This weekend is conference weekend. For those of you who don't know about it, the General Conference is the semiannual conference that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has. For more details please check www.mormon.org or http://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng. You might find information on Wikipedia just in case you want to see different views of it.
I don't want to write too much about it. Not that I don't want to write about it, but I don't think it's appropriate to post thoughts that still might immature.
As always, President Uchtdorf's talk is my favorite. Maybe because we share somewhat similar childhood, his words always touch me. Since I won't write anything premature about the conerence down, here are a few pieces of my thoughts about his talk today.
First, this talk is for me. Of course every conference talk is for every individual, as the Lord said Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matt 7:7). However, when I'm enraged by the ongoing political fiasco and sexist behavior among some members, I need to have more empathy rather than making quick judgment.
Second, this talk helps me to bless others. I'm trying to figure out how to approach an inactive friend.
I need to learn more about this friend, myself, and the gospel. I knew this wasn't simple, but now I've learned there's more to prepare.
The Heavenly Father knows my needs, and always answers my prayers. Now that I received His message, I will have to work hard to follow His guidance. I'm grateful for the Lord and His gospel. I know this is His church, a church full of people who are imperfect but strive to be perfect. And I say these things His name, even Jesus Christ.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Racial Sensitivity
America is a very racially sensitive country. It's great when openly racism is generally unacceptable with the exception of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. But there should be a fine line beteween self-awareness and self-censorship. So here's a story.
Yesterday on a basketball forum there was a post about Jemery Lin. At one point people started to tell jokes about him. One guy said something like "if he can't make the team he can still be the team accountant". And this is when things turned bad. People just ganged up on him because it's racist.
Is the joke racist? I don't know. Call me an idiot but I honestly don't see the connection between Asian/Chinese/Taiwanese and accountant. I mean it's true many Asians are in the finance sector but it's more of an accomplishment rather than old scar like Asians being restaurant workers. Moreover being an accountant really isn't that much of an Asian thing, Asians prefer to be docters and dentists, nor that accountant is an Asian dominated profession, so calling it racism or stereotype is at least groundless. Plus Lin did receive his econ degree from Harvard. So I posted a comment saying take it easy on this guy, I'm Asian and I think that's funny. Well, it didn't end in the way I wanted.
To my surprise, within seconds somebody jumped on me. To make it even a bigger surprise, the person was an Asian. I mean normally Asians are racist but nevertheless don't buy this Jesse Jackson style hoax. So this guy jumped in and educated me how bad it was because if it's racist to one minority it's racism against all minorities. But again, like others who bashed the poor jokester he didn't even bother to explain why calling a Harvard ecno graduate could be a team account has to be racist.
Here's my take on this childrish crusade. First of all I don't believe a colorblind society. People have different cultural backgrounds. How often do we see an Amish IT engineer? There are economic differences. Many Chinese and Indians came to the U.S. for higher education, and get advanced degrees from prestigious universities, thus their kids have a higher chance to achive academic success. And there are physical differences. African Americans generally have better atheism, and readheads get sunburned easily. These differences exist and will alway exist in one way or another. People will make calls based on these facts, like you pass the ball to a strange black guy at a pick up game, or ask a math question to an Asian student, or ask the redhead for sunscreen, and you might never ask the Amish guy to fix your internet. Of couse you don't always make the right call, but this is how we human think: we predict things based on our experiences. We can't pretend these things don't exist. And as long as we don't have a malice intent, and we fix the mistake everytime we make a bad call, we are fine.
Now going back to the original joke. Just becaue it might be racist so you think it has to be racist is stupid, especially when the possible racism is far from obvious and there's easily another take on the joke. And any chastising based on this groundless accusation is just as bad as racism. It's an inquisition. The history of Spanish Inquistion tells this over sensitivity is from the victim attitude. Just like the Spanish Inquistion brought nothing but disasters, such racial over sensitivity only feeds race-baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. And as long as those race-baiters exist, there will be no racial equality and harmony.
