to have the opportunity to change our lives. Of course, at that time, America was no longer a very distant country. It became very specific. It was no longer the “Imperialist America” of the past slogans, but it became the many details in our lives. This was the first time that I tasted Coca-Cola. When I finished drinking it I believed China and America were truly so close, because it tasted just like Chinese medicine.

That was a time when I took a crazy liking to rock’n’roll. That was a time when Michael Jackson still looked relatively handsome. More importantly, that was a time when China experienced very big transformations, as Reform and Opening had already gone on for ten years. That year, China began experimenting with market pricing for many goods. It may feel like something totally incomprehensible to you, but it was a big deal in China, a huge step, because before that the prices were decided by the government. But in that year, because price controls were relaxed, the whole country went on a crazy shopping spree. Everybody all thought, how long could this last, so they had to get a whole life’s worth of food and goods to bring home. That year symbolized that China marched closer and closer to a market economy.

Of course back then nobody knew that market economy could also have a subprime crisis. Anyway, I know that 1988 was an extra important year for Yale, because a Yale alum once again became an American President.

In 1998, I was 30. I had already become a news anchor at CCTV. More importantly, I had become the father of a one-year-old child. That year a very important thing happened between China and America, and the protagonist was Clinton. Perhaps you remember his sexual scandal in America, but in China what we remember is his visit to China that year. In June, when he visited China, he and President Jiang Zemin held an open press conference in the Great Hall of the People. Then he gave an open lecture at Peking University. The live anchor for both events was me.

During Clinton’s lecture at Peking University, because he used his own translator the whole time, I guessed that many Chinese viewers only knew that Clinton was definitely saying something, but what he said wasn’t all that clear. So near the end of my live broadcast, I remarked that it looked like for America to learn more about China, sometimes it needed to start with language, though for our two countries, face-to-face was always better than back-to-back. It was also at the beginning of that year that I drove the first car in my life. For me this was unimaginable before, that Chinese people one day would also drive their own cars. A personal delight can also make a lasting impression, because sometimes the first time is the most unforgettable.

In 2008, I was 40. The words “I have a dream” that haven’t been discussed for many years now were heard among so many Americans. It seemed like Obama really did not want to accept Yale’s 20-year occupation of America. Using words like “change” and “dream”, he even convinced Yale teachers and students to parade and celebrate his election to the Presidency, according to what I’ve heard.

But this was also a year in which the Chinese Dream showed clearly. After encountering many setbacks as any grand dream in the world is destined to, it came through. Whether it was the long-awaited Beijing Olympics, or the first spacewalk by a Chinese aboard the Shenzhou 7, these were all dreams which we have waited for a long time since a long time ago. But the sudden Sichuan Earthquake made all this not as magnificent as we had expected. Eighty-thousand lives departed, and made every day of 2008 seem like a year. I’m guessing that on Yale’s campus, on every web site, in front of television and newspapers, were also many people from China, and people in all parts of the world, who shed tears for these lost lives. Just like forty years ago when Mr. Martin Luther King fell but allowed the words “I have a dream” to stand higher, more enduring, and seem ever more valuable, more Chinese people also came to understand that dreams are important, but lives are even more so.

During the Olympics, I passed my own fortieth birthday. That day I was full of emotional thoughts, because when the day of my birthday approached, I was broadcasting an exciting competition. Twenty-four hours later, when my birthday was passing, I was still broadcasting. But that day I felt very fortunate. Because it was such a special fortieth birthday at the Beijng Olympics that made me realize the Chinese Dream behind my personal story.

It was in this kind of forty years that I went from a far-away border-town kid who had no possibility of having a dream, to a newsman who could be at a big festival celebrated with all of humanity and who could communicate and share the happiness with them. This was a life story that took place in China. And in this year, China and America were not far apart. There was a bit of me in you and a bit of you in me, we needed each other. It was said that President Bush spent the longest time in any country abroad as President, and that was during the Beijing Olympics. Phelps took eight medals there, and his family was there by his side. All Chinese wished that extraordinary family well. Of course, every dream will pass. In such a year, China and America almost simultaneously found their new “I havea dream” moment, and it was so coincidental, and so deserving.

