Friday, July 19, 2013

Detroit Filed Chapter Nine

Detroit, the once fourth largest city in the US, has filed for bankruptcy this afternoon.

While it will take time to sort through all various liabilities the once prosperous manufacturing city holds, it is estimated at around $18 billion. This is the largest government bankruptcy in the history of US.

In a recent public speech, analyst Tao Dong of Swiss Bank indicated China's local governments were indeed broke. Some may be encouraged to weigh the option.

On the other hand, Senior Analyst Mei Xinyu of the Commerce Ministry of China forewarned the bankruptcy in a July 7 article, in which he attributes violence, corruption and welfare of Black as the main reason for the fall of the motor city.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Indian Software Developers

You are not alone as a programmer. There are 18.2 million people like you who write code for a living today around the world.

According to Evans Data, whose WOT score was dangerous low BTW, India will have more software developers than the US in four years.

By 2018, India will have 4.5 million software developers, in comparison to 4.5 million in the US. Currently, the two countries have 2.75 million and 3.6 million programmers.

India is seeing an edge in age composition, with about half of its 1.2 billion population are under 25 year old. In the next couple of decades, India will add about 110 million workers to its labor force, more than the US, China, Russia and Japan combined.

China will have 1.9 million programmers in 2018.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Collapse of National Confidence

The kangaroo court of the George Zimmerman trial reflected a collapses of national confidence.

A Black man attacked a White Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer who questioned him. Our of self-defence, which is endorsed by state law, the volunteer fired a shot. The Black died.

Because of Florida's state law and because of evidences available, the volunteer was not charged. However, the media and the POTUS determined to make this case an opportunity to pass a message.

President Obama not only pronounced the Black man was 'like my son', but also had Department of Justice to sponsor mass protests demanding Zimmerman be punished. Both President Obama and the Attorney General Eric Holder are Black. However, they couldn't possibility ran this show alone. The elite, almost 100% White, are with them all the time.

From Investor's Business Daily Editorial:

  • Suppressing exculpatory evidence recovered from the (double-password-protected) cell phone of Trayvon Martin that reveal deleted texts of the 17-year-old bragging about street-fighting with friends and relatives and photos showing him brandishing guns, gangsta-style. This evidence supports Zimmerman's claim he feared Martin and shot in self-defense.
  • Disallowing Martin's criminal background, including arrests by Miami-Dade school district police for drugs, theft, graffiti and other delinquent behavior. (Martin, in fact, had been suspended from school the week he jumped Zimmerman inside his gated townhouse complex, after police found stolen jewelry and burglary tools inside his backpack.)
  • Excluding any testimony from audio experts who could definitively ID Zimmerman's voice screaming for help on 911 calls as Martin bashed his head against a concrete sidewalk.
  • Allowing, conversely, the last-minute request of plainly desperate prosecutors to have jurors consider an alternative lesser charge of manslaughter to try to secure some kind of conviction, any kind of punishment, in the complete absence of a sound murder case.
  • Never sanctioning the prosecution despite Zimmerman's lawyers justifiably filing no fewer than six formal complaints against the state for withholding exculpatory and other evidence from them in violation of discovery rules.
  • Yet repeatedly overruling — at times even reprimanding — Zimmerman's lawyers when they objected to the underhanded tactics of the prosecution.
  • And even, in one of the most bizarre interventions by a judge many court watchers have ever observed in a criminal case, directly grilling defendant Zimmerman not once, but three times about his intentions to personally testify — while scolding his lawyers not to counsel him in what seemed to many to be an attempt by the court to bully him into taking the stand.
  • Despite the totally erratic behavior demonstrated by Judge Nelson, she is the third judge assigned to this case, the lesser than the previous two.

    The police chief Bill Lee who refused to press charge was forced out after decades of tenure and a flawless serve record. His replacement testified in the court that he filed charges against Zimmerman only under pressure.

    The IT director of the Florida State Attorney's Office, out of fear of being found perjury by a court in the future, provided material that had been illegally withheld by the prosecution from this trial. Ben Kruidbos was fired on July 11, citing egregious in light of position.

    The prosecutor, the judges, the media, local state and federal officials and political representatives are all conspirators, as a rerun of days prior to Election 2008. Many White voted for Obama for no other reason but that he being a Black. While it seems that the core values of pilgrims, including being frugally industrious and withholding a moral compass, can no longer be practiced by the new generation of the US population, they felt obligated to lead the US to some terrain not known before.

