事件回顾：
亞洲週刊
權術之劍割破人權之鞘 ．王健民
中國人權活動人士李柏光、郭飛雄、王怡和余杰訪問美國，總統布殊邀請到白宮作客，但郭飛雄臨行前遭到王、余逼退，理由為郭不是基督徒，而且也不認同郭熱衷的中國維權運動。事後美方對此深表不滿﹔中國網民也對王、余提出批評。
各方声明：
Global Sex Survey
上个月21号NPR的播客的主题是Global Sex Survey: Satisfied in the West。节目主持人采访了Prof. Edward O. Laumann。Prof. Laumann 是这次Sex Survey的项目负责人。
这次Global Sex Survey（全球性生活调查）调查了世界29国共27,500 四十至八十岁的中老年人。这个调查主要是考察全球中老年人对他们性生活满意度及人们不同的社会行为对他们性生活满意度的影响。这次调查有很多有趣的发现。
总的说来，在性生活满意度方面，
- 男性的满意度比女性的要高。
- 西方的要比东方的高。欧美人的满意度大于60％，中东人的约为50％，亚洲人的只有30％。
- 只有有大约49％男性和32％的女性认为性是极端或非常重要。
- 有多个性伴侣的满意度比只有一个性伴侣的要低。
- 大男子主义越严重的地方，人们（包括男性）的满意度越低。(Prof. Laumann cited, “When mom is not happy, nobody is happy.”)
- 性生活满意度越高的人对生活的总体满意度也比较高。也就是说性生活满意度与对生活的总体满意度是一致的。
看起来，这个调查中的很多结论是与人们的日常认知是一致的。
就各国情况说来，
- 奥地利的满意度最高，日本的最低。
- 以色列的女性对性最为看重，而台湾的女性在这方面却是相对最不看重的。
- 以色列的男性对性最为看重，而泰国的男性在这方面却是相对最不看重的。
中国清华大学的Dr. Tianfu Wang也是调查小组的成员之一。
Toastmaster District 80 Singapore 2006 Annual Convention
Just back from Furama Riverfront Hotel, a place where the Convention was held.
It was a great one.
The Toastmaster District 80 includes 9 divisions in 4 countries and areas.
Singaore: 6 divisions
Hong Kong & Macau: 2 divisions
Thailand: 1 divisions
8 persons participated in the Table Topics Speech Contest. The topic was “Who do you love most in the world?” Although the topic was the same to every contestant, each contestant got to know the topic until s/he went onto the stage. S/he was required to think on their feet and have 2 minutes to deliver the speech.
These were very smart speakers. Within seconds, they could get the idea and start making speech. I was surprised that, though there were 8 responses, none of them was the same.
The results,
Champion: Benjamin Cheng
1st run-up: Ng Seng Chuan
2nd run-up: Laksha Metha
All were from Singapore.
In the International Speech Contest, Ramesh Muthusamy from division U Singapore beat the other 8 contestants and won the champion. His speech topic is Expectation. He cited his personal experiences and advised people to maintain a high expectation in their life.
It was an impressive speech. His speech skills were powerful and nature. People near me all believed he would go into at least top 3.
1st run-up: Donald Yee from Hong Kong
2nd run-up: Pradeep Kumar from Singapore
In fact, it did not need much training to tell who was a better speaker. So the results were not much surprise to the audient.
I heard some comments that a few contestants were over-prepared or overacted. Yes, I agree that the content and sincerity are the most important things to a speech. However, since most of them actually were talking about the same topics, so those exaggerated actions did capture my attention and help me sit through the event.
Interestingly, the most exciting moment to me was not from the contest.
Hong Kong is the host for the District’s 2007 annual convention. There was a marketing pitch for the Hong Kong event at the end of the convention. All Toastmasters from Hong Kong, over 60 people, went on the stage, waving the Bauhinia flag with the Chinese National Anthem reverberating across the hall. It really turned me on. It was the first time I heard this melody in a public place of Singapore.
The connection with homeland is hard to break, even for a cosmopolitan.
Another side of China.
“You have handphone in China?!”
A few years back, when I first came to Singapore, many Singapornean considered the whole China a big farm. They did not believe that many Chinese people were using the same model of cell phone as they were using.
But recently, as the media are flooding with news about China’s economic boom, their impression of China has swung to another end.
When talking about China, they think of Shanghai; when talking about Shanghai, they think of the Bund, Pudong, and skyscrapers.
On the photographs of the local news paper, the financial center of Shanghai looks more “future” than that of Singapore.
“China is a very advanced country now, huh?”
All right, here are some photos, taken by Maohaier（毛孩儿）, show another side of China, which may help people better understand China.
“Mom, there’s still someone inside the car!”
Fetching dead fish from the contaminated river.
Car accidents occur often, but it is rare to see one of this magnitude in which the driver was only slightly injured.
The English description the above photos are from EastSouthWestNorth.
EastSouthWestNorth has a very good article introducing the Shenyang’s photojournalist Maohaier（毛孩儿）. You will find many more interesting Maohaier’s photos in that article.
Followings are two photos from Jason Lee, a REUTERS photojournalist.
A man walks past a portrait of the late chairman Mao Zedong, on sale at a flea market in Beijing May 16, 2006. Tuesday marks the anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution, but the date will pass quietly in China, not for lack of interest or sentiment, but because the party, obsessed with stability, has issued a blanket ban on the subject. REUTERS/Jason Lee
A migrant worker sleeps at the Beijing West Railway Station May 16, 2006. A Chinese think-tank has called for higher minimum wages to halt the emergence of a new urban underclass, official media reported on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jason Lee
And the following two photos are from CAPTURE CITY, a blog of another China’s photojournalist. These photos are taken in LiaoCheng（聊城）, a city in Shandong Province.
nanPhoto is another famous blog from a photojournalist. You can find many interesting photos in its photo gallery.
The followings are some stylish photos from Xpview
From these photos, you can see China, a country of change, in different angles.
康康去街街。
这段时间很少跟康康玩，这几天他见了我都不大理睬。
昨天傍晚回到家门口，隔着铁门看见康康坐在地板上玩他的Lego，我就叫了他一下：“康康啊！”
他抬头看见了我，兴冲冲地跑了过来。
我心里一乐：“这小子还是记得他老爸的！”
可是我刚把门开了一个缝，他就吱溜一下钻了出来，大叫着，“该该！”（广东话“街街”）
原来他呆在家里觉得太闷，要出去走走，要去街街！
我站在门口，看着兴高采烈的他，哭笑不得。