America is facing a very very difficult financial crisis, and it isn’t only America, but it affects the whole world seriously. Yesterday I got to New York. As soon as I deplaned, I went to Wall Street. There I saw the statue of President Washington. His gaze was permanently fixed on the huge American flag on the stock exchange. Interestingly, the hall behind the statue was holding an exhibition on “President Lincoln in New York”, so President Lincoln’s huge portrait was also on it, and he also gazed at the flag. I felt the very solemn weight of history. When I left there, I told my colleague this. I said, many many years ago, if something like this befell America, perhaps Chinese people would have taken pleasure, because see, America is miserable again. But today, Chinese people would especially wish that America get better soon. Because we have hundreds of billions worth of money with America. We also have a huge quantity of products waiting to be put on freighters and sent to America. If America’s economy takes a step for the better, it means behind these products, another Chinese gets a raise, it means he regains his employment and happiness in the family.

In the past 30 years, I don’t know if you’ve noticed the Chinese Dream that is relevant to more and more ordinary Chinese people. I don’t know what other country in this world, in the past 30 years, has changed the individual fates at this magnitude. A kid from a remote small city on the periphery, a kid in despair, today has the chance to have an exchange with these Yale students. Maybe we can change the viewpoint, and look at 1.3 billion very ordinary Chinese, their down-to-earth dreams, their impulsive drive to change their fates, their still kindhearted temperament, and their diligent character. Today’s China is made up of these words I just spoke.

In the past many years, Chinese seemed to be looking at America through a telescope. So everything good that is in America was magnified by this telescope. Frequently people mentioned America was like this and like that, then look at us, when can we be like that. In the past many years, Americans also seemed to be looking at China through a telescope, but I am guessing they held it backwards. Because what they saw was a diminished, always-doing-wrong, full-of-problems China. They overlooked 1.3 billion very ordinary Chinese people and this impulsive drive and urge of theirs to change their fate, which caused such huge transformations in our country. But I also always had this dream: why do we need to use telescopes to look at each other?

Of course I hope very many Americans have a chance to go see China, and not to look at China through the media. You know I don’t really trust all of my colleagues. I’m just kidding. Actually I respect my American colleagues very much. I only hope that more and more American friends go to see a real China. Because I can at least guarantee one thing. Even if in America you ate what is deemed to be the best Chinese food, it won’t fetch a good price in China. Just like many many years ago, in every city of China there was this popular “California Beef Noodle” shop. Many Chinese all thought, anything from America was definitely very very tasty. So they all went to eat. Although it was not very tasty, they didn’t complain because they knew it was from America. This fast-food chain existed in China for many years, until more and more Chinese people came to America, and searched every corner of California for a California Beef Noodle shop, and could not find a single one. Only then did more and more Chinese know that California doesn’t have such beef noodle, so this chain store in China is in the process of disappearing. This is the kind of discrepancy I am talking about. As we come and go, such misunderstandings will be fewer and fewer.

So lastly I just want to say one thing again. Forty years ago, when Mr. Martin Luther King fell down, his words “I have a dream” spread across the world. But, you must know that there is not just an English version of “I have a dream.” In the distant East, in the China that has held on for thousands of years, there is also a dream. It isn’t a grandiose slogan, it doesn’t lie with the government. It belongs to every ordinary Chinese. It is “I have a dream” written in Chinese.

Boldly trapped in the new Star Trek movie

Never a big fan of the original Star Trek series myself.

A while ago, I watched a couple of episodes and fell asleep half way through. The plots and characters of the original series are plain boring to me: I guess someone like me just couldn’t get it

Plus, I never liked Spock’s dark eye shadows… I know, I know, at that time there was a limitation on the makeup technology, but eye shadows on a guy? I am not “fashion-backward” but this is even a bit too much for me. Oh, I also do not like William Shatner’s shoulders; I thought he should have worked out more…

Neither am I interested in the other variations of this franchise.

There was a time Stinky Monkey told me that a lot of women were crazy about Captain Picard, featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I was confused.

“Why?” I asked, “To me he needs some Chinese herbs to help grow his hair.” No offense to Mr. Stewart and Trekkies. It was an honest thought at that time.

But this Star Trek movie far exceeded every aspect of my expectation. Yes I admitted I went to see it because of word of mouth, but also because I was so bored and lack of inspiration on my work that day.

