LEED

After redesigning the school following LEED's standards, I want to re-build my house so it is more energy effecient too. The first thing that almost every house needs are windows. My living room, master bed room, and dining room have big window, but the rest of the rooms in the house have very few and very small window. Allowing more sunlight into the house will definitely decrease the electricity bill. Even if I can not re-build my house now, I should just move my desk (where I study) closer to a window so I don't have to turn on the lights during the day. Also turning my piano around (so I can read my music without the lights on during the day) will help. My physics teacher talked about this special kind of window that work based on some electric field principle (Sadie, Kelsey, Clint, Codrin, etc. help me out with exactly how it works please!! I forgot.). It's very cool even though I'm not sure if it's cost effective to "opperate" the window, changing from transparent to blocking light.
I also want to improve insulation at my house. I have an attic connected to my room. In the winter, cold wind blows in around the edges of the door (because there's this screened "window" that can not be closed).
The Basement, where my mom likes to hangout, is very cold and dark in the winter. One side of the basement can be opened (meaning not underground). So more windows there will help too.
Also installing solar panels for electricity and collecting rain water can decrease my footprint. I can put so lines up on the deck so I can hang my cloth there to dry in the summer at least. Planting fruits and vegetables is good too. especially the Chinese vegetables that are hard to find in American super markets (even though Chinese plants are probably invasive species that might not be good for the environment if planted on a large scale?). Along with the garden, I need a compost to reduce my household's space in the landfilled.
There are many things I can do without tearing down my house......but I don't do them. I guess knowing what to do and doing it are completely different. Well, according to Socrates "to know the good is to do the good." :)

Jefferson County Sewer Debt

Water and sewer are two of the most basic needs for a person to live. But Jefferson County official did not handle the sewer system with care and is now more than $3.2 billion in debt. The county had good intentions when it borrowed the money to build a new sewer system, but it solely relied on JPMorgan for advice instead of using competitive bidding. The county did what many homeowners did, borrowed money that it can not pay back. Because Jefferson County borrowed at rates that carried with the market, the soaring interest rates in February 2008 put the county in deeper debt.
Government policy, the economy, and water issues are all linked. Bad decision made water in sewer bill in Jefferson County went up 4 times in the past decade. The increase forced many families into sacrificing life style and other needs like the lady in the Bloomberg article (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&refer=home&sid=aF_f8gLLNvn0). Not handling water and sewer properly is driving Jefferson County toward bankruptcy. Water is the most important natural resources that we have. As a nation and an individual, we should treat water with care.

Branding

Brands that I identify with:
Nike
Wal-mart (Sam’s Club)
Costco
Toyota
Black and White
Coca Cola
Dell
Apple
Verizon Wireless
Nine West
SM
Wrigley
Hagendas

Logos: price and quality of goods.
Wal-mart is big on saving. All their ads contain information about how much money they saved you. The smiley knocks down prices. In the 2007 Wal-mart commercial, it shows a family going on vocation using the money they saved by going to Wal-mart. This commercial obviously has heavy Pathos. Don’t you want to go on a nice trip with your family? Toyota’s cars last 10 plus years and 100,000 plus miles. For example like my step-dad who does not take care and maintain his Toyota Avalon, the car hasn’t had any problem and it has run close to 150,000 miles.
Pathos: good experiences!!
I buy Wrigley’s gum because it takes good to me. I had a good experience with it. It’s the same thing with Coke, Hagendas ice cream, other foods, and clothing brands. Pathos is everywhere. Like with Nike, the ads and commercials use famous athletes and Olympic champions. It gets you moving. It’s Ethos as well because even professional athletes trust Nike.
Ethos: credibility
SM Entertainment is publisher of Korean music. The singers and albums SM endorses are of very high quality (or I like them). Staring with H.O.T. in the early 1990s, SM has put out famous bands such as DBSK, SJ, The Grace, etc. H.O.T.’s style influenced many other Korean artists. I like SJ so I like DBSK because they are “produced” by the same company.

In general I don’t pay too much attention to brands. I get most of my food from Wal-mart, Costco, and Chinese grocery stores in Birmingham. Since I eat mostly fresh vegetables and fruits……..branding doesn’t slap you in the face. I stay away from candy, chips, boxed lunches, even cereal in general. And cloth…..as long as it is reasonable in price and is pretty…….I don’t care what brand it is. Like usually people associate Starbucks with cool people and nice atmosphere, but I don’t really care about that. I think in my entire life so far……I’ve only been to Starbucks 5 or 6 times.

说中文可以吗？

I had an interesting discovery today. None of my classmates (except Avo) know how to fold stars (image above). Avo and I taught half the class how to make these stars in 8th period today.

This is only one small difference between Asian people and American peopleJ. I lived in the US for almost 8 years now. But I still identify myself with China more than America for many reasons. Well, I eat Chinese food every meal. Chinese include more vegetables in their diet than Americans do so it’s probably healthier for me to eat Chinese food. I watch Chinese TV shows and listen to Chinese music more than I pay attention to American television and entertainment. Also Asian cultures are more a like than say European culture and Indian culture. I can identify more with Korean and Japanese life style and values. Geography is mainly responsible for the similarities among China, North/South Korea, and Japan. I still speak Chinese at home and with my Chinese friends so my Chinese is still better than my English.

