So, I've realized that I'm very lucky. I guess I've always known that, but I just feel especially lucky today.

I have an amazing girlfriend, a great group of friends to support me, spending money from working, and so much more. The most that I have to worry about is a really hard problem set or the occasional sickness. I feel so carefree...

... which may not be a good thing. There are things that just happen right now that won't happen in the future. For example, my meals are placed before me by the dining services and I have housing through Harvard. I don't need to worry about all of that. I don't need to worry about finding a place to live or someone to work with over the summer. There are just so many opportunities that it just works out.

I wonder if that's natural. Perhaps I'm too lucky. Things might come too easily. I don't think that I deserve all of it (or even most of it). There's so much to be thankful for, and I'm not thankful enough. In fact, sometimes I feel that I have done so much to un-deserve all of this.

When someone reaches a global maximum, then he starts to fall. His derivative turns negative and he starts going down on the concave down part of the graph. Heh.

I should write a book over the summer. I like writing, and I like books. Maybe I'm just saying that I'm going to do something and then not doing it because I'm lazy.

I like emacs. I think I might start turning some of my regular class assignments in plain text. I wonder what my professors and teaching fellows will think of that.

Blah. Blah. Blah-blah-blah.

Hmm... I feel like writing a short story, so here we go:

Jacob was walking down an alleyway in the middle of the day. It was about 3 o'clock, and buildings cast intricate shadows on each other as the sun shined. Jacob was feeling rather good that day, as he had just gotten a job at a law firm. He had pursued a job vigorously for the past few months, but none of them suited him. The job offers that he had gotten were either from cheap foreign firms or cheap, sleazy, domestic firms. Not any offers from a good old-fashioned law firm. The kind that would help people in need. The kind that would save the world.

He heard a coin drop somewhere behind him. Jacob thought that this was very odd, as there was no one behind him at the time. There were no footsteps. He turned around, looking for the coin and the person who dropped it. He wanted to give the coin back to its owner... after all, coins were very rare nowadays. He looked backwards and gasped.

-to be continued-
posted by wu at 2:05 AM

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I was sick for about 2 weeks with an "acute viral infection," whatever that means. The university health services didn't know what it was. Later, they said that it became bronchitis, so I took antibiotics for a while. I've just finished them yesterday :/ But, at least I'm feeling well now :D

It's a ridiculously beautiful day outside. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the sun is shining, a little wind is blowing... It's amazing. Just a bit chilly, but amazing, nonetheless. I think I'm going to go walk in Boston later today.

Oh yes, I've had so much work in the past few weeks. I've had response papers and problem sets due every week, and it's been quite stressful. There's only one more week of school left, though, so hopefully everything will pan out fine. There's still exams and final problem sets and papers, but class ends next week. Whee!

Ok, back to my procrastinating of work!
posted by wu at 3:18 PM

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I was reading articles online when I noticed one that was particularly depressing. I ended up resesarching the topic further, and I found some rather shocking news about China and organ harvesting.

According to outside media (that is, outside of China), there are many people who pay a lot of money to go to China to get organ transplants. For example, one article talked about british or japanese people paying around $30,000 for a kidney transplant. After paying, they would go to China and within a week or two, have a new organ given to them.

Doesn't that strike you as odd? How can there be so many organs in china? Take the United States, for example. People are on waiting lists for months, up to years for organs, but in china, it's relativley quick. The natural question to ask would be: where are the organs coming from? You have to understand, the Chinese don't like to donate organs after death. Opening up the body after death is almost a taboo... the body needs to be honored. The culture just doesn't allow people to donate their organs (and if people do, they are definitely in the minority). Then, how come there is a constant supply of organs to foreigners willing to pay?