Yesterday on a basketball forum there was a post about Jemery Lin. At one point people started to tell jokes about him. One guy said something like "if he can't make the team he can still be the team accountant". And this is when things turned bad. People just ganged up on him because it's racist.
Is the joke racist? I don't know. Call me an idiot but I honestly don't see the connection between Asian/Chinese/Taiwanese and accountant. I mean it's true many Asians are in the finance sector but it's more of an accomplishment rather than old scar like Asians being restaurant workers. Moreover being an accountant really isn't that much of an Asian thing, Asians prefer to be docters and dentists, nor that accountant is an Asian dominated profession, so calling it racism or stereotype is at least groundless. Plus Lin did receive his econ degree from Harvard. So I posted a comment saying take it easy on this guy, I'm Asian and I think that's funny. Well, it didn't end in the way I wanted.
To my surprise, within seconds somebody jumped on me. To make it even a bigger surprise, the person was an Asian. I mean normally Asians are racist but nevertheless don't buy this Jesse Jackson style hoax. So this guy jumped in and educated me how bad it was because if it's racist to one minority it's racism against all minorities. But again, like others who bashed the poor jokester he didn't even bother to explain why calling a Harvard ecno graduate could be a team account has to be racist.
Here's my take on this childrish crusade. First of all I don't believe a colorblind society. People have different cultural backgrounds. How often do we see an Amish IT engineer? There are economic differences. Many Chinese and Indians came to the U.S. for higher education, and get advanced degrees from prestigious universities, thus their kids have a higher chance to achive academic success. And there are physical differences. African Americans generally have better atheism, and readheads get sunburned easily. These differences exist and will alway exist in one way or another. People will make calls based on these facts, like you pass the ball to a strange black guy at a pick up game, or ask a math question to an Asian student, or ask the redhead for sunscreen, and you might never ask the Amish guy to fix your internet. Of couse you don't always make the right call, but this is how we human think: we predict things based on our experiences. We can't pretend these things don't exist. And as long as we don't have a malice intent, and we fix the mistake everytime we make a bad call, we are fine.
Now going back to the original joke. Just becaue it might be racist so you think it has to be racist is stupid, especially when the possible racism is far from obvious and there's easily another take on the joke. And any chastising based on this groundless accusation is just as bad as racism. It's an inquisition. The history of Spanish Inquistion tells this over sensitivity is from the victim attitude. Just like the Spanish Inquistion brought nothing but disasters, such racial over sensitivity only feeds race-baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. And as long as those race-baiters exist, there will be no racial equality and harmony.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Do We Need a God?
Do we need a god at all? This isn't a simple question at all. Anyone who says yes or no is undoubtedly making a huge mistake here.
First from a religious view point. Almost all modern day religions believing essential loving gods. As a Latter-day Saint I believe in the Father sent his Only Begotten to sacrifice for us, and the Spirit is always here for us. We can choose to accept or deny Him but no matter what we receive His unconditional love. So do we need God? It's like oxygen which we need but we rarely "need" it.
Then from an atheist view point. On one hand there's no god so we don't need something that doesn't exist, on the other hand god as an cultural aspect certainly has its values for humanity, good or bad. So do we need god? The answer here is even more complex.
Bottom line, religious people don't need a god because god's love doesn't change and it's never too late to "need a god"; atheists need a god because it doesn't hurt to practice some cultural activities that bond the society; to be fair add agonists/deists don't really care so need or not doesn't make a difference.
Believing the possible existance of gods or otherwise, whether or not we need a god is beyond te question itself. The question really should start as what god is. And this is where all the people can come together share something in common. Atheism believes god is what people make stories up when trying but unable to interpret the universe. Theism believes human can either become god or be with to god. Knowing atheism believes human can eventually learn infinite knowledge, and theism believes almighty all knowing god, people basically have the same goal here, which is to become god-like.
So needing a god or not shouldn't divide people at all. We keep it on individual level in term of communication. We share our beliefs to better understand each other.
