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Current Reading: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
I started reading this book while I was trying to write the summary of Audacity of Hope. It just absorbed me. Obama described his early life from childhood to late twenties. Because of the age similarities, I am able to relate more to what he wrote in this book than his second book. I often…
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The end of the beginning
27 slides, including the title and the acknowledgement slides, 2o minutes of presentation, one hour and half of Q&A, and then done. On 19 April 2011, 1 pm, I finished my defense. Although I knew it was just a formality, I still felt awesome when being called “Dr. Wang”. In the rest of the week,…
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Book Summary — The Audacity of Hope 2
Chapter 3 on constitution reads more like a lecture note, especially the part where Obama ponders the origin of the US Constitution. After all, Obama himself have taught Constitution Law at University of Chicago. My knowledge on political philosophy is limited. In a philosophy course I took in the National University of Singapore, I read…
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Book Summary — The Audacity of Hope 1
I finished reading the book about two weeks ago. Since then, I have been rereading it and editing my notes. Obama weaved his personal story of running for and serving as a US senator into a narrative of the large context of US politics. Both his experiences and his own interpretation of his experiences interest…
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My thesis preamble
Seven days before flying to Toronto for graduate studies, I attended Asian Technology Initiative Entrepreneurial Conference 2006 in Shanghai. One theme of the conference was Web 2.0, the key feature of which was user-generated content. Wikipedia, Facebook, blogging websites, YouTube, and Twitter all fell into this category. Although those social media websites were just fledging…
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Current Reading: The Audacity of Hope
I probably bought this book two years ago, together with Obama’s first book Dreams from My Father. And then they stayed under my bed until last Christmas when I rediscovered them. I decided to get into the habit of bedtime reading, so this book becomes the first one. Currently on chapter 5. Thought #1: eloquent.…
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Wow comics
It is said that good comics make people laugh and then think. This one certainly belongs to that category, one of the best I have seen. It touches me personally. Be aware. Don’t be an intellectual snob. This comic strip is from Toronto Star.
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An article every chemist should read — to stay relevant by meeting global challenges
As I am in the process of looking for a postdoc and thinking about my own research topic in the not-so-distant future, I seek guiding lights. I look to those who offer a bird’s-eye view and who can see the future through the lens of the past and the present. And I think I finally…
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Ottawa
The introduction of Ottawa in Lonely Planet guide reads “Description of Ottawa read like an appealing personal ad: young, vibrant, clean, bilingual, likes kids, long walks on the river”. It is a small city, with no more than 1 million people. It is in Ontario, but it borders Quebec. The city is chosen to be…
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To law or not to law: End Note
When I started this series, Dean told to me right away that I am not the lawyer type. He is right. But at that time, I said, even eventually I decided not to do law, at least I want to know why I am not going to do it. This is a big decision, and…