Everyday is a Dreamer

It is June 4th

2011-06-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

(Photos: Quartier Chinois, Montreal, Canada)

Even at the other side of the world, people will not forget.

Germany apologized for World War II. Canada apologized for the Chinese Head Tax.

When will our government have the courage to face the past and correct the injustice?

Canada Votes

2011-04-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Hmm..I don't really know how to start, but I feel like writing something about the 2011 Canada election. It would be interesting to see if my view has changed when the next election comes.

Canada is such a blessed places. We have CHOICES. 4-5 different choices for this election depending on where you live. Unlike in the US, where you only have 2 choices or in China, where having a choice is still a far away dream. Canadians should be happy about this fact. It shows we are a society that can accommodate different opinions.

Of course, choices can confuse people. I am still not very certain who I should vote for. I like certain elements from each party's platform. Wouldn't it be nice if I can just blend them together like ice cream flavors?

I will start with the Conservatives. I agree with their view on corporate taxes. People seem to think raising corporate taxes will solve inequalities in society. I disagree. Corporations are not accountable to voters, they are accountable to their shareholders. Raise their taxes, drops their profits, they will just either fire workers or raise the prices of services and goods. Everyone just get screwed in the end. Besides, corporations always have ways to avoid taxes.

I want to reward the Conservatives for what they did on telecommunication (Opening the door for more competitors) and reversing the CRTC UBB decision (Screw Bell!). However, their disappointing stand on copyright reform made me very annoyed. They also don't seem very friendly to scientists. I also don't like the way Conservative run their campaign. Limiting access and questions to the Prime Minister reminds me of China.

For the Liberals, I don't agree with their view on corporate taxes as stated above. Their platform seem to heavily targeted towards seniors, which is neutral to me. I think their education passport is a good idea, too bad I am almost finished with school. They also seem more friendly to people with advanced education. Liberal's platform on telecommunication and internet are very disappointing though. Both the Liberals and Conservatives make general meaningless statement on digital policy. I really think they are out of touch with the people of my age.

The NDP and the Greens are probably going to be in the opposition seat for quite a while. Which means they can be more "aggressive" in their platform. I think many of their ideas are great, I just don't think they can do it without raising sales tax or income tax. I really like their digital policy though. They both put meaningful statements on their platform regarding telecommunication, internet and copyright. I really doubt they can achieve their environmental goal without seriously changing our economy, which can be a good and a bad thing.

Then there is the Bloc Quebecois...what can I say about them..I am pretty sure I won't vote for them because they want to separate Quebec from Canada.

It should never need to be a surprise

Finally it is so disappointing to see a lot of people at my age, including my friends, don't plan on voting. People are blaming it on the politician, but I think people are just getting lazy. People just don't realize how lucky it is to have the opportunity to be heard.

Thoughts on Manga: Young Guns

2010-08-22T22:21:00.001-07:00

I decide to start writing down thoughts about manga (Japanese word for "comics") that I read. It might be interesting if I look back at these thought 10 or 20 years later of my life :)

Interesting thing is, the first manga I want to write about is not by a Japanese artist.

Title: Young Guns
Artist: Lin Zheng de (林政德)

Apparently this is a very popular manga in Taiwan during the 90s. The artist is from Taiwan and Young Guns is his most famous work. Young Guns started at 1990 and finished at 2010 with 12 volumes.

Young Guns is a slice of life/situational comedy type manga. It doesn't really have a major plot line. The story focus on the life of main character, a 1st year senior high student JianPing Yuan (袁建平). It begins with JianPing falling in love on first sight with HuiWen Su (蘇慧文), a 2nd year senior high girl JianPing he met on the school bus. The story revolved around JianPing's high school life, about how he tried to win the affection of HuiWen and about all the other new interesting friends he meet and the misunderstanding that arises.....

The main male casts: ShinPeng Zhang (張士朋), JianPing Yuan (袁建平), and RiHui Yeung (楊日輝)

The story may not sound very interesting but the casts left me a very deep impression. The three main male characters are what considered to be trouble makers in any high school. The artist tried to portrait them as the "handsome bad-ass" type. They often drive the humor of the story and shows the troubled side of boys in school.

The female cast from left to right: HuiWen, Daiya, YouLan, JiangPing's sister, BaoJin, and I don't remember who the last person is...