Wow, what a surprise! The movie totally blew me away!  The script is awesome, the dialogs are smart, and the acting is fabulous. If there were an Oscar for casting, this movie wins!

The minute I went back home, I pre-ordered the DVD from Amazon.com. I have not done that since the movie Iron Man.

Zachary Quinto did a GREAT job as Spock (oddly, I never pay attention to his character in Heros — I do not like that TV series in the first place). Christ Pine’s Captain Kirk is equally shining. Even Bruce Greenwood is super cool as Captain Pike. Simon Pegg’s Scott is funny, and Zoe Saldana’s Uhura is sexy and intelligent.

Well, except for Eric Bana’s Nero. He did not scare me that much.

What I want now? Sequels, please!

Just like I have already marked my calendar for the next two Iron Man movies, I hope they made decisions soon about the sequels to this Star Trek movie.

Sequels! Please!

Here I copied the Youtube links for the three trailers. Official Trailer 3 (also in HD)

Official Trailer 2 (also in HD)

Official Trailer 1 (also in HD)

Maneuvering the upgrade with Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines is leaving the SkyTeam Alliance on October 24, 2009, to join the Star Alliance next day. While the switch is expected, I feel sad about it. For me, maneuvering through Continental’s business-first class upgrade system has long been a dazzling but rewarding experience. Now the fun will be gone after October.

Between Asia and North America, Continental requires 12,500 miles for full fare and 25,000 miles for selected economy discounted fares with an additional fee.

However, if I want to use miles from Northwest to upgrade for a Continental flight to Asia, I have to pay the Northwest’s way; i.e., if Northwest charges 30,000 miles for a one-way upgrade from a discounted economy fare, I lose 30,000 miles instead the 25,000 miles that Continental would charge.

The fun part is to figure out the optimal combination of fee + economy fare + miles. Remember, roughly 10,000 miles are worth $100. So the bottom line is what fee and fare class work best. I once ended up with an H fare ticket (at that time, there was no service fee for H-fare), because the fee plus other fare class in economy were higher than the H-fare itself.

The following is the current service fee schedule (apparently they kept raising the fees).

Fare Class One Way Service Fee 
Y $0
B $100
M $250
H/K $350
Q/U $400
V/G $450
All other fares $500

The good news is that at continental.com you can restrict your search to certain classes of economy fares only.

The most important thing, however, is to make sure the upgradeable seats in the Business First class are available (preferably wide open) at the time of booking. If these seats are gone, you are stuck with a more expensive fare without an upgrade.

In my case, there is an additional layer of complication: I have to call Northwest to get them upgrade my seat at Continental flights. Boy, even with a special Elite service line, that is not an easy routine. My record was a 4-hour straight back and forth between Northwest and Continental, including Northwest’s domestic and international offices. Dizzy!

However, the business first class is totally worth it, especially if you fly their non-stop, cross-Pacific flights; for example, Newark to Hong Kong, which lasts nearly 15 hours in the air, would be such a drag if you are in an economy class seat. Plus, I love their amendities kit because I am a big fan of the products from Escents.

May I add that their menu selection is also much better than those from Northwest and Delta.

I am going to miss you, Continental.

Crunch-free way to build the core

Here are two short videos from Yahoo and Exercise TV for simple exercise tricks to build the core muscle. Well, when it comes to exercise, nothing is simple. The entire article and more fitness videos can be viewed by clicking the link below. I only copy and paste the part of the article that I feel useful to me.

Adopt these Pilates-inspired tricks to strengthen your entire core and improve your posture.

By Lara Rosenbaum

By incorporating Pilates-inspired moves into your fitness routine, you can strengthen and shape your entire core all without doing a single crunch on the floor. What’s more, you’ll straighten your posture and improve your balance… Here, Pilates Master trainer Lizbeth Garcia, owner of Tilcia Studio in San Diego shows you how to sculpt your midsection and stand tall. Aim to perform the following tricks three to five times a week, and according to Garcia, you’ll see noticeable results in six weeks—just in time for Summer.

Prop into Plank: You’ve heard of this move, but this core-building exercise has become a classic for a reason. “It works nearly your whole body,” Garcia says. “Your core encompasses your entire trunk—from your shoulders to your pelvis. And planks target your spinal and pelvic muscles, too, along with all of your abs—internal, external, obliques and rectus and transverse abdominals.”

