So from time to time I sneeze out of the blue. I believe that actually runs in my family as my dad does it and from what I heard his grandmother did it too. If you can picture a really short old Chinese lady sneezed so loud that neighbors could hear her. Most of the Americans I know would say "bless you." when I sneeze. About the only kind of response I get from my Chinese friends is "do you have a cold?" There is no exception. It does not matter whom I am with or where we are. I am very amused by this phenomenon. Perhaps that is the cultural response to a sneeze in China?

I have been doing quite a bit reading lately, scholarly and leisurely. To that, I am attributing the lack of updates on this web site. Of course I could just have been lazy too. Anyhow, reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale, and Linda Greenhouse's Becoming Justice Blackmun in succession is definitely an interesting experience. Some might say this sounds like a seminar on the liberal thoughts, if one associates Darwinism and Roe with liberalism in America.

I have to say that the Blackmun book has led me to see the Roe decision in a very different light and to some extent the role of the court and the justices as well. In today's society when too many politicians are asked yes or no, for or against questions on Sunday morning talkshows, what we need is a court that sees the means to an end just as important if not more so. Everyone has personal beliefs. It is unthinkable to imagine a person without strong personal beliefs to be nominated to the Supreme court. However, the idea of a predetermined complete correlation between the personal beliefs and the decisions of a judge is a frightening one. It shows the lack of thoughtfulness and contemplating and at times struggling that is so essential to the high court. It shows the lack of respect for the job . For this reason, I am increasingly unhappy with what Bush is doing everyday with regard to Miers. The fact that she belongs to a extremely conservative church does not bother me. It is her choice which congregation she joins. It says nothing one way or the other about her credential. What bothers me is the fact that the administration via proxy is literally jumping up and down waving this fact for the sole purpose of letting everyone know that she will vote in a certain way. It is not clear if Miers has a say in this effort, so I am withholding my judgement on Miers until the end of her hearing. For anyone that is interested in the court, I recommand the Blackmun book.

Both the Diamond book and the Dawkins book are interesting reads, especially the Dawkins book. My view has always been that it is pretty incidental that life happened on this planet and today the dominating life form is us humans. As to what is the cause of the disparity among different parts of the world, I do agree with Diamond that where each offshoot of Africa early humans have come to live is a very significant part of it. I would like to say that I don't think it is all of it, but I don't know what the rest of it could be. Dawkins wrote about various theories concerning important evolutionary questions. Some of them have been characterized as crackpot theories once I shared with some of my friends. I am withholding my opinion.

Matt and I saw Good Night, and Good Luck last weekend. It is a well done film, and I think Matt really liked it. Although the performances are good all around and the story is certainly interesting, I couldn't help but walking away with the feeling that this could have been just a book and I would have gotten exactly the same thing out of it. We saw The Constant Gardener a few month ago. That was a complete opposite experience as the shots of landscape and people of Africa really moved me in a unusual way. It is hard to have much faith in the goodness of people after seeing that film. It is so far the best film I saw this year.