    The floundering US economy has been in startle contract to the Chinese, raising itself from something the US had fought and denied, crushed the confidence of the US, with its sole lost after defeating its only worthy rival, the former USSR, in the world. It hit when it seems there was no more to do.

    While the elite, acting as the bell-wether, blindly looking for something different, they lead the US down a path they haven't got a chance to think over.

    On the surface, the saga was directed by liberals who saw this a Godsent to advance gun control and civil rights (gay rights). Perhaps, as they believe they are doing something good for the future of the society, 'a man who saves the country violates no law'. The frustration and disorientation of the elists were taken advantage by politicians who ride by panem et circenses, as all modern corporate executives do to appease impatient Wall Street.

    Tang Dynasty (around 900 A.D.), the governor of Weizhou was fed up with his own military troops. He then asked a political rival in neighboring state to come in and destroy the troops. The rival took the chance to not only killed all local troops, but also made the area a colony. The former governor lamented that with all the irons in 43 counties of Weizhou, can't make this pbig mistake (the same pronunciation of cuo, a currency made of iron at the time).

    Whether we want it or not, everything comes to an end soon or later. Countries and Civilizations rise and fall.

    Liberals including gun-control activists and diversity advocates see this case an opportunity to propel their causes with blunt power of agitated Black mobs. News media fabricated evidence (for example, editing the 911 recording, labeling Zimmerman as a white, accusing the jury being all white, etc.) to incite racial hatred to push forward their own agenda. They must feel they can act above the law for their sacred causes, so sacred that it worthy the cost of the entire civilization.

    Scientists have suggested climate change is inevitable, although human activities may accelerate the process, but human will most likely survive the change as we have did many times in human history. However, more scaring scenario is sudden change in temperature, which can come any day without a warning.

    Watch out bell-wethers, you may regret one day.

    Wednesday, July 10, 2013

    Government Issues

    1989, a small college where I worked as a system admin. The campus police chief briefed the mid-level managers and department chairs at a college-wide security meeting that they would make sure not to leave doors open, so that computer virus would not infect computers. By computer virus, he was referring to the ping-pong virus on IBM PC. The campus chief made himself a laughing stock ever since as this became a most popular way to start computer literacy session in freshmen orientations.

    Fast forward to December 2011 (22 years later for math challenged people, i.e. chemists and biologists), the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) quarantined and then hammered $2.7 million worth of electronic devices including computer, monitors, keyboards, mice, printers and digital cameras. It started when the DoHS notified them there were PCs found running malware in a routine scanning (which later turned out to be false positives). An external contractor took no time, after pocking $823,000, to find the computers were actually malware free. In an ordinary bureaucratic workplace, the story would have ended there, but of course that wouldn't be the case for the top federal agency in charge of economic policies of the world's largest economy.

    The CIO of the EDA, Mr. Chuck Benjamin according to Leader 411, being the smartest kid on the street, asked the contractor to make a guarantee that these computers would be forever 'impregnable' against malware. Baffled by the insurmountable responsibility, the contractor gave Mr. Benjamin the truthful answer, that they couldn't. Scared by what he heard and out of utmost loyalty to his job duty to keep US federal government running, Mr. Benjamin ordered all electronic devices in the central office of the US EDA destroyed, which would include all computers, keyboard, mouse, monitors, printers, digital cameras and of course televisions. The operation was suspended on August 1, 2012, only because they ran out of money to hire people to literally smash these secret government devices by hammers.

    The EDA made a $26 million budget request in September 2012 to replace computers, digital cameras and TVs it hammered in the clean-up operation. Ars Technica and Fierce Government IT ran very interesting reports on the incidents. As of this time, the CIO of EDA is Mr. Ben, who else?

    Mr. Big Ben certainly is not alone in the cirques of CIOs who cannot pass computer 101 in community colleges. The real problem is that they have never been registered to computer 101. Unlike how it is perceived by our leaders, CIO is a technical job which requires basic literacy of computer and information. Perhaps they should be sent to Vietnam and see whether they can survive a 2nd grade computer class there.

    Monday, July 08, 2013

    Seat Belt!

    Thanks to a new amateur video (CNN exclusive) shot by an aviation photographer, we were finally able to piece together what had happened to Asiana Flight 214 and what caused the deaths of two Chinese girls en route to a summer camp in the US.

