偶然逛facebook看到的，当年的乖乖女，现在居然这么描述自己：
Chinese female PhD, short, with glasses. married. period.
（中国女博士，矮，戴眼镜，已婚，句号）
顿时有种寒风拂面的感觉……
The last names
I found this when I was discussing with my advisor about the journal papers. He always refers to the papers as Newman’s catalyst paper, or Nam’s modeling paper. People’s name, instead of the name of the paper, is used the most as the identification.
With pirating and non-pioneering status quo in research, Chinese is not used to identify a work by the name, since people just copy and paste the work of others. it is the author, not the title, that really makes a difference. Let’s hope for a change in the near future.
吓死个人嘞
今天因为一个偶然的机会，和一位叫Sharla Freeman的和我同龄的美国女生聊了将近两小时的天。先是因为最近中秋晚会筹备的事情，不久就开始闲扯她的一些琐事。说实话，我还是第一次和一个美国人聊这么多东西。深深感到一些文化差异。
她先说自己在学空手道，说是自己在加州的时候差点被墨西哥人绑架了。
然后说道了一些幽默感的问题。她就跟我讲她在一个中餐馆打工的时候，有个Chinese就直接问她
why do you have such a huge butt?
我就不好意思翻译了，看得懂的读着就接着看吧。
她就回说：
– they are pancake butts. If you want to have one piece, I can give it to you.
她说她觉得这样的笑话都没什么。其实我是觉得有些诧异。我从来不会在国内听到有人戏弄店员小姐。
然后她跟我讲她老妈给她发彩信，是naked dancing cowboy，她说她老妈是个perv。
我说你怎么能这么说你老妈呢，她说她老妈就是这样，像个小孩儿。
我其实觉得，再怎么小孩儿，也不至于干这些火星的事情吧。。。
====
背景介绍：Sharla其人
Sharla现在读MSU本科三年级，和我同岁，今年24。她在一家叫做Fine China的餐馆打工，曾经上过Chris的一门社会科学的课程，对中国很感兴趣。自己有一个中国男朋友。最近加入了GLCAA协会。由于我也是其中一员，也在为将要举行的中秋晚会出力，所以最近天天都和Sharla有一定的联系。
Olympics, the impression of China
What impressed me the most:
1. "Truely exceptional games". What else do you need to prove the success of the games other than the words from IOC president?
2. "Thank you, China. " I read it this from the tribute video on NBC, titled "culture of Beijing games". The link is here:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0824_hd_mul_au_ce529
For a long time, I just forget the western world could say something like this to China. More than one hundred years, we were split and stampeded by the West, then we defend ourselves, and fight the West. Now, finally, the appreciation from the West.
3. The pulling out of Liu Xiang. A national hero is down. I personally don’t like the promise of his coach, saying "he will be definitely back." This is just putting even more pressure on Liu Xiang.
4. Shawn Johnson with her Beijing coach. She is cute, and trained by a Chinese. I have to mark this in my blog;
Imagination at ads: GE
The well known slogan from GE – imagination at work – has found its expression in ads. As an honored partner for 2008 Beijing Olympics, the US based high – tech company has contributed on the water treatment and wind energy. GE is also famous for its jet engines on Boeings. Thus, the commercials are set up on those topics.
Hold on, there is still one element missing: the Chinese culture. Let’s take a look at how they did it.
Here is a compete list of all the commercials:
http://www.ge.com/company/advertising/ads_olympic_games.html
Dragon
Biogas Tech Vs. Chinese culture.
When you first see bunch of people cutting grass and hike to the dragon cave to feed the giant monster, there is no trace of idea how this could be related to GE products. You are still lost when you see the kids jump to the pool warmed by the dragon, who blew fire to the brass boiler of water after eating the grass. Finally, the punch line come up:
"Turning organic waste, like grass and plants, into energy, is no longer a stuff of legend."
Then it strike your mind: exactly, the whole story is doing the same thing as what GE is achieving.
Crane
GE engine vs. Chinese culture
Crane is a stereotypical Chinese painting figure. The meaning of it is longevity and wisdom. This auspicious symbol derives from Daoism, a major traditional Chinese philosophy. Given that, what could be better representative for GE jet engine design?
"Image the way to fly, that not only help to save millions of gallons of fuel, but also actually reduces the emissions. The GE NX Aircraft Engine."
Wow, I got to admit, that is perfect match! The way crane flies does emit almost nothing harmful to the environment.
In the end, the turtle "ground traffic" punch line made this commercial even better.
—-
What else can you ask of a commercial? They are simply great!
A view from the other side: Olympics in the US
It is interesting to notice the difference how the countries are ranked on the metal standings list between the eastern and western news site.
Here is one clip from NBC Olympic site:
As of today, the US won the most total medals. Although the Chinese made the most of the Gold medals, it is on the top only in the Chinese website:
The above clip picture is from Sina.com.cn, a major Chinese news port website.
The games always yield surprises. The top six surprises so far for the Americans on NBC is:
The number one surprise comes from swimmer Katie Hoff. She is one of the most talented swimmer in the US. I guess she is equally advertised as Phelps before they started off to Beijing. She has won nearly all the possible swimming gold metals in US Open, including 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, and 100 m and 400 m freestyle. Internationally, she nailed the fame of being world champion in individual medley in Melbourne, Australia.
In a word, she is the dominant figure in the pool. That explains why she blew so many Yankees’ mind with only a silver in the 400 m freestyle and a bronze in the 400 m individual medley so far.
The two entries about gymnastics teams are also eye-pulling. A bronze medal means honor, while sometimes a silver is only proving not excellent. It is worth notifying the story behind this two: China dominates both men’s and women’s gymnastics games. So far, China has not let a single gold metal in gymnastics leap out of its hands.
总动员令下发！
开始号召志愿者了，原文如下：
Everybody, it is time to do something!
CSSAMSU is calling for ideas, opinions, and volunteers!
What needs to be done now:
1. Establish the information sharing system.
Personally, I think the mailing list is suitable for announcement, but not good enough for the intensive upcoming communication between all the organizers, volunteers and general public.
@ Proposed solutions:
a) Facebook. Almost everyone has facebook account, and we can easily outreach to non-Chinese people for support
b) http://bbs.cssamsu.com. More powerful in terms of topic management;
c) Instant messenger. Skype group chat, capable of group chat history record. MSN is not as good in this aspect, but most people has an account.
2. Set up donation approaches.
Yes, there is already a redcross account for accepting donations, but there are just so many people don’t even know the way to do it. We will also be able to show our name as Chinese in MSU.
@ Proposed solutions
a) Paypal. It should be the most efficient option.
b) Checks. We need to figure out what bank account to write the check to, how to transfer the money to where it should be.
c) Cash. This needs to be done in public. Discussion is needed for details.
3. Outreach.
We need to make sure as many people as possible, including both Chinese and non-Chinese, knows the issue and, how to make the donation.
@ Proposed approaches
a) Facebook.
b) Donation kiosks on campus. We need volunteers to make posters, or ppts, to collect donations, and keep records.
CSSAMSU Eboard is not enough, only by working together can we make a difference! Please share your opinions on this issue, let’s make a difference!
—
Hao Wen
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Michigan State University, East Lansing
MI, US
How is it going?
First I have to apologize for those who is not good at, or just lazy at, reading English. I have to use this way to show my situation since there is no way to type in Chinese in the computer center. On the other hand, I only took 2,000 bucks with me, which made the purchase of IBM thinkPad a risky issue. If I bought one right now, I would be short in fund, and run into a lot of trouble.
It is currently the orientation week. There are three orientations (which is like series of lectures telling you what the hell is going on and what to do) in success, the ITA(International Teaching Assistant) Oriention, the orientation of the Engineering School and the one by the CheMe Department. I met people from all the world every day. However, I am thinking I just made in-site friends. We met, became friends, and depart without sympathy and telphone number. I started to feel lonely, but I think I can handle it.
I have settled in Spartan Village, locating at the southwest part of campus. This is a residental site belonging to the Unviersity Housing. The rent is $331/month. This is a place soooo far away from the heart of unversity, as I indicated in the previous article.
The cost of food is not clear yet, since the orientation offered me the food for a whole week. The food offered in the cafeteria is no match to Chinese food, as I expected. They suck, with all those weird western taste. I won’t take any of it if it’s not for free.
I am doing just OK with the English language. If I wrote this entry yesterday, I would say:"pretty good." But this afternoon, after hearing a native girl talking about her experience after class, I am totally frustrated. That’s probably the fastest English I have ever heard. That crazy girl took me down. Now I don’t have that much confidence in English any more.
The landscape is gorgeous. I will post some picture in no time.
sooooo… beautiful
This is pretty much the first blog since I arrived here in MSU. This is a gorgeous place, a never-land for fairytales, I would say. However, it is impossible for me to type in Chinese now. I would take care of that in the future.