Do we need a god? I know I need God. I believing a loving and forgiving God who will give anyone a second chance. So if you don't need a god now isn't a big deal, not that I don't care, but I believe that God has a plan for everybody quick and unrighteous judgment isn't in His plan for any of us. After all, we forgot about Him for over 1700 years but He still gave us one more try.
Some thoughts after reading Doctrine and Covenants chapter 1.
First from a religious view point. Almost all modern day religions believing essential loving gods. As a Latter-day Saint I believe in the Father sent his Only Begotten to sacrifice for us, and the Spirit is always here for us. We can choose to accept or deny Him but no matter what we receive His unconditional love. So do we need God? It's like oxygen which we need but we rarely "need" it.
Then from an atheist view point. On one hand there's no god so we don't need something that doesn't exist, on the other hand god as an cultural aspect certainly has its values for humanity, good or bad. So do we need god? The answer here is even more complex.
Bottom line, religious people don't need a god because god's love doesn't change and it's never too late to "need a god"; atheists need a god because it doesn't hurt to practice some cultural activities that bond the society; to be fair add agonists/deists don't really care so need or not doesn't make a difference.
Believing the possible existance of gods or otherwise, whether or not we need a god is beyond te question itself. The question really should start as what god is. And this is where all the people can come together share something in common. Atheism believes god is what people make stories up when trying but unable to interpret the universe. Theism believes human can either become god or be with to god. Knowing atheism believes human can eventually learn infinite knowledge, and theism believes almighty all knowing god, people basically have the same goal here, which is to become god-like.
So needing a god or not shouldn't divide people at all. We keep it on individual level in term of communication. We share our beliefs to better understand each other.
Do we need a god? I know I need God. I believing a loving and forgiving God who will give anyone a second chance. So if you don't need a god now isn't a big deal, not that I don't care, but I believe that God has a plan for everybody quick and unrighteous judgment isn't in His plan for any of us. After all, we forgot about Him for over 1700 years but He still gave us one more try.
Some thoughts after reading Doctrine and Covenants chapter 1.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
This Bizarre World
It's impossible to list all the bizarre things in this world, nor that I'm trying to. Here's just one little example. Remember back in the days when tech support actually had engineers on the line? Seems like forever ago, but really no earlier than 5 years ago I talked to engieers on phone and computer via tech support lines. Everytime I described the problem or my request, the tech support immediately knew that I was technology literate, and within a few minutes we would get things down.
It's no longer the case. Now all you get from calling tech support is some "trained" CSR to answer you questions. But for heaven's sake, you don't train some random people a few days and expect they can accomplish anything. It's just absurd. Since today's tech support is full of people who know nothing but get a quick training and think they are engineers, they think everybody is dumber than they were before. So not only I have to listen their stupid "solutions", but also I need to use layman's terms to explain where the problems are, and hope they can ask their supervisor, hopefully a real engineer, to get the answers.
Let me give an example. I was having some problem with Live Calendar on my phone a while ago. I had an answer but just needed to verify it (hoping I was wrong), so I called AT&T. It took me 5 minutes to explain that it's not a calendar app downloaded from the market, but Live Calendar on Windows Phone. But still the first solution the person gave me was to download a different app, which I guess that's the first answer on the handbook he was reading. The whole mess lasted another 20 minutes, yeah I had time that day, I finally lost patience and asked him to transfer my call to somebody who knows what he/she's doing. Then another person who didn't know what he was doing, and I had to repeat everything, but that time I got a Microsoft number. I called it, still the same thing, except the guy asked his supervisor, and that real engineer had the answer for me, which was the initial guess I had. All I needed was a simple line of "yes, there's nothing you can do with the current version but hopefully the next update would fix the bug" or "no, actually there is a way to fix it", but it took talking directly to 2 morons and indirectly to 1 engineer to get the 5-minute-answer.
