August 2008 Archives

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw on the news that the LPGA had issued an "English Only" policy. I knew immediately that it deserved a post after hearing a few people in the hotel dining room say it "sounds like a good idea." Fortunately, I believe these people were outnumbered by those who disagreed but I couldn't believe this was actually happening.

The new rule apparently targets the large number of lady Korean golfers who are making enormous strides in the sport. I was in disbelief especially after the Olympics which is such a world unifying event and the entire program is based on athletic merit which it should be. I had assumed that professional sports in the USA would also adhere to this same principle but I guess one can always be surprised. I know the male sports look only at ability such as the MLB and NBA and it's too bad that the snotty LPGA can't figure this out as well.

I am relieved however that by doing a quick search in Google there is a lot of backlash and golf.com has an article that says "LPGA's English-only policy is unsportsmanlike and un-american.
http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1836266,00.html?cid=feed-tours_news-20080826-1836266

After seeing that article, the steam stopped coming out of my ears and really deflated what would have been a much longer rant since I can see that people with common sense are attacking this policy.

However, it still seems that in America there is the concept that people who do not speak English are 'lesser' or dumb. This was certainly the case when immigrants first arrived in America in the 1800s' but one would think that we have become much more intelligent by now.

A good example of the hypocrisy is to use the French in Paris who give Americans the short shrift when they are unable to speak French which would probably make the snobs in the LPGA very upset. Yet they are doing the same thing to these Korean ladies in the LPGA only now it is not French but the English speaking women who are being uppity.

One could also make the case that they simply are afraid of being beat by the Koreans and thus institute a retarded rule like someone in Kindergarten.

But again, there does seem to be some serious backlash which is already on the web so I don't think I need to make this post very long as the opinion is already out there in mass posts.

The only other news article I do need to comment on however which I couldn't believe was actually shown on CNN is the story of a hillbilly in Texas who claims he saw an image of Jesus on a moth. Will these ridiculous news stories ever end? One would think Jesus has more important things to do than create his image on a moth, a burrito or somebody's Dunkin Doughnut. Or perhaps it is a conspiracy by CNN to dumb down their viewership. Nothing like waking up in the morning to one of CNN's playboy bunny reporters reporting on images of Jesus in some hilljack's happy meal.

A new movie "Tropic Thunder" is now showing in theaters. I've only seen the previews but could not help but be completely saddened by it. The reason is because it looks like this movie is based upon the Vietnam war which was an atrocity yet is used for an offending nations entertainment. I was also completely exasperated to see on the news today that people are protesting but for a completely different reason which is the disabled or as the movie refers to as "retarded."

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/updated-disability-advocates-call-for-tropic-thunder-protest-stiller-responds/11875

This is a perfect case to understand how one's viewpoint changes due to international experience and my experience in Vietnam. It also showcases the ignorance of film makers concerning international affairs.

Having lived in Vietnam, I saw the affects of the war that still continue today from Agent Orange and the image of severely deformed children from this poison is burned into my brain. Yet, American film makers have the gall to make a comedy about the war????

Imagine if you were Vietnamese, and saw the add for this movie. Of course America was "assisting" the repressive southern regime but by most viewpoints today America should have stayed out of Vietnam's affairs. Further, as one reads Ho Chi Minh's literature one would call into question the true motives for America's actions.

To see on the news that the people with disabilities are offended isn't the only problem here. It is extremely disheartening (Horrendous!) to see that there were not protests about making comedy out of such a tragic and sad affair. I'm completely baffled as to how the entire American public has not called attention to this grossly insensitive film. Has America forgotten the pain that both nations suffered during this conflict? How can people go to see this movie and laugh??!!!!!!!

Having lived in America (again) for the past two years I have again integrated into the society. But shit like this brings me back to the same level of anger as when America started the Iraq war and everyone followed it blindly (which now people are starting to realize as a mistake). Make a comedy about an awful war yet they decide to only protest about the disabled. It only shows how short collective memory can be and further how little the American public knows about international affairs. Why not start another war, kill a bunch of people and then make a comedy about it 40 years later???????

I'm pissed off about this. God love Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.

Finally a new look for my old blog. I've had a few days off so finally had the time to sit in front of the computer and learn new things. The hard part about redesigns is that the web changes so much year to year and everything I knew how to do isn't up to par with the new web design programs/methods. And to make things worse, I have to relearn the old programs I used to use (Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Moveabletype etc) since it has always been a long time since I last used them.

Yet, there always seems to be some sort of solution that comes along with the new software and I can't give enough praise to Moveabletype 4.0! This time they have a template library which included the exact template I would like to use!!! This time I didn't have any script to fumble with/try to figure out and could just do a complete "set templates to default" and add design template!!! Wonderful!

The install was pretty painless as well. Simply upload the new files over my old installation although I did forget that the static folder was not supposed to go into the cgi-bin and therefore had no pictures when I first loaded it up.

Unfortunately, the links still do not work but I have learned a lot about Mysql databases! Perhaps the most important thing I have learned is that mysql script looks very hard and I'm not yet motivated enough to want to try learning it. The problem has something to do with the PMA Database not being ok and perhaps a scripting error. I've pressed every button in mysqladmin and even tried running some scripts but I really don't know what I'm doing there. :( Where is the button to fix that???

As for my old website it has all been erased. I can't believe how fast time goes and how outdated those pictures had become. Further, the pages were designed using static html and tables for each individual picture! Now we have picasa and other cool programs that make working with pictures on the net very easy and is something I will incorporate into this site with new picts!