Even better, planks promote core stability, which can enhance athleticism and balance. (Thinking, looking good while remaining injury-free.) Try Belly Bulge Blast on ExerciseTV with Cindi Whitmarsh for a plank variation that utilizes leg movement and especially targets the lower section of your abs. 

Perform Stand Up’s vs. Sit Up’s: “When you stand, you add a balance challenge to your work,” Garcia says. “You lose your balance in general when you don’t have a strong core, so performing abdominal exercises while standing is like a double whammy.”

Start by focusing on your alignment, pulling your navel in towards your spine to help create a neutral, straight line in your back. You’ll want to do this when performing the plank, too. “Your alignment has to be correct to balance well,” Garcia says.

Try the standing cross crunch—as performed in Core Class, with Jessica Smith. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, and bring your left knee up toward you chest while simultaneously crunching your right elbow to your left knee. You don’t want to hunch, but rather stand strong. Repeat on the other side and continue for thirty reps.

Along with balance, bringing your knees up like this helps target the lower belly, a common trouble zone.

“You also need to breathe properly,” Garcia says. “Allow your lungs to expand when you inhale, and then squeeze your navel toward your spine as you exhale. When you breathe like this it helps with your alignment and allows you to train your core more deeply.

First suspected swine flu case in mainland China

By no means I want to write another blog about the swine flu outbreak, and it is rare for me to use the same Maodou the piggy again, but honestly, I am a bit freaking out.

According to Reuters on this Mother’s day, China isolated passengers on flu suspect’s flight, “China just quarantined more than 130 of the 150 passengers aboard a domestic flight that carried a Chinese man who was the mainland’s first suspected case of H1N1 flu.”

I read the Chinese news first (sorry, Reuters, the Chinese reports are faster). Initially I was not alerted because the reports all emphasized that the man, a University of Missouri student who is now hospitalized in Chengdu, Sichuan province (where the pandas live), departed from St. Louis with connections at “St. Paul” then Tokyo before landed in Beijing.

Apparently, the Chinese media confused the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) airport with the St. Paul airport, whereas I have been so used to MSP that for a while it did not even occur to me they were referring to the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport.

This morning, the follow-up news coverage revealed the flight number: NW029, and I almost fell onto the floor.

NW029 is the Northwest Airline’s flight from Tokyo to Beijing. To catch NW029, the man would have been on NW019 first — from Minneapolis to Tokyo.

OK, I know how Northwest arranges its flights to China. And I also know if the guy flew in to connect NW019, he would have had at least two hours layover in the airport, as there are only two direct flights to Minneapolis from St. Louis in the morning. In those cramped CRJs, of course. Yeah, who would want to be related to that depressing city St. Louis in the first place?

This means: (1) the man would have had a pretty long layover at the Minneapolis airport, especially near the gate G4! (Gosh I want to scream! Not Minneapolis, please!) and (2) the man must have stayed overnight in Beijing since his final destination is Chengdu and Northwest flights arrive in Beijing in the late evening. (Not Beijing, please!)

Then more Chinese news pours in, confirming the exact thoughts that I had in mind.

As if my life has not been stressful enough: I just bought my ticket back to China, and I certainly do not want see a swine flu infected MSP in the first place…

UPDATE: 

• The man flew NW1526 from St. Louis to Minneapolis, seat number 19F.
• He stayed at MSP for nearly 3 hours before boarding NW019 flight to Tokyo, seat number 25E. (Oh my god! On that flight I would always choose 24D or 24G if I am in the economy class cabin. Which means he would have just sit behind me!)
• His swine flu symptoms started to pop up on NW019, and got worse on NW029. However, he did not report this on his health card when he landed in Beijing. — What a jerk!
• The man stayed overnight in Beijing, and then boarded a flight to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province, the next day, with over 150 passengers on board. He became so sick that he went to the hospital when he landed in Chengdu.
• May 11th, he is now a confirmed case of swine flu.

Flu fear

Last weekend I received a phone call from a girlfriend. “Do you need hand sanitizers?” She asked.

“Not really.” I replied. Having stocked up two bottles of organic hand sanitizer two three weeks ago, I do not need to join the crowd now.

