This Week in Review

This was not a hectic week professionally, even though there were customer complaints and feature requests, things were still under control. So no more update on work.

On my personal front, I quited coffee and things that contain caffeine effective Wednesday. All these stemmed from my recent unsatisfactory sleeps. I thought long and hard for the reason, and coffee seemed the chief culprit, and I am right. So far I have been coffee-less for 4 days and the sleep quality has been improving. Now when I am sleepy, instead downing a cup of coffee, I just go and take a nap whenever possible.

Btw, here are news that I am aware of this week:

1. China's milk scare is eclipsed by the space walk program. I think this is a very sad state of affair. Chinese (or the Chinese government) has a strange urge to please the outsiders (especially the Westerners) and from my observation, it is against its own people Chinese can be the most mean, cruel, and merciless. This happens at the government level and among the people. The Sanlu Milk Scare is a typical reflection of the mentality: "face is important, people's lives? Who cares?". Do note most of the affected babies were from middle-class or poor families, while better well-to-do parents definitely will buy foreign milk powders. This is yet another reason why the Chinese government only did the minimal to the officials responsible, well because the affected people are poor. They don't have the mean and money to litigate or protest anyway.
   
2. Wall Street Bail-Out. This is a very comical episode only available in US. Those working in Wall Street has fucked up while trying to rack in more money, despite the fact they are paid much higher than they should given their quality and contribution to the society, the magical moment comes is when they fail, they have the bless of Uncle Sam to foot the bill. In fact, those hardworking Americans who pay taxes promptly and deposit money in bank are actually in higher risks than those bankers: first they have to take the risks of failing banks and disappearing deposits, second they have to help those bankers to repay the debt bought by Uncle Sam. What do these people get in return? Yes, more taxes.
   
3. Symbian is very dead it seems. Symbian is bought by Nokia and UIQ and S60 are going to merge in 2009. It seems my phone is going to be obsolete in months. This story teaches me it is time to look out for Android or OpenMoko. For my next phone, I will opt for a more basic phone with a small price tag. Good for my mental and wallet health.