吹水小泉参拜

阅微草堂的堂主问我对8月15日小泉参拜的看法,刚好纽约时报对这件事情有两篇报导,我就吹吹水吧。

Koizumi Further Deepens Debate Over Shrine
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两篇报导还是保持纽时一贯中立、平衡的风格,不过已经直接指出小泉是在挑衅,中日,韩日关系紧张的问题是由日本,特别是小泉挑起的。

这其实对中国是非常有利。

小泉这么做在日本国外受到强烈的反对,在国内也没有人支持。中国应对得好的话,以后中国在国际上做一些反日的东西,比如说反对日本入常,就会得到别的国家理解。

中国前几次应对的思路其实也满清晰:就是要理智地表达强烈的不满,表明中国是日本挑衅的受害者。

有个方法本来也挺好:开放国人示威抗议日本。因为示威抗议通常都被认为是民间行为,国人示威抗议日本表明整个中国人民都对日本的挑衅很愤慨,这样对世界发出的信息比单单由政府的抗议、谴责来得要强烈得多了。

可是最终事情的发展却让人感觉是:中国”疯狂地“表达了强烈的不满。游行的禁令一开,示威马上就自发组织起来。但国人似乎缺乏和平示威的“训练”,尽管当局出动了大批警力,很多示威最后都演变成暴力事件。

全世界大部分人都是爱和平,厌暴力。鬼佬媒体不管历史上是怎么回事,中国街上打、砸、强就要马上报导。闹得象中国有很多暴民,见日本车就砸,见日本店就抢。虽然事件是由日本挑起的,但最后却是中国人使用暴力,受害人反倒是日本人了。

国人应该多去香港走走,学习学习香港人的游行。他们差不多天天都有游行,也有抗议日本的。当然,学习怎么抗议日本是好的,至于六月份的时候,去迪斯尼看就好了,那里有米老鼠游行,很好看,很好玩。到时千万不要去维园,切记。学坏就不好了,影响和谐。

具体到我自己,这边有游行的话,我一定参加;不过我胆子小,砸东西就不敢了。至于抵制日货--康康他妈最喜欢日本货,说质量好,设计新--我要抵制的话也只能是说说而已。

不说也罢。

见到国旗敬个礼

昨天康康中午吃饭吃得高兴就唱起刚在幼儿园学到的歌来,

“国旗飘飘,我爱国旗,看见国旗敬个礼!”

然后象个小猴子一般,目视前方,手搭凉棚,歪歪扭扭地敬了个礼。

他奶奶看见,差点把假牙都笑掉了。

这段时间新加坡国庆节,幼儿园应该教了小朋友很多应节的歌。康康学得还挺快。不过他唱的当然是新加坡的国旗歌,认的也是新加坡国旗。

康康唱歌很逗趣,然而康康他爸听在耳朵里,心里却有另一番滋味,尽管他明白这个全球化的大潮浩浩荡荡,难以逆流而行。

康康如果在这里长大,他认的是新加坡国旗,学的是新加坡话,交的是新加坡的朋友,吃的是新加坡的Laksa、肉骨茶,喝的是新加坡的新生水,穿的是胸前印有“I am Singaporean”的T恤,唱的是新加坡国歌,当的是新加坡的兵,认新加坡作祖国是难以避免的了。

我想这就是新加坡吸引移民的最最主要目的。

新加坡长期实行移民政策,这在当今世界并不鲜见:加拿大,澳大利亚,新西兰都有很开放的移民政策;香港最近也实施了新的吸引外来人才条例;就连美国,虽然是吵吵嚷嚷的很多人反对,它的移民大门还是一直开着。

这些国家对移民的技术、劳力固然需要,但他们最重视的应该是移民后代,这些才会是它们未来的公民,国家未来的一份子。

一个人的根伴随着成长扎在生斯长斯的土地里,要移走,很难。

KangKang’s Intelligent Identification System

Since KangKang recognized his mom and dad at the first time, we have known his Intelligent Identification System(IIS) is working.

And we also know his IIS has been improving along the way.

One night, we brought KangKang out to the playground.

The moon was full and rose just above the tree. The silver and transparent moonlight spread over the playground.

Our KangKang saw the moon. He stood still, looking at the beautiful moon. He was captivated by the beautiful moon.

Slowly, he lifted his hand,pointed to the moon and said,

“A….SUUN….”

“Oh … good boy, that is …. not so wrong. ” The grandpa is always considerate to his grandson.

Indeed, both the sun and the full moon are round, so we were very happy that KangKang’s IIS was functioning.

He was about 1 year old then.