The Chinese language is very difficult to master. There’s so many ways to express one idea. To express an action, there are usually one commendatory term and one derogatory term for it [like in English connotation vs. denotation]. For example, if you see a piece of art work and love it, you can say the artist塑造 [su zao; crafted] a really amazing piece of work. Another person might see the same art work and hate it, so he might say the artist捏造 [nie zao; which has the same denotative meaning as塑造 but carries a negative connotative meaning of randomly make it up]. This kind of thing probably exists in all languages. Connotative and denotative meanings make life more difficult but also more colorful. Like Newspeak in 1984, using “plusgood” for “excellent” is probably more scientific but not very interesting.

Ideal Life Style

I forgot to mention something really important in my “This Blessed House” post. Personally I just think Twinkle and Sanjeev jumped into marriage way too quickly. Getting married after only 4 months, no wonder they had problems!

Right…. My ideal, healthy life style.
Get up early in the morning and eat a good breakfast.
(since I live in the US, I don’t think riding my bike to school/work is an option especially in this part of the country) Shorter commute.
Fruits for snacks at random times of day.
Lunch with lots of vegetables and protein (I like tofu), not too much fat.
“Exercise” some during the day. At school, may be during PE. If at work, simple thinks like walking up/down the stairs instead of taking the elevator.
Yes, NAP time (probably not going to happen ever).
Do not eat dinner too late (at least 4 hours before going to bed).
Exercise for ~45 min everyday.
Get ~7 hours of sleep every week night.
Hiking, canoeing, biking, etc. on weekends.

Now let’s see how close I am to achieving that!!
I get up early and eat breakfast everyday.
My commute is ~50 min (one-way). May be next year when I live on college campus, I will have ~1.5 more hour everyday.
I eat healthy. I don’t eat junk food for the most post. Lots of fruits and vegetables.
Extremely lazy and do not do any physical activities.
NAP……on weekends.
I do get ~7 hours of sleep everyday.

I really do have time to do more exercise but I am too lazy. I say I’m going to start doing more exercise today everyday, but……I wrote this entry so I can see how long will it take for me to achieve this life style.

Calories, Calories, and More Calories

More and more people are becoming overweight. This problem does not only exist in developed countries such as the United States; the developing countries, while battling poverty and disease, also fight against calories. As developing countries prosper, its citizens do less physical activities and consume more oil and sugar. For example, traditionally Chinese people drink tea and water. But in the 21st century, more and more Chinese people, especially children, drink Pepsi and other soft drinks. 10 years back, only the relatively well-to-do can drink soft drinks on regular bases. Now, Wal-marts and other super markets sell Coke and Pepsi at more affordable prices. From my personal experiences in China, diet soft drinks are sold at a higher price than regular soft drinks; consequently less Chinese drink diet drinks. Other junk food and fast food restaurants also contribute to fattening China. Another big “criminal” the article talks about is oil. Oil is much cheaper than it used to be in China. People who are my grandparents’ and parents’ age still remember clearly the days when there’s a limit on how many cups of oil a family can buy in a month. So many people do not want to waste the oil that comes out of meat when you cook it. For example, my grandparents (both have diabetes and high blood pressure) refuse to waste any food including big pieces of fat on meat. Wasting anything is considered a very bad habit in China.
Obesity in China is also more severe in children than in adults. In China where competition for jobs and higher level education are intense, more focus is put on studying then on physical activities. Parents will do everything in their power to increase the studying hour. Parents may try to “bribe” young kids into studying by buying them chocolate, computer games, KFC, or Cola. Or drive high school students to school (instead of letting them ride the bus or bike) so they can get an extra 30min of nap in the car. Parents will do all the chores and physical labor so children can maximize their study time. Of course, many children sit in front of the TV instead of playing basket ball even when they have time.
I think education and raising awareness are solutions to almost all problems. Kids and parents need to be educated about eating healthy and living healthy. As the harmful side of eating junk food and decreasing exercise become more apparent to average citizens, people will begin to think and modify their behaviors. But we can not afford to wait till then, so increasing awareness before it’s too late is the most important thing. Also like the article mentioned, taxes on sweets and oils are pretty good ideas. If diet coke costs less than regular cokes, I’m sure some people will buy diet drinks instead of regular soft drinks.

This Blessed House: Relativist and Fundamentalist

The short story “This Blessed House” ties in with the discussion we had about relativist and fundamentalist in class very well. Sanjeev is a fundamentalist and Twinkle is a good example of a relativist. Twinkle embraces the new Christian objects that they find in their new house; she adapted and accepted different culture and religion. Sanjeev, on the other hand, believes that since they are not Christian they should not display the Virgin Mary in their front yard. No one is better than the other. Relativists are not necessarily more fit to survive than fundamentalists. Depending on the place and time, each type of characteristic has its advantages and disadvantages. In most Asian communities, people tend to be fundamentalists who have more structure and rules. Sanjeev is a fundamentalist, more or less, is because he was brought up that way. For example in Philosophy class last semester there was a discussion about whether god exists. I used the opportunity and asked many of my friends in China about their thoughts. One response that particularly strikes me was “you should go with what everyone else in the class think.” (I told my friends that it was a class discussion). This friend is definitely a fundamentalist who does not want to bring out or embrace anything that is “new.” A relativist like Twinkle would find it hard to adapt to a strict fundamentalist environment. When persons of completely different culture meet like Twinkle and Sanjeev, problems will occur inevitably. When this happens, both parties need to learn to compromise. Twinkle and Sanjeev reached an agreement on where to put the Virgin Mary statue. If everyone compromises a little, there will be fewer wars in this world.