I love the female casts of the manga. Each of the girls are beautiful in their own way. Not only there is the smart, beautiful, top of the class HuiWen, there is also the sexy but trouble making girl YouLan Ji (紀幼蘭), the cold appearing class-rep Daiya Chen (陳玳雅), and the cute neighborhood type girl BaoJin Zhong(鍾寶津). They are often the cause of trouble for the boys at that age and brings many misunderstanding.

The artist's drawing is all right. The facial expression needs more work, but the artist pays a lot of attention to the fashion design and that really gives each character individuality.

One things that really make this manga stand out: the dialogues. The artist really pay attention to the use of slang. Just like the fashion in Young Guns, the dialogues really give individually to each characters.

I had a good laugh reading this manga. I finished all 12 books in one sitting. It is very enjoyable, but I didn't really like the ending. I believe Young Guns was originally intended to be a much longer series, but the artist's situation just doesn't allow it. Young Guns would probably have a better conclusion if it finished with 19 books like the manga "Suzuka."

Hong Kong's Failing Government System

2009-07-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

At least the public is still confident at the judicial branch,

Hong Kong is probably the only territory in China that has judicial indepdence

Today's Hong Kong mingpao newspaper has an editoral on challenges Hong Kong's government is facing in governing Hong Kong. After reading this editoral, I feel like sharing some of my thought on the system.

Hong Kong's government system mirrors the US system in many ways. The executive branch and the legislative branch are completely seperated. The chief executive (CE) and its cabinet members are often not members of the legislative council. It is a system that works well in the US but is failing Hong Kong.

When the legislative branch and the executive branch are divided on an issue, the United States President has the political captial to negogiate with the Congress because the president is elected by the people of the US. On other side, Hong Kong's CE looks weak in front of the legislative council because it is elected by a non democratic electoral college. Unlike the US president, it is much more difficult for the CE to claim its own opinion represent the interest of the general public.

Another major failure of Hong Kong's current government system is on the selection of the cabinet members (In Hong Kong, the term "cabinet members" means the secrataries to the major departments and members of the executive council.). Most of the cabinet appointments in the US must be approved by the Congress. The appointees are also usually professionals that have tremendous experience that is related to the appointment. It is not uncommon for the president to select members from the opposing parties to be in the cabinet. This rigorous selection system doesn't exist in Hong Kong. The CE could form a very biased cabinet and only hear one sided opinion on many issues. This makes it very easy for the cabinet and the legislative council on a collision course in many issues.

Money is what keeps us together

2009-06-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

There is an article in the Globe and Mail today that caught my interest. The title of the article is called "Harper's Fourth Pillar of Federalism."

The article basically discuss the current Primer Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, is strengthening the Canadian Federation using the new infrastructure funding within the economic stimulus package. The author labeled these infrastructure fundinsg as the "Fourth Pillar of Federalism." The other three pillars are the cash transfers, equalization and tax collection deals with the provinces.

It would be interesting to see if these infrastructure money will continue to flow from Ottawa to the provinces and cities in the next several years. I really doubt the cities have enough cash to maintain all these newly built infrastructure on the years to come.

Sometimes it really feels like the Canadian federation is not about common ideals or cultures. The sole reason of the federation's existence seems to be money. Money from Ottawa is what really keeps us together as Canadians. Maybe this is not a bad thing, it keep things realistic and peaceful.

If the Canadian federation is governed like China (where Beijing has the ultimate say in everything), I am sure Quebec would have left a long time ago.

Maybe I will write about China next time.

June 4 2009 in Le Quartier Chinois de Montréal

2009-06-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

Like many other cities, Montreal had a small exhibition/memorial about the Tiananmen Square Incident. Because there is no Chinese consulate located in Montreal. The exhibition was located in China town.

It was a very small scale exhibition. Amnesty International also had a small booth next to the exhibition.

Unfortunately, it did not seem to attract the attention of many people passing by. However it is good to see some people do care even in a remote city like Montreal.

When will "change" arrive in China?

2009-06-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

In less than 2 days it will be the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident.As a Chinese, it is very sad to see the government of China refuse to reveal the facts and try to silent the public from discussing about the incident.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen once said "The revolution has not yet succeeded. Comrades, you must carry on!" He left these last few words moments before he passed away in the Rockefeller Hospital in Beijing on 1925. It is sad that after 84 years, this revolution has not yet succeeded. Majority of the Chinese people are still denied the rights proposed in Dr. Sun's "Three Principles of the People."