This makes me appreciate my other experience more. I missed an important call one day. The cellphone tower was down so failed to connect my phone to the network. I was enraged so I called AT&T. Just for the record, I was still polite. The CSR apologized transferred me to tech support so that they could find out the reason and prevent it from happening again. The tech support girl asked me the issue (here's another thing), and I explained. I asked her if there's solar flair, which she checked and said no. She studied web engineering so she had enough knowledge to do the job as well as to know that I'm not an idiot. So while she gave me a few possible causes, and I ruled out them all. Now there's only one answer, which was the tower was down. She checked, bingo. She told me how to be registered with the other tower, mission accomplished.
So here this other thing I really hate. Now you get to be transferred at least 1 or 2 times beore talking to the right person, and between each transfer they can never provide any information to the next person. Like that Live Calendar thing, the second person I talked to thought I was having trouble with some random calendar app. It's either the first agent failed to diliver the message, or the second agent couldn't comprehend, or both.
There's a reason why you need engineers to do certain things, you just can't replace them. But people seems never learn. And this is just one example of how bizarre this world has become. True it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really is. Under the name of cost control or anything else fancy, they put unqualified people to do professional jobs that eventually cost the whole society more. We have a horse show host to run FEMA, a cellphone salesman to be the Secretary of Defense, and a politician with 0 executive background to run the country. These are all the same mentality, and people wonder why we are in a mess. Now that's bizarre.
It's no longer the case. Now all you get from calling tech support is some "trained" CSR to answer you questions. But for heaven's sake, you don't train some random people a few days and expect they can accomplish anything. It's just absurd. Since today's tech support is full of people who know nothing but get a quick training and think they are engineers, they think everybody is dumber than they were before. So not only I have to listen their stupid "solutions", but also I need to use layman's terms to explain where the problems are, and hope they can ask their supervisor, hopefully a real engineer, to get the answers.
Let me give an example. I was having some problem with Live Calendar on my phone a while ago. I had an answer but just needed to verify it (hoping I was wrong), so I called AT&T. It took me 5 minutes to explain that it's not a calendar app downloaded from the market, but Live Calendar on Windows Phone. But still the first solution the person gave me was to download a different app, which I guess that's the first answer on the handbook he was reading. The whole mess lasted another 20 minutes, yeah I had time that day, I finally lost patience and asked him to transfer my call to somebody who knows what he/she's doing. Then another person who didn't know what he was doing, and I had to repeat everything, but that time I got a Microsoft number. I called it, still the same thing, except the guy asked his supervisor, and that real engineer had the answer for me, which was the initial guess I had. All I needed was a simple line of "yes, there's nothing you can do with the current version but hopefully the next update would fix the bug" or "no, actually there is a way to fix it", but it took talking directly to 2 morons and indirectly to 1 engineer to get the 5-minute-answer.
This makes me appreciate my other experience more. I missed an important call one day. The cellphone tower was down so failed to connect my phone to the network. I was enraged so I called AT&T. Just for the record, I was still polite. The CSR apologized transferred me to tech support so that they could find out the reason and prevent it from happening again. The tech support girl asked me the issue (here's another thing), and I explained. I asked her if there's solar flair, which she checked and said no. She studied web engineering so she had enough knowledge to do the job as well as to know that I'm not an idiot. So while she gave me a few possible causes, and I ruled out them all. Now there's only one answer, which was the tower was down. She checked, bingo. She told me how to be registered with the other tower, mission accomplished.
So here this other thing I really hate. Now you get to be transferred at least 1 or 2 times beore talking to the right person, and between each transfer they can never provide any information to the next person. Like that Live Calendar thing, the second person I talked to thought I was having trouble with some random calendar app. It's either the first agent failed to diliver the message, or the second agent couldn't comprehend, or both.
There's a reason why you need engineers to do certain things, you just can't replace them. But people seems never learn. And this is just one example of how bizarre this world has become. True it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really is. Under the name of cost control or anything else fancy, they put unqualified people to do professional jobs that eventually cost the whole society more. We have a horse show host to run FEMA, a cellphone salesman to be the Secretary of Defense, and a politician with 0 executive background to run the country. These are all the same mentality, and people wonder why we are in a mess. Now that's bizarre.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Piers Morgan's Problem
Piers Morgan is a brilliant guy. He frequently makes many very good points if you actually listen to what he says. Of course he's very biased with an agenda, and people like that no matter left or right, usually are hated by the majority of people. But Piers Morgan has a huge problem, which is he always tries to outsmart his interviewees. It's impossible to do that because he's talking to those people about issues in their very own areas that they excelled.