Some people who have gotten transplants have admitted that their new organs came from just executed criminals. Peter Worthington in the Toronto Sun writes that "Considering that China "officially" executes up to 4,500 people a year (critics claim the number is closer to 10,000) for some 68 "crimes" that carry the death penalty, it means lots of organs" (3/26/06). This is indeed true, but also disquieting. It means that many (if not most) of these organs are coming from executed prisoners, who have probably not given their consent to their organs being used in this way. Also, considering how China officially executes about the same number of people as the rest of the world (those countries that keep these sorts of records) combined, one might wonder if these people really deserve death. Many people in the developed world think the answer to that question would be no, since China executes people for seemingly minor crimes. Sometimes, even political dissidents and human rights activists are sentenced to death.

If you pursue this vein of thought, then you might reach a rather frightening conclusion. One might conceive of a China where people who object to the government or are of a certain belief system are found guilty by the state and then executed. Then, conveniently, those organs can be sold to foreigners for high prices (around $30,000 on average, according to some sources, for kidneys, corneas, livers, etc.).

But, of course, this practice of organ harvesting from executed political dissidents cannot be that great, right? It must be a one time deal? Maybe it is, but it probably isn't. As an article in the International Herald Tribune states, "kidneys are essentially handed out to the highest bidders, often foreigners" (Thomas Fuller, 6/15/2000). Well, if organ harvesting is a one time thing, then there must be a lot of organ donors somewhere. But, as you saw above, the Chinese just don't donate their organs...

So what's happening? Could executions be pushed forward because of the demand for organs? Are the people in China being forcefully used as organ donors? We better find out.

Sources mentioned in post:
Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, June 15, 2000, http://www.iht.com/articles/2000/06/15/organ.2.t.php.
Peter Worthington, The Toronto Sun, March 26, 2006, SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. C7.

Other websites of interest:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9500EED71538F932A25752C1A9679C8B63
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060310/lf_afp/afplifestylehealthjapanorganschina_060310111410
http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/2262.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3aef72267bea.htm

Articles of interest:
Jane Maccartney, The Times (London), December 3, 2005, SECTION: OVERSEAS NEWS; Pg. 48.
Richard Spencer, The Vancouver Sun, December 17, 2005, SECTION: OBSERVER; Pg. C8
posted by wu at 6:08 PM

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Uwah... it's spring break! Yay! Yay!

Instead of being tired and working on so many problem sets and all of that, I'm relaxing and just ... sitting around, really. Nothing much :P

I just realized that it's already Monday! I've been on break for 3 days already, but for some reason it feels like I've only been on break for 1 day. Perhaps it's because I was at the airport for the good part of one day, and yesterday I was tired from that. Last night, though, I got quite a lot of sleep and am feeling just fine now.

Oh yes, I found two bugs in the program that I submitted for my algorithms class. He wrote on my assignment that he would give me some points back if I talked to him about what the bugs were, so I'm happy to have found them. At the same time, the bugs I found were very elementary, very simple ones that should not have occurred. I guess it's also sort of depressing if I think about it that way.

Anyway, I need to file taxes and all that, as well as finish up some work (but not that much, thankfully). My spring break feels so relaxing. Hmm, and ohio is noticeably more peaceful than boston. No one knocks on my door to call me to dinner, and there is no one playing music above me at night. It's peaceful. I sort of like it.

Hmm, I might go to the library to get some books to read. I like reading books.
posted by wu at 5:52 PM

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Hmm, so, the tutor in our hallway (who's named Fiery) got really excited about a class that he took back when he was an undergrad. He told us the most interesting things....