China's society only seem stable on the surface because of constant economic growth during the last two decades. No economy can expand forever. Chaos and instability can happen if China experience a serious economic decline or hardship. People will demonstrate their dissatisfaction and anger through violence because the current system offer no alternative for people to voice their opinion.

A real reform is needed on the Chinese government today. It is for the long term stability of China. The government needs to be able to accept criticisms from the people and improve. The current stability is just a mirage. Many people have dissatisfaction but are afraid to voice their opinion in the current system.

Revealing the facts and allowing the public to discuss the Tiananmen Square incidents would be a symbolic first step that real changes are happening within the Chinese government.

Chinese Poetry Reading

2009-02-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

見多情易厭，見少情多變；
但得長相思，便是長相見。

I just read this poem yesterday. I think it has become my favorite Chinese poetry on love. It is simple yet emotional. I couldn't find out who wrote it though.

Misfortune of the people

2009-01-31T18:39:00.000-08:00

君不須防人不肖，

眼前鬼卒皆為妖；

秦王徒把長城築，

禍去禍來因自招。

So this is the message from God on Hong Kong's fortune on the Year of Ox. I would not be surprised if it becomes reality. Members of the Hong Kong Goverment are not representative of the ordinary people of Hong Kong at all. Che Kung says this will lead Hong Kong to a disaterous year.

It seems like someone is not afraid to lie in front of god though.

I wonder if the intepreter will get struck by thunder very soon.

On a serious note, maybe the government should stop doing this every year if they have to lie when they received a bad fortune. Society's morale is definitely on the low side these days. This is just making everyone feeling worst than before.

As a side note and reference, the government received this bad fortunate on 2003, the year of the SARS outbreak:

掛帆順水上揚州
半途頗耐浪打頭
實力撐持難寸進
落橈下里水難流

2008-12-31T23:35:00.001-08:00

Hopefully 2009 will be a smooth year!

爆竹聲中一歲除, 春風送暖入屠蘇,
千門萬戶曈曈日, 總把新桃換舊符.

(宋王安石）

My translation attempt:

A new year arrive with the sound of the firecracker,
People can feel the spring breeze the carries the smell of the wine;
Families eagerly put on the new year couplets under the sunshine.

(Don't use this for your homework or essay, you will probably get a failed grade.)

Love it and hate it

2008-12-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

Montreal's winter is harsh compare to Vancouver. Montreal is much colder and has very heavy snow fall. The worst thing is the temperature stays low after the snow fall, which turns the snow/slush to ice. Walking on the street requires careful attention or else one can slip. I think this is the first time I experience a "real Canadian winter."

I do enjoy looking at the falling snow, but I really hate the icy road afterward. There is always a light and dark side to everything

Aluminum MacBook Mini-review

2008-11-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

I got the new metal body Macbook two weeks ago. Strictly speaking, it is my first mac computer. Just want to share my thoughts about it. I have the low end model of the new metal body macbook

Pros:

I love the aluminum body of the macbook. Every laptop these days should be built with aluminum. It feels more solid and sturdy. It is also easier to clean metal than plastic. It is also a lot more resistant to scratch.

The usability of the multi-touch trackpad really surprises me. It makes using a trackpad to control the computer a lot more comfortable. Other laptop manufacteur should really consider implementing something similar.

13inch is a perfect form factor. It is very portable and the screen is not too small to read.

Battery life seems decent. I didn't actually test it out, but it seems like it can last 4 hours with WiFi turned on.

The battery and the hardisk can be easily replaced. I haven't check the RAM slot yet.

Other minor things like the magsafe power connector makes this laptop unique.

Cons:

The pricing of the new Macbook is a little too high in my opinion. It cost 1349 CDN after education discount. It does have a decent hardware spec, but 1349 is a lot of money for an entry level laptop in my opinion. 1000 CDN would be a more reasonable price since mac uses almost identical hardware components to PC these days.

The use of mini-display port as the display output is very annoying. It makes me have to purchase an extra 30 dollar adaptor to connect my laptop to external monitor and projectors. Almost no montiors on this world uses a mini-display port input. Apple should just include the adaptor with the purchasing of the laptop or at least use a normal display port instead of the "mini-display port." What the hell is the point of using a mini plug?

Most Beautiful Poster in My Collection

2008-10-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

Nothing else needs to be said, no other posters beat these 3.

It will only get worst?