Then she told me that almost all Target stores in Minneapolis are out of hand sanitizers. At the time of the phone call, she just found a couple of bottles left on the shelf at the 3rd Walgreen store that she had tried. 

Since when have hand sanitizers become such a hot commodity?

Ok, at that time, I thought it was just that people in Minneapolis were panic about the swine flu. Then this afternoon when I stopped by the Target store of my town, the shelf where I picked my hand sanitizers a while ago was completely empty.

Checking one of these big online retailers, for instance, drugstore.com, nearly half of the hand sanitizers they carry were out of stock. Some with additional notice “expected ship date is unknown.”

We do not even know how effective these hand sanitizers are. A while ago (specifically, March 21, 2006) there was a New York Times article summarizing the effect of hand sanitizers: Hand Sanitizers, Good or Bad? As far as I know, even today, the results are rather mixed (i.e, they help, but not at 100%).

What about wearing a mask when you are out? Try amazon.com.

The 3M N95 mask now sells at a price that would give you a heart attack. Last week some merchants at amazon’s market place even quoted for $299 per pack. And most of the masks are on back order.

Well, I guess I will just have to take my chances now.

We don’t torture

In its program Morning Edition, NPR aired a Steve Inskeep’s interview with Jackie Northam who is in Guantanamo: Guantanamo Bay Shows Little Sign of Closing. Part of the interview is related to a group of Chinese detainees currently in Guantanamo Bay. The following is the script of the related conversation (in blue color):

Jackie Northam: At the same time, there has been a lot of opposition in the U.S. to any of the communities that do have the facility to hold the detainees to bring them into their communities. So there’s not a real strong sense of what they’re going to do with them yet. Although, the U.S. has indicated that they might bring … a group of Chinese Muslims onto the [U.S.] mainland. And Secretary of Defense Gates indicated he knew that was going to be controversial if that happens.

Steve Inskeep: These Chinese Muslims are called Uighurs; they’re accused of being separatists. Far from considering them full-blown terrorists, the administration seems to take the viewpoint that they could be persecuted if they are sent back to China.

Jackie Northam: Both the Bush administration and the Obama administration made it clear they’re not going to send them back to China [where they could be] persecuted or tortured. There are 17 Uighurs left at Guantanamo, and they were long ago cleared by the Pentagon of being any sort of threat to the U.S. … Camp Iguana, which is where they’re being held, is absolutely a minimum security prison. The Uighurs … have more perks than any other detainees, but the U.S. can’t find any country to take them, so the U.S. may have to take them in and probably will do that.

Oh, oh, this one I know, and I have to raise my hand high enough so that Mr. Inskeep can see me, or pretend not to see me:

Mr. Inskeep, please make sure you understand, instead of simply running your imagination wild, that just like you cannot say American Latinos are called Floridans, not all Chinese Muslims are Uighurs.

Second, I completely stand by Ms. Northam that these people who were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and who were alleged to be associated with Al-Qaeda should not be sent back to China. 

I am not saying they won’t be tortured by Chinese once they return, all I am saying is that what the heck, why let the Chinese do the work?

I am a believer of efficient resource allocation. We have better tools and technologies; and more importantly, better definitions and excuses. If the Chinese use any kind of waterboarding or walling, we make sure the rest of world know that they torture; but if we use them — allow me to borrow a title by Jon Stewart to summarize — we don’t torture.

So why don’t we keep them at the Guantanamo Bay, with our taxpayers’ money and our superior healthcare (which, according to Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko, is way better than what ordinary Americans can receive), while “not being tortured” by us?

But then a comment by a Mr. Alan J. Winters from Bellaire, Texas published at the USA Today (Wednesday, May 6, 2009) confuses my simple mind.

He says: So what’s wrong with a little torture (“Report: Waterboarding approved earlier,” News, April 23)? If we can get information from our enemy combatants and save human lives, we should use all the means we can devise. The left’s soft position on enemies of the state costs U.S. soldiers’ lives. Would you rather protect our nation’s enemies rather than our own soldiers or residents?

Oh my god! So based on his logic, what’s wrong with the Japanese torturing our soldiers during the World War II? What’s wrong with the Vietnamese torturing our soldiers during the Vietnam war? And then, by the same token, what’s wrong with the Chinese potentially torturing these detainees?