I discovered his IIS had improved a lot after one month.

KangKang had a penguin doll, called Huanhuan(欢欢). KangKang liked Huanhuan.

huanhuan

One day, I was working at my computer when KangKang was peeking at the monitor. He saw this picture,

emperor_penguin
From Kidzone

He immediately pointed to the screen and spoke out,

“Huanhuan!”

That’s interesting! I wanted a further test.

I shown him this cartoon on my cell phone.

IloveU

He kept giggling, “Huanhuan, Huanhuan!”

Amazing! It seemed that an 1 year old boy’s image-identifying system is better than any supper computer’s in the world.

So the new brain-computer-interface technology from Columbia University looks really promising in image-identifying. And I am convinced that similar brain-computer-interface technology can be applied to other Artificial Intelligent System too.

I decided to try out more. I shown him this logo on my computer,

100px-Apple-logo

“Apple!”

No sweat. That was one of his favorites.

“What is this?”

Microsoft_Windows logo

“en…”

Not a surprise. Everyone knew what were needed to install Microsoft software. KangKang needed some upgrades in his hardware to recognize that.

KangKang’s IIS works on many other things too.

If his stool is normal, he calls it banana. If it is dry, he calls it grape.

And for his pee, he says, “That’s fruit juice!”

All are things he loves to put into his mouth. His IIS definitely has not yet extended to olfaction at that stage.

Recently, KangKang’s mom has read a comic on mushroom to him.

One day, when KangKang was taking a shower, he suddenly fingered his little bird and laughed,

“Hey, a little Mushroom!”

That’s …. not so wrong.

新加坡总统府开放日

– Istana Open House

新加坡的总统府叫 Istana,Istana 在马来文是“宫殿”的意思。新加坡总统府开放日就叫 Istana Open House。

新加坡总统府通常在新加坡国庆节或者其它的一些重要节日期间会开放给公众参观,公众可以通过新加坡总统府的网站上查到具体开放时间。

前天是 Istana Open House,天气不错,于是就跟康康他妈带着康康去 Istana 逛了一圈。

The gate
大门 (The gate)

Istana 位于新加坡商业中心乌节路的一头,就在Plaza Singapura的旁边,从外面看来并不很大。

singapore national emblem
新加坡国徽(Singapore national emblem)

1 dollar for foreigner

开放日对新加坡本地人免费,对外地人收新元一块。其实并没有人查证件,基本上是自觉交费。

Some arts
艺术展(Some arts)

A maze
艺术展 2(Some arts 2)

新加坡政府提倡艺术,很多地方都可以见到小型的艺术展,总统府也不例外。

lawn
草坪(Lawn)

这样的草坪令人心旷神怡。

整个总统府位于闹市中心,占地约100英亩。

Continue reading 新加坡总统府开放日

Sir Ken Robinson 在TED上的精彩演讲

Sir Ken Robinson是一个著名的演讲家。他主要关心在商业及教育领域的创新与改革。他认为不断的创新才能成功。

这次TED的演讲中,他认为世界上现有的教育系统是19世纪工业化的产物,已经不能适应当今世界的发展。他主张对现有的教育系统来个彻底改革,要把创新能力列为教育的目标之一,与教育文化相提并重。

相信绝大部分人对他的英式幽默都很受用,睿智而发人深省。只是我有点跟不上他重重的英国口音。

另外,对于他讲的笑话要有比较全面的西方文化背景才能完全听懂。比如他讲的有关Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh的笑话,我是问了Tinker, tailor才搞清楚,虽然我自认读过不少圣经故事。

演讲精句:

All kids have tremendous talent, and we squander them.
所有的孩子都有非凡的天赋,只是我们把它们浪费了。

Creativity now is as important in education as literacy; we should treat it with the same status.
创造力在当今的教育中应该与文化并重,我们应当对它们同等重视。

…if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.
如果你根本没有做错的准备的话,那么你永远不会有独创的东西。

Professors look at their bodies as a form of transport for their heads.
教授们把他们的身体当作运送脑袋的工具。

We don’t grow in to creativity, we grow out of it…we get educated out of it.
我们变得越来越没有创造力了…我们被教得没有创造力了。

Our education system has mined our minds in the way we strip-mined the earth for a particular commodity, and for the future, it won’t service. We have to re-think the fundamental principle on which we are educating our children.
我们(现有)的教育系统就如我们开发地球的矿产一样开发我们的思维,这样的方法是难以应付未来的。我们应当重新考虑现代教育的根本原则。

Sir_ken_1

这里可以找到相关的播客下载。

Reference link: Presentation Zen