    Based on charts of Flight 214's descending path with altitude and speed relative to location and in comparison to other commercial flights with same model airplanes, it was crystal clear that Asiana 214 came too high until they were very close to the San Francisco Airport (SFO). Then between 37.59 and 37.6 degrees, 214 lost several times of altitude and several times speed, in comparison to a 'normal approach'. Its speed dropped to well below 100 knots well before the plane reached the runway. For Boeing 777-200, it should maintain airspeed above 130 knots anytime in air.

    The pilot did not realize until it was too late. Survivors noticed the engine suddenly revved up moments before the initial impact, which clipped off the entire tail segment when the airplane hit the seawall. Engines on large commercial airplanes were not designed to provide push instantaneously when increasing throttle. The pilot should have known better.

    At any rate, having the airspeed down to 100 knots was simply inexcusable. How did this happened to a commercial pilot was beyond human comprehension.

    SFO is marked as a 'special airport' because the runway was extended into the bay. Landing SFO could be challenging because there was little terrain reference above water. However, anyway who had played on a 20 years old Microsoft Flight Simulator should have known that at airspeed less than 100 knts, the jumble jet would drop from the sky.

    As the plane lost its tail, it ran out of control, but kept skiing on the runway forward for about ten seconds, until suddenly, as it 'appeared' in the video, 'cartwheeled' with its head shot up to the sky and spun off runway 28. This corroborated to the testimony of a first witness who saw the accident from a hotel window. When he said he saw the airplane cartwheeled, many thought he might not mean it or understand the meaning of the word because the plane was so intact afterwards. Now we know it did happened. The construction quality of the airplane was very impressive to withheld such a great impact with both wings intact and attached and no major damages to the fuselage.

    What most likely happened was that some passengers unbuckled their seat belts after the initial impact without realizing what had happened and thought the airplane was taxing on the runway. The ten seconds of time was long enough to make some passengers thought they were finally safe on the ground. They were dropped downwards through the opening caused by the missing tail to the outside the fuselage when the airplane suddenly headed up.

    The bodies of the two girls were found outside the airplane on the runway.

    Based on the recorded ATC communications, the traffic controlled demonstrated utmost professionalism in handling of the disaster. The pilot of Asiana 214 was totally clueless from the beginning to the end. However, some pilot noticed that the controlled did not issue wind when granting landing permission to 214. It was a flaw but should not contribute in anyway to the crash as there was literally no wind that day.

    Update: The official opinion at this time was that one of the victim was ran over by emergency responding vehicles near an evacuate slide. The other girl was ejected at the first impact.

    Friday, July 05, 2013

    Samsung's Interns

    Taiwan's 'Apple Daily', a regional newspaper, revealed how Samsung used a network army comprised of most student interns to attack competitors (including HTC, when they were caught).

    The Pay is hard to earn: a student need to register at gender oriented forums with IDs in each gender, and post or reply every day; add 20 random friends on Facebook, replying 100 posts per month, and reply to 10 designated posts per week in disguise of totally stranger. Having completed all above worth NTD 1500 ($50).

    The reporter, who worked two months undercover for this report, also obtained a detailed price list on original posts on top of basic monthly load:

      $11: Positive opinion of a product over 30 words, with self reply;
    • $200-$260: Sharing positive opinion with more than 6 pictures and over 600 words, attracting over 10 replies;
    • $130-$160: Text with over 600 words, attracting over 5 replies;
    • $600 per month: Maintaining a Facebook group on a product; need 60 posts; 4 bonuses per month;
    • $$: blogs are negotiated base by case;

    Update: Oct 24, 2013. Taiwan Trade Commision fined Samsung $350,000 and its hired commentators $100,000 for deceptive advertisement. The commission found Samsung had contracted people to make false comments since 2007.

    Tuesday, July 02, 2013

    Chilling Details in Vassar College Discrimination Case Against Chinese Students

    It could sound worse than we had already heard in the case we reported a few days back, a story in which a promising Chinese student was expelled from Vassar College because of a consensual sexual relationship between the Chinese student and a white female student.

    But as they always say, devils are in the details. If the summary sentence is shocking, the details in the legal complaint is desperately depressing.