2008-10-18T22:33:00.000-07:00

I know it is not correct for any legislative member to behave this way in the legislature, but I don't feel sympathetics towards the chief executive (CE) at all for some reason.

Probably because 黃毓民 is actually elected by his constituent, but the CE is only elected by a non-representative election committe that only listens to the Beijing government.

Mr. Wong has the authority from the people to represent them in the legislature, the CE is "appointed" by Beijing through a tightly controlled and manupilated election.

I hope Hong Kong's legislature would not become like Taiwan's legislature. In Taiwan, fights break out between members from different party. Sometimes the opposition even lock up the speaker to barricade the legilative process.

The only way to prevent this is to have the chief executive elected by the general public. This way he is not at a disadvantage when attending sessions in the legislature.

I doubt the Beijing government will understand what I posted here though.

What an irony...

2008-09-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

It was still not too ago that I watched the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic.

I remember there was a scene where the children were bringing the flag to the pole with the music " A Hymn to the Motherland" playing in the background. I felt very emotional and moved when I first saw this scene.

The government seems to want to imply that it is under the current regime that these children will have a bright future after many years of civil wars and chaos in China.

However, in less than 2 months, many brands of milk produced it China was found to be contaminated with Melamine. It is not caused by any accident. It happened because of greed. Some bastards want to make more money.

Many children and babies (estimated now to be at least 53000) are fallen ill due to acute kidney failure. There has been 4 deaths already. Many more cases probably go unreported.

A postive image that took many years to build for the olympics is now completely shattered. I don't know how I can trust the commuist party to govern China anymore.

Shopping

2008-09-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

I went to China town to do some shopping last Saturday. I was planning to buy moon cakes but retreated from the plan after seeing the price. I end up getting a hair cut and only bought one thing:

I really like the message on it!

Hong Kong Legislative Assembly Election

2008-09-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

Some of my thoughts:

-I am pleased to hear the pro-democracy camp (泛民主派) has managed to keep 23 seats in the assembly. This will at least allows the pro-democracy parties to veto controversial government bills such as article 23.

Dude, don't give any honorable excuses to make yourself feel better.
You know you are just too lazy to bother to vote.

-I am disappointed at the low voter turnout. Only 45.2% of the voters voted in this election. I find some of the response from the non-voters very laughable. If you are not happy with any of the candidates, you should at least cast a blank ballot to show your dissatisfaction. It is a citizen's responsiblity to vote in a democratic society. If you don't care about voting and voicing your opinion, maybe you should move to the mainland, where one doesn't have to "worry" about voting.

Either HK people are really forgetful or they fear revenge from the Beijing government

-I can't believe Regina Ip (葉劉淑儀) is elected. Do some people forget about her attitudes on pushing article 23? She doesn't seem to regret it even today. I would never consider supporting a candidate that would support or not attempt to stop the passing of article 23.

-The pro-democracy camp should consider merging the parties together into one uniform party. This will helps strenghts the votes and will allow them to gain more seats. Of course in reality it is easier to be said then done...

It is too bad that I can't vote in this election because I am in Canada. Hopefully I will be back to vote on 2017 when Hong Kong will have universal suffrage for electing the chief executive. Meanwhile, Canada is going to have an election on Oct 14th. I wonder if Stephen Harper will win a majority government? I need to research before I cast my ballot on the 14th.

Samsung T220HD - My mini review

2008-09-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

I finally ordered Samsung T220HD TV/monitor couple of days ago. I got if from NCIX. Their express shipping option is a real deal. I ordered it on Monday morning before 1pm PST and received the monitor on Tuesday morning!

Why can't there just be one input for everything?

It is probably the best smaller size TV/monitor combo on the market right now. It features one component input (with R/L audio input), one DVI and one VGA input, one PC audio input, a DTV tuner and best of all, two HDMI input!

The monitor is 22inch in size and has built in speaker. The speaker's quality is a little better than most monitor's built in speaker. It is still far from ideal though. Samsung is smart to include a headphone output and a SPDIF audio out on this monitor.

I connected my PC to the monitor using DVI connection. I am not a professional reviewer so I can't comment much aboutthe picture quality, but everything looks great on to me.

