Zee at House Works, NYC

She did a small gig at House Works, 126 Crosby Street in the City on Friday November 13. We took a couple of impromptu pictures from a primitive cell phone camera, and a point and shoot. The quality is not great but there is no sense keeping them hidden in our hardrives. Here they are for all fans, and wishing Zee an upward trajectory in her budding musical career.

Charles River Sunset Collection

Biking home from late afternoon sailings at Community Boating I took these impromptu pictures using a low end cell phone (Samsung) camera with sharpening by Photofiltre.


1. Crossing Harvard Bridge, August 6, 2009 at 19:52 hour.

2. Cambridge skyline seen from the Community Boating Dock, rear exit channel

3. Same view as above but from a different angle, and taken at an earlier date, June 17, 2009 at 20:06 hour.

Hanoi citadel

Traces of the citadel can still be seen today at many sites.

The main site evident to tourists is the Northern Gate. French colonialists of the 19th century systematically destroyed most of the citadel (a criminal action by any measures) but preserved the Northern Gate because of clear evidence of damages caused by artillery shells fired by their Navy from the Red River nearby. The battle scars are reminders to the subjugated populace of the superiority of French firepower and technology.

The gaping holes are shown in the photos above, taken at night, June 29, 2009.

Wikipedia in English provides little in regards to the Hanoi Citadel. If you read Vietnamese, click on the blog title for a more thorough write-up by Wiki Vietnam.

The locals call the Northern Gate, của bắc or bắc môn or more simply thành Hoàng Diệu to commemorate the commander/governor of the citadel who valiantly resisted the French attack of April 25, 1882, and paid for it with his life. The attitude of Tự Đức, the emperor of Annam, towards French repeated violations of Vietnamese sovereignity in the 19th century, is nothing to write home about, a very sad chapter of Vietnamese history.

Wiki Vietnam also provides a fair amount of information about Hoàng Diệu : http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho%C3%A0ng_Di%E1%BB%87u

Zee

Yeah! just discovered Zee Avi while randomly navigating youtube videos. Great voice, excellent guitar and ukulele, write her own. She 's from Malaysia but not a hint of an accent. You should check her out, rare talents just don't come around too often. She's now touring the States after releasing her first self titled album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdXDgaEgaJ8

The US in decline?

Much has been said in the foreign press about the current economic turmoil in the US, and implications for its standing in the world.

See for example: http://www.tdg.ch/actu/monde/empire-sursis-democratie-voie-dislocation-hyperpuissance-demeure-chine-russie-2008-10-31

or worse: http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/12/the-united-stat.html

There is no need for the US to be the 1st, 2nd or 3rd economic power in the world. It is more important that it could provide better than average sustenance for its people, remains a center of excellence in innovation and compassion, and maintains a military force second to none. Many will disagree with the last item, but considering the situation in Tibet, and many other trouble parts of the world, it's always good to have the power of the mightiest cannons on our side.

In terms of economic sustenance, even in the current dire economic abyss, most still have plenty to eat and stay warm. Hardship for a poor family with a major bread earner without a job means eating less, loosing the fat in your body that you shouldn't have in the first place. Another hardship is to drop the temperature in your house to 62 degree F instead of a comfortable 68, it's a matter of putting on an extra layer of clothing that you may have to buy at a local thrift store instead of Walmart or Sears. The list can go on and on about details of a healthy lifestyle versus a decadent one. A bonus of the economic melt down is more time for people to relate to each other, more time for leisure and exercise that costs nothing, e.g. walk and jog instead of paying dues for the local power gym, and more time to ponder about job re-training or entrepreneurship. Taking into consideration all of the above the US is still in pretty good shape compared to the rest of the world, and is poised for a new direction. In a way, the economic melt down is a good thing for the nation.

The US is still indisputedly a powerhouse in innovation, just count the number of patents and research publications, the Nobel prizes and immigrants that flocked to its shore for education. Likewise militarily, the US still have the power to obliterate the major centers of civilization within an hour.

Compassion could be debatable because of all the unjust small wars we have been conducting lately or during the last century. It may appear that the US has the compassion of a rich banker, but come to think of it, it did save the world from fascists from Germany, Japan & Italy, and mitigated the spread of the Red tide. It took in millions of political and economic immigrants over the years, more so than any industrialized nations on earth in recent history. So, if that is not compassion, what is?

To all the naysayers, suck your thumb! Despite some obvious deficiencies the US is still on top of the world and a center of excellence for many years to come. To all Europeans, come back to the table for discussion about excellence once you elect a black president. Likewise for the Chinese, but I couldn't say that to the Africans, they had white presidents for far too long (:-) and it is high time to keep one of their own on top.

In short, the world in my mind eyes.

Portrait

Picture credit: Alexander Le (www.alexanderle.blogspot.com), 01/05/2009, Cambridge, UK.

The series of photograps depicting a man enjoying his hot coffee on a cold day in Cambridge was outstanding, and surely deserving a spot in this blog. La Bruyere came to mind while watching the expression on the face of the man.