Apparently, there is a type of shark which does this really weird stuff. When that shark gets pregnant, about 10 or so embryos form. Then, what they do is that they eat each other! They eat each other until only 1 of them is left, and that is the one that lives :O

Also, there is a type of antelope which does something similar. Two embryos appear inside of the uterus, and the first noticable feature that they grow are horns. These horns grow until one of them spears into the other embryo, killing it. Then, the other one lives and is born :O

And, and... apparently, babies are really really bad for the mother. When you see a mother being all rosy and healthy looking during pregnancy, that's really the baby trying to kill its mother! What happens is that the baby is releasing enzymes and hormones that try to degrade and destroy the mother's blood vessels. That way, the only healthy ones left are the ones feeding the baby (so the baby gets the most nutritious blood). Normally, hormones are found in milligram quantities in the blood. When a baby is there, it can secrete up to 1 gram per day! All of those hormones go to the mother, who wants to eat more, etc. :O

Oh, and, the placenta is really bad for you. If you implant a placenta anywhere in the body besides the uterus, it'll start growing like a cancer until it consumes all of your nutrients, eventually killing you. It won't stop. In fact, outside of the uterus, it grows even better than inside, because the uterus is actually stopping the growth of the placenta. The uterus is the only safe place for it :O (besides maybe the stomach and digestive system)

And, methylation counts a lot. If you take 2 female's methylated genes and put it together in an egg, and start the growing process with an empty sperm, then the result is t... something. Anyway, the result is this thing with fur and bones and teeth and random body parts growing together in a ball. It eventually dies, because it doesn't have a complete set of anything. If you take 2 male set of methylated genes, then the embryo is really small and you have a huge placenta that just keeps growing and growing (until it's stopped by the uterus). It doesn't bother to develop the embryo at all! Isn't that odd?

What's even crazier: you can create chimeras by puttitng the previous female methylated egg and the male methylated egg side by side and then fusing them together. The result is something that grows up normally, but that has 2 separate genetic lines in it. You can trace what genes develop in what part. It turns out that in the brain, the limbic system (eating, sleeping, sex) is predominantly made out of the male gene line, and the frontal cortex (responsible for thinking, socializing) is predominantly made out of the female gene set. Isn't that crazy? :O

AND, some people are naturally chimeras! If, in normal development, you have same sex fraternal twins, and the embryos fuse, then you grow up having two sets of genetic lines in one body. It's so insane......

:O

*whew*

Glad I got all that out. Time to study for tomorrow's exam.
posted by wu at 7:41 PM

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So many people are getting sick. Something like 10-15 people in Cabot have been sick with some sort of stomach virus... Apparently, it runs its course in about a day or so, but during that day you feel really really bad. Nonstop vomiting and ... other stuff. Henry had it, as well as 3 other guys on my floor. Henry described it as a "fountain" experience :x

In other news, our final project is almost done. It's a pretty cool game :D
posted by wu at 11:49 PM

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Yesterday I arrived back in Boston after many delays.

My first flight from detroit to nyc was delayed due to something or other. This delay wasn't too bad, actually. It was only a half hour or so late. I just sat there listening to music. I was really sleepy, though.

Then, that flight landed in nyc at 11:50 or so. Heh, and then my next flight was supposed to be at 2. Instead, we ended up departing at around 4. Worse yet, we were sitting in a plane from around 3 to 4. The plane just couldn't leave because there were "ice pellets" dropping from the sky, and the FAA hadn't cleared the de-icing solution for use with "ice pellets." It seems that no flight left during that entire time.

Finally, I arrived in boston. Connie was there to greet me at the airport, which was really nice. She had been waiting for quite a while before I had gotten there because of the delays. Then, we randomly met this chinese couple who wanted to go to nyc. Apparently, they had tried to buy airplane tickets, but they did not know how to speak english very well, so they could not buy any. They believed that there were no airplane tickets to nyc that night. Connie and I ended up taking them to south station so that they could take the chinatown bus there. They seemed happy about being able to take the chinatown bus... The whole situation was pretty odd though :O. Apparently, they had rented a car to try to explore boston, but they crashed it that morning. They didn't even bring a change of clothes, or coats. When we saw them, they were quite cold.

Yep.

Now I'm back. Yay.

Homework time ._.

[edit]Blimp plane - see? People like the idea of a blimp plane. I think that I should have written down my design of a blimp plane before this... [/edit]
posted by wu at 10:31 PM

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