I also connect my PS3 to the monitor using HDMI. The PS3 recognizes the monitor can accept 1080p signals, despite the max resolution of the monitor is 1680x 1050. It doesn't have any problem down scaling PS3's signal. Games and Blu-ray look great at 16:9 mode

The monitor has several mode for scaling images: 16:10, 16:9, 4:3 and Zoom. It also comes with a remote control

Too bad the 24inch (T240HD) and 26inch (T260HD) versions are not available in Canada. This monitor is perfect for students like me that has a PC and two gaming system (PS3 and XBOX360. The XBOX is still in Vancouver) living in a small place. I am suprised Samsung is the only company that make such an "adaptable" monitor.

Montreal's 出前一丁?

2008-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

I passed by this noodle house near Villa-Maria station. I wonder if they actually obtained permission to use the boy logo of 出前一丁 (a very well known instant noodle in Hong Kong). I wonder how their noodles is compare to 出前一丁 ? Seeing this makes me feel a little bit home sick.

Radiation Safety Training

2008-08-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

A view of downtown Montreal from the McGill campus

Another nice and sunny day in Montreal. I don't have to go to work today because I have to attend the radiation safety training course offered by McGill University. It is a mandatory course for all personnel that would use radioactive materials at work.

Safety office safely in disguise

It took me quite sometime to find the building where the course would take place. Probably because I didn't expect the safety office would be at a building that looks like a regular housing apartment. It seems like the university desperately needs extra space for expansion.

The course started from 9:30am and ended at 4:45pm. I took a similar safety course several years ago at UBC. I have to say that the UBC radiation safety course is way more demanding. UBC's safety course exam is closed book and has a practical session. McGill's course only has one full day of lecture and an open book exam in the end. It is a piece of cake compare to UBC.

I was surprised by how small the class was. There were only 15 people in the class. I am assuming this is because it is still August and a lot of new students and researcher still hasn't arrived campus. Some students seem to be quite stressed by the material at the beginning due to the physics and chemistry component of the course. I am sure they feel much more relaxed after realizing those materials are only a very small part of the exam.

Back to work tomorrow! Hopefully I will get my novels tomorrow through the courier. Maybe I will write up my thoughts about Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars (星界の紋章/星界の戦旗) novel after I finished reading them sometimes. I've been longing to discuss and share my thoughts about many things (Hobbies, interest, science, politics) on a blog for a long time.

Liu Xiang has fallen...

2008-08-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

I was a little shocked today hearing Chinese Olympics athlete Liu Xiang (劉翔) has to withdraw from the competition due to injury. Looking at Liu Xiang's condition through the photos of the event, I was surprised he didn't withdrawn from the competition before it has started. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

Maybe the reason he can't withdrawn is because he bears the hope of 1.3 billion people, people hoping that he will win the gold medal again. This burden is just way too heavy for anyone, not only Liu Xiang to bear.

Hopefully he will recover soon and I look forward to watch him on the field again in the 2012 Olympics.

Montreal's metro

2008-08-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

I went to Walmart near the Namur station today using the metro. It took me about 30-40 minutes to get there from my home.

It runs on tires!

Montreal's metro system is pretty good if you live around the center of the Montreal island. It will get you to most places no problem. I would say it is almost as convenient as Hong Kong's MTR subway system.

Pretty large place compare to Vancouver's skytrain stations

There are only few cons I can think of about Montreal's metro

1.) There is no air conditioning in the train at all! It is pretty stuffy on a summer day like today. It gets worst when the train is pack full. I hear the city is looking to buy new trains for the metro. Please get trains that has air conditioning, this is year 2008 already.

2.) They only make announcements in French! Almost all the information postings are in French only too. I understand Quebec is a society where French is the majority, but this is extremely inconvenient for travelers and newcomers that know very little French. Even China, Japan or Hong Kong's metro system have English information available for tourist. Montreal is a major metropolis in the world. The signs and announcements in the public transportation system should be in both French and English.

I luck out with this shot, the train was actually moving quite fast

STM probably doesn't offer English services due to political reasons. They are probably afraid they will offend some of the Quebecois... When will these people understand that English is pretty much the standard international language for business and traveling. I agree that French culture should be protected and treasured in Quebec, but sometimes I think Quebecois go way over board to "protect" it. I just can not agree and understand with some of the principles in Quebec's Charter of the French Language. Do they understand that they are isolating themselves from Canada and the rest of the world by doing this?

Starting in a bright sunny day

2008-08-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

After reading so many people's blog, I finally decided to start writing my own. I am not very sure what I am going to write about on the blog at the moment, but I will keep writing.