Author: F C

I watched a lot of TV coverage today about the aftermath of Katrina — PBS, CNN and Fox News — to try to get a feel about what kind of spin is going on. The Newshour had the most comprehensive coverage, including an insightful analysis of the racial, political, and economic fallout. CNN had the best on-the-ground coverage. Their correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta had some video where he is on the roof of Charity General, where 200 critical patients are waiting for government choppers, while Tulane Medical across the street is evac-ing non-essential staff. The story inferred that the public charges were not prioritized. Fox had a sanguine view of the recovery. Much of the footage was a montage of wire shots rather than live coverage. What was puzzling was why the anchor needed to ask leading questions to the correspondents, rather than just letting the correspondents report their observations. The rawest blogging by the managers trying to keep up an ISP in the city, DirectNIC, was the most reliable in describing the true state on the ground. They are hoping to get a shipment of fuel for their generators by the end of the day tomorrow, or they’re sunk.

In terms of the meta-meta issue above the racial and economic issues, what does this do to our self-esteem as a nation? The social contract with our government? How secure should we feel?

We started receiving visiting law students from New Orleans today; a number will be staying with us for free at least for the next semester. The first one flew in last night, and all I could think about as she sat on the other side of my desk is that we were 10 minutes away from Ground Zero, and that we’re going to make sure they’re taken care of. That’s the least that we can do.

Today is Malaysia’s National Day. Also, one year ago today, YC and B- were married. While I have to say a bus ride 500 miles north from Singapore was more pleasant than a Greyhound from New York to Toronto, it is still a grueling all-night marathon by crazy bus drivers punctuated by wading through border crossings and pit stops. Congrats and best of luck for safe travels!

THE ONE. Had a reunion Turkish dinner at Taksim on 54 and 2nd with my cousin, SSW, and about a dozen people from law school. Good food, great conversation, crazy camera shots, and the longest farewell session (nearly 1.5 hours after the end of the meal.

TWO. Started making small contributions to Wikipedia. It’s in some ways a bit scary as the audience is large, and you don’t know who you might offend, but on the other hand it is empowering.

THREE. Ring circus at work among three buildings. On Thursday, my cell phone pager goes bonkers as half of the network goes down at 7:30 in the morning, and I’m the only person anywhere near there. I get everything back up in 45 minutes, but it’s not a great way to start the day.

FOUR. I haven’t been sleeping well- I’ve been going to bed at 4 daily. Though not connected, a fourth co-worker lost a parent last week – I attended the memorial service that was on Friday.

My new homepage is the Wikipedia Random Page. Yeah, I was one of those geeks that actually liked reading random encyclopedia articles when I was young and my parents bought the requisite multi-volume set with the annual year books. Wikipedia is a thousand times better because it incorporates cultural awareness in its researched articles. You also can look at the discussion and see what kind of biases exist in the writing, which you can’t do in a regular encyclopedia.

They’re in another fund-raising season — consider contributing.

I’ve been out of action for a while, partially because I needed a break after cooking for 200 at last week’s successful APA picnic in the Bronx, and partially because my hard drive crashed on my desktop computer, putting a big crimp on my Internet addiction.

Updating a previous post, my friend had a healthy 7 lb. baby boy in HK on Monday. Congrats!

In APA news, Cristeta Comerford, who is Filipina, becomes the first Asian executive White House chef. Apparently, the Bushes were looking for someone that could cook both state dinners and huevos rancheros.

Finally, got a brand new work laptop. 6 weeks on back order, I finally got a Thinkpad T43. Perfect typing surface, long battery life (got over 4 hours on one charge) and built in everything. Very very sweet.

You scored as Gunshot. Your death will be by gunshot, probably because you are some important person or whatever. Possibly a sniper, nice, quick, clean shot to the head. Just beautiful. Posion 73% Gunshot 73% Bomb 67% Natural Causes 67% Cut Throat 53% Disappear 53% Stabbed 53% Suicide 47% Disease 40% Accident 40% Suffocated 40% Drowning 27% Eaten 13%

How Will You Die??
created with QuizFarm.com

I didn’t know what kind of tree was in front of my childhood house. It stood nearly 3 stories above the ground, with heart shaped leaves and white flowers. I didn’t realize what it was until one appeared in an episode of This Old House – the Northern Caltalpa. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to confirm it.

How long does it take for an idea to get from Asia to the US? From my measure, four months. BBC covered “Japan develops female android” on Wednesday. It soon became the highest linked article on Technorati. There were mentions on the TV news on Thursday. P– and I saw the robot in personfour months ago in Japan at the Expo.