His attitude isn't unique. One common saying is "I don't know too much about that, but...". Anybody with common sense can tell the sentence should end at "I don't know to much about that" because you just don't comment on things you don't understand. But it's hard to put away our pride to admit our own ignorance, or even simply shut up. I'm trying to stop using it, unless for jokes.
We all have pride. I see it as inflated self esteem and confidence. That's one thing we'll have live with in this life. It's just like every other thing we want to do perfect but we can't. After all, Wilt Chamberlain only won 2 titles, and Michael Jordan didn't bring Wizzards to the Playoffs. But it doesn't mean we don't try to overcome it. The more we fail, the more we try, the more closer to the Lord we are. Just don't let pride rule us, just don't be like Piers Morgan.
His attitude isn't unique. One common saying is "I don't know too much about that, but...". Anybody with common sense can tell the sentence should end at "I don't know to much about that" because you just don't comment on things you don't understand. But it's hard to put away our pride to admit our own ignorance, or even simply shut up. I'm trying to stop using it, unless for jokes.
We all have pride. I see it as inflated self esteem and confidence. That's one thing we'll have live with in this life. It's just like every other thing we want to do perfect but we can't. After all, Wilt Chamberlain only won 2 titles, and Michael Jordan didn't bring Wizzards to the Playoffs. But it doesn't mean we don't try to overcome it. The more we fail, the more we try, the more closer to the Lord we are. Just don't let pride rule us, just don't be like Piers Morgan.
Delay
I was gonna write something big today but I just wrote a long letter so I'll take a break. I think it's the first time I actually want to, have time and things to write but end up as not writing.
Anyways, I was gonna write about racism but I'll see what I feel like writing tomorrow. Now I'm gonna read some scriptures. If you are interested you can find all the things I write from here.
Anyways, I was gonna write about racism but I'll see what I feel like writing tomorrow. Now I'm gonna read some scriptures. If you are interested you can find all the things I write from here.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The GOP is Dead, Taking Conservatism Along
I read some researches on Americans' political affiliation back a few weeks ago, and there were some interesting numbers. There are 40% of Americans self-identify as conservative, 35% as moderate, only 21% are liberal. Meanwhile, 31% of Americans are Democrat, 27% are Republican, with 40% indenpendent.
When there are almost twice as many conservatives as liberals, the GOP just can't win an election when the economy was that bad. Let's break the two sets of numbers. In term of political ideology, giving the popular vote as 51.1% to 47.2% in favor of Democratic Party, if all conservatives voted for the GOP candidates, only 20% of moderates were on Republican's side. In term of party affiliation, the GOP lost 13% of American population while the Democratic Party gained 10% , and the two parties broke even among the indenpendents.
To make it clear, the recent elections and polls show a cold fact: to the GOP winning the moderates/indenpendents is no longer a concern, instead keeping its own grand has become the priority. That's why I say the GOP is dead. Thus, there is a vacancy of representation of conservatism.
Bed time. Next one will be on how sick the GOP is.
When there are almost twice as many conservatives as liberals, the GOP just can't win an election when the economy was that bad. Let's break the two sets of numbers. In term of political ideology, giving the popular vote as 51.1% to 47.2% in favor of Democratic Party, if all conservatives voted for the GOP candidates, only 20% of moderates were on Republican's side. In term of party affiliation, the GOP lost 13% of American population while the Democratic Party gained 10% , and the two parties broke even among the indenpendents.
To make it clear, the recent elections and polls show a cold fact: to the GOP winning the moderates/indenpendents is no longer a concern, instead keeping its own grand has become the priority. That's why I say the GOP is dead. Thus, there is a vacancy of representation of conservatism.
Bed time. Next one will be on how sick the GOP is.
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