    Peter Yu picked Vassar over other schools where he had gained admission, including Wesleyan College, Bates College and Carnegie Mellon University. A big mistake he should regret in the rest of his life. With his 98% SAT, 4.19 GPA, numerous accolades in scholastic and athletic, 9 credits AP, only sky is the limit. Today, Yu has nowhere to go, with his record forever ruined by the expulsion with a serious sexual accusation.

    After the night of sexual encounter between the two, which was clearly consensual based on the facts listed in the lawsuit, including witnesses accounts and, most damaging, text messages between the two in the year after that night, the duo continued to row together and see each other. A few month later, Walker invited Yu for a family dinner.

    No one knows for sure what made the female student decided to press charge against Yu on non-consensual sex offense over one year later out of blue. However, what Vassar College did after that makes everyone who read through the complaint speechless.

    Vassar College went out of its way to make sure Peter Yu suffer for no reason. The College denied calling witnesses. Vassar College against its own bylaw, denied having a student sitting in the hearing panel upon Yu's request. Vassar College hid evidence (testimonies from Yu's roommate who saw Walker having sex with Yu and Walker's roommate who was called by Walker to arrange a place for the sex) and refused to admit the most important evidence, those text messages exchanged between the two. Vassar College refused to allow Yu to question Walker in the hearing. To top all of these appalling discriminating actions, Vassar falsified its own procedures and expelled Yu on Section 20.2, which he was never charged with. Yu was charge with Section 20.1 and all the hearings were about Section 20.1.

    By all accounts, if one shred of the evidence alleged in the complaint were true, Vassar College must still live in 1840, the peak of segregation. Vassar College's persecution against Yu, a Chinese student who had consensual sex with a white female, resembles nothing but a lynching out of hatred and ignorance.

    Where are Chinese ambassador and consul generals? Where are the Chinese community leaders in New York? Where are Chinese media?

    While the spokesperson of Vassar College bragged about its legal mighty, a real lawsuit outside the US in a fair court, where laws are followed and evidence are allowed to be presented will show its true color to the entire world, including to people in the US. Chinese should welcome a lawsuit in Peter Yu's hometown Dalian, China or in Beijing since it's an international case.

    Vassar College probably could care less on media exposure in China. With its over $800 million endowment, it has more financial power to skip China. Perhaps it calculates that it may appeal to donors of white extremists by making its case with Peter Yu, and build its financial model upon this view.

    The female student named in the lawsuit, Ms. Mary Claire Walker, remains a student at Vassar College. A male white student, who is not named and who was actually accused of Section 20.2 three months earlier, remains a student at Vassar College.

    Monday, July 01, 2013

    China's Baby Boomer Act

    Today is the first day of China's Senior Rights Protection Act (SRPA) becoming effective. While China has steadfastly stepped into a silver society, seniors are busy making laws to accommodate their retirement life, conveniently with their largest population body.

    China's Baby Boomer time starts in the 1950s with the ending of almost 100 years of continuous wars, and peaked in the 1960s during the Great Cultural Revolution while the government encouraged birth for more labors. Family planning started in early '70s to address the job pressure and came into full throttle in the '80s. Today most Chinese parents in cities raise only one child despite loosening regulation on family planning.

    The SRPA Act mandates family members to provide material as well as mental and spiritual needs of seniors. Those who do not reside with seniors must visit 'frequently'. While financial obligation to elder family members had been regulated in Marriage Act and the Constitution, this is the first time non-monetary caring being elevated to a legal duty.

    It's not a co-incident that China's economy is sailing into stagnant water. In the past 20 years or so, young Chinese worked with literally no saving plans except their housing investment. In general, housing in China is much more pricier than comparable dwellings in the US because of a distorted market which is used as an ATM by local governments. If the housing market collapses, a whole generation of Chinese will find themselves shirtless after working like a dog for two decades. Promoting traditional family value and community ties is a subtle way to build another layer of safety net.

    The Implementation could be a problem, though, no only because of the vague wordings used in the SRPA such as 'frequently'. Would once a year be considered 'frequent'?

    Another distinct stigma of the current Chinese society is the 'empty nest' phenomena, where hundreds of millions of rural youth find jobs in remote cities hundreds miles away, leaving their aging parents behind. Almost everyone of them have been trying their best to get home on the annual Spring Festival's eve, thus the infamous 'Spring Crazy' for public transportation in February. However, it's hard to say how long will they keep observing this tradition, when they are getting older and more rooted in cities.

    For city residents, many have their kids living overseas. Would Chinese civil code apply to US citizens? What about permanent residents?