My Rules

Rather than give it some fancy name like "manifesto" or "personal axioms", I prefer sweet and simple (for now).  Here goes:

 

- No rule is unbreakable (this rule included...try wrapping your head around that one, ;P) without reason.

- KISS: Keep It Sweet & Simple.

   - Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler. -- Einstein

- Do no harm.

   - do no harm -- Hippocrates

- Never stop improving.

- Question everything.

   - "Doubt everything that you take on...That is very important...Information is information, after all...open your eyes, clear out your ears, and look & listen to the world...use your own brain...after you've doubted everything, there is a possibility of something real to believe in...to believe in something, doubt everything." -- Cowboy Bebop unreleased episode

 

More to come as I remember them...

Don't forget to wear sunscreen (Key's to Life)

A few years back (hmmm, about 5 years, actually -- half a decade...) there was a song called "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen" by Baz Luhrman.  You can look up the lyrics on your own.  But the first part of it goes like this:

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Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis or reliable then my own meandering experience.  I will dispense this advice....now.

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Good advice.  Now I want to do the same, but just for a specific subject: keys to life.

I find there are two three:

• balance
• timing
• context/perspective

I won't go too deep into explanation, as it can get very verbose, and it's really not that hard to understand if you give it a little thought.  If you can control and/or perfect these in your life, the world can be your oyster.

And now a few secondaries:

• ambition
• perseverance
• resolve
• conviction

Yes there's some overlap here.  The secondaries aren't fully baked.  Will update when I get to 'em

The beauty of rain

There was some pretty heavy rainfall tonight in Toronto.  Just a couple of observations I came up with due to it:

 

1.  Tonight was the second time this year, where I explicitly witnessed a sort of border between an area with no rainfall, and an area with a lot, and having no choice but to drive straight through it.  It's quite an experience, from being sunny (or just dry, as in tonight, when the sun had already set while I was driving home), you see in front of you a haze that you're not too sure about.  Then the raindrops are seen more clearly, then the sound of a shower get louder and louder, until you're fully engulfed in the rain, where the wipers can't wash the rain off the windshield fast enough and there's nothing you can do to get rid of the sound of the rain bombing down upon your car.  What beauty!

 

2.  The view at my place rocks!  Not only do I hear and see all the rain as well compared to when I'm in the car, but the big windows let me see practically every lightning bolt on the west side of Don Mills -- all the way to Etobicoke/Mississauga/Brampton!  I wish I had something that could take some pictures that would do the lightning bolts some justice.  As a side note, has anyone ever seen ORANGE lightning bolts outside of a lab?  I can now say that I have!

 

Dan

Memory Lane - China Observations

I used to have a personal website, where I had a section for my thoughts and opinions.  The website's gone, but I still have some of the writings.  So thought I'd put them here and give my current take on whatever I was talking about: in this case, it's my trip to China.

 

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Interesting Observations (May '03)

 

Watermelon
   With the food in China, you'd think their national fruit was watermelon! There was watermelon for breakfast, watermelon for lunch, watermelon for dinner, watermelon on the street markets, watermelon in the supermarkets, watermelon everywhere! But funny thing is that the watermelons in China were no where near as sweet as the ones in Canada. Conversely, however, the watermelons in China are no where near as genetically modified as the ones in Canada. =)

 

Stigma of Chinese Food
   I think this is the biggest thing that I'll remember about my trip. All my life, I have heard of the stigma of how the chinese eat dog and other crap like that. Before, I wouldn't really say much about it, because even though I admittedly found it a big disgusting, there really isn't much of a difference between eating a cow and eating a dog. But after going to China, I have a better apprectiation of the stigma. The people of China are poor. There are some that aren't too poor, and some that are more poor than others. But for the most part, the majority of China's population is poor. And so I found it very despicable of me, to criticise or have an opinion on people who eat dog, when I have never been in there shoes. And conversely, I have a better idea of how I should respond the next time I hear someone talking about the chinese eating dog.

 

Skin Complexion
   To those ignorami who think that chinese people only have white to yellow skin complexion should go to China. Spending just 5 minutes in PR China, and they'll see a huge spectrum of skin complexions -- almost from black to white.

 

Car Widths
   If anyone has ever seen a Suzuki Sidekick, and has noticed how narrow that vehicle is, they will have a very good idea of how wide cars are in China. Although, I guess it makes sense: there are more than a billion people in China, if everyone was driving cars as wide as the ones in North America....well, you'd get chaos. Unless you're quite wealthy, you'll never be able to afford a car that looks better than a '92 Corolla, and is wider than a Suzuki Sidekick.

 

Traffic
   Speaking of chaos, you already have it in a lot of it in China, especially in the major cities. I even dare to say that the traffic in Hong Kong is better than the traffic in some chinese cities. Nobody really has the right of way on the streets: not pedestrians, not bicyclists, and not motorized vehicles. Also, a red light doesn't mean stop; it means slowly inch out onto the street until you can make a left or right turn without getting rammed into. Amazingly, I only saw ONE traffic accident while in China. After going to China, it's hard for me to imagine how there can be a stigma about chinese drivers being slow...

 

Brakes and Suspensions
   The breaks on some of the buses are so screechy, that scratching a chalkboard with nails would seem like a 5-star vacation. Before I went to China, I always thought that all cars would have a suspension system. While sitting in the buses, my butt spent more time in the air, than on the bus seat. If chinese vehicles actually had suspension systems, you wouldn't know it from sitting in them.

 

Humidity
   If Canadians want to know how hot it can get in China, they should wait for the month of July, park their car under the sun, take the keys out, close all the windows, and sit in there for about an hour. Then they'll know how hot it can get in China.

 

Pollution
   The emissions from motor vehicles in China are terrible. I seriously think the chinese are getting stiffed in the air quality department, at least in the cities. Avoid city walking if at all possible, if not, make sure you have a tissue or something to cover your mouth and nose.

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The trip was back in '02.  Six years is a long time, especially in China years, so I'm sure a lot as changed, with many things still being exactly the same...

Memory Lane - Agnostic Atheism

I used to have a personal website, where I had a section for my thoughts and opinions.  The website's gone, but I still have some of the writings.  So thought I'd put them here and give my current take on whatever I was talking about: in this case, it's Agnosticism.

 

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Why I'm an Agnostic Atheist (May '03)

 

Because there are times when I believe in the existence of a higher power, and there are times when I don't.

According to others, that reasoning would probably constitute the definition of agnosticism, since if you believe in the existence of a higher power some of the time, then that means you don't disbelieve in the existence of a higher power all of the time, and therefore, you're not an atheist, but only an agnosticist (is that correct? "agnosticist"?).

 

I would agree with such a person if it wasn't for my belief that one should not make claims unless they have substantial proof to back it up. In the case of the existence of a higher power, I don't have any. All I have is an inkling, a feeling, that something more exists that is beyond our current objective understanding of the universe, and that's not enough for me. It might be enough for some people -- on smaller matters, it's might even be enough for me -- but for large matters such as religion (or lack thereof), it's not for me.

 

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Not much has changed since then.  The belief is pretty much still the same.  I would only add two things: 1. I would definitely say that I'm non-religious.  2. I rarely think about this anymore.  Whether you're Christian or Buddhist or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu or nothing at all, as long as you have a good heart and a kind nature, that's all that really matters.