If someone is angry at you and eventually you and the other person reconcile the problem, how does that affect your enduring relationship with that person? Can it ever be the same as it was before the turbulence? I suppose in some cases the relationship could be better than it was before the problem, and in others it could end up worse. It seems counterintuitive to me that extreme anger could allow for a better relationship even after the conflict has been solved. I don't think anger is good (although in some cases it's justified).

It's nice when parents support your passions. There's a family very close to ours and the son, a few years younger than me, likes music and enjoys DJing. His parents have paid a lot for his equipment and music, have made a DJ booth in his room at home, and are happy that he DJs at bars and clubs in Hong Kong and the UK (where his university is).

My parents are really ambivalent about my interest in the martial arts. They're always worried about me getting injured. They often convey that they want me to quit sparring, which is emphasized where I currently train because of the regular competitions. Our league, the INCTL, consists of 20 universities in the North East (btw - this year we have someone from our league competing in the Olympics). On the other hand, my dad really enjoyed the video clip I sent him of me at an exhibition breaking an inch-thick board held about 7 feet in the air with a jumping front kick. My mom admires my self-discipline to train/exercise just about every day.

Have you ever seen a girl wearing a top that says "My Boyfriend is Out of Town"? On the one hand it's something cute and for fun. On the other, it raises some interesting questions. Is the boyfriend supposed to feel honored? Is the girl asking for advances? Would it raise eyebrows if the girl was wearing that top and was kissing her boyfriend (or anyone) in public?

Blue sharks have sex when they are immature and females store the sperm till they are fertile. Is there anything similar to this among humans (I'm anthropomorphizing)? I suspect it's like arranged marriages, when people were/are promised to each other from a very young age. I know a hundred years ago in India it was typical for 8 year old boys to get engaged to 5 year old girls. They'd marry before they were 15. Things are different with blue sharks though because I don't think families do their partner-arranging. Also, clearly the male is fertile if he's going to deposit sperm. So actually, this is probably more like pedophilia. Eww.

My mom's reaction halfway through the DVD of Michael Moore's "Farenheit 9/11":
"Is this movie 3 hours long? It's so boring."
 
I can't believe I'm related to her. I told her that she wasn't really listening. She said she already knew everything. This is impossible because Moore conveys some things that the media has chosen not to focus on.

One tenth of Shakespeare's words were original. He gave us leapfrog, majestic, hint, and around 1700 others.

I've read an entire book on negotiation and I'm not sure I'd be better off in a negotiation as a result of it. There are many ideas in the book that I contest. For example, it says to focus on fair/objective standards. However, if you use standards independent of will, your interests won't be met. You may still be unhappy even if you're buying a house for a fair price.

Is anyone who makes a bet "gambling"? The definition is taking risks in hope for gains. I can think of a few examples where making a bet isn't gambling:
1) When you're just playing and the amounts are inconsequential, you don't care for the money you win or lose - you care more for the idea of winning.
2) When you bet someone that you're right about something. Again, you're committed more to the idea of being right, of winning, than of making money from the bet. However, if the amount is significant enough to affect emotions about winning or losing, then that crosses the line into gambling.
 
The bottom line is that intentions count, and you can't judge whether a person is gambling just by their actions of making/placing a bet.
 

So bad that it was funny:
 
"You can't bring a gun into the temple, it's a holy place!"
"Well this gun is holy - it makes holes."
 
(I won't give away what movie this was from)

Do animals think that fire is a red flower? That's what the animals in "The Jungle Book" think.

Do animals think? Do they really deliberate, or do they just react to stimuli?

Restaurants in China and Hong Kong have gotten into trouble for serving opium poppies in their food.

China has the world's most skewed sex ratio, with 120 males for every 100 females. This is a result of ultrasound screening and selective abortion, not by some freak of nature. The world average is 107 males for every 100 females.

I wonder why there are different notations for dates. In some countries its day/month/year, in the US it's month/day/year. In others it's year/day/month...

Ridiculous. Difficult. Reclusive.

A lot of people, myself included, are guilty of thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. I know this because whenever I go to another side, I tend to feel there's something else that could be different or better.

According to research by BP, the current level of oil consumption exceeds predictions of the current level made in 1980. Importantly, they predicted that we will run out of oil in 41 years. Some, however, have predicted that we'll run out sooner.

Scientists have found that rice yields have been dropping due to global warming. The yield drops about 10% for every degree of increase in temperature. Rice is the staple for most of the world's population, and the yields actually need to increase by 1% every year to sustain the growing population. Planting more crops would encroach into natural ecosystems.

Basically, unless there are some major changes, there is going to be catastrophe. I don't think there will be a magic bullet - the world won't be saved if a scientist discovers a viable alternate fuel source, or if someone can influence everyone to produce and consume less. We may be destined to follow the typical patterns of population growth and decline observed by ecologists. Perhaps we will reach our threshold soon. As food and resources become scarce, the population can't be sustained.

Among other things, this makes me wonder about bringing life into this world.

According to GQ, the average UK household spends the same amount of money on fresh fruits and vegetables as it does on tobacco and illegal substances.

A lot of young people (teens and 20-somethings) face an identity crisis. How do people solve it? It seems they tranquilize themselves by identifying themselves with their profession, their relationships, their social status, etc. I think there's no easy solution... there are only ways to cover-up the "crisis". It makes sense to me that these cover-ups, these inadequate solutions, lead people to have mid-life crises.

I want to figure out an answer. But, if/when I do I won't be able to share it with others. If I do, that'll be another form of tranquilization. It may become a new religion, and people will still not confront their issues directly.

There are two ways to say cheers in Cantonese. "Yum sing" means as you wish, and "Kanpai" (or "Gwon Pui") means dry glass.

I ate some jellyfish tonight.

There are over 2 million saunas in Finland, and just over 5 million people. Apparently a lot of men conduct business naked, in saunas. Nokia (whose headquarters are in Finland) has an entire sauna facility. Women have complained that they can't be part of these business deals. The response is that 'official' business isn't conducted in the saunas.

"Mennaanko avantoon uimaan" is Finnish for "Shall we go into the hole in the ice for a swim?"