Wrong Snowflakes.

What's Wrong With This Snowflake?

Christmas is coming up, and I am sure many countries, especially western countries, are already getting prepared to celebrate. We may see decorations and Christmas cards everywhere, and maybe full of snowflakes too. However, it is said that the snowflakes are incorrect. Chemist Thomas Koop points out that scientifically, pentagonal and octagonal snowflakes are impossible. Normally a snowflake would be hexagonal, or rarely dodecagonal, due to the molecular structures of water molecules--they can fit together only in a certain way.

Calling the incorrect snowflakes as corruption of the beauty of ice crystals or scientific abominations is too much, though. In those holiday decorations and greeting cards, it is all about the holiday spirit, not the science. People celebrate the holiday because it has been their long-time tradition when families gather and enjoy their time together. Christmas isn't meant to celebrate science. However I cannot pick on Mr. Koop too much since he has been modest gentleman and stayed tolerant about this.

Also, as in what the article mentions, a website of a science magazine had advertisements which had incorrect snowflakes. In this situation I would let Koop pick on them as much as he would like to, since it is a SCIENCETIFIC magazine, and the editors or admins should know the correct scientific knowledge. Or even basic molecular science.
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Wear Purple on 10/20!

Recently I've been hearing a lot of news about teenagers being bullied because of being homosexual and then committing suicide. I don't know if these kind of things are occurring around the world, but I least I know that even only in the US there were many of these cases. Every time I hear these kind of news, they sadden me. The victims didn't deserve to be bullied for being who they just happened to be. And as for the bulliers, they should understand that being homosexual isn't anything wrong or something to laugh at. People can love anyone they love, or want to love.

October 20th, Wednesday, was what we call it the "Spirit Day". I wasn't aware about this at all, until I saw a blog post in a social network. Everyone encouraged everyone to wear purple, in memory of those teenagers who released themselves from this ugly society, to support the LGBT youth, and to show spirit! On that day, I wore purple, many bloggers wore purple, many posts were purple-themed. Even the blue layout of the social network turned into purple!

While browsing through the purple posts, I felt somekind of warmth inside. It was very nice to see that many people actually care about the issue. In my case, in my "real life", nobody around me wore purple to show spirit (I can't blame them though, since they might have been unaware of the "Spirit Day"). However, on that social network, I could see millions of caring people gathered together. I could actually empathize with a homosexual teenager too: if I were him/her looking through all the supporters' posts, I would have cried tears of bliss. Whoever said that social networks are destructive (in many ways), I would say I disagree with him. A lot of individuals have gained confidence and were encourage by the power of netizens' support.

External article: [1]
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Paladino.

Paladino: No regrets over gay remarks

Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor of New York have been making controversial statements about homosexuality and gay marriage, and says he does not regret any of the remarks, because those were made based on what he believes in.

"That's not how God created us," Paladino said of being gay, "and that's not the example that we should be showing our children."

Well first of all, I think honestly spitting out your beliefs isn't wrong, but I think this man needs to learn how to be more tolerant and how to embrace others. Not every single person has the exactly same belief. Do you expect all of them to agree with you? Do you want every single person who does not agree with you to be your enemy?

He is also a hypocrite, he has made remarks that are clearly offensive, such as "I don't think it's proper for them[my daughters] to go there and watch a couple of grown men grind against each other. I don't think that's proper, I think it's disgusting," "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual," and later says that "the society should be more accepting" and that he has nothing against homosexuality, it's just that he can't accept gay marriage. And here is also the part I don't understand about him: if he has nothing against homosexuality, then why does he not accept gay marriage? If he claims that he tolerates homosexuality, then why is gay marriage a problem to him?

Though I am indifferent about politics in the states, for New York and the US's own good, I strongly do not think that Paladino is the right candidate for New York's governor.
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Reading at Risk?

Taipei City residents best read

While reading this article I couldn't stop thinking about the "Reading at Risk" survey we read for class. Both articles are talking about the same thing: reading rates of the nation! Like the "Reading at Risk" survey, the respondents of this survey that was done in Taiwan were above 18. 

... and I'd say, Taiwan is doing better than the states.

In Taiwan, cities such as Taipei City, Taichung City, Kaoshiung City, Chiayi City, Hsinchu City, and Matsu, each have a concentration of 50~56% of respondents who do love to read and read regularly. In other cities and counties, the percentages are a lot lower. In the article it did not state the exact percentages, but it did mention that in Taiwan as a whole, approximately 43% rarely read or never read.

43%, it's close to half of Taiwan, but I think Taiwan is still doing okay, since the "not reading" rate decreased from the previous survey that took place two years ago, which was near 51% of Taiwan. Right about half. Also, another good news is that the average reading time in day Taiwanese has slightly increased as well.

The article also points out that readers want lower taxes on books (printed books) and how they prefer to read e-books. Thought I don't enjoy reading books on screen, but I can surely sympathize with the readers who demand lower tax. The price of paper has risen, and so have books. Everytime I go to a bookstore and check the prices these days I am always surprised. I guess I am still used to the old price range of books. One suggestion I will give to those who are deeply concerned about book prices is to go shop books at Books.com.tw. This is Taiwan's largest online bookstore. Prices are cheaper than most offline bookstore, and sometimes some certain books are on 30% discount!

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Ju$tice

Normally I don't really care much about celebrity news, but when I went to check my e-mail, this headline caught my attention...

Lindsay Lohan spends less than a day in LA jail

The well-known actress Lindsay Lohan was arrested for illegal drug abuse, but she was released from jail by posting a $300,000 bail. Originally she was supposed to stay in jail for 30 days, but she got out within a day. Her problems were all solved by money.
I don't like how rich people just use money to solve their problems, but here what disgusts me even more is the "justice" system of the court. "Um yeah, we can totally let you go if you'd give us tons of money". Isn't that basically bribing?

So it means that whatever the criminal did, if he's/she's just rich and have the ability to post a bail, then everything's okay. If he/she posts a bail, he/she is not a true criminal. Is this what they call "justice"? Or maybe "ju$tice" is the better term. In the world there aren't just one kind of criminals. Not all criminals are poor and can't afford to post a bail. Rich criminals do exist, and they probably have done even more cruel and inhumane things with all the power they've got out from their money.

With a "ju$tice" system like this, rich criminals are easily released and continue to wander around in society. With a "ju$tice" system like this, rich criminals aren't afraid of anything. They can exploit as much they want. "Arrest? Who cares? I can continue my juicy exploits after feeding them money!"
Makes me feel that the current "ju$tice" system there is money-driven.