Schools getting schooled

I blogged this topic about a year ago. Good to see that something is trying to be done about this. It is a very small step, but a step. Hopefully this is not one of just going through the motion versus applying this to an important part of the learning. Unfortunately this will take at least 5 to 10 years to have the effects impact the workforce.

http://spotlight.encarta.msn.com/Features/encnet_Departments_Grad_default_article_B-schoolsRethinkCrisis.html?GT1=27001

On another topic, I rode my bike today. I forgot how nice it was to ride when the weather is sunny 70 degrees.

The Dirty List...not the dirty dozen, but close

Here is my list of people or things that need Transparency, Reform, Monitor, Stress Tested, Hoped, and/or Changed:

1) President Obama
2) Perez Hilton
3) Kim Jung
4) Citigroup, BofA, JP Morgan, AIG, Freddie Mac, Wells Fargo, GM
5) Ben Bernanke
6) Tim Geithner
7) Bernie Madoff
8) Robert Stanford
9) Supporter and practitioners of Mark to market accounting of bad debts
10) TBD.....

Bank Lending Still Down 23% 4 Months After Bailout (source wall street journal)
Banks that received taxpayer aid to restart lending are loaning less than they did before the bailout, a Wall Street Journal analysis finds. The most recent figures available, from February, show a 23% drop in new loans from the lending level in October, when the Treasury Department kicked off TARP, the Journal notes. The figures are a more alarming and possibly more accurate measure than those the Treasury uses.

Down goes Jackie

I have come to believe that Asian are smart but not very wise. I came to this conclusion by means of generalizing the mass amount of Asians that occupy this planet. I like to comment on my statement of all Asian, but for now I will stick to the Chinese. To start, let's review the most recent news about Jackie Chan's comment about Hong Kong and Taiwan. He said that the Chinese needs to be controlled in order to prevent the chaos that we see today. The backlash of that comment fills the web today by people of Taiwan and Hong Kong. They call the comment racist, a step backwards, lack for understanding of democracy and freedom. But how much of it is just a knee jerk reaction to model themselves to western politically correctness and totalitarian behavior, versus maybe just for a split second, reflect whether there are some truth to that unprepared public comment. If anyone is to follow the political drama that has been happening in Hong Kong and Taiwan, then you can not but to take note that chaos do exist in those countries. Maybe is it time to stay away from the old ideology of always presenting the good and never disclose the bad because we just may loose face to other people. The fact is that the Chinese can always be proud of their past accomplishment of what they did, the hardship which they endured, and the ability to adapt to the most unfavorable conditions. What they often lack the ability to organize and to lead. As often as they try not to loose face, but in the (global) reality they never really had an identity or a face to be recognized. Those two words (organize and lead) are what will forever make Chinese the model minority or a better way of saying the second place to the first. Through my years of moving from place to places, visited country to countries, and worked from company to companies, I realize the biggest ethnic cannibalism are Asians (including the Chinese). They start off by banning together with the pride of their history, but along the way they start to disassociate themselves from the rest. How often do they say they are not like that. What are the FOBs and the non FOBS. Some goes to not dating or even have friends of the same ethnicity. Some will laugh about it and say they are just different. Yet if anyone else, besides the Asian (Chinese) did that, then they would be viewed as an embarrassment or plain socially unacceptable and ignorant. Yet the Chinese may self justify themselves by saying they are trying to stand out to be not like the rest is the reason for their success. The Chinese battle amount themselves to be the top of the class, but many time stands back to any confrontation from other groups. I've come to wonder why for a group of people that are smart and intelligent they lack any real identity to this world? I find them to be cowards when I see them holding back their thoughts, accept getting passed down for meaningful considerations and themselves undoubted frustrated with the circumstance, decides to take it out out on their own. My only rudimentary thought is that the Chinese seek for a hero to put on a pedestal. Unfortunately that quest is usually outward instead of within. They hold admiration for what they wish to do or often what they lack. My opinion is that the Chinese (or Asian) need to be in the light more. Whether that light is favorable or not, we just need to be there. Imagine how much media plays into our ideology of what is socially acceptable. Maybe it starts from that, the acceptance that they are not perfect and that they are more than just the smart hard working group of people. To develop that image of leadership, will undoubtedly take time, courage, but more importantly it will take risk (organization). They been burn once or twice, and they will continue to be burned again. Their strength of adaptability helped make the Chinese the way they are today, but it may also be their hindrance to the advancements of tomorrow. An individual passion of is all too overrated when there is lack of clarity to the commitment of the whole.

Going Long

What is up with all this talk about Asia? I feel like the topic of people moving over to Asia has come up repeatedly over the last couple of days. It makes me wonder if this is just like the situation where you start liking a specific car, then realize more of the same car is on the street and that people are also driving the same thing. I got to admit it makes me feel a bit uneasy. Is it a sign or has it been happening already, but I just starting to notice it now? Whatever it may be, it makes me a bit sad.

Now the "what if". I been wondering at lot of random "what if". Nothing spiritual or enlightening, but garbage thoughts.

1. What if there is affirmative action in sports? You can't deny that sports such as basketball, football, or even baseball lack diversity. It is a profitable business and yet limited in entry to that field. Some people are disadvantage since their environment deter the idea to work on sports.

2. What if people started to demand honest journalism? Imagine if we stop tolerate the crap news and bias opinions that are shown in the media today. Maybe we can really get the truth versus celebrate all the media hype. If to sit back and look, the media shape some many people's minds and some may not even know about it.

3. What if we do good for the sake of a group versus for the individual? I didn't understand this until I grew older. I think the world has become more about the "I" versus the "We". It is sad really, because how we treat each other and what we receive is the result of that shift in thinking.

Well I only have three that I can remember right now. Now it is out of my system. If I have to be harsh, I have to say that all the struggle that we are going through is something that we bring upon ourselves. I can look at all this and say I am sad for what it is happening, but then I can also say we need this to get some people back to earth. I see "entitlement" all over the place and even despite all the crap that been going on, there are still people with the same attitude. Let strip out all the fortunate things that were given, then see how a person character is truly illustrated in a time like this. It is just too bad we have a government that want to give to people even though they did not contribute. For example, where is the extra tobacco tax going to? This land is not about the land of opportunity and freedom anymore. It is about something where what you do really count a little less each day. It is not about what you do, but about how much you can get away with not doing.

Well enough bitching. More sleeping. Time will tell if this angry